2010, here we come

To be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s. Maybe it is because I’m not one for drinking and staying up past ten. Or maybe it is because all of the excitement and apprehension makes me a little nervous. Or maybe it is because I’ve never understood the idea of making New Year’s resolutions (I’m more of the daily resolution type). Or maybe it is because I’m already so exhausted from Christmas that one more party seems unbearable.

Regardless of my anti-New Year’s philosophy, when New Year’s rolls around every year, I rally. I go to parties with friends. I watch Dick Clark and the ball drop. I kiss my partner at midnight. I drink a glass of cranberry juice and peach schnapps, having the bartender top the same drink off with cranberry juice throughout the night. And I sing the first few words to Auld Lang Syne, before realizing those are the only words I know.

But the next morning, I don’t feel any different. Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 hold the same joys and challenges, responsibilities and regrets. And I wonder how it might feel to be someone who puts more stock in New Year’s. Would I wake up on Jan. 1 filled with a little hope and promise?

So, this year, I’m looking at New Year’s from a new angle. 2009 was great in many ways. President Obama was sworn into office. Same-sex marriage was passed in the District of Columbia. The Vatican came out against criminalizing homosexuality. Thousands of Catholics have rallied around women religious during the investigation. Healthcare reform got off the ground. My partner and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We bought a house. We spent time with friends and family. We are employed and healthy. I even added a few new recipes to my somewhat limited cooking repertoire.

2009 was also tough. Unemployment was at an all-time high. The church hierarchy launched an investigation of women religious, while uplifting the priesthood. Same-sex marriage was defeated in Maine, thanks, in part, to the church hierarchy. Healthcare reform has been stripped down to almost-nothing. The United States is engaged in two wars and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has yet to be repealed. That house we bought was broken into, as was our new car. We had major issues with contractors during renovations. And some of those new recipes I tried out were utter failures.

The rollercoaster that was 2009 has filled me with the New Year’s spirit. I am ready for 2010. This is going to be my year, a better year, a more peaceful year. I can feel it.

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When I was little, I have to admit, that I was never thrilled that New Year’s Day was a holy day of obligation. I mean, four Masses during two weeks of vacation was not ideal through the eyes of a ten-year-old. But my new view on New Year’s has me thinking differently. We go to Mass on New Year’s Day to celebrate Mary, the Mother of God, the beacon of peace, so that we might pray for peace in our world and in our hearts and lives. It makes sense that as many are resolving to do better, be better and try harder to be good Christians, that we might pray to Mary to be our guide through this time of renewal.

Mary and the Christ Child are depicted in an icon from the chapel of All Saints Church in Lakeville, Minn. (CNS /Crosiers)Mary and the Christ Child are depicted in an icon from the chapel of All Saints Church in Lakeville, Minn. (CNS /Crosiers)With Mary as my guide, here are a few of my hopes and resolutions for 2010. I hope that healthcare passes and once it does, we start working on comprehensive immigration reform. I hope the attorney general in my home state of Maryland decides to recognize same-sex marriages from out-of-state. I hope that the United States pulls out of Iraq and Afghanistan and show the world what peace means. I hope that more people will be able to find meaningful employment. I hope that my partner and I celebrate our second wedding anniversary filled with happiness and love. I hope that we remain safe and healthy and employed. I resolve to eat healthier and exercise more often, to make more art and play more music, to be outside more often, to pray more and to take time to appreciate all that I have. And I resolve to add even more recipes to my collection.

Mary, the Mother of God, made the ultimate resolution back in the day. But she did not leave the rest up to fate or providence. Resolutions are challenges. Mary followed through on hers. I am going to try my best to follow through on mine, knowing that some days, it may be hard to get out of my warm bed to go to the gym or easier to pick up Chipotle on my nights to cook. On those days, I’ll just have to remember that my conception wasn’t as immaculate as Mary’s and try harder the next day.

With all of its challenges and promises, I’m ready for 2010. What are your hopes for the New Year?

I sometimes wonder. I am

I sometimes wonder. I am Catholic. I am also homosexual. I also follow (or at least try to follow) what the Church teaches concerning chastity. I do not support same-sex marriage, on constitutional as well as religious grounds. And as far as I know, I'm neither ssexually repressed nor excessively self-hating. Is there room enough for me? Or must I fit the confines of a gay marriage supporting, sexually active propronent of Dignity (and similar organizations)? I, for one, think that in NCR has "Catholic" in their title, they should have a columnist that espouses a Catholic view of sexuality, at least for the sake of open-minded discussion. And I apologize if I've chosen the wrong place to express this idea.

Sounds to me like you might

Sounds to me like you might never have been in love. Deeply loving another person changes everything. Once that happens it's not about the other person being an exclusive object of sexual desire. Not at all.

I have loved. Chastity has

I have loved. Chastity has never been a hindrance to love, but a way of loving authentically, of giving self, rather than taking another. It was deeply loving someone, and more importantly -- someone deeply loving me, which caused me to, feebly and often failing, to try to live chastely.

God bless you for trying to

God bless you for trying to bear your crosses with courage and integrity. I will pray for you.

Great Post! Sadly there

Great Post! Sadly there doesn't seem to be any room for you in the new "inclusive" church that the NCR and it's audience wish to will into existence. The good news is you have a Church that supports you, despite what others would have you believe.

On a side note, I have been quite harsh in my criticism of this "young catholics" column. Mainly because it only gives a vocal minority view of the young Church. If you look at it's authors you will see that most of them are linked to Call-to-Action. My problem with the column isn't that I disagree with almost everything that is written, but that they don't have any variety whatsoever.

Hearing an opinion like yours would be insightful and promote a good dialogue on many of these topics. The NCR seems to champion the idea of dialogue, but not in their publication. Hypocrisy thy name is NCR.

I am grateful for this feed

I am grateful for this feed and its honesty! I identify as a straight, allied, progressive Catholic woman who opposes both abortion AND male-centered medical and political systems (so where does that leave me!?). I think it is the intersectionality of many different circles of identity that can make our journeys lonely as people of faith. I, too, agree that sometimes NCR focuses on uplifting marginalized populations to the point of excluding (though unintentionally) others.

In this case, isn't our faith, in its most stripped-down form, wonderful? I rely on the meal at God's table as being the place where I am welcomed for all of my identities and invited to give voice to them and feed them all equally.

Eucharist: the meal where so many differences are both celebrated/kept distinct and become equalized in our common identity as children of God! Now, if only we could equalize the politics and systems of oppression in the structures surrounding this table...

Thank you all for your dialogue, and thank you to NCR for at least beginning to give voice, specifically, to the young person's demographic.

I am an Anglican Christian

I am an Anglican Christian and an opponent against any new Comprehensive Immigration reform and this is why?

another travesty of COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM OR "AMNESTY." on the overtaxed American people. It almost defies any rational logic for these morons introducing immigration reform, when 15 million Americans are out scouting for a job. Due to neglect of decades of pandering politicians to non-enforcement of our undermanned, poorly constructed border fence or the 1986 immigration law. It is my decision to pas it along to all readers, otherwise it may not get the necessary publicity to show the disintegration of a society, culture and even our language. Its almost incomprehensible that University professors would abet and condone illegal immigration with designing GPS systems, making it easier for illegal immigrants to steal American jobs. But then the majority that are teaching the Students are Liberal-Marxist, left wingers.

These people must live in a bubble that think illegal immigrants do not have an impact on American citizens.

You have watched an economy tank, with outlandish reasoning, but no one is talking about the facts:

The main serious issue is irreversible Overpopulation:

It is imperative that we realize that if we keep on allowing the importation of foreign nationals on the scale that is happening today. The consequences as stated by the [United States Population Projections: 2000 to 2050 by Jennifer M. Ortman and Christine E. Guarneri of the Census Bureau]“… a greater number of migrants arriving in the United States will correspond to a larger increase in the size of the total population. Under the assumption of a high level of net international migration, the population is expected to grow to 458 million by 2050. … “ The the late U.S. Senator Teddy Kennedy, the United States added 100 million to its population via immigration. Before that time, we enjoyed 194 million in 1963. Today, we slog forward with 309 million on our way to 438 million in four decades, said Frosty Wooldridge, an acknowledged columnist. Poverty and hunger is rampant now in America, with shortages of drinking water and electricity outages are our dismal future, if we don't halt illegal immigration. For the record thousands of Vietnam warriors are homeless, veterans of other wars , fatherless Mothers with children and Senior citizens on low income, worrying about sharing their pitiful pensions with Bush's Social Security funds, that are on-hold for totalization with the corrupt government South of the border.

1. Emergency room closures
a) There was once a superb safety net for emergency healthcare to indigent Americans, that has dried up in many communities, because the hospitals could not afford to service them any longer, some would have us believe that illegal immigration had nothing to do with it, when hundreds and thousands of undocumented residents flooded the doors, and in many cases as a source of primary care.

b) American born women under the age of 50 are no longer offered mammograms because of the cost, even though it is factual that more women under the age of 50 are being detected with suspicious findings, but rather then taking illegal residents off the rolls of CDP and other grants to detection, they cut off Americans.

2. Welfare
The vast majority of illegal parents to citizen children, flock to another safety net dedicated to protecting Americans from physical and financial detriment, where billions of dollars flow in, and do not circulate in the US because many of the dollars are shipped to their native countries to support the poor people there. Huge numbers of illegal immigrants file tax returns using phony Social Security numbers to cash in on the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, thanks to lax government management said Ed Rubenstein, a financial analyst and economist. "As a result, illegal aliens actually receive the EITC at even greater rates than legal immigrants,. The IRS makes little or no effort to verify the authenticity of Social Security numbers, or existence of Dependant children. This makes it possible for illegal immigrants to claim children still living in Mexico as dependents and for parents living illegally in the U.S. to file separate returns claiming the same children as dependents under the EITC. The EITC was created to boost work incentives for poor families with children. Childless households received a maximum $438 payment in 2008, while the maximum available to families with two or more children was $4,824. From a distance, the EITC looks like a winner,” he said. “The devil is in the details. For starters, the program is dominated by fraud. Illegal immigrant households are more than three times as likely to receive EITC than native-born American households." Rubenstein said

3. Education
American children that should be preparing for the global competitive market, are being held back educationally because primary education is now catering to bring children that are further behind up to speed. Class room overcrowding, results in the hiring of under staffed, under qualified teachers to manage a baby sitting sector rather than educating.

4. Housing
The media did not cover the facts that thousands of illegal immigrants owned homes that went into the red, and they were allowed to simply walk away, while Americans in the same situation had to undergo financial ruin, bankruptcy, and other unfortunate situation. Non profits and other organizations like NACA helped these people get in the door, and tax payers are footing the bill.

5. Infrastructure
With any degree of logic, any individual will understand, if you design a freeway, bridge, building, house, etc. designed to support a certain number of people, will accelerates structure corrosion, if you add more abundantly. Place your attention on the History International TV cable channel. Starting this week , they are showing "THE CRUMBLING OF AMERICA" .Our country is 12 trillion dollars in debt, because we support the rest of the world. Our nation is progressively turning into a third world ghetto and no longer a creditor nation.

6. Traffic
What used to take Americans a few minutes to get to and from work, has been doubled if not tripled which takes quality time from families, drives up cost of oil, and gasoline, because of the buy and demand nature of business, adds more pollution to the air, and reduces spending in local shops because of the time lost.

7. Crime
The cost of housing convicted non citizens would have paid for the border fence twice, added more border personnel on the northern and southern borders to boot. which would be an added protection considering America is a marked nation.

ID theft, is the number one violation, because it defrauds the federal government when non existent socials are in play, and drastically affects the quality of life for Americans that are victimized, because there is no legislation to protect American citizens from the consequences of the governments failure to protect them from collection agencies, dept collectors, credit card companies that did not have secure networks, and the social security administration that did not flag socials used twice or more times for employment, which pays more on the back end. Even I was--NOT --Immune to ID theft, as somebody in Dallas Texas was using my Social at a some kind of private investigative office. I contacted the SSA passing on these details, so they could clear up this mess.

8. Assimilation
Many illegal immigrants have no desire to assimilate with American culture, I mean look at Mr. Gutierrez, who fights harder for the rights non citizens then he does for his native constituents. Many fly non American flags, which is a basic slap in the face to Americans that would support reform otherwise.

9. English
Our elected officials have turned a deaf ear to Americans that are blatantly being discriminated against when companies policy hiring bilingual only employees, there are only too populations of citizens in America that are allowed this unfortunate bias, ex-cons, and non dual language speaking Americans.

10. Wages
How many reports do you need, before you realize many unscrupulous employers are using the illegal alien situation to drive down wages and benefits? How many small contractors have been undercut in bids for jobs, only to find that their competitor is using foreign labor?

To every elected officials that puts a greater onus on protecting the non legal rights of non citizens above the legal rights of Americans are in the wrong business, and should consider in the ethical reasoning of national security, populous representation, simply because it was the populous that sent you to office to represent their best interest, to step down, seek office in your hearts respective country, and allow individuals with the same passion you have for your people, to represent Americans with the same tenacity.
Thank you Mario for this fact sheet, along with my contributions. Tell everybody you know who condemns any possibility of forcing on the American people another AMNESTY, to call their ignorant lawmaker. The Capitol Switchboard's telephone number is 202-224-3121. REMEMBER TO SEND IN YOUR 28Cent POSTCARDS NOW! WE MUST DEFEAT THIS IMMIGRATION REFORM PACKAGE. Those who believe in America’s survival, without OVERPOPULATION as stated by the US Census bureau better read facts at NUMBERSUSA not the lies spawned by open border entities. Those who want details of corruption in WASHINGTON and state government go to JUDICIAL WATCH. Overpopulation, traffic chaos, infrastructure erosion should go to CAPSWEB.

Lest you forget, so-called

Lest you forget, so-called "illegal aliens" are human beings, created in the image and likeness of God. To de-humanize them for the sake of higher wages is sinful.

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