One for the road.

Back-road adventurer on America's 'Blue Highways'

I like this part:

CNN: What do you think it is that draws us to the road?

Heat-Moon: Everybody in this nation, in the Americas, we all are descendants of people who came from the other hemisphere, each of us a descendant of travelers. Movement is in our blood. To speak metaphorically, we seem to carry a travel gene that makes us want to move. And a lot of us also carry an active curiosity gene. We're bears that go over the mountain to see what we can see.

The second aspect to your question is that we inhabit a large land topographically hospitable to long-distance travel.

The great middle of America is generally open terrain that, by comparison with many other countries, lends itself to human movement.

Our rivers often run in fortuitous directions for our shufflings, and our mountains tend toward the edges.

The horizons of America are often quite distant, and horizons are visual invitations to the curious, the restless, the unsatisfied.

Check out ...

... this year's collection of Homestar Runner Halloween costumes.

Ohhh, a red t-shirt and a taped on star, has anybody told you how terrible you are?

Wait and see.

I haven't really seen much about this on the usual Catholic blogs:

Pope John Paul II 'whipped himself in remorse for sins'

I think I'll wait on commenting about it for a couple reasons.

First, I believe that JPII was an extremely holy person, so even if the world sees this as a sign of Catholic weirdness, I'll trust in the obvious sanctity.

Second, the story is just kind of sketchy. I'm not saying that they're lying, but both "eyewitnesses" say in the story that they never actually saw any of this.

I will say this: there is nothing inherently wrong with physical mortification. Our culture celebrates people who push themselves to extremes to perfect their bodies, but looks down on things that people do to strengthen their souls. John Paul the Great is someone who had his priorities straight.

Vocationally

1. Fr. Z links to the "Pray for a Priest kit" complete with a cool clerical collar bracelet.

2. My brother sent me this link: Idle Speculations posted several pictures taken of St. John Vianney shortly after he died as well as quotes from the saint on the Eucharist.

3. Pope Benedict on art [Thanks Matthew]

Indeed, an essential function of genuine beauty, as emphasized by Plato, is that it gives man a healthy "shock", it draws him out of himself, wrenches him away from resignation and from being content with the humdrum – it even makes him suffer, piercing him like a dart, but in so doing it "reawakens" him, opening afresh the eyes of his heart and mind, giving him wings, carrying him aloft.

4. I'm not sure if I posted about The League of Bearded Catholics yet. It seems like a great group and is inspired by four great writers: Tolkien, Lewis, Belloc and Chesterton. Don't have a beard (like me)? Check out my favorite TLBC by-law:

Though membership is open to all, individuals wishing to gain admittance to meetings must be bearded. For those without a beard, one will be provided, but it is the duty of the Sergeant at Arms to make certain that each who begs entry must wear a beard.

Question of the Day #3!

This one comes from my friend Joe and it is a tough one:

If you could only have seven albums to listen to for the rest of your life, what would they be?

I am going to have to think about this one ...

And speaking about Joe and music, he pointed out to that it's really awesome that Relient K is cited as an influence by the currently popular Owl City (I posted this song on which Matt Thiessen of RK is a guest singer).

It's nice to see a good band like RK making an impact on other musicians.

Tales of the Weird and Random

1. This Wondermark cartoon is a totally accurate description of college.

Let me show you the Wilfred Q. & Barbara K. Waddlesworth-Stoates Retreat for Academic Contemplation & Personal Self-Actualization.

Don't believe me? Exhibit A. Exhibit B.

2. Even if this is fake (and it is), someone deserves an award.

3. This has been making the rounds of Catholic blogs today: Mass: We Pray, the video game. I think Fr. James Martin's comment is the funniest to me:

No word if it will incorporate the new Mass translations.

4. Watch Pete (from Fall Out Boy), Travis (from Blink-182, etc), Rivers (from Weezer) and Taylor Swift sell out to Band Hero.

Ha.

1. Joe Kwaczala presents "Clue" - This is great.

2. Improv Everywhere's "Grocery Store Musical"

Positivity.

1. Beatification looms closer for John Paul II - I really hope so.

2. An Iraqi bishop celebrated Holy Mass for US troops

The acting bishop of Basra held Catholic Mass here Nov. 7 in honor of the service members and civilians working toward a safer, more secure Iraq.

Bishop Imad Al Banna, a Chaldean priest, spoke Aramaic, an ancient language spoken in Palestine 2,000 years ago and still spoken in parts of Iraq to this day.

Al Banna began his sermon with a message of peaceful coexistence.

“Peace can be achieved only by respecting other people’s opinions,” said Al Banna. “All nations who respect themselves take care of all of their citizens. National must also learn from each other and work together to achieve peace.”

Addressing the men and women in the congregation serving in the military, Al Banna extended his praise and gratitude.

“I would like to say thank you to every person who is assisting and helping,” said Al Banna. “You have come overseas so we can have a government that can take care of its citizens.”

Al Banna, who is officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as acting bishop of Basra, said he is concerned with all citizens, not only Christians.

“I try, from my religious position, to help all people of southern Iraq,” he said. “The church is very open and has services to help all people.”

Switchfoot's hometown

In a segment of Rhapsody's Rock Star Guide to the Galaxy, Tim and Drew (and later Jon) from Switchfoot talk about San Diego, surfing and Hello Hurricane.

Question of the Day #2!

Please feel free to continue answering question #1, but here's a new one:

What's your favorite thing to do outside?

I have a few: ultimate frisbee, bonfires, mountain biking, stargazing, just walking in the woods ... pretty much anything with friends.

Inspiration

1. Fr. V at Adam's Ale writes about his experience of becoming a pastor.

I knelt down and received my bishop’s blessing and then headed down the elevator and out the door to a gray Cleveland sky that was just beginning to spit rain. Crossing the street to the Cathedral I slipped inside to say a prayer of thanks and ask for guidance. Within moments someone came up and asked to have a confession. Not ten minutes a pastor and already a sacrament celebrated! A fitting way and a good foot on which to start a new endeavor.

2. From Holy Cards For Your Inspiration, here's the prayer of St. Gertrude to release souls in Purgatory. I said this all summer with the parish's Dead Theologians Society, but I had forgotten about it.

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.

By the way, did I mention that I love the Holy Cards blog? I really enjoy unique holy cards, especially old-school-looking ones. It's always interesting to check this site.

3. Check out "30 Inviting Church Pictures" from PhotographyBlogger.net. Also interesting are "11 Super Superman Pictures."

I can't decide ...

... if I'm interested in this story because of the sea monster or because the reporter's name is Rod Challenger.

That just sounds like a made-up reporter's name.

Make sure you watch the video. Priceless.

[Thanks Amanda]

Brace yourselves for Wimmerfest.

This year's annual Wimmerfest (or Founder's Day) is a big deal because it is our founder, Boniface Wimmer's 200th birthday. Actually, he was born in January, but we're celebrating the whole year.

Usually, we have vespers with all of the St. Vincent community and then a Thanksgiving-style dinner followed by fireworks, the campus light-up and .... Christmas music.

Because of the significance of this year, there is going to be a gigantically huge Mass on Thursday.

From the College's website:

Members of the Saint Vincent Archabbey, College, and Seminary and Parish communities are preparing to close the yearlong celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Founder Boniface Wimmer with a solemn Mass celebrated by His Eminence Cardinal Justin Rigali on Thursday, November 19. The Mass will be held at the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica, beginning at 2:15 p.m. with a musical prelude from The Boniface Wimmer Music Collection. The Mass begins at 3 p.m.

Bishops from the dioceses of Greensburg, Altoona-Johnstown, Covington, Erie, Nashville, Savannah and Steubenville; eleven abbots, including the Abbot Primate, Notker Wolf, O.S.B., Rome; the Lady Abbess Franziska Kloss, Eichstätt, Germany; and His Royal Highness Prince Ludwig of Bavaria will be among those attending the Mass. Prince Ludwig, who is a great-great-grandson of the last King of Bavaria, Ludwig III, will receive the Saint Vincent College Presidential Medal of Honor at the conclusion of the Mass.

So, a cardinal, a bunch of bishops (including mine, apparently. I did not know.), abbots, a lady abbess (she's nobility) and a prince. Gigantic. Also, if you remember from last year, Abbot Primate Notker Wolf happens to play guitar in the German Christian rock band, Feedback.

If you're interested:

The concert and Mass will be streamed live via a special website set up in honor of the Wimmer anniversary year, http://www.bonifacewimmer.org.

The music starts at 2:15 PM and Mass at 3:00 (all EST).

New Feature! Question of the Day!

To encourage discussion and on a whim, I've decided to have start a question of the day post.

Feel free to answer in a brief way or in a long way. Just answer.

We'll start with an easy one:

What is the worst movie you've ever seen?

I will have to go with Dreamcatcher. It is just awful - like they couldn't decide if the wanted to make a horror movie, an alien conspiracy movie, an action movie or a comedy. The trailer says it all.

Blood Money

This film looks like it could be very powerful, though the trailer is a little "hype-tastic" for the serious subject matter.

Blood Money is a documentary film on the Business of Abortion, and the consequences that it has on the women that make that choice. Show your support for this film by signing up at our website.

Pretty much what I expected.

Check out this review of 2012. I haven't seen the movie, but I don't think I really need to in this case.

I love how the author compares Emmerich and Bay.

By this point in their careers, a few things are clear. Emmerich has a dimmer vision of the future than Bay; his movies offer real apocalypses, while even Bay's Armageddon is about an apocalypse averted. But Bay has a dimmer outlook on mankind. Emmerich seasons his schlock with schmaltz, with cornball speeches about decency, loyalty, family and humanity. Bay likes his trash trashy, with generous dollops of gratuitous sleaze and exploitation.

In Bay's movies, women are sex objects—pinups and playmates if not bimbos, strippers and/or prostitutes—while men are cocky, testosterone-charged studs or else wish they were, by gum. Men and women in Emmerich's movies are no less cartoony, but the women are wives, ex-wives and daughters, while the men struggle with doing right by them.

A typical Emmerich hero earnestly worries about things like the appropriateness of burning the works of Nietzsche for heat in a post-apocalyptic world. If a typical Bay hero is earnestly concerned about anything, it's probably Megan Fox's midriff. Emmerich might be more likely to kill off nine-tenths of the world's population, but Bay is less likely to make you feel like it would matter. Not that you're very likely to care, or care a lot, in an Emmerich film. But at least you feel that Emmerich cares—and that he wants us to care—and that's better than nothing.

Things: Catholic & Cool

1. A hockey-playing bishop. (I just realized that this is cool in both senses of the word. Ha.)

“I returned to the locker room to give the St. Norbert Hockey Team the blessing I promised. Before blessing them, I said I had one more word, especially for the goalies: confidence. We need to play with confidence. The word 'confidence' comes from Latin: 'con' + 'fide' which means, 'with faith.' We need to have faith in God and in ourselves in using the talents and abilities that he gave us.”

After the blessing, Bishop Paprocki skated out to center ice and dropped the ceremonial first puck to start the game. St. Norbert won 8-2.

2. The first miracle attributed to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was the healing of a baby who went on to become a priest. So did his brother.

3. A Hindu couple becomes Catholic after Mary appears in the wife's dreams. Talk about divine intervention.

Coldplay continues to amaze.

iheartradio has several great videos of Coldplay playing "stripped" versions of their songs. Particularly good are a cover of "Billie Jean," "Strawberry Swing" and even Guy singing "Death Will Never Conquer."

Also, this shocking revelation:

"We're not actually on stage all that much.

It's all body doubles and holograms."

I forgot!

I went to the 2009 Letter & Spirit conference: Priesthood & Blessing.

The presenters were Dr. Brant Pitre, Dr. Dan Keating, Fr. Pablo Gadenz, Dr. Mary Healy and Dr. Scott Hahn. Fr. Robert Barron gave the Lawler lecture to close the event.

There were some fantastic talks and all of the seminarians were given a generous gift of books including this amazing concordance and Dr. Hahn's new Bible dictionary.

I didn't take too many notes - I wanted to focus on listening - but here are a few highlights that I did write down:

Fr. Gadenz:

- Where human fatherhood has disappeared, we cannot speak of God as Father.

- Whatever we say about the priest as father, we have to be able to say in a preeminent way about Christ.

Dr. Mary Healy:

- In a world gone wrong, there is no communication without sacrifice.

- In order to have more vocations we need to have a renewal of family life.

Fr. Robert Barron:

- Being a prophet is seeing the world conformed to the pattern of grace.

- You can't preach to a culture you don't love - water the seeds of the Word wherever you find them.

A book to check out:

Encountering the Lord in His Holy Court: A Walk Through St. Peter's Basilica by Fr. Jeffrey Kirby

Amy Welborn's review:

During our family's 2006 visit to Rome, then-seminarian Jeffrey Kirby guided us on a fascinating visit to St. Peter s Basilica. His knowledgeable, enthusiastic tour was one of the highlights of our trip. In this book, he offers the fruit of his experiences to a broader audience, offering not only substantive and interesting history and theology, but also spiritual insights reflected in the lasting solidity and beauty of St. Peter's, insights that will nourish the faith of all readers, whether they're planning a trip or simply want to understand the richness of Catholicism in greater depth.

I knew Fr. Kirby through my mom when I was in college and his witness was one of the factors that made me seriously consider the priesthood.

Here's where you can get the book directly from Signo Press, as opposed to through Amazon. It looks like Signo is also Fr. Kirby's personal website with columns and audio.

weiver trecnoConcert review

Last night, I went to concert on campus. The college's student activity group usually brings in a relatively big band every year and this year it was The All-American Rejects with Anberlin and Taking Back Sunday as supporting acts. I was fairly excited because I know and like music by all three bands.

So, concert review: Anberlin and Taking Back Sunday were fantastic. I only knew a few of each band's songs, but really enjoyed their performances. They were energetic, upbeat and obviously talented.

That leaves AAR.

To explain the disgust I had towards AAR once their set got going, I'll give you a summary: a lead singer with tight pink jeans and no shirt, constant swearing, almost as constant jokes of a sexual nature, crude gestures, a ridiculous light fixture right over the lead singer's head, creepy Jaggeresque stage dancing and lame vocal gymnastics. All that adds up to one of my favorite lines from a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie: "What pretentious crap!"

Like I said, I know and like their music - they're not in my top few favorite bands, but they have some good songs. Man, was I surprised when they took the stage. Just so you know, neither of the two AAR albums I have have any swearing. That's important to know because lead singer Tyson Ritter swore profusely. And I don't mean just in passing. It was like he made a point to "drop the f-bomb" as much as he could. It reminded me of some days living in a college dorm.

Overall, the whole thing left me frustrated. You would never expect a "performance" like this unless you had already seen the band live. I can't imagine what parents who brought their kids there (and there were kids there with their parents) were thinking.

It made me think of what a ridiculous world we (we, as in, future - God-willing - priests) are going into to minister. There is an anti-gospel being preached and this was a perfect image of it. The worst moments were when Ritter was spouting what passed for deep, spiritual/philosophical ideas about leaving all our problems outside when we come to a concert. It all sounded very faux-churchy.

At one point, Ritter said, "It's a sick, sick, sick world out there."

My response: No, Tyson, it's pretty sick right here.

This experience will probably lead to a separate post on art, beauty and some other ideas.

Death of a church.

My friend Ben says:

A lot of churches are closing down or dying slow deaths. More and more buildings are being left with the epitaph, "This is where people used to worship."

The old adage that the Church is one generation away from extinction is very true.

But, there's hope!

We simply need to reconsider how we are being church! If you spend more time in programs, events, and studies for your own people than you do in opportunities with the community, your church probably won't last.

If your peoples' pants don't have the knees worn out of them because of desperate pleading to God, your church probably won't last.

If your Church Budget is more building maintenance, renovation and upkeep than community maintenance, renovation and upkeep, your church probably won't last.

If your Church looks to the Bible to get more information about God rather than to get transformation from God, you probably won't last.

If your worship service is more about getting butts in the seats than it is about getting butts to the throne of grace, your church probably won't last.

But if we can begin to corporately reclaim Mission, Service, Prayer, Bible and Worship, God will breathe new life into our old and dried out bones.

Lucky for us the Church is more than individual churches and Christ gave it a life time guarantee (Matthew 16:18). It is sad when a church/parish closes. It's the end of one thing, but the underlying reality of the Church continues - and it continues into eternity.

That doesn't mean, however, that we can sit back and expect Jesus to make things easy. He gave us a mission to carry the Gospel into the world. We need to pray, participate in the sacraments, serve others in the name of Jesus and grow in our relationship with God every day.

Catholics & Technology & Music

1. Facebook, Wikipedia execs brief Vatican on Web

2. Hi-tech holy water calms flu fear - this just seems like silly paranoia.

3. Pope putting out Christmas album

4. Italy's heavy metal monk retires from the limelight

Viewings.

1. "Built a Time Machine to Kill Hitler" is a hilarious jumble of time travel jokes and cliches. [note: one instance of swearing]

2. Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose playing a cover of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."