Cardinal O’Malley continues to break new ground. His latest post will surely go down in history as the first person in the episcopacy to use LOL! I wonder if new chat acronyms might need to be added.
ROTFWMRHLOL – Rolling on on the floor with my red hat laughing out loud.
LMZO – Laughing my zucchetto off
LMAO – Laughing my alb off
Though IMHO can be left unmodified. It does have a nice pious ring to it.
Here is a story you can’t let go by without commenting.
A saying in canon law runs thus: "There’s no law against it till somebody does it." Well, somebody’s doing a new "it", so maybe it’s time for a new law.
Per the New Jersey Herald News and the Te Deum Blogspot, Fr. Louis Scurti, a campus minister at William Paterson University in New Jersey, "brings his two dogs everywhere [oh?] and that includes Sunday Mass." His pair of pooches set themselves up in the sanctuary during Mass, "making people feel included" [huh?] and providing a "symbol of domesticity" [double huh?]. Although the apparently untethered canines "have been known to growl" at late-comers, Fr. Scurti assures us that his dogs "don’t remove the sacredness of the liturgy at all."
The dictates of common sense are hard to put into words. If one has to explain to a pastor why his mutts don’t belong in Mass, one goes into the effort with the uneasy feeling that such words might be wasted on, well, someone who needs that kind of thing explained in the first place. But most folks can tell the difference between a liturgy and a living room, and many Catholics are out of patience with priests (granted, in shrinking numbers) who still treat the Mass as their personal property.
…
So, I guess we need a new law: No animals in the sanctuary, ever, and no animals (except certified assistance dogs) in a church. There, now I won’t be tempted to bring variously my two dogs, four parakeets, a cockatiel, salamander, newt, corn snake, or rabbit to church, and my fellow worshippers will just have to seek elsewhere for "the sense of calm and peace" I experience around my pets. Though I still think observing common sense would save us all a lot of trouble.
There are other considerations also. You don’t want a mess at Mass and the only accidents should be the philosophical term accident used to describe the appearance of the Eucharist after concecration Now a conscience-sniffing dog trained at a Padre Pio obedience school might be useful at times. Though they would have to be trained to differentiate between public and private sinners. The dogs howling when many modern hymns are sung could be a problem, that is if you could tell. Ushers with dogs that growl when you only throw in a dollar during the offertory could be beneficial. Attack dogs trained to only go after liturgical dancers would be useful in some parishes or ones that start to froth if you pick up a tambourine.
If you had to choose a breed of dog allowed at Mass what would it be? Sacred bloodhound? Papal Bulldog? Hound of Heaven would be nice, except for all the chasing. Would a Dalmatian wear a dalmatic. Priests with French Poodles (especially ones with clothes) should already be weeded out prior to seminary admission. Would their animals have to go to pet seminary? Sure obedience training would be required. In fact I can think of some priests that could also take a refresher in obedience training. None of these are good options, after all Jesus didn’t tell Peter "Tend my sheepdogs." Of course a post like this has to make a reference to our German shepherd Pope Benedict XVI.
Though as silly as it is for the priest to bring his two dogs to Mass
Who let the dogs out?
At least it isn’t the monthly doggie communion at All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale where Rover is given a doggie snack in the communion line.
All Saints invites area dog owners and their faithful companions to enjoy the wide open spaces and park-like setting provided by our grassy parking areas. (All we ask is that any "gifts" the dog may choose to leave are properly disposed of.)
One of my readers, Venerable Aussie, put together the above picture in honor of the LCWR’s devotion towards refilling ink cartridges.
I think I will stick with LaserMonks.
Shouldn’t religious organization be dealing with atoner cartridges?
WARSAW (Reuters) – Prosecutors in overwhelmingly Catholic Poland have asked priests to read out the names of drink-drivers from the pulpit as part of efforts to reduce the country’s high road death rate.
Church leaders have not said yet whether they will support the scheme, aimed to shame drivers into sobriety.
"We post the names of convicted drunk drivers at town halls," said Rafal Grabia, a prosecutor in the mountain town of Zywiec in southern Poland. "But who reads that? The information is not reaching family, friends and neighbors."
So will the Drunkology come after the Martyrology?
Reading the latest This Rock magazine on the many martyrs for the faith in the last hundred years I came across a Blessed whose name made me chuckle. This man was a catechist in Papua New Guinea and was martyred by the Japanese for speaking out against polygamy.
His name – Peter To Rot. Which seems to me a name more for the modern catechist than a man who died for his Catholic faith. To Rot is funny enough, but "Peter To Rot" reminds me of the articles and posts of disappointment when Pope Benedict XVI was elected.
More on Blessed Peter To Rot here.
Look, I am as much in favor of scientific and technical precision in terminology as the next guy, but scientists should learn something from lawyers: a terminology that confuses more than it clarifies has failed in its function. In law, we have both what is called a Rule of Adverse possession (which states that if a squatter is in open, notorious, unchallenged and continuous possession for 20 years, he gets title) and a thing called the Grandfather Clause ( which allows that rights under the previous statute cannot be lost when the statute is amended). In other words, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
While there is nothing wrong with a definition of ‘minor planets’ that identifies smaller and eccentric bodies like Sedna or Ceres, Pluto has been a planet since 1930.
It is an Ex Post Facto law to strip it of its dignity; I would call it unconstitutional! I am an American, so I say, let’s put together a class action suit and sue on behalf of Pluto. (If the plaintiffs in ACLU v NSA have standing, anyone has standing to sue on any hypothetical case).
Now, if the international conference of scientists with too much time on their hands wanted to rename the body from Pluto, to, say, YUGGOTH, that would be cool.
I’m with John C. Wright on this. This is pure discrimination we should at least make Pluto an honorary Planet. Why hasn’t the Pluto Deformation League responded to this ‘minor planet’ slander? This is demotion without probable cause. I am tempted to join with Dale and become an Old Solorist.
Anathema Sit!
That describes my view of the new planet-counting proposal offered at the International Astronomy Union’s General Assembly this week.
If it passes, I hereby declare I will become an Old Solarist, and acknowledge nine–and only nine–planets.
Twelve is right out.
Henceforth, anyone who tries to call Ceres a planet or makes reference to "plutons" will be cast into the outer darkness (a/k/a the Oort Cloud).
So let it be written, so let it be done.
First them came for Pluto, but I did not speak out because I was not a Plutonian. What planet is next on this solar system size slippery astronomical slope?
Just weeks after San Francisco Catholic Charities announced that they had found a compromise in handling cases of adoption of children to homosexual partners, other San Francisco diocesan departments have decided to follow their example.
Brian Cahill, the head of the diocesan-funded Catholic Charities, announced that three staff members will be working with a non-profit adoption agency, California Kids Connection, that has no moral qualms about placing children in homosexual households.
Cahill said he believes this compromise with what the Vatican sees as a “grave evil” will be in keeping with Catholic directives not to be “directly involved in the placement” of a child in a gay household .
Now other diocesan departments have announced similar changes to the way they operate.
David Rankin, of the San Francisco diocesan Life and Family department, announced yesterday that “we obviously don’t refer women for abortions, as that would be gravely immoral, so from now on all women who come to us with a crisis pregnancy will be referred to the local Planned Parenthood clinic for counseling.”
Go read the rest of this great piece of satire over at The Ox Files.
Via a reader this story about British tourist at Lourdes.
"We come here to party after being reverential all day," said Susan Clare, a 19-year-old student from south London.
Cue a pious version of the Kiss’ anthem "I wanna be reverential all day and party every night"
