Saturday, December 06, 2003

I have heard of a "Dear John" letter but today I received a "Dear Akbar" email.

"I am Dr. Useni Ibrahim, a member of the contract award and review committee set up by the government of the federation for the awarding and reviewing of new and transpired contracts. I was mandated by team of my colleagues to contact you."

You know the rest, we have $10 million dollars and want to transfer it to your account, etc... I have received a few of these emails but they don't normally start with Dear Akbar...and just what is the "government of the federation"?? (BTW-my name is not Akbar)

The National Catholic Register has been featuring the cartoon Umbert the Unborn since 2001. This cartoon is very good and now the paper's parent company is publishing an Umbert book. It is called Umbert the Unborn A Womb With A View and can be pre-ordered by calling 1-800-356-9916 ext. 3809

Update: The Register article is now online

Friday, December 05, 2003

I am not the type who goes ballistic over people putting up Christmas decorations too early or stores making a big deal out of the holiday. I love Christmas and all its trappings. One thing that is annoying this year is the giant (6ft.) blowup, lighted Santa Clauses, reindeer and snowmen on lawns. These are totally tacky.
Nicole, at her beautiful blog Notes to Myself has broken down the gender of St. Blog parishioners! Now I would like to see someone break down the locations of bloggers although that would be harder to do.
This is sad:

Philippines reintroduces hanging

Thursday, December 04, 2003

"Christmas is a time when people of all religions come together to worship Jesus Christ"


-Bart Simpson


YO MOMA!

I have been listening to NPR lately, which makes me a bit "crunchy" I guess. Anyway, at lunch today I caught a bit of an interview with two people discussing "Hidden God: Film and Faith" which is a film festival and a publication both based at MOMA (The Museum of Modern Art). I only caught about 5 -10 minutes of the interview but it sounded very interesting. Babette's Feast is one of the films being shown. I first heard about this film from the "50 Best Catholic Movies of All Time". Also, both Groundhog Day and Crimes and Misdemeanors are listed. These two films were discussed in an epilogue to The Church and The Culture War: Secular Anarchy or Sacred Order by Joyce Little. I blogged about this excellent book a long time ago. The discussion of these two films is worth the price of the book itself.

Next Month in Crisis:

"In parishes across the country, Catholics are joining local chapters of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF). While critics and some bishops accuse the group of being a front for dissenters, VOTF leadership denies the charges. Who's right? Danny DeBruin knows. Six months ago, he joined the Long Island VOTF. Next month, he'll tell you what he discovered..."

I can't wait for this, it will in the January 2004 issue!

Sunday, November 30, 2003

A St. Blog's family discovers Tradition

I have nothing but respect for traditional Catholics -they are partly responsible for my reverting to the faith. This includes Catholics who attend "indult" Masses and those who attend SSPX chapels. I find many of their criticisms, ideas and questions right on and no refutations I have read have convinced me otherwise. All the reading I have done (The Great Facade, etc..) has not convinced me to attend the traditional latin Mass exclusively however. I am lucky as we have an weekly "indult" Mass within a 20 minute drive. I wish my diocese and others were more traditional and orthodox and people really understood the severity of the crisis in the Church. I hope and pray the SSPX will be "reconnected" or "regularized" with the Church or whatever so that good Catholics like the Inmans will not have to fret over decisions on how to find true Catholicism in a parish setting. The idea of an apostolic administration is a good one, and the growth of the traditional Mass and traditional orders is positive. Hopefully there will be less parishes that offend Catholics and send them fleeing to the SSPX chapels but for now I think the traditional groups of all types will continue to grow, and with good reason.
RELIC FROM TILMA OF TEPEYAC COMING TO ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL IN NEW YORK

I am not going to miss this.

Update: I missed this.