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Due to several requests we have received since the Catholic Liturgical Library went down about the practice of removing holy water from fonts during Lent, I am reposting the official answer here. The Library should be back up tomorrow. Can the holy water be removed from fonts during Lent? No. Here is a letter from the Congregation for Divine Worship responding to this question on 3/14/03: Prot. N. 569/00/L Dear Father: This Congregation for Divine Worship has received your letter sent by fax in which you ask whether it is in accord with liturgical law to remove the Holy Water...

Going solar isn’t necessarily any protection from California’s new “planned” power outages, and local residents and businesses are enduring a lot more than just a few inconveniences. Bloomberg’s Chris Martin has a story on California’s troubles with one of my favorite headlines ever: “Californians Learning That Solar Panels Don't Work in Blackouts.” Apparently, many of California’s would-be Earth-savers had no idea that just putting solar panels on their roofs doesn’t mean they’ll have power when PG&E switches it off. As Martin explains:

The move comes about a month after Melendez resigned as assistant leader of the Assembly Republican Caucus. Melendez said she could no longer work with Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley after he voted in favor of extending California’s Cap-and-Trade Program to 2030. Mayes’ vote outraged conservatives who argue that cap-and-trade boosts already-high gas prices. He is facing calls from two Republican National Committee members and Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach, among others, to step down as leader of the Assembly’s GOP minority.

It should be the obligation of older citizens to try to improve the prospects for their successors. But, here in California, as seen in a new report issued by the Chapman Center for Demographics and Policy, we seem to have adopted an agenda designed to make things tougher for them.Millennials everywhere face many challenges. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that, even when working full-time, they earn $2,000 less than the same age group made in 1980. Nationwide, a millennial with a college degree and college debt, according to a recent analysis of Federal Reserve data, earns about the same as...

Brown's reign of madness over California. Halting Brown foolish hysteria is only the first step in saving California. Climate change is California Gov. Jerry Brown’s “crusade,” his jihad, his holy war. Yet Gov. Brown’s climate change and drought policy is flooded with a manic madness - never has his manic obsession with climate change been more evident. California’s drought conditions are actually historically normal; water shortages are created by incompetent and scheming government In March on Meet the Press, after declaring Ted Cruz unfit to run for president because of his views on climate change, Brown said, “We are running...

<p>A California Democrat has proposed a bill that would raise the state’s minimum smoking age from 18 to 21 in an effort to keep cigarettes out of the hands of teenagers.</p> <p>State Sen. Ed Hernandez introduced Senate Bill 151, which would make California the first state in the country to raise the minimum smoking age to 21. Similar proposals have previously failed in New Jersey, Utah, Colorado and Maryland.</p>

If eggs are a staple in your family’s diet and you’d like to keep it that way, now would be a good time to get a few laying hens. Next month, beginning January 1, 2015, the chicken-and-egg production in the United States is in for a big shock. That’s when California’s new regulations on egg-laying hens goes into effect. And the effects of those regs on eggs will be felt nationally, even globally. The incredible, edible, prolate spheroid-shaped poultry product, which has long been one of the most affordable sources of high-quality protein, is certain to become significantly more expensive.In...

Gov. Jerry Brown signed historic groundwater legislation Tuesday, imposing new rules in the Golden State that could limit how much water commercial and residential users are allowed to pump from underground aquifers — a move decades in the works, spurred this year by California’s drought. The new laws, which take effect in January, will require local government officials to ensure use of groundwater basins is sustainable, protecting underground reserves and averting other environmental damage. The regulations could have a ripple effect on thousands of farmers and ranchers across the North Coast.

On Friday, the California State Assembly outdid itself. You can always count on the leftist leaders of what is supposed to be the “people’s house” never lets a crisis go to waste. With the passage of AB 1739 (Dickinson-D), SB 1168 (Pavley-D), and SB 1319 (Pavley-D), 100 years of history was reversed. The authors painted a grim picture of California’s groundwater future. Most of what they said is true. The only problem they didn’t bother to tell you two key truths: 1.It was these same so-called leaders who give up our seat—the property owner and the farmer’s place at the...

In California, it may soon be legal for gay men to list themselves as “mother” on birth certificates, and similarly, for lesbians to cite themselves as “father.” Or, the gay parent could simply opt for the more generic label of “parent,” The Associated Press reported. That’s because lawmakers on Thursday passed through the state Assembly with a 51-13 vote a measure to “modernize” the definition of the family to reflect same-sex unions.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are beginning to back away from a new law that bans bare-hand contact with food in restaurants and bars, with the Assembly Health Committee voting unanimously Tuesday to repeal and revisit the regulation. The vote follows opposition from chefs and bartenders who say they were taken off guard by the new regulation. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill last year requiring restaurant workers to wear gloves or use utensils when handling ready-to-eat food, including the rice in a sushi roll and the mint in a mojito.

snip I wanted to share it with you. Check it out: Who doesn’t enjoy a good BarBQue with friends? When I was asked to a young couple’s home for a Young Adult Ministry Home Mass and BarBQue I packed my Mass kit and off I went. I arrived about 6:00 pm with a hearty appetite and was greeted by about 15 young people. Then the phone rang and everything changed. I had to drive about 10 miles to a hospital where there was an emergency call. I drove quickly, thinking that the nurse in charge of the ER, Anne, would...

Psalm 28:3 ``The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered, The Lord is upon many waters." Water Numbers 5:17 "And he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle into it."   For the Christian, water, as the matter of Baptism, is life. Tertullian (b. 160), making a play on words based on the Greek acrostic ICQUS , or Ichthys, meaning "fish" and indicating "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour", wrote in "De Baptismo," "But we, little fishes, after...

Auburn, Wash., June 11--The Rev. Lee Phillips attempts to nurture his flock through a religious philosophy that draws from Christianity, yoga and classical meditation. And the occasional toke Phillips, a 52-year-old Auburn resident, says that his church, registered with the state as a non-profit known as The Center for Healing and Spiritual Renewal, mandates the use of marijuana for "healing, communion, spiritual unity and physical well-being." He is ordained by the Religion of Jesus Church, founded in Hawaii 40 years ago, as a "cannabis sacrament minister." Call him a minister of marijuana. In addition to its religious significance for him,...