Everybody wanna know ...

Just watch until 5:30 if that's all the time you have.  Notice that Etta James kind of looks like Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Watch out Suor Cristina Scuccia ...

You may have competition.

[Sr. Cristina's had the time of her life.]

Police State.

Family Vacation.

I commented on a news item about a family in Ohio, who while visiting an Air Force Museum on vacation were stopped by AF Security, Grandma and Mom were forced out of the van at gun point, while the kids were screaming.  It was all a big misunderstanding of course...

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio (CBS CLEVELAND) – A spring break vacation turned into a nightmare for a Columbus family visiting the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force when four police officers in three cruisers drew guns and forced a grandmother and a mother to the ground as two young children screamed in fear from what authorities thought was a “stolen” vehicle.

Alice Hill, 65, her daughter-in-law Wendy Hill, 31, and Hill’s two children, Aaron, 8, and Brooke, 5, were pulling out of the museum parking lot after Aaron and Alice had counted the number of out-of-state cars on the way to their family minivan.

Unbeknownst to the family, an anonymous onlooker had called 911 and reported that the family was burglarizing vehicles in the parking lot.

On their way out of the lot, police pulled the vehicle over as one officer stood behind his door and drew his gun on Alice Hill, who was driving. - Read the rest here.

I know!  It's so not funny, kids traumatised, the U.S. is turning into a police state, freedoms are curtailed, and so on.  It's horrible.  I'm actually afraid to leave the house.

So anyway, I left a comment on the news story post: "Gee!  This is just like 'National Lampoon's Family Vacation'"!  And someone got pissed and responded, "Idiocy is still well represented in our commenters, it seems."

Yes.  Yes it is.  

All's well that ends well, Grams and mum and the kids were not trying to break into cars in the parking lot after all and the informer has been fired by Homeland Security.  (I made that last part up.)

I'm thinking lawsuit/settlement.

Someday they will all laugh about it.

What?

Should Catholics patronize gay wedding planners/florists/decorators/bakers? How about the price of those wedding kecks, huh?

LarryD is back:

HOW CHRISTIAN SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS CAN DEFEAT GAY ACTIVIST ECONOMIC TERRORISM.

I sugjoost that we select a keck furst!

No bloggers were hurt by this post.

The spiritual combat..
"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." - Ephesians 6:12 (So do not grow slack in your Easter celebration and relaxation. The devil prowls like a roaring lion.)
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I don't know about you, but it seems to me the real spiritual battle only now begins. 
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Of the Spirit of Conceit
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Chapter 9 - How conceit is more perilous when mingled with virtue.
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Other disorders when they are opposed by their opposite virtues, are engaged in the open like battle in the light of day, and can easily be overcome or avoided: this alone when it is entwined with virtues is far more dangerously deceptive to the unwary warrior, as if battle were joined in confusion, fighting in the thick of night.
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Chapter 14 - How conceit suggests they might rise in the hierarchy.
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Often it instills an ambition for Holy Orders and the priesthood or diaconate. If a monk has been chosen for ordination, it makes him imagine himself ministering with such piety and correctness that he can give an example of holiness to other priests, and winning many souls not only by his manner of life but also in his teaching and preaching. Even one dwelling in the desert or in a cell is made to imagine himself travelling round different houses and monasteries, and converting many by the eloquence of his fantasy discourses.

Just for fun:

Chapter 18 - How a monk should avoid women and bishops.

The consistent and still current teaching of the old Fathers (which I am embarrassed to repeat, I who failed to escape from my girl cousin, or elude the hands of the bishop) is that in all ways a monk should flee women and bishops. Neither would allow him, once entangled in their company, either to apply himself to peaceful work in his cell, or to cleave to divine contemplation, in the consideration of holy things with undistracted eye. - The Monastic Institutes, John Cassian

 

Fr. Z has an interesting take on the Third Secret of Fatima.

I think it is an insightful consideration, and definitely a different perspective from what we have heard over the years since it was revealed.  Father's theories are noted in red of course.

After the two parts which I have already explained, at the left of Our Lady and a little above, we saw an Angel with a flaming sword in his left hand; flashing, it gave out flames that looked as though they would set the world on fire; but they died out in contact with the splendour that Our Lady radiated towards him from her right hand: pointing to the earth with his right hand, the Angel cried out in a loud voice: ‘Penance, Penance, Penance!’. And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it’ [It could be a reference to the Pauline image of seeing through a glass, "darkly". Some might be tempted to think of an image on a television screen or monitor.] a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father’. [Benedict is now just a "bishop dressed in white".] Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, [Granting that it was the 2nd Sunday of Lent and the Gospel was the Transfiguration, in his final Angelus address Pope Benedict said" "I feel that this Word of God is particularly directed at me, at this point in my life. The Lord is calling me to "climb the mountain", to devote myself even more to prayer and meditation."] at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark; before reaching there the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins [The papal gardens at Castel Gandolfo contain Roman ruins from the time of Diocletain.] and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; [...] - WDTPRS
 

Fr. Z appears to be among those who think there may be another part of the Third Secret not revealed.  Cardinal Ratzinger, Cardinal Bertone have said that the entire secret has indeed been revealed.  I accept them at their word, and believe the entire secret has been revealed.  Remember, the Third Secret is really just the third part of the entire secret of Fatima.  The essential part of the secret was known for decades, and that was Our Lady's intention - put all three together and you have the text and the vision.  The third part never needed to be made public - Lucia intended it for the Holy Father and left everything to his discretion - even the interpretation of the vision.  Blessed John Paul II made the decision to make it public.  That said, we know exactly what we need to know: Repent!

Speculation is simply entertainment.  Just like trying to guess who the next pope will be. 

Sadly, modern locutions and apparitions often seem to foster suspicion and mistrust of the clergy and hierarchy in their wake.

Traditional Catholic Tutorial: Dress like a Lady. Chapter One: How to enter a room gracefully and modestly.

"Oh... this old thing?"

As modeled by Loretta Young.  (She was a devout Catholic who went to daily Mass - with my Aunt and Uncle.  I know!)

"...Clothes to be modest need not only to cover the body but also not to cling too closely to the body. Now it is true that much feminine clothing today clings closer than do some trousers, but trousers can be made to cling closer, in fact generally they do, so the tight fit of such clothing gives us not less grounds for concern than does exposure of the body. So the immodesty of men's trousers on women is an aspect of the problem which is not to be left out of an over-all judgment upon them, even if it is not to be artificially exaggerated either." - Cardinal Siri

Another example here.  What?

Humor

Or the lack of it.
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I think I like all the people I link to in my blogroll - as well as many other bloggers I do not link to.  If you were on my blogroll and are not now, it is probably because you dropped me from your links, and so I'm just responding in kind; Thom, Mark, Cindy, and you others out there.  I still like you though.  Gosh - I've lost commenters too - I really, realy like my commenters - and the one's I've lost, I miss a lot.  One priest dropped me just because I noted that some pope used to burn faggots.  Go figure!  But that's not the point of this post.
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Point is:  I often comment on the blogs of persons I like and leave off topic or on topic comments - some serious, but most of which are often very ROFLMAO funny - to me - albeit off the wall and inappropriate or 'dumb'.  On my planet, 'dumb' is really, really funny - like laughing Jerry's from the 20th century medieval period.  Truth be told, I have my laugh and move on - and I rarely return to see if there is a come back.  I always fail to realize many people just do not get my humor and so they sometimes take offense or think that I am an evil, nasty, man - I am - and then they get pissed - and then they drop me.  "What's in your wallet?
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Yeah, so, my apologies for living.
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Anaways...  People with blogs take themselves way too seriously and may not realize how nasty and negative they can be too.  I know.  They may write beautiful spiritual treatises while in the mood (love that song!), and then bash someone to hell 10 minutes later.  Some of us - few of us - admit we are rotten, envious, ass**le sinners to the core and yet we still judge who is Catholic and what level Catholic he, she, or it is:  CINO?  Fervent?  Devout?  Uber?  Ultra?  Man or beast?  We all do it - those who blog do it online - others write letters to the editor or their bishops - or me...  How'd you get my address?  Of course the "normal" people just gossip amongst themselves.  (Let me tell ya, few bloggers can be classified as "normal".) 
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Besides, as Fr. Groeschl always says, "If you ever want to be canonized - don't do a lot of writing." 
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So lighten up people - it's the holidays.  Don't pigeon hole Santa.  (No - that is not a sexual term!  You are thinking of corn.  Sheesh!)
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Art: "Filmhound" Michael Sowa

Are there bishops in heaven?

"Dad, are there bishops in heaven?"

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"We hope so honey, but we only know for sure that those who have been canonized are there - that is why we have to pray so hard for them."
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"Oh! Oh! Dad! Are there bishops in hell then?"

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"Hon, again, nobody knows for sure, but from the sounds of it, quite a few bishops don't think anyone is there at all."

Little known facts...

Something to think about.

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I love little known facts, I am something like Cliff Claven that way - which reminds me, I have always loved "Cheers" but there is not one character in the sitcom I'd want as a friend... Same goes for "Seinfeld". But I digress - I do not want to keep you in suspense.

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Little known facts.

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Since I wrote it in a comment on AR2, I'll repeat it here. Didja know the term "drag" originated in reference to one’s train being dragged behind them? It had to do with the grandness of a woman's (or man's) gown or cape. One's status was recognized by the length of one's train, and so on.

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"White people love rules. It explains why so they get upset when people cut in line, why they tip so religiously and why they become lawyers. But without a doubt, the rule system that white people love the most is grammar. It is in their blood not only to use perfect grammar but also to spend significant portions of time pointing out the errors of others." - Source

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The term "faggot" used for homosexuals comes from the time they used to burn gay people at the stake. Faggots were used for kindling.

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The Vatican bombed. "As a story that's never really been told, many don't even know that the Vatican City itself was bombed during World War II. Friday, November 5, 1943 was a quiet morning. Until, they say, five bombs fell on the Vatican from a single, unmarked plane." - Source

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Cardinals (the bird) mate for life - they are monogamous.

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I heard this one on Laurie and Julia. In a family of all women, the women tend to menstruate at the same time of the month. Yuck!

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The design of a room: "Scale can be a worrisome thing. But far too many people don't understand that adding an over scale object to a room can give that space an undeniable thrill, a sense of recklessness, of danger." - Source

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If you commit a mortal sin with a priest - he cannot hear your confession or absolve you for that sin. Canon law forbids it.

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Ties. "According to Ray Smith in the June 4 edition of The Wall Street Journal, a recent Gallup Poll reports that the number of American men who wore ties every day to work last year dropped to a record low of 6%, down from 10% in 2002. The necktie industry group sensed this trend for itself when a number of its members showed up tie less for a recent association meeting. Smith's story reports that the association is now disbanding." - Source

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People who drive SUV's are paying a lot more at the pumps, and those who want to sell their big trucks are having a difficult time of it.

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Gay marriage. "The idea existed - and among its fiercest opponents were homosexuals. Here's a reproduction of the August 1953 issue of One Magazine dedicated to the subject." - Source

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California is in trouble because of the drought. Did you know water is going to be the next big issue? Even before the oil runs out. Traditionally, deserts were supposed to be uninhabitable.

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Men's pant lengths. "Italian pant length I am sure it will change someday (that's fashion) but right at or slightly above the ankle still looks good to me, especially for casual Summer pants." - Source

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Studies suggest there is a huge connection between using birth control and abortion and all sorts of cancers in women, and the use of these things may result in the death of the fetus if the woman is pregnant.

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June is like "Gay Pride" month.

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Men's hats: "The hat's natural purpose of protecting the head from rain or sun soon faded into the background, giving way to the much more important function of signalling rank, emphasizing authority, identifying leaders, uniting the members of a community or distinguishing social classes and nationalities..." - Source

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Most people who commit suicide never live to tell about it. It is also believed that most people who commit suicide regret that they had.

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Men and women who have had face-lifts and repetitive cosmetic surgeries, simply look like old people who have had repetitive cosmetic surgeries.