Movie Quote of the Week

It was great to be Catholic and go to confession. You could start over every week.
--Lillo Brancato, A Bronx Tale (1993)

Quote of the Week

Catholicism made me a humanist before I knew the word. When people rail against “secular humanism,” I want to ask them if humanism itself would be okay with them if it wasn’t so secular. Then I want to ask, “Why do you think it is secular?” This would lead to my opinion that their beliefs were not humanist.
--Roger Ebert, Life Itself : A Memoir

Quote of the Week

I don’t care if every previous Pope is exposed. My allegiance is not to any man or institution, but only to Christ crucified and risen, who warned that it would be better to drown with a millstone around your neck than to cause his little ones to stumble.
--Patricia Heaton, Twitter, September 1, 2018

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.

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Simpsons: “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star”

This was the episode that inspired the idea of Catholic Heaven -- which, as you might guess, was a lot more fun to visit than Protestant Heaven. (It's tempting to compare it to Atheist Heaven, but, alas, most freethinkers would consider Atheist Heaven to be at best an oxymoron.)

Plus we also got one of the few positive images of a Catholic priest that I have seen on an American TV show within the last twenty years. And Liam Neeson guest-starred as the priest! No doubt because of his very particular set of skills -- skills he had acquired over a very long career...

Quote of the Week

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

Movie Quote of the Week

Oh, Dave, try not to become Catholic on us.
--Barbara Barrie, Breaking Away (1979)

It's That Time Again

One of my Mexican-born aunts once told me that her local Catholic church had ceremonies like this back in her home town of San Francisco del Rincón, but I have never heard of such ceremonies happening here in Dallas until just last year. Even then, I had a little trouble believing that such a ceremony would take place at a Methodist church, much less a Methodist church in Dallas. Then again, I doubt Saint Francis of Assisi would mind and I'm sure that the animals themselves aren't likely to protest.

Indeed, given the number of self-proclaimed animal-lovers in Dallas, I suppose I should be more surprised that ceremonies like this are not more common.

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Thomas Nast!

Born September 27, 1840. Died December 7, 1902.

He was one of the most influential cartoonists in American history. Of course, some of his cartoons -- like the above one, for example -- were not quite that influential but as a whole, I would like to think he has done more good than harm -- especially in regard to political reform. Of course, it could be argued that some recent scandals involving the American branch of the Roman Catholic church have given new meaning to the above cartoon, anyway, but I'll leave that argument to another day.

Anyway, Nast's cartoons helped take down the corrupt New York politico Boss Tweed and of course, Nast also helped to create the modern version of Santa Claus as well as the Republican Party's elephant symbol. He did not invent the symbol of Uncle Sam nor did he invent the Democratic Party's donkey symbol but his work helped make those symbols more popular. Indeed, it is safe to say that without his cartoons, the United States would be a very different place from what it is today.

Random Thoughts

What does it say about the average non-Catholic's powers of observation that you routinely see Communion wafers described on the Internet as crackers, magic bread, and cookies but never as actual wafers? If these wafers were part of a secret ceremony that is rarely glimpsed by the public, I could understand this type of error. But when you consider how easy it is to attend a Catholic Mass, you have to wonder.

Money comes in like molasses in January and goes out like water in July.

You know it is really hot outside when you find yourself actually looking forward to a cold shower.

The last time I had to pick up a package from the U.S. Post Office, it took me about twenty minutes and I was able to pick up the package at a location about two freeway exits away from my home. The last time I had to pick up a package from one of the U.S. Post Office's competitors, I had to drive halfway across town, wait several hours and consider myself lucky that I was able to pick it up that night and did not have to come back the next morning like I did the last time I picked up a package at that location. So naturally it is the U.S. Post Office that is supposed to be going away in a few years and its competitors which are likely to stick around for a long time to come...

Lending money is like gambling: do not use money that you can not afford to do without for a long while. Because a long while is usually how long you will have to wait for repayment -- and that is a best-case scenario.

If art is a conversation, why do so many of my experiences with it tend to end in arguments?

For the first half of my life, I used to worry that I was too much like my mother and not enough like my father. Now I worry that I am too much like my father and not enough like my mother.

Quote of the Week

I never could understand why thick-headed, drooling Protestants would accuse us of being prudes when they gave the world the Puritans and the Moral Majority and we gave the world Rodin's The Kiss.
--Robert J. Hutchinson, When in Rome: A Journal of Life in Vatican City

Spanish Catholic Words

1. Ave María -- Hail Mary.
2. católico -- Catholic.
3. Catolicismo -- Catholicism.
4. comunión -- communion.
5. confesión -- confession.
6. Cuaresma -- Lent.
7. culpa católica -- Catholic guilt.
8. dogma -- dogma.
9. Domingo de Ramos -- Palm Sunday.
10. Inmaculada Concepción -- Immaculate Conception.
11. Jueves Santo -- Maundy Thursday; Holy Thursday.
12. Martes de Carnaval -- Mardi Gras; second and last day of Carnaval.
13. Martes Graso -- literally, "Fat Tuesday"; Spanish for "Mardi Gras".
14. Miércoles de Ceniza -- Ash Wednesday.
15. oblea -- wafer.
16. Pascua -- Easter.
17. pecado -- sin.
18. pecado original -- original sin.

Literary Quote I Like

“It used to be the fashion,” I said, “to ridicule the Roman Church for its confessionals, but the world seems to be coming back to the practice. It’s a need of the race, I fear, and people will seek it -- whether in psychoanalysis or in the Oxford Group. The Catholics may be wiser than a good materialistic agnostic like myself cares to admit.”
--Rufus Bottomley in Anthony Boucher's The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars

Movie Song of the Week: "My God"

Well, it is Lent so I might as well try to post something religious. Besides, Sister Act might be the last pro-Catholic movie we see for a long while. And a Motown cover is hardly the worst musical item a Detroit-born Catholic like myself could choose.

Quote of the Week

When people have told me that because I am a Catholic, I cannot be an artist, I have had to reply, ruefully, that because I am a Catholic I cannot afford to be less than an artist.
--Flannery O'Connor

Shaking the Veil

One of the oldest tropes in the book is that of the former sinner who becomes a saint -- or at least, that of the former troublemaker who mends his or her ways and becomes a more respectable person. Such is the trope used by the writers of the 1966 movie The Trouble with Angels, a comedy which would have you believe that adorable little Disney actress Hayley Mills was born to play both a rebellious Catholic girl and a future nun.

Unfortunately, Ms. Mills is not all that believable as rebellious Catholic girl Mary Clancy and though it is quite adorable to see her repeatedly lure her schoolmate Rachel Devery (played by June Harding) into one mess after another, I got the feeling that the film's writers just didn't have the heart to make a movie in which Ms. Mills was too rebellious. It doesn't help that most of Ms. Mills' misdeeds seem hilariously tame by today's standards; granted, Ms. Clancy's habit of smoking cigarettes will still get a girl in trouble with her teachers today even in public schools. But compared to the attitudes which would become common in future generations, Mary Clancy seems like an altar girl and the harshest sin we ever see her actually commit occurs in the opening credits sequence in which Clancy's animated self blows out the flame of the Columbia Studios torch. More often, Ms. Clancy's worst sin is trying to seem a lot more sophisticated than she actually is and she is hardly the first or last teenager to commit that misdeed.

Fortunately, there is Rosalind Russell as the strict but ultimately kind-hearted Mother Superior to give an antidote to whatever saccharine taste Ms. Mills gives the movie. Ms. Russell was hardly the first actress I would have picked to convincingly play a Catholic nun but she plays the role well enough that I can't help but think that if most real-life nuns in the 1960s were nothing like Ms. Russell's character, they should have been.

There is also a cameo by former stripper Gypsy Rose Lee whose role in this movie never quite makes sense as anything but either an in-joke reference to Ms. Russell's performance in Gypsy or else an excuse to allude to Ms. Lee's former career within the opening credits.

As a devout Catholic, I must admit that I wanted to like this movie a lot more than I actually did. After all, this was one of the last Hollywood movies to depict the nuns of the pre-Vatican II era in a sympathetic fashion and while I realize there is a darker side to recent church history than Hollywood movies of the Hays Code era liked to admit, I also doubt that such a system could have endured for so long if there was not at least some good in the system as well. However, this film just did not work for me as well as it should have.

Oh, well. Like Mary Clancy, I too was once a bit of a rebel against the Church even though I never went to Catholic school, and yet even back then, there was a part of me who could not resist the lure of holy water and stained glass. Wishful thinking, perhaps?

Perhaps. I'm still a long way from qualifying for a halo but at least I haven't been hit by lightning yet so maybe my guardian angel was trying to tell me something.

Pop Song of the Week: "It's a Sin"

Speaking of sins, 'tis the season to indulge in Catholic guilt. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Mashup of the Week: “It's a Sin”

I was tempted -- no pun intended -- to post the official version of this video next week just before Pilgrim Day but for some odd reason, I like this version better even though I doubt the Pet Shop Boys had anything to do with it.

This version is definitely not safe for work. Or school. Or church. Or even CCD. And I'm probably going to have do some heavy penance for posting it so I hope you all appreciate it.

Why Do I Remain a Catholic?

1. Because it's a family tradition.

2. Because many of the brightest and most creative people that I've met in public school were Catholic.

3. Because the people who taught me most about love, generosity and other virtues were Catholic.

4. Because I wanted to.

5. Because I love the sight of stained glass.

6. Because I love the taste of Communion wine.

7. Because I love the taste of Communion wafers. (They taste like victory.)

8. Because I loved CCD class.

9. Because I underwent an experience which made it impossible for me to logically disbelieve in the Supreme Deity.

10. Because I believe there is more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in your philosophy.

11. Because I like being part of a centuries-old tradition.

12. Because I'm pretty fond of the Virgin Mary and that Jesus fellow.

13. Because I promised my father.

14. Because I'm loyal to my godparents.

15. Because I don't consider the many differences between me and many of my coreligionists to be more important than our similarities.

16. Because I really like church music.

17. Because I really like confession.

18. Because I really like lighting candles.

19. Because I refuse to let my faith be defined by someone else's sins.

20. Why not?

Movie Quote of the Week

Are we not to find the Vatican guilty?
--Maximilian Schell, Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)