Out of the Frying Pan

If you're interested in how some Christians are faring in China...

...read this.

The loyal opposition

It is said to be hard on His Majesty's Ministers to raise objections of this character but it is more hard on His Majesty's Opposition to compel them to take this course.

These words, spoken in 1826 by Baron Broughton for an entirely different occasion, speak my own feelings in calling out (never mind; no one is listening) the Archdiocese of Denver on its abuses of its right to insist on preparation for the Sacraments.

Last night DC fixed on me an inscrutable gaze and asked, "But don't you approve of natural methods of birth control?" He knows I do.

Please let us not invoke the oxymoron implicit in the phrase "natural family planning". Let us say what we mean: birth control. For a woman's body, I do not think there is a method other than complete sexual abstinence that is safer for preventing pregnancy.

If this is the business of the Church, at all, then let instruction be available. But the required recording and reporting of one's menstrual cycle is the business of totalitarian regimes such as China's, latterly if not also at present. The Church in northern Colorado has chosen an unfortunate bedfellow.

I am a Westerner and I refused to be cowed into the Eastern church by the theological errors and intellectual mediocrity now rampant. But some days, friends, some days...

OUR LADY, VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD, PRAY FOR US.

Do the People of God have a right to the sacraments?

Not in the Archdiocese of Denver.

If you are a woman who wishes to be married in the Roman Catholic church here, you will be compelled to keep track of your menstrual cycle for several months. This, in service of an instrusive, privacy violating practice of teaching "natural family planning". (Men are not required to track their arousals or noctural emissions.)

At Sacred Heart of Mary Church in Boulder, the priest is reputed to require that couples "tithe" (give 10% of their income) to that parish for some period (I think it is eight months) before he will permit them to be married in that church.

Both of these things fly in the face of what's right. It's hard when the Church with the capital "T" Truth is doing things that are simply wrong.

And don't get me started on Confirmation, which might as well be called The Full Employment Act for Catholic Youth Ministers, otherwise known as the "Bye, bye, Church" ceremony for young people.

Likewise, don't get me started on tithing, a trick Catholic fundraisers have picked up from the ecclesial communities of the Protestants. One point only: Scripture scholarship does not support it; neither does the Magisterium teach it. Oops. Two points, but two important points.

The proper answer to the question posed above is an unqualified yes. And what's going on in the Denver Archdiocese and elsewhere is simply wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Our Lady, Immaculately Conceived, PRAY FOR US.

Cardinal George catechizes...

...on the Holy Trinity. His first comments are priceless :)

Monday inventory after Heaven Fest

It is not as if we returned yesterday to find the lake utterly desolate. There were grebes, a very few pelican, a coot, a few yellow heads and kingbirds, and a heron. The last was over at the pond, where herons seem to find the fishing quite good. The population as a whole was more than decimated -- far more -- compared to my last check on Thursday afternoon, but wildlife was still in evidence.

Today, although I stayed an hour or so,  no pelicans appeared. There were a few coot, some geese that appeared to be readying nests near the pond, fewer yellow heads than yesterday, a Western kingbird, and quite a few grebes.

Grebes have been playful and, I have worried, too comfortable around the many wakeless craft that frequent the lake. They swim right up to the sides of any kind of craft, seemingly trying to offer fishing advice and wanting to compare notes about the weather and mosquitoes. Others swim in concentric circles around a boat, circles that turn into figure eights when another craft nears. Grebes are by no means tame, but their inclination around boating humans has been social and even friendly.

Today was different. When a sailboard appeared, all the grebes immediately began swimming for the northwest corner of the lake. When the sailboard disappeared, some of them pushed out a little, until a rowboat appeared. Once again, the grebes hustled back to their place among the others.

What does this matter? Unperturbed, the grebes were making their choreographed moves in pairs, with singles darting around perhaps looking for signs of inattention in one member of a couple. They fish, staying underwater for lengths of time that beggar belief. And they pop up far from where they slipped into the lake. Today, all this stopped when watercraft appeared, even though the craft did not approach. Fishing, the couples' moves, and darting along the shore stopped.

What does it mean? One way in which the voice of God conventionally is believed to have spoken is in nature, cf the Old Testament. At the lake speaks a still, small voice. It is a voice easily drowned by the amped up decibels of pride.

Heaven Fest organizers easily offer brash judgments of other followers of Christ and quickly accuse critics of having an anti-Christian bias. Can they possibly be listening for that "tiny, whispering sound"?

A more informed piece on the Gomez appointment to L.A.

The appointment Archbishop José Gomez to succeed Roger Cardinal Mahony (who I think is just dandy) is not going to cause the sky to fall, despite wide predictions.

When we came to Denver, I have to admit blinking twice at his Opus Dei connection, but only in the sense that I was sure he'd be a fine archbishop in San Antonio was I happy to see him go when he left here several years later. Although I cannot say more than how he came across, he impressed me as a deeply humble man, less affected than many monsignors by title and position.

So with all this in mind, I am happy to see him leave San Antonio only in the sense that I believe he will be a fine archbishop and, soon, someone set for a conclave. John Allen blogged the best piece I've seen on the Gomez appointment.

John Paul the Great goes to Powell Butte

Milliken, Colorado - 23 September 2006. We'd just passed streets with the names of my mother and her older sisters in this town, and it was flabbergasting to see this car on the railroad siding just as we were leaving the city limits.

Over Labor Day weekend, a retreat center in Powell Butte, Oregon was dedicated. The complex includes a conference center named for John Paul II.

This caught my eye because my mother was born in Powell Butte almost 86 years ago; it is where her father died of pneumonia only 4 years later.

Around death children were handled less delicately in those days. Throughout my life my mother spoke of her horror at being lifted up to view her father's body. It wasn't her daddy, she was quite sure, because this man had no moustache. The undertaker had cleaned him up. As far as I know, my mother never "viewed" again, even when her beloved husband died. Or maybe especially then.

Soon after her husband's death, my grandmother, several months pregnant, moved the family from the farm to Prineville. There she took a job in the laundry of the town's hotel and took in the spinster school teacher as a boarder. The teacher took as her project the conversion of my mother to right-handedness, ultimately but after many tears a hiding to nothing.

But, as is usual when I think of my parents, I digress. My father, who met my mother in Prineville (and eloped with her to Idaho, but that is a digression too far tonight), was fascinated by the Polish pope. When JP II returned to Poland for the first time after becoming pope, Dad was astonished that the multitudes who came to Eucharist knelt, right outdoors. He'd never seen anything like it. (Had any of us?)

John Paul the Great had much to do with my being guided to the Church. He helped to unstop my ears, a feat only slightly less miraculous than the toppling of Communism. So I am delighted that he is now a patron in my mother's birthplace.

Mercy, unrestrained

After presiding in choir at the Mass, Cardinal Seán O'Malley blogged:

As Archbishop of Boston, I considered it appropriate to represent the Church at this liturgy out of respect for the Senator, his family, those who attended the Mass and all those who were praying for the Senator and his family at this difficult time. We are people of faith and we believe in a loving and forgiving God from whom we seek mercy.

And Bishop Robert Morlino of the Diocese of Boston writes:

I’m afraid, however, that for not a few Catholics, the funeral rites for Senator Kennedy were a source of scandal — that is, quite literally, led them into sin. From not a few corners has come the question, “how on earth could Teddy Kennedy be buried from the Church?” There have also been expressions from some, that “whatever happens in Church, Senator Kennedy will now face justice, which will lead him inside the gates of Hell.”

The words of the cardinal and bishop are completely congruent with the gentle words of Cardinal McCarrick at Kennedy's graveside:

Sometimes, of course, we who were his friends and had affection for him would get mad at him when he roared at what we believed was the wrong side of an issue, but we always knew, and were always touched by, his passion for the underdog, for the rights of working people, for better education, for adequate health care for every American.

May we, too, one day be welcomed by the God who is rich in mercy and abounding in kindness.

Changes

The USCCB has prepared a site explaining the new edition of the Roman Missal and, crucially, offering examples of coming changes.

For some of us old dogs, it might have been easier to improve our Latin than to remember to say, in response to "The Lord be with you", "And with your spirit."

Some time back, I remember Cardinal George's saying that he expected to go to his grave still saying, "And also with you." Not because he's opposed at all to the changes -- indeed, he's done a great job of introducing the changes -- but just because, well, it's hard to change.

If you think you know the prayers of the Mass, it might be worth checking out the site to see how much you used to know.

"You can take the man out of Ardoyne..."

A year after the precipitous move of Passionist Father Aidan Troy from Ardoyne to Paris, see a Sunday Tribune article about how he's settling in at St Joseph's in Paris and how the people of Ardoyne haven't let him go. And yet,

The warmth the priest brought to Ardoyne is replicated in Paris: "I'm not half-hearted about this parish or its parishioners – they're super people. They deserve, and have got, a priest totally committed to them, not one battling to be transferred back to Belfast."

What I'm talkin' about

The introduction doesn't do a lot for me, but otherwise this is a very good -- and funny -- cover of two stanzas of what is probably my favorite gospel hymn. The bass is J.D. Sumner, a Guinness Book of Records holder, which he discusses here.

More freedom, less accountability

My late and much loved pastor, Fr Bert Griffin, used to tell a story about the day he moved into the rectory at one of the parishes he served. Two elderly ladies appeared on his doorstep. They welcomed him warmly, but they clearly had something particular on their minds.

Finally one of them spoke up. "You see, Father, we live across the street from each other." She stopped at looked seriously at him. When he said nothing (Fr Bert never jumped in too quickly, one reason he was such a good confessor), the other one finally put in, "But it's the parish boundary!"

Light dawned. These devout ladies had come to seek his dispensation to attend church together. Time was, you see, when Catholics were obligated to attend Mass in the parish in which they lived.

I don't know whether these ladies ever got word that they could go to church to any Catholic church. But the people who certainly do understand that, though not in a good way, are the pastors and administrators. "Don't like it here?" they challenge parishioners. "Move along."

Memo from the Church to older folks: Go behind the shed and scream

A few days ago I met some friends who belong to a rural parish north of here. Their new administrator, a priest from a mega-church in the city, has decided that only "youth" music may be used at the 7 PM anticipated Mass on Saturday nights.

Accordingly, to lead music for that Mass he has hired two young people from a college 25 miles away. During a recent Saturday night liturgy he told the community present -- mostly empty nesters -- that if they don't like the new music, they can go behind the storage shed and scream.

Dark o'clock in the morning

Since Christmas, we've been getting up at 5 AM in order to make the drive into Denver for 6:30 AM Eucharist. The usual celebrant, Fr Andreas, is preternaturally bright-eyed. It is not a sung liturgy, but his speaking voice is musical and he is the usual homilist. That is certainly worth getting up for.

These days, the windows are completely dark when we enter the church, but during the Mass the rising sun begins to illuminate them.

In a few hours, it will be hard to find a candle to light. For now, though, the ranks of votives are fresh. Lighting just one or two punches light in the dark corner where statues of Mary and Joseph stand by for daylight. Here is hope, the little candles seem to whisper, even as they flicker precariously in the cold draughts of an old building: hope, nevertheless.

Do dogs go to Heaven?

Catholic/Presbyterian inter-religious dialog.

(Erm, not really...) HT, the other PT, who actually has a dog named... wait for it... Zeus!

About the Rite of Christian Burial

For Ann Schum's funeral Mass last week, there was a wonderful turnout of friends and co-workers, including many who are not Roman Catholic. Although there was a guide about when to sit and when to stand (whew! right? *smile*), it really is not possible to explain in just a word or two what happens in the course of a funeral Mass, and why.

The Archdiocese of Atlanta (Georgia, USA) has a good exposition, which is part of We Believe in the Resurrection of the Dead: A Guide to Catholic Funerals at their site.

That phrase, We Believe in the Resurrection of the Dead, is from the Nicene Creed, which summarizes Christian beliefs. Wikipedia has a decent explication, or you can take a look at the weightier (and more accurate) exegesis in the Catechism.

Fr Richard Neuhaus, r.i.p., takes me on a journey to Christ the Light

In Oakland, Liftoff includes an interesting photograph and an absolutely wonderful video about the beautiful Cathedral of Christ the Light. Besides being an introduction to what seems to be a wonderful sacred space, I think the movie is one of the best examples I've ever seen of a "religious" movie on the Web.

I came across it at Whispers in the Loggia in a ramble through the reflections on the life of the late, great Fr Richard Neuhaus. (I know; he died Thursday and the Cathedral's dedication was in September; you know how the Web is...)

Born Toward Dying is an essay Fr Neuhaus published in February, 2000. In view of our peculiar week, I found it both of interest and of comfort.

Acknowledgment helps

This entry and others were moved.

Queen of Poland

Ever hear of Ludwika Maria Gonzaga? I hadn't until today, when she turned up in something I'm working on. She was a pistol... and there were some images of her such as this one that didn't seem quite the thing for what I was working on: "Ideal beauty", indeed. That, or maybe a very, very early leotard model.

Taking it from the top

This entry and others were moved.

The hierarchy of liturgical music.

This entry and others were moved.

Things aren't improving

This entry and others were moved.

Something I loved about London

The hymn singing at the Southwark Cathedral.

Our last Sunday in England was the day to which the Feast of All Saints was translated this year. The first hymn was For All the Saints, a customary choice, but when I replay the sound picked up by the little Lumix I used throughout our stay, the fervor of the singing astounds me. I've never heard a cover (if hymns can be said to be "covered") that captures so faithfully the spirit of that grand hymn. The soaring "alleluia" in the refrain was like an overture to the Resurrection.

St George's is on the south side of the Thames in an area strikingly less prosperous than much of the city. But each week we heard the Gloria and the Credo, the other ordinaries and, immediately after the Mass, the Salve Regina, sung vigorously and with feeling.

Some years ago I read a book called Why Catholics Can't Sing. Maybe it should have been called Why American Catholics Can't Sing, because Catholics in England and Scotland certainly can sing, and do.

"Lord, I am not worthy..."

Off I trudged in the rain to church, full of the reluctance and recalcitrance that characterizes my usual demeanor these days: I was mad when they said to me: "Let us go to the House of the Lord."

But ingratitude would have been surpassed by churlishness to turn away from the discovery that St George's Cathedral is reached by any one of four buses that pass the stop on my doorstep. Of course the double-decker squadron -- four in a row -- passed for my review just as I approached the bus stop, but at that point I was committed, which is to say determined to get to where I did not really wish to go, and I hailed a cab for the short ride.

The gathering hymn was "Alleluia! Sing to Jesus", one of a few arrows that fly true across the confused hymnody of the Church. There is a fine choir which today sang the Byrd Mass in F. The homily was tenderly directed at the second reading (Philippians ahem 4). The Mass ended with the singing of Salve Regina (simple tone) and, afterwards, the organist played a marvelous bookend: a kind of fantasia by Vaughn Williams on the melody Hyfrydol (the tune to which the opening hymn is set).

Even though I was hardly in the cranky mood that soon envelopes me after the Eucharist these days, I was disinclined to shake off my habit of sliding past anyone greeting congregants after Mass. But there was no one at the large doorway other than the celebrant and it would have been disrespectful to turn away from this kind looking man.

His comment about the weather was all it took for me to say, "But I'm not from here! We have sunshine!" "Then send it!" he promptly replied. My throwaway comment about the lovely structure (it is, though austere compared to many here) was met with a quick mention of its history: opened in 1848 as the first church to be built in UK after the Reformation, heavily damaged in WWII bombing but walls survived - "Pugin did a good job," he observed.

Pugin! Somehow I had made my way to Pugin's only major church designed in London. If I had known there was one here, I would have wanted to go. In spite of myself, I did go.

Equal time

It's not vicious; it's Irish - at least that's one reading of this response to yesterday's Times article about Aidan Troy, CP. Given Smasher's aversion to the "it's all about me" pattern of public discourse among clerics, it's mildly surprising that his blog entries take a less venomous tone toward Brian D'Arcy, CP.

While you're at wikipedia, search for the article on Aidan Troy.

Otherwise

It was inevitable that the parish's agitation about the transfer of Aidan Troy, C.P. would hit the national press: Holy Cross dismay at loss of riot priest: “I have taken a vow of obedience and I have absolute faith in my vocation, otherwise I would view this as just dirty politics.”

Next up at Ardoyne

As I mentioned recently, the Irish provincial council transferred Aidan Troy, CP to Paris (under protest of parishioners, who I think find it to accept that such councils are as implacable as they are inscrutable). Gary Donegan, CP, who has held the post of what in the US we call parochial vicar, has been appointed pastor. His hometown paper glows with pride.

Without detracting I'll observe that, abseiling apart, his schedule is not atypical for priests and other ministers I have known.

Fr Aidan Troy, CP goes to Paris

Or, put more properly, is sent to Paris. Let's pray that something of his good spirit remains in Belfast.

Seven months on, I wonder why this entry is still getting hit. The world is small and strange, each to its own IP address.

So long, Dr Buchholz

A cryptic note in the church bulletin said After 10 years of service, Dr. Horst Buchholz has decided to move on to take a position with new duties and opportunities in another city... google shows that he'll be at Cleveland's Episcopal cathedral. 

Dr Buchholz's move is a great loss for Denver and specifically for Cathedral parishioners, who endure so much week after week. At hearing today's organist, I almost cried.

Getting to know St Paul of the Cross

Our friend Fr Paul Francis Spencer, the modern biographer of St Paul of the Cross (and, as I've mentioned before, St Charles of Mount Argus), introduces the Holy Founder of the Passionists in this short YouTube of a talk he gave a few days ago in Oz. It's a good story, even if Christianity is not so much your point of view.

The memory of Metropolitan Anthony

In two weeks a conference in London will honor the 94th anniversary of Metropolitan Anthony's birth. Almost five years have passed since his death. Obviously I won't be going to the conference, but the notice nudged me back to online archives of his talks and sermons, where again I looked at I believe in God.

Crazy for God

Os Guinness has written a predictably self-serving response to Frank Schaeffer's recent book of the above title. Ultimately, Guinness takes his own swing at Schaeffer Père with the back-handed praise of Francis Schaeffer's "vision and style of faith, rather than the content of his thinking".

Some of what Frank has written, such as his asides about Billy Graham, doesn't sit well with me. But Guinness suavely sidesteps the indisputable facts about private hells by reprising the public personae. It is to the L'Abri myth, after all, that he seems to owe his career.

I wasn't there long, but I was there, too. Frank's retrospective of everyone in that period, including Guinness, is the one that rings true to me.

"Whispers" about the Mile High welcome

Our friend who was visiting this past weekend was right behind the fellow in the photo who is greeting our new auxiliary, Bishop James Conley; hat tip to him for this. Near the end the of Mass, when the Bishop was thanking those who had helped with the magnificent liturgies throughout the week, he said softly, "I'm going to like saying Mass here."

Rocco's blog doesn't mention it, but among those in the Cathedral on Sunday was someone who, I think, was let down by the latest round of appointments. The pain of that was mostly concealed. Anyway, Rocco's blog gives some back story to this appointment.

New bishop for Mandeville

A good cause

The cause for beatification of Theodore Foley, C.P. opened Friday in Rome. A couple of years ago his biographer wrote a short article for which I was the Web designer and publisher. I like the shortened title I gave the article for the nav bar - heroic hope: Theodore Foley, C.P.

Beautiful homily

I don't have time to post right now, but at facebook I see that my friend Victor Hoagland, C.P. has posted the most amazing homily for the occasion of First Communion. Go see it. (And, if you're on facebook, "friend" him to follow his comments from day to day. Or I guess you could read his blog.)

This should be Ascension Day

Oh, wait! It actually is Ascension Day. It's just that I happen to live in an archdiocese where the Feast has been translated to Sunday, i.e. the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Translation: the archbishop doesn't think anybody would keep an obligation today.

A verse not sung

Poudre River, 13 September 2006

In a quality assurance test of my previous post (a test administered most often as a procrastinative instrument), I read more closely that wiki entry, from which one learns that the stanza to which I referred is usually omitted:

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Denial? Anyway, here's the effervescent Virgil Fox pounding it out:

As a young woman (very young, apparently; he died in 1980), I saw him perform several times.

The latest lunacy from Lambeth

Okay, I should have phrased it more charitably, but charity lacks remarkably in the alliterative. Anyway, Ruth Gledhill at the Times has fine analysis of this latest bit.

Comfort and joy

Right now at Mt Argus, right beside the tomb of St Charles, people are gathering for Midnight Mass. I love being able to have this with its glorious music right on my desktop while I go about all and sundry.

Taking it too far

In the same edition that features the news that Tony the Tiger has, indeed, swum the Tiber, a columnist who happens to be atheist spanks the Archbishop of Canterbury for his pronouncement this week on the "legend" of the three kings. One "Acorn" provided this thoughtful comment, reproduced here in full because of the notorious trouble of getting a stable URL at the paper. I've googled phrases and not come up with it elsewhere, so...

Dear Miss Isabel Witty. It has come to our attention that you have been acquiring "boughs of holly" from a non-sustainable source. This is an offence under the EU Directive 2007/567/abc/1664 part 3(a)II sub clause 234-a-b-c. Also "decking the halls" will require a Risk Assessment prior to any works taking place. Under subclause 345/EU/1664Chanel-No:5, form HSE 2007/lga/revised; form HSE/BTW/A (england only);will require completing in triplicate and submitting to this office 42 days prior to said works beginning - for approval. This office does not advise works starting prior to approval of the said form. (This is a criminal offence under the Act). May I advise you that the use of the words "Alpha" and "Omega" are specific to some cultures and there use may cause offence to members of other cultures. You imply that "sense of humour" is associated with the English, may I again advise you that the use of such terms, may cause offence to persons of non English origin. (Also an offence under several resent Acts of Parliament). Additionally, the use of the phrase "happy new year" can be considered an insult to certain cultures that do not have a new year that commences at this time of the year, not every culture uses the Gregorian calendar. May I wish you a happy Wintertide. Yours sincerely (no offence implied with this salutation) On behalf of Londonistan District Council Penelope Aljazzera - Smith. Second Deputy Assistant Director of Multicultural Services/ 5aday. Office open from 10:30 till 14:00 - lunch 11:00 till 13:30;(closed on all religious holidays regardless of faith or belief).

When an atheist rebukes the Archbishop of Canterbury for his failure to defend the faith, what's left to say? This, I suppose. The leader of Anglicanism seems unable to deliver himself of any public proclamation that will defend, much less build on, the diminishing faith (other than Islam) in Britain. How many pews has he vacated because of his theological reflection on the Christmas story?

About the Catherine video below

It's actually something I put together last week for my work. I'm reasonably happy with it, though if you are not happy with the idea that Mary, the Mother of God has a special place, well, it's probably not so much your thing. (I mention this for the benefit of relatives I know sometimes look here. [Not you, PT or AGT!] There's plenty else at which to take offense ;-) )

Santo subito!

Now that the DVD is here, I don't need the embedded YouTubes :)

Saints

See this affecting homily and the illustrations.

Liturgy as photo op?

One James Baca is a pretty popular guy -- award winning and "beloved", even -- in the Denver Archdiocese. But not with me.

I wouldn't know his name except that I have had it up to here with his presence at liturgies. Yesterday we found ourselves at the annual "Red Mass". Not intentionally: it's just that we are regular communicants at the 10:30 AM Sunday liturgy at the Cathedral.

Oh, I'm not really annoyed with him for being at Masses. I AM TIRED OF HIS LONG LENSED CAMERA WITH ITS INFERNAL FLASH AND NOISY SHUTTER. Yesterday, during the Our Father alone, that flash went off at least four times. Yes, I counted. If it went off four times during the Our Father, it went off at least a hundred during the entire Mass. It went off many hundreds of times during Easter Vigil.

Guess what, people? Technology has moved along; with a decent digital camera and workmanlike post-production, it's possible to compensate for not using a flash. (Though using a flash in mid-morning in the jewel-box of the cathedral... what's THAT for?)

He bustles around the cathedral, taking pictures as if each Eucharist at which the local ordinary is present will be appearing as a cover story in the National Geographic. It is beyond disrupting; it is wrong.

I'm sure it's wrong and I am prepared to do the homework in canon law to prove it.

Yes, I'm worked up.

"One of the most significant Christian thinkers of our time"

There is a genre of writer - artist - musician - even preacher that stakes out the territory almost outside the evangelical tract and, for being on the border, is lionized as "honest" and "real" and "relevant" and, yes, "significant". The spiritual successors of C.S. Lewis and Martin Luther, if you will.

This week I picked up a book on prayer, a topic that I think from time to time I should think about. It's by one of those daring fellows out there on the borderlands. The above line in the back cover blurb is something to which I should have paid more attention before buying the book. And it would have been instructive to see whether the claim was also made on the author's Web site (it is).

I am disappointed with myself that I contributed in my small way to this writer's fortune. Right now I'm hopping over to Amazon to assess the prospects for getting the book back out the door, therewith to rescue a few pennies of my retirement savings.

One more comment. In this book the writer references Jesus's "unanswered" prayer for Christian unity and the 34,000 denominations and sects that now make up the game. Without apparent irony he posits Peter as "a pillar" of the church, which is not quite how Christ positioned "the rock".

Tony the Tiger Swims the Tiber

A link to this article arrived in my email this morning, the memorable headline supplied by the witty man who left my house this morning under cover of darkness.

Prednisone is hell on sleep.

Requiescat: Ruth Bell Graham

The Silent Rock Behind a Famous Evangelist - Benedicta Cipolla's insightful piece for Religion News Service: Although she preferred to stay behind the scenes, her impact on her husband was all too evident. Early in his career, she read her King James Bible over and over and clipped newspaper and magazine articles for sermon ideas. Raised in a family that prized intellectual inquiry, she brought to the marriage a thirst for knowledge and a worldly perspective.

Good piece. Great woman.

Charles of Mount Argus

A week from Sunday, there will be a ceremony to recognize the sainthood of this good man: Father Charles Houben, known more popularly as Charles of Mount Argus.

He lived in Dublin for about half his 71 years and this native of The Netherlands would never have been taken for a native speaker of English. But he had a great love for the people among whom he had been sent to live. They knew him not as a great preacher, nor as a teacher of theology. Rather, he was the one they called to minister to the sick and dying. Father Charles was known to be kind and deeply humble; in reading his biography, it is hard to think of anyone less self-absorbed.

The persistence of these qualities through his whole life is more remarkable because, as his biographer puts it, he gave hope to people in their sufferings. He prayed and they received strength and grace to go on. Sometimes he would discern that they would be cured, physically, and they were: the lame walked; the blind saw; the mortally ill rose from their beds and returned to long, healthy lives.

As Roman Catholics, we believe that the "communion and fellowship of the saints" is something that death does not diminish. As a consequence, we believe that we share our life of faith with Father Charles and the others in our "cloud of witnesses". We believe that we can ask them to pray for us, that they can and will, and that God hears them. And so even today people continue to beg Father Charles' intercession. And, even today, people are still being healed and cured.

That's the headline, I suppose, of Father Charles' life: God answers prayers of holy man. But the story is what so much attracted me to him from when I first learned of his life 14 years ago when I, too, was a stranger in a strange land. The story is one of quiet goodness, of hope triumphing over fear and pain.

This is a project that has been on my mind since I first began to work on the Web a dozen years ago. Although the text is complete, except for revisions still being made to the second edition, I know I will continue to find keyboarding errors. And I expect to continue to work on better design solutions and illustrations. It is a work in progress.

A word about the biographer, Paul Francis Spencer C.P. When we arrived in Paris in 1993, he was pastor of St Joseph's, the Anglophone mission. Since 1996 he has been rector of Saint Mungo's Church in Glasgow, where his parents were married and from which he recently buried his father. He has ignited tremendous hope in Townhead, a part of Glasgow devastated (would that it had been "decimated", only!) by urban "renewal". Somehow his co-conspirators from Paris, Fathers Marius Donnelly and Anthony Behan, have ended up in Glasgow, too: hard workers in hard work. Many people came into our lives during our sojourn in Paris; these men are the ones who have stayed.

Father Paul Francis caught a vision for the Web when few religious had even heard the word "Internet". He "introduced" me (i.e., he asked me to call a complete stranger, something I would never do, except that he asked me) to Victor Hoagland C.P. in 1995 and things have kind of gone along from there. It is a great privilege to bring this work of his onto the Web.