Puttin' on my top hat...

Tonight I am off to the Faith on Tap Coffee House featuring music, coffee, and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Hopefully I will see the Recovering Choir Director there.

Eve Tushnet found the Time Magazine Cover archives - her birthday cover was "Search for a Pope" (1978!). So I looked up mine and it was "The Catholic Exodus: Why Priests and Nuns are Quitting". (My exact birthday is Feb. 28th-for those thinking of gifts I like solid gold bars.)

The cover features James Shannon and Anita Caspary. James Shannon was apparently a bishop who left the priesthood and married. Ralph McInerny just wrote about him in Crisis Magazine. Anita Caspary was Mother General of the Immaculate Heart Sisters from 1963 to 1969 when a huge group of nuns left the Catholic Church. So the Time cover on the day I was born was about the confusing upheaval in the Church and Eve's was about the search for a Pope who would become JPII-interesting.

One great thing about St. Blog's is that I find myself constantly visiting 2 types of blogs. The first type is the most common, the ones where I find myself agreeing with most posts and it gives me a positive feeling. The bloggers are much smarter than me and express my thoughts much better than I ever could. I read these blogs to laugh, be inspired, be informed, and be uplifted. I have learned a huge amount of stuff from these “orthodox” blogs. The second type of blog is the type that makes me nuts. These blogs are the more “liberal” blogs, or at least blogs that will post things I might very much disagree with. I like to read these blogs because they challenge me and even if they infuriate me, I like to see how others think about the Church. Sometimes, by reading a post that I totally disagree with, but which is written with intelligence, thoughtfulness, and most especially love, then I can’t help but appreciate the poster, if not the position of the poster. Recently, Todd, who has infuriated me with his comments on various blogs, started his own blog, Catholic Sensibility. I found myself liking this blog right from the start. He and I probably have somewhat opposing views of traditional Catholic liturgy but I bet we would agree on more than we disagree (maybe). I just found Matt Zemek’s Wellstone Cornerstone (via Veritas) and it is self-described as “Paul Wellstone progressivism for conservatives and people of faith (and dispirited liberals, too!)”. I found myself cringing when reading about how women should be priests and how the “institutional Church” has caused problems for people, but I admire the blogger’s attempt to reach atheists and the unchurched. It is another nice site with a good tone that will appeal to many. Bill Cork of ut unum sint drives me mad often but I keep going back for more. His site is contrarian, not really "liberal" or "progressive" and will contain some posts I agree 100% with, and many that I think are off base, such as his take on Mel Gibson’s Passion of Christ film.


My biggest concern with some “progressive” Catholics is that they sometimes present the Church as: all wrong for 1960 years and now we are pushing it forward into the next century. This attitude comes through, perhaps inadvertently, from some bloggers. I also don’t understand the contempt (or fear or both?)some feel toward traditional Catholics and traditional Catholicism, especially when you consider the mess the Church is in today. I do love St. Blogs for having such a great variety of Catholic bloggers!

Wheaton College lifts 143-year dance ban

Someone should make a movie about this, a small rural community of people forbidden to dance due to fundie Christian beliefs....maybe have Kevin Bacon play one of the students.

New "apostles" bring varied gifts to life at the seminary


I knew this would happen--now that our diocese is no longer in the hands of dissenters, as it was for 20 years, the seminary is attracting vocations. I understand the woman gatekeeper who would keep out orthodox candidates was recently replaced. These 12 will need all the prayers they can get, as the seminary and diocese are still not totally cleansed.

"The “12 apostles” are the largest incoming class in the past 10 years, said Father Coogan. The seminarians will follow a five-year program which includes four years of study and one year working in a parish setting."

Update: 10 of the 12 are seminarians for the Diocese of Rockville Centre

Art Carney, RIP

Many of the obits contain classic Honeymooners lines, but none I have seen had the one where Ralph was summoned to the local tax office because of a problem with his return:

Norton: "When you go in there, stand on the 18th Amendment"

Ralph: "You mean the 5th amendment!! The 18th Amendment was for prohibition!! "

Norton: "That's what I mean, tell 'em you were drunk when you did your taxes"

Mepham Teens To Be Tried As Juveniles

This is not good, but I expected it. The judge was considered very unlikely to be swayed by any media or public outcry, and the conditions to charge juveniles as adults were difficult to meet. I just hope that the victims' families get some form of justice.


A reasonably good column about Mepham High by Ed Lowe- How Alive Is Their Pride?

Final Score: 61.5


This is the first quiz thing I have put on Gen X Revert (found it via A Saintly Salmagundi). I have to say I did not have cable so no MTV, just Friday Night Videos and some UHF station that showed videos for about a month.

The Guidebook of a Lifetime - The Next One
Anthony DeStefano believes he has a bead on the afterlife. Good news! It’s the heaven of your dreams.

This article features a weird sounding book written by a Long Islander who also works as head of Priests for Life. The priest who reviewed it for the diocese is Msgr. George Graham, who I know to be orthodox and intelligent. Here is a little about the author from the Priests for Life website.

"The book received an imprimatur from the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which means that nothing is in conflict with the church's teachings. "You're not saying that the bishop agrees with everything in the book, but only that it's not in conflict with Catholic teaching," says Msgr. George Graham, who was assigned by Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre to read DeStefano's book and decide whether it qualified for an imprimatur. "We have a great deal of freedom in the Catholic Church. This is an imaginative exercise. 'If I were God, what would I make heaven like?' I think that's what Anthony has done here."

One of the Mepham High School rapists will testify against the other two. In case anyone forgot these football players will be charged with:

*Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse- Felony 1st Degree
* Aggravated Assault- Felony 1st Degree
* Kidnapping- Felony First Degree
* Unlawful Restraint- Felony 2nd Degree
* False Imprisonment- Felony 2nd Degree
* Terroristic Threats- Misdemeanor 1st Degree
* Criminal Coercion- Misdemeanor 2nd Degree
* Simple Assault- Misdemeanor 2nd Degree
* Reckless Endangering of Another Person- Misdemeanor 2nd Degree
* Ethnic Intimmidation- Misdemeanor 3rd Degree
* And multiple counts of Criminal Conspiracy to commit many of the above crimes