Thanks, and reasons for giving them

My friend, Gabriel Sanchez, in his inimitable weblog, Opus Publicum, has gone full metal Ebenezer Scrooge over Thanksgiving, here. I think he’s both right, and wrong.

He’s right, of course, in saying that he finds no  reason to celebrate Thanksgiving. He is entitled to that opinion under the U.S. Constitution. And he is right to be sceptical about the way the season has been sold, both as a secular holiday, and as something that Catholics and other Christians have attempted to appropriate.

But…

Something(s) wonderful

Michael Berg, my oldest friend, whom I have known longer than just about anyone else (save for family) sent me a link to this YouTube clip. While I must point out that these days I am more given to classical music than country, folk, or rock, I remain a child of the sixties, and had my (misspent) youth in the seventies. I can think of few things more perfect than the above clip.

Michael also sent me this other clip:

Intrigued by this beauty and this bounty, I did some searches, courtesy of Messrs Google and Yahoo, and found this Wikipedia article about the concert whence these clips came. I also found a list of the entire cast, of the songs, and even clips of many of those songs, which may be found here. I am even given to understand that a DVD of the concert is available via either Amazon or TimeLife. Anyone among my three or four readers who is willing to remember me at Christmas is therefore given a not very subtle hint.

 

This speaks to my condition at present, alas…

The Blood is the Life, Part IV, or The Nature and Extent of the “Gay Mafia” in the RC Church

This is a continuation of an extended essay, in which I posit that the nature of the crisis in the Roman Catholic Church is an immune deficiency syndrome in the Body of Christ, or at least that part of it which is the Church Militant on Earth. I have earlier asserted that the hierarchical clergy, composed of deacons, priests, and bishops, serve the functions of the vessels, the blood, and the immune system of that Body (part I). Further, that much of the failure of the clergy to fulfill their functions directly relate to their knowledge of and ability to teach the Faith (part II). Most recently, I have indicated that most clergy appear to be ignorant of, and therefore unqualified to teach, those three fonts of the Holy Spirit: Sacred Scripture, Holy Tradition, and the Teaching Authority of the Church (part III).

This essay has been written for the purpose of forming a diagnosis of the ills of the Church, in the hopes that those wiser and more holy than I might be able to effect a cure, or at the very least, to prevent the damage from becoming worse. I have assumed, perhaps unwisely, that clergy and laity actually wish to effect a cure. But some ignorance is invincible: if people do not wish to be taught, they will refuse any attempts to disabuse them of that ignorance.

Life after Beth, Part II

Gentle readers,

I would like to be able to say that I am able to write again. Depression and recent events have interfered with that process, however. The reason for the depression, alas, is obvious. I have also still been in the process of digging out from under the disaster which the loss of a spouse to cancer occasions.

Several recent events have had their part, however, in making matters worse. One of those involved my failure to address several fix-it tickets (relating to lack of registration) which I had entirely disregarded, due in turn to my having to take care of Beth while she was dying. By the time that I had recovered enough so as to start addressing them again, I found that my driver’s license had been suspended. I managed to park my car in a friend’s garage, however, and to arrange for court dates at the Torrance and Compton courts to attempt to deal with those tickets, and to restore my driver’s license. But the earliest that I could get those court appearances was the latter part of October.