Monday, October 28, 2013
Mandalay Bay Feast of St. Faro, October 28
St. Faro was a Frenchman who died around 615A.D., but that's not the interesting thing about him. The only reason I mention in him is that his sister is Saint Burgundofara. BURGUNDOFARA!
Didn't there used to be a card game named faro? Why yes, there was (from Wikipedia):
With its name shortened to faro, it soon spread to the United States in the 19th century to become the most widespread and popularly favored gambling game. Also called "Bucking the Tiger", which comes from early card backs that featured a drawing of a Bengal Tiger, it was played in almost every gambling hall in the Old West from 1825 to 1915.
Faro's detractors regarded it as a dangerous scam that destroyed families and reduced men to poverty because of rampant rigging of the dealing box. Crooked faro equipment was so popular that many sporting-house companies began to supply gaffed dealing boxes specially designed so that the bankers could cheat their players. Cheating was prevalent enough that editions of Hoyle’s Rules of Games began their faro section warning readers that not a single honest faro bank could be found in the United States. While the game became scarce after World War II it continued to be played at a few Las Vegas and Reno casinos through 1985.
Labels: Feast Days, saints
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Pope Tweets
Pope Francis has already tweeted 176 times in his first seven months as Pope. Twitter is considering changing its logo from:
To something like this:
To something like this:
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
The Trouble With Jesuits, Part 14
Michael Ruse, Professor of History in the Science Department (?) at Florida Sate University, will be speaking at the JESUITS' Le Moyne College on October 24th.
Sayeth Dr. Ruse:
"I stress that although I cannot share the beliefs of
Christians, I respect them and applaud the good that is done in the name of
their founder. But I do now think that as presently constituted, the Catholic
Church is corrupt and should be eradicated.
You might argue that this is to go too far. But what is the
alternative? Vatican Three, perhaps? The Church could open its doors to married
priests, give women a proper role (if we can appoint a woman to the Supreme
Court, why cannot a woman become a member of the College of Cardinals?), make a
place within for gays and other minorities.
It could recognize birth control for the blessing that it is and stop
insisting that the moment the sperm gets to the ovum, nothing else matters but
to preserve this entity, even though such a stand causes unnumbered cases of
pain and sadness (and certainly does little to reduce the abortion rate) and
leads the Catholic bishops to oppose universal health care, quite apart from
the fact that it all flies in the face of the official philosophy of the
Church, Thomism. And I could continue."
Labels: The Trouble with Jesuits
Goody's Feast of St. Therese of Avila, October 15
A Doctor of the Church, St. Therese was the founder of the discalced wing of the Carmelites. She had visions; in one of them a seraph drove a fiery lance into her heart repeatedly. Her writing about the vision moved the great sculptor/architect/dramatist Gian Lorenzo Bernini to carve The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa between 1647-52. You can view it at the Cathedral of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.
From the Khan Academy:
By the way, St. Therese is the patron saint of headache sufferers.
Labels: Art, Doctors of the Church, Feast Days, patron saints
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
Well, He IS a Muslim....
From the Brody File:
Obama Administration Denies Mass to Catholics
Apparently, a priest was denied access to a military chapel this weekend. Father Ray Leonard serves at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia but because of the government shutdown, he wasn’t allowed to go to celebrate Mass this past weekend.
He is contracted by the Defense Department to meet the spiritual needs of Catholics, but not now. The chapel doors were locked and the sign said, “Shutdown: No Catholic service till further notice.”
Father Leonard said the following:
“This is our church, Catholics have an expectation and obligation to attend Mass and we were told, ‘No you can’t go to church this week…“ My parishioners were upset. They were angry and dismayed. They couldn’t believe that in America they’d be denied access to Mass by the government.”
Rep. Tim Huelskamp had this reaction:
“Time and time again this Administration demonstrates it is waging a war against the very religious freedoms upon which America was founded. This is exactly why we worked to pass legislation (House Concurrent Resolution 58) this past weekend – to protect the religious liberties of all those who bravely serve in our Armed Forces.”
50% of American Catholics voted for Obama. 75% of Hispanic Catholics voted for Obama.
Obama Administration Denies Mass to Catholics
Apparently, a priest was denied access to a military chapel this weekend. Father Ray Leonard serves at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia but because of the government shutdown, he wasn’t allowed to go to celebrate Mass this past weekend.
He is contracted by the Defense Department to meet the spiritual needs of Catholics, but not now. The chapel doors were locked and the sign said, “Shutdown: No Catholic service till further notice.”
Father Leonard said the following:
“This is our church, Catholics have an expectation and obligation to attend Mass and we were told, ‘No you can’t go to church this week…“ My parishioners were upset. They were angry and dismayed. They couldn’t believe that in America they’d be denied access to Mass by the government.”
Rep. Tim Huelskamp had this reaction:
“Time and time again this Administration demonstrates it is waging a war against the very religious freedoms upon which America was founded. This is exactly why we worked to pass legislation (House Concurrent Resolution 58) this past weekend – to protect the religious liberties of all those who bravely serve in our Armed Forces.”
50% of American Catholics voted for Obama. 75% of Hispanic Catholics voted for Obama.
Labels: Catholics for Obama
Thursday, October 03, 2013
Stratford Inn Feast of St. Ewald and St. Ewald, October 3
They were brothers from England who became Benedictine priests and were martyred by pagans in Germany.
St. Ewald |
St. Ewald |
"I'm Larry. This is my brother, Daryl and this is my other brother, Daryl."
Labels: Feast Days, saints
Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Things About Your Yard That Say You're a Catholic
From Catholic Vote :
The statue of Mary. Required by canon law.
The St. Francis bird bath – a classic. Do they use Dove shampoo? Just asking.
The Saint Lawrence decal on your grill. Because, well, you know.
The Pope Innocent III action figure in the sandbox. Defending the Church against heretics, barbarians, and Skeletor.
Two dogs named Sixtus and Cornelius.
idewalk chalk written on the driveway: “Jimmy is consubstantial with a fat head jerk face.”
Labels: Humor