Sister Veronica - A Heroic Nun Honored Heroes

My experience with Roman Catholic nuns began in 1958 at Little Flower Grammar School at 80th & Honore on the south side of Chicago. The subsequent eight years were punctuated, to say the least, by lessons in humility. To the say the least, it was a wholly adversarial meeting of hearts and minds. Nonetheless, I received, with the clouts, the odd ear twist, imprecations, maledictions and grudging absolutions, a knowledge of my faith, history, love of the written word and respect for numbers and science, akin to a member of any Papuan Cargo Cultist.

High School and college were a leap of faith and absence of feminine clericalism, having had my secondary and higher education hand-ed off to black cowled Augustinian priests and brothers and ultimately Jesuits. They were magnificent educators and men of Faith.

It was not until my teaching career, that I encountered Sisters of Notre Dame (CNDs) as colleagues. Sisters Theresa Galvan, Maryilyn Doucette, Madeline LaMarre, Helen Kavanaugh, Alice Larson were great teachers and fun girls. It was a revelation to me that nuns could be anything but, to use my Grandfather Hickey's Kerryman appellations Life's Unplucked Flowers, or Hairy Faced Old Galway Bitches. To the contrary, the CNDs were Cultured, Serious, Devout, Orthodox and could work a beer glass and crack a rack of eight ball. Helen Kavanaugh was a proficient slate-woman who pocketed more than a few coins and bills for the Votive Candles from faculty patsies, like your humble servant. We had a Cadillac of a pool table in the Bishop McNamara faculty lounge.

I often pillory nuns here, more shame to me. That is merely a reaction to Activist Nuns, who do anything but their ministries - beat drums, demand ordination as priests, help fund Leftists, work for Planned Parenthood and parse the murder to the unborn.

Here is a portrait from my friend in Philadelphia, lawyer/columnist Christine Flowers who presents the work of Sister Veronica.

Sister Veronica is one of the Might Macs - Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary - portrayed in the new film of the same name.

THEY SAY there are no atheists in foxholes, even though the nonbelievers have started clamoring for their own "chaplains" anyway (kind of a "Don't Pray, No Hell"). That old proverb sheds light on the way faith and combat are deeply intertwined, on the battlefield as well as in the minds of those who serve both God and country.
So, it's not really surprising that one of the most devoted champions of American heroes wore a uniform of another type: that of the Roman Catholic nun. Sister Veronica, of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, spent five decades whipping her young archdiocesan recruits (girls in plaid kilts, boys in blazers) into shape. When she retired, she moved on to the real thing: combat veterans.

Sister spent the last part of her life, almost two decades, compiling detailed and moving records of the people who received the Medal of Honor, the highest award that our country can bestow on its soldiers. Established in 1861 by Abraham Lincoln, the award was designed to honor exceptional bravery in combat, destined only for those men (and women) who, as Sister noted, "placed their lives in danger while serving in the armed forces, above and beyond the call of duty."

Some of the recipients are legendary, including Audie Murphy, Pappy Boyington and Douglas MacArthur. Others are less well-known even though their heroism was no less compelling. That's where Sister Veronica came in. It was her belief that every combatant who fought, bled, suffered and, in many cases, died for this country deserved to be remembered, and to have a face attached to his or her name. She spent countless hours, from 1970 to 1987, compiling records of these troops as the chief archivist for the Medal of Honor Grove at the Freedoms Foundation, in Valley Forge. She pored over books, articles, microfilms and everything else she could get her hands on to breathe life into the memory of these patriots. For her, as long as they were remembered, they were alive.

Some found it strange that a nun, a woman who had devoted herself to Christ, would choose a second vocation like this one, tied as it was to the horrors of the battlefield. She had an answer for them, one that conjures the image of pacifist Alvin York and Father Francis Duffy, the most decorated cleric in the history of the Army:

"I once spoke with a family that didn't want to accept a posthumous medal because of religious reasons. I told them that I, too, hate war, but I love these men who have made it possible for me to worship my God in a manner of my choosing."

Recently, thanks to the scholarship of Dr. Terry Barrett and the hard work of Vietnam hero Jim Furlong Leo Alumnus Mark Lee, Leo High School re-dedicated the gravesite of Medal of Honor hero Cpl. John Fardy. Leo High School annually observes honors for all who have sacrificed their youth and too often their lives and limbs in military service to America.

On November 4th, Leo High School, the 2nd Batallion, 24th Marines (Chicago's Own), the Leo Alumni and Windy City Veterans will honor all who serve with wreath laying at the Leo War Memorial. 2004 Leo Graduate Sgt. Jauwan Hall, U.S.M.C. will talk about his recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan. All are invited to join us in the courtyard of Leo High School at

Leo High School - 7901 S. Sangamon Street Chicago, Illinois 60620 -at 11AM on Friday November 4th.

I will remember Sister Veronica, as well as all of the wonderful women who serve Christ and Country.

I'll even put my Irish Alzheimer's on hold and remember my antagonists (1958-1966) with charity and love.



http://avangelista.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/catholic-sisters-and-the-american-civil-war/
http://avangelista.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/catholic-sisters-and-the-american-civil-war/

Confession App - Our Digital Dystopia Goes Nuttier

Last night, my lady love and I enjoyed a few hours of quiet, polite, lively and, for me anyway, enchanting communication using words and body language across the table from one another in Bacchanalia Italian Restaurant* in the Heart of Italy neighborhood. This restaurant is a charming time machine that transports diners to a much better time of human interaction and dignity ( BTW -the tucker and the mutuels are outstanding).

Over a brimming platter of antipasti, Chicken Vesuvio for the Elegant Lady and Porterhouse Vesuvio for this trencherman swain, and ala 'Ferme Auberge' salad -after the main course, we spoke to one another. We talked about the work week, Egypt, Wu and Al Swearingen on Deadwood, the incivility of our electronic world - texting teens and adults, robot customer service, endless cellphone usage. Cable television and the internet have buried the morning newspaper readings that once brought fathers and sons together in the race for the box-scores and mothers reading the funnies to toddlers; yet, we lament the breakdown of the American Family.

Early this morning, I was treated to a wonderful article- yes, via the internet - by Philadelphia journalist Christine Flowers on one of the goofiest additions to our Electronic Communications Crap-pile - The Confession APP. Christine Flowers offers a human and delightful introduction to a child's First Confession and the Sacrament of Penance - click my post title for that serene passage.

Here is the caveat against our growing Techno-Dystopia:

. . .I was so deeply offended to hear that someone had created a "Confession" app for the iPad. Patrick Leinen created Confession: A Roman Catholic App to, as he put it, "invite Catholics to engage in their faith through digital technology."

And my response is: Are you kidding me?

Generations of Catholic kids were forced to go to catechism and CCD classes to grasp the solemnity of the sacraments and appreciate their role in our lives.

Sure, a lot of those mini-Catholics have since left the church because it became too onerous for them to practice their faith with honor and respect, but there are enough of us left who think that reducing the relationship between a penitent and his confessor to a button on some handheld gadget is ridiculous, wrong and a slap in the face. (I wonder what would happen if someone came up with a bar mitzvah app, by which you could do interactive Torah readings and register for presents at the exact same time.)

Or maybe we could be treated to Mecca.com, which, with a click of a button, you could convert to Islam (it would of course have to have separate Sunni and Shia versions of the program since you don't want to have to then click on HolyWar.com).

Not pretty when someone starts playing around with your faith, is it?

Fortunately, the Vatican has come out forcefully against this travesty. As a spokesman in Rome noted, "It is essential to understand that the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and their confessor. . . It cannot be replaced by a computer application."

Of course it can't. I mean, just imagine if your computer malfunctioned and you downloaded the wrong penance? Eight hundred thousand Our Fathers would be cruel and unusual.

Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer. E-mail

cflowers1961@yahoo.com. She blogs at philly.com/philly/blogs/flowersshow.

Lucifer's Laugh Bag!

I can not imagine how, in the name of Sts. Cyril and Methodius,it would be possible to Confess to an I-Pad the fact that my mere presence, let alone utterance of a syllable, often has an emetic effect on people I love due to my follies and inclinations.

Only the direct communication with one of Christ's ordained priests can I manage to articulate the thoughts, words and deeds that offended others and Christ.

Oh, Yeah! I simply download the APP -You can get the application here: https://market.android.com/details?id=appinventor.ai_jamorrow.PenanceProject

"OMG I am Heartily sorry . . ." - I detest all my sins & etc.



Hickey's Sin Menu:

Sexual Thoughts = 24 X 365@ 1 per nano second?

Lies = Has anyone seen my Honorary Degrees from Yale, Harvard and Bob's Theological Seminary; I returned your call of 2/11/2011 @ 9:45AM; Let me be perfectly honest . . . & etc.

Anger: See Sexual Thoughts and multiply by a factor of 5

Pride: I have Irish Alzeimer's

Envy: Well my eyes still work!

Sloth: We get graded on Neatness?

Gluttony: Porterhouse Vesuvio!

Let's put away the toys and devices and get back to human contact . . .just a minute . . .let me get this call.














*Bacchanalia Italian Restaurant
2413 South Oakley Avenue
Chicago, IL 60608
(773) 254-6555

Lawyer Christine Flowers Explains the Hypocrisy Behind The Faux Outage Over the Catholic Church in the Media

Christine Flowers is a lawyer and columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. It is my honor call this beautiful and talented woman my friend.

Christine Flowers is an Italian American rooted in our shared Catholic Faith, appalled by the pedophile abuse by predator priests protected by PC-enthralled bishops and disgusted by the hypocrisy of the corporate media that shills for the abortion industry, radical feminists and advocacy Progressive political opportunists who seek to damage the moral authority of the Pope and diminish the place of Catholics in America.

We are not a secular nation. We are a people and nation of many Faiths. My Faith is under assault.

Christine Flowers has our backs.


Christine M. Flowers: The New Inquisition


By Christine M. Flowers
Philadelphia Daily News

I'M ALWAYS
touched when hostile readers express an interest in my credibility.

I take it as a backhanded compliment, an acknowledgment that they read me on such a regular basis that they've come to recognize certain themes in my work. The list would include empathy for the police, antipathy for abortion and apoplexy about the Eagles. And a profound attachment to the Catholic Church, my spiritual home.

Which is why I wasn't at all surprised when I received an e-mail from someone who has written before about my "hypocritical" failure to criticize the pope and the faithful: "I'm waiting with bated breath for you to write about the current pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church, Christine. Unless you do so, you've lost all credibility."

Of course, whenever I've written positively about something the church deserves praise for, I never get a pat on the back from the peanut gallery to which this particular type of fan belongs.

These people don't want balance about the church and its perceived - and in some cases real - failings. They aren't concerned with a nuanced and comprehensive view of this magnificent but flawed institution.

They're out for blood, and seize on any opportunity to tear it apart, piece by highly publicized piece, reveling in and sometimes even distorting events that happened decades ago, making it appear as if the Catholic Church is merely a sinister enterprise preying on the innocent.

And they want me to fall in line like a good soldier and aim my inky arrows at Rome.

Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not about to do that just to pacify people who, after all, don't

really care about the church except when it's portrayed in a negative light.

In the past, I've railed against the insensitivity of church hierarchy for failing to adequately address the pain of victims.

I've criticized it for attempting to evade the criminal laws, choosing therapy for the victimizers over justice for the aggrieved.

I've doubted the existence of some so-called "homosexual cabal" that supposedly preyed on altar boys, even while acknowledging that the church has been negligent in dealing with troubled priests. And I've wondered out loud how Bernard Cardinal Law, the man who single-handedly orchestrated the coverup in Boston, could be living the good life in Rome.

But it's never enough.

Now, a new set of scandals has been thumped in the press, one that reaches from middle America to the hills of Ireland to Pope Benedict's Germany.

The details, while shocking, refer to horrors committed more than 20 years ago, but they're being used to condemn a church that - more than any other organized faith institution in the world - has made the most public and painful act of contrition in history.

Yes, grievous mistakes were made, under a veil of secrecy that has destroyed the confidence of so many Catholics and driven many more from the pews. This pope has recognized it, and has been courageous and unflinching in his attacks on what can only be called the most mortal of sins. That is why it's so painfully ironic that he's become the new favorite whipping boy.

Personally, I'm tired of my church being exposed to the same boilerplate attacks every time some long-ago transgression is revealed in the press, usually around the time Catholics prepare to celebrate a sacred moment like Christmas or Easter.

Like clockwork, people who have always had a bone to pick with Rome channel their anger and frustration on a wide range of topics (abortion, female priests, celibacy, same-sex marriage, meatless Fridays in Lent) into rants against the institution.

For example, the Philadelphia Gay News recently published a column titled "Shut up, Pope, part II" (thank God I missed Part I) demanding that Benedict "come clean and confess." It's about the pedophilia scandal, taking a break from the publication's usual drumbeat of criticism of the church's views on homosexuality and AIDS.

Pity it missed the pastoral letter where Benedict directly addressed those who were abused:

"You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. . . I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity violated."


I HAVE the feeling that no amount of "confession" and self-flagellation would make the PGN and other critics truly happy. Their goal is a user-friendly church, one that not only addresses the pedophilia scandal in terms to their liking, but also changes its fundamental nature.

I know the wish list: Celibacy gone? Sure! Female priests? Come on down! Seal of approval for abortion? We hear ya! Same-sex marriage? Can we register at Macy's?

And they think my credibility is on the line.

Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer. Listen to her Thursdays on WPHT/1210 AM, 10-midnight.

E-mail cflowers1961@yahoo.com.

Good Friday is God's Friday in Anglo/Saxon.

Philly Lawyer and Journalist Christine Flowers on Abortionists Health Reform Hypocrisies

By Christine M. Flowers
Philadelphia Daily News

I FOUND myself smiling when I heard the usual suspects criticizing the Conference of Catholic Bishops for poking its nose into the health-care debate.
Actually, it was more like a smirk.

When word got out that the mitered ones had lobbied for the Stupak Amendment barring tax subsidies for abortion, which I wrote about last week, pro-choice groups and civil libertarians erupted in anger at this blatant scaling of the barricade separating Church from State.

That was to be expected. The sky, or the wall, is always falling in their universe.

But what I found particularly smirk-inducing was the total silence from these same quarters over recent decades as the Catholic Church threw its weight behind health-care reform. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama could have had no better champion than the leaders of the church who consistently criticized both Republicans and Democrats in Washington for failing to address the needs of the indigent and lower-middle class.

Apparently, when you're on the side of their own particular angels, the First Amendment is irrelevant. But not so when it comes to secular sacraments like abortion and same-sex marriage. If you start messing with those rights, watch out.

Carol Tracy, director of the Women's Law Project, penned a letter to the Inquirer that reads as if it were ripped from an anti-Catholic manifesto:

"How can an institution that permitted and facilitated the sexual abuse of countless numbers of children dare to proclaim what is moral? What has happened to this country's founding principle of separation of church and state? . . . That Congress is accepting the church's mandates is appalling."

Wow. I wonder if Ms. Tracy felt the same way when the church lobbied for the protection of immigrant women who were victims of abuse at the hands of their citizen spouses? Or when it advocated increased funding from the state and federal governments for low-income mothers? Or supported civil rights. Or lobbied for social services for aliens forced to "live in the shadows"?

And that's exactly what I'm talking about - the hypocrisy of those who have no problem with a religion that promotes and advances their own worldview but who are shocked and appalled by its behavior when the bishops have the temerity to speak out against values that they reject.

I actually have more respect for people like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, the professional atheists who see only evil in the divine. They, at least, walk the walk and talk the talk, refusing to condone any intrusion of faith into the public square. While I'm repelled by their myopic perspective on religion, at least they're honest enough to wish a plague on all of our houses of worship.

Then you have the politicians like St. Nancy Pelosi, who bows to kiss Pope Benedict's ring like a good Catholic schoolgirl but fights tooth and manicured nail to make sure abortion remains universally available.

That's fine if you simply say, "I reject the fundamental teachings of my church." But Madame Speaker has decided to be a theologian in addition to a legislator and has actually taken it upon herself to tell the bishops where the church really stands on this issue. (Is there Latin for chutzpah?)

The point is, you can't have it both ways. Either you criticize the church for getting its cassocks dirty in the fight for health-care reform, in which case you also tell it to shut up when it condemns the death penalty, the war in Iraq and the persecution of immigrants.

Or, you praise it for promoting a liberation theology in which the poor must be raised up and innocent life protected, and accept its right to principled and unwavering opposition to abortion.

The problem is, too many people want to have their Eucharist and eat it, too. They are happy to embrace the bishops when it suits their secular purposes, but turn on them when they stray from liberal orthodoxy.

There's an almost patronizing attitude among non- and recovering Catholics these days. I was traveling on the R5 a few days ago, and overheard a conversation between two women, one apparently an Episcopalian minister, the other Catholic. They were involved in a discussion of the flaws of Catholicism.


THE PHRASE that struck me came from the minister: "The difference between Episcopalians and Catholics is that we don't force you to leave your brain at the door."

Apparently, the church's health-care critics don't want the bishops to leave their brains at the door.

Just their principles.

Christine M. Flowers is a lawyer.

It Takes a Philly Lady Lawyer to School the Left -On Abortion! Christine Flowers, Esq.

Milky Matthew and Olberbloat have somersaulted and minced the murder of Abortionist Dr. Tiller for the gals at Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood wants women to kill their kids, but Old Maggie Sanger said that it was a great way to clear the path of ugly, wrong-race, dumb, and bothersome human beings. It's a Progressive thing.

Planned Parenhood has even tweaked the English language - abortion is now 'women's health.'

Planned Parenthood and its satellite loud-mouths demand that abortion continue.

I have yet to meet a self-labeled Progressive who was not at core a to-the-bone self-absorbed jerk. Especially with regards to abortion. Most people find killing a child at any stage in human development to be abhorrent. One of the best people I know, Christine Flowers, a lawyer in Philadelphia who has championed the unborn for years, writes a column for Philadelphia Daily News that smacks back at the Progressive group think in her neck of the woods. Planned Prenhood can not get to this smart, tough and centered woman!


In all the goofiness surrounding Dr. Tiller's murder by a a guy with more than a few bricks shy of load, we occasionally get a sound and thoughtful voice. MSNBC is working OT on this one. Goofball, Chris 'Milky' Matthews went so far as to link Sarah Palin to Tiller's murder and then stretched it out to the 88 year old anti-Semite Von Braun.

Tip O'Neill tolerated Matthews? Can't see that.

Yet, Ms. Flowers cuts deeply into the body of 'the facts' tossed by Matthews and other Agenda shills. This is an especially poignant cut from Christine Flowers' very sharp analysis of the Tiller milling:

The manipulation began the minute the news came out of Kansas. First was the nomenclature - the conspicuous absence of the word "abortionist." Tiller was described as an "abortion provider" (when he wasn't being canonized as a martyr). When is the last time a dentist was described as a "root-canal provider?" Or a cosmetic surgeon described as a "breast-enhancement provider"? Or a shrink as a "peace of mind provider"?

Apparently, "abortionist" still conjures up unsavory images of back alleys and bloody hangers, so the powers that be decided to sanitize the whole issue and present Tiller as the Albert Schweitzer of the (another great euphemism) "reproductive-health" movement.

Which brings me to the next bit of manipulation. Ignoring the fact that Tiller made a more than healthy living plying his trade, women's-rights activists waxed poetic about his "heroic" work on behalf of the most vulnerable.

Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood want them 'most vulnerable' dead.

Here is Philadelphia lawyer an columnist Christine Flowers:


Click my post title for more from this honest and tough woman.