Stepford lives.

New Catholic families are currently moving into Domino pizza-magnate's newly developed Catholic town. Ave Maria University's founder, Tom Monghan, seems to be completing his parallel universe with this new project, bearing the same name as AMU.

(Drawing: Architect's rendering for the town of Ave Maria.)

Free! Free at last!

Paris is out of jail - doesn't she look cute? That wasn't so bad now was it? (She reminds me of Jen in this picture. Oooooooo! A tear.)

Gagged...LOL!

I saw a story - guess where - about a visionary being gagged by the Church. I imagined she had been physically gagged. How many wish the seers at Medjugorje could be gagged? ROFL! (Go here for the story - not much to it though.)

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(Photo: Cathy of Alexandria.)

Blogs I don't like...

" Are those pussy willows?" - Line from "Serial Mom"

In an email to a friend, I referred to blogs I don't like as "pussy blogs" inspired by the character, Dottie Henkle from the movie "Serial Mom" - she is the woman Kathleen Turner's title character tormented. Today I suddenly remembered the term, "Puseyism" - of course I would know that - which happens to be another name for "Tractarianism", and I realized my reference wasn't all that crazy. (I do not mean this to reflect unfavorably upon the venerable Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church, which deserved high praise; after all, it led Cardinal Newman to communion with the Roman Church.) Here is the definition of Tractarianism:

"The religious opinions and principles of the founders of the Oxford movement, put forth in a series of 90 pamphlets entitled Tracts for the Times, published at Oxford, England (1833–1841)."

Of course my meaning is not remotely the same, but it's nice to know the term has been used before - even though it's the surname of a man and is spelled differently. Henceforth I will spell it as Pusey (American pronunciation).

Definition:

Pusey blogs /'pus-e/ n (2007) [derived from, Edward Bouverie Pusey] (Not to be confused with legitimate Puseyism) Weblogs that are officious, elitist, smug, arrogant, derivative, pompous, gossip based, querulous, omniscient, derisive, and so on.

Commandments for motorists...

Is this a joke from Steve Carell's new movie, 'Evan Almighty'? Nope, it's a Vatican thing; 10 Commandments for motorists. One of them:

"The document's Fifth Commandment reads: "Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin"." 10 Commandments for good motorists.

How's that going to go over with all the Lexus, Volvo, luxury car owners - and you big old SUV gas guzzlers, you?

Seriously, did you ever consider that your driving may be sinful, or at least an imperfection? Speeding down a side street - sin. Giving someone the finger while driving - sin. Rolling through stop signs - probably an imperfection. Driving drunk into a 7-11 Store (an Archbishop did that once) - big sin. Parking in the handicap zone without a permit - most likely a sin. Talking on your cell phone while driving - that's like a mortal sin. Combing your hair, putting on make-up, - sin. Tailgating - sin. Running red lights - sin. Eating and talking with your mouth full - driving or not - it's disgusting.

Gosh! That Vatican, now they are telling us how to drive.

My name is Beowulf Potter!

Well it feels like my name should be Potter. It seems my garden is a Beatrix Potter wonderland this year. I was in the garden today, praying my rosary, when three little chipmunks - I know, they are gophers, nearly ran across my feet. Shortly after a rabbit headed across the lawn into the hosta bed, soon followed by her baby rabbit. This morning I just witnessed a robin's brood of fledglings abandon their nest in the crab apple (3 in all), and I have never had so many house finch nests in the hedges before this year. I haven't seen my mice yet, nor the mole, but I'm sure they are here. I also have mourning doves and several pairs of cardinals. I can't forget the sparrows and goldfinch, nor Mr. Squirrel, and the night time visits of the raccoon family. It's very cool.

The cats like the critters too - Agnes chases them, and Xena just likes to watch.

I feel like Mr. Rogers!

Paris Hilton Photos!

Yes, it is the Paris Hilton, not far from the Eiffel Tower.



(Photo: Courtesy Paris Daily Photo.)

Appropriate attire in Church

Well here is another one for the fashion police who insist upon proper clothing for Church. Now they are saying swimsuits cannot be worn into the Holy House at Ephesus in Turkey. Tourists have been visiting the sanctuary in swimsuits - I thought women had to be covered in Islamic countries anyway? The story here.

Geesh!

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(Photo: Muslim women's swimwear. The article I reference refers to women in western swimwear.)

American paranoia.

In the United States, it seems pretty darn obvious many of us live in dread of getting sick - or living with an illness. Have you ever noticed all the healthcare commercials, and drug ads that run on television? Of course you have, you Advil popping hypochondriac you.

We are so scared to death of the next plague or epidemic, we can barely sleep. The infectious-TB-globe-trotting-Romeo story certainly betrays some one's hysterical fears. If you didn't see Dianne Sawyer's interview on ABC's Good Morning America with the guy, here is a snippet from the print story:

"In an exclusive interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, tuberculosis patient Andrew Speaker said he never thought others were at risk for catching his deadly disease.

"I'm very sorry for any grief or pain that I have caused anyone," Speaker said from his isolation room in the National Jewish Hospital in Denver. "I think if people look at my life, that's not … not how I live my life.'" - ABC News

Don't get me wrong, Andrew Speaker, knowingly or unknowingly, probably acted irresponsibly. Yet so did the authorities involved. So maybe blame "fate".

Some day, the world is sure to encounter a pandemic, probably spread by airline travel. However, this TB story just seems to highlight the richest country in the world's neurosis over health and mortality. This, in a country where over a million abortions a year are performed. (Does anyone else see the irony here?)

Oh! The humanity!

I'd be embarrassed...

Rappin' for Jesus. (I know - This is something you would expect to read in some dorky Diocesan Newspaper.)

"Thanks to the initiative of Conventual Franciscan Father Masseo Gonzales, the teens have discovered rap from the Catholic perspective.

Two months ago the priest, known as “El Padrecito” from the collection of “Homies” his brother developed and marketed in books, comic strips and plastic figures, decided to create Hiz-Kidz, a group of 20 young people between 14 and 19 years old. The title comes from urban slang. “It is a game of words,” said Father Gonzales. “’Hiz’ means both God and Hispanics.”" - Catholic Online

So anyway...it's like Fr. Stan Fortuna - it just isn't cool - unless you are between the ages of 5 and maybe 10 years old.

Feeling trapped? Frustrated?

Try getting out more. Step out of your paradigm.

It's not that unusual...

Photo: Cardinal Ivan Diaz lighting lamp/incense, before Hindu deity, Ganesha - an elephant headed god. (More photos at Tradition in Action. I was unable to find a more recent photo I came across, showing another Bishop performing a similar function in honor of a pagan deity, not that it matters. Although at one time, martyrs gave their lives rather than make sacrifices to idols.)

On Pentecost, St Joan of Arc had Tibetan monks chanting during Mass - it was a mystical experience for some.

"The resonances of this chant stirs me on the level of insight. It envisions the deep stirring of oneness and, dare I say, the divine groanings. So please enter into the chants with a new listening." - Fr. DeBruycker, St. Joan's pastor.

An event such as this is not so unusual however. Several years ago, St. Paul Seminary had chanting Tibetan monks in the sanctuary of the chapel (one sat lotus position on the altar) for a prayer service. Lately, Bishops have been photographed lighting incense to Asian deities, etc. Traditionalists lamented the International Assisi inter-religious conferences where pagans worshipped alongside Catholics - performing pagan rituals in Catholic sanctuaries. And one ought not to forget the Beatification Mass of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, with Hindu-esque dancers during the Offertory.

This stuff hardly seems news-worthy any longer.

"By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell — and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed." - Some fellow with the last name of Hitler.

(Thank you Ray for the lead on this story.)

Drivel

"Idiotic utterance; silly nonsense; twaddle. A useful way of passing time, a productive way of releasing tension and defusing flames, as well as an opportunity to explicate one's vast knowledge of utterly useless matters." - Web definition

The other day I noticed a commentator using this term in describing blogs. He thought most blogs were drivel. It occasioned some introspection.

(Painting: "Man Imitating Cloud" - Norwegian painter, Odd Nerdrum)

Head coverings for women...

Photo, President and Mrs. Kennedy leavng Mass in Newport, RI.


The cover up

Obviously this dressing up for Church thing has really grabbed my attention. (And here I'm the one who used to make fun of women who wear chapel veils - so I'm just as bad as everyone else.)

Anyway, quite by accident, while looking for funny nun pictures, I came across this interesting piece regarding the history of women's head coverings. (It is neither scholarly nor exhaustive, yet remains interesting nonetheless.) Have a read, ladies:

A short history

"But then I read the writings of the early Christians. And then I understood why Mennonite and Amish women wear prayer veils or head coverings. I realized that it was in obedience to 1 Corinthians 11:5, which says, “Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.” The early Christian women veiled their heads not only in church, but also anytime they were in public.

From my later study of church history, I discovered that Christian women continued to maintain this practice through the all centuries up to the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During the nineteenth century, many Christians in the United States and western Europe began arguing that long hair constituted the only covering women needed. Others said that women only needed to wear a covering when in church. The middle class and wealthy women switched from veils and caps to ornate bonnets—if they wore a covering at all. Bonnets became more a matter of fashion than of modesty or obedience to 1 Corinthians 11.

By the turn of the twentieth century, the ornate bonnets of the nineteenth century had given way to ladies’ hats. Until the mid-century, women in Europe and America typically wore a hat or scarf in public, but they were simply following tradition and fashion—without realizing that there was originally a spiritual reason behind the practice. Similarly, until about 1960, western women wore hats when in church. But the meaning behind the hat was lost.

Today, Christian women in eastern churches still cover their heads in church. Some of them cover their heads all of the time. In the west, some Plymouth Brethren women still wear the prayer veil in church, as do many black women. But usually these sisters do not wear a head covering at other times." -Source: "Headcoverings Through the Centuries"

Now isn't that just special? (Yes, I know, the scriptural passage is why Caholic women covered their heads in Church. But once again, did you know that Jackie Kennedy is the one who popularized the mantilla in the U.S.? Until then, most women wore hats or scarves - or that doilie thingie.)

And another thing

Strangely enough, Fr. Edward MacNamarra recently (5/22/07) responded to a question concerning the scriptural injunction for women's heads to be covered, he had this to say:

"During St. Paul's time it was considered modest for a woman to cover her head, and he was underscoring this point for their presence in the liturgical assembly.

This custom was considered normative and was enshrined in Canon 1262.2 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law alongside the recommendation that men and women be separated in Church and that men go bareheaded. This canon was dropped from the new Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983, but the practice had already begun to fall into disuse from about the beginning of the 1970s.

Even though no longer legally binding, the custom is still widely practiced in some countries, especially in Asia. It has been generally abandoned in most Western countries even though women, unlike men, may still wear hats and veils to Mass if they choose. Sociological factors might also have been involved. The greater emphasis on the equality of man and woman tended to downplay elements that stressed their differences.

Likewise, for the first time in centuries, not donning a hat outdoors, especially for men, ceased being considered as bad manners, whereas up to a few years beforehand it was deemed unseemly to go around hatless. This general dropping of head covering by both sexes may also have influenced the disappearance of the religious custom." - Zenit - May 22, 2007



Finally, one more, "Did you know?" Yeah, so did you know that Hassidic Jewish women must always have their head covered as well? But they wear wigs - which is technically a head covering. :)



Maria Elena Vidal, at "Tea At Trianon" has a beautiful post on this subject, concerning the mystical significance of head coverings for women.