Peak Traffic

I had a sudden increase in blog traffic yesterday, thanks to a brief mention in Catholic World News' "Off the Record" section.

You never know who's lurking!

A warm welcome to all you Catholic World News readers who landed here as a result!

Midnight Pontiff

The Man who brought us Midnight Cowboy and Angelina Jolie will star in a mini-series as Pope John Paul II. He's come a long way, leaving behind old sidekick Ratso Rizzo, for his new sidekick, Ratzinger.

Can you see Dustin Hoffman walking through the streets of Rome with his red hat, screaming, "I'm walking here!"? No, they haven't cast Dustin Hoffman as Cardinal Ratzinger, but wouldn't it be funny?!

Did I Really Just Read What I Thought I Read?

That's the question I was asking while doing the reading for my Canon Law class when I read the following sentence (from Canon 332):

If the person elected lacks episcopal character, however, he is to be ordained a bishop immediately.

While sometimes this seems to be the criteria used in choosing bishops, this must be considered in context. The canon is concerned with the election of the Pope, and what it is really saying is that if the man elected to be Pope is not already a bishop, he should be ordained one.

But it was good for a little sobering humor!

No Wonder There's So Much Confusion About The DaVinci Code!

According to USA Today, M. Scott Peck (R.I.P.), was a novelist!:

'Road Less Traveled' author dies at 69
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Author M. Scott Peck, who wrote the best-seller The Road Less Traveled and other novels, has died. He was 69.


Shouldn't a USA Today or Associated Press reporter know the difference between a novel and a work of non-fiction?

And what does this say about this person's "journalism"?

Would You Believe . . . ?

Another TV icon has been lost.

The cone of silence has finally fallen on Don Adams.

Agent 86 was 82.

Over 5,000 Served

According to my sitemeter, I've had over 5,000 visits since I started measuring in June. I think too many of you are still lurking! Not enough love in the comments box!

But, really, thanks for visiting, and y'all come back!

Mark

Greetings to Visitor(s) from Mauritius

I am pleased to welcome my visitor(s) from the island of Mauritius!

For those of you as geographically challenged as I am, it's an island country off the east coast of Africa. Looks like it would be a fascinating place to visit!

In case you didn't guess, that's their flag above.

More Than Five Sets of Five Things

Jenn has tagged me (and since she'll be moving to Boston soon I better comply), so here goes:

Five Things I Plan To Do Before I Die

--Be ordained a priest
--Write a novel or two
--Visit Africa
--Be in a movie
--Age

Five Things I Can Do

--Write well
--Play Pool
--Curl my tongue
--Recite Portia's speech from The Merchant of Venice (The quality of mercy is not strained . . .)
--Four Degrees from Kevin Bacon (six is too easy)

Five Things I Cannot Do

--Knit
--Abide the frequent misspelling of lose as "loose"
--Support war, the death penalty, abortion or euthanasia
--Be perfect
--Eat Menudo

Five Things That Attract Me To The Opposite Sex

--Eyes
--Smile
--Intelligence
--Sense of Humor
--Anything more might be scandalous

Five Things I Say Most Often

--Whoo-ah! (I think I picked it up from Scent of a Woman)
--That's . . . interesting.
--Want to go to a movie?
--You duped me Lord!
--What does God want for you/me?

Five Celebrity Crushes







Five People I Want To Do This

You know who you are.

One Reason I'm Sorry I Missed the Emmys

Seeing the Donald sing Green Acres--overalls, pitchfork, and all!

The Faces of Boredom?

Who do you think is more bored?

Or maybe they just need a poddy break?

So It Begins . . .

Classes start on Monday, and it looks like it will be pretty interesting. Maybe some of you expect you would be bored to death, but I'm pretty excited about my schedule which includes courses on:

Foundations of Theology
Fundamental Moral Theology
The Catechism
Narrative Books of the Old Testament
First Corinthians

We also are anticipating the visit of members of the seminary visitation team in about five weeks. I can't say that I'm very encouraged by the initial reports. I'm not sure they're focusing on the right things. But that may be just what the media is reporting. I'll wait and see when I myself get a copy of the questions they'll be asking when they interview us.

Though I'm sure many of you are dying to know what I think about all this, I don't think it would be prudent, for a number of reasons, to comment about it on my blog. That's one discussion that will have to go one without me. Amy Welborn and Susan Rose both make some good points.

How About Captions for This One?

QUADROPHONIC

A Few Distractions

You may have noticed that I'm not posting with the accustomed frequency these days. I've got a few things going on this week. Besides continuing to try to connect with friends, colleagues and students form the New Orleans area, I also just moved. I'm now a resident of what some refer to as "The People's Republic of Cambridge." So, I'm trying to get my room set up, get to know the men I'll be living with this year, write my book and, maybe, I'll catch a bit of the Patriots season opener tonight. Could it be a three-peat? I also start classes in a week and a half, and orientation begins tomorrow. I'm excited about theology studies, but I do miss Loyola, the teaching and the students (the irony, of course, is that were I still at Loyola, I'd be in the same boat!). As I get settled, I will resume Saint Ignatius' autobiography, and maybe have some insights for you into life at Weston Jesuit School of Theology. And, if you plan to be in the Boston area, come visit!!

Peace,

Mark

Experience The Exercises

Interested in learning more about Saint Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises?

Creighton University is offering an on-line experience beginning September 18.

Steve Bogner is going to do it, and he's looking for some people to join him, and offering a forum for discussion.

Best of all, it's free!

Good Night, Little Buddy

Another TV icon--and staple of my childhood TV watching--has died.

Bob Denver, TV's Gilligan, was 70.

Do You Know What it Means to Lose New Orleans?

Anne Rice's tribute to New Orleans in the New York Times:

By ANNE RICE
Published: September 4, 2005

La Jolla, Calif.

WHAT do people really know about New Orleans?

Do they take away with them an awareness that it has always been not only a great white metropolis but also a great black city, a city where African-Americans have come together again and again to form the strongest African-American culture in the land?

Read the Rest

Loyola New Orleans Students Blog

There has been a blog set up where Loyola students can connect with each other here:

http://loyolastudents.blogspot.com/

Information for Loyola New Orleans Students

What follows are statements from Loyola's President and the President of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, also temporary website information

Temporary Website: http://www.jaceebergeron.com/loyola/

Loyola Blog: http://loyolaneworleans.blogspot.com/

A Message from the President
9/1/05, 6 p.m.

Dear Members of the Loyola Community,

We all know that we have suffered a terrible loss in Hurricane Katrina. But I want you to know that we are working, as quickly as possible to resume operations. While it will be some time before we will be at work again on St. Charles Avenue, we can continue our work while in dispersion.

We have had a number of generous and supportive offers from other universities. The other twenty seven Jesuit universities are open to accepting our students. You can find information for them at the website for the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU). Also, Louisiana State University will welcome our students. And we are working with options for the Law School. I hope to have these resolved soon.

The faculty and staff should know that we are reestablishing financial operations. We want to be sure that everyone is taken care of in this crisis.

Tomorrow we will open an administrative office where people can contact us by phone or internet. We will try to deal with questions as they come along.

Along with members of our facilities staff and University Police I was on campus through Katrina until yesterday. While we have sustained some damage, the campus is in good condition. We will have to work with the city, and others, to get the basic services restored to campus. I am deeply grateful to the men and women who remained on campus, during the hurricane, to help us through this. I especially want to thank Mr. Paul Fleming and Chief Pat Bailey. At some time in the future, we will take the time to thank formally the many people who have helped keep Loyola together.

This has been an extraordinary time of testing for all of us. The examples of generosity and heroic leadership are many. Our challenges are great but so are our opportunities. We have a chance now to help build a renewed Loyola University in a renewed New Orleans. I look forward to working with you to meet these challenges.

With prayers and best wishes,

Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., Ph.D.
President
1 September 2005


Statement by AJCU (Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities) President on Loyola Students Attending Sister Jesuit Institutions
8/31/05, 5:30 p.m.

We are all deeply concerned about the situation in New Orleans and specifically, about our sister institution, Loyola University New Orleans.

Since there is no definitive date as to when Loyola will resume its regular business schedule, we have sought ways to accommodate Loyola students at our sister Jesuit schools. Each of our schools has agreed to admit Loyola students as visiting students for the fall semester, with the expectation that they would return to Loyola in the spring semester with credits earned transferable back to Loyola. Efforts would be made to fit these students into classes related to their Loyola program.

This policy, recommended by the AJCU Executive Committee, while leaving some unanswered questions at this time, allows AJCU institutions to respond in a concerted way to our sister institution in need. We can presume our goodwill and wisdom will take us the next steps.

Rev. Charles Currie, S.J.
President
Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU)

Words, words, words . . .

An interesting combination of words that I return to after my retreat (from Dictionary.com's words of the day for the last eight days):

Capacious
Venial
Evanescent
Unctuous
Canorous
Descant
Bagatelle
Peccadillo

(And I just realized that the title of this post is the second allusion to Hamlet in about 4 posts. Whether that has any significance at all--as with this combination of words--you decide!)

I'm Back

Thanks everyone for your prayers. It was a good retreat, though I can't say there weren't any distractions. I almost ended my retreat two days early because I was jumping out of my skin! But Jesus calmed me down. After all, what was I going to do to help people in New Orleans besides pray, which I was already doing.

But every time I think about the implications of what's happened and is still happening in Mississippi and Louisiana it just boggles my mind! So many of my brothers and friends are having their lives turned upside down! The place where I've done grocery shopping for the last two years was looted yesterday! How, I wonder, can I go on just as if everything is normal? And, really, who cares about the Red Sox? I know that statement borders on heresy, but right now all other news seems insignificant.

There are so many questions that just lead to more questions that lead to the one inevitable conclusion: Things will never be the same, and they won't be better for a long, long time. This might seem a little whiney for someone who's high and dry in Massachusetts, but as I was in New Orleans just two weeks ago, and living there just a few months ago, I guess this is my version of survivior's guilt.

Pray for an end to the chaos, and that people will be saved and get the help they need. Thanks.

Peace,

Mark