Abp. Burke and St. Stan’s
Tweet ThisI couldn't have said it any better than Mr. Archibold.
Please join in the prayer of thanksgiving... and for reconciliation.
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From the daddy of the 2 1/2 year old
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Some fun & cute updates about Thomas Xavier...
- His favorite part of the Mass is currently the Gloria. He won't go to
Mass without giving persistent reminders that he wants us to be sure he knows when it's time for the Gloria. And then he loves to put his whole heart and soul into singing it. It's really, truly something else.
- He LOVED the incense this last weekend at Father Robert's ordination. He hasn't stopped talking about it, and it's certainly his most-used new word. He says he loved the smell of it, uses his flyer of the Cathedral to walk us through (on the map) the route that the incense took, and consistently reminds us of how much he loved it. Tonight, he told me "help me pray." Secretly, I think that the 2 1/2 year old "gets it" more than some graying lay liturgists.
- He really gets a kick out of Father Robert. True, until now it was Father Jeff. Perhaps he loves most the youngest priest he knows at any point in time. But every night when I say prayers with him, we include a prayer for each of the priests he knows. Usually that has included Father Larry, Father Pat, and Father Jeff. Tonight we got to add Father Robert and when we got to him in our prayers, he promptly grew a huge smile and said "Yes, Father Robert. LOVE Father Robert!" You could tell that he really did get a kick out of Father Robert. What a great kid!
- He was a big help in the garden yesterday. Between swings at the softball on his tee and attempts at washing everything he could with the hose and nozzle, he helped plant seeds for about 27 green bean plants. Although I think he's perplexed that we weren't able to pick green beans today when he helped me plant the seeds yesterday. But that doesn't really matter, because EVERYTHING that happened in the past is "yesterday" to him right now.
These are the little moments and stories that make being a dad one of the best things in life. Coming soon: some stories on the ever-growing Matthew James, who just started to army crawl more than his body length today.
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I Am Origen
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Which Church Father am I? Well, apparently, I am Origen.
"You do nothing by half-measures. If you're going to read the Bible, you want to read it in the original languages. If you're going to teach, you're going to reach as many souls as possible, through a proliferation of lectures and books. If you're a guy and you're going to fight for purity... well, you'd better hide the kitchen shears."
Find out which Church Father YOU are at The Way of the Fathers.
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Fr. Robert Lampitt
Tweet ThisWe're fresh back from the road and unpacking from a FANTASTIC and VERY BLESSED weekend with family & friends in Peoria, IL, where we were honored to be a part of the festivities surrounding the Ordination of Father Robert Lampitt to the Holy Priesthood.
Robert & I grew up together in scouting, and Robert was a year behind me (& two years behind Suzanne) in school at Holy Family and GCHS. Yesterday, he was ordained a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.
We drove up on Friday with a van-full of luggage, Suzanne, me, Thomas Xavier, Matthew James, and Michael's parents. And we returned home today.
It was a fantastic weekend, full of the movement of the Holy Spirit, of prayer and reflection, and of wonderful time together as family, about which many words can be written - so I'm going to organize it into a series of related blog posts this coming week. Look for the following topics:
- The Royal Priesthood
- The Heavenly Banquet
- My Vocation: Husband & Worker
- Old Meets New
God bless everyone - it's good to be home. Please join us in saying prayers for the new priest, Father Robert Lampitt.
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GIMA tomorrow night!
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If you're in or connected to the industry (which includes most of my current and past coworkers, of course), please register and come out and join the event! It'd be great to see you!
The panelists (from the GIMA website):
Tim Doolittle
Tim Doolittle is the Vice President of Marketing Science for Charter Communications where he is responsible for Charter's direct marketing infrastructure, customer research, customer analytics, marketing performance measurement, and marketing finance. Mr. Doolittle has over 18 years experience in corporate finance, marketing strategy, marketing analytics, and direct marketing. His recent focus has been the development and application of customer specific insights to drive profitable revenue growth.
Prior to joining Charter Communications, Mr. Doolittle worked in management consulting with Ernst & Young, The Peppers & Rogers Group and most recently with CSC as a Principal in Customer Intelligence practice, specializing in customer interaction strategy.
As a consultant, Mr. Doolittle has worked with a variety of companies such as DIRECTV, SBC, Disney, Compaq, Schering Plough, The Vanguard Group, MetLife, Aramark, Cabela's, and Office Max. Mr. Doolittle holds a B.S. from the University of Missouri and an M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Michael Halbrook
Omniture Consultant Michael Halbrook has been involved in interactive media in the St. Louis area for over 10 years. A decade ago, he managed and built the first websites for KPNT (105.7 The Point), WVRV (101.1 The River), and KXOK (97.1 The Rock.) He then moved into production, managing Interactive media projects and production for dozens of corporate clients at Avatar Studios. On the agency side of the business, he was a new media analyst and strategist at Rodgers Townsend, helping to grow the interactive discipline at RT, especially as a direct media discipline.
Seeing the power of the knowledge and analysis to support business decisions surrounding interactive media, he made the leap to a full-time analysis role. With media, production, and agency experience under his belt, he now supports Omniture Discover OnPremise customers as a business analyst and technical consultant.
His primary focus is on using Omniture Discover OnPremise to develop models for measuring and analyzing clients' online marketing and advertising efforts and the related web click stream data. His current client engagements include AT&T, Target, Cisco, Discover Financial, and Wells Fargo.
Colleen Zurliene
Senior Product Manager for Marketing Technologies at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. One of her areas of expertise is customer behavior tracking and analytics. In this capacity she plays a leadership technology role in implementation and ongoing management of various analytic tools used at Enterprise. These tools include a custom web logging and reporting application, CoreMetrics web analytics and the company's direct marketing database.
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Need to lower blood pressure? Join the Schola!
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From The Daily Mail in the U.K.:
"Gregorian chanting 'can reduce blood pressure and stress'"
Stress levels could be reduced simply by participating in some Gregorian chanting, researchers claimed today.
Dr Alan Watkins, a senior lecturer in neuroscience at Imperial College London, revealed that teaching people to control their breathing and applying the musical structure of chanting can help their emotional state.
He said: "We have recently carried out research that demonstrates that the regular breathing and musical structure of chanting can have a significant and positive physiological impact."
The research involved five monks having their heart rate and blood pressure measured throughout a 24-hour period.
Results showed their heart rate and blood pressure dipped to its lowest point in the day when they were chanting.
Dr Watkins pointed to previous studies that also demonstrated such practices have been shown to lower blood pressure, increase performance hormone levels as well as reduce anxiety and depression.
The lecturer also runs Cardiac Coherence Ltd, a company that helps executives perform under stressful conditions.
He said: "The control of the breathing, the feelings of wellbeing that communal singing bring, and the simplicity of the melodies, seem to have a powerful effect on reducing blood pressure and therefore stress."
"We have found that teaching individuals to control their breathing, generate more positive emotional states and connect better with those around them ? all key aspects of Gregorian chanting ? can significantly improve their mental state, reduce tension, and increase their efficiency in the workplace."
Record company Universal recently chose the monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, Vienna to make an album after responding to a public interest in the genre.
The company also believes the Halo computer game series, available on PCs and Xbox consoles, sparked a resurgence in the music traditionally sung in male church choirs, as Gregorian chant-like melodies form the main soundtrack of the games.
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The Manival IV (that’s “4″, not “I.V.”)
Tweet ThisManival IV is live - this week it's hosted another of my favorite blogs, The Art of Manliness.
Among my favorites this week:
- "Avoid Cheating, Wandering Eyes" (the Editor's pick) from Cory's A Good Husband blog.
- "A Memo from the Office of Steven R. Lawlor, CPA, to Indiana Jones" (HILARIOUS)
- "The Best Part of Putting My Son to Bed"
One that wasn't in Manival, but that I ran across and loved this week and want to share is well, was "How to Be a Man." A great reminder of some great things to keep in mind and abide by.
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Some Prayer Requests
Tweet ThisIf you could spare a moment in your prayers the next few days, please say a prayer for:
- A couple friend of ours who is undergoing some hardship and a separation in their marriage.
- A young man & family friend who's going through some health challenges.
Thanks, as always!
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100 Must-Read Books: Essential Man’s Library
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This blog post - over at Art of Manliness - caught my attention and quickly zoomed onto my personal little "Top 5 Blog Posts of All Time" (although I can't name the other 4 off the top of my head.)
Although I think that the Bible should have been listed first (and I and several other commenters have noted that), it's still a great list, and reading through it brought back some GREAT memories of reading those books - from the way my imagination painted the stories to the places I was and the people I was with in life as I was reading them.
It also added a few more to my list of "I should read this book" books. Check it out.
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In the Wild (sort of)
Tweet ThisI'll do another reminder early next week, but wanted to give everyone a heads-up that I'll be a panelist at the GIMA (Gateway Interactive Marketing Association) panel on Web Analytics next Wednesday evening at Monarch in Maplewood, representing Omniture. If you're interested, please join us!
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This is the online home of Michael Halbrook, Suzanne Halbrook, and their growing family. We're a family of five living out our Catholic faith and vocation in the St. Louis, Missouri area.
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- finished The Musical Shape of the Liturgy by William Peter Mahrt and gave it 5 stars http://t.co/pXmMTXlh #Kindle
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