Humor

Rome Tweet Rome

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I must say I have some serious questions regarding the Pope’s new twitter account @pontifex.

I don’t think he is taking this very seriously as far as I can tell.  What should have been done is that the Pope should tweet in ecclesiastical Latin. This would be the official tweet and reference that would then be translated into other languages. Especially considering the Pope’s recent creation of the Pontifical Academy for Latin.

Now I am half-joking here, but wouldn’t an official Latin tweet be rather awesome? Homeschoolers around the world and other Catholic students could apply their skills in translating the Pope’s tweet from Latin into their native tongue. Plus when you have a twitter handle like @pontifex it kind of goes together. Also a Latin hashtag would also be rather awesome.

Which reminds me that back in January I tried to guess at some possible names for the Pope’s Twitter account and one of them was @RomanPontifexMaximus. Just drop Roman and Maximus and I was dead on. But a too wordy of a prophet is not appreciated in his own blog.

I was also thinking Pontifex would make a great Autobot name.  For Decepticon names just look through an issue of the National Catholic Reporter.

I also wonder if you could infallibly define something via a tweet? Certainly the “We declare and define” part would fit in a Tweet and so could probably a canonization.

The Ironic Catholic offers Dear Pope Benedict XVI: friendly constructive hints on tweeting Though I take issue with one of her suggestions of a possibility of the Pope using Twitter like a search engine as one famous journalist tried to do to find a recipe

Here are some possibilities of Papal tweets I previously suggested.


4 comments
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
Other

Announcing the winner of the Statue Giveaway

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

First off thanks once again to Discount Catholic Products for offering this generous prize Our Lady of Mount Carmel Chalk Statue.

When I wrote up the rules for the contest it was sort of an afterthought to have people write why they would like to have this statue of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.  I was quite stunned by how thoughtful the replies were.  I am glad the contest was based on a randomized drawing of email entries in the comments as there is no way I could have chosen just one person from the entry comments.

So without further adieu the winner is Angela (javamom). Congratulations!

1 comment
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
The Weekly Benedict

The Weekly Benedict eBook – Volume 40

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Weekly Benedict

This is the 40th volume of The Weekly Benedict ebook which is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I post at Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Benedict. The post at Jimmy Akin’s site contains a link to each document on the Vatican’s site and does not require an e-reader to use.

This volume covers material released during the last week for 12 November, 2012 – 22 November 2012.

The ebook contains a table of contents and the material is arranged in sections such as Angelus, Speeches, etc in date order. The full index is listed on Jimmy’s site.

The Weekly Benedict – Volume 40 – ePub (supports most readers)

The Weekly Benedict – Volume 40 – Kindle

There is an archive for all of The Weekly Benedict eBook volumes. This page is available via the header of this blog or from here.

3 comments
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
Liturgy

My Annual Advent Service along with Advent Links

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

First off have a blessed Advent!

Seven years ago I decided to create my own Advent Wreath graphic instead of just using the normal animated gif that I had used previously. If you would like it for your own blog you can use the html code below which uses some homepage server space that won’t effect the bandwidth for my blog. I will replace the graphic each week so that it correctly shows the number of candles that should be lit. On Christmas I will change it to another graphic I created for Christmastide.

<img src=”http://home.comcast.net/~curtjester/curtjester_advent.gif” width=”170″ height=”189″ />

Additionally underneath my Advent graphic on my left side I have created a JavaScript that gives a countdown to Christmas. If you want to do the same thing you can insert this script into your blog template with the following code underneath where you place the graphic. Though WordPress.com users would be out of luck since they don’t allow JavaScript.

<!– Christmas Countdown – Jeff Miller–>
<script language=”JavaScript”>
function eventcount() {
var now = new Date();
var message = “”;
var event = new Date(“Dec 25 2012 00:00:01”);
var seconds = (event – now) / 1000;
var minutes = seconds / 60;
var hours = minutes / 60;
var days = hours / 24;
if ( (days%1)<.5)
days++;
days = Math.round(days);
if (hours< 0 && hours >= -24)
message = “Merry Christmas; Christ is born!”;
else if (days > 0)
message = “Only “+days+” praying day”+ (days>1?’s’:”)+ ” till Christmas!”;
document.write(“
<p>”+message+”</p>
<p>”);
}
eventcount();
</script>
<!– End Christmas Countdown –>

For a good omnibus post on Advent see Marcel LeJeune’s post.

Jimmy Akin’s 10 Things You Need to Know About Advent

Gloria TV is holding an online retreat on the O Antiphons.

14 comments
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
Humor

Save our ushers

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

There are reports the Congress is considering replacing the paper dollar bill with a coin to save money on costs or producing paper money which has  a much shorter use life.

I urge you go call your representatives to stop this.  This must be prevented if you care at all about ushers in Catholic parishes.  When the average Catholic gives their one dollar per week think of the strain on the backs of poor ushers collecting baskets of dollar coins.

5 comments
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
Link

Special-teams coach Eric Sutulovich speaks of his journey of faith.

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

When he went away to college nearly 20 years ago, Eric Sutulovich thought he had found a good crowd to hang out with. The name of the group made it sound like he would fit right in, since it included three important aspects of his life: Christianity, athletics and camaraderie. However, there was one large problem with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes: Those in the group weren’t shy about telling him that, as a Catholic, he was going to hell.

Sutulovich knew they were wrong, but couldn’t explain why in detail. It wasn’t until a few years later that he would be able to do that, in large part because of Catholic Answers Live, the popular radio program. This was the springboard for his delving into the world of Catholic apologetics, an adventure that would eventually result in his family being united in faith.

Read more: National Catholic Register

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
Other

Vatican Translation Blooper Reel

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Maybe I am missing something, but I think there is something wrong here.

This is also a commitment of the New Evangelization in the times of an economic crisis that are cutting funds for health care. In this very context hospitals and structures for assistance must rethink their role to prevent health, first and foremost a universal good to be guaranteed and defended from becoming a mere “product” subjected to the laws of the market, hence accessible to few. The special attention owed to the dignity of the suffering can never be forgotten, applying also in the context of health-care policies the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity.

To participants in the XVII Council of Europe Conference of Directors of Prison Administration (22 November 2012)
[English, Italian]

2 comments
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
Other

What is the New Evangelization?

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Sometimes the problems with new phrases is that they are used so often without definition. It is also easy to get such phrases mixed with other phrases.  Often you hear the New Evangelization as being mixed in with New Media. So defining terms is always important.

So I was glad to see this article by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP who answers the question “What is the New Evangelization.”

His explanation reminded me of one of my favorite Chesterton quotes:

“It is an old story that, while we may need somebody like Dominic to convert the heathen to Christianity, we are in even greater need of somebody like Francis, to convert the Christians to Christianity.””The Dumb Ox”

The New Evangelization is a both/and approach and really not new but renewed.  Maybe that is what has come to annoy me about the term is just how misused “New” is.  We are constantly blasted with how something is new in advertising copy.  Although I am quite glad Blessed John Paul II did not call it the “New and Improved Evangelization.”

1 comment
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
HumorLiturgy

New Year of Faith App

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

The app Annus Fidei is free and includes Church documents including those of Vatican II, but despite the information in the app store it is Spanish only .

What hasn’t been reported is that there is also another app in the pipeline for a more progressive audience the “Spirit of Vatican II” app which includes these great features:

  • No actual documents of Vatican II, instead it includes a blank document where you enter what you want Vatican II to mean.
  • Uses the mobile device’s front-facing camera to show you what your pope looks like.
  • Includes pinch-to-dissent.
  • Has maps for important shrines such as Hans Küng’s birthplace and the headquarters of the National Catholic Reporter.
  • Top ten liturgical dance moves you can do today!
  • The Gather Hymnal the official hymnal of the Spirit of Vatican II. This special edition removes those hymns published before 1960 that were included for show and not use.
  • Augmented reality so you can see giant liturgical puppets everywhere.
  • Special photo filters to add tie-dye or rainbow stole effects to your photos.
  • Felt banner designer.  Use the groovy 60’s templates or create your own.
  • Has the latest LTE technology, Liturgical Tambourine Environment.
  • Real time progressive religious order information. Note: Size decreasing and average age increasing over time along with progressive religious orders falling off the map is not a bug.

So what features do you think it should have?

6 comments
0 FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
Newer Posts
Older Posts