Sal: May 2003 Archives

by Thomas Sowell in the WashTimes today. What do you think of a "National Slave Memorial" on the Washington Mall? Supporters say it will promote "reconciliation" and "healing." Sowell says just the opposite. I think he's absolutely right. Now if we could just change the culture so that guilt and victimhood weren't so dead sexy to everyone we might make some progress on this. Here's a somewhat related story for foxnews.com on an asinine law in L.A.

Regarding the popular appeal of victimhood, two generations of kids have grown up in the this country being taught two plus two equals "wah!!!" On one hand you've got a general feeling of victimhood and entitlement among those who have had priveleged lives compared to those people who grew up a few score, much less a couple hundred, years ago. On the other you've got scads of victims who wouldn't even admit they are victims, i.e. consumers and performers of pornography. Consider the real victims of abortion - mother, father, and unborn child. There are substantial numbers of people in this country who place the victimhood of things like trees and manatees above that of aborted children.

Was it Mother Teresa who said "God has lots of money"? Whatever - give the good folks at Envoy Magazine some help in their worthy ministry.

Please pray today for the newly-ordained Reverend Mister Augustine Minh-Hai Tran who is now a transitional Deacon for the Diocese of Arlington. I met him last Fall on the visit to Mt. Saint Mary's College Seminary and was very pleased to share in this triumph for the Church. Another man has been raised to the office of Deacon to bring souls to Christ and Christ to souls. For the next year he will continue his formation and, God-willing, will be ordained a priest.

THE DEACON The deacon will help the bishop and his body of priests as a minister of the Word, of the altar, and of charity. As a minister of the altar, he will proclaim the Gospel, prepare the sacrifice, and give the Lord's Body and Blood to the community of believers. It will also be his duty, at the bishop's direction, to bring God's word to believers and unbelievers alike, to preside over public prayer, to baptize, to assist at marriages and to bless them, to give Viaticum to the dying and to lead the rites of burial. Once he is consecrated by the laying on of hands that comes from the apostles and is bound more closely to the altar, he will perform works of charity in the name of the bishop and the pastor. By his own free choice he seeks to enter the order of deacon. It is a ministry which he will exercise in celibacy, which is a sign and an incentive of pastoral charity. Moved by a sincere love for Christ, he will make a new and special consecration of himself to Christ. By his life he will give witness that God must be loved above all else and that it is He whom he serves in others. cf. Rite for the Ordination of Deacons

I had the honor and pleasure of singing with the Diocesan Choir today for the Mass and Ordination. The Handbell Choir of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More played as well. They are the best handbell choir I've ever heard in Arlington, but the timbre of bell choirs, like flute choirs, is something I can only handle in small doses. I find the sound to cheechy and chongy - I'm sure outside of the choir loft they sounded glorious but sitting right in front of them made it unpleasantly penetrating and clangorous. After the Mass I was at the reception speaking with a friend of mine who is applying to be sponsored for the seminary by Arlington. He was dressed in black pants and a white shirt - the attire of a pre-theologian in the seminary. The Vocations Director of Arlington was walking by and greeted him.

"Getting ready for the seminary?" He asked.

"Yes, indeed!" He exclaimed. "I thought I would wear the team colors!"

And Kairos guy isn't kidding about being reviled for bringing those fats pills to work.

A new feature on Catholic Light! We'll post the strangest referrals we're getting from other places on the net. Not links, mind you, but where a reader was before they got to CL.

I don't know how someone got here from there but man oh man you shouldn't wonder why the Brits lost the empire and that timeshare in Hong Kong! This one isn't bad, but view some of the other animations at your own risk!

This one of Pavarotti is quite funny. My advice after poking around a bit more on the site - don't click on anything else.

Read this article in the WashTimes on the poop storm created by the DNC over the layoff of ten minority employees and you'll see their priorities are so utterly out of whack they can't even decide who to hate.

Our links are fixed now. RC is happy. And you know our motto is "we're not happy unless RC is not happy!"

via Foxnews.com

MAZATLAN, Mexico — A former priest who fled to Mexico to escape U.S. sex abuse charges died after jumping from the third-story balcony of a hotel as police closed in, authorities said Monday.

Siegfried F. Widera (search), 62, faced dozens of child molestation charges in California and Wisconsin.

Police surrounded the beachside hotel and planned to arrest Widera in this resort city on Mexico's Pacific coast, the Mexican judicial authorities said.

Minutes after authorities arrived, Widera ran to the balcony of his room and jumped, said Marta Gutierrez, a spokesman for the attorney general's office in Sinaloa state. She said it was unclear why he jumped, saying that he might have been trying to escape.

He died of head injuries Sunday on his way to a hospital, she said.

I thought I had seen everything there was to see on the net. I found the hobbit name generator.

Alexandra Baldwin - Rosie-Posie Gamgee-Took of Bywater
Bryan Baldwin - Todo Gamgee-Took of Bywater
Pete Vere - Orgulas Chubb
Eric Johnson - Fredegar Brandybuck of Buckland
Sal Ravilla - Mungo Trample of Woody End
Richard Chonak - Marroc Moss of Lake-by-Downs

And the greatest hobbit name of all time is John Schultz's -

Olo Sackville-Baggins

I suggest, Olo, that you ditch the hyphen and just go with "Baggins."

Here's one parish development project Michael Graves hasn't gotten into: St. Veronica's in Herndon, VA.

Here are some drawings of the plan. Click on the thumbnails to see how utterly appropriate the architecture is!

And a view from the top. A church shaped like a cross! What will they think of next?

I can't wait for part 2!

now that I have seen the "Gallery of Regrettable Food." The Meat Meat Meat! sections contain "the finest examples of hideously glistening meatage" I have ever seen. Serve up this duo the next time the in-laws come over and they'll never be dining at your house again!

BATTLE OF THE BULGE COLONEL CREIGHTON ABRAMS, US ARMY

"And when he gets to Heavan,
To St Peter he will tell:
'One more Marine reporting Sir.
I've served my time in Hell.' "

Inscription on the grave of US Marine Pfc. Cameron,1942

"When you go home
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today"

If you have a broadband connection to the net download and listen to this rendition of Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland, narrated by James Earl Jones.

" -that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion" - The Gettysburg Address

If you like squirrels....

A friend sent me this link of some nuttiness one of her friends has gotten into. All the squirrels in the neighborhood know where to get their fix now! Don't miss the movie.

Blogger problems!

First, access to sites on blogspot.com has been spotty this past week. Second, our permalinks aren't posting properly so you can't link back to individual posts. Third, I can't edit the template. Bah! I think RC has a plan to move us to another blog system and our own server. I can't wait!

As I lay dying of laughter -or- The well-oiled Catholic

Last night I had the pleasure of dining in the rectory of one of the churches in Arlington. A friend of mine is the Parochial Vicar and he invited me over for a visit. I was regaled with wonderful stories like this one:

A retired priest was living in the rectory of one of these priests. He visited a nursing home once a week but was so forgetful about who he was supposed to see. The elderly padre was going on vacation and the pastor told him to anoint every Catholic in the nursing home before he left.

That Sunday a man came up to the pastor after Mass, told him that his father was at the nursing home and was near death. He asked if the pastor would give him last rites. The pastor said he was sure the man’s father had been anointed. “Are you denying my father the sacraments?” The man asked. The pastor didn’t want to get in a row with this man so he agreed to anoint his father.

The next day the man called the rectory and asked for the other priest. He asked again if his father could be anointed. The conversation went exactly as it had on Sunday with the pastor, and the priest went to anoint the dying man.

The next four days the man called around to other churches to have other priests anoint his father. They all complied.

One Friday the man’s father passed on. He had been giving last rites five times before he died.

At the funeral the pastor eulogized him in this way:

“When we lose a loved one it is normal to ask ‘is my father in Heaven now?’ I can say with great faith that you father is certainly in Heaven. He was anointed so many times before he died that he slid in!”

Cooking with Dom Bettinelli

He's got VOTF's recipe for half-baked reform over at his blog today.

Announcement!

Forthwith all other Catholic Lighters are sacked and henceforth this blog shall be called "In Between Snacks." I'm going solo. I need some new graphics and your prayers. St. Drogo and St. Dymphna, pray for me!

chirp chirp

I'm going to invite some crickets to join the blog if my fellow Catholic Lighters don't post anything!

A wonderful post by Mark Shea

Linked to offset my surly demeanor this morning.

If you are called, you are gifted and if you are gifted, you have been called. Now the task is to discern what your call and your gifts are.

What a crock!

Former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair said he "couldn't stop laughing" when the newspaper corrected his fraudulent description of an American POW's home in West Virginia, according to excerpts of an interview with the New York Observer.

"That's my favorite, just because the description was so far off from the reality. And the way they described it in The Times story -- someone read a portion of it to me -- I couldn't stop laughing," Blair said in an interview scheduled for publication Wednesday. The newspaper made excerpts available to The Associated Press on Tuesday.

In one of his few interviews since resigning from the Times on May 1, Blair told the Observer that he "fooled some of the most brilliant people in journalism" with his reporting.

According to excerpts from the Observer, Blair said his deceptions stemmed from personal problems.

"I was either going to kill myself or I was going to kill the journalist persona," he said. "So Jayson Blair the human being could live, Jayson Blair the journalist had to die."

The problem with the "Blair Affair" is that other than losing his job, Jayson Blair had faced no serious consequences for his deception. Well, other than interviews, book and movie deals. A suggestion for the Times: sue the guy. Make it hurt. It's not enough to say "you'll never work in this town again."

Getting our priorities straight...

The home page of my old Parish in Alexandria, VA contains this memorable quote from the Pastor:

"A parish in the tradition of the Second Vatican Council, Someplace Special, where Jesus is Lord and Pittsburgh is number one!" -- Rev. George Griffin, Pastor

If I was preaching during fútbal americano season I would say "God is not a Steelers fan - he's a you fan." ¡Que profunda!

Commencement at Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary

Inside the Beltway today in the WashTimes

Surprise honors
Few in the audience for Sunday's commencement at Mount St. Mary's College and Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., recognized a man seated politely at the dais.
His identity became clear only when outgoing college President George R. Houston Jr. diverted from the program to announce that he was awarding a presidential medal to Mohammed Odeh Al Rehaief, the Iraqi lawyer who risked his life by urging U.S. Special Forces teams to make a daring predawn rescue of captured and wounded Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch.
"At first there was stunned silence — it was a complete surprise," Catherine Bartos, whose daughter received her diploma, tells Inside the Beltway. "Then this small man stood up and the place just exploded with applause — five minutes of sustained applause and tears — that went on and on and on and on. It was wonderful.
"Finally, at least a part of the American public was able to thank him for what he did for one of our own."

Ship of fools

LONDON (Reuters) -- A ship full of poets, video artists, painters, photographers and composers will set sail for the Arctic next week in a bid to get British schoolchildren interested in issues like global warming.

The artists, accompanied by scientists, will sail 200 miles (320 km) in a 93-year-old schooner, the Noorderlicht, from northern Norway to Spitsbergen in the Arctic.

As well as carrying out scientific experiments, the crew will take photographs, paint pictures and write about their experiences in one of the most inhospitable places on earth.

They plan to use their material to make a multi-media educational pack to be used in schools in Britain.

One of the crew members, film producer Colin Izod, told a news conference that a lot of educational material currently available to children is produced by "money-grubbing businessman flogging stuff to schools because they see a market there."

Of course he's a self-righteous penguin-hugging lefty flogging stuff to schools because it makes him feel better. Whew! It's way too early in the morning to be so nasty! God, forgive me!

Father Gee rocks!

Make Fr. Gee's blog "The Mission" one of your frequent stops. He's a priest in the Diocese of Arlington on a missionary assignment in the Dominican Republic. He used to be the Parochial Vicar at Our Lady of Angels in Woodbridge. He's got audio posts and some great pictures. Pray for him and send him Spam of the Lite variety. How does one say "priestly spam" in Latin? "Sacerdotalis Spam"?

Happy Birthday, John Paul II!

The Pontiff is 83 years old today!

	Anyone remember this biographical comic book of JP II published by Marvel around 1983? I bought it when I was a kid. I wish I still had it!

The recording on the USMC answering machine [WAV file]

The voice sounds like it could be Victor Lams.

Dude, where's my stoa?

The Old Oligarch posts a lenghty review of The Matrix: Reloaded. Why does the story of a Messiah or Savior have such mass appeal? It's simple: whether we recognize it or not, we need one.

OO posits that Fr. Jim Tucker was Keanu Reeves's stunt double. That can't be true. Don Jim is easily twice as tall as Reeves. And unlike the wooden Reeves, The good padre has complete control over over his facial muscles.

Related to the latest Moran affair during which the Representative tried to turn Mass into a campaign stop, Frs. Belli and Dobbins are now being called Frs. "Shock" and "Awe."

Jim Moran allegedly put his foot in his mouth yet again: "You priests don't know anything about abortion."

For the Wash Times Inside the Beltway today:

Here's what we know: Two days before Election Day in Alexandria, Mr. Moran, who is Catholic, took Virginia's visiting Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine, and Alexandria city councilman and Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Euille (who is not Catholic and won the election) to Mass with him "to shake a few hands," says our source close to Mr. Euille.

In fact, Roll Call newspaper reported that Mr. Moran asked that Mr. Euille be recognized during the Mass, a request that the parish rebuffed.

With the three politicians seated before him, the Rev. Bryan Belli delivered the sermon, part of which touched on pro-life issues and Catholic politicians who ignore church teachings. Mr. Moran's spokesman, Dan Drummond, was quoted in Roll Call as saying that it is unethical and possibly illegal for Father Belli to attack the Democratic Party from the pulpit.

After the 9 a.m. Mass, according to the newspaper, a "red-faced" Mr. Moran exchanged heated words with the Rev. Michael Dobbins, with Mr. Moran "screaming and pointing his finger at him."

"How can you reconcile yourself as a Catholic with your views on abortion?" the priest is reported to have asked Mr. Moran, who is said to have shot back, "You priests don't know anything about abortion."

"Congressman, put away the talking points. Talk to me as your priest," Father Dobbins told his parishioner. Mr. Moran is reported to have replied that there was "not enough time" and walked off but not before hearing the priest say: "Congressman, one day you will need me, and I will be here."

"That's what these pro-abortion 'Catholics' seem to forget," Mrs. Brown [Judie Brown, president of the American Life League] said yesterday. "The pastor is not interested in the politician's voting record but his soul. It is a credit to Bishop Loverde's leadership that his priests are confident enough to boldly proclaim the Gospel, even in the face of elected leaders who claim to have a mandate from the people for their immoral positions on abortion."

With you a lifetime
Malcolm Ritter
AP in the Washtimes

This Mother's Day, there's some news for moms to reflect on — the kind only they can truly appreciate: Even if a woman's children have grown up and moved away, they probably still carry a part of mom with them, but not in the way one might think. What's more, mothers probably still carry a part of their children.
It turns out that even decades after a woman gives birth, she can still have cells in her blood and tissues that came from her children during pregnancy.
And by the same token, many adults appear to harbor such cells they picked up from mom during their time in the womb.

A few too many Star Trek Conventions...

Klingon Interpreter Needed for Ore. Mental Patients

The language created for the Star Trek TV series and movies is one of about 55 needed by the office that treats mental health patients in metropolitan Multnomah County.

"We have to provide information in all the languages our clients speak," said Jerry Jelusich, a procurement specialist for the county Department of Human Services, which serves about 60,000 mental health clients.

Although created for works of fiction, Klingon was designed to have a consistent grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

And now Multnomah County research has found that many people — and not just fans — consider it a complete language.

Good thing my parish doesn't have a Klingon outreach program...

On the topic of discernment

Several brother bloggers have chimed in lately about discernment and vocations to the priesthood:

Karl from Summa Contra Mundum gives some directions to solving the priest shortage in his diocese. His first point is that if you a single guy you owe it to God to ask if he is calling you to the priesthood. If you think the answer might be yes you must come to understand that you don't have a better plan for your life than God does. Pray and earnestly seek God's will in the matter. He will take your measly five loaves and two fishes and multiply them in ways you can't imagine.

Fr. Sibley also has a post on the topic, quoting Hans urs von Balthasar:

In obeying his calling a person fulfills his essence, although he would never have been able to discover this, his own archetype and ideal within himself, in his nature, by descending into the center of his natural being, his superego, his subconscious or superconscious, by studying his pre-dispositions, yearning, talents, his potential. Simon the fisherman could have explored every region of his ego prior to his encounter with Christ, but he would not have found "Peter" there; for the present, the "form" summed up in the name "Peter", the particular mission reserved for him alone, is hidden in the mystery of Christ's soul. - From Hans urs von Balthasar's Prayer

Daily spam

I'm going to up RC's ante with this spam that in various forms comes copiously out of Africa:

Dear Sal Ravilla

Thanks to a piece of information I gathered about you
through the Togolese Chamber of Commerce and
Industry,Although I did not leave any clue as to the
reason for my enquiry bearing in mind the
confidentiality required in this absolute risk-free
Business.

He goes to say I could share in an unclaimed fortune that is sitting in Togolese bank account if I would just give him my account number. How in the name of Heaven did the Togolese Chamber of Commerce and Industry get any information about me? Anyone with cognitive ability greater than bathroom tile knows this is a trick - my address ended up on this Swindler's List so that he could bilk me of the $313.17 in my checking account. Good thing Padre Ravilla taught young Sal well!

The only other practicing Catholic where I work is from Ghana. Whenever I get this spam at work I blame it on him. He thinks it's funny. "Look," I say. "If you need money for lunch just ask!"

Yuck

How utterly revolting. Almost as revolting as Sinead O'Connor teaching religion...

Manatee, Cow of the Sea

Are they more important than people? My sources say "yes!" The next step is suffrage for sea cows - one manatee, one vote!

[linked via Rod on The Corner]