First off, there's what I call the "mean girls" piece. It's a review of three books: Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
and
The Secret Lives of Girls: What Good Girls Really Do--Sex Play, Aggression, and Their Guilt with an analysis suitable and helpful to the
OSV reader.
The other piece I'm calling Is Catholic Pacifism Dead?
Any thoughts on either subject welcome, as usual.
Cypriot Bishop snapped in the nude
A Cypriot bishop who campaigned against corruption in church circles has been snapped in the nude by a paparazzi photographer.The bishop, Chrysostomos of Paphos, charged that the photographs and accompanying video were circulated in order to defame him because of his anti-corruption drive.Only one newspaper, a Paphos weekly, published a photograph on Thursday. The same picture was screened by the television channel of state-owned Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation. The photograph showed the bishop, naked from the waist up, next to his car. Many other newspapers published the story, but without photographs. 'I shall not be intimidated by this character assassination' The 65-year-old bishop said he was secretly photographed as he was changing from his swimming trunks into clothes after his daily morning dip on a south Cypriot beach.
I am risking tremendous wrath in asking this...but...wasn't there a similar photo of one Karol Wotyla circulated in the late 1970's?
The two major free website hosts are Geocities and Tripod, neither of which allow linking of images to domains that are not their own. I've had my website at Geocities for years, and really didn't want to move, so I was unable to link photos here (thank goodness, you're thinking....). But a few months ago I upgraded my Geocities account to whatever their cheapest non-free plan is and got my own domain as a result. What I just now discovered was that since it's amywelborn.com and not geocities.com/amywelborn/yada/yada.html, even though it's still Geocities-hosted, the pics can be linked to external domains. Hah. So - it's not free, but if you have a Geocities page anyway and are looking for a way to link photos, that one-step up upgrade might be the way to go.
And why do I have all of this time on a Saturday? Because Michael's down at Indianapolis, immersed in racing for the day. Joseph and I went last year - little Joseph, all of four months old, with big ol' earplugs stuffed in his tiny years - we ended up buying a pack of band-aids at the CVS and binding the earplugs in his ears with those. He looked like he should have been in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, begging for alms or something. But this year, my other kids are around, and I really didn't feel like leaving them and hauling Joseph down there for the day, so Michael's enjoying himself on his own. And I'm blogging and trying to update my regular webpage, although I've made no progress on the latter task as of yet.
Aha! I was right. I knew it was because, quite frankly, it's not exactly my favorite apparition, (not that it matters...don't lecture me on that. I know)... so it's always annoyed me that it was "approved" by the episcopal authorities. I think of that today, because tomorrow is the memorial of St. John Vianney, or the Cure d'Ars, who, my husband tells me, was not crazy about the LaSalette apparition either. Can anyone confirm this?
Anyway, since St. John Vianney is the patron saint of priests, it's a good time to offer prayers for the good, hardworking, self-giving priests who serve us.
Remember, too, that St. John Vianney was the inspiration for George Bernanos' Diary of a Country Priest. Here's a link to the reportedly great film based on the novel - never seen it myself, so I can't testify. I'm sure that one of you will take up the slack, though!
Here's a link to a prayer to John Vianney, asking his intercession for priests.
The board has been hit with what David Alexander calls "The Haffner Wars." David has recruited members of his blogspot websites to register and post on our messageboard. Many of these posts are caustically sarcastic, discourteous, and opposed to a speaker at the VOTF conference.
The whole thread for one of David's topics, has been moved to the delete board. Posts in regard to this messageboard decision will not be accepted. Inquiries to admin. about this thread will not be answered. The board may go on view only for an extended period of time. The possibility of shutting the board down is being seriously considered
David, David, David. What were you thinking?
The lesson is obvious. Those who study, articulate or propound the beliefs and practices by which most of humanity tries to place itself in relationship with the transcendent should post themselves. They should simply drop that old-fashioned word "religion." What they are about, they should announce, is "postsecularism." Doesn't distinguished professor of religion sound more than a little musty, while distinguished professor of postsecularism has the zing of the new? The university that now balks at having a department of religious studies would probably rush to establish a department of postsecular studies. In addition, the foundations that are notoriously shy about supporting things religious would probably rush to finance research in postsecularism.
(NYTimes....LRR)
NY teacher who abused boys found to be HIV-positive
McFarlane, who was arrested last year and has been fired, had been disciplined after two boys accused him of sexual misconduct in 1998, but was allowed to remain in the classroom.Some of the allegations against him were never reported to police, the Board of Education discovered after his arrest and one school investigator has been fired.