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Baseball Stormed by Keuka
- Release Date:
- May 2, 2013
- Contact:
- The Office of Sports Information
- (716) 649-7900 ext. 333
KEUKA PARK, NY – Hilbert College finished their 2013 baseball season with a road trip to Keuka College May 2nd. Freshman Cody Ashford went four for seven (.571), hitting two doubles and one triple to power the Hawks offense on the day. Chris Hoak added three hits in his final outing as a Hawk as the Storm took both games (9-2, 7-0).
Ashford opened the day with a triple to center field and was pushed home by freshman Paul Wujek's single to left field, giving the Hawks their first lead of the day. Keuka responded right away with a single run in the bottom of the inning knotting the game at 1-1.
After three scoreless innings by both teams, the Storm put together a big bottom of the fifth when they scored five runs off three hits and one home run.
In the top of the sixth, Garrett Pauly started things for the Hawks with a double to right center and made it home for Hilbert's second run of the day off a throwing error by the Keuka catcher. The hosts tallied another three-run home run in the bottom of the inning to close out the 9-2 final.
Sophomore Justin Hulbert and freshman Matt Goraj spent time on the mound and their combined efforts sent four bases back to the dug-out while giving up seven hits.
In the second game, Hilbert never ran beyond third base dropping their final game of the season, 7-0. Freshman Tyler Roth finished with two strike-outs giving up five hits in the 3.2 innings pitched. Pauly closed the game, striking out two while giving up four hits.
Hilbert (3-31) improved over the course of the season, and with a several first-year players contributing in 2013, the 2014 season should be one of promise with the experience gained this season.
Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college's engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college's first graduate programs and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.
Upcoming Events
- First Year Student Orientation
- Aug 14, 2015
- Summer Session A2 Ends
- Aug 21, 2015
- First Year Student Orientation
- Aug 28, 2015


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Isaiah 45:22-2522 Look to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.23 I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [allegiance].24 Only in the Lord shall one say, I have righteousness (salvation and victory) and strength [to achieve]. To Him shall all come who were incensed against Him, and they shall be ashamed.25 In the Lord shall all the offspring of Israel be justified (enjoy righteousness, salvation, and victory) and shall glory.
The Jerome ConspiracySecond EditionThe Universal Hope Edition
Thanks for the reviews and info folks. I think I may have to order this one.If I'm not mistaken Jerome was responsible for the Latin Vulgate. Is there any examples of him using his own translation in error? Another question: why do we suppose that from the very first few centuries after Christ did God allow man to corrupt His Word? How is man truly supposed to seek God out if they don't even realize there is a problem with their version of Scripture?
the Greek word is 'aion'
I don't understand your reference to the plural of 'aion'??
"In English, the town (Nazareth) and the vow in Numbers (Nazarite), seem to be similar. But in Hebrew they are two totally different words. The town, transliterated, would be: Nats-raht. While the vow would be: nah-zear.
It becomes very clear then, that what the Gospels are doing is not making Jesus out to be the 'vow taker' but 'the Branch' for the meaning of Nazareth is 'branch,' a very powerful messianic title used by a number of prophets: "
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be one separate unto Elohim from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be one separate unto Elohim from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."
'Aion' is indeed in the plural, but it is still a noun and we know that the noun aion can be translated to convey a period of time, UNLIKE it's adjective 'aionios' which always seems to be translated as 'eternal' or 'everlasting'.
I just happened to check this claim of Wood's and voila- he seems to be mistaken.
Now to the Nazarene/Nazarite comparison
What, then, is Matthew's meaning? The text is saying simply this: Jesus lived in Nazareth not because the prophets had said that He would live in that specific city, but in order to fulfill additional specific things that the prophets had said about Him. Lenski has done an excellent job of explaining this point:
Now lets suppose there is a legitimate connection between the two terms (which I don't believe there is), Michael Wood would surely notice during his research, that 'Nazarite' and 'Nazarene' are 'different' and would surely have checked them out, like we are doing. He would then see that Jerome was not being dishonest in his approach to this particular difference. Does that sound reasonable?
One good thing about this book is that it has got me checking stuff. I'm presently checking out this whole 'aionios' 'conspiracy', and I am rather concerned that I'm not finding leading Greek scholars who seem to support UR's view of this word. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. Anyhow, I'm going onto a nother subject which may already exist somewhere on here. Bye for now...........
In Leviticus, 23:3741, they were ordered to celebrate the seven-day Khag ofTabernacles because it was "a µl[ tqj (khoquth olam),"9 i.e., a world-age lastingstatute.10 The Khag of Weeks is also specifically referred to in the Torah asa "khoquth olam (world-age lasting statute)."11


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Family Doctor—American Academy of Family Physicians
Healthy Children—American Academy of Pediatrics
About Kids Health—The Hospital for Sick Children
Caring for Kids—Canadian Paediatric Society
American Academy of Pediatrics SIDS Task Force. The changing concept of sudden infant death syndrome: diagnostic coding shifts, controversies regarding the sleeping environment, and new variables to consider in reducing risk.
Pediatrics. 2005;116:1245-1255.
Galland BC, et al. Prone versus supine sleep position: a review of the physiological studies in SIDS research.
J Paediatr Child Health. 2002;38:332-338.
Hay WW.
Current Consult Pediatrics. 17th
ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2005.
Hunt CE, Hauck FR. Sudden infant death syndrome.
Kleigman RM, Jensen HB, et al, eds.
Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics.
18th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier; 2007.
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at:
http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed. Updated February 11, 2013. Accessed February 18, 2013.
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Nemours Kid's Health website. Available at:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sids.html. Updated October 2011. Accessed February 18, 2013.
10/23/2009 DynaMed Systematic Literature Surveillance. http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed: Blair P, Sidebotham P, et al. Hazardous cosleeping environments and risk factors amenable to change: case-control study of SIDS in south west England.
BMJ. 2009;339:b3666.
11/14/2011 DynaMed's Systematic Literature Surveillance. http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed: Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths: expansion of recommendations for a safe infant sleeping environment.
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Friday, May 24 - Monday, May 27, 2013 (Memorial Day Weekend)
with Samantha Ostergaard and Do-On Robert Thomas
Discover a boundless place of stillness, peace, and freedom within your body and mind through
Yoga and Zen.
Nourish yourself and celebrate the Memorial Day weekend by joining Samantha and Robert as we practice becoming intimate with the fundamental experience of our body as a way to realize our interconnectedness with everything around us.
The yoga will focus both on the immediacy of the present moment within a flow of asanas, and the experience of aliveness in the depth of restorative postures. Through a deeply satisfying yoga practice and informed by the expansive vision of Zen Buddhist teachings and meditation, together we will cultivate an open, receptive, and flexible mind and body.
As long-time practitioners of both yoga and Zen Buddhism, Samantha and Robert integrate yoga and Zen as complementary spiritual practices, supporting and guiding the group with a combination of yoga practice, sitting meditation, group exercises and discussion. The yoga practice will prepare your body and mind for meditation, and no experience is necessary. Everyone is welcome!
This retreat will begin with a yoga class at 4:00pm on Friday May 24 followed by dinner in the Green Gulch Dining room. We welcome you to arrive before this time to get settled in your room and discover the beauty of Green Gulch Farm. Our time together will come to a close at 11:30am on Monday May 27.
Fees: $240, $192 current SFZC members. Please note that the retreat fee does not include accommodations. Accommodations at Green Gulch.
Registration and Overnight Accommodations: To register and to reserve accommodations, call our toll free number 888.743.9362 or our local number 415.475.9362.


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Today, the Senate approved a $1 trillion bill to fund the government and a two-month payroll tax cut extension. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz speaks with James Fallows of The Atlantic about the last minute deal and other top stories from the past week.
View the discussion thread.


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Porsamo Bleu
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- Round stainless steel case with silver tone dial, date window at 4 o'clock, chronograph subdials at 2, 6, and 10 o'clock, and black enamel bezel
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- Case measures 50mm (1.97 inches) wide
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Material: Gold tone stainless steel, stainless steel, and enamel
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Sweet Maria's Weblog
Sumatra Classic Mandheling
Well, we haven't had Sumatra Classic Mandheling on offer for a while and now it is back and quite good this time around. Tom and I were talking about the methodology we use here at Sweet Maria's to determine which coffees to procure and offer up to our customers and this Sumatra is a good example of how selective we tend to be. In any given week Tom may cup half a dozen or more Sumatra coffees looking for the best lots with the right cup characteristics. The cupping room is normally piled high with sample trays, waiting to be cupped , I've seen weeks when Tom is cupping as many as 40 different samples in one week! Out of that amount he might chose only 3 or 4 coffees to add to our list. So, I think our methodology comes down to two main factors: freshness of the lot, and cup quality (duh!). All of our offerings are current crops and we start to get nervous about freshness if we've had a coffee for as little as three months. And when it comes to cup quality, Tom always approaches cupping samples with a fresh palate and doesn't pick coffees based on the name on the bag or how good it was last season. It has to prove itself in the cup! Now, I know most of you know this stuff already and that is why you are even bothering to read this rambling rant. I just wanted to make sure we communicated as much as possible about how we do things differently here at Sweet Maria's. OK, back to the coffee we are roasting today: Sumatra Classic Mandheling. We sample roasted to four different levels and settled on the second darkest roast, which is right around FC. This coffee will taste great roasted even darker but we are going to try and steer clear of second crack this time around.
Panama / Rwanda
We were squirreling away a Panama lot for that window of time when new crop Centrals are a month or two away, and out selection starts to thin out. That time is now! Panama SHB Las Victorias is a Boquete region coffee, and cups clear and clean like the day it came in. We also have a superb E. Africa new crop arrival ... Rwanda Gkongoro Nyarusiza is a mouthful to pronounce, and a superb bright coffee in the cup, with Mandarin orange citrus sweetness, cherry blossom aroma, and great balance. It is pure Bourbon cultivar too. On a totally unrelated note, I got meself one of these fancy new MacPro 8 core super computers, and sure it's fast, but the keyboard is all amiss. I can't make question marks, colons, exclamation points ... how can I continue to post without my explanation points. All I can do is make ... these ... senseless ... ellipses ...
Ethiopia Organic Golocha Dry-Process
Josh did 4 levels of sample roasts of this natural Ethiopia on Friday and I cupped it early Monday morning ... so it was well-rested. The lightest roast, like many DP Ethiopias, is not a pretty sight; variation in bean-to-bean color. Hey, that's what dry-processed coffees are like. It's not a beauty contest here. They discovered long ago that it's much better pour the coffee into your mouth, not all over your eyes. Youch! After all most of us grind and drink this stuff, not admire the hue of the roasted bean (although a few people have turned espresso crema and latte art into a visual obsession). Where was I? Golocha. The fact is, the lightest roast had great dried apricot fruit to it, slightly winey, a touch of banana, a little mango, along with buttery roast notes. With each darker roast shade, that was eclipsed by other flavors, soft rustic chocolate tones. Not that chocolate is undesirable at any time, but tasting lively fruit fade through all the darker roast levels is the flavor equivalent of watching the sunset, and the lightest roast was akin to preserving that golden moment of shimmering intensity before the light fades into darkness. Yes, despite this overblown analogy, I basically mean it. (But seriously dude, don't pour the coffee over your eyes). -Tom
Will we all be embarrassed?
Do you put on one leather glove in order to make an espresso? I don't. Do you polish the puck clockwise or counter-clockwise? Hmmm. Do you drink coffee with a silver-plated "cupping spoon?" I don't either. Do you "break the coffee crust" by stirring 3 times to the bottom, or do you go 4 times just on the surface? Does brewed coffee extract or infuse? For how long? Do you argue with your other about whether your morning bowl of fruit loops has a hint of red apple, or green apple? If it's red, are we talking Fuji, Braeburn, Red Delicious ... and do the flavors "knit" well together.? How is the structure of flavors in those Fruit Loops? So 5 or 10 years from now will this look foolish, indulgent, grossly excessive, or will it be part of a ground-breaking new movement of "super-sensory" consumption? Will their be a Guild for everything? A separatist Machiatto Guild wants acknowledgement for their unique skills --- they aren't just your average "Baristi," after all. How about that Biscotti Guild we were talking about forming? Will the janitors accept their same lousy pay if we pump up their esteem at the annual Mop & Bucket Guild Retreat? Just a few early morning thoughts. -Tom


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August 05, 2015
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Find hotels in Leyden using the list and search tools below. Explore our guide for inexpensive and discount hotel/motel rates in or near Leyden, CO for your business or personal leisure travel. We show the best Leyden Colorado hotel/motel rooms. Review the Leyden hotel list below to find the perfect lodging. We also have a map of the Leyden hotels.The Leyden center point is approximately 5 miles from Colorado Railway Museum and 5 miles from Broomfield Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.
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February 24th, 2010
Archpastoral Directive
To our Venerable Hierarchs and beloved clergy of our God Protected Archdiocese:
Greetings and blessings to all of you in the Spirit of this Great and Holy Lent.
It has come to my attention that there is some confusion concerning the Typikon of the Great Feast of the Annunciation. We have discovered that different Typikons deal with this issue in different ways.
Therefore we ask you to abide by the following directions:
1) You may celebrate the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy on Wednesday morning, March 24th.
2) Celebrate Matins and Divine Liturgy for the Annunciation on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, March 25th.
Wishing you a blessed journey to the Empty Tomb, I remain,
Your father in Christ,
Metropolitan PHILIP
Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America
The Department of Convention and Conference Planning announces the launching of a new website dedicated to assisting parishes in planning and executing Parish Life Conferences and Archdiocese Conventions: Antiochian Events (www.antiochianevents.org). The Antiochian Archdiocese funded this project, and NAC Fellowship of St. John the Divine will cover its annual operating expenses.
The new website includes a comprehensive system for online registration and payment functions. Conference and convention participants will be able to register for events, to submit Souvenir Journal sponsorships, to upload journal messages and art work, to register for vendor or display booths, to make general donations, and to make individual or corporate sponsorship donations.
Metropolitan Athenagoras of Mexico visited Haiti this past week bringing comfort to the clergy and Orthodox faithful of the earthquake stricken Island. His Eminence arrived from Greece where he was visiting for official Church business, aboard a Greek Government plane, with the Assistant Foreign Minister of Greece and the Executive Director of the NGO "Solidarity" of the Church of Greece. The plane was carrying 50 tons of food, medicine and other aid, a gift from the Greek Government and the Church of Greece, for the people of Haiti.
His Eminence immediately visited the homes and schools of the Greek Orthodox ministry in Haiti to assess the damage done by the earthquake. He was deeply moved by what he saw; "This is a disaster of immense proportions" he noted. All of the buildings where the Greek Orthodox Church and schools are presently housed were seriously damaged and will need major repairs, or even worse, will need to be demolished and rebuilt. His Eminence further visited the property owned by the Holy Metropolis where the Metropolis has plans to build a complete complex, comprised of a Church, a school, a clinic and housing for clergy.
Since the property is presently vacant, families whose homes were destroyed and who had no place to live, are presently using the property for temporary living quarters. About 3000 people live on the Church property, 1000 of whom are children. Initially they lived out in the open until last week when the Metropolis received a donation of 500 tents, which were given to these families for more humane living conditions.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Now to Him Who by the power at work within us is ableto do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think,to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:20-21).
February 21, 2010The Feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy
The Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas
To all the Clergy and the Laity of the Holy Orthodox Churches in the Americas
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We, the Hierarchs of the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, greet you on the Feast of the Sunday of Orthodoxy with words of the Holy Apostle Paul that were selected by the Primates of the worldwide Orthodox Church to close their Message proclaimed on October 12, 2008. Indeed, we glory in our God whose love for us exceeds every thought or imagining that could enter our minds or hearts. As the Apostle Paul says in another place: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him (I Cor. 2:9).
In the historic Synaxis and in the Message that was declared by it, the Primates of worldwide Orthodox Christianity proclaimed the following with one voice and one heart:
Antiochian Women With Completed Haiti KitsNearly everyone had arrived at Antiochian Village by Friday Feb. 5 for Antiochian Women's mid-winter meetings before the fourth largest snowstorm ever in western Pennsylvania began.
The North American Board (NAB), made up of five elected officers, immediate past president and six coordinators, met Friday afternoon. They began meetings with officers and delegates of the seven diocesan Antiochian Women's organizations on Friday evening, which continued on Saturday after Soul Saturday Divine Liturgy.
Prior to the first meeting Mother Alexandra, abbess of the Convent of St. Thekla that established at the Village in July, led a mini-retreat for the women. Most everyone, including monastics, deal with temptations and distractions in their spiritual lives, Mother Alexandra said. She talked with the women about the things that distract us, including church-related ones. "We need to stay focused."
His Grace Bishop THOMAS spoke to the women about preparations for Great Lent and for the Kingdom of God. "You have the opportunity to spend a lot of time in the presence of God." He later added that "you bring great joy to this place."
Please pray for His Grace Bishop ANTOUN of the Diocese of Miami and the Southeast, who is resting following successful surgery on Thursday, February 11, in Florida.
L. to r.: Fr. Mark Leondis, Fr. George Gartelos, Fr. Nicholas Hadzellis, Fr. Martin Kraus, Fr. Alex Micich, Fr. Kevin Scherer, Fr. James Coles, Fr. Michael Ellis, Fr. Peter Paproski, Fr. Anthony Salzman, Dn. Paul Zaharas and Sbdn. John MahfouzTEMPE, AZ --- On February 4-5th, 2010, Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF), in partnership with a very generous grant from The Order of St. Ignatius, gathered a group of Board members and priests, from across five different SCOBA jurisdictions, to form the first-ever OCF Regional Chaplaincy Network. In order to meet the pastoral needs of the 270 local OCF chapters throughout the United States and Canada, OCF has broken the country into nine different regions. A Regional Chaplain and a Student Regional Representative will represent each of these regions. Together these roles will assist with the development of new and existing OCF chapters.
"Identifying a group of talented and committed spiritual leaders to help build this network is a critical step in helping OCF create a spiritual safety net for our students as they leave home for college," remarked Fr. James Coles, the OCF North American Chaplain.
Besides the organizational administration of this new network, the group discussed ideas and plans for Chaplain training and resources. Fr. Kevin Scherer, the OCF Executive Director said, "It's our hope that this new network will not only help grow new OCF chapters, but resource those that are struggling to develop and stay connected to other Orthodox students across the country."
Fr. Jack Norman Sparks--Author, Project Director for the Orthodox Study Bible, mentor to many, Founder and Dean of St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, father, grandfather and great grandfather--fell asleep in the Lord in Eagle River, Alaska, on February 8, at 7:30 a.m. Fr. Jack reposed on the twenty third anniversary of his ordination to the diaconate.
Fr. Marc Dunaway, Pastor of St. John Cathedral in Eagle River, Alaska, writes:
"It is with sadness and prayers for his family that I relay to you the news that the servant of God, the Archpriest Jack Sparks, fell asleep in the Lord early this morning. He was 81 years old. Fr. Jack did much research in the 1970's and 80's that helped the journey of the Evangelical Orthodox into the Antiochian Archdiocese. After this he was the principle overseer for the Orthodox Study Bible, which was just recently published with the Old Testament. Fr. Jack has lived in Alaska for the last five years and has several of his children here. Fr. John Downing, Kh. Betsy and I joined Kh. Esther Sparks and her family and prayed the Trisagion Prayers of Mercy for the Departed around him. We have truly lost a good soldier in the Church today."
In an Ancient Faith Radio reflection, Fr. Peter Gillquist remembers Fr. Jack as one who lived a full, rich life of service to the Church and to his family.
There will be an official visit to South Florida by His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP on the weekend of February 12th -14th, 2010 at St. Philip Orthodox Church. Metropolitan PHILIP will be accompanied by His Grace, Bishop ANTOUN, Bishop of Miami and Assistant to the Metropolitan. His Eminence will preside over a weekend of activities celebrating:
On Friday night, February 12th 2010, His Eminence will preside over a private meeting with the Pastor, Parish Council, and Building Committee members of St. Philip Orthodox Church at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club on the Intracoastal Waterway. The dinner is hosted by Salim Khoury, Chairman of the Parish Council, and his wife Deborah.
On Saturday, February 13th, 2010, His Eminence will preside over a luncheon with the parish children at St. Philip Orthodox Church, 4870 Griffin Road, Davie, FL 33314, while the Parishioners and guests from around the country will enjoy a Golf Tournament, sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. David and Terri Dorta, at the Bonaventure Country Club. David Dorta is the Chairman of the Building Committee and his wife, Terri, is the Choir Director at St. Philip Orthodox Church.
The 50th Bienniel Archdiocesan Convention will be held in Chicago, IL from July 24th-31st, 2011. The Convention will be hosted by Fr. Nicholas Dahdal and the good people of St. George Church in Cicero, IL. For more information or to reserve hotel rooms on-line, please visit www.archdioceseconvention2011.org.
For additional information, also visit the Archdiocese Department of Conventions and Conference Planning. Convention news is available here.
From SCOBA:
February 14, 2010Sunday of Cheesefare and Mission Sunday "The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." (Matthew 9:37-38)
To the Most Reverend Clergy, Venerable Monastics andThe Devout Faithful of the Holy Orthodox Churches in the Americas
Dearly Beloved in the Lord,
We greet you in the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! The Lenten fast that precedes the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha is upon us. Like the dawn of a new day, the beginning of this 40-day journey provides opportunities for us to recommit ourselves and our whole lives to Christ our God. The Sunday before Great Lent, February 14th, 2010, is Mission Sunday as designated by the hierarchs of the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA). Over the past two millennia, the work of making disciples has been a focal ministry of saints, and billions of people have accepted life in Christ. Today, sixty-six percent of the world's population is still non-Christian; thus missionary service remains a core ministry of the Church and a collective movement of the faithful.
Over the past 15 years, the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC), as the official missions agency of SCOBA, has provided the faithful of North America with opportunities to answer their call to make disciples of all nations. Over 70 people who serve as OCMC Ambassadors are taking this call to parishes across the country, and the mission ministries of our Orthodox Churches that are outside of America are growing as a result.
Fishers, IN – January 15, 2010
In response to the growing concerns that Orthodox students are leaving their family roots in the Church, Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) has produced a gripping, high definition documentary film and launched a complimentary webpage.
"We decided that we had to do the film after reading that only 7% of incoming freshmen could identify a Christian organization on campus before arriving," said Executive Director, Fr. Kevin Scherer. "They've prepared themselves academically for that transition, but there's been little or no preparation spiritually."
This just released DVD captures the honest and unedited interviews of eight different students and their transition from high school to college. Their stories cover everything from leaving home and friends to the temptations and pressures of modern college life. "We made this film to start a dialogue. We want parents, priests and students to use this DVD to talk about what's likely to happen emotionally and spiritually during four of the most important years of a person's life," said Fr. Kevin.
This year's annual public Lenten retreat at St. Vladimir's Seminary will be "Southern Style" as the Seminary welcomes Fr. Joseph Huneycutt, author of the popular blog Orthodixie. Fr. Joseph's topic for this year's retreat, to be held Saturday, March 20, 2010, is "Paschal Fire from Spiritual Ashes."
Known for combining wit with wisdom, and satire with sobriety, Fr. Joseph has authored several books reflecting his journey to and through the Orthodox Christian faith, including: We Came, We Saw, We Converted: The Lighter Side of Orthodoxy in America; Defeating Sin: Overcoming Our Passions and Changing Forever; and One Flew Over the Onion Dome: American Orthodox Converts, Retreads, and Reverts. He appears regularly on Ancient Faith Radio and is a priest at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church in Houston, Texas.
Describing his approach to spreading the gospel, Fr. Joseph said, "I find English works best; it's also good to make the message sinner-friendly and open to all. Seriously, without encouragement toward perpetual conversion in Christ the Living God, our message is the same as any other: dead."
The public retreat begins with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at 9 a.m. in Three Hierarchs Chapel, and will be followed by brunch at 11 a.m. Fr. Joseph will present his talks from 12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Metropolitan Philip Auditorium of the John G. Rangos Family Building. A prayer service at 4:30 p.m. will close the retreat.
"Let my prayers rise up as incense and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice." Psalm 142
"Let my prayers rise up as incense and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice." Psalm 142
Fishers, IN – February 2, 2010
Each year, college students across North America join together in offering their prayers for Orthodox Christian Fellowship's Day of Prayer held on Clean Monday.
On February 15, 2010, OCF chapters will take part in 24 hours of unceasing prayer. Each school will take a one-hour slot to pray for themselves, their chapters and their fellow students.
Contact your local OCF chapter if you would like them to include your name on their prayer list. If you would like to sign-up your chapter, please contact Kelli Phillips, OCF Program Director at firstname.lastname@example.com or visit www.ocf.net.
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Through a generous gift of the Francis Maria Foundation for Justice and Peace, the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America will once again grant several scholarships in the amount of $2,500 to students attending an accredited College.
Scholarships will be granted each July. Completed 2010 Francis Maria Scholarship Application and all supporting documentation must be postmarked by May 15, 2010.
For more information, please visit www.antiochian.org/scholarships. Click here to download an application (PDF).
NAC Teen SOYO is currently accepting teen applicants as Special Olympic Coaches for this summer's NAC SOYO Special Olympics Sports Camp. Applications must be completed and mailed by April 1, 2010.
Click here to download an application.
Please mail completed application by April 1, 2010 to:
V. Rev. Anthony G. Yazge201 St. Ignatius TrailBolivar, PA 15923Phone: (724) 238-9565 FAX: (724) 238-6415 Email: email@example.com
NEW YORK, NY [OCA] -- With the blessing of His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of Saint John Chrysostom, which is enshrined in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, will be available for veneration in New York February 6-12, 2010.
The relic will arrive at the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign, 75 East 93 Street, New York, during the celebration of the Vigil at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 6. Following the Vigil, it will be available for veneration by the faithful. The following morning, the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m.
On Monday, February 8, the Vigil for the Feast of Saint John Chrysostom will be celebrated at 6:30 p.m., while the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy the following morning will begin at 8:30 a.m.
The Vigil will be celebrated on Wednesday, February 10, at 6:30 p.m.. The following morning, His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, ROCOR First Hierarch, will preside at the Divine Liturgy at 8:30 a.m., after which the relic will be taken to Saint Nicholas Representation Cathedral, 15 East 97 Street, New York, where it will remain until the departure of the Moscow delegation on Friday, February 12.
The head of Saint John Chrysostom was brought to Russia from the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos in the 17th century. It was enshrined in the Moscow Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral until 1922. From 1930 until 1988, the reliquary with the shrine belonged to the Foundation for Guarding of Russian Silver of the 19th century.
Several reliquaries, including the one bearing the saint's head, were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church in the State Armoury Chamber on the eve of celebration of the 1000-year anniversary of the Baptism of Rus' on May 26, 1988.
His Grace, Bishop +ANTOUN, sprinkles Holy Water on the site of the new temple and education building for All Saints Orthodox Church in Raleigh, NC.By Reader Nathan Johnson Photo by Paul Hydock
A cold November rain could dampen the ground, but it could not dampen the mood. On Sunday, November 1st, 2009, the families and children of All Saints Orthodox Church in Raleigh, NC, joined His Grace, Bishop +ANTOUN, in breaking ground on a new temple and education building.
The Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, groundbreaking, and reception capped off a weekend full of events.
After arriving in Raleigh Friday night, His Grace enjoyed dinner with the members of the Parish Council and their spouses. After dinner, Sayedna related a recent parish visit in which he burned that parish's mortgage papers. He encouraged the Council to work diligently and faithfully toward the day when he could do the same for All Saints' new building.
Saturday brought brilliant sunshine and mild temperatures, a perfect day for the parish's children to gather and meet with His Grace. The day's events began with a children's luncheon with Sayedna. After lunch, the children got the chance to ask him questions about their faith and his role as their bishop. Sayedna also shared his excitement for the building project, telling them he hoped that many of them would eventually get married in the new temple. He also invited the children to bring their shovels to help break ground for the building. Later that evening, Sayedna presided over Great Vespers, followed by a dinner in the parish hall.
Unfortunately, the weather turned on Sunday, bringing clouds and a cold, steady rain. However, the dramatic change in the weather did not stop the morning's special activities.
His Grace Bishop BASIL of the Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America recently returned from a journey to Syria. His Grace's travels included visits to many holy sites in in Aleppo and Antioch (in Turkey), as well as visits with Patriarch IGNATIUS IV, Metropolitan SABA of the Archdiocese of Bosra-Hauran, monastics, college students and others. Sayedna has kindly provided us with numerous photos from his trip: click here to visit the gallery!
Antiochian.org has upgraded our parish directory with a Google-powered map that includes each community in our Archdiocese. Click here to see it in action. As always, you can still also find a parish listings by state and by diocese. Our team also recommends the pan-Orthodox directory that SCOBA maintains here.
Your feedback is welcome. Please also remember to let us know if there are any corrections needed to the information we have for your church. You can contact us via email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The Climacus Conference of Thoughtful Ascent
A Contemplation of Noble Ideas
Friday and Saturday: February 5-6, 2010 Saint Michael Orthodox Church, Louisville, Kentucky
Classical Education • Poetry • Orthodoxy and Postmodernism • Patristic Thought • Logic and Rhetoric • Motherhood • Health and Medicine • St. John Climacus • The Great Books • Theology and Spirituality
$15 per day/$20 for both days. Discount available for students and families. Includes coffee and bagels (AM) and lunch on Saturday.
Speakers include Antiochian author Molly Sabourin and Ancient Faith Radio operations manager and podcaster Bobby Maddex, as well as many others. For more information, detailed schedule, or to register, please visit www.climacusconference.org.
With the blessing of His Eminence, Metropolitan JOHN, Archbishop of Western and Central Europe, the Antiochian Orthodox Parish of St. Ignatius, Belfast is pleased to host An Orthodox Pilgrimage to Ireland on May 11–21, 2010. The price of the pilgrimage is £960 per person, based on double occupancy. A single supplement is 35% additional. The price includes all hotels, all breakfasts, most dinners, all transportation within Ireland (deluxe coach, ferry rides, etc.), with a few exceptions. Please visit the Web site www.pilgrimageireland.com for a color brochure. A registration form is available on the web site. Deadline for reservations is Feb. 9, 2010. For more information, please e-mail Athanasius & Nektaria Blalock at email@example.com.
The Dept. of Internet Ministry has added a calendar to Antiochian.org. Click here to visit. The calendar currently includes daily Scripture readings for all of 2010; major Feasts and Fasts; the feast days of selected saints; and events across the Archdiocese. We will continue to expand this resource over time. So if you would like to see an event added to the calendar, or have any other recommendations, please email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.
For Orthodox Christians planning to travel, EGERIAexchange.com now matches people for free home and hospitality exchanges, both in the U.S. and Canada, as well as overseas. After joining the group for a low, flat fee, members may either exchange their homes with a fellow member for an agreed period of time, chose a place to stay with a host family for free without swapping homes, or pay a reasonable Bed and Breakfast fee to their Orthodox B & B host. Matushka Jenny Hainsworth of EGERIA Orthodox Home and Hospitality Exchange, says: "We let people work out the details, but the nice thing is that now, whenever Orthodox Christians travel, they can have friends wherever they go!"
For instance, a home in Ballydehob, Ireland, offers visitors use of a small cottage, music lessons, three acres for strolling, and a private chapel for praying. Other countries intrigue the EGERIA web browser: Germany, Kenya, India, Greece, and Serbia.
Bobby Maddex of Ancient Faith Radio recently interviewed Matushka Jenny, EGERIA's co-founder and proprietor, about the new venture--listen here.
The Antiochian Archdiocese Department of Sacred Music is sponsoring its 24th annual Sacred Music Institute, to be held at the beautiful La Casa de Maria retreat center in Santa Barbara, California. Beginning on Thursday, January 28 and concluding on Sunday, January 31, the retreat will feature choir directors and instructors Vladimir Morosan, Maureena Boosamra, Fr. John Finley, Kevin Lawrence, Paul Jabara and Chris Farha. The topics covered will be numerous and varied and among other things, workshop participants can expect to: learn about the use of the ison, discover new settings for The Cherubic Hymn, and be given training tips they can use with musicians in their own parishes.
For more information and registration forms, go to: http://www.antiochian.org/music.


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RR MotorcyclesTuesday, 16 August 2011 02:09
After the mainstream release of Ruff Ryders Athem by DMX feat Swizz Beatz a motorcycle revolution was started. Bike sales went up, more people wanted to ride in large numbers, and any trike performed on a sportbike was considered Ruff Ryding or a Ruff Ryder. After touring the country a member of the stunt team realized that there was a following for the Ruff Ryders stunt team outside of the following for the music and artist. This is when Ruff Ryders decided to extend it's brand to the streets. At the time it had to make business sense for the betterment of the music label so the brand was licensed to local markets to create the ultimate street team to assist in record promotions. Since then this venture has taken on a life of it's own with divisions that represent the lifestyle of an urban NYC native; hence the name "Ruff Ryders Lifestyles" aka "RRLifestyles" for short. If you are interested in becoming part of the motorcycle division for Ruff Ryders Lifestyles CLICK HERE and join today!
Published in RUFF RYDERS LIFESTYLES


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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — One of the Philippines' most active volcanoes rumbled to life Tuesday, spewing room-sized rocks toward nearly 30 surprised climbers, killing five and injuring others that had to be fetched with rescue helicopters and rope.
The climbers and their Filipino guides had spent the night camping in two groups before setting out at daybreak for the crater of Mayon volcano when the sudden explosion of rocks, ash and plumes of smokes jolted the picturesque mountain, guide Kenneth Jesalva told ABS-CBN TV network by cellphone.
He said rocks "as big as a living room" came raining down, killing and injuring members of his group, some of whom were in critical condition. Jesalva said he rushed back to the base camp at 3,000 feet to call for help.
Among the dead were three Germans and their Filipino guide, said Albay provincial Gov. Joey Salceda. He said everyone on the mountain had been accounted for at midday, except for a foreigner who was presumed dead.
Eight people were injured, and Salceda said the others were in the process of being brought down the mountain. Ash clouds have cleared over the volcano, which was quiet later in the morning.
"The injured are all foreigners ... they cannot walk. If you can imagine, the boulders there are as big as cars. Some of them slid and rolled down. We will rappel the rescue team, and we will rappel them up again," he said from Legazpi, the provincial capital at the foothill of the mountain.
An Austrian mountaineer and two Spaniards were rescued with small bruises, he said.
Tuesday's eruption was normal for the restive Mayon, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
The 2,460-meter (8,070-foot) mountain about 340 kilometers (212 miles) southeast of Manila has erupted about 40 times during the last 400 years.
In 2010, thousands of residents moved to temporary shelters when the volcano ejected ash up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater.
Solidum said no alert was raised after the latest eruption and no evacuation was being planned.
Climbers are not allowed when an alert is up, and the recent calm may have encouraged this week's trek. However, Solidum said that even with no alert raised, the immediate zone around the volcano is supposed to be a no-go area because of the risk of a sudden eruption.
Salceda said he would enforce a ban on climbers.
Despite the risks, Mayon and its near-perfect cone is a favorite spot for volcano watchers. Most enjoy the occasional nighttime spectacle of the rim lit by flowing lava, viewing from the safety of hotels in Legazpi.
The volcano has a trail to the crater that is walkable though it's steep and strewn with rocks and debris from past eruptions.
Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.
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Gaga suspende su gira para operarse de la cadera
Gaga suspende su gira para operarse de la cadera
Turkey Stalks Students on College Campus
Unlock your personal NFL Now stream by signing in to NFL.com
Must Watch
La artista Lady Gaga ha cancelado su gira mundial, ya que debido a un problema de cadera tendrá que someterse a una operación y necesitará un periodo de rehabilitación, según ha anunciado este jueves Live Nation.
Police at the University Of Michigan are on the hunt for an aggressive Turkey stalking the grounds of the University's North Campus. The turkey, lovingly dubbed "Gobbles" or "Mr. Tom Tom," has been terrorizing students at Michigan since June of this year, and gaining fame online with students posting pictures and video of it on social media. Let's hope they find and relocate it soon, or it may find itself stuffed with a massive amount... of college debt.
#YahooLive is proud to present this exclusive concert from The Roots on Saturday August 1st. Catch the show live or tune in for a full 24 hour rebroadcast.
Need a refresher on the Mission: Impossible series? Only have ten minutes? Fear not! Jonathan Harris is here to refresh your memory on everything that happens. CAUTION: MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD! Subscribe for more videos: http://full.sc/NfhdwD
Jenna Dewan Tatum reenacts her dance moves with Channing in "Step Up" and shows us her best attempt at the Harlem Shake.
7 foods that stop overeating in its tracks—before you can eat your way through an entire pint of moose tracks.
The Roots - The Roots LIVE Concert
Los Lonely Boys - Los Lonely Boys LIVE Concert
Graham Nash - Our House - Live from The Pageant
Graham Nash - King Midas In Reverse - Live from The Pageant
Graham Nash - I Used To Be A King - Live from The Pageant
Graham Nash - Teach Your Children - Live from The Pageant


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Hawks Hit By Highlanders
- Release Date:
- November 30, 2010
- Contact:
- The Office of Sports Information
- (716) 649-7900 ext. 333
Houghton, NY – Houghton College's roster depth was a major factor in their 63-30 victory over Hilbert College in women's basketball on November 30. The NAIA scholarship-funded team went 12 players deep where every athlete played at least 12 minutes each. The Hawks (1-4) found themselves down at half time (41-15) but played a more competitive second half (22-15).
Hilbert junior Mary Zinni (Batavia, NY/Batavia) lead the eight-women squad with 9 points, all scored from behind the 3-point arc. The Hawks were pressured defensively the entire 40 minutes with aggressive, fresh bodies. This strategy resulted in Hilbert's low shooting percentage (22.9%) from the floor.
Houghton had three players hit for double digits as Kara Schrader netted the game-high 12 points. Hilbert's Amber Grosch (Depew, NY/Depew) pulled in a game-high 8 rebounds.
The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) portion of the Hawks schedule beings on Saturday, December 3rd, when La Roche College travels up from Pittsburgh, PA for the 2 pm tip. The Red Hawks currently hold the top position in the early season standings (4-1). The Preseason Player of the Year, senior Chantelle Jennings comes to town for the last time averaging 16.6 points in 32 minutes of time through 5 games.
Hilbert College, located in suburban Hamburg, N.Y., south of Buffalo, is a private four-year college founded in 1957 in the Catholic Franciscan tradition. With nearly 1,100 students, Hilbert is a dynamic Western New York college that offers career-focused majors, including one of the top criminal justice programs in the region, and more than 50 minors and concentrations. The college's engaging, student-centered campus community offers numerous leadership, internship, and service learning opportunities from which students launch successful careers while making positive changes in their communities. The Hilbert Blueprint promotes a well-rounded student experience over four years – starting with the Foundations Seminar in the freshman year, followed by Sophomore Service, Junior Symposium, and culminating with the Senior Capstone. Hilbert has expanded its academic offerings with the college's first graduate programs and new Accelerated Degree Programs geared to adult learners.
Upcoming Events
- First Year Student Orientation
- Aug 14, 2015
- Summer Session A2 Ends
- Aug 21, 2015
- First Year Student Orientation
- Aug 28, 2015


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There isn't enough gun powder in that pipe bomb to "rip off" the upper. You have to have some serious shear forces to overcome the metal in the barrel extension and also the receiver. That much powder won't make it happen. The occasional blown out .308s that have made their way to the Interweb have suffered only minor damage similar to this. The M14 that had a receiver failure years ago was attributed to poor metal for the receiver that caused defects. That is the exception.
Unless yo'ure talking catastrophic failure of a .50. That may do it. Catastrophic failures that rip the metal receivers to shreds would require dynamite-level charges... I read about some booby-trapped ammo we placed in Vietnam used in enemy AKs and those caused legendary failures.


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Maureen Dowd Has Opinions About John Paul II
Mollie Wilson O'Reilly April 24, 2014 - 4:43pm
Listen up, everyone, because Maureen Dowd has some serious thoughts about this weekend's big double canonization. You'll find them in her April 23 column: "A Saint, He Ain't" (which, fortuitously, was published just after Alex Pareene's latest blog post detailing "Why Friedman, Brooks, and Dowd Must Go"). It's got all of that trademark Dowd style, which is what makes it so darn awful.
The trouble with Dowd's column is not that she is (as you have probably guessed) critical of the decision to canonize John Paul II. The trouble is that she's writing about it the way she writes about everything else: analysis via insult. Shallow thinking applied to serious subjects is her metier. It's bad enough when her topic is politics -- Pareene's latest post reminds readers of the time she turned a misquotation of John Kerry into a meme, and it is depressing to contemplate just how prominently her smart-alecky-potshot approach figured in the 2004 presidential campaign.
But Dowd's cute turns of phrase and offhand way with facts are particularly painful when she turns to writing about the church, as she does now and then, from her not-that-I-care-but-you-should-care-what-I-think perspective -- and I find her shallow arguments especially irritating when I more or less agree with her basic conclusions.
In this case: Dowd thinks John Paul's failure to act more decisively to address the sex-abuse scandal during his papacy should be counted against his legacy. So do I. She thinks canonizing him now reads as a sign that making things right after the scandal still doesn't rank as the priority it should in Rome. So do I. But I'm not prepared to go so far as to say "he ain't no saint," as she does, and not just because I don't think in rhyming punch lines. "Saint" is a term that has a number of different, overlapping connotations. Being a saint -- that is, being in heaven -- is one thing. Being officially declared a saint by the church is another. You can believe with all your heart that John Paul has gone to the Father's house and still question the wisdom of a ceremony celebrating that fact not ten years after his death. And then there is the question, a fraught one, of how the policy successes and failures of a papacy should figure into a man's case for sainthood.
So, the trouble I have with Dowd's taking this topic on is not that she's completely wrong, but that she's not thinking or writing seriously about something that I think deserves serious comment. It's not that she's scornful or dismissive of the whole charade -- she wants to take on what she knows is a grave subject, but without any proportionate gravity in her approach.
John Paul was a charmer, and a great man in many ways. But given that he presided over the Catholic Church during nearly three decades of a gruesome pedophilia scandal and grotesque cover-up, he ain't no saint.
The first sentence alone demonstrates how this column's subject and style are at war: it starts out snide, and then it's as if Dowd suddenly remembered to try to sound like she wants to be taken seriously. And the second sentence has the form but not the content of an argument: is it given that the sex-abuse crisis having happened during John Paul II's papacy means he is not a saint? Things would be a lot simpler if it were. But listing the things that went on while John Paul was pope, and then vaguely asserting his direct responsibility for them, doesn't do the trick. It's hard not to conclude that the rhyming conclusion here is leading the analysis instead of the other way around.
Dowd's breezy summary of the issues -- John Paul's appeal to conservatives and neoconservatives, Benedict XVI's role in promoting his cause, the Marcial Maciel Degollado affair, as well as John XXIII's contrasting legacy, John Paul II's not-so-neoconservative moments, and even the recent United Nations report (but of course) -- covers a lot of ground and brings up a lot of relevant points, but never convinces me that she's really reflected much on what it all means. And there are bum notes throughout: "The Vatican had a hard time drumming up the requisite two miracles" for John Paul, she says, making you wonder what she expected -- if they had brought forward five immediate claims of miraculous healings, would she have said, "Well then, that seems convincing"? And nine years is pretty quick; how long did she think this should have taken? And most significantly, does she know that the Vatican actually did not drum up the requisite two miracles for John XXIII? Yes, she does, because she writes about that later in the column: "the newly christened Pope Francis" -- Hey "christened" is a religious word, right, so it'd probably be clever to use it here -- "tried to placate progressives by cutting the miracle requirement from two to one to rush John XXIII's canonization." Dowd doesn't seem to mind that decision. But she didn't go back and change her suggestive line about "drumming up" the miracles for JPII, either.
In the same sentence about JPII, she refers to "Pope Benedict XVI, known as John Paul's Rasputin." Was he? By whom? Do you think she meant "rottweiler"? Is she aware of what it usually means when you compare someone to Rasputin? I am honestly not sure. She also, later, refers to Maciel as "the dastardly Mexican priest," which is an awfully cutesy way to characterize his crimes.
The personal holiness of John Paul II, and his theological teachings, never come up, though they are usually cited as the basis for his reputation for sanctity among the faithful. I am very sympathetic to an argument that such factors shouldn't outweigh the practical legacy of his papacy when it comes to canonization. But Dowd doesn't even touch on them. Her concept of what it means to call someone a "saint" is completely secular.
The church is giving its biggest prize to the person who could have fixed the spreading stain and did nothing. The buck, or in this case, the Communion wafer, doesn't stop here.
"Its biggest prize" is a pretty shallow way to think about what sainthood is, but this is a Maureen Dowd column, so that's to be expected. But that second sentence is the one I'll quote back at you if you write to me to convince me that Dowd -- who, let's not forget, has received journalism's biggest prize for commentary -- is a great or even a pretty good opinion columnist. This is what happens when you take a topic like religion and sexual abuse and try to run it through the Maureen-Dowd-column-generator. The Dowdian template calls for a jokey line, optimally a turn of phrase related to some cliche. And so we get "The buck, or in this case, the Communion wafer..." The trouble is, first, right when you're laying blame for the sex-abuse crisis at the feet of the former pope and present candidate for sainthood is actually not a good place for a joke, at all. And second, this is not actually a joke. It is at best a reference designed to make it sound like you know what you're talking about that ends up doing the opposite -- kind of like the "newly christened Pope Francis" line, or the bit at the beginning establishing that Maureen Dowd went to Mass on Easter Sunday, and they sang "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "Danny Boy." (How...would that even work?)
There is a sentence in the column that suggested, for me, the worthwhile analysis we might have had, in a better world that expected more from its newspaper columnists. Noting that "spectacular" mistakes can overshadow even the greatest accomplishments when we evaluate a leader, Dowd writes, "Lyndon Johnson deserves to be secularly canonized for his work on civil rights, but he never will be because of the war in Vietnam." That got me thinking: what would it mean to "secularly canonize" someone? Is it even possible for presidents, or have we shut the door on that after Lincoln (with a cut-down-in-his prime exception for Kennedy)? Reflecting on that could be a way in to examining the political side of non-secular canonization, which is the only side Dowd seems to be interested in anyway. She doesn't seem to notice, though, that when she quotes Kenneth Briggs saying that John XXIII came out of his five-year papacy "free and clear" while John Paul is under a cloud, she is naming one big reason the sainthood call is less fraught for Good Pope John: his papacy was short. Had he presided over the aftermath of the council he began, or had he been in the papal chair for another twenty years of upheaval in the church and in the world, he too might have a cloudier legacy.
There are a lot of good reasons to criticize, doubt, or argue about the decisions to canonize these two popes. Or any popes, for that matter. Maureen Dowd even mentioned some of the big ones in her column. But it's still an awful column. Opinion writers have to be more than basically right about the big stuff; they have to think things through carefully and then bring the rest of us along in doing likewise. They have to know when to be cute and when to be careful. Because when they're reductive and glib, and especially when they're prominent and (for some reason) taken seriously as Thought Leaders, they contribute to a general dumbing-down of discourse about things that are important. Dowd ends this column by characterizing the canonization of John Paul II as the church "winking at the hell it caused for so many children and young people in its care." But it's hard to take that indictment seriously coming from someone who doesn't ever seem to have a problem with winking.
Commenting Guidelines
Mollie: If you were a great, award-winning columnist you obviously woud have written one more sentence: "Winking ain't thinking."
Great analysis, Mollie. Anger and snideness grow wearisome after a while - at least I'm tired of it today. I wish Maureen Down could clothe her passionate convictions in a fuller range of expression.
A few other random thoughts on the canonizations:
First of all, it has had me scratching my head for some time that the canonization of John Paul II seems to be "crowding out", in public consciousness, the canonization of John XXIII. Has Roncalli faded from our collective memories already as the years have passed?
Second: neither man needs the church authorities to affirm his sainthood. In both cases, large segments of the faithful already are firmly convinced he's in heaven, and those folks presumably already are praying to him and honoring his legacy in many ways. That should be enough for now. I do think it's a bit unseemly to do this big organization-foisted hoopla thing so soon. I don't need the church authorities to tell me that Mother Teresa or Dorothy Day are saints, and I don't need the church to tell me that John XXIII is a saint.
Third: most of us may not have known much, or anything, about John XXIII before he became pope, but it's become clear to us that the man's holiness is not only to be found within the five years he sat on the chair of Peter. His whole life is a sort of lucid exposition of Christian witness. I expect the same can be said about Karol Wojtyla.
Fourth: I don't think the fact that John Paul may have not risen to the occasion, and perhaps even committed sins of omission in regard to sexual abuse, should be an all-purpose conversation-stopper or canonization-stopper. (And I would say the same about Pius XII and the Shoah.) That JPII wasn't perfect in every way does not diminish the great things he did and the effect he had on people. He changed a lot of people's lives for the better. Could he have changed even more lives for the better had he better understood the sex-abuse scandal and more energetically pursued reforms? Undoubtedly. But if ignoring that aspect of his legacy is a whitewash, then reducing his legacy only to that is a "blackwash". That his legacy has some stains and even some ugly dents, may lead us to some more serious reflection on what it means to be a saint. Maybe?
Auuugh, Tom, now I will forever regret not thinking of that. The Pulitzer recedes ever farther from my grasp...
The dogs bark and the caravan moves!
Surprise, Maureen's channeling her inner brat again. Agree with Jim P., "That his legacy has some stains and even some ugly dents, may lead us to some more serious reflectionon what it means to be a saint." Didn't there used to be some sort of 50 year rule for canonizations; that the person had to have been dead at least 50 years? I actually think that was a good idea; some time gone by leads to greater objectivity about someone's life and legacy. I agree with Mollie that, "You can believe with all your heart that John Paul II has gone to the Father's house and still question the wisdom of a ceremony celebrating that fact not ten years after his death."
Dowd is more a satirist than a opinion writer. In the satire there are opinions. But the satire is the main event. We may agree with a satirist as you do with Maureen on several points. But when they hit our hot buttons our admiration softens. Does Pareene have to slam the pope before you sour on him. As you note Dowd makes some good points while you may not like the phrases she couches them in. You seem to admire Pareene. But he just throws epithet after epithet on the wall. Never coming close to the depth that Dowd has. And the Kerry quote??? Ok she should have used quotes. But her parapharase was as close to a quote as you can get.
And she is an equal opportunity critic. She has gone after Obama many times. Since you make it a point I will address it since I consider Dowd a great columnist. Maybe, like Francis, I could accuse you of clericalism. Or more precisely, "waferism." Perhaps Dowd should write about that because it is waferism or clericalism which has falsely exalted priests as if they are the ones who make Jesus present. Ergo we must bow and give them all kinds of titles.
Your objection to the language "he aint no saint" invites further reflection. After all isn't the opinion of John Paul IIs personal holiness more offensive. Why? Because he prayed with his eyes closed. His eyes were certainly closed to the suffering of thousands of victims in the midst of conclusive evidence. Why because that would stain his papacy? Which it did anyway.
So Maybe Maureen is more accurate and more necessary. With all this back and forth about John Paul II because he took a zillion plane trips. Perhaps it can be argued that he became a narcissist on the world's greatest stage. What else can explain this blindness to the pain of children and censuring of so many good people.
Maybe we don't need all the heming and hawing. "He aint not saint." might say it best, after all.
@ MWR: I can't believe I going to defend Maureen Dowd. Mainly because I have multiple problems with her gadfly approach to opinion journalism.
I was waiting as I read "A Saint, He Ain't" for her to make one of those insipid sexual allusions like Dowd frequently does whenever she writes about Bill or Hillary Clinton. Or, when she tries to suggest that President Obama is never quite black enough calling him by his childhood nickname 'Barry.'
Yet, isn't the issue you have with her is that Dowd has a much larger media platform from which to spew her not-too-well-considered opinions? Perhaps I detect more than a slight professional "size" envy here?
It's OK, MWR, you're not the first woman to resent what seems to come too easily for one of the "cheerleader girls."
Besides, you and Dowd write for very different audiences. She speaks to the world from the newspaper of record. You speak to the very tiny, and frankly peculiar, world of dotCommonweal.
I skimmed through the blog comments that were written as addendum to her column. I think the broad auidence of the general public gets that this sainthood for JP2 is problematic at best.
Face it, the legacy of JP2 evokes both ambivalence and controversy from almost every quarter of the public - excluding the hords of his rabid sycophants. Now that for internal political reasons the Vatican - and most definitely Papa Francesco - has decided to move prematurely with this canonization, we Catholics will have to live with this dubious decision for a long time.
The wisdom of this canonization at this time escapes me. We may well learn something else, something new, about JP2 that has yet to come to public attention that would further tarnish our Polish prince.
This double canonization of both JP2 and J23 is born of Papa Francesco's political gambit to move the church's agenda in a different direction. We'll have to see how well he wears and wields that papal infallibility cloak.
I believe it used to take about 100 years to become a saint, and the devil's advocate job has been done away with, which makes it easier now. Even guys like the founder of Opus Dei can make the grade, sigh :( I think that in many cases, the people who have been chosen as saints were chosen not because they were morally outstanding but because they and their examples were useful in some way to the church. I don't think either of the popes to be made saints are really saint material.
Maureen Dowd went to Mass on Easter Sunday, and they sang "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "Danny Boy." (How...would that even work?)
Great question. I've been working on that for three hours. I missed it in her column because I was musing about her half-empty church contrasting with my own SRO. But since you brought it up, I don't think it can work. I can't make it anyway. Now I wonder if Dowd confused some other familiar tune with "Danny Boy," which would be like lauding Clark Gable for his work in Casablanca. Or did the lyrics come from a hymn other than "Amazing Grace"? I don't think we are going to solve this problem but I do know it will bother me all night.
Tom --
Why don't you go over to Pray Tell, the liturgy blog, and ask the expert musicians there? Then they can stay up all nigh with you :-) (No, the words and melody just don't match!!)
I agree with Bill Mazella. Dowd has a style and yet she makes points that should be raised about the canonization of JP II. You come off as having an animus against Dodd that clouds your ability to have critical distace from what she wrote. Dowd should be given credit for asking the hard questions about wherther he is really the saint the Church will proclaim him to be. Would that more journalists, including those at Commonweal, would ask the same questions.
I could find nothing objectively false in Ms Dowd's piece and the critique here deals more with style than substance. John Paul II should not be canonized for many reasons: Nicaragua, gays, women, appointment of bad bishops and extreme centralization of appointment process, abortion of the Vatican II process, stonewalling on celibacy, contraception and other such issues, Stalinist suspicion and repression in regard to theologians that has greatly depleted Catholic theology, governance of the Church through a combination of cult of personality and curial skulduggery, mishandling of child abuse scandals. All of these things get whitewashed by the "Saint" title, the highest the Church can bestow (unless they add "Doctor of the Church" in view of his neognostic Theology of the Body).
This is not a trick question - is a Catholic obligated to believe that anybody is a Saint and in heaven because they have been declared a Saint by the Church?
I was once told (perhaps incorrectly), that Catholics only recognize two human beings (excluding Jesus) as being in heaven for sure - one is the Virgin Mary and the other is the thief who Jesus told that he would be with him in paradise that day. I understood that people were free to believe in the Saints but this was not an obligation.
Re: Maureen Dowd - IMHO her biggest weakness as a journalist is that she is so predictable - she rehashes headlines. I never really see any original thinking. IMHO.
Re: charmer. She's just reversing the tide by indulging a sexist remark. It comes off as irritating to the people she wants to bug, plus a few more.
Re: sainthood. JP2 wasn't perfect. Saints aren't perfect. None of them. I don't have a problem with Sunday's big party if they don't mind me dropping a local saint or two in the litany last Saturday.
I have a bigger problem wth a lack of normal people among the canonized saints. Not enough lay people. Too many clergy and religious. One or two more priests isn't going to make that much difference to me.
About JP II and Maciel -- It seems quite credible to me that JP II was conned by Maciel who was very obviously aworld-class con man. Many others were, including others in high places, why not JP II? Also, it seems beyond doubt that JP loved young people, and I can conceive his loving them so much that it was just inconceivable to him that such a "nice man" as Maciel would ever even think of abusing a young person. Further, we know from JP's behavior in other matters that JP's strength of character included a large amount of plain stubbornness, a stubbornness that served the Church and the West well when he was dealing with Moscow. Once he made up his mind abou Maciel I'm sure he would naturally have mightily resisted changing his mind. This wasn't admirable in him, but it would help explain his bad judgment about Maciel which had such catastrophic consequences. In other words, JP probably didn't realize that his judgment was wrong, and so he shouldn't be held morally responsible for it..
Tom Blackburn, Ann Olivier et al.: I have learned from a reliable source that there does in fact exist a setting of "Amazing Grace" sung to the tune of "Danny Boy." (That source is my husband, who recalls hearing a church choir sing it years ago.)
So let's give Maureen Dowd credit where it is due: she has good enough taste to be put off by that. Meanwhile, we may have solved that other puzzle: my parish was SRO on Easter Sunday too, but if that's a typical music choice, I can understand why hers wasn't!
No, you can't sing the text "Amazing Grace" to "O Danny Boy"'s tune*. They don't fit - they have different syllable counts. It's like trying to write a 10- or 11-letter word in a crossword puzzle space for eight letters.
Btw, church musicians know that you can mix and match different texts and tunes when the syllables and stresses do line up. You can sing "Amazing Grace" a lot of other hymn tunes, like the one used for "O God Our Help In Ages Past". You can sing it to "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle". You can kinda, sorta sing it to "House of the Rising Sun". And you can fit all those lyrics into the tune of "Amazing Grace". This is what passes for diversion and humor in church choirs.
* Because apparently the universe would not be complete without it, there exists a web page entitled "Nine Hymns of the Church with Lyrics Set to the tune of "Danny Boy"". One of them is by Timothy Dudley-Smith, whose texts usually reward attentiveness. And there is another whose first two words are, "Amazing grace ...", but the rest of it is pretty different than the text we've all sung a gazillion times, and in fact it mentions Calvary rather than Easter. Even so, maybe that's what Maureen Dowd heard.
I was bemused to hear a hymn sung to the tune of "O Waley, Waley" this Easter.
Amazing Grace to The House of the Rising Sun sounds marvelous!
"To Thee, O Heart of Jesus" and "The Church's One Foundation" use exactly the same melody, but the words make them sound like two different melodies.
Another example
It's like trying to write a 10- or 11-letter word in a crossword puzzle space for eight letters.
It's modern times. Nothing could be easier: accentu8, str8ened, 2bercul8
I've heard you can sing all of Emily Dickinson's poems to the music of The Yellow Rose of Texas :)
Sure, some songs can absorb lyrics besides their own. Some hymnals will note, at the top of a hymn, something like 6,6,7,6, which means any poem with lines of six, six, seven and six syllables can be sung to them. However:
Amazing Grace, how sweet, how sweet the so-ow-ow-ownd..
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, the sound, the sound...
It has to be one or the other (I've lost sleep over this), and bioth do violence to the lyric even before you get to the second line, which is where it becomes a case of a round peg in a square hole.
Call me Thomas, I won't believe it until I hear it sung.
In most hymnals (not the disposable music editions in the pews) there are at least four indexes. As Tom B. mentioned, one of them is a metric index, which facilitates swapping out words. Another is the tune index, which lists all the songs having the same tune. I think the one with the most is Hyfrydol; which is "Alleluia, Sing to Jesus", among many others. O Waly Waly, is "As the Deer Longs", as well as a couple of other responsorial psalms. In fine print at the top or bottom of the hymn is information about who wrote the lyrics, and who composed the tune (if known) also the dates for both. Lots of fun information if you are a music nerd.
It still being National Poetry Month, perhaps now's the time to point out that most of Emily Dickinson's poetry, as well as Amazing Grace, The Yellow Rose of Texas, and House of the Rising Sun, are written in Common Meter - alternating lines of imabic tetrameter and trimeter, or 8-6-8-6 - used in ballads (Common Meter with the rhyme scheme ABCB) and many hyms (usually ABAB). No wonder you can fit so many lyrics into such tunes.
Here endeth the lesson.
One can endlessly discuss the merits of sainthood of John Paul II, but Dowd puts it in the proper perspective when she writes. "There is something wounding and ugly about the church signaling that those thousands of betrayed, damaged victims are now taken for granted as a slowly fading asterisk" The Church continues to abuse victims when it praises its leader while at the same time keeps all of its dirty secrets. The vast majority of victims remain anonymous. Making John Paul II a saint does nothing to help victims, but releasing all of its information about the cover-up will aid in their healing.
Maureen Dowd in limited space gives due praise and criticism of the life of John Paul II. But her issue is not with John Paul. It is with an institution that dismisses the lives of millions of children who have been sexually abused by Catholic priests. A ten year old child who was abused fifty years ago is now sixty years old and every day suffers (often quietly and anonymously) from the abuse. It sends the wrong message to survivors and the faithful when it rushes to canonize its leader while it is dreadfully slow in revealing its knowledge of sexually abusive priests and those who covered it up?
Maureen Dowd in limited space gives due praise and criticism of the life of John Paul II. But her issue is not with John Paul. It is with an institution that dismisses the lives of millions of children who have been sexually abused by Catholic priests. A ten year old child who was abused fifty years ago is now sixty years old and every day suffers (often quietly and anonymously) from the abuse. It sends the wrong message to survivors and the faithful when it rushes to canonize its leader while it is dreadfully slow in revealing its knowledge of sexually abusive priests and those who covered it up?
First I read Mo, then I read Mollie, then I read the comments, and all of you missed it.
Obviously they're cannonizing JPII because he saved the Church from your turning it Protestant. Of course he had help from his friend Rotzputin, and the Holy Spirit directed both, but he da man (and Ratz's next).
Thank you, Joseph O'Leary, for summarizing so well the many reasons why John Paul II is not a saint and should not be canonized.
Neither should John XXIII. Their joint decisions to avoid protecting children over predatory priests outweighs whatever good they did.
So many of us feel disapointed and disillusioned by the manner of John Paul's inactions and actions with the clerical sex abuse issue, his supression of thchallenging theologians, and his episcopal appointments that it is sometiomes hard to remembver his breakthroughs and other initiatives. The current issue of America has an insightful article written by John Thavis in 2003 ( just as the sex abuse controversy in the US had begun to emerge in its most public forms) and by Rabbi Noam about the effect that he and John XXIII had on changing relations with the Jewish community. These and other accomplishments cannot be minimized even in our anger about what he did do, did not do, and- inexcusably- ignored.
I stopped reading Dowd a couple years ago. She can obviously craft an interesting sentence and build an argument, but the substance is just so vacuous -- as O'Reilly demonstrated so well.
That's the best line I've heard in a long time. Thanks, Crystal, for a true laughing out loud moment in my day.
Brilliant, funny comment. Thank you!
I just went to my hard drive to look for a column of Dowd's that I saved. She wrote it shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Excerpts:
March 16, 2003
Maureen Dowd
WASHINGTON — Everyone thinks the Bush diplomacy on Iraq is a wreck.
It isn't. It's a success because it was never meant to succeed. ...The Bush hawks never intended to give peace a chance. They intended to give pre-emption a chance.
They never wanted to merely disarm the slimy Saddam. They wanted to dislodge and dispose of him.
The president's slapped-together Azores summit is not meant to "go the last mile" on diplomacy, as Ari Fleischer put it.
If Mr. Bush really wanted to do that, he'd try to persuade some leaders who disagree with him; he'd confront the antiwar throngs in London, Paris or Berlin and not leave poor, exhausted Tony Blair to always make the case.
The hidden huddle in the Azores is trompe l'oeil diplomacy, giving Mr. Blair a little cover, making Poppy Bush a little happy. Just three pals feigning sitting around the campfire singing "Kumbaya," as the final U.S. troops and matériel move into place in the Persian Gulf and the president's "Interim Iraqi Authority" postwar occupation plan is collated.
The hawks despise the U.N. and if they'd gotten its support, they never would have been able to establish the principle that the U.S. can act wherever and whenever it wants to — a Lone Ranger, no Tontos.
Cheney, Rummy, Wolfy, etc. never wanted Colin Powell to find a diplomatic solution. They hate diplomatic solutions. That's why they gleefully junked so many international treaties, multilateral exercises and trans-Atlantic engagements. ….We'll soon know if the hawks' ambitious foreign policy experiment has a miraculous result, or an anarchic one.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday that a classified State Department report debunks the hawks' domino theory and expresses doubt that installing a new regime in Iraq will foster democracy. . . .
"It's OK, MWR, you're not the first woman to resent what seems to come too easily for one of the 'cheerleader girls.'"
This sexist ad hominem comment adds nothing to your credibility.
I kind of diagree with Molly's take on this, even though I loath sticking up for Dowd.*
But Jim Jenkins' remark is pure misogyny.
*I even recommended a Katie Roiphe article to someone a few weeks ago, so maybe I'm losing my edge.
Speaking of music, did you know that Ricky Nelson's hit "Hello Mary Lou" was written by a Catholic priest? That song has been covered by an amazing array of musicians over the decades. The songwriter is a Dominican, and they take a vow of poverty, so all the profits have gone to the order, not to him.
If Maureen Dowd wants to crank out cute columns whose major purpose is to show off her own cleverness, that's the kind of topic she should write about. Mollie O'Reilly makes an excellent point when she says that the style and subject matter of a column should fit. Dowd's snarky satire was perfectly suited to the absurditties of the Clinton impeachment, during which she mocked not only the president but his pursuers. Particularly hilarious and on-point were her eviscerations of Kenneth Starr and the House Republican sex investigators, whom she aptly referred to as "Torquemadas of the birds and bees." She won and deserved the Pulitizer for her work that year.
Dowd is capable of writing straightforwardly and seriously about topics deserving of such treatment. She has produced some powerful non-satirical columns over the years, and their impact was increased by their atypical (for her) style. She seems to have dashed off her column on the Popes reflexively and carelessly rather than thoughtfully.
Jim Jenkins:
You wrote to Mollie,
. . . [I]sn't the issue you have with her . . . that Dowd has a much larger media platform from which to spew her not-too-well-considered opinions? Perhaps I detect more than a slight professional "size" envy here?
I find that disappointing. There's nothing in Mollie's post that would support it. What if you posted something about your experience with the San Francisco review board, and it was greeted by a comment similar to yours here – "similar" in the sense that it was pure, ungrounded speculation -- and hostile. Would you feel that you'd been treated fairly?
"A man has been crushed to death after a giant crucifix dedicated to Pope John Paul II collapsed, just days before a historic Papal canonisation in Rome." ITV
The canonization of any person springs, in part, from the spontaneous movement of a large portion of people. At the death of John Paul II, there were shouts of Santo Subito that erupted. This, of course, can be chalked up to the sentiment of the moment and a kind of group think. Granted, there needs to be a level of discernment before we assess the full impact of a person's natural strength and character and how they opted to use the grace available to them. Still, the outpouring cannot be denied and not every person will have this level of affection shown. Doubt we will see it with Ratzinger, for example. Did not see it with Paul VI or even John XXIII but will probably see it with Francis.
,There is no question that many people were drawn to him by the sheer force of his charism. And this is part of natural dispostion and part grace. Good looking, athletic, fully engaged, he certainly commanded attention. Not unlike Francis whose charism differs in some respects. We cannot just dismiss these traits because they are gifts and I have seen people (men and women) use their gifts in this area to seduce, manipulate and hurt people in relationships. But, there is no indication that he did this at all to anybody either privately or publicly. Maureen Dowd is a good looking, bright, articulate, and gifted writer but her sarcasm does not serve her well and is not endearing.
And as for his accomplishments, his rapproachement with the Jewish community, given the sordid history we have had with them troughout the millenia is nothing short of miraculous.
His apology for the sins of the Church in anticipation of the millenium was also a good step forward. Granted not specific enough but certainly important to acknowledge.
HIs outreach to the youth was also important and while many criticize it, it is important to offer youth an attractive vibrant church.
His outreach to non-Christians and prayers with them for peace at Assisi notwithstanding the reactionary criticism by some including Ratzinger.
His many encyclicals and writings which have some excellent points and are accessible and offer useful fruit for ongoing reflection.
His reconfiguring the Church as missionary and the role of the papacy as a moral voice and compass on behalf of the world and not just the institution (I think he handed the instituion to curia folks and the problems with abuse lays, in large measure, with these senior leaders). I agree with Ann in her assessment of what occurred with Maciel. JP II wanted to see the church alive and saw new movments as the means to achieve this. The old guard was and is dying.
Agree with an over-reaction to liberation theology but Boff still can publish books and we can read those. Ditto for many, many others. Good heavens this is not the middle ages where the Vatican can control the press. There are many secular and non-Catholic presses and there is, of course the internet.
Post is too long but that is my thoughts. I like to think that the Pope would say much the same that the great Indian leader Ishi said.
When I am dead, cry for me a little. Think of me sometimes, but not too much. It is not good for you or your wife or your husband or your children to allow your thoughts to dwell too long on the dead. Think of me now and again as I was in life, at some moment which is pleasant to recall, but not for long. Leave me in peace as I shall leave you, too, in peace. While you live, let your thoughts be with the living.
I opt to think well of the dead (hard as that is for some!)
"A man has been crushed to death after a giant crucifix dedicated to Pope John Paul II collapsed, just days before a historic Papal canonisation in Rome."
Isn't that kind of the opposite of a miracle? Something like a sign from the heavens: "Church! Church! Do not do the least thing to this case!"
What is the word for the opposite of a miracle?
The victim lived on John XXIII Street. I'd call the whole thing off.
Personally, I agree with Mollie that this was a typical Maureen Dowd piece, but on the other hand, you don't expect much more really, do you? As to the specific points, though, I think the case for holding John Paul II up for special recognition, as canonization does, is extremely weak. Beyond weak, really. In my mind, he should have been "disqualified" if that is the correct term, first and foremost not because he ignored the Maciel situation, but because he actively protected that criminal and indeed held him out a "model." His handling of the whole sexual abuse crisis was inept, to be chariable. But looking even further, by virtually every measure, the Church post John Paul II was worse of than when he arrived. Mass attendance declined throughout his papacy. It finally stablized during the Benedict papacy. Same with priests. Certainly in the west the numbers declined dramatically during his papacy. And while some people wll point to the increases in priests in Africa and Asia, their numbers are relatively small considering the base they begin from and they don't even dent the need. The number of Catholics per preist is twice as high in Africa as in Western Europe or the US. The divides within the church, liberal vs conservative, right left, Commonweal Catholics vs Fr Z Catholics, however you want to catagorize them, they were worse by the end of his papacy than at the beginning, and he didn't seem to care much about what he was doing to the Church, the damage he did with his my way or no way approach and his appointment of largely yes men to various bishop posts. In my view, the rush to canonize John Paul was both unseemely and led to bad decisison-making all the way through. None of that is to say that he isn't a small "s" saint, just that he should not be held up as a model to be emulated.
Maureen Dowd is a complex person who certainly does not get justice in this thread. I understand Molly being annoyed at her "apparent" irreverence in using "wafer" instead of buck. But the cavalier dismissing of Dowd as a writer is shallow at best and misogynist at worst. Remember this is a person who had people like Clinton, W Bush, Chaney, Kenneth Starr, American Bishops, Rumsfeld, executives at the NY Times, Obama and many others running for cover from her powerful pen. She is in no way superficial. In my opinion a giant of our time. .Remember she did all this while mixing in with leaders who held her in contempt for her modest social origin. .She may not be a saint. But she embodies many qualities that too many of us immersed in clericalism (not you, Mollie) can benefit from.
Here is an article that is very comprehensive about Dowd. We may not agree with some of it. But it exposes us to more material than most of us apparently are aware of.
Here's more fuel to add to the fire. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, JPII's press secretary, has spoken in an interview about what JPII knew about the sex abuse cases, when he knew it, and what he did about it. This one is for the history books. Much of what Navarro-Valls says is simply incredible.
"During the press conference, Navarro also talked about Wojtyla's reaction to the first cases of clerical sex abuse against minors, which the Vatican started receiving in 2000. He recognised that Wojtylas did not realise just how serious the problem was, immediately, because "no one had grasped this at that time.""
Surely the Vatican must have known what was emerging as early as the '80s. The first big case to hit the media began in 1985 in Louisiana. I myself knew the bishop involved and I know for a fact that he was a particularly highly regarded priest who had started to climb the hierarchical ladder quickly. It is inconceivable that the Vatican didn't find out about him until years later. And, of course, there were dozens of other serious cases being reported in the15 years between 1985 and 2000.
Here's more nonsense:
""This cancer began in a specific geographical place, the United States, in the form of isolated cases. The isolated cases which surfaced at the time referred to incidents which had taken place a long time ago - about 30 years ago. This did not make the problem any less serious but that was how things were. As the number of cases began to slowly rise, the Pope started to get very concerned. His thinking was so pure that it was impossible for him to accept that all this was real; Navarro explained."
"it was unbelievable, but he accepted it" -- does Navarro-Valls expect anyone in his right mind to accept his blatant self-contradiction???
He says nothing about Ratzinger's urging JPII to take action and JPII's refusing, but says, rather,
" The Pope's initial reaction, Navarro said, was to take decisions immediately." In fact, when Ratzinger urged him to take action against Maciel, JPII refused.
What I find particularly reprehensible about Navarro=Valls is that the man is a psychiatrist, and he, if not the bishops, surely must have known *from the beginning* how devastating sexual abuse of children can be. What kind of man must he be that he could keep his mouth shut about it???
There's more nonsense at:
John Paul II knew about the Vatican investigation into the Maciel case - Vatican Insider
Maureen Dowd writes for the common man, like me. She makes her points clearly and with a certain amount humor. I agree with her article 100%. She's not trying to write an erudite thesis on canonization. She's giving her point of view on some of the contradictons in this canonizaton. She'll be read and understood by thousands. As far as the" turn of a phrase". I think it's geat. Maybe we all have to loosen up a bit.
Mollie Wilson O'Reilly.
Perhaps it requires a certain subtlety of mind to appreciate the work of satirists in communicating their reflections on the human condition. Steve Colbert, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart don't provide tightly reasoned arguments when skewering the oligarchs, their media apologists, their bought politicians and their tea party pawns. Yet their wry, sometimes joyous, sometimes biting humor possibly conveys the reality of politics and economics to their listeners better than the more cautious researched columns of the New York Times which aren't widely read.
After shallowly criticizing Dowd for shallowness, you write, "I more or less agree with her basic conclusions." Why, then, didn't you write a column for Commonweal expressing your conclusions which are basically the same as Dowd's and provide the closely reasoned and aptly expressed arguments that support your conclusions. Far easier and safer to be a critic who eschews satire.


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