I heard from a local priest that he was about to Baptize an infant and the parents, with no clue about latin, named the beautiful child “Regina Caeli.”

Let’s hope they don’t name their second child “Agnus Dei!”

This is from one of our beloved spanish-speaking readers:

You Wrote regarding Carter’s Visit to Cuba:
CARTER: It really hurt my feelings when you used to call me “Peanut Man.”
CASTRO: Lo siento mucho. ¿Qué si le llamo las “tuercas del señor?” which means I’m very sorry. What if I call you “Mister Nuts?”
POOR TRANSLATION
The real flavor of the translation: (An expression that is unprintable appeared here) Would you prefer it if I called you “The Man’s Wing Nuts?”

Apparently the phrase “tuercas del senor” is an idiomatic expression which is a lot like saying “go play in traffic” only it involves an part of the male anatomy. It has nothing to do with wing nuts or peanuts. Let’s just say mi madre would wash my mouth out with soap if I had said that around her.

To our readers who actually understand spanish I say estoy muy, muy apesadumbrado.

Evening folks. Can I tell you a quick pet peeve? If you are one to let little tidbits like this distract you at Mass, I suggest you scroll down to Steve’s posts below.
At daily Mass, during the intercessions, the floor is often open for spoken prayers from the congregation. There’s one parish my wife and I go to on Saturday mornings where they go like this:
Leader: Are there any intentions from the assembly?
Congregant 1: For a special intention…
Congregant 2: For a special intention…
Congregant 3: For a special intention…
Congregant 4: For a special intention…

This sometimes strikes me – first as a misuse of the English language. Is your intention really “special?” If so, it could be like this:
Congregant 1: For a special intention…
Congregant 2: For a more special intention…
Congregant 3: For a super-duper intention…
Congregant 4: For a deluxe intention…

It’s a *private* intention. Special is weird – private is not.

Three cheers for Amy Welborn! She’s given us all a name – St. Blog’s Parish.

I’ve been reading the coverage on Carter in Cuba and it made me remember a great piece by P.J. O’Rourke. 50+ reasons why Carter was a better President than Clinton. This appeared in The American Spectator – one of my favorite magazines. They don’t have a website anymore. Trees are apparently cheaper than bits and bytes.
The funniest one from this list is missing:
Mariel Boatlift? Does Hillary know about her?