My son and his beautiful bride were married on Saturday!!!!!!!
God blessed us all with a perfect sunny spring day. Everything with the Mass was magnificent- the music, the readings, Father’s very meaningful homily, the exchange of vows……..
Afterwards, we all enjoyed each other’s company at a lovely reception!
Plus, my daughter was able to arrange a home visit from the convent in order to be here for this family celebration! God is SO good!
My wife and I have an unborn baby boy – and our local priest, aged 32, will learn the older form of the baptism rite to baptise him. That’s what I call pastoral care!
Lucy: congratulations with the marriage of your son and now daughter-in-law.
My good news: married last Wednesday to my now beautiful and lovely husband. The day was absolutely perfect. We’re now getting the house ready for his stuff, since that would be quite handy since he moved in with me now :P
Attended my cousins wedding on Saturday :)
Most of my 43 cousins (and the assorted uncles and aunts) on my mothers side stayed in the same hotel and it was great being able to see everyone together.
I am very blessed to have such a gigantic and great family :)
I have two children who will be confirmed by Cardinal Burke this coming Friday. Please keep them and all the children in your prayers who will be getting confirmed that day.
My son Rob writes that he was the cross-bearer at a liturgy in St. Peter’s over the weekend. Later he played ping-pong with the pope. (I’m thinking that last part got garbled in translation.)
I served at the Mass for the conferral of Confirmation celebrated by Abp. Kurtz on Thursday and got to serve as Master of Ceremonies…I realized, quite sadly, that that was my last time serving under ‘usual circumstances’ (i.e. at my parish just showing up and vesting) at a Mass celebrated by him as my archbishop. And of course my little sister and her classmates were confirmed!
Only a few days left of school before senior activities!
Lots of good news to share, Father! Last weekend my third oldest son graduated from college (magna cum laude) and then the very next day he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Marines! Please pray for his safety as he serves our country.
This weekend my family traveled to New York for my nephew’s wedding. On Sunday six of my children (ages 13-27), one of my daughter-in-laws and me sang Missa Super: Ecce quam bonum by Hans Leo Hassler at my son’s parish in Rochester where he is cantor/choir director. 3 1/2 hours later we sang it again at the Latin Mass which was celebrating their 20th anniversary. What a joy for me as a musician to sing in a choir comprising of singers to (most of) whom I gave birth! The highlight of my year so far!!!
P.S. My son is the Schola director at the Latin Mass and it was a joy to hear the Schola sing the Propers under his direction.
Also, all of this good news will soon be superseded by the birth of our first grandchild sometime within the next two months!
My wife delivered our third son, Thomas Augustine, on Friday May 24, 2013, at 5:11AM. 7lbs, 11oz, 20.5inches long. Both the baby and my wife are in good health and doing great. I was able to get a 4 day weekend to spend with my wife and boys before going back to work tomorrow, which is a pretty good deal of time off for a surgical intern. God is good.
I was very happy yesterday morning when one of the Carmelite priests at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, at Holy Hill announced before Holy Communion that only Catholics in the state of grace and in full communion with the Church should come forth to receive and that non-Catholics should refrain for coming up for a blessing because everyone receives a final blessing at the end of Mass. I was thinking to myself that is one for Father Z’s brick by brick file!
My Cousin and his wife had their (first) baby son Damian baptised yesterday. The Church continues to grow with each new miracle. I’m praying they will be blessed with a quiver-full! Deo Gratias!
Congratulations, Atra Dicenda: MY wife delivered our fourth child and first daughter, Mairead, at 1:15 AM on Friday May 24, 2013, the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians.
Eat when you can, sleep when you can, don’t fool with the pancreas.
We just received a $42,000 grant to establish pro-life Catholic Hospice care services in our area. (We all need to think about what we can do to help fight euthanasia and offer alternatives that provide end of life care in accord with the Church’s teachings. )
I was recently appointed by Archbishop Aymond to serve as the Director and Professor of Homiletics at Notre Dame Seminary here in New Orleans. I will also be on the formation team and setting up some sort of writing clinic for the seminarians. Going to check out my new office tomorrow!
After taking church history classes for 2 years at an evangelical seminary north of Chicago, I have resign my pastor position. My wife and I are joining the Catholic church. Studying the history of the doctrine of the Eucharist and reading the church Fathers pushed us into the church. We are so filled with joy and excited.
I don’t know if this counts as good news but yesterday I got to do something I’ve been meaning to do for some time – I attended a Byzantine Eastern Rite Mass, or Divine Liturgy as they call it. It was beautiful! Longer than a NO Mass but it didn’t feel like it. It went by so smoothly and reverently. I’m going to try and attend their service once a month because it was a trek to get there, but it’s definitely worth it. I have one question though. Last Sunday they celebrated Pentecost like we do in the Western Rite, but yesterday instead of Trinity Sunday, they celebrated All Saints. I thought that was unusual because I thought we were on the same liturgical calendar?
My friend found somewhere to live – the situation is far from ideal, but he has a roof over his head. Laus Deo.
Not good news – our curate is leaving at the end of the summer. Good news – his replacement is already known to me as being orthodox, having ‘sanctuary sense’ and an excellent singer.
Jean Marie! Isn’t the Divine Liturgy heavenly? Why not try a visit during the Great Lent-as they call it? You are in for a real treat. Concerning the Eastern Catholic Churches-they have their own calendar but follow ours on most of the main feasts, including Easter and Christmas. Their lent starts two days before ours and is much more intense. However, when Pascha arrives-it is a whole lot of hooten and holleran and feasting until about 4 AM in the morning!
Everyone’s good news lifts our hearts. Congratulations to all newlyweds, new parents, confirmands, ordinands, appointees and birthday boys and girls!
After a unusually wet and cool spring, the garden is producing some warmer weather veggies.
Some of our parishioners are going to attend the FSSP ordinations in NE this weekend and one of the new priests will be visiting our EF week after next.
This weekend was the 50th Anniversary of the Ordination (Saturday) and Fist Holy Mass (Sunday) of our Pastor Emeritus, Rev. J. Thomas Connery. A good, faithful, holy man, 50 years a Priest of Christ!
On Divine Mercy Sunday I started the 54-Day Rosary Novena for a particular intention with no apparent results. Early this morning I received a clear and powerful sign that my prayers are being answered. Then tonight I found out that my father, who was baptized in the Church but left before making his First Communion (his parents became Pentecostals) is now considering becoming Catholic. I’d taken him to Mass with me a few times before, but he never expressed an interest in becoming Catholic (or coming home, rather). In fact, he always seemed kind of dead-set against it. I’m still kind of dumbfounded by this. Prayers for him would be great.
On a slightly more mundane note, I grilled chicken with some shipmates on our day off today. It was really good. Brined in salt and honey, and rubbed with a mixture of curry powder, chili powder, cocoa, and a few other things. Alton Brown’s recipe. Highly recommended.
Got a little home maintenance/repair work done.
Got a lot done getting our little yard and patio fit for use.
Was at the Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by one of our newly-ordained priests.
Had choir rehearsal tonight. Yeah, not the way I wanted to spend the last night of the holiday weekend, but it was sorely needed before our next Mass and concert – and it ended up being productive.
I got a new job working for a real estate firm as an IT Tech Guy and was able to finally put in my two weeks notice with the worst retail store I have ever had to work for. I’ll never shop at Staples again.
The first Traditional Latin Mass in over 40 years was celebrated at Mission Carmel, CA. on Pentecost. The Carmel Mission was destination of the 3rd. Annual Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Bethlehem, a 3 day Traditional pilgrimage from Mission San Juan Bautista to Mission Carmel. http://montereybayarea-tlm.blogspot.com/2013/05/pictures-from-3rd-annual-pilgrimage-to.html
Our Lady of Bethlehem, pray for us~
I’m so thankful for all of this good news; it’s very encouraging. Here’s mine: my eldest granddaughter came to spend the weekend with us. She told me “I think God wants me to be Catholic – may I go to Mass with you?” She attended her first-ever Mass with me on Sunday morning!
My family and I attended Our Lady of the Atonement (Anglican Use) Catholic Church in San Antonio. It was a balm to my soul. And my 16-year-old son wants to join the choir so he can learn from a “master,” traditional Church music.
The past few days have been very pleasant all around with a lot of little good things, and abnormally little bad. I’ll stick to what seems most relevant to post here. Last time Fr. Z put up a request for prayers post, I asked for prayers for my grandfather who’s been having all sorts of health problems lately. Tonight, I went to visit him in the physical therapy/rehab home that he’s currently in. I can’t remember when I last saw him so well. In a very short period of time, he went from being barely able to stand, and being so forgetful and confused that he could neither tell nor remember where he was, to being alert and energetic. He was walking around, sitting and standing, etc., as if he were young, and he could follow every conversation and was back to having his usual wit. Perhaps most importantly, he was really happy.
Thank you for the prayers. God’s grace and the hard work of the excellent caretakers he’s had (I’ve seen a lot of these places, and the nurses and other staff at this place are among the best I’ve ever seen) have worked wonders. I hadn’t dared to hope that he could “bounce back” so much so quickly. It’s a long road for him, but it’s going very well.
An abbey near me has made confession available one afternoon per week, primarily for the benefit of students at the adjoining Catholic university, but open to anyone. It’s been my “go-to” location for several months. This week I learned that confessions will continue through the summer and for the foreseeable future, without the originally planned summer hiatus. Deo gratias!
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“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf on Daily Rome Shot 1118: “In chessy news, the 45th Chess Olympiad ignited Wednesday in Budapest. 197 Teams are in the Open. Some teams couldn’t…”
Everyone, work to get this into your parish bulletins and diocesan papers.
The most evident mark of God’s anger and the most terrible castigation He can inflict upon the world are manifested when He permits His people to fall into the hands of clerics who are priests more in name than in deed, priests who practice the cruelty of ravening wolves rather than the charity and affection of devoted shepherds.
St. John Eudes
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“Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”
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“He [Satan] will set up a counter-Church which will be the ape of the Church because, he the devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the anti-Christ that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. In desperate need for God, whom he nevertheless refuses to adore, modern man in his loneliness and frustration will hunger more and more for membership in a community that will give him enlargement of purpose, but at the cost of losing himself in some vague collectivity.”
“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops.”
“The modern habit of doing ceremonial things unceremoniously is no proof of humility; rather it proves the offender's inability to forget himself in the rite, and his readiness to spoil for every one else the proper pleasure of ritual.”
- C.S. Lewis
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As for Latin…
"But if, in any layman who is indeed imbued with literature, ignorance of the Latin language, which we can truly call the 'catholic' language, indicates a certain sluggishness in his love toward the Church, how much more fitting it is that each and every cleric should be adequately practiced and skilled in that language!" - Pius XI
"Let us realize that this remark of Cicero (Brutus 37, 140) can be in a certain way referred to [young lay people]: 'It is not so much a matter of distinction to know Latin as it is disgraceful not to know it.'" - St. John Paul II
Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
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My son and his beautiful bride were married on Saturday!!!!!!!
God blessed us all with a perfect sunny spring day. Everything with the Mass was magnificent- the music, the readings, Father’s very meaningful homily, the exchange of vows……..
Afterwards, we all enjoyed each other’s company at a lovely reception!
Plus, my daughter was able to arrange a home visit from the convent in order to be here for this family celebration! God is SO good!
It’s my day off
My wife and I have an unborn baby boy – and our local priest, aged 32, will learn the older form of the baptism rite to baptise him. That’s what I call pastoral care!
Lucy: congratulations with the marriage of your son and now daughter-in-law.
My good news: married last Wednesday to my now beautiful and lovely husband. The day was absolutely perfect. We’re now getting the house ready for his stuff, since that would be quite handy since he moved in with me now :P
Lot’s of good news for the Dominicans!
1) 18 men have been accepted for the 2013 novitiate class for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph (photos & bios coming soon) – Deo gratias!
2) Six Friars Ordained to the Holy Priesthood of Jesus Christ on May 24 (N.B. the tabernacle restored back to middle in sanctuary at St. Dominic’s in DC just in time for ordinations)
3) Dominican Rite Mass in Columbus, Ohio on August 4
4) Nine Friars to profess Solemn Vows “usque ad mortem” in on August 10
5) And a number of other summer vocation events!
Today is my birthday. I started it off right by going to Mass and spending a bit of time in the adoration chapel.
(You want to feel old, Fr. Z? I was born the day after you were ordained a priest. :P)
Being present to see one little girl receive her First Holy Communion at the TLM at my tiny little parish in the Bronx, NYC.
Attended my cousins wedding on Saturday :)
Most of my 43 cousins (and the assorted uncles and aunts) on my mothers side stayed in the same hotel and it was great being able to see everyone together.
I am very blessed to have such a gigantic and great family :)
I have two children who will be confirmed by Cardinal Burke this coming Friday. Please keep them and all the children in your prayers who will be getting confirmed that day.
My son Rob writes that he was the cross-bearer at a liturgy in St. Peter’s over the weekend. Later he played ping-pong with the pope. (I’m thinking that last part got garbled in translation.)
It is Bank Holiday Monday here in England so I have a paid day off work without using up my holiday allowance :)
I served at the Mass for the conferral of Confirmation celebrated by Abp. Kurtz on Thursday and got to serve as Master of Ceremonies…I realized, quite sadly, that that was my last time serving under ‘usual circumstances’ (i.e. at my parish just showing up and vesting) at a Mass celebrated by him as my archbishop. And of course my little sister and her classmates were confirmed!
Only a few days left of school before senior activities!
Lots of good news to share, Father! Last weekend my third oldest son graduated from college (magna cum laude) and then the very next day he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Marines! Please pray for his safety as he serves our country.
This weekend my family traveled to New York for my nephew’s wedding. On Sunday six of my children (ages 13-27), one of my daughter-in-laws and me sang Missa Super: Ecce quam bonum by Hans Leo Hassler at my son’s parish in Rochester where he is cantor/choir director. 3 1/2 hours later we sang it again at the Latin Mass which was celebrating their 20th anniversary. What a joy for me as a musician to sing in a choir comprising of singers to (most of) whom I gave birth! The highlight of my year so far!!!
P.S. My son is the Schola director at the Latin Mass and it was a joy to hear the Schola sing the Propers under his direction.
Also, all of this good news will soon be superseded by the birth of our first grandchild sometime within the next two months!
My wife delivered our third son, Thomas Augustine, on Friday May 24, 2013, at 5:11AM. 7lbs, 11oz, 20.5inches long. Both the baby and my wife are in good health and doing great. I was able to get a 4 day weekend to spend with my wife and boys before going back to work tomorrow, which is a pretty good deal of time off for a surgical intern. God is good.
I was very happy yesterday morning when one of the Carmelite priests at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, at Holy Hill announced before Holy Communion that only Catholics in the state of grace and in full communion with the Church should come forth to receive and that non-Catholics should refrain for coming up for a blessing because everyone receives a final blessing at the end of Mass. I was thinking to myself that is one for Father Z’s brick by brick file!
My Cousin and his wife had their (first) baby son Damian baptised yesterday. The Church continues to grow with each new miracle. I’m praying they will be blessed with a quiver-full! Deo Gratias!
Congratulations, Atra Dicenda: MY wife delivered our fourth child and first daughter, Mairead, at 1:15 AM on Friday May 24, 2013, the Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians.
Eat when you can, sleep when you can, don’t fool with the pancreas.
We just received a $42,000 grant to establish pro-life Catholic Hospice care services in our area. (We all need to think about what we can do to help fight euthanasia and offer alternatives that provide end of life care in accord with the Church’s teachings. )
I was recently appointed by Archbishop Aymond to serve as the Director and Professor of Homiletics at Notre Dame Seminary here in New Orleans. I will also be on the formation team and setting up some sort of writing clinic for the seminarians. Going to check out my new office tomorrow!
Fr. Philip Neri, OP
We are celebrating my 60th birthday today with drinks and grilled steak on the patio …. in perfect Carolina weather. God is so good!
See Lucy C !!
Daughter in the Air Force got to come home and spend time with the family over the long weekend.
After taking church history classes for 2 years at an evangelical seminary north of Chicago, I have resign my pastor position. My wife and I are joining the Catholic church. Studying the history of the doctrine of the Eucharist and reading the church Fathers pushed us into the church. We are so filled with joy and excited.
[Wonderful!]
I don’t know if this counts as good news but yesterday I got to do something I’ve been meaning to do for some time – I attended a Byzantine Eastern Rite Mass, or Divine Liturgy as they call it. It was beautiful! Longer than a NO Mass but it didn’t feel like it. It went by so smoothly and reverently. I’m going to try and attend their service once a month because it was a trek to get there, but it’s definitely worth it. I have one question though. Last Sunday they celebrated Pentecost like we do in the Western Rite, but yesterday instead of Trinity Sunday, they celebrated All Saints. I thought that was unusual because I thought we were on the same liturgical calendar?
My friend found somewhere to live – the situation is far from ideal, but he has a roof over his head. Laus Deo.
Not good news – our curate is leaving at the end of the summer. Good news – his replacement is already known to me as being orthodox, having ‘sanctuary sense’ and an excellent singer.
Got the letter that my BSc diploma is ready to be fetched from the office.
Jean Marie! Isn’t the Divine Liturgy heavenly? Why not try a visit during the Great Lent-as they call it? You are in for a real treat. Concerning the Eastern Catholic Churches-they have their own calendar but follow ours on most of the main feasts, including Easter and Christmas. Their lent starts two days before ours and is much more intense. However, when Pascha arrives-it is a whole lot of hooten and holleran and feasting until about 4 AM in the morning!
My good news? Jesus felt extra close today…
Everyone’s good news lifts our hearts. Congratulations to all newlyweds, new parents, confirmands, ordinands, appointees and birthday boys and girls!
After a unusually wet and cool spring, the garden is producing some warmer weather veggies.
Some of our parishioners are going to attend the FSSP ordinations in NE this weekend and one of the new priests will be visiting our EF week after next.
Bought airline tickets to permanently leave the USA!!!!!!!! Ya Hooooo!
This weekend was the 50th Anniversary of the Ordination (Saturday) and Fist Holy Mass (Sunday) of our Pastor Emeritus, Rev. J. Thomas Connery. A good, faithful, holy man, 50 years a Priest of Christ!
On Divine Mercy Sunday I started the 54-Day Rosary Novena for a particular intention with no apparent results. Early this morning I received a clear and powerful sign that my prayers are being answered. Then tonight I found out that my father, who was baptized in the Church but left before making his First Communion (his parents became Pentecostals) is now considering becoming Catholic. I’d taken him to Mass with me a few times before, but he never expressed an interest in becoming Catholic (or coming home, rather). In fact, he always seemed kind of dead-set against it. I’m still kind of dumbfounded by this. Prayers for him would be great.
On a slightly more mundane note, I grilled chicken with some shipmates on our day off today. It was really good. Brined in salt and honey, and rubbed with a mixture of curry powder, chili powder, cocoa, and a few other things. Alton Brown’s recipe. Highly recommended.
Got a little home maintenance/repair work done.
Got a lot done getting our little yard and patio fit for use.
Was at the Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated by one of our newly-ordained priests.
Had choir rehearsal tonight. Yeah, not the way I wanted to spend the last night of the holiday weekend, but it was sorely needed before our next Mass and concert – and it ended up being productive.
My good news is this:
I got a new job working for a real estate firm as an IT Tech Guy and was able to finally put in my two weeks notice with the worst retail store I have ever had to work for. I’ll never shop at Staples again.
The first Traditional Latin Mass in over 40 years was celebrated at Mission Carmel, CA. on Pentecost. The Carmel Mission was destination of the 3rd. Annual Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Bethlehem, a 3 day Traditional pilgrimage from Mission San Juan Bautista to Mission Carmel.
http://montereybayarea-tlm.blogspot.com/2013/05/pictures-from-3rd-annual-pilgrimage-to.html
Our Lady of Bethlehem, pray for us~
I have two friends who have decided to join the Dominicans in the past week. :)
I’m so thankful for all of this good news; it’s very encouraging. Here’s mine: my eldest granddaughter came to spend the weekend with us. She told me “I think God wants me to be Catholic – may I go to Mass with you?” She attended her first-ever Mass with me on Sunday morning!
Sometimes I feel I am developing a sense of distance between me and God when I sin.
My family and I attended Our Lady of the Atonement (Anglican Use) Catholic Church in San Antonio. It was a balm to my soul. And my 16-year-old son wants to join the choir so he can learn from a “master,” traditional Church music.
Brand spanking new Adoremus Hymnals have been installed in Holy Rosary Cathedral, Vancouver, replacing the old G&PIII books.
Soooooo muuuuuch Laaaaaatiiiiiiinnnnn……..
Excellent!
The past few days have been very pleasant all around with a lot of little good things, and abnormally little bad. I’ll stick to what seems most relevant to post here. Last time Fr. Z put up a request for prayers post, I asked for prayers for my grandfather who’s been having all sorts of health problems lately. Tonight, I went to visit him in the physical therapy/rehab home that he’s currently in. I can’t remember when I last saw him so well. In a very short period of time, he went from being barely able to stand, and being so forgetful and confused that he could neither tell nor remember where he was, to being alert and energetic. He was walking around, sitting and standing, etc., as if he were young, and he could follow every conversation and was back to having his usual wit. Perhaps most importantly, he was really happy.
Thank you for the prayers. God’s grace and the hard work of the excellent caretakers he’s had (I’ve seen a lot of these places, and the nurses and other staff at this place are among the best I’ve ever seen) have worked wonders. I hadn’t dared to hope that he could “bounce back” so much so quickly. It’s a long road for him, but it’s going very well.
I’ve gotten through the worst part of an extremely trying week.
An abbey near me has made confession available one afternoon per week, primarily for the benefit of students at the adjoining Catholic university, but open to anyone. It’s been my “go-to” location for several months. This week I learned that confessions will continue through the summer and for the foreseeable future, without the originally planned summer hiatus. Deo gratias!
On Pentecost Sunday, I was one of fourteen men ordained as a permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Chicago by Francis Cardinal George.
Here’s a link to a photo, as what I did above doesn’t seem to have worked properly:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/campesino/8834321734/
Newly installed Abp Jackels in his first homily in Dubuque; “Seminarians are like garlic is to cooking and incense is to the Mass….we need MORE!”
I should have said “more is better”. Here is a link to the text;
http://www.thonline.com/home/article_8f281812-c943-11e2-b2e2-001a4bcf6878.html