Cleaning out the email box « Charlotte was Both

Cleaning out the email box

May 7, 2008 by Amy

…and a few random reads, quickly noted.

Fr. Philip Powell wants to spread the word about MTS Travel

These folks specialize in travel for priests, religious, missionaries–all sorts of church-related activities. Diane Houseman helped me yesterday get a ticket to Rome at an incredibly reduced fare. I think they deserve our support. With air fares rising rapidly this summer b/c of fuel costs everyone is going to feel the pinch. We don’t want something as mundane as $$$ to keep us from spreading the Gospel!

Carl Olson has a 6000 word treatment of Deepak Chopra’s The Third Jesus.

New blogs: Popin’ Ain’t Easy

Via Andrea Duda, who runs the Catholic Blog Directory - The Catholic Cuisine Blog, which is great, and is getting us all ready for Pentecost!

Related, from my bookshelf:

Published 1965

Published 1949 by the National Catholic Rural Life Conference

Check out LoveToBeCatholic for videos.

Do you want to read my “Bringing the Mass to the People” post in German? Well, here you go - thanks to a German blogger who liked it and translated it!

Thomas Merton: The Taming of the nous - an excellent post from Brian Visaggio

The Summoning of Everyman - a film version of the moralitly play, filmed around the Cloisters in NYC

Which brings to mind John Farrell’s excellent version of Everyman - information and trailer here.

Most of you know that the Anchoress has emerged..

Parish Network: From the developer:

I am in the process of beta-testing a new social networking Web site called ParishNetwork (www.parishnetwork.org), which is intended to help people meet others in their own parish/diocese, and I was hoping your readers might be willing to give it a try and send me some feedback.

Right now, parishes in the following dioceses are supported: the Archdioceses of New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington (D.C.) and Baltimore, and the Diocese of Wilmington (Del.) — more dioceses will be added soon.

Finally, Michael Spencer, better known as the Internet Monk, is a Baptist minister working in a school in KY, has been in ministry for decades and an Internet presence for a long time, carving out a unique niche, a niche marked by a lot of battle scars. What has been bothering him for a year now has been obvious to anyone who passed “Reading Between the Lines 101,” but he comes out with the full storyin this post at the group blog of which he is a part, the Boar’s Head Tavern (which does not take comments, and be warned, has a pretty anti-Catholic vibe going - not Michael’s doing, but it’s there) and posts on it on his own blog, where comments are allowed.

In short: his wife is starting RCIA.

Okay, no book notes. That’s enough for today.

(Except perhaps a note on my books - go shopping!)

Posted in Uncategorized | 12 Comments

12 Responses to “Cleaning out the email box”

on May 7, 2008 at 12:50 pm1 Anonymous

As a huge fan of iMonk, I am fearful about the publicization (on this blog and CAEI) of Spencer’s wife’s conversion to Catholicism.
The internetmonk blog is a small-ish site, thoughtfully and sometimes cantankerously written by one of the best internet religious bloggers out there. Yes, Spencer is a Protestant. I beg your readers to resist commenting on his blog in a way that might upset an honestly-struggling, genuinely Christian man who has come a long way on his “post-evangelical journey.”
on May 7, 2008 at 12:54 pm2 Amy

Michael and I have cross-linked before and are internet acquaintances. I think that reading the tone of the post as well as subsequent comments, readers will grasp what needs to be said and what doesn’t.
on May 7, 2008 at 2:23 pm3 Clare Krishan

And let’s be honest about the tone of the anti-Catholic commentary for example:

Just what happened with this visit. Well, the short answer is: way more than most people realize. Let me explain… and, as I said before, let me do so by helping to provide the framework for understanding why this visit was so big.

Barber goes to on to discuss the current state of Catholicism in Europe, the unprecedented greeting by President Bush, the opening remarks by President Bush and the Pope, and the Pope’s “long-fought war for truth in the face of relativism.”

He ends by discussing the final ceremonial song of the welcome ceremony, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, tying in the President’s now famous (infamous?) remark that he sees God when he looks in the eyes of the Pope to the opening phrase in the hymn: “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…” He concludes by noting with astonishment that the hymn sung by the army choir was based on the exact passage (Revelation 14) that was used for that day’s prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours―the prayer book prayed by virtually all priests, religious and many lay people.”

14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and One like the Son of Man was seated on the cloud, with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 Another angel came out of the sanctuary, crying out in a loud voice to the One who was seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

17 Then another angel who also had a sharp sickle came out of the sanctuary in heaven. 18 Yet another angel, who had authority over fire, came from the altar, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from earth’s vineyard, because its grapes have ripened.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle toward earth and gathered the grapes from earth’s vineyard, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. 20 Then the press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press up to the horses’ bridles for about 180 miles.

- Revelation 14:14-20 (HCSB)

Barber highlights the phrase “the press was trampled outside the city”, but doesn’t explain why. I can only suppose that he is meaning that God’s winepress is located outside of Rome. Is the suggestion that the events of Revelation are being divinely fulfilled by the Pope’s visit to the United States? Or does some event planning bureaucrat in Washington have an apocalyptic sense of humor?”

It’d be awfully hard to reconcile those too positions in a bosom-buddy friendship — in the marital minefield it could be all out war, pray for them!
on May 7, 2008 at 2:24 pm4 Clare Krishan

oops missing citation
http://heissufficient.net/2008/04/30/a-battle-hymn-for-truth-justice-and-the-popes-way/
on May 7, 2008 at 5:38 pm5 Jeff

I-monk is many things, but traffic-wise, the indicators are that Michael’s blog is not small, in no way. The fact that his wife is going into RCIA has been pretty obvious for over a year (IMHO); as a Protestant pastor with a wife, i’d say after a couple decades of watching church life from that particular perspective, i’m blessed that she’s still a Christian.

Seriously. And i’ll bet Michael feels much the same way, with the heavy frustration that the choice she’s making limits their ability to commune together as fellow Christians. Can some here say that shows the wisdom of clerical celibacy? Sure, and i wouldn’t take it personally, but it still doesn’t constitute a comprehensive argument against Protestantism — it’s more like the point often made here that being on a parish staff requires extra spiritual discipline, since you see so much of the sausage making process up close and grinding away (keep your fingers and toes tucked in).
on May 7, 2008 at 9:23 pm6 Therese Z

I covet those cookbooks. That’s it. If you ever want to raise some money for a good cause, put those on as raffle prizes or for bid. I LOVE books like that!

(By the way, I have your “Prove It” series and enjoy using the thoughts as “drop ins” to casual conversations with people of all ages. They are good thought-provokers and can derail a shallow conversation very effectively. This is as as good a place as any to say thanks for those.)

I sent imonk a private email via Boars’ Head when he wrote there first, because the pain and frustration he is living in is so touching. I can only pray for him and his wife.
on May 7, 2008 at 11:15 pm7 kate

A plug for another church-year cookbook that our family has loved for 20 plus years: A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz, originally from Harper, but re-published by Ignatius.
on May 8, 2008 at 1:06 am8 Jessica

Thank you so much for sharing the link to Catholic Cuisine!! Hope you have a wonderful Pentecost Sunday! God Bless!
on May 8, 2008 at 9:06 am9 Sandra Miesel

Another vote for Evelyn Birge Vitz! Wonderful book.

I have Sister Mary Ursula [Cooper]’s Creole cookbook. She was one of my cousin’s college teachers.

It’s not a Catholic cookbook per se, but Carol Field’s CELEBRATING ITALY is full of recipes for religious holidays plus detailed descriptions of festivals.
on May 8, 2008 at 1:38 pm10 Dismas

Out of curiosity, I looked up “Cooking for Christ” on Abebooks. The askings prices for 3 different copies were $51.99, $100, and $125. Ouch!
on May 8, 2008 at 3:42 pm11 Gerry

Was there supposed to be a point to post #3?
on May 8, 2008 at 4:48 pm12 Dismas

I think post 3 belong with the Internet Monk post.