Abbey-Roads2

And other bull$#!@.

Eat, Pray, Love.  Oprah is promoting this book by Elizabeth Gilbert- in fact, yesterday she just did another show on the book.  It is a best seller which is apparently liberating women from whatever keeps them back from self-pleasuring themselves with the freedoms they are missing out on in life.  (Not a few end up leaving their husbands as the author had.)  You can read a review of the new age spiritual classic here. 

Anagrammatic coincidence.

The so-called war on Christmas is fought on many fronts.  One familiar enemy of Christmas has always been the Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christians, once known as Puritans.  For these folks, any tradition associated with Christmas that smacks of Roman-ism is deemed satanic.  (And Catholics are worried about “The Golden Compass” maligning the Church!)

Writing on his blog, author John Shore claims that Santa is Satan:  “And Santa being Satan certainly explains a lot. For one, it explains the red suit. It also explains the flying reindeer. Remember how scary the flying monkeys were in The Wizard of Oz? Clearly, making mammals fly is an earmark of the malevolent. And seriously, what would you rather have flying over you: a 50-pound monkey, or a 500-pound reindeer? That wide-brimmed hat the Wicked Witch of the West wears might protect her from monkey droppings, but is it really going to help against a team of reindeer flying overhead?” - Read more.

As every good Christian ought to know, Santa traces his origins to St. Nicholas   - and he is definitely not the anti-Christ.  I’m not saying the commercialized version of santa Shore describes has much to do with the Catholic saint, but he certainly is not a danger to children’s souls either.  Christian parents, especially Catholics, should have enough faith to be able to differentiate the reality from the myth for their kids - at an appropriate age.  All too often religious people imagine the devil in the wrong places and disguises… while he is busy fitting-in  elswhere.

Circumventing authority.

Gay activists in the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis are making an issue over Archbishop Nienstedt’s authority  to defend faith and morals for Catholic faithful.  These unhappy people, otherwise known as dissident Catholics, are writing letters of resistance to the editors  of various newspapers, calling television news to document protests, while using their blogs to put pressure upon the Church to change Her traditional teaching regarding homosexual sexual activity. 

Many of these people are the same ones who insist there is no gay agenda to change culture, the Church, or the world.  Ah!  But there is an agenda.  On one “Catholic” blog site, which is against just about anything that is traditionally Roman Catholic (such as papalism- as the author refers to it), I found an offering suggesting ways dissidents may discreetly circumvent authority.  The presentation was given by a sister of the nearly extinct order of women religious known as the Sisters of St. Joseph.

How to dress up in sheep’s clothing - strategies for the wolf.

What follows is from a local gay activist’s weblog:  “Sponsored by the Homophobia and Heterosexism Working Group of the Justice Commission of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Sister Jeannine’s talk was entitled “Transforming Hierarchical Structures,” and offered a number of “guiding principles” for such transformation within the Catholic Church, along with some concrete strategies by which this much needed transformation can and is being achieved.

1. Active compliance: when we work actively with those within the hierarchical system and abide by whatever decision comes about. We make our position known but nevertheless comply. In this way the hierarchy at least knows of an alternative position and seeds of change may well have been planted.

2. Creative circumvention: when we follow the letter of the hierarchical law but not its spirit. An example: Lay people, forbidden to preach during Mass, give a “talk” before or after Mass.

3. Prophetic obedience: when one follows in the tradition of Jesus and the prophets and publicly name and confront structures that are oppressive to people.” - The Wild Reed

“Homophobia and Heterosexism Working Group of the Justice Commission of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet” - HUH?

No earth-shaking revelation from Sr. Jeannine, to be sure.  However, the above excerpt from The Wild Reed helps to demonstrate that these people spend a great deal of time researching ways in which to circumvent Church teaching.  Through a more in-depth examination of the literature disseminated by a couple of the organizations associated with this local movement,  I couldn’t help but be impressed by the extent to which these people immerse themselves in gay studies programs and ongoing education, comprising questionable academic and scientific research as regards homosexuality.  The group seems to be very well equipped and organized in their assault upon Church teaching and discipline.  Riding the coat-tails of a well-established reputation, once enjoyed by the formerly vibrant order of the Sisters of St. Joseph, these false teachers have created a convenient platform from which to carry on their battle.  Yet hopefully, not for long.  

Two nuns and an Archbishop were…

From the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence“:

We are dismayed that a moment of genuine communion during sacred worship is being twisted for political gain by the forces of hatred and dissension. - ­ Sister Edith Myflesh, Current Abbess of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc. - Sisters Press Release.

Freaky deaky!  And yet, they say homosexuality is not a disorder.  And these “nuns” insist they are not anti-Catholic…  

Very queer.

(Thanks Paula, for the ‘press release’!)

You know that word verification thing you have to go through on some blogs when you want to make comments?  I sometimes find it annoying, but sometimes it can be fun.  It can be like that scramble game in the newspapers where you have to unscramble letters to make a word.

I just ran into one that spelled, “tymafyi” - which when sounded out reminded me of Tina Faye.  See how fun that is.  (I know!  I didn’t even have to unscranble it.) 

Then - this is really weird, I was commenting on a post about gay pride - you will not believe the letters I had to copy out, “lesfggy” - “lesbian faggy” is what I got from that.  Some blogs have numbers too, I encountered one that had “2 g d 2 g 4″ - which I immediately identified as “too good to go for”.  Isn’t that so cool?  And what about this one on a blogspot where the blogger may be mentally ill (not you!); “mpdjir” - which I read as “multiple personality disorder jerk”.  (I’m not making this up either.)

Commenting - it’s fun!  Try it on my blogs sometime. 

Catholic tabloid review 

Is it just me, or is Spirit Daily getting more and more like The Globe or The Star, those tabloids that are on the stands at the check out line in the supermarket?  I check Spirit Daily out daily, just as I do Drudge, because sometimes I find good news items.

Lately, it’s been kind of weird.  Some “nuns” from Iowa insisting that they are not seeing the planet Venus where it should be in the sky, instead it’s some unknown planet X - it’s a sign.  These women are a diocesan community, they dress kind of Carmelite and have cut-off veils - they normally just dress up in the habit when they are off work.  They also live in their own apartments.  I met them at the religious goods store I used to work in.  If you met them you would know why this story is funny.

There are other sensational stories as well; one, “Stephen King’s son writes horror stories too” - oh my gosh!  I’m so scared.  (I hope he’s a better writer than his dad.)  Then the headline for 2 days, “If you love God enough you won’t feel the pains or fear of death.”  So saith some mystic guy.  Right.  One more thing to feel guilty about - how do you love God enough?

I like the headline “Jesus on car window”.  Without checking, I’m sure it’s another miraculous image story, I wonder if he is waving?  Another tagline, “Orangutan goes on rampage” is funny - Drudge is doing lots of animals-in-captivity-attack stories as well.  I love the one about the insane cat who attacked a woman because it was jealous of another cat.

Now, don’t get me wrong, oftentimes there are very good pieces on Spirit Daily - Michael Brown does a very good job.  But it must be a slow news day today, because he has a piece, “Seminary uneasy over gay priests”.  I thought, ‘What! isn’t all of that stuff over?’  As I read the piece I began thinking it could be a chapter out of the book “Goodbye Good Men” - after checking the date of the piece, it was from 2002.  (Those darn gays can sure get the readers, huh?)  But why would you resurrect an old article as if it was happening today?  AsMr. Brown might caption it, “Our sad times”.

Well, it’s a holiday weekend, so things will probably be slow in the blog world.  

Today was the first severe storm alert we had in the Twin Cities metro area this year.  The sirens went off mid-afternoon, at first I thought it was simply the monthly test since it is Wednesday.  But they didn’t stop, so I turned on TV, and sure enough, a funnel cloud had been sited in the northern suburbs.  The weatherman was actually shaking with excitement as he traced the storm on the weather map.  It has been live, continuous coverage ever since.  One would think it was Katrina happening all over again.

There was some storm damage, trees down, roofs off, but that’s what a severe storm does.  The entire 6PM news coverage has been nothing but insignificant videos of golf-ball sized hail, and downed trees, okay, a trailer blown onto a minivan, oh, and someone’s backyard trampoline blew into a tree.   Weather is big news.  It’s cheap and easy to fill a half hour with weather news of no consequence.  It is like nothing else happened in the world today around here.

I love severe storms, but this wasn’t that big, of course many people lost power, but it will be restored.  Weather people get you all excited for the big one, and then it just fizzles out.  Oh, well.

Although I did hear that some people were in a bar and their drinks were sucked right out of their hands, but their cigarettes remained undisturbed in the ash tray.   

Cistercian nuns in Austria whose Abbey doubles as a spa and yoga retreat center.  Some photos:

That’s kind of different isn’t it?

CORRECTION:  The Abbey is attached to a sanitarium - for years the nuns also acted as health care sisters to support their self-sufficiency - see Don Marco’s comments.  I apologize for any misunderstanding.  The spa is highly regarded in Europe.  I am in no position to comment on the yoga and Tibetan practices however.  

It’s happening again…strange things - I’m unable to access stblogs, and now my internet access is down from my computer at home.  Sabotuers?  I don’t know.  Whatever the case, I will not be blogging for a day or two.  Techies are coming in tomorrow to set me back up.

Fresco  of Pope Joan on the vault of the Chapel of San Silvestro in the Basilica Monastery of the Quatro Santi Coronati.

A Medieval Urban Legend.

A friend sent me this photo of the mythical Pope Joan, from a Church in Rome.  It is said to commemorate the spot where legend has it, the female Popessa gave birth to a child in the middle of her procession from the Vatican to St. John Lateran.  Wikipedia has a fair history of the legend that feminists love to believe as fact.

“Testiculos habet et bene pendentes”

“And they dangle nicely”…oh please!

Supposedly, subsequent papal chairs had holes in them for the electing cardinals to discreetly look through to make sure the newly elected Pope was  indeed male, thus insuring there would never be another Pope Joan legend.  Another legend has it that someone would have to touch the junk to make sure.  (That’s kinda gay.) 

“There were associated legends as well. In the 1290s the Dominican Robert of Uzès recounted a vision in which he saw the seat “where, it is said, the Pope is proved to be a man”. By the 14th century, it was believed that two ancient marble seats, called the sedia stercoraria, which were used for enthroning new Popes in the Basilica of St. John Lateran had holes in the seats that were used for determining the gender of the new Pope. It was said that the Pope would have to sit on one of the seats naked, while a committee of cardinals peered through the hole from beneath, before declaring, “Testiculos habet et bene pendentes” — “He has testicles, and they dangle nicely.” Not until the late 15th century, however, was it said that this peculiar practice was instituted in response to the scandal of the 9th century female Pope.”  - Wikipedia

Maybe Don Marco would know more about all of this.  (I find it difficult to believe.) 

This is it!  Nana’s nose - pictured is Andy Rooney of course, but he has her nose! - I wonder if I’m related to Andy?  (He wouldn’t be invited over unless he trimmed those eyebrows and wore a less novel shirt - I’ll bet his wife picked it out.)  Uncle Edmond’s nose looked exactly like Andy’s.  Whew!  Mine is not that bad!  (And this is a young photo of Andy.  I just saw the old nose tonight on 60 Minutes and could hardly see his face.  Those poor, poor Irish people!)