Tuesday, March 31, 2009

My Grandma's Potato Pancake Recipe

I haven't tried this yet, but figured this would be a good place to save it (and someone else may enjoy it as well). This is from a letter written by my aunt. By the way, this a recipe from my Grandma Lawless, who I never met, because she died several years before I was born.

I finally figured it out, and it needs to have good old "Russet" (Idaho)
potatoes. They are good and starchy which is key. I had tried it with "New"
potatoes and that, I think, was the main problem. So now I've done it this
way twice and I think my Mom would approve. This makes enough for two, it's
also a good size for testing to see if you're happy with them then adjust
for the size of your family.

POTATO PANCAKES

1 Egg
1/2 Cup chopped onion
1/2 Cup milk
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
1 Extra large baking potato diced medium
Couple shakes of salt

The potatoes I used both times are the really huge size, they don't sell
these in bags, but you can adjust for that.

In a blender put the egg, milk and onion and puree it. Add the flour and
blend, then the potatoes and salt. Pulse this a few times until it looks like a rough pancake batter. Using a ladle, pour onto a hot, lightly oiled griddle, and with the back of the ladle spread batter out very thin.

If you are using a dark Teflon griddle you will see the darkness through
parts of the pancake. Watch closely they cook pretty fast. Turn when nice and brown, cook other side until it looks like a flour tortilla. That's it.
Put on a dish, spread with butter, roll up like an enchilada, and pour a
ribbon of syrup over it. Yum yum.

I wouldn't use self rising flour because they aren't supposed to rise like a
regular pancake. When finished they are the thickness of a flour tortilla and look like one on the second side. I make mine round, in a frying pan but for efficient use of space when using a griddle Mom made them in rectangles.

It's scary to think Mom's recipe almost vanished!

Wisconsin Catholic Youth Rally

I chaperoned a group of teens at the Wisconsin Catholic Youth Rally on Saturday. Though my daughter has attended several times, it was my first time. It was truly an amazing day - including Mass with Archbishop Dolan, Eucharistic Adoration, engaging talks and lots of music.

I found the praise and worship music moving (perhaps surprising for a lover of ancient music) and was delighted that there was a generous helping of tradition as well. For example, the Tantum Ergo was sung in Latin during the beautiful Eucharistic procession. All-in-all it was a beautiful day.

There was an amazingly large and enthusiastic group of deacons and seminarians at the rally (as well as a number of priests - but we didn't see as much of them because they spent a great deal of time hearing confessions). I believe there were nine deacons assisting at Mass and we learned that there are presently 40 seminarians studying in the diocese. I'm quite sure that this is part of the incredible legacy of Archbishop Dolan. One deacon, who will be ordained in May and gave a really great talk as well, is from a local parish. I heard that he's the first vocation from that parish in 69 years. He's going to make a great priest.

The most moving moment of the day, for me, was when, after Mass, they invited all of those who were considering a religious vocation to come up in front and receive a blessing from Archbishop Dolan. I believe there were about 50 teens who went up for the blessing. I cried.

Here's a group picture taken after our small group discussion. I love these guys!The black hats were a big hit. :)

P.S. Thanks for the prayers for safe travel (because of the predicted snow storm on Saturday evening). We did get a pretty good storm. When we got back to our car around 9:30 that evening, there was a solid layer of ice on the windows. The roads had been salted by that point though (turned out to be safer than if we had left early) so it wasn't too bad. About half-way home the storm started to look a bit blizzard-ish, but it calmed down soon afterward and I was SO happy to get home! The drive-home conversation with my passengers was terrific!

Friday, March 27, 2009

7 Quick Takes Friday


1. One of the things I most wanted to do with this year's tax return (aside from paying off a bunch of debt, which we did) was to buy a second refrigerator for the basement. We have so much food swirling around for so many people here now (did I mention that we have two teenagers?) that I think it will be a huge help for things like: huge batches of bread dough (we're still using that Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book - thanks mostly to John - and it is yummy!), food for big family gatherings at our house (which are very much on the rise in recent years), the ability to purchase large quantities of perishable items when they're on sale, etc.

A month or so ago, we spotted a very reasonably priced fridge at Sam's Club (under $300) and thought we might pick it up sometime in the future. Last night, we finally emptied most of the seats from the van (we have a 15 passenger) and headed over to pick one up. Sadly, they sold their last one and have stopped carrying the item. :(

And so we (meaning John and I and Frank, who came along for the ride, and had a marvelous time) headed to several adjacent stores - Home Depot and Menards - to see what we could find there. Unfortunately, not a lot (no purchase made yet), though we are somewhat interested in a unit that is all-fridge and no freezer. It's got a LOT of fridge space and costs less to run, but unfortunately is twice the price of the fridge we were interested in from Sam's Club.

2. Frank got an enormous kick out of visiting these stores with us - particularly the two 'home-improvement' stores. He opened every fridge and freezer he could get his hands on and had to try out the little butter rack doors and the light buttons and the freezer drawers and lots else (and asked a ton of questions about everything). I've never seen a kid so happy and curious about such things before. To top off his interesting evening, the Menard's, which opened REALLY recently (within the last week I think) is this crazy futuristic-looking store with two enormous glass elevators (big enough to carry large appliances - which are strangely located on the second floor) and two huge flat conveyer belt escalator things (with several funky vintage looking videos playing on hanging flat-screen TVs to show you how to safely use them). I have to admit that, though they probably had safety features to cover such things, having a lady with a cart behind us on the down-slope escalator was a little freaky.

3. Yesterday was seed-starting day here. The kids LOVE this day and I guess it's a good thing we've had several years of trying it before this year, when we have bigger, more serious plans for a real garden. John has committed to building a big fenced veggie garden in bag (hopefully more-or-less deer, rabbit and raccoon safe) and is also hoping to build one or two of these for the deck.

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As I twittered yesterday (and you can see above) I suddenly realized that the plastic boot-trays we use in the winter make wonderful planting trays in the spring.

Yesterday, the following seeds were planted: green onions, peppers, leeks, cauliflower (Frank planted his entire tray with just cauliflower!), eggplant, sunflowers (of a container-friendly variety for a big pot I want to put on the deck), basil, parsley, chives, spearmint, rosemary, and three kinds of tomatoes.

By the way, the two pots with writing on them are rhubarb that I bought two years ago which are still in their original containers (we never quite settled on a place to plant them) that are still alive after spending two winters out-of-doors.

4. It's always a bit of a sad thing to see your children becoming aware more of the evil in the world. Yesterday Ria (who is almost 16 now) went to the 40 Days for Life with some of her high school friends. Admittedly we haven't done pro-life work as a family in front of abortion clinics before. We've done Life Chains and Ria's been to the March for Life in D.C., but this was a new experience and it was hard seeing her sadness in recalling the four girls who went in and out of the abortion clinic during the two hours that they prayed and witnessed there.

5. My parents are coming for Easter! Makes me happy that we've put all that effort into setting up a nice little guest room.

6. I stopped by the Catholic Business Conference (sponsored by Relevant Radio) nearby earlier this week. It was interesting and I collected a few business cards and DVDs of interest. I also got to chat with the local Relevant Radio people briefly about my Love2learn Moments. Apparently they've just recently sent samples to the managers of the other Relevant Radio stations, so they may be showing up in other markets soon. Please let me know if you hear them outside the Milwaukee area (where they've been playing daily for, I think, two years).

7. Please pray that we have decent weather for the Wisconsin Catholic Youth Rally tomorrow. I'm bringing a group of teens to the event, but there's a big snowstorm (I've heard predictions of up to 8 inches tomorrow afternoon and evening) predicted later in the day.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Irish Dance Recital

All of my children performed in an Irish dance recital at a local nursing home on Tuesday. Funny how, now, after the performance, they're psyched up for lots of practice and creativity. :)

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Frank even had a little cameo:

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Here's the group, a mixture of kids from four different families:

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The nursing home residents LOVED the show (which also included four Irish songs - one with the fiddle!) and it was a great experience for the kids.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

"Impossible" Novena Begins Today

Thanks to my mom for reminding me!

Reposted from previous years...

There's a beautiful nine month novena that starts on the feast of the Annunciation, and ends on Christmas; commemorating the nine months that our saviour was in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It's fairly simple and easy to memorize. You pick three "impossible" intentions to pray for and I've heard (and experienced) many amazing stories of prayers answered.


Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears. Turn then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy towards us; and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.

Pray for us, most holy mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

All Virgin of the Incarnation, a thousand times we greet you, a thousand times we praise you for thy joy you had when God was incarnated in you. Because you are so powerful O Virgin and Mother of God, grant what we ask of you for the love of God.

[state your first intention]

Repeat all of the above for your second and third intentions

Remember, O most Gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of Virgins, my mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Blessed and praised be the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, in Heaven, on earth and everywhere. Amen.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

What Part of Spring Are You?




You Are Baseball Games



You like old fashioned things. You're one of those people who values tradition.

You enjoy a slow pace of life. You believe that life is all about enjoying every moment.



You love the changing of the seasons, and you look forward to what each season brings.

You are smart and a bit obsessive. You become very immersed in your interests.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Farewell Mass for Archbishop Dolan

We attended a beautiful Mass for Archbishop Dolan today at Holy Hill. They sure pulled out all the stops to honor and thank the Archbishop for nearly seven years of service in our Archdiocese. We barely got seats in the main church by arriving an hour early. There was a big screen with close-circuit TV for those seated in the lower church. The place was filled and overflowing with clergy and Knights of Columbus (and other orders I hadn't seen before,  but only heard of - Knights of Malta, Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, wow!). 

I've been to quite a few packed Masses at Holy Hill, but this was one of those particularly memorable ones where all of the congregation responds and sings in a resounding way - as if to say, "We're here and we really mean it."


These pics are a little out-of-order as Blogger seems a little fussy today. These are the Knights of Columbus et al. processing into their pews just before Mass.

We weren't sure if we'd try to say hello to Archbishop Dolan after Mass because the lines were likely to be long and the littles ones were fast approaching the breaking point. In the end, we decided to give a try because Frank just missed shaking hands with Archbishop Dolan at the end of Mass. As it turned out, the line wasn't too bad. They had set up the Shrine Chapel as a place where the Archbishop could say hello to people individually. When we got in, we decided to swing around to the side to allow more people into the room. We ended up just behind our dear Schoenstatt sisters (who host a number of activities for our local homeschool group). That's Frank in the corner of the picture.

When the Archbishop came in, they were the first ones that he greeted. When they were done, they "pushed" us up into their place as they were anxious for Frank to say hello to the Archbishop too. :) 

And so we got to say hello and thank him and tell him we'd be praying for him. John also had the foresight to hand our camera to a friend standing just behind us, who got this shot.
Don't you just love how Frank insisted on wearing his new St. Michael T-shirt to Mass?

A Nice Little Surprise for Laetare Sunday

If you weren't looking for them, you'd probably miss them (they're so small), but still, a fun discovery. Three or four years ago, we planted a bunch of these teeny crocus bulbs in little bare spots in the grass, and they're really fun to find because they come SO early compared to everything else. We do have some tulips pushing through, but it'll be quite awhile before we see the blooms.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Kids are So Funny!

I think I appreciate the funny things my kids do and say more and more as I get older (and my older kids get older!). Here are a few funnies from our week...

Found on the basement door:
In case it doesn't make sense to you, here it is with some spacing to help you out:

"DOWND OWPIN ZIS DOR" (translated: Don't open this door.)

Kate and Frank love to make presents in the basement and of course don't want anyone peeking.

Yesterday I was reading a bunch of stories to the three littlest, while the three oldest were at a play practice. I don't remember what they were reading, but it reminded Frank about feeling his pulse. He explained that Ria had showed him how you could touch your wrist or your neck and if it pushed on you, it meant your heart was beeping.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!


We snapped this photo of the lovely stained glass window of St. Patrick in the St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Palo Alto, California, when we were out for a visit last spring.

We'll be enjoying St. Patrick's Day here with funny clothes, lots of Irish music and a big corned beef and cabbage dinner with the families involved in our catechism study group. (We're always game for turning a class into a party.) Gus made some lovely loaves of Irish soda bread last night. It smelled so good. Frank actually came downstairs and asked why someone was baking cookies. :)

Friday, March 13, 2009

7 Quick Takes


1. We've had the flu here all week. Not a stomach flu (thank goodness), just the achy, stuffy, etc. sort of thing. So our week has been filled with movies, audio books, Scrabble games and lots of chicken broth. Ria and I are almost done watching the old BBC 11 episode version of Brideshead Revisited. It's been a great way to chat with her about the book in preparation for a lit class she's involved in.

2. I've finally gotten back to We Look for a Kingdom: The Everyday Lives of Early Christians by Carl Sommer (Ignatius Press). It's fascinating and I read through the first half (+) of it very quickly, but got a little bogged down in the details in the middle. It's picked up again rather nicely and is very interesting. I have a few more pages left in part 2.

3. John and I are still watching Foyle's War here and there (via Netflix) and are now on Season 2 (there are only four episodes per season). It's not as good, not as fresh as the first season. We're finding it quite a bit more predictable, a bit more preachy (and less subtle) and a little more gruesome than the first season. Haven't quite given up on it, though.

4. Last week I splurged on a nice Scrabble game. I'm such a spend thrift when the tax return comes in - I also got a new Stratego game (because Frank loves it and we were missing some pieces from the old one - he beat me for the first time yesterday!) and a bunch of skirt hangers. Woohoo. Our old copy of Scrabble was a rummage sale find with lots of pieces missing. This is a deluxe edition with delineated spots for each piece - very nice for playing with kids! I've since discovered that open-dictionary Scrabble with kids, though it can be a somewhat tedious process (even though we have LOTS of dictionaries around here!) is an excellent educational exercise. And they love it! They've made plans for a special names-and-places-only game today. Not bad for a sick week.

5. Though we got a lot of maple sap over the weekend and earlier in the week, things have since gotten much colder and everything's frozen up again. (It's been between 10 and 20 degrees during the day). Looking forward to warmer weather - soon I hope!

6. I've decided that there are simply too many things going on in March. Remind me to sign up for less of them next year! :)

7. Prayer Requests: Please pray for all the unemployed. We learned about quite a handful of newly unemployed dads within our circle of friends this week. Also, please pray for a teen boy in our homeschool group who was just diagnosed with cancer. Apparently his prognosis is good, but he's still got some rough days ahead.

Poetry Friday

One Friday afternoon not *too* long ago, our family (including a friend and a few cousins) spent a few lovely hours mesmerized by our regionals competition of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Competition. There were only a handful of competitors (including Ria!), but the competition was stiff, the poetry was excellent and the performances were really wonderful.

Each competitor was required to have three prepared poems from an extensive approved list that can be found here. Ria chose three that she already loved: G.K. Chesterton's "The Donkey", Joyce Kilmer's "Trees" and Shakespeare's Sonnet 29, "When In Disgrace, with Fortune and Men's Eyes".

Here is her performance of "The Donkey": (With special thanks to Dr. Thursday.)



She did very well and came in 4th place out of seven (the top 3 went on to State). We're very proud of her!

Here's a poem I had never heard before, but particularly enjoyed from the competition:

"Teaching English from an Old Composition Book" by Gary Soto

My chalk is no longer than a chip of fingernail,
Chip by which I must explain this Monday
Night the verbs “to get;” “to wear,” “to cut.”
I’m not given much, these tired students,
Knuckle-wrapped from work as roofers,
Sour from scrubbing toilets and pedestal sinks.
I’m given this room with five windows,
A coffee machine, a piano with busted strings,
The music of how we feel as the sun falls,
Exhausted from keeping up.

I stand at
The blackboard. The chalk is worn to a hangnail,
Nearly gone, the dust of some educational bone.
By and by I’m Cantiflas, the comic
Busybody in front. I say, “I get the coffee.”
I pick up a coffee cup and sip.
I click my heels and say, “I wear my shoes.”
I bring an invisible fork to my mouth
And say, “I eat the chicken.”
Suddenly the class is alive—
Each one putting on hats and shoes,
Drinking sodas and beers, cutting flowers
And steaks—a pantomime of sumptuous living.


Read the rest at the Poetry Out Loud website here.

And you can find the Poetry Friday round up here.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Help Spread the Word about the Destructive CPSIA Law

(cross-posted from the Love2learn Blog)



By posting the CPSIA Endangered Books Widgetbox Slideshow to the sidebar of your blog. You can pick it up at this link.

You can add your own pictures to the Slideshow by joining the CPSIA Endangered Books Flickr Group.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

We're Revisiting our Chocolate Cake Farm

(circa October 2006) for a book review I'm working on today. Lots of books and websites open all over the place. Just in case you're interested, here are the relevant links from four different websites.

Studeo: The Chocolate Cake Farm

LiberParma: There is No Such Thing as an Uninteresting Subject

GKC's Favourite: A Farm for Chocolate Cakes

The Map Guys: A Chocolate Cake Farm in Africa

LiberParma: More on the Chocolate Cake Farm

GKC's Favourite: Located in Kenya

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Review: Pocket Guide to St. Paul by Scott Hahn

(cross-posted from Love2learn.net)

I really enjoyed this quick and easy-to-understand guide to St. Paul and his writings. Well, perhaps "easy-to-understand" isn't fair, because the topics covered here on the writings of St. Paul are not easy ones. Yet this is a reasonably accessible place to start and might even be usable, with some guidance, for a teen Bible study group.

I've always been a fan of good writing in small packages (in this case approx. 4 x 6 inches) because not only can I get to the heart of the matter fairly quickly, but also conveniently as the book can be stashed in my purse.

This book opens with a fairly detailed biography of the great saint with subtitled sections to make it easier to follow (great for moms who get interrupted a lot from their reading!) Even though I've read (and watched) biographies of St. Paul before, it's hard to keep the details straight in my head. This overview was a very helpful refresher - and also one that can be turned to again and again.

The largest chapter of the book is on "St. Paul's Thought". This is perhaps the most unique aspect of this book and a particularly welcome read in this year of St. Paul. It provides an extremely helpful overview of what St. Paul has given to Catholic theology. A quick read-through of the sub-section titles is helpful: "Why a Pharisee? Why Saul?", "The Word of the Cross", "The Good News of Salvation", "Salvation and Sonship", "The Importance of Covenant", "The Scandal of God's Fatherhood", "We Are 'In Christ'", "The Church at the Center", "Faith and Works", "The Problem of Pain", "Glory in the Cross".

I found the chapter on "St. Paul's Letters" to be particularly helpful because, even though I've read all of his letters before, and some numerous times, there's always so much more to learn. Also, I don't tend to have a ready grasp of which letter was significant for which reason. This includes a paragraph or three overviewing and explaining each of St. Paul's Epistles.

The book is rounded out with some reflections on "St. Paul and Us", a "Quick Reference for Catholic Doctrines and Practices in St. Paul's Life and Work", "The Quotable St. Paul" and "Prayers to St. Paul."

Highly recommended!

Published by Our Sunday Visitor

Review: Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling Clancy Hollings

cross-posted from Love2learn.net

Paddle-to-the-Sea, originally published in 1941, is a one-of-a-kind story about a little carving of an Indian in a canoe that is sent off from North of Lake Superior in Canada for a four-year trek through each of the Great Lakes, through the St. Laurence River and finally into the Atlantic Ocean.

Beautifully written and fabulously illustrated, the story takes readers on an in-depth (and rather lengthy!) story of the Great Lakes region told through the "eyes" of an inanimate wooden toy as it encounters all kinds of weather, wild animals, helpful people, a forest fire, and much more. It may sound like a strange premise, but it works, and all of my children have been enchanted with the story, though it may help that, living in the Great Lakes region, a number of the places are quite familiar to us.

In addition to colorful illustrations of various locations from the story, the text is often surrounded with smaller maps and technical illustrations of locks and various geographical features of the region. We've found this to work best as a read-aloud as the sheer length tends to be intimidating to the younger set (and often break up the reading over different parts of the day). It's probably a good hour of reading.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

It's 40 degrees and the maple sap is starting to run!


Tapping the Maple Tree, originally uploaded by Chez VH.

One of my favorite times of year. (Though this is a picture from last year.) The kids are ecstatic. :)

A Nice Explanation about Avoiding Extremes

I'm almost done reading Archbishop Dolan's new book To Whom Shall We Go? Lessons from the Apostle Peter. It's a lovely and very readable book which draws simple, manageable spiritual lessons from the life of St. Peter. It seems like a lovely parting gift to our archdiocese, especially given the dedication:
To my brother bishops, priests, and deacons, the consecrated religious men and women, and the wonderfully faithful people of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
There are lots of wonderful tidbits and stories in the book, but I just wanted to share his explanation of one important concept that's on my mind a lot (and applies to many things):
Despair will never be ours if we believe in the power of the sacrament of Penance and tap into it very often. This sacrament helps us avoid both extremes - the presumption of the Pharisees and the despair of Judas - and it keeps us, with St. Peter, in the healthy center. Contrite? Yes, but confident in the Lord's mercy. Aware of the sin? You bet, but equally aware of Christ's desire to forgive. Repentant? You bet, but renewed as well. And for us, this moment of honesty and healing takes place, concretely and personally, in the sacrament of Penance.
The concept of hope being in the happy middle between presumption and despair is actually my favorite example when I try to explain to others the important theological (and practical!) concept of means and extremes. It's a very useful way of keeping us in balance in every aspect of our lives.

Spe Salvi and Foyle's War

John and I have been enjoying Foyle's War, a BBC historical detective series set in World War II. We watched the entire first season (consisting of exactly four episodes) over the past 2 or 3 weeks courtesy of Netflix. The reluctant, but able Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle would rather be off at war, but instead is stuck dealing with the muck of crime and hate on the homefront (on the South Coast of England). It's a very character-driven story and I love how Foyle makes his way through grave temptations of bribery and misplaced sympathies to follow his convictions.

The questions aren't always simple. In one episode a murderer who works in an important war department argues rather eloquently that Foyle shouldn't turn him in because he's doing important war work and, after all, it was only a German woman that he murdered. Foyle didn't buy it. In a different episode, the father of a young murder suspect begs to borrow his son temporarily to help him take his fishing boat across the channel to save some of the soldiers from Dunkirk. He promises he will return him to Foyle afterwards. Foyle accepts.

Part of what I appreciate about this series is that it portrays rather honestly the awfulness and complexities of the times in which it's set and yet helps us see that it is possible to choose well, even in such circumstances.

This reminded me of a piece from Pope Benedict's encyclical on hope that we discussed with the teen catechism group last night. It's about freedom and the application of truth that changes to some extent with each generation because they are dealing with ever new and complex issues.

The right state of human affairs, the moral well-being of the world can never be guaranteed simply through structures alone, however good they are. Such structures are not only important, but necessary; yet they cannot and must not marginalize human freedom. Even the best structures function only when the community is animated by convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the social order. Freedom requires conviction: conviction does not exist on its own, but must always be gained anew by the community.

Since man always remains free and since his freedom is always fragile, the kingdom of good will never be definitively established in this world. Anyone who promises the better world that is guaranteed to last for ever is making a false promise; he is overlooking human freedom. Freedom must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Free assent to the good never exists simply by itself. If there were structures which could irrevocably guarantee a determined - good - state of the world, man's freedom would be denied, and hence they would not be good structures at all.

What this means is that every generation has the task of engaging anew in the arduous search for the right way to order human affairs; this task is never simply completed. (from paragraphs 24 and 25, Spe Salvi)


Note: The murders lean a little on the gruesome side at points. I'd be more confident recommending this to older than younger teens.