Ireland

I've been taking classes here on campus for the Ireland trip, so I offer you some insights:

Dr. OD teaches Ireland's history as animatedly as he taught 101. Its great. Sometimes I loose myself in the lecture and just don't take notes. Which then reminds me that I need to do the reading.

Dr. Keats is fun in class. I've never had him before, and he seems to be taking the awkwardness of 2 hours with mostly strangers rather well.

I wrote a poem about Oscar Wilde. Would you like to read it? No? Then skip ahead, meany.

"Wild Wilde"
Oscar was a Wilde boy,
who ran and skipped along
But when he grew, Wilde was wild,
and his heathen side grew strong.

But as he gazed at death's slim door,
he called for a papist priest.
For Wild Wilde was no more,
for the child in Wilde slew the beast.



For those who have been wondering, I'm leaving for Ireland on Monday, and since the Library here at the College will not be open tomorrow, I'm posting this now. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to check the blog (all depending on access to internet in the Emerald Isle), but I am giving you all this fond farewell. So if there isn't an update in two weeks, you'll know why.

Hopefully I'll post pictures, if I remember. Maybe I'll post on things from Rome too. Remember all that, all those years months ago. Its been almost a year since I left for Rome, and now I'm heading again to Europe.

"The Times, they are a'changin," to quote a certain "Song and Dance man," who I argue is a great American poet. Look it up if you don't know who it is. If you do, more power to you.

A heck of a lot of memory

So I was in Costco looking for some DVDR DLs (for You Can't Take It With You DVDs, which hopefully will be burning within the next 48 hours). And there it was. LO! the coming of the Lord.

A Tera bite hard drive. That's right. 1,000 Gigabites of memory sitting there to buy. And it was only, drum roll please. . .
. . . . .
. . . .
. . .
. .
.



$344

That's a lot of memory for not a lot of money.

Somebody tell Mirandum Pictures so they can get one. They need it.

transformers

I went and saw Transformers this past weekend. It wasn't that bad. Really. There were plenty of explosions, the acting really wasn't that bad, the main character was a believable character, there were some pretty good camera angles, and the music was good. I liked how most of the film was in a harder, darker light (which made sweaty people look even more sweaty and dirty). There were some scenes that were not, however. They were scenes of peacefulness. The army captain (I forget what rank he was) talks with his wife and daughter via video over the internet. When the camera enters the home where the wife and daughter are, the light is softer. At the end when the day is saved, the setting sun provides a softer touch on the scenes. So from that standpoint it was rather good.
There were some problems with it, however, besides any of the sexual references and discussions, or violence or language or any of the things normally wrong with movies.
The main problem with the movie (this did not hit me until yesterday) was that it wasn't memorable. The script didn't have any astounding one liners or anything like that. There were some memorable scenes, but the movie itself wasn't that memorable.
The other thing that bugged me was that the fight scenes. They were pretty amazing, but not exactly what I expected. The robots didn't use their weapons as much as wrestle. It seemed kinda odd sometimes to watch to giant robots tackling each other.
Of course, remember that these are my opinions. It definitely was a fun ride, but not something to write home to mom about.

Overall I give it ** 1/2 Stars.

Thinking about Summorum Pontificum

As anyone who's been reading my blog this summer knows, I'm kinda excited about Pope Benedict's Motu Proprio Summorum pontificum. It should be a great thing for the Church, and I hope that Benedict's prayers come true, shown in the double meaning the letter holds: To promote the use of the Traditional Mass as well as restore dignity and glory to the Novus Ordo. However, I remember something from a couple years ago that has me kinda worried. During my Sophomore year at the College, Draper wrote an article for the Rambler about the Novus Ordo (at least I hope it was Draper. If not, I'm sorry). He discussed its validity, something which, hopefully, I'll post on in the future.

But that's not important right now. Here's what is. Draper, in his article, noted that the arguments against the Novus Ordo that are based solely on aesthetics are not valid arguments. He gives several reasons, mainly that they don't necessarily apply to the Novus Ordo itself. These arguments include: the direction the priest faces (although in the Novus Ordo he usually faces the people, with altars that do not face that way, such as the ones in, say, St. Peter's in Rome, he does not, yet a Novus Ordo is still offered there), the use of Latin (the Novus Ordo can and is often said in Latin, and the Traditional one can be said in the vernacular), and the music.

Music is an important part of any Mass (except for Low Masses, where there is no singing; that applies to both Traditional and Novus Ordo Masses). It is one of the most immediately noticeable part of the liturgy. And, unfortunately, it is one of the most abused aspects ofthe Novus Ordo (it might even the most abused, but I'm not sure where liturgical dancers fit in the picture). Music in a Novus Ordo varies from traditional Gregorian chant (Christendom is a classic, but by no means the only, example of this) to more traditional choral pieces ("Lift High the Cross" anyone) to the much less traditional, which ranges from more recent songs written by Catholics for Catholics to things like songs from Godspell. The music behind the words can be absent (as in chant and polyphonic music), played on an organ ("Lift High the Cross" again, but other songs can be played on the organ. However, "Our God is an Awesome God" sounds kinda weird on it), and more recently, guitars.

Guitars. So much debate over a guitar. The debate will not be held here and now, so stop sharpening your axes.

So anyway, there's this video on Youtube that somebody put together in praise of the Traditional Mass. It does so by showing some pretty bad Novus Ordos (complete with Liturgical Dancing and what looks like badly constructed tables for altars), then contrasting it with a normal Traditional Mass. It gets across the point: The Novus Ordo tends to be disrespectful and sloppy, while the Traditional is beautiful.

And since I'm sure somebody is still reading this post, I'll get to my actual beef. Remember that article by Draper i mentioned earlier? Well, in it Draper brought up a good point. Things like Latin, ad orientem and chant are possible in the Novus Ordo. Similarly, it is possible for a Traditional Mass to be said with guitars, dancing, etc.

Which finally leads to my fears. So lets say the Traditional Mass is widely said, and priests who might not normally want to do so find themselves saying the Traditional Mass. Is it possible that these priests could bring into the Traditional Mass something newer, such as guitars and Kumbyas?

When I hear traditionalists slam the Novus Ordo (not the priests who are abusing it), I think, what if it had not come about? What if there wasn't a Novus Ordo? What if the same priests who have, lets face it, desecrated the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass were left with only the Traditional Mass to play with? What would come of it? Will we ever know?

I hope not, but I still dread that we might soon find out.

I Miss My Rome

The youth group at my parish went on a trip yesterday. No, it wasn't anywhere exciting for them (i.e., a baseball game or the movies). It was to the Franciscan Monastery in DC. The Monastery is an incredible thing. With altars and shrines based on ones around the world, particularly from the Holy Land, the Franciscan Monastery is famous for its beauty. And it is well deserved. It brought back memories of Rome walking in that church. They even had scaffolding, which was great. We took the catacomb tour, which was based off the ones in Rome, and even had the body of a saint, St. Innocent, a child martyr, and some of the bones of another (it brought back the excitement of the Eternal City). I had a blast there.
But before our arrival I was thinking of Rome. I knew what the church there was like, and knew that I would remember Rome, but it was something else that made me write this post, another reason I miss Rome.
In Rome, as you Romers can remember, the sky is pierced with the cross-tipped spires of churches. Every section of the city, it seems, has a church somewhere. You could spend your entire three months to Rome looking around at every church, examining everything about them. All of them, from St. Peter's on the Vatican to St. Andrew on the Quirinal, have something exciting and special in store for the pilgrim if they know where to look. My biggest regret about Rome was that I did not spend more time just walking the streets and entering churches. Oh, how glorious!
I dare now to compare Rome to DC. In DC the sky is also pierced by spires, many of which have crosses on them, just as the churches in Rome do. However, at the ground level, a different story is told. That cross leads not to Christ dwelling on Earth but rather to what in reality is a fancy meeting hall. It was the frequency of this that struck me. There are less Catholic churches in DC. Duh. Any atheist could tell you that. What struck me was that the same mark that labeled the Catholic churches in Rome is used in American to label Protestant ones. But its not the same. Where is the excitement in entering a Protestant church over a Catholic one? Can a Methodist church offer you the body of St. Vittoria, or the chains that held St. Paul? Can a Lutheran church present you with the Holy Eucharist, Christ truly present body and soul there in a tabernacle? What takes place in those hollowed walls of our "separated brethren?" Does it compare to the continuation of Calvary that occurs everyday in a Catholic church? I would say no.
But what struck me the most was the Spires. In Rome I did have the privilege of walking the streets, following after the crosses I saw punctuating the sky. There I would find treasures mentioned above. My heart would dance. Now I saw the spires of DC. I knew if I walked DC, following the crosses, I would not dig up such gold and jewels as in Rome. The treasures of a Catholic church are harder and harder to find.
I know why; I'm a historian. And I'm not stupid. I know the history of Italy and the history of this country. I know that Italy, particularly Rome, would be dead without the Church. The Rome of today has Catholicism in its blood. Not so with DC. I know how Catholics have played such a great role in this nation's history. They have been the unsung heroes of war, and the backbone of many political things. However, this is not a Catholic country. That's the simple truth.
So what have I gained from that afternoon reflection yesterday? Something that has hit me several times. Mary Beth just blogged on this. I have wanted to say something for a long time, but kept forgetting. Now I have time. Now I remember.

I Miss Rome.

updates on Motu Proprio

For those of you who have not gone blog hopping already and have not checked out my friends' blogs (a bunch have stuff on the Motu Proprio already), here is a link to the Latin edition of the document and here is a link to the accompanying letter to bishops explaining what is going on.

Maybe later I'll provide a commentary to go along with the text. Until then, have fun.

Its here

Its here. . .

Want to read the USCCB English translation, go here.

I can't find the orignal Latin as of 8:00 am, Saturday, July 7th. It might appear later though, so keep your eyes pealed.

And remember, changes don't take effect until September 14.

July 7th

Is this reliable? Will it happen?

Expected Motu Proprio to be published July 7, German newspaper announces

Vatican City, Jun 27, 2007 / 03:21 pm (CNA).- Pope Benedict XVI intends to publish his Motu Proprio liberating the Mass of St. Pius V on July 7, 2007 announced today the Vatican correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt, Paul Badde.

Badde reported today that Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, presented a copy of the Motu Proprio universally liberating the Tridentine Mass to some 30 bishops from different countries at the Sala Bologna of the Apostolic Palace.

Die Welt’s correspondent only mentions that Cardinal Karl Lehmann from Germany was one of the bishops attending the meeting, which ended with a one-by-one greeting to the Holy Father.

The 3-page long document, signed by Pope Benedict XVI, comes with a letter of explanation about four pages long. The publication of both documents will take place on July 7th.

According to Badde, the letter emphasizes the unity of the Roman Rite, which from now on will have to forms, an “ordinary” and an “extraordinary,” supposed to inspire each other.

The ordinary form will continue to be the Post-Vatican rite; while the extraordinary will be the Missal used until 1962 and written according to the norms established by Pope St. Pius V and confirmed by the Council of Trent –thus the name “Tridentine.”

Ok, this one deals with the Mass. The question is, is this report reliable? And why July 7th?

July 7th is a Saturday. There is no feast on the New calender that day. However, on the Traditional calender (if you go by that one) it is the feast of Cyril and Methodius, great apostles to Moravia, Bohemia, and Bulgaria. It is also the feast, historically, of Blesseds Ralph Milner and Roger Dickenson, who died in 1591, both martyrs of the English persecution. Check here for more saints of that date.

So the questions remain. But should we get so excited about this? Will it change anything?

Motu Proprio

It CAME!!!!!!

Ha, fooled you.

A Motu Proprio did come out today, however, but not the kind that traditionalists have been looking for. It was not one granting universal permission to say the Traditional Mass, nor anything else like that. It was about electing popes. Or at least how to go about doing it.
Pope Benedict has changed the way that popes are elected from what John Paul II instituted, the whole after three days there is a day of prayer and reflection, to the traditional not stopping until a 2/3 majority is reached. Here's the article:

Holy Father changes rules for electing new pope

Vatican City, Jun 26, 2007 / 09:02 am (CNA).- It was announced today that the Holy Father, Benedict XVI has brought back the traditional method for electing a new Pope. Under Pope John Paul II, the procedure was changed to a series of ballots punctuated with time for reflection and prayer if a pontiff was not chosen within the first three days.

The change back to the traditional rules was made public today in a "Motu Proprio," written in Latin. In the letter, Benedict XVI restores the traditional norm concerning the majority required for the valid election of the Supreme Pontiff to two thirds of the cardinals present.

In 1996, John Paul II changed the standard in the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici gregis. Under John Paul II’s rules, a new Pope was validly elected by two thirds during the first three days of voting.

However, after three days of voting without an election, there would be a day dedicated to reflection and prayer, without voting. Thereafter, voting would resume for seven additional ballots, another pause for reflection, another seven ballots, another pause and yet another seven ballots. After which an absolute majority was to decide how to proceed, either for a vote by absolute majority or with balloting between two candidates. This was to happen only in the event that the cardinals arrived at the 33rd or 34th ballot without a positive result.

Cathedral vs. Mosque

Now the first thought I had after hearing about this was "well, at least the cathedral isn't being torn down. That might anger a few people, tearing down a centuries old church, a historical landmark of the highest degree.

Oh wait, I forgot to give you guys the story. Alright, here's the summation, based of the article in The Washington Times:

The population of Muslims in Cologne, Germany is on the rise, and theses followers of Muhammad want a decent place to worship. They want to build a mosque, a big one, like the one in Berlin. That is not the controversy. That little detail lies in the fact that the mosque would be built right next to the cathedral, within two miles of each other actually, pretty close when you think about it. And it is gonna be big. Seating capacity will be 2,000 and the minarets, the fun top parts of the mosque, are 170 feet each. That's pretty big.

They designers are basing the mosque off the one in Berlin, seen here:



The Islamic community has been crying out for a decent place of worship for the last 40 years, and this might be their chance to get out of their basements and move into the public

So why is this causing so much controversy? And why would the the political world care about it? Isn't this a matter of religion, not the State?
Ah, there's the rub. Religion and the State.
You can't have an official State religion, right? That would be mean to all the other religions. So the State should stay out of religious things, right? Well, how do you enforce religious equality while not getting involved with religion? Such is the situation in Germany and throughout the world. I offer not a solution here, but am simply stating a fact.
So what will come of this, and what does it show? Well, for one thing, it shows something that Hillaire Belloc wrote about in his The Great Heresies (I could be wrong about the title) is coming true: a warning of instability as Muslims take over Europe. It happens every time two cultures meet. One fights against the conquerors, and the other is left with two choices: assimilate into the culture, such as what happened with the Romans and Alexander the Great, or try to force the culture into the lives of the conquered, allowing no wiggle room.
What will happen? Could this be another step towards the destruction of Catholic Germany? Hopefully not, but who knows. Only time can tell.

Ryan and my parish

Well, we've lost another to the big golden ring. Ryan has been wed to Maria. The execution took place on Saturday, and they could not have been happier. Ryan had that ridiculously goofy grin that paints his face when life goes his way. Maria had that delighted smile that I'm sure Ryan fell in love with weeks before I even knew who she was. The wedding was beautiful. The reception was great. Everything was lovely, and for a moment everything was going great.
I had to leave the reception early. The next day was the 50th anniversary Mass for my Parish. The Main celebrant was Archbishop Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. It went well enough. There wasn't anything too shocking. Nothing spectacular either. My mom had tried to bring about some traditional, well, not even traditional, just bare-bones what the GIRM requires, things back to the parish for the Mass, and she was shot down.

Sigh

So it went well enough, as I said. I've determined what my church's sanctuary looked like before the liturgical changes. Its my pleasure to announce that, as far as I can tell, the altar of sacrifice still used to this day is the same one used in the past 50 years. Rather than blowing out the altar and tearing it out of the wall, moving it closer, as had been done in other places, the people who re-did the inside of my church just blew the wall out. . . and built it up again. Rather than moving the altar, they moved the back wall. The tabernacle had not been in the previous wall; rather it was more or less sitting on the altar, and put into the back wall after the new construction.

That made me smile.

So Ryan and Maria's life together has begun (and will continue, mind you. Marriage isn't one of those one day things), and my Parish continues, soon with a new pastor. Hopefully everything will go better with him than with Fr. De, but you never know. If not, it will give me something to blog about.

“The Most Humble Man on Earth”

I finally wrote it this morning. I know I promised I would write it last semester, during finals week, and then the day after finals, but that never happened. I blame billiards.

So tell me what you think. Its supposed to be funny, so tell me if it is.

“The Most Humble Man on Earth”

By Matthew B. Rose

I’m the most humble man on earth.

Of all men stripped of noble birth

And left to wander the streets at night,

With only a forsaken birth right,

I am the most humble.

I am more holy than a pious priest

Who wages wars with spiritual beasts,

And says his prayers at night before bed,

And strikes his breast, and bows his head,

For he lacks my great humility,

For I am the most humble.

I am mightier than the greatest king,

President, sultan, or other such thing,

Who leads his country from sin and vice,

Hearing whispers of others’ advice,

And shows the advisor as the man

Who thought up that awesome saving plan;

Such great men are mere pish-pash,

Since I am much more humble.

I am more beautiful than the moon,

Reflected near in a child’s spoon.

For the moon steals from the sun

And from theft his light becomes

The source for light in dark night,

And takes the sun’s greater might

And shoves it in his burning face.

Such things cause my heart to race,

For I know I’m more humble.

So for all those whose hearts descend,

Frowning because I am so grand,

Rest assured when you see me pass,

That you are only next to last,

And that you have been greatly blest

And can tonight in your bed rest,

Because you saw my humble face,

That which God could never replace,

That face of incredible birth,

Of the most humble man on earth.

Past weekend

This has nothing to do with bad news.

So this past weekend was a busy one for me. Do you want to hear about it?

Then go away from this post. Jeeez, some people.

Friday
Friday was the first day of the IHM homeschooling conference. This is typically the day that I go with my mom and dad and spend $100 on books. Well, I didn't spend that much, but I did get to see some Christendomites as well as buy some books:
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
Jesus of Nazareth - Pope Benedict XVI
St. Peter the Apostle - William T. Walsh
The Chapel Veil: Symbol of the Spouse - Elizabeth Black and Emily Griswold
Witness to Hope - George Weigel
Some other books too, but I forgot their names.

Saturday
Saturday was the annual Softball tournament for the Archdiocese at my parish. Its for teens only, so I didn't play. Our team did come in second place though, again. I got a chance to talk with some of the adults around, which was very interesting. One of the grandparents of one of the teens wants me to write his life story, he says I have a good grasp of the English language, and that I came from a good Catholic upbringing. My parents were happy about that.

Sunday
Sunday was, as you all know, the celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi (unless you only go to Trad Masses, in which case it was the second Sunday after Pentecost. Not as exciting, but you guys had the feast last Thursday. If you couldn't make it, stinks for you). Once again my parish had a Eucharistic procession. There were some differences from the past couple of years. For starters, Fr. PV was in charge, since the previous priest that had run it for the past couple of years had been sent to another parish. He only had us go out to the Marian grotto, where he had set up a table for benedictions, which is where that was held. He had not said the Mass that preceded the procession (the Pastor, Fr. De, said it, but did not attend the procession), but rather came out at the end to bear Our Lord. I was serving, and it was a good thing too, since the only other servers were my brother and another boy, neither of which were assigned to serve. My brother and I were asked to help because of the procession, and the other guy was thrown up there at the last minute. So we were the servers. For the procession I was incensor; that went well. I got to do the incense like we do it at Christendom, which was fun. It went over well.

That was the weekend. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner. Now another one is around the corner, waiting to be had.

More Good and Bad news

You'll be happy to know that this has nothing to do with Ireland. I know you guys are getting sick of it.

So I had my sister order a 500GB external hard drive for me from Overstock.com, a really good site normally. Well, it came yesterday. I was really excited as I opened the box.
There was the hard drive, light and the size of a book, just as described;
There was the cord that plugs into the computer itself;
There were even little sticky pads to help keep the thing from sliding around on the desk.
Exciting eh? Well, there was one thing missing.
When you have an electronic thing such as an external hard drive, it usually comes with a cord to plug it into a wall. Electronics that require more voltage, such as laptops or hard drives, have 2 parts to their power cords, one part plugs into the electronic piece itself, the other part connects the wall to the adapter, thus to the electronic device. The part that plugs into the hard drive itself was in the shipped box.

The part that plugs into the wall was not. Rather it was one for a different machine. The two parts did not fit together.

So I told Emily she needs to return it, which she is willing to do. But first, I'm gonna search around work to see if we here have anything that works. I'm hoping we do.

I'll keep you updated.

Goodnewsbadnews

Good news/Bad News

Bad: Senator Santorum has pulled himself and his family out of the Ireland trip. They are not going. I don't get to go to Ireland with a senator.

Good: Guess who was first on the waiting list?
Emily, my sister.
I get to go to Ireland with my sister.

That should be fun.

Surreal, for real

Alright, two surreal moments in one day is not fair. You shouldn't get me that excited about something. Alright, first A, then B

A) "Grampa, I have had a letter from Russia. . . " Siobhan shipped out more info on the Ireland trip. So now I have an exciting clump of papers to tell you about, but the real surreal thing involves who is going on the trip.
Now lets see here, ah, here's the list. Alright, now who's going on this thing. Lets see here. I'm only gonna put the names I recognize:
Julian Ahlquist, Matt Bowman, Dr. and Mr. Burns, Fr. Heisler, Nikole Hill, Lisa Hudson, Dr. & Mrs. Keats, Bobby Lancaster, Katherine Melton, Flannery O'Connor, Dr., Mrs., Dubh, & Bridget O'Donnell, Me, Catherine Trojack. . .
And Senator Rick Santorum's entire family. Like there are 8 of them going (blame him if you wanted seats, but were rejected).
So surreal moment #1 is that I'm going to spend 2 weeks in Ireland with Senator Santorum. I think that's pretty darn surreal.

B) So my mom gets the Angelus Press catalog. No, we're not SSPX. They just sell some really good books. They sell, along with works from their own press, other books from other publishers. For example, in the catalog that we received yesterday, there were several Dr. Carroll books in there. Well anyway, so I was flipping around, seeing all the fun books describing why the SSPX is not in schism, and why Archbishop Lefebvre is really a saint, when I stumbled across this short (23 pages) book for $3.25: The Chapel Veil: Symbol of the Spouse. The title wasn't what caught my eye (of all the things traditional Catholics argue for the restoration of, chapel veils is low on my concerned list) but rather the authors, two young women: Elizabeth Black and Emily Griswold.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Um, I believe I know those people. I believe I went to school with them, and Lo! they have a published work. That's pretty surreal, isn't it?

Will it work?

That is the question that arises in the minds of many Catholics as rumors of the Motu Propio that may come out soon(er or later). Will this decree preserve the Church and unite her with those in schism? I'm not gonna lie, I'm in support of the Traditional Mass, but I don't know if the Motu Propio is going to be coming out soon or not.
However, I could be wrong. My good friend Chris, who is Somewhere, has posted on his blog about the Motu Propio quite frequently, most often in the form of copying and pasting the whole article into the post. Well, I'm no better than him, so here's an article from CNA:

Cardinal Bertone announces Latin Mass to be universally authorized “soon”
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=9531)

VATICAN CITY, June 4 (CNA) - In an interview published this Sunday by the
Italian Catholic daily “Avvenire”, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone, announced that the Motu Propio authorizing the universal
celebration of the Mass of St. Pius V—known as the Tridentine Mass—will be made
public “soon.”

During the interview, Cardinal Bertone, said the Motu Propio that would be
signed by Pope Benedict XVI would authorize any priest to celebrate the
Tridentine Mass without the need for prior approval by the local bishop.

The Vatican secretary of State said Catholics “will not have to wait long” for
the publication of the Motu Propio, adding that the Pope “has written an
accompanying letter that explains the reasons for the decision and why he hopes
the authorization will be calmly accepted.”

Cardinal Bertone did not say whether the Motu Propio would open the possibility
for the return to communion with the Rome of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius
X, founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was excommunicated by the
Vatican on June 30, 1988 after ordaining four bishops without the Pope’s
consent. The cardinal also said the Pope’s letter to Catholics in China would
also be published soon, and that it has “already been approved by the Pope and
is being translated into various languages.

Will this solve all the problems, like fully reuniting the SSPX with the Church of Rome, or bringing back other schismatics? Will it satisfy those people I know at school who would probably rather skip Mass on Sunday than go to a Novus Ordo?

I've decided that later this summer, maybe sooner than later, I will post my Apologetics presentation in defense of the Novus Ordo's validity. Will my comments be outdated by then? Who knows.

Until then, God's will be done.

Noise pollution

"I asked the priest if he could start later but he refused, so in the end I brought a complaint of noise pollution against him. I cannot listen to the television or the radio, and reading a book or a newspaper is out of the question." – Flora Leuzzi

Yesterday, in the Washington Times, there was an article on the front page, down at the bottom. It was about how this man, Signore Leuzzi, was fed up with the local practice of the nearby church in quiet Lavagna, Italy. Signore Leuzzi is not talking about some sort of rambunctious rock Mass or some horrible liturgical abuse. He is talking about bells. Church bells to be specific. Leuzzi’s argument is that the constant church bells ringing throughout the day, every 15 minutes to be exact, is disturbing his peace and quiet, his retreat from the noisy world of the city. The bells should not ring.

The Italian Bishops Conference countered, saying that the bells are part of the rhythm of everyday Italian life. They have hired lawyers “to defend their right to ring.”

Fighting against the Conference is the city council of Genoa, the bigger city near Lavagna, who says that the bells are, in fact, breaking noise regulations. Already there have been requests by the council to only chime the bells from 7 am to 10 pm, no earlier or later. The council also asked “that even during religious festivals, chimes last no longer than three minutes. If these guidelines are breached, the churches involved will be fined."

So what does this mean for the Church in Italy? It doesn’t seem the declarations of the council will stop all bell ringing. To quote Monsignor Paolo Urso, of the Bishop’s Conference’s Judicial Office: "The sensibilities of locals must be considered, but at the same time there are also the liturgical practices of the church to bear in mind."

On The Lot

Well, I guess since this is a blog, and blogs normally have deep intellectual meditations, and I’ve been kinda slacking in my meditations, I guess I should provide something. I had something beautiful and brilliant that I thought of last night to write about, but I forgot it. Of course. Maybe it will come to me as I write.

So I finally started watching some TV again. Now that Ed, Edd, and Eddy has fallen into the world of reruns (hoping for a complete series DVD one day), I’ve been forced to turn to other shows to enjoy, maybe something a little more mature or align with my mental capacity.

So you will probably be confused to hear that my new favorite show is on FOX. No, its not House, although I finally saw my first episode of it two weeks ago (it’s a little edgy of a show, but good. Hugh Laurie is incredible. But more on that later). No, my new favorite show tailors to my interests perfectly. It is a reality show, one where you get to vote for your favorite contestant. Yes, it is a shameless take off of American Idol, but there is something different about this one. Very different.

The show is called On The Lot. It is set in Hollywood, land of dreams. There are now 18 (there were 50, soon to be 15) contestants on this show, although they do not need to sing or dance to stay alive. They need to direct movies. And they only have so much time too. The prize: a $1 million deal with Dreamworks to direct a movie for them, executively produced somehow along the line with Steven Spielberg. So they do their thing, hoping, praying. . .

They first had to pitch a movie based on a predetermined logline. Some of them did rather well, others not so well. So that was the first wave of cuts. Then they had to work in groups of 3 to make a 2:30 movie in 24 hours. That cut a bunch of people too.

So that brings me to last night’s show. They had to work on a 1 minute comedy movie; they were all shown last night, and now we America are to vote on which we liked best. Except you only had 2 hours to do it last night, so I missed my window of opportunity. So now I’m worried that my favorite guy won’t make it, etc. He’s a family man, my favorite guy, with two kids and a loving wife. This will probably be his only chance to make it in the movie business. So I like him. His mind for stories is very nice, and it feels like he is a dad at heart. His minute clip was a neat thing about a guy who picks up a lucky penny, and then horrible things happen to him. It was really funny, kinda cute, etc. In other words, it was really well done, funny, and didn’t have to resort to bathroom or sexual humor (although one of the ones with bathroom humor was really funny).

Not all were like that though. Even when there was only a 1 minute runtime, there were still movies with 2 guys kissing, a man and woman feeling each other up in the security check for an airline, nice family friendly stuff like that. But most were not like that. Now I don’t know if that’s because the directors didn’t have enough time to work that in, but I’m hoping its because they’re above all that.

Either way, it looks like an interesting series, and even if my guy gets kicked off, I’m sure I’ll continue watching it.

Fun Times

Summer

Yes, that's right children. Its summer time. You know what that means, its time for Matthew's

RANDOM POINTLESS UPDATES!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats right folks. its time for me to tell you, oh most captivated audience, of my remarkable deeds so far, since myself and my school friends parted. Ok, here goes it:

I've finally put away most of my stuff. In order to do that, i had to go through my closet and get rid of clothes that don't fit me. That opened up a decent amount of room in that doorway to Narnia.

I have decided to have an elaborate dinner reminiscent of of Rome. It will involve sausages cooked with whiskey, green beans, and gelato (the Giant up the street from my house sells it). I'm really excited.

I've been reading The Idiot by Dostoyevsky, but its slow going. I'm only 1/4 of the way through it.

I've started work, which is going fine, thanks for asking. I'm working again at UMD, except this year I should be doing other stuff besides just help desk things. That should work out alright. I'm there right now, actually.

I need to get stuff for my thesis (thesi, thesises, i don't know).

So thats all i can think of right now.

how bout you? what do you have to show for your efforts.