The Provincial Emails

The Blogging of the Candidate

2010-03-15T18:00:00.000-05:00

Deborah Solomon has questions for blogger Mickey Kaus about his planned run against Senator Barbara Boxer in the California Democratic primary.As with William Buckley's issue-raising campaign for Mayor of New York, better he should just keep doing what he's been doing.

Arch Madness

2010-03-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

At Whispers in the Loggia, The Big Dance, Church Edition, including a chart of the selection brackets and seedings for Archbishop of Los Angeles.

Back to front

2010-03-15T06:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday's Living Our Faith television program concluded its second segment with this. Fr. Mark Brandl, associate pastor, St. Alphonsus Parish, Greendale, shares the story of his journey from lapsed Catholic to Catholic priest and explains how to help others who have drifted away from the church to find their way back.He also blogs.

Reclusive author, hidden scrolls

2010-03-14T06:00:00.009-05:00

Recluseland, by Mark Steyn Why Orwell Endures, by George Wheatcroft ‘Mad as a Hatter’: The History of a Simile, by Pat Ryan In Our Time - Calvinism, BBC Radio 4 (via Video meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor) Voice of Reason: A message for

Integrating our energized vibrancy

2010-03-13T11:35:00.005-06:00

Back to planning at Parish CouncilCMMI: Capability Maturity Model Integration

A hundred sheep, but who's counting

2010-03-12T06:00:00.004-06:00

We were invited to the recent Campanile Society dinner for selected donors to last year's Catholic Stewardship Appeal. That was even though my contribution was at an unlisted (Acedia?) level of giving.Archbishop Listecki later sent those of us who declined to attend a letter of thanks for our donation, and a pitch for this year's appeal. I need your help to ensure the Church's mission of teaching

Wee-weed the People

2010-03-11T18:00:00.002-06:00

The baleful fact is that the country suffers from a surfeit of democracy -- a gazillion interest groups, a gazillion blogs, a gazillion talk shows and all of them insisting on transparency so a gazillion eyes peer over the shoulders of politicians. --Richard Cohen I've said it before and I'll say it again, democracy simply doesn't work. --Kent Brockman

Juan y Maria Catolica

2010-03-11T06:00:00.001-06:00

David Lewellen reviewed last month's concert in the Early Music Now series: Ensemble Lipzodes makes Guatemalan music timeless. The performance at All Saints Cathedral showed that music written in the New World during the early days of colonization sounds similar to what the Old World was producing at the same time, which may be the most remarkable thing of all. Music written for isolated churches

Far Left behind

2010-03-10T18:00:00.001-06:00

see more Epic Fails

Play midsty for me

2010-03-10T06:00:00.009-06:00

When Adoremus Bulletin reported US Bishops Approve Missal Texts, there was this local angle. Bishop Richard Sklba, auxiliary bishop of Milwaukee and past president of CBA [The Catholic Biblical Association of America], also strongly objected to Liturgiam authenticam’s insistence on fidelity to the original text: “I’ve been very clear about my own conviction that the use of inclusive language

Saints be praisized!

2010-03-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

Joseph O'Leary on the controversy over pending liturgical changes. Why were the likes of Bishop Donald Trautman ridiculized...?

Caught in the Acton

2010-03-08T18:00:00.001-06:00

The Economist reported on two studies. Taken together, these results do indeed suggest that power tends to corrupt and to promote a hypocritical tendency to hold other people to a higher standard than oneself.That is, "Power corrupts, but it corrupts only those who think they deserve it".

Ask the Archbishop

2010-03-08T06:00:00.002-06:00

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel religion writer Annysa Johnson and other local media will pose questions to Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki at a Newsmakers Luncheon March 9 at the Milwaukee Press Club. In an effort to represent the community, we'd like to know what you'd like us to ask the archbishop. Send your questions to Annysa...

Not on the list

2010-03-03T16:00:00.009-06:00

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that a Controversial bishop will be at Marquette on Thursday. Retired Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, who has been blocked from speaking at some churches, including Milwaukee's Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, because of his views on women's ordination and homosexuality, will speak on "Justice in the Church and Society" at Marquette University on

From the ashes

2010-03-03T12:00:00.001-06:00

Berlin, Germany, February 17, 2010On our morning jog around the immediate neighborhood no buildings clearly date to before the war. Buildings are all several stories tall, immediately adjacent to each other. We pass a church, but it's almost indistinguishable from the buildings on either side.The hotel has a complimentary breakfast buffet. It's Ash Wednesday, so I avoid the bacon and sausage and

Jet lag day

2010-03-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

Berlin, Germany, February 16, 2010We've seen it recommeded that travelers should use their first day for light activities until as close as possible their usual bedtime in the new time zone. Shopping wins a 1-1 vote, and we set off by U-bahn (subway). (As visitors we find a city's subways the fastest and easiest to understand though least scenic way to get around.) An entrance for the nearest

Ich bin in Berlin

2010-03-02T18:00:00.002-06:00

Berlin, Germany, February 16, 2010 Off-season travel to Europe is a bargain, not entilrely surprising given what is off about the season. There were a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Berliners do not believe in clearing their sidewalks after it snows. Instead they shovel a path, and leave the rest of the snow to turn into a layer of ice on which they scatter gravel, I assume until spring.

But no sprouts

2010-03-02T12:00:00.000-06:00

Brussels Airport, February 16, 2010Losing post title: If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium.The passport check official greets us with "Ah, here come two Americans." The ensuing chit-chat includes him telling me that the origin of metal sleeve buttons, like those on my blazer, was military; soldiers used them to wipe their noses. (But see Wikipedia)One gift shop sold packages of what we call

Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen.

2010-03-02T06:00:00.001-06:00

Now, where was I.Chicago O'Hare Airport, February 15, 2010Books in carry-on bag; check. Travel sport coat with books in pockets; check. Overcoat with books on pockets; check. Books include at least one set in our destination; Berlin Stories, by Christopher Isherwood, check.Among the departure delays there was one new ot us. Just after push-back a passenger tried a self-upgrade from Coach to

Blogger Mayday

2010-02-15T06:00:00.006-06:00

Blogger has announced that the small percentage of weblogs using its software but not hosted on its Blogspot servers will lose FTP support. The change has now been postponed to May 1, 2010.Since this blog is hosted elsewhere, I will have to decide whether to switch to other blogging software, move the blog to Blogspot, or discontinue it.Switching to, say, WordPress involves a conversion that

Book travel: Dresden

2010-02-14T06:00:00.056-06:00

A Fair Maiden, review by Todd VanDerWerff, of 'A Fair Maiden', by Joyce Carol Oates Getting to Slaughterhouse Five in Dresden, Germany Better to React Than to Act, by Tim Wogan (via Joe Carter at First Things) Ring Lardner, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The New Republic, October 11, 1933