More on cleric-wear.

Shirting.
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Most off the rack short sleeved shirts for priests have too short of sleeves. A clerical shirt should have a short sleeve length that hits right at the man's elbow - if not longer. Many priests wear their shirts much too small - they need a one finger collar space - depending upon their weight, and the shirt buttons should never show strain - always wear full cut. And dress shirts should have sleeve lengths long enough to show approximately 1/2" of linen when one is wearing the cassock or a suit coat. Short sleeved shirts should only be worn with a jacket, sweater, or casual sport coat - never under a suit or cassock.

Priest-wear.

The limited wardrobe of the priest.

On my new blog I mentioned I wanted to work on some designs for priests to wear - just for fun of course. It seems to me most of the younger and newly ordained priests wouldn't be caught dead without their clerics. While lay Catholics seem to prefer priests dressed as priests - especially in cases of emergency - so they can recognize the priest from the ordinary man on the street. Younger priests are also very willing to go about town in their cassocks now days as well - as if the world is now following Vatican etiquette - and I like it. I was watching the news the other night and there I saw Fr. Joseph Johnson visiting Mary Jo Copeland in downtown Minneapolis wearing a cassock. How cool is that?

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Some priests still go out of uniform on their days off - sweatshirts and jeans and no shaving. Men love not to shave and to wear beat up clothes. Some people at the religious goods company I once worked for used to comment about priests coming in without clerical clothing. I found that a bit narrow. Having said that, there is a growing number of priests who would never do that - but do they have to wear a suit or a cassock all of the time? I don't think so. Which is why I'm doodling some ideas around.

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Pictured:

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Casual -

#5) Black Sweatshirt (or sweater) with layered collar. The collars are sewn onto the sweatshirt/sweater. The under collar is white, middle collar is black with a notch opening to reveal the white, both sewn onto the ribbed collar of the sweater. Paired with black stone-washed denim jeans, brown leather belt and hiking boots. (I like brown and black.)

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Dress -

#2) The black traditional cassock deserves decent outerwear. I did a long, full trench which stops about 6 inches from the hem of the cassock. The trench coat is constructed of soft black microfiber with a contrasting french khaki lining. Extra wide collar and belted (not shown). No capes. Not on the street.

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I might continue with this, I might not. Then again - I might design some nun's habits.

Git the gun!

Pope Benedict urges a crackdown on handguns.

"The pontiff said he was urging 'every effort against the proliferation of light and small-calibre weapons, which fuel local wars and urban violence, and unfortunately kill too many people every day in all the world.'" - Source

How many "Ratzinger fans" bought their wives firearms? LOL!

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Even Hillary is a gun-totin' church-goer now days. - NY Times

Bell ringing to welcome the Pope.

There is a movement underway for Catholic churches around the nation to simultaneously ring their church bells when the Holy Father arrives on April 15. Pewsitter has the story.

A good friend of mine came out.

His story really influenced me.

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A good friend of mine told me he surfs the net and reads blogs - this 'coming out' on his part surprised me because he never reads my blog. Imagine, he is not interested in reading Catholic stuff. I told him this blog is more nuts than Catholic and sometimes it is really funny. It still never got his attention.

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He said he reads quirky blogs late at night, and I asked, "What kind? Political?"

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He answered, "All kinds!" And he proceeded to explain how some people are really way out there, "They write things like, 'I feel like blowing up my neighbor's house!' - just because they are angry at the trailer trash living next door to them. They call people they don't like 'wackos' and 'freaks' and 'perverts'". Well you get the idea.

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Anyway, I said, "Yeah, my one blog is kinda like that, you should read mine." But no! He's not interested in "Church crap" as he called it. That didn't bother me as much as when he said he read "Cafeteria is Closed" a couple of times. "Well over 2 million visitors to that site, you know." I told him I had heard that before.

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But my friend's coming out story really did influence me. Many bloggers do come off kind of nuts. (I know I don't!) But people really write some weird stuff. (Again, I know I don't.) So I want to maybe start a new blog - just with weird stories and stuff. Funny stories - well, things I think are funny - and it just might help people look on the bright side a little more. Like Beverly Sutfin said, "Life doesn't have to be ugly." I could post things I wouldn't have to take down a half hour later because readers here might be scandalized. (I just did that with about 6 posts recently.)

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What do you think?

I didn't realize it until today...

But I think I am on retreat.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati

Happy Birthday Pier Giorgio! (April 6th)

I did an icon of Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati (shown above) which was presented to his niece Wanda by my friend Ellen (shown at the top) a few years ago in Rome. The icon is now in the Frassati family home at Pallone, Italy.

(I have no other photos of the icon. The Beato is shown in the mountains with two peaks in the background, suggesting wings - alluding to his virginity and purity. He holds a mountain climbers pick and a rosary with the crucifix of JPII. The panel is framed in gold. Click the photos to see close ups.)

Miniscule things...

Minuscule Things
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There’s a crack in this glass so fine we can’t see it,
and in the blue eye of the candleflame’s needle
there’s a dark fleck, a speck of imperfection
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that could contain, like a microchip, an epic
treatise on beauty, except it’s in the eye of the beheld.
And at the base of our glass there’s nothing
.
so big as a tiny puddle, but an ooze, a viscous
patina like liquefied tarnish. It’s like a text
so short it consists only of the author’s signature,
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which has to stand, like the future, for what might
have been: a novel, let’s say, thick with ambiguous life.
Its hero forgets his goal as he nears it, so that it’s
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like rain evaporating in the very sight of parched
Saharans on the desert floor. There, by chance, he meets
a thirsty and beautiful woman. What a small world!
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-William Matthews
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Photo of a friend.
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Even though the photo of my friend is dated June '78 - it was taken about 8 or 9 years earlier and only reprinted in 1978. I believe this photo was taken when we were on a "trip" - driving around in the van. My friend liked to "dress up" and entertain us with her characters. She was absolutely hilarious. We call this, "The Turban Photo".

The year of my conversion... 1972

...Before grunge...

I have no idea where this was - I know I was with my friends someplace while on a trip... it is after my conversion because I am wearing the Paul VI crucifix. My friend Bob is drinking and I geuss I'm just posing.

Old photo...

Here I am in Naples with a friar of a reformed Franciscan community. They lived in Euro-passenger train cars, their life very primitive and austere; they went barefoot throughout Italy. Padre Umile was the founder and had been encouraged by Padre Pio to begin the reform. I have no idea what happened to them. This was when I was living as a pilgrim, around the time I met Don Marco. My "habit" was denim, and I had a rosary on my belt that fell into the pocket on my jeans, and I wore the cross that Paul VI carried on his crosier, the same one later adopted by JPII. (Photo: c. 1975-6)

Pray for me that I may be converted and return to my early love.

Introducing... The painter.

I found these photos of myself taken right after I painted the front rooms just a few years ago. Otherwise, I do not think I have any recent photos of myself. And I am only posting these because people have requested to see some of my paintings as well as photos of me. I can't stand the truth, so these may not remain up for very long.

A couple of other Southwest pieces...

( I already showed the top triptych, but it wouldn't detail in the other post.)

2nd: Ven. Mary of Agreda
3rd: St. Sebastian
4th: St. Joseph
5th: Holy Face

All of these are painted on wood panels, and yes, I made the frames too. (And sadly, I did the photography.)

My favorite Southwest style retablos...

Part of my "Santa Fe" Collection.

When the gallery I showed at in Santa Fe closed, I donated what hadn't sold to various churches and monasteries in New Mexico, rather than pay for the shipping on the return of my work.

Top two: Triptych of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Outside doors - St.s Francis and Clare. Interior doors - St.s Joseph, Felipe of Jesus; St. Juan Diego, Bl. Miquel Pro.

Third photo: Milagros Crucifix.

Last two: St. Paschal Baylon.

A couple of commissions...

Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

The top two are my photos of the finished icon I was commissioned to do for the altar shown above. (Church of St. Anthony, Albany, MN) The original icon was cracking and turned out to be a print, and the pastor commissioned me to paint a replacement. (I'm not a photographer, my apologies for the poor quality.)




Our Lady of Hermits.

Fr. L. took this photo in his hermitage. He commissioned me to do an icon of the Blessed Virgin for his hermitage, requesting that Our Lady's hair be in evidence, although not her hands. (I never asked why.) I came up with this image. Our Lady's hair is braided, although that detail doesn't show up in the photo. The hermit lives in northern Minnesota and is also my spiritual director.

(Much of my work has never been photographed.)

Using the scanner...

I scanned these paintings from transparencies, which is why they are so dark, I also do not know how to work in photo shop - sorry.

Top: Spiritual Marriage of St. Rose. (4" x 5")
Middle: St. John Mascias. (5" x 7")
Bottom: St. Martin de Porres. (3" x 8")

All three Dominican saints from Lima, Peru. Painted in simple Spanish Colonial style on copper.

The dinner party went very well!

I'm so verklempft!

After the crowd left, the four of us sat talking until after midnight. It was so good to reconnect! Friends are such a blessing.

[I've had this problem for years and years, but I think I may be coming to terms with it: I never really believed people actually liked me for me. So, now I have to figure out who "me" is.]

Finally - after dinner music...

LOL!

More background music for tonight...

See, I like to mix stuff...

Picking out background music for my dinner party...

Wow! Entertaining is hard work.

This is a side no one ever sees of me...

People are coming over tonight!

OH! MY! GOSH!!! People are coming over for dinner tonite! I'm starting to cook already this morning, while I clean - copious hand-washing before each duty in the kitchen of course. I no longer like to cook and I hate to clean. The cats are terrorized and I am trying to hold it together. I can't blog - no time - I can't get anyone upset today with a post - gosh - you are just going to have to go read Cathy for that.

The Dream!

Anyway - I had "the" dream last nite. I dreamt I was driving on this fantastic surreal road at night - rolling storybook hills and forests in the distance, and there was an eerie golden glow in the distance. I realized it was the Golden Gate bridge and I wanted to cross it. I came to an intersection and I could go one of two ways to get there, I decided to go straight ahead, casting a glance down the other road which seemed to go down a very steep hill, into complete darkness. Despite the fog on my road, I was happy to take it because the air seemed warm and refreshing. It seemed to me the golden glow of the bridge lighted my way and was a source of solace. I got to the bridge and decided to cross over, as I began the trip, I realized the entrance was a very steep, uphill climb, and the fog became more dense, as if the night were thickening, and I realized the crossing could be dangerous. I understood I would meet the suicides, but I was determined to cross anyway. (I know what it means.)

What I think about almost daily.

(Deleted)

Friday Night

Nothing

(BTW, I still cannot access AR2 - so this may be the last straw for that blog. Did you ever see the Faulty Towers episode where Basil beats his car with a tree branch, cursing and screaming at it - that is what I want to do to St. Blogs.)

"What did you say?"

"Nothing." I've always prided myself on speaking my mind, which is why I often respond to that "What did you say?" question with, "Nothing." So here goes nothing.

I'm going to try and avoid reading other blogs - not that I read so many, but I want to avoid those that spark my snark. Nevertheless, there are a few I keep returning to because they are very good, even though I don't always agree with them. Take Athanasius Contra Mundum for instance. He is such a smart guy - and he has finally revealed his name to his readers, although I knew it before from his emails. He and his wife had a baby not long ago and he is cuter than cute.

Anyway, Philip posted on John Paul the not so great for the anniversary of the Holy Father's death. Philip has posted similar views in the past, and people seem to become easily upset by what he writes. What I love about his posts is that Philip dares to explain why he doesn't think JPII was a "great" pope. (However, I doubt this means Philip doesn't esteem or respect the Pope, I think he does.) Most of us have been so devoted to JPII, and caught up with his charisma and personality, we have difficulty seeing beyond the "cult" which has surrounded him. (Proof of cult is another criteria for canonization by the way.) In addition, the volume of his writing is another aspect that captures our attention, while impressing us with a sense of the Holy Father's greatness. He certainly was prolific.

Having said that, Philip compares JPII's accomplishments to his predecessors, not only the 3 popes who bear the title of great, but popes as recent as Pius XII. Philip also mentions several issues that are easily dismissed by those of us who revere JPII - kissing the Koran, permissiveness as regards the American Church, and so on. I don't want to waste a lot of space on this, but I encourage you to read Philip's post, "John Paul the Great?" - he makes some valid points. But be forewarned, if you don't like criticism of JPII, don't read it, although Philip's tone has definitely softened after baby-bear was born.

I personally think John Paul II is a saint, he did wonderful work, accomplished a great deal, suffered a great deal, and touched untold numbers of people. I look forward to his canonization. Is the title "Great" appropriate? I think history must decide that, not one's contemporaries, especially in our age when people think someone is great just for attracting huge crowds wherever he goes. (Think Obama.)

"What did you say?"

"Nothin'!"

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(Photo: The photo above has nothing to do with this post except to show "my soul" - my dear friend Cathy said that one of my posts revealed my soul - but this photo does it better. )

Why there are nun...

[Note: Still not feeling well, I think I'm dying - I always think that when I'm sick - so my posts will be short and to the point. Oh - and I still can't get into Abbey2 - but I'm too sick to care.]

Didya get it? I used 'nun' for none?

Anyway - I've always said so, and maybe India will prove me right - one reason for the vocation shortage in congregations of women/men religious, is the options young people are presented with in a consumer-driven, materialistic, affluent society. Especially women - they do not have to get married to be taken care of any longer, they do not have to bear children, they can compete in a man's world, and live on their own - without being told what to do by anyone.

Another reason, connected to the spoiled rich girl syndrome, is the education of women - big mistake. (LOL! I'm so kidding.) So many women attend college pursuing degrees that oftentimes are worthless as far as career opportunities go, and then they are stuck with huge academic debts that they can't pay. In some cases, like one blogger I know of, they resort to marrying their parish priest because they have no other option. Or maybe because they realize women have no power in the Church? (Kidding again - gosh I get silly when I'm sick!)

Anyway, this stupid preamble introduces the topic I intended to discuss, I'll let you read it and decide I was right after all. From The Times of India:

Catholic Church in India facing shortage of nuns.

KOCHI: Catholic church in India is facing an increasing shortage of aspirants to convent life, with girls preferring more worldly professions, church authorities feel.

"Consumer culture seems to have overtaken the young girls who are no longer challenged by the call of ascetic life," says Father Paul Thelekat, Church spokesperson.

Women congregations in the country are no more getting enough vocations from urbanised areas of Kerala. But there are enough vocations to priesthood, Father Thelekat said. In European countries the nuns are becoming extinct as a social species and the same situation may be seen in India soon, he feels. - Times

I have nothing else to say - except I also blame "India Idol" and "Bollywood" for attracting Indian youth away from religious vocations - everyone wants fame now days - look at DE.

A day in the life of...

Reality blog.

I can't get into Abbey2 again - just when some good comments are waiting in line as well! Gerald and Mitchell have comments that must be posted, otherwise they may think I'm blowing them off. I wouldn't do that. By the way - if you are reading this Mitchell, I'm taking your word for it, and if everything comes to an end, I'm moving in with you and Judith.

For awhile, in an effort to reinvent myself, I'm going to keep a real weblog - you know, like a real journal or diary. That is pretty much what these things started out to be anyway, so these entries will be filed under, "A day in the life of" and will be very Eleanor Rigbeyish at that. (This way, if I rip into anyone else's blog, there will be some context to it all... Like, "I woke up really crabby this morning and wanted to bash someone" - not really.)

A day in the life of...

Woke up, got out of bed... about six times during the night. A sure sign of prostatitus again - such a nuisance. This may sound juvenile, but I have a little dim battery operated candle on my nightstand, and a little wooden Infant Jesus with a small image of the Divine Mercy. So when I wake up during the night, I see him immediately and it is kind of consoling because we are eye to eye as it were. Anyway, I immediately begin to pray this way - uniting myself to his silent loving action in the Eucharist, and the offering of himself in the holy sacrifice of the Mass being celebrated throughout the world. With the image of him next to me, I find consolation in the remembrance that he who loves me is looking at me when I look at him.

Because I'm not feeling well, I slept in and missed daily Mass. I got up and had coffee, and prayed for awhile. I always begin my prayer with homage to the Holy Face of Jesus and the prayers of the confraternity. A few written prayers follow - the morning offering and so on. Today I used an old prayer book with morning prayers. Reading prayers such as the acts of faith, hope, and charity is a good practice. As we pray so we believe, and vice-versa. It is good for us.

Formulated prayers.

Very often a priest in confession may instruct us to pray our penance in our own words, which is also good. Unfortunately, for many years, most people have been taught that praying in our own words is better than using formulas or the words of others, such as the saints. And movements and practices such as Centering Prayer and other techniques teach people that no words is a better way to pray. Other masters of prayer teach that no words, no images, no thoughts, is an even better way to pray. That is not true of course, but it makes people feel good and they imagine themselves to be very spiritual and evolved if they pray that way.

No, composed prayers, approved by the Church, and especially the psalms are always the best - they inform our conversation with God, and help us with the proper dispositions and decorum required for entering the Divine Presence. If one has trouble with meditation or discursive prayer, written prayers or vocal prayers, prayed with recollection suffice - which is why the rosary is so wonderful.

I stand corrected.

So anyway, after prayers, I checked the news online, opened my emails, responded to some of them, checked my blog and a couple of other blogs. It seemed to me Elena was offering some fraternal correction my way on her blog, writing about what a gentleman is, and the evils of detraction and calumny. (Sometimes God uses what we post without our intending it.) This caused me to examine my conscience on these things and repent at my mid-day examine. After some bread and coffee, I laid down for a nap, because I'm not feeling well you know. I was troubled thinking I hurt Gerald's feelings and prayed for him, and then dosed off.

I got up about an hour later intending to go to adoration, but I still didn't feel well. I checked my mail and discovered that I couldn't publish comments to AR2, so I spent too much time trying to fix things with the computer, until I realized it was too late to go to adoration anyway. So now I'll clean up, visit the Blessed Sacrament on my way to the store - I go to the store every day for fresh items, come back home, eat dinner, watch TV for awhile, examine my conscience, pray, and go to bed, gazing at the image of Jesus until I fall asleep.

[After re-reading while performing spell check on this post, I doubt I'll be able to post many "day in the life of" posts without boring everyone away from Abbey1.]

The funniest post I have ever read...

I will never tire of...
... jumping out of the supply closet and scaring one of my co-workers. He screams like a woman. - The Crescat

It just hit me as so insane and funny. Completely off the wall - to title a post, "I will never tire of" and then to tell us that.

A meme from Cathy

I hate memes but I'll do this one just for Cathy.

What I was doing 10 years ago:

Painting. Having a good time - sort of my last fling, if you will. (See the previous post: Squirrel Reception Video #2).

Snacks I enjoy:

Bruschetta. Cheese and crackers. Trail mix.

Five things on my 'to do' list:

Paint the back room.

Paint the trim on the house.

Start painting again.

Finish my will.

Call my uncle and my aunt.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Give most of it away.

Five jobs that I have had:

Never mind.

Three of my bad habits:

Blogging. Reading other blogs. Blogging about what I have read.

Five places I have lived: (I'll list them from the worst to the best.)

Dubuque, Iowa.
St. Paul, MN.
Minneapolis, MN.
Boston, MA.
Assisi, Italy

I tag Cathy to re-do her meme and answer it honestly this time.

The Squirrel Reception

More video.

St. John Vianney Seminary 2/2

I saw it first on Fr. Longenecker's blog, and he saw it first on American Papist, great video.

Bush wacked.

Bush's War.

and now,

Bush's Depression.

Divine Mercy

Jesus I trust in you.

Squirrel wedding reception

LOL!

Squirrel wedding...

Two of my squirrels got married today.

Actually they mated without ceremony. Since they were born last summer, I regarded them as brothers. I fed them all winter and they often sun themselves on top of Our Lady's shrine outside my door. They are unique in that each has blond ears. Yesterday I saw them wrestling and chasing one another, although I was surprised brother squirrels would stay together like that. This morning I noticed the boys doing something else, and I finally realized they are not brothers at all - but one is male and one is female. The female is sitting on the roof of the shrine sunning herself as I write this.

"Tooweet! Tooweet!"

Poetry Thursday is back!

Something so right.
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They've got a wall in china,

Its a thousand miles long -

To keep out the foreigners they made it strong -

And I've got a wall around me

That you can't even see...

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When something goes wrong

I'm the first to admit it -

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And the last one to know.

When something goes right -

Well its likely to lose me,

Its apt to confuse me,

Because its such an unusual sight... - Paul Simon

Amazing look-a-likes...

I think there is a striking resemblance between Margaret Sanger and Jim Caviezel. He should play her in the movie someone ought to do on her life.

For Elena...

Marie-Antoinette makes it to Le Grand Palais!

Elena of Tea At Trianon must be sent to Paris immediately!

I knew Joe was nuts...

Excessive emails and text are a sign of mental illness!

PEOPLE who send excessive texts and emails may have a mental illness, according to an article in a leading psychiatric journal.

As more people leave the office computer, only to log on as soon as they get home, the American Journal of Psychiatry has found addiction to text messaging and emailing could be another form of mental illness. - News.com

Yep - this confirms my suspicion that most bloggers, as well as Joe and Danielle are wacko.

The drive-time Diva...

Cathy of Alex on her way to work.

Blogs I think are over...

And why.

This one, AR1 - it has been for quite sometime.

Adrienne - The FBI finally caught up with this Mafiosa prima-donna!

Cafeteria is Closed - he didn't do well on the blog awards thing this year. Way too liberal and self-serving.

Sancte Pater - Arrested for defamation.

Roving Medievalist - Finally returned to the asylum.

Tom - He'll be offline after it's revealed he isn't really in Vegas.

Veritas Splendor - she's going into a monastery! Praise God!

Angela - Going back to Beauty School to be a manicurist.

St. Monica's - Hospitalized for post-partem after backing her car into Lake Como.

Psycho Home-schooling Mom - Very ugly clothes and Victorian ideals - verging on child abuse.

June Cleaver - Betty Ford.

Wild Reed - OMIGOSH! Dissident dish and he likes Marty Haugen?! Who knew gay men could have such bad taste?

Way of A Pilgrim - I think the pilgrim is dead.

Recovering Dissident - She's opening a dance school... after prison and rehab.

Jeron's blog : "You can call me Charlene" - What can I say?

Ray - His cover has been blown - he's been a double agent for the archdiocese.

Joanna Writes - Does anyone other than her nieces and nephews care? (I think they do.)

Crescat - No one bought the trad thing and she's pissed.

Athanasius - He posted his profile photo.

It's Easter!

Lent is so over!

I'm so happy Lent is over. I love Lent, but I've wanted to write more silly, lightehearted things, but because it was Lent, my postings have been very serious; often dry, intellectual, and/or spiritual musings - yep! on all of my blogs - "no foolishness" has been the rule! No funny business for me during Lent. But now I can write about all the fun things I've been pondering, plans for the future, and all of that.

(Photo: "Peep Show" sent to me by my angel-nephew Todd.)

My Easter Lamb

Hoppy Easter!

Mad as a March hare I tell you!