Sister Helen Jean Everett Obituary: View Helen Everett's Obituary by The Jersey Journal

Sister Helen Jean Everett Obituary: View Helen Everett's Obituary by The Jersey Journal


No longer will any child be terrorized by her.

Her mother was a wonderful woman and often wondered why her 2 daughters who were Sisters, especially Sr. Helen Jean, turned out the way they did. Even she was scared of her at times.

D'oh my heavens: Homer J. Simpson is Catholic, declares Vatican newspaper

Reuters

Tuesday, October 19th 2010, 4:00 AM

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/10/19/2010-10-19_doh_my_heavens_homer_j_simpson_is_catholic_declares_vatican_newspaper.html#ixzz12ncvdZci

See More The Simpsons Publicity Still at IGN.com

Homer, a Catholic? What would Rev. Lovejoy say?

"The Simpsons" just got a blessing from the Vatican.

The official Vatican newspaper has declared that beer-swilling, doughnut-loving Homer Simpson and son Bart are Catholics -- and what's more, it says that parents should not be afraid to let their children watch "the adventures of the little guys in yellow."

"Few people know it, and he does everything to hide it. But it's true: Homer J. Simpson is Catholic", the Osservatore Romano newspaper said in an article on Sunday headlined "Homer and Bart are Catholics."

The newspaper cited a study by a Jesuit priest of a 2005 episode of the show called "The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star". That study concludes that "The Simpsons" is "among the few TV programs for kids in which Christian faith, religion and questions about God are recurrent themes."

The middle class U.S. family prays before meals, and "in its own way, believes in the beyond," the newspaper quoted the Jesuit study as saying.

It's the second time the animated U.S. TV series, which is broadcast in 90 countries, has been praised by the Vatican.

In December 2009, the Osservatore Romano described the show as "tender and irreverent, scandalous and ironic, boisterous and profound, philosophical and sometimes even theological, nutty synthesis of pop culture and of the lukewarm and nihilistic American middle class."

"The Simpsons", which introduced the catch-phrase "D'oh", is the longest-running prime-time TV series in the United States and is now in its 22nd season.

Hit Me With A Clue Stick

Actually, I found out it's called the "club of condemnation" in Thin Within parlance. We're told not to beat ourselves up, but to "observe and correct" ourselves when we eat out of anything other than a zero-level hunger or fail to stop before we hit a 5.

But my God is not the flower-child, peace-love-happiness God of born again Christians. No, my God is the vengeful God of the Old Testament, the God who drowns babies, tortures Job and taunts Moses. This is why I had a hard time with Overeaters Anonymous, too. Ask God to help you? My God would toss me down on the ground, stomp on my head, and tell me to pull myself up and take care of my own problems, then like a Marine drill sergeant tell me to drop and give him 20 (Our Fathers, not push-ups in this case).

I spent the three day weekend following Thin Within - not eating until I hit a zero, stopping at 5 or below. I ate what I wanted to eat, including the cake my husband bought for Valentine's Day, even though I told him not to. "Trust God" and follow the rules? I broke the first rule and got on the scale this morning and saw I gained 3 1/2 pounds in the past 3 days. Yeah, this is the God I know. And I've spent the past decade trying to get rid of Him and accept the God within that Tao teaches.The more I read about Tao De Ching and the writings about Jesus Christ, the more I see that the writers of the Bible just rewrote a lot of the old Chinese writings to fit into a new religion, a new deity, just like they changed other pagan holidays and celebrations around to fit in Christmas and Easter with the pagan calendars.

What to do next? Continue along this track and trust that it all turns out right in the end? Trust God? Trust Tao? Trust Dr. McDougall? I already know I can't trust myself if weight loss is my goal.

Curses! Foiled Again!

I got taken in again with a weight loss plan. Don't eat until your hunger hits zero, stop eating when (or before) you hit a 5 out of 10, eat one bite more than what will satisfy your hunger and you're being a glutton and gluttony is one of the 7 Deadly Sins and you'll make Jesus and God cry, but God loves you anyway because he made Jesus die for you so remember this the next time you want to take a bite to eat if your hunger isn't exactly at zero but don't feel guilty about all this because God (and Jesus) loves you anyway.

ARGH!!

As I wrote in another post, it's an eating disorder waiting to happen, as not eating anything is the safest (theologically) thing to do. I just can't do this any more, even though I've only been doing it this way for a week and didn't even finish reading the Thin Within book and the other book hasn't even arrived yet. I'll probably continue with the reading, but I doubt it's going to change my mind.

Thin Within doesn't seem to be a good program for life-long Catholics. We're into rules and regulations, guilt, confession and punishments for our mis-deeds and sins, and if it's a sin to eat when not at zero or eating beyond a five, a Catholic not following the program 100% would be in confession and doing penance 24/7 and still walk around in a constant state of fear and guilt..

Perhaps I should go back to reading the Overcoming Overeating books, instead. No fear, no guilt, and you still learn to get back in touch with natural hunger signals without all these silly rules.

OK, if anyone has been reading this blog from the beginning many years ago (many posts have already been deleted, going back to 2001) you know that although I can curse like a sailor moonlighting as a truck driver, I'm a fairly devote Catholic. You also know that I've been on diets for the bulk of my 55+ years on this earth, 99.9% of them unsuccessful for weight loss, gaining weight while sticking strictly to the plan of the day (week, year, decade).

Insanity. Merriam-Webster definitions:

1: a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia)
2: such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility
3 a: extreme folly or unreasonableness b: something utterly foolish or unreasonable

Nah. Neither of these quite says what I want to say. I much prefer this one, one I've posted here many times before (Which is insanity in itself):

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein

Time to stop the cycle of insanity once and for all. What is insane is flitting from food plan to food plan, following all kinds of rules and regulations about what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat it. Eat this, not that. Don't eat this, eat that instead, but not too much. Eat all you want of this, never let a drop of that pass your lips.

Also insane is thinking I can eat everything that I want, as much as I want, whenever I want, and not suffer any health consequences from it. I know too much sugar causes a reactive hypoglycemia event. I know too much dairy gives me painful joints and clogged sinuses. I know too much salt will raise my blood pressure.

Notice I said "too much" of all of those foods.

I also know that by denying myself all of these things I will crave them, think about them constantly, and eventually eat them anyway and binge on them to the point of harming myself. Then feel not only sick but feel guilty.

ENOUGH!

Thinking about that guilt got me searching for another way of eating, one that will satisfy me physically, psychically, and now spiritually. Who here has not been moved spiritually by some food? Most women I know feel this way about chocolate!

I began investigating various faith-based weight loss programs. Weigh Down Workshops have been around for many years, but in this very-Catholic city of ours none of the few non-Catholic churches are running the program. I read the book when it first came out but laughed at the notion of stopping eating after one bite of food. I recently read that the philosophy of this program has changed so much that it's not quite a faith-based program as a shame- and scare-based one, with people being told they're going to burn in hell for taking one bite more than their body needed for physical nourishment. Sorry, WDW people, but my family and friends tried to shame me into weight loss as a kid and it just doesn't work. Also, I've read that the scripture has been twisted so much to fit their agenda that the originator started her own religion.

Catholics retaliated and there's now a Catholic faith-based program called Light Weigh, but unlike the other programs, this one doesn't have a book or literature so a person can do it at home, on their own, but must go to (and pay for) organized meetings. Many parishes won't allow non-parishioners to participate, I read (It's like that with everything our local churches sponsor in our city since before I was born). Doesn't matter, anyway, as none of the churches in our city sponsor one, anyway.

Then there's Thin Within. I was introduced to this program by a member of the 100-Plus group on Yahoogroups. She had been on it in the past, lost a good amount of weight, but still needed to lose more and lost faith, signing up for Weight Watchers for a year or so, but got so tied up in counting Points and obsessing over every little bite she returned to Thin Within and immediately felt more at ease and peaceful around food. She, too, is Catholic and found the program fits in with the teachings of the Church quite nicely. Thin Within is Christian based, and many members have been "born again," but the program can be followed by a Catholic with no threat to their faith.

I spent the past 4 days reading every post on the Thin Within official message board, and learned a lot. I ordered the books Thin Within and Get Thin, Stay Thin (also known by three other names, so be careful if ordering) from various Half.com vendors. I joined a mailing list and popped about a dozen Thin Within blogs into my Bloglines blog reader. I picked up my Bible and did some reading. I even ordered a Catholic prayerbook to keep in my purse to replace an OA book I have there now for reading when stuck in a waiting room or while sitting down the park. I own a few, but none small enough to carry around comfortably. Now I will.

And I'm not eating. Not totally, no. Just not eating for reasons other than a Zero-level hunger. And I'm not over-eating, either, but stopping at a 5. See The Program page from the official web site to see what the heck I'm talking about. Yes, I may be slightly hungry all the time, but as Sister Mary Martha would say, I just: "Offer it up to God."

I don't think I should say any more at this point. Once I've lived it a bit longer, read the books and blogs, and just live with myself eating this way for a while I'll post more. I will say this - it's certainly different from everything else I've tried in the past to handle my eating, that's for sure! But for now, I've got a lot to learn so I'll shut my mouth (and still my fingers).

NaPraGoMo 2008

The Ironic Catholic has started the second annual NaPraGoMo - National Pray to God Month.

Details can be found on this blog here.