Weekend "Blogger-talk"...

This is me after reading a few other blogs...

I can't even bring myself to name them.

He's gay.

Albus Dumbledore is gay!

Gosh! And I liked him. I guess this is one more reason why Catholics shouldn't read Harry Potter. The author 'outed him'. (I'll bet Snape and a few others are on that same dance team.)

Friday fast.

"My heart is won more readily through your wretchedness than through your virtues! Who came away from the Temple justified? The publican. For to me the sight of a humble contrite soul is irresistible... That is the way I am." - Jesus to Sr. Consolata Betrone



[Thanks to Jeffrey for the photo of the shrine to the Sacred Heart.]

Elvis priest...

Viva Las something...

Thomas Merton once said that one of his greatest penances was the lack of taste shown by the monks in the monastic community in which he lived. I get that.

What about this for no taste, the Romanian priest who impersonates Elvis? (I guess when you are from Romania you have to do something.)

Sorbo, Italy - Romanian-born Antonio Petrescu believes you can worship God and (impersonate) Elvis at the same time: as a Catholic priest and Elvis Presley impersonator, he finds his spiritual inspiration in the late rock legend.

"People ask me 'How can you reconcile Elvis impersonations with your choice of professional work?'" said Petrescu, who puts on his glittery suits and swivels his hips when not working as a parish priest in the Italian town of Avezzano. - Story

The priest's website here. Yeah - that's his photo - kinda looks like Jeron.

Planning your costume?

Ray and I already have ours - cool, huh?

Cathy and Adoro are so excited about Halloween - they are having fun discussing their costumes. Those gals are so darn cute this time of year.

Press Conference

The President was tough.

I watched the last part of President Bush's press conference this morning. He must not have slept well last night - I could see it in his eyes. And he was not in a good mood - in fact, he was pretty feisty and tough. No nonsense for him today. He suggested that if Iran gets nuclear capabilities we will be looking at WWIII. I have to say I think I agree with him.

"So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," said Bush. - Breitbart

Even more funny Pope pictures...

Pope in flames.

The above photo out of Poland is supposed to show JPII waving from the grave. Story here. This photo will probably thrill some trads and sedes - they might suggest it is proof John Paul is not in Heaven but some other place, like purgatory or...

Very few trads accept John Paul II as "Great".

FYI - The Congregation For The Clergy

Where Monsignor Stenico worked...

Congregation for the Clergy

Prefect: Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos

Secretary: Archbishop Csaba Ternyak

Undersecretary: Mons. Antonio Silvestrelli

With due regard for the rights of bishops and their conferences, this congregation examines those things which concern priests and deacons of the secular clergy with regard to their persons, pastoral ministry, matters which are in support of the exercise of these things, and in all this provides opportune assistance to the bishops. The Congregation has many functions: it studies, proposes and urges the means and aids by which priests strive for sanctity. This office also has charge of everything which concerns the work and discipline of the diocesan clergy. Particularly it promotes the preaching of the Word of God and the works of the apostolate and organization of catechesis, evaluates and approves pastoral and catechetical directories, fosters national and international Catechetical Congresses and indicates the opportune norms for religious instruction of children, young people and adults. The Congregation looks also to the preservation and administration of the temporal goods of the Church without prejudice to the other Congregations which have temporal goods committed to their vigilance. The Pontifical commission for The Conservation of the Artistic and Sacred Patrimony if directly responsible to the Congregation for the Clergy.

The feast of St. Teresa of Avila

Doctor of the Church

Mystical Doctor of the Church that she is, she had a very homely manner of writing, a wit that shows through even in her loftiest works. The digressions she indulges in as she wrote her autobiography dramatize her personal style while lending us ever new and revealing insight into her personality, that some have described as vivacious. Curious term for a contemplative nun.

On another blog a discussion has a come up regarding whether or not women should be declared Doctors of the Church. Not surprisingly, an SSPX bishop raised the question. For some reason a few uber-trads seem to reject most of the saints and blesseds, and apparently now female Doctors, who have been proclaimed such since the Council. Of course, trads do not follow the new liturgical calendar anyway, so how much difference does it make? (I'll have to explore that.)

Nevertheless, this reminded me of the post I did last year, on the humor of Teresa of Avila. last year - just for fun - I came up with an idea of a sit-com based upon St. Teresa's life. I immediately thought of Bea Arthur ("Maud", "Golden Girls") in the role of Teresa, with Christine Baranski ("Cybil Shepard Show", "The Birdcage") as the Princess of Eboli. They could spar over her writings as they did in real life - only make it funnier - wasn't it the Princess who had an eye-patch - or am I getting my nobility mixed up? Actually, the sit-com could focus on the Princess, after the death of her husband, when she entered the monastery of Pastrana, and became the source of so much grief - now that's a show.

In one scene, Teresa could be traveling to make another foundation, the coach falling in the river, Bea Arthur, with her dead pan humor, looking up to heaven, as in the photo above, saying, "No wonder you have so few friends when you treat them like this." Then guffaws of canned laughter. The entire production could be done similarly to the British sit-com, "Absolutely Fabulous!"

Uber-trads wouldn't be happy with that either.

[Edited from an earlier post.]