I really liked this open letter “Dear CINO College Alma Mater” from Emmy Cecilia to the school she graduated from last year. I especially liked the tone of the letter in regards to what she experienced and also what she learned from that experience.
Within short hours after the Papal election I was already getting email from Catholic stores hawking merchandise with the Pope’s picture on it.
The Crescat has made a most wonderful connection between this and an episode of Portlandia and if you are not aware of “Put A Bird On It”, do yourself a favor and watch it. Growing up in Portland I am a big fan of the sketch comedy show that parodies hipsters and life in Portland (or did I repeat myself?).
The Crescat has done some great commentary on this that I am in awe of while also being annoyed that I didn’t make the same connection.
Six years ago Jay Anderson of Pro Ecclesia * Pro Familia * Pro Civitate created “Anderson’s Law”
While Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies is much more famous, Anderson’s Law is one proved multiple times a day every day.
There has been some pro and con reaction to Catholic Vote’s photo showing the current and last two popes with a caption Hope, Faith, and Charity under each one. Now you can’t expect much from such a simple meme to be more than a great oversimplification of these papacies. But that is the problem in that it is an oversimplification and a narrative that just doesn’t fit.
I totally agree with Fr. John Trigillio in his worthwhile post on the subject at The Black Biretta.
Reuters had run a piece talking about the now as being the “most difficult periods in Church history.” Common ignorant fare, but it at least had the advantage of inciting Thomas L. Mc Donald to give a history lesson on a large list of what were actually some of the most difficult periods of the Church. A good piece with some nice rhetorical flourishes.
Reuters with a team of people have been updating the article throughout the day. Apparently it wasn’t dumb enough to start with and had to be tweaked to bring out more inanity.
Recently I was just writing about the old and the new in regarding the notification of the election of the pope. I saw this today and find this a nice implementation of the new.
Popealarm.com “When the smoke goes up, you’ll know what’s going on.”
You can choose to be notified by email, text message, or both. I had some concerns that this service could be a method to harvest emails and phone number until I saw that it was being run by FOCUS (The Fellowship of Catholic University Students) which I have a lot of respect for and no concerns.
While I am sure I will be watching for the news rather closely, I do have to work and I could even be in a meeting. Once the Habamus Papum alert goes out I want to be able to have time to get home and celebrate with my wife. So Pope Alarm looks like a good third-party solution.
One thing I would have suggested for this service is that they have a email registration system. As it is now somebody could sign up anybody without there permission for either their email or phone. While this is really not much of a problem, still it is generally a good idea to do so.
I was going to do a review of the new and free Conclave app put out by Logos/Verbum that is now available for iOS and Android but Thomas L. McDonald already has a fine review.
Reverend Mother,
Reverend Father,
I write to you as the whole Church anxiously follows the final days of the luminous pontificate of His Holiness Benedict XVI and awaits the arrival of the successor whom the Cardinals gathered in conclave and guided by the Holy Spirit will choose, after discerning together the signs of the times of the Church and the world.
His Holiness Benedict XVI has asked all the faithful to accompany him with their prayers as he commends the Petrine ministry into the Lord’s hands, and to await with trust the arrival of the new Pope. In a particularly urgent way this appeal is addressed to those chosen members of the Church who are contemplatives. The Holy Father is certain that you, in your monasteries and convents throughout the world, will provide the precious resource of that prayerful faith which down the centuries has accompanied and sustained the Church along her pilgrim path. The coming conclave will thus depend in a special way on the transparent purity of your prayer and worship.
The most significant example of this spiritual elevation which manifests the most authentic and profound dimension of every ecclesial action, the presence of the Holy Spirit who guides the Church, is offered to us by His Holiness Benedict XVI who, after having steered the barque of Peter amid the waves of history, has chosen to devote himself above all to prayer, contemplation and reflection.
The Holy Father, with whom I shared the contents of this letter, was deeply appreciative, and asked me to thank you and to assure you of his immense love and esteem.
With affection in Christ I send you greetings, united with you in prayer.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
Secretary of State
I get a fair amount of email from people hawking their projects. Most of them I find rather dubious and never get posted about. Sometimes though I get an apparent gem.
Here is a project from kathmedia in association with “The Aquinas Institute” (Wyoming).
In this “Year of Faith” kathmedia presents a catholic catechism like no other: The “3MC – 3 Minute Catechism”.
3MC consists of 72 hand drawn and animated episodes each 3–4 minutes long. Coming to you on 2 DVDs this series follows and explains the Creed adding in all four parts of the Catechism.
Easier and more difficult subjects are treated in separate episodes making 3MC a great introduction to the faith for the ages from 12 to 120.
Judging by one of the free episodes I previewed I really liked the quality of the presentation along with the content. While it was short it was not watered down and presented a complex question in easily understandable terms. The narration along with the animation worked well together to illustrate the point. I can’t speak for the whole series and how sound they are, but I really liked what I saw.
Here is the English version of the site and this page links to the German version and notes Italiano, Español, Français, Portugués versions are coming.
Michael Baruzzini of “The Deeps of Time” posts on Sir David Attenborough’s recent comments on humanity as a plague. In his post he talks about “someone else whose philosophy and theological understanding was poor” and references a comment by Walker Percy on Carl Sagan “There is too little malice and too much ignorance.”
As they say read the whole thing along with the extended quote from Walker Percy.