Random Thoughts

So much for the notion that the new pope was going to change things.

No, seriously. I had high hopes that Pope Francis I would be an improvement on his predecessor but apparently I was wrong.

As sick as it sounds, I'm glad none of my Catholic relatives live in Pennsylvania. And I can't help feeling sorry for those people who do live there.

If I worked for the Vatican right now, I'd worry less about bad press and more about Judgment Day.

Movie Quote of the Week

Leave it to the Catholics to destroy existence.
--Salma Hayek, Dogma (1999)

TV Quote of the Week

Face it, Marge, Catholics rule! We've got Boston, South America, the good part of Ireland, and we're making serious in-roads in Mozambique, baby!
--Dan Castellaneta, The Simpsons, "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star"

Random Thoughts

1. I must admit that I feel a tad guilty that the first time I saw this image on the Rod Dreher site, my first thought was "Thank God it wasn't one of us." Yet another unneeded reminder that journalism can be a dangerous profession.

2. Apparently it was 1960 again last week. I guess that means it's the wrong month for me to admit that one of my favorite first cousins is a Charismatic Catholic just like Ms. Barrett. So I'm a bit perturbed that so many otherwise smart people choose to respond to the possibility that Ms. Barrett might be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by pulling out the old "Catholics are weird" card. Not to mention the inevitable "dual loyalties" card that was supposedly retired in 1960.

3. Apparently Bernie Sanders was not a fluke. At least that's what I deduce from the recent election in New York of Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Though I must admit it was fun watching some allegedly mature adults try to write off Sanders as yet another white male politician as if Jewish Socialists from New England win presidential primaries all the time.

4. Bill Clinton and James Patterson wrote a book. Who knew Patterson had it in him?

Quote of the Week

I write the way I do because (not though) I am a Catholic.
--Flannery O'Connor

TV Quote of the Week

Here we go with the Catholics again. You know what? I don’t wanna hear about the pope’s hat…again. Okay?
--David Boreanaz, Bones, “The Plain in the Prodigy”

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Grace Kelly!

AKA Grace Patricia Kelly.

Born November 12, 1929. Died September 14, 1982.

She was one of my favorite actresses -- and a fellow Catholic to boot. She is best known for such movies as High Noon and Rear Window. She also married someone famous, I hear, but that is a subject for another day.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Dorothy Day!

Born November 8, 1897. Died November 29, 1980.

She was an American journalist and social activist who was a devout Catholic convert. Due to her good works on behalf of the poor and the homeless, she has been nominated for canonization but as yet, never got further than the title of Servant of God. If more Catholics were like her, the Church would have a better image.

The woman herself was a little more sympathetic towards the Communists of her day (no pun intended) than I, the son of a woman who lit candles in support of the Polish Solidarity movement, would prefer, but given recent events involving the Church, there are many far worse failings a fellow Catholic could have.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Elizabeth Borton de Treviño!

AKA Mary Elizabeth Victoria Borton de Treviño.

Born September 2, 1904. Died December 2, 2001.

She was an American author who is most famous for her children's books as well as for the nonfiction book My Heart Lies South, which she wrote about her marriage to a Mexican citizen. I first came across her writing while I was courting a Mexican pen pal and while not all of her books are worth reading, I have come across enough memorable passages in her work that I find myself surprised by how often she moves me.

Ms. Treviño tends to be very Catholic and very conservative in her writing but she can also be surprisingly sympathetic to human failings. Then again, if there is one thing I have learned from my Mexican-American relatives, it's that being Catholic and having sympathy for human failings are not as far apart as certain non-Catholics would like to think.

Movie Quote of the Week

Guilt, we know. We're Catholics.
--Shelbie Bruce, Spanglish (2004)

Fantasy Quote of the Week

Carol stood on Glaeken's rooftop in the bright morning sunlight and wished she had the nerve to remove her blouse. Jack and Bill had pulled off their shirts as soon as they'd stepped out the door. Carol envied the males their casual ability to expose so much surface area to the warm light poking through the cloudless sky.

Why not me? she thought, reaching for the top buttons on her blouse. After all we've been through together, what difference would it make?

But she stopped after two buttons. If it was just Bill, maybe. But not with Jack here.

I know I've been changed by all this -- but not that much. An uptight Catholic girl was still alive and well somewhere within her.
--F. Paul Wilson, Nightworld

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Dorothy Day!

Born November 8, 1897. Died November 29, 1980.

She was an American journalist and social activist who was a devout Catholic convert. Due to her good works on behalf of the poor and the homeless, she has been nominated for canonization but as yet, never got further than the title of Servant of God. If more Catholics were like her, the Church would have a better image.

The woman herself was a little more sympathetic towards the Communists of her day (no pun intended) than I, the son of a woman who lit candles in support of the Polish Solidarity movement, would prefer, but given recent events involving the Church, there are many far worse failings a fellow Catholic could have.