Back in the game!

Well... Yours truly is now a distinguished graduate of a small and fairly historic southern university. Quite an honor, etc. except, somehow, having a BA after my name doesn't seem to be doing much good in the job search. Silly employers! I'm considering a vocation to the priesthood but it certainly isn't something I want to jump into!

Ah well. I suppose that, compared to others, I have nothing really to complain about. I don't have much to report on the Catholic front right now. Once I get back into the blogging swing of things I'm sure I'll be back with something more constructive.

However, at the moment if anyone could tell me more about the works of Fr. Neuhaus I would be very interested. I know he died a few months ago and I received his book, 'Catholic Matters', as a graduation present. However, other than knowing that he was the editor of 'First Things', I know nothing about him in terms of his writing. Is he worth reading?

But since I mention a Catholic writer, why not have a little quiz to see if anyone still checks this blog? Who is your favorite modern Catholic writer (post World War II)? Any genre is applicable: fiction, theology, philosophy, apologetics... I'm very curious about other people's opinions.

Please pray for me that I might work out a constructive career path.

I'm not dead, I promise!

Hello all. If no one is reading this I really can't blame you - I haven't updated the poor blog in months. However, in a matter of weeks (five to be exact), I will graduate, have B.A. after my name, and I promise to begin blogging again in earnest. After all, with the economy the way it is, I am not likely to have a job!

This past semester has been rather hellish in terms of work so I just haven't had time to blog. I knew that if I started posting I wouldn't want to stop. There has been so much to talk about: the Bishop Williamson debacle, the Holy Father's trip to Africa, Archbishop Dolan's appointment to New York, the anticipated appointment of the new archbishop of Westminster, the election of Patriarch Kirill, the vicious attack by 'The Tablet' on Fr. Finigan......the list goes on and on. Soon....oh so soon I will have the time to say my two cents worth (probably worth just about that much).

You see, once I get started I just can't make myself stop. By the way, keep reading The Blog of the Courtier - it really has become one of my favorites!

One final thing: please pray for the Holy Father. We need him to keep going strong and I do worry about him and the abuse he receives from the press and his own flock at times. And pray for me too if you have the time, please. I'll certainly do the same for you.

Now, at last, I will sign off. Expect a grand return in the middle of May (who knows, perhaps before!).





Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis!

R. I. P., the Cardinal

Avery Cardinal Dulles, S. J. (born 1918) is dead. A convert to the Church and the son of famed secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, Cardinal Dulles was one of the renowned theologians of the twentieth century.

requiem aeternam

A Splendid New Blog:

If you enjoy good traditional blogs, the one just started by St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association is definitely one to watch. Writing from the Emerald Isle, SCCHA is a member of Una Voce. Take a look!

A Christmas cd that the Pope has

I hope you all are having a prayerful Advent. While procrastinating from writing various papers recently, I found a Christmas cd which I believe the Holy Father MUST have in his collection. Why, you ask? Because the entire cd is done by the Regensburger Domspatzen directed by none other than the Papal big brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger. Surely Pope Benedict must listen to this during the Christmas season (which I know we have not yet reached).

I have not listened to this yet - in fact I just ordered it - but it has to be good.

I do wish Bach had been a Catholic

Although Bach wrote a great deal of sacred music, some of which is sort of appropriate for a Catholic liturgy, I sometimes imagine how our already rich liturgical tradition would have greatly benefitted from an extra Bach boost. I say that some of it is appropriate for the Catholic liturgy because the best known example, the Mass in B Minor, is far too big to ever be used as an actual setting (I'd be happy to see someone try, though). Imagine if instead of several hundred Lutheran cantatas Bach had written several hundred missa brevi! The thought of it literally makes my mouth water. Imagine going to a mass in the extraordinary form with a Bach setting being used.

However, I might be wrong in thinking that the Mass in B Minor is the only one even vaguely suitable for a Catholic liturgy. Did he write any others of more maneagable size (I know already of the so-called Lutheran "masses"). Whatever the case, it irks me when obvious geniuses of the quality of Bach were silly enough to not be Catholics. C'mon Johann. What were you thinking? Perhaps he was too focused on putting out music of such stunning quality that he didn't have time to focus too much on the theological issues? After all, Mozart was a freemason.

Well, this post has disintegrated from a sigh in the direction of non-Catholic genius to incomprehensible blithering. Just listen to Bach. He makes eminently more sense than me.

Discernment Question

Does anyone know of any good discernment programs? I've been looking specifically at Casa Balthasar but I'm interested to hear of others.