ERIE, Pa. — Cathedral Prep High School in Erie, Pa., is taking a dim view of pee-pee.
Students are staging a production of the Broadway hit, "Urinetown: The Musical."
Erie Catholic Bishop Donald Trautman does not object to the play itself — but a diocesan spokesman said the bishop is concerned with the title "Urinetown" being connected publicly to the all-male Catholic high school.
So, the student play will go unnamed.
It would be a copyright violation to alter the show’s title. That means the high school must try to sell tickets to its upcoming school play without referring to its title — "Urinetown: The Musical."
Posters and programs will also refrain from using the play’s name. The curtain goes up on the unnamed show Dec. 7 through Dec. 10.
The Rev. Michael DeMartinis, director of the play, said he’s hoping people will come to see this play, which dare not speak its name.
Well I guess the Bishop’s objection doesn’t matter much now that the story has hit the news. The play itself is about a drought-stricken future where urination is no longer free with songs like It’s A Privilege To Pee. The title Urinetown is also pretty dumb and if you are going to make a musical on this subject matter why not call it Piddler on a Roof? One theater reviewer mentions this part of the silly plot.
When Bobby meets and falls in love with Hope, the daughter of UGC president Caldwell B. Cladwell, he is inspired to lead a charge against a proposed rate hike that would drive urination farther out of the bounds of the city’s poor.
I guess this would make them piss poor.
Christine at TheWorld…IMHO writes:
No joke, said all the subscribers to People magazine. But, Stallone added, he’s been going through a change in his life. He’s realized that he was wrong to place his career and fame ahead of his family. "The more I go to church," he said, "and the more I turn myself over to the process of believing in Jesus and listening to His Word and having Him guide my hand, I feel as though the pressure is off me now."
And, admitting that the analogy might be a little pedestrian, he made a correlation between physical and spiritual fitness. "You need to have the expertise and the guidance of someone else. You cannot train yourself," he said. "I feel the same way about Christianity and about what the church is: The church is the gym of the soul."
And, he said, his life experiences are what allowed him to write the final chapter of the epic series. "I needed to actually go through my trials and tribulations," he said, "before I could be man enough to know how to write that kind of story that Rocky Balboa is."
So, as someone who began listening on the call as a giggling skeptic, and who does not expect Rocky Balboa to be heralded as a Christian film, I have to confess I was won over by the real-life story of redemption I heard.
So, what’s next for Stallone? I can only imagine Rambo sneaking into Burma to free Christian missionaries who are being held by militants. And as the invincible one-man army looks into the eyes of the ordinary folks from Oklahoma and South Carolina who are risking their lives for the Gospel, he is swept up by their commitment.
Oh, wait. I’m. Not. Kidding. "It rekindles something in him. He doesn’t believe at first, he’s seen too much. He’s bitter. But when he meets these people and looks into their eyes, he’s swept up in it, and literally he’s just taken on this journey," Stallone said. "He’s a Christian warrior! Can you believe it?" I’m believin’ it.
Well he could also make a movie of the Council of Nicea and instead of his trademark line from the first Rocky movie could yell out "Arian! Arian!" instead.
"I have the clothes and you have the beard for it. Together we could make a great Santa."
After all Saint Nicholas was born in Patara, Lycia now part of modern day Turkey.
The caption the AP provided I think is rather confused.
In this picture released by the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate Pope Benedict XVI, left, is greeted by American Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios as he arrives at Istanbul’s St. George’s patriarchal church for a service, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006. The pope is in Turkey on a four-day visit. (AP Photo/Nikos Manginas)
Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate Pope Benedict XVI? That’s a new one on me. I didn’t realize relations have progressed that far – if only it was true. Too bad it is only a case of missing punctuation.
Though it does remind me of my Rome Depot parody that included this item.
| Sport’s Gear | |
 |
Ecumenical Scuba Tanks
Follow the Pope’s advice and "breathe with both lungs" of the Church when you go scuba diving. One tank is filled with an oxygen/nitrogen mix of Roman air and the other an oxygen/nitrogen mix of Eastern air. $399.99 |
College Catholic transcribes on the spot part of a Colbert show from last night. (He says his translation is about 70% accurate)
“My man of the year every years is the pope no matter who he is….Turkey is getting a healthy dose of vitamin B16…upon arrival the Pope spoke today about reaching out to Muslims (Pope’s quote)… Sorry Holiness that is too ecumenical, I liked you better when you were John Paul’s rotweiler… the ecumenical movement seeks to bring people together… the Pope’s visit is designed to bridge the gap between Christians and Muslims…the Muslims are a tad miffed, alright homicidally outraged, over a speech the Pope gave criticizing Mohamed as evil and inhuman…the Pope is trying to make amends and that is a big mistake.. Mohamed happens to be wrong (crowd is a bit shocked Colbert points at audience members and tells them sit back down)….hear me out, I am a Roman Catholic, the one true faith, (the Microsoft of religions) I know Roman Catholicism is the one true faith because Roman Catholicism tells me it’s the one true faith… I am sorry Islam, inherent in my belief is your wrongness… Muslims believe Mohamed ascended to Heaven on a horse, horses can’t fly, Jesus can!… the 72 virgin huggers are going to say Muslims do believe in Jesus, yah they believe that Jesus was just God’s friend, I hate to break it to you but anybody can be God’s friend, even Ted Haggard, God is a people person… the truth is Jesus is the only son of God (recites The Creed to applause) that’s the hometown crowd! Now what I just said is the complete truth or the Muslims are right and I am an infidel. I’ll tell you, the one thing I respect about Muslims is that at least they have the balls to say I am wrong… now when Christians try to be ecumenical we just look weak in our faith… if religions have to agree lets just agree on the one thing we both believe, the other guy is going to Hell!”
Colbert is fairly refreshing, though I still have no real feel how much of his television Catholicism is an act. Though he does make a mistake when it comes to ecumenism. Ecumenism is the movement for Christian unity. Dealing with Islam is interreligious dialogue not ecumenism. The "other guy going to Hell" is a bit Colbert has done before and is fairly funny in a comedy segment, but certainly not catechetical.
Gerald also covers this Colbert episode.
As for the Vitamin B16 I once did a parody along that line within a week of Pope Benedict’s selection though I called them Humanae Vitaemins.
Video via commenter Hoodlum.
With the Pope in Turkey I thought it would be interesting to do some background history on Turkey considering that Constantinople, now Istanbul, was once the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and subsequently became the capital of the Byzantine Empire. There is of course a rich Catholic history in this area filled with both glories and scandals.
I will discuss one of the low points.
The above picture is the infamous sack of Constantinople. Now I am not sure why so many of the Orthodox are still upset about this sack in the first place. I don’t know much of the history behind it other than that it dates back to 1204 and the times of the Fourth Crusade. Maybe it was filled with something unpleasant and left at the gates of Constantinople as an insult or something. Perhaps some mischievous Knight, like some kid on Halloween, filled it with manure and set it on fire. I can see how the gate guard might have been quite mad when he stomped the fire out, but this is quite a grudge to carry on for so long.
Pope John Paul II apologized about the events surround the sack in May 2001 so can’t we all just get along?
Turkey: Protesters hold massive anti-pope rally
Well that is the last straw. First they have been holding protests against the visit of Pope Benedict, now they are holding rallies for anti-popes. I wonder which anti-pope they were rallying for. Perhaps Pope Michael the 1st who lives in Kansas.
I also just realized another reason why Jesus did not choose women to be ordained. Since sooner or later we would have ended up with an Auntie-Pope.
For a serious and in depth roundup of the Pope’s impending trip to Turkey see Christopher’s list of stories.
Here is a funny piece Abbott & Costello Learn Hebrew based on the classic Whose on first skit.
I once did a similar post along these lines Abbott and Costello go to Sunday School
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The pastor at Anchorage First Free Methodist Church was mystified. Why was the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals chastising him? No animals are harmed in the church’s holiday nativity display. In fact, animals aren’t used at all.
People, however, do dress the parts – Mary, Joseph, the wise men, etc. The volunteers stand shivering at a manger on the church lawn in a silent tribute to Christmas.
The Rev. Jason Armstrong was confused by an e-mail this week from PETA, which admonished him for subjecting animals "to cruel treatment and danger," by forcing them into roles in the church’s annual manger scene.
"We’ve never had live animals, so I just figured this was some spam thing," Armstrong said. "It’s rough enough on us people standing out there in the cold. So we’re definitely not using animals."
Jackie Vergerio, PETA’s captive animals in entertainment specialist, said her organization tracks churches nationwide that use real animals in "living nativity scenes."
Well that would be a rather strange bullet to have in your resume.
Seems the confusion started with the church’s choice of phrase. PETA flagged Free Methodist’s display as a "living nativity," and indeed, that’s how the church describes it on its Web site.
To PETA, that means animals.
Wow if this mistake doesn’t say everything about PETA nothing does. Exactly how dangerous is it for an animal to get a gig at a Nativity scene in the first place? Is their a high incidence of being crushed by a Creshe or accidents involving swaddling clothes? Where does the cruel part come in? Perhaps it is forcing animals to act and not getting paid to scale. Are they giving them their motivations first before thrusting them on stage. Are Cows and sheep always getting type-cast as cows and sheep?
Via Diogenes:
The home-page of America Magazine ("essential reading for thinking Catholics") has this notice up:
Note from Webmaster: Someone is using our domain name, americamagazine.org, as the return address for spam advertising HoodiaLife, a diet pill. This is NOT being sent by us. This deception is known as "spoofing" — the use of false "From:" addresses to make a message appear to be from a legitimate sender. We have complained to the FTC.
Yes. Now with regard to the spoofing that’s been going on for the past forty years, how do the rest of us get in contact with the FTC?
Spoofing – now that is an excellent term to describe organizations and media that describe themselves as Catholic while having various degrees of separation from authentic magisterial teaching. Just try to read the mission statements of most Catholic universities without having the word spoofing come to you now.
In computing there is a technique known as phishing that allows people to fraudulently acquire information by pretending they are something they are not. They do this via email or websites and on websites they make use of site redirection in a hidden frame to make you think you are on a legitimate site when you are not. Newer browsers have phishing filters to warn you when a site is not what it appears to be. It would be great to have a magisterial phishing detection toolbar built into your browser to warn you about rad trad and progressive sites. "Warning this site contains information contrary to the magisterium of the Catholic Church" Now with experience most people do develop a Catholic phishing filter on their own. For myself I know it normally does not take long to determine the Catholic spoofing factor of a website often by their links. But some sites are rather crafty concerning their links so it would be nice to have in a Catholic phishing filter a buzzword algorithm that gives you a buzzword index which can be used to determine the character of a site. High uses of words like prophetic, dialogue, male hierarchal, sexual identity could easily be indexed to give you a clue. Of course sites like Catholic Culture have been doing good site reviews for years with detailed information that could be easily used as a database to get started with in a Catholic phishing filter.