{"id":981,"date":"2009-01-17T16:14:18","date_gmt":"2009-01-17T16:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2009\/01\/how-cold-was-it-in-alabama.html"},"modified":"2009-01-17T16:14:18","modified_gmt":"2009-01-17T16:14:18","slug":"how-cold-was-it-in-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2009\/01\/how-cold-was-it-in-alabama.html","title":{"rendered":"How cold was it in Alabama?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pretty cold…
\n\"Iced\"<\/a>
\nI know, I know..de nada <\/em>for those in truly frigid parts. Still, it was pretty. I never did get\u00a0 to see Niagara Falls in the winter..this will have to do for now.
\n(Courtyard, Cathedral of St. Paul, Birmingham, AL)
\nToday was a busy day, and it’s only 2pm.
\nWe began very early as Katie and I rose at 6:15, and headed to a local Applebee’s where her theater academy<\/a> was holding a pancake breakfast fundraiser. Fundraising for their trip to Edinburgh this summer to perform in the American High School Theatre Festival (held at the same time as the Fringe Festival)<\/a>. I did very little work – I wasn’t really needed – but spent most of the time chatting with folks, including those in charge about the marvelous timing of a getting involved in a huge project requiring a lot of $$$$ just as the economy tanks. Small consolation: the gaining dollar against the pound (at this point).
\nThen it was off to the Cathedral where Michael and the Boyz were waiting for us, to a Respect Life Mass, Bishop Baker presiding. This was the first year they had held such a Mass, they didn’t know what to expect…and the Cathedral was full. Very nice Mass, including an effective homily in which Bishop Baker pulled together St. Anthony’s battle against evil, the fact that when Lyndon Baines Johnson took office, many thought that was a death-knell for the civil rights movement, a reminder of the truth of what Jesus said in the Gospel- with God all things are possible – and a strong reminder that the fight for civil rights has not ended, as long as the unborn are deprived the right to life.
\nAfter Mass, it was time to head a few blocks south to Bryant Park where a rally preceding the annual March for Life was beginning. The rally was a bit long, especially considering the temperature, but even then, it was a marvelous opportunity to be in the presence of a great group of witnesses and finally meet some wonderful people who Michael’s been telling me about.
\nSome photos:
\n\"Oremus\"<\/a>
\nAt prayer
\n\"Oremus\"<\/a>
\nBishop Baker leading prayer
\n\"Franciscan<\/a>
\nFranciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word.
\nThere were many religious there from various orders, as well as diocesan priests and chancery employees.
\n\"The<\/a>
\nThe opposition, gathered in front of a local abortion facility. You can’t really see it (maybe you can if you click on the photo for a large version), but the woman in the red jacket in the middle is holding a small dog.
\nThat was thought-provoking.
\nFinally, the Jesus Guy was there:
\n\"Jesus<\/a>
\n\"Jesus<\/a>
\nReally. Click here for more about the Jesus Guy. <\/a>
\nIt was useful to have him around, to be able to say to your children, complaining about the cold, “See, he’s not wearing shoes, and he’s not complaining…” A vivid way of saying “offer it up.”
\nWhen Jesus Came to Birmingham…<\/em><\/a>
\nPray for the little ones, pray for all the women and girls grappling with what they see as distressing news.
\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pretty cold… I know, I know..de nada for those in truly frigid parts. Still, it was pretty. I never did get\u00a0 to see Niagara Falls in the winter..this will have to do for now. (Courtyard, Cathedral of St. Paul, Birmingham, AL) Today was a busy day, and it’s only 2pm. We began very early as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHow cold was it in Alabama? - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2009\/01\/how-cold-was-it-in-alabama.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How cold was it in Alabama? - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pretty cold… I know, I know..de nada for those in truly frigid parts. Still, it was pretty. I never did get\u00a0 to see Niagara Falls in the winter..this will have to do for now. (Courtyard, Cathedral of St. Paul, Birmingham, AL) Today was a busy day, and it’s only 2pm. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}