Author: Steve

For Doug Sirman of Sirman on the Mount per Mark Shea.
For a miracle for William Gagnon per Tim Drake.
For a speedy return to health for Mike Shirley and a smooth move for him and his family this Sunday.
For our Bishops in Dallas.
For our Bishops in Dallas.
For our Bishops in Dallas.
And for whom else shall we pray?

from the WSJ on June 7. Read it then drop Norm Mineta and your representatives in Congress a line.

from a reader in Boston.

Mark Shea’s term “The Great Enema of 2002” is memorable;
however, I find it too optimistic.
My _Random House Word Menu_, under “fusses and troubles”, has several dozen possibilities, among which are:
commotion and crash
flap, fracas, and furor
imbroglio
megillah, mess
screw-up, snafu, stink
wreckage
Among these, I prefer “crash” and “wreckage”.
I hope they will be followed by The Purge.

As far as the Bishop’s conference goes, I’m not sure we can hope for anything resembling what you and Mark have described so… colorfully. We have to pray and trust that the Holy Spirit is going lead our shepherds. Emily said it best yesterday:

We need to remember that the Holy Spirit is the one in charge of making sure this conference blesses the Body. And frustrating as it may be, He does not always work in ways that make sense to us or that we can easily and quickly evaluate.

over at Oremus.

…the Tabernacle itself could only have been made by cutting down the hood of an El Camino, adorning it with slabs of molton glass and painting it with thick layers of encaustic.

Mind you this was after they actually found the tabernacle in a side chapel. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t think we as Catholics should have to walk into a church a ask, “Where do you keep God around here?”

Mark Sullivan writes:

“Kettle of Fish.” This has a certain cultural resonance, carrying with it connotations of Friday fasts and mackerel-snapping, no?

Doug Sirman appreciates my comments, saying:

THANK YOU! Although I prefer “That Damned Mess!”, ‘crisis’ should do.

And Emily Stimpson agrees with me:

No argument here — and I don’t think you’re cranky. I stopped calling it The Situation awhile back. You’ll notice I now always refer to it as the crisis. Well, almost always.

Mike Shirley writes:

I think “crisis” works well, given that it combines “danger” and
“opportunity.”

“Kettle of Fish” doesn’t properly convey the gravity of it all. I wonder what Jesus is calling it.