The Epic Struggles of Our Life's Journey

Some recent commercial correspondence with Amazon and Amazon vendor The Deal Rack :

Correspondence from Amazon:

Here is a copy of the e-mail that you sent to The Deal Rack. Order ID 105-9428362-3853848: 1 of Harvard Square Pullover Hooded Nylon Pouch Jacket HS138 yellow Medium [ASIN: B006HT2WBI] ------------- Begin message ------------- Dear The Deal Rack and [Bovina Bloviator], This email is being sent to you by Amazon to notify and confirm that a return authorization has been requested for the item(s) listed below. The Deal Rack, please take action on this return request in the Manage Returns section of your seller account. You can also respond to the buyer by replying to this e-mail. [Bovina Bloviator], the information below is confirmation of the items that you have requested to return to The Deal Rack. No additional action is required from you at this time. Order ID: 105-9428362-3853848 Item: Harvard Square Pullover Hooded Nylon Pouch Jacket HS138 yellow Medium Qty: 1 Return reason: Defective/Does not work properly Buyer comments: Lower hem torn. Request received: May 21, 2012 Sincerely, Amazon Services ------------- End message ------------- For Your Information: To help arbitrate disputes and preserve trust and safety, we retain all messages buyers and sellers send through Amazon.com for two years. This includes your response to the message above. Amazon.com uses filtering technology to protect buyers and sellers from possible fraud. Messages that fail this filtering will not be transmitted. We want you to buy with confidence anytime you purchase products on Amazon.com. Learn more about Safe Online Shopping (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=10412241) and our safe buying guarantee (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=537868).

Correspondence from The Deal Rack:

Dear [Bovina Bloviator], Thank you for contacting The Deal Rack. We have received your email and will respond to you within one business day. We answer emails and the phone Monday through Friday from 9:30AM to 5:30PM EST. Thank you again for contacting us. We will write you back shortly. ___________________________ The Deal Rack Name Brand Clothes for Less Service: M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM 888-755-7225 (toll free) ------------- End message ------------- For Your Information: To help arbitrate disputes and preserve trust and safety, we retain all messages buyers and sellers send through Amazon.com for two years. This includes your response to the message above. Amazon.com uses filtering technology to protect buyers and sellers from possible fraud. Messages that fail this filtering will not be transmitted. We want you to buy with confidence anytime you purchase products on Amazon.com. Learn more about Safe Online Shopping (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=10412241) and our safe buying guarantee (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=537868). [commMgrTok:A2C3WYFACM9NLG]

Further correspondence from The Deal Rack:

Dear [Bovina Bloviaotor] - Amazon Marketplace, Thank you for your email and interest in The Deal Rack! I'd be happy to help you. This email acknowledges our receipt of your return request. You will receive an additional email through Amazon with return information including your Return Authorization Number (RA#) and our returns mailing address once your request is reviewed by our returns department. This review could take 1 - 2 business days. Please rest assured that as long as your initial request was received within 14 days of the receipt of your order, your request will not be denied for exceeding our return policy time period. For your convenience, our return policy follows below. Let me know if you have any other questions. Remember that we do refunds for all returns. Thank you for giving us a try and we hope you'll keep shopping with us! RETURN POLICY: If you are unsatisfied with an item (other than wholesale bulk lots) for any reason, return it within 14 days of purchase in new, unworn, and unwashed condition with original tags attached (if applicable) for a full refund of the purchase price (excluding shipping). We apologize that we cannot do exchanges and offer refunds only. All underwear is NOT returnable. Wholesale bulk lots may be returned only if defective. All returns must have a return authorization (RA) number that we issue and must be shipped directly to us. We cannot refund returns that are either not shipped to our returns address or do not have an RA number. Please allow 10 business days for your credit to process. In the event that you need to make a return because of a mistake that we made, we will refund round trip shipping and/or take whatever other steps are appropriate Let me know if you have any other questions & thanks! Best, Marc ___________________________ Marc Schmidt The Deal Rack 888-755-7225 (toll free) Name Brand Clothes for Less :::500A000000A2nSQIAZ:::

Correspondence (the end of it, I had assumed) from your humble Bloviator to The Deal Rack:

Dear Marc,
Thank you for your message. This seems an absurdly elaborate protocol for an item that cost  $3.28 (plus $4.85 shipping). Frankly, it's not worth it. I will keep the item as it is and trouble you no longer with my business. That should be to the benefit of us both, I should think.
Yours sincerely,
[The Bovina Bloviator]

But it was not the end of it. I guess Marc wanted the last word:

Dear [Bovina Bloviator] - Amazon Marketplace, I'm sorry that an acknowledgement of your submitted return request along with an expected time frame when to expect your return merchandise authorization is anabsurdly elaborate protocol, however this is how our returns process works. A customer makes a return request, the seller acknowledges that request, then reviews said request to provide either an approval or denial, it's a rather simple standard returns process. If you no longer wish to return the item you can cancel your request with Amazon at any time in the manage returns center. Best, Marc :::500A000000A2nSQIAZ:::

Oh dear, rather snippy, Marc seems. He seemed friendlier, if a tad prosy, before. I must have hurt the poor fellow's feelings. Ah, well, perhaps this will bring our drama to a quiet conclusion:

Dear Marc,
I shall do as you suggest.
Your obedient servant,
[The Bovina Bloviator]

UPDATE: Apparently it's not that easy.

Dear [Bovina Bloviator], Thank you for contacting The Deal Rack. We have received your email and will respond to you within one business day. We answer emails and the phone Monday through Friday from 9:30AM to 5:30PM EST. Thank you again for contacting us. We will write you back shortly. ___________________________ The Deal Rack Name Brand Clothes for Less Service: M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM 888-755-7225 (toll free)

I am afraid.

UPDATE 2: La Commedia è finita! Amazon gave me a refund even though I cancelled the return request. Bravo.

The Epic Struggles of Our Life's Journey

Some recent commercial correspondence with Amazon and Amazon vendor The Deal Rack :

Correspondence from Amazon:

Here is a copy of the e-mail that you sent to The Deal Rack. Order ID 105-9428362-3853848: 1 of Harvard Square Pullover Hooded Nylon Pouch Jacket HS138 yellow Medium [ASIN: B006HT2WBI] ------------- Begin message ------------- Dear The Deal Rack and [Bovina Bloviator], This email is being sent to you by Amazon to notify and confirm that a return authorization has been requested for the item(s) listed below. The Deal Rack, please take action on this return request in the Manage Returns section of your seller account. You can also respond to the buyer by replying to this e-mail. [Bovina Bloviator], the information below is confirmation of the items that you have requested to return to The Deal Rack. No additional action is required from you at this time. Order ID: 105-9428362-3853848 Item: Harvard Square Pullover Hooded Nylon Pouch Jacket HS138 yellow Medium Qty: 1 Return reason: Defective/Does not work properly Buyer comments: Lower hem torn. Request received: May 21, 2012 Sincerely, Amazon Services ------------- End message ------------- For Your Information: To help arbitrate disputes and preserve trust and safety, we retain all messages buyers and sellers send through Amazon.com for two years. This includes your response to the message above. Amazon.com uses filtering technology to protect buyers and sellers from possible fraud. Messages that fail this filtering will not be transmitted. We want you to buy with confidence anytime you purchase products on Amazon.com. Learn more about Safe Online Shopping (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=10412241) and our safe buying guarantee (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=537868).

Correspondence from The Deal Rack:

Dear [Bovina Bloviator], Thank you for contacting The Deal Rack. We have received your email and will respond to you within one business day. We answer emails and the phone Monday through Friday from 9:30AM to 5:30PM EST. Thank you again for contacting us. We will write you back shortly. ___________________________ The Deal Rack Name Brand Clothes for Less Service: M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM 888-755-7225 (toll free) ------------- End message ------------- For Your Information: To help arbitrate disputes and preserve trust and safety, we retain all messages buyers and sellers send through Amazon.com for two years. This includes your response to the message above. Amazon.com uses filtering technology to protect buyers and sellers from possible fraud. Messages that fail this filtering will not be transmitted. We want you to buy with confidence anytime you purchase products on Amazon.com. Learn more about Safe Online Shopping (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=10412241) and our safe buying guarantee (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=537868). [commMgrTok:A2C3WYFACM9NLG]

Further correspondence from The Deal Rack:

Dear [Bovina Bloviaotor] - Amazon Marketplace, Thank you for your email and interest in The Deal Rack! I'd be happy to help you. This email acknowledges our receipt of your return request. You will receive an additional email through Amazon with return information including your Return Authorization Number (RA#) and our returns mailing address once your request is reviewed by our returns department. This review could take 1 - 2 business days. Please rest assured that as long as your initial request was received within 14 days of the receipt of your order, your request will not be denied for exceeding our return policy time period. For your convenience, our return policy follows below. Let me know if you have any other questions. Remember that we do refunds for all returns. Thank you for giving us a try and we hope you'll keep shopping with us! RETURN POLICY: If you are unsatisfied with an item (other than wholesale bulk lots) for any reason, return it within 14 days of purchase in new, unworn, and unwashed condition with original tags attached (if applicable) for a full refund of the purchase price (excluding shipping). We apologize that we cannot do exchanges and offer refunds only. All underwear is NOT returnable. Wholesale bulk lots may be returned only if defective. All returns must have a return authorization (RA) number that we issue and must be shipped directly to us. We cannot refund returns that are either not shipped to our returns address or do not have an RA number. Please allow 10 business days for your credit to process. In the event that you need to make a return because of a mistake that we made, we will refund round trip shipping and/or take whatever other steps are appropriate Let me know if you have any other questions & thanks! Best, Marc ___________________________ Marc Schmidt The Deal Rack 888-755-7225 (toll free) Name Brand Clothes for Less :::500A000000A2nSQIAZ:::

Correspondence (the end of it, I had assumed) from your humble Bloviator to The Deal Rack:

Dear Marc,
Thank you for your message. This seems an absurdly elaborate protocol for an item that cost  $3.28 (plus $4.85 shipping). Frankly, it's not worth it. I will keep the item as it is and trouble you no longer with my business. That should be to the benefit of us both, I should think.
Yours sincerely,
[The Bovina Bloviator]

But it was not the end of it. I guess Marc wanted the last word:

Dear [Bovina Bloviator] - Amazon Marketplace, I'm sorry that an acknowledgement of your submitted return request along with an expected time frame when to expect your return merchandise authorization is anabsurdly elaborate protocol, however this is how our returns process works. A customer makes a return request, the seller acknowledges that request, then reviews said request to provide either an approval or denial, it's a rather simple standard returns process. If you no longer wish to return the item you can cancel your request with Amazon at any time in the manage returns center. Best, Marc :::500A000000A2nSQIAZ:::

Oh dear, rather snippy, Marc seems. He seemed friendlier, if a tad prosy, before. I must have hurt the poor fellow's feelings. Ah, well, perhaps this will bring our drama to a quiet conclusion:

Dear Marc,
I shall do as you suggest.
Your obedient servant,
[The Bovina Bloviator]

UPDATE: Apparently it's not that easy.

Dear [Bovina Bloviator], Thank you for contacting The Deal Rack. We have received your email and will respond to you within one business day. We answer emails and the phone Monday through Friday from 9:30AM to 5:30PM EST. Thank you again for contacting us. We will write you back shortly. ___________________________ The Deal Rack Name Brand Clothes for Less Service: M-F 9:30AM-5:30PM 888-755-7225 (toll free)

I am afraid.

UPDATE 2: La Commedia è finita! Amazon gave me a refund even though I cancelled the return request. Bravo.

Out of the Dog House?

In June of last year I alerted readers Fr. John Hunwicke, a most excellent Church of England cleric who had hopes of being ordained into the priesthood of the Catholic Church, had been thwarted in his hopes, owing most likely to opposition from.the so-called  "magic circle" bishops, who may have taken offense at Hunwicke's frequent take-no-prisoners attacks on the more egregious post-Vatican II reforms.

Now it appears, Deo gratias, that Fr. Hunwicke and his opponents have mended fences. Over the transom (via good Professor Tighe) comes word that Fr. Hunwicke's name appears on the list of candidates to the priesthood into the Anglican Ordinariate for the year 2012. This is splendid news.

Some years ago a C of  E  bishop (I cannot remember whom) complained to a friend and counterpart in the Catholic Church: "We send you our best and you send us your worst." These days it cannot be any other way.

Out of the Dog House?

In June of last year I alerted readers Fr. John Hunwicke, a most excellent Church of England cleric who had hopes of being ordained into the priesthood of the Catholic Church, had been thwarted in his hopes, owing most likely to opposition from.the so-called  "magic circle" bishops, who may have taken offense at Hunwicke's frequent take-no-prisoners attacks on the more egregious post-Vatican II reforms.

Now it appears, Deo gratias, that Fr. Hunwicke and his opponents have mended fences. Over the transom (via good Professor Tighe) comes word that Fr. Hunwicke's name appears on the list of candidates to the priesthood into the Anglican Ordinariate for the year 2012. This is splendid news.

Some years ago a C of  E  bishop (I cannot remember whom) complained to a friend and counterpart in the Catholic Church: "We send you our best and you send us your worst." These days it cannot be any other way.

They Just Don't Get It at Georgetown U

Or perhaps they do. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be the commencement speaker at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute's graduation ceremony on May 18th. This has to be a deliberately provocative move. Even in the cocoon of academe the Georgetown administrators must surely have picked up the occasional stray rumor Ms. Sebeleus is more than a little controversial; that when told told by her bishop to chose between advocating for abortion and receiving at communion, she elected the former; that she is responsible for the Obama administration's recent order Catholic employers must provide for contraception, abortifacients and sterilization in their employee health plans.

The Georgetown Jebbies and other administrators, by inviting Secretary Sebeleus to speak are sending a clear message to Holy Church they feel not the least bound by her teachings, nor by the inevitable protests arising from the faithful over their willful flouting of them. It is a mystery to this writer that observant Catholic parents would consider, even briefly, sending their children to that formerly Catholic institution.

UPDATE: is it possible this is merely a cynical stunt by the Georgetown administration, extending an invitation to Secretary Sebeleus knowing full well they must withdraw it (with "deep regret," no doubt) later on when pressured from above? They may then bewail the "crushing of dissent" or  some-such by the Church and earn street creds with the campus radicals.

They Just Don't Get It at Georgetown U

Or perhaps they do. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be the commencement speaker at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute's graduation ceremony on May 18th. This has to be a deliberately provocative move. Even in the cocoon of academe the Georgetown administrators must surely have picked up the occasional stray rumor Ms. Sebeleus is more than a little controversial; that when told told by her bishop to chose between advocating for abortion and receiving at communion, she elected the former; that she is responsible for the Obama administration's recent order Catholic employers must provide for contraception, abortifacients and sterilization in their employee health plans.

The Georgetown Jebbies and other administrators, by inviting Secretary Sebeleus to speak are sending a clear message to Holy Church they feel not the least bound by her teachings, nor by the inevitable protests arising from the faithful over their willful flouting of them. It is a mystery to this writer that observant Catholic parents would consider, even briefly, sending their children to that formerly Catholic institution.

UPDATE: is it possible this is merely a cynical stunt by the Georgetown administration, extending an invitation to Secretary Sebeleus knowing full well they must withdraw it (with "deep regret," no doubt) later on when pressured from above? They may then bewail the "crushing of dissent" or  some-such by the Church and earn street creds with the campus radicals.

Don't Sugar Coat it, Governor...

Tell us what you really think. Chris Christie, Governor of the State of New Jersey, in fine form.

Don't Sugar Coat it, Governor...

Tell us what you really think. Chris Christie, Governor of the State of New Jersey, in fine form.

Gee, I Had No Idea...

Tim McCarver: More home runs hit today because of climate change.

Gee, I Had No Idea...

Tim McCarver: More home runs hit today because of climate change.

In a Mysterious Way

If you have never seen director Pier Paolo Pasolini's movie The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (1964) I urge you to do so. I had been meaning to see it myself for many years but, notwithstanding the judgment of the critics, put it off, hesitant, leery even, over what it might contain given Pasolini's notoriety as a firebrand Marxist atheistic hedonist. I finally got over my qualms, however, and watched it last night. It is an extraordinary achievement.

Pasolini cast no professional actors in this picture, instead using local amateurs, friends and family (his own mother plays, beautifully and movingly, the older Virgin Mary). He shot the picture in southern Italy (rejecting the Holy Land as "commercialized") and put together a wonderfully eclectic score wherein I recognized the music of Bach (Mass in B-minor and Saint Matthew Passion), Mozart (Masonic Funeral Music), Prokofieff (score to--ironically--Alexander Nevsky), the singer Odetta and a Congolese setting of the Mass, Missa Luba.  The dialogue (in Italian), with a few minor exceptions, is directly and exclusively from Matthew's Gospel (the DVD I watched had English subtitles using the King James version, an inspired choice). Combined with astonishing performances from the non-professional cast, we have, in my opinion, the greatest Gospel depiction in cinema, unlike any other I have seen. It moved me to the quick.

Pasolini was brutally murdered at the age of 53, the result of rough trade with a 17-year-old male hustler. I suppose it is a wonder, given his notorious and sordid existence (his last picture, the graphically extreme Salo, made shortly before his death, would likely have had no trouble passing Justice Potter Stewart's test), Pasolini could also be the author of such a moving and loving work of religious art like The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. For me, however, he also serves as a reminder all of us have God in us and thus are capable of godly things. Whatever Pasolini's ultimate fate, let us give thanks and praise to God for the good things he did and pray for the repose of his soul. A Happy Easter to all.

In a Mysterious Way

If you have never seen director Pier Paolo Pasolini's movie The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (1964) I urge you to do so. I had been meaning to see it myself for many years but, notwithstanding the judgment of the critics, put it off, hesitant, leery even, over what it might contain given Pasolini's notoriety as a firebrand Marxist atheistic hedonist. I finally got over my qualms, however, and watched it last night. It is an extraordinary achievement.

Pasolini cast no professional actors in this picture, instead using local amateurs, friends and family (his own mother plays, beautifully and movingly, the older Virgin Mary). He shot the picture in southern Italy (rejecting the Holy Land as "commercialized") and put together a wonderfully eclectic score wherein I recognized the music of Bach (Mass in B-minor and Saint Matthew Passion), Mozart (Masonic Funeral Music), Prokofieff (score to--ironically--Alexander Nevsky), the singer Odetta and a Congolese setting of the Mass, Missa Luba.  The dialogue (in Italian), with a few minor exceptions, is directly and exclusively from Matthew's Gospel (the DVD I watched had English subtitles using the King James version, an inspired choice). Combined with astonishing performances from the non-professional cast, we have, in my opinion, the greatest Gospel depiction in cinema, unlike any other I have seen. It moved me to the quick.

Pasolini was brutally murdered at the age of 53, the result of rough trade with a 17-year-old male hustler. I suppose it is a wonder, given his notorious and sordid existence (his last picture, the graphically extreme Salo, made shortly before his death, would likely have had no trouble passing Justice Potter Stewart's test), Pasolini could also be the author of such a moving and loving work of religious art like The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. For me, however, he also serves as a reminder all of us have God in us and thus are capable of godly things. Whatever Pasolini's ultimate fate, let us give thanks and praise to God for the good things he did and pray for the repose of his soul. A Happy Easter to all.

Diary of a Papist Convert: Vigilantes

Jeffrey A. Tucker of the splendid Chant Cafe points out something so obvious it's no wonder that many of us have failed to notice it: the Mass celebrated on Saturday evenings (or afternoons) should not be called a "vigil" Mass. True vigil Masses are celebrated before Easter and the Feast of St. John the Baptist; most Sunday Masses celebrated on Saturday are more accurately referred to as "anticipated" Masses (which hardly trips off the tongue but neither does "Extraordinary Form"--whaddya gonna do?).

The anticipated Mass (there now, that wasn't so hard, was it?) is a creature of the post-Vatican II reforms and for once this hidebound conservative has little cause for complaint--in principle, mind you. I recall my in my youth first observing the then-odd sight of worshipers filing into our neighborhood Catholic church on Saturday. I also recall my younger brother and I, who as budding Episcopalians naturally were  being carefully (if subtly) taught the myriad joys of anti-Catholicism, gleefully dubbing the service the "Get It Over With Mass" (obviously a case of envy projection). Later on, of course, I learned attendance at Sunday Mass was obligatory for Catholics and to that end Holy Church took efforts to make fulfillment as convenient as possible. That seemed reasonable to me, even if the Mass were to be celebrated the evening before.

As a Catholic, my only real objection to the Get It Over With Mass is, for reasons I do not know (but I'll bet Novus Ordo bears at least partial culpability), it has become the repository for some of the most egregious abuses in modern Catholic worship: for clergy, sloppy, even slovenly, liturgy; for laity, arriving late, wearing dress tank tops and chattering non-stop throughout. Part of the reform of the putative reform, which steadily continues its course albeit at a glacial pace, is for traditionalist Catholics to be ever-vigilant (if you'll pardon the expression) to these abuses and lovingly shaming the perpetrators thereof into larnin' to behave.

Diary of a Papist Convert: Vigilantes

Jeffrey A. Tucker of the splendid Chant Cafe points out something so obvious it's no wonder that many of us have failed to notice it: the Mass celebrated on Saturday evenings (or afternoons) should not be called a "vigil" Mass. True vigil Masses are celebrated before Easter and the Feast of St. John the Baptist; most Sunday Masses celebrated on Saturday are more accurately referred to as "anticipated" Masses (which hardly trips off the tongue but neither does "Extraordinary Form"--whaddya gonna do?).

The anticipated Mass (there now, that wasn't so hard, was it?) is a creature of the post-Vatican II reforms and for once this hidebound conservative has little cause for complaint--in principle, mind you. I recall my in my youth first observing the then-odd sight of worshipers filing into our neighborhood Catholic church on Saturday. I also recall my younger brother and I, who as budding Episcopalians naturally were  being carefully (if subtly) taught the myriad joys of anti-Catholicism, gleefully dubbing the service the "Get It Over With Mass" (obviously a case of envy projection). Later on, of course, I learned attendance at Sunday Mass was obligatory for Catholics and to that end Holy Church took efforts to make fulfillment as convenient as possible. That seemed reasonable to me, even if the Mass were to be celebrated the evening before.

As a Catholic, my only real objection to the Get It Over With Mass is, for reasons I do not know (but I'll bet Novus Ordo bears at least partial culpability), it has become the repository for some of the most egregious abuses in modern Catholic worship: for clergy, sloppy, even slovenly, liturgy; for laity, arriving late, wearing dress tank tops and chattering non-stop throughout. Part of the reform of the putative reform, which steadily continues its course albeit at a glacial pace, is for traditionalist Catholics to be ever-vigilant (if you'll pardon the expression) to these abuses and lovingly shaming the perpetrators thereof into larnin' to behave.

They Trusted Him

In an interview conducted by James Tarranto in the Wall Street Journal Cardinal Timothy Dolan decries his betrayal by the President of the United States:

At the end of their 45-minute discussion, the archbishop summed up what he understood as the president's message:

"I said, 'I've heard you say, first of all, that you have immense regard for the work of the Catholic Church in the United States in health care, education and charity. . . . I have heard you say that you are not going to let the administration do anything to impede that work and . . . that you take the protection of the rights of conscience with the utmost seriousness. . . . Does that accurately sum up our conversation?' [Mr. Obama] said, 'You bet it does.'"

The archbishop asked for permission to relay the message to the other bishops. "You don't have my permission, you've got my request," the president replied.

"So you can imagine the chagrin," Archbishop Dolan continues, "when he called me at the end of January to say that the mandates remain in place and that there would be no substantive change, and that the only thing that he could offer me was that we would have until August. . . .

I suppose it's a stretch and disrespectful to boot to liken His Eminence and his fellow bishops in the USCCB to the character of Flounder (less so the President to Otter) in the movie Animal House. Neverthless, this scene comes to mind.



To be fair, Dolan, though he evinces little or no concern for our present horrendous liturgy, is far brighter than most of the bishops in the USCCB, whose decades-long attempts at grafting leftist ideology to the moral teachings of Holy Church has, at last, yielded little else than their being shown for fools. The only charitable thing that might be said of the USCCB is they strike this former member of the Episcopal Church as not being quite as dumb as their counterparts in that institution. That would be a stretch indeed.

They Trusted Him

In an interview conducted by James Tarranto in the Wall Street Journal Cardinal Timothy Dolan decries his betrayal by the President of the United States:

At the end of their 45-minute discussion, the archbishop summed up what he understood as the president's message:

"I said, 'I've heard you say, first of all, that you have immense regard for the work of the Catholic Church in the United States in health care, education and charity. . . . I have heard you say that you are not going to let the administration do anything to impede that work and . . . that you take the protection of the rights of conscience with the utmost seriousness. . . . Does that accurately sum up our conversation?' [Mr. Obama] said, 'You bet it does.'"

The archbishop asked for permission to relay the message to the other bishops. "You don't have my permission, you've got my request," the president replied.

"So you can imagine the chagrin," Archbishop Dolan continues, "when he called me at the end of January to say that the mandates remain in place and that there would be no substantive change, and that the only thing that he could offer me was that we would have until August. . . .

I suppose it's a stretch and disrespectful to boot to liken His Eminence and his fellow bishops in the USCCB to the character of Flounder (less so the President to Otter) in the movie Animal House. Neverthless, this scene comes to mind.



To be fair, Dolan, though he evinces little or no concern for our present horrendous liturgy, is far brighter than most of the bishops in the USCCB, whose decades-long attempts at grafting leftist ideology to the moral teachings of Holy Church has, at last, yielded little else than their being shown for fools. The only charitable thing that might be said of the USCCB is they strike this former member of the Episcopal Church as not being quite as dumb as their counterparts in that institution. That would be a stretch indeed.

They Never Disappoint

Who but looniest of the loony left would question the veracity of these words, spoken by the Pope to the press on his way to Cuba: "Today it is evident that Marxist ideology in the way it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality." Who, I ask? Why the Jesuits, of course! From their America Magazine, referring to an article in Reuters (emphasis added): "Reuters reports on Pope Benedict's upcoming trip to Cuba, and says that the Pope is offering Cuba the church's assistance should it move away from communism, which he claims no longer works."

They Never Disappoint

Who but looniest of the loony left would question the veracity of these words, spoken by the Pope to the press on his way to Cuba: "Today it is evident that Marxist ideology in the way it was conceived no longer corresponds to reality." Who, I ask? Why the Jesuits, of course! From their America Magazine, referring to an article in Reuters (emphasis added): "Reuters reports on Pope Benedict's upcoming trip to Cuba, and says that the Pope is offering Cuba the church's assistance should it move away from communism, which he claims no longer works."

If Your're Free on the Evening of Monday the 26th...

You may wish to come to this (from the Church of Holy Innocents in New York City):

On Monday, March 26th, on the Solemnity of Annunciation, the retired bishop James C. Timlin of the Diocese of Scranton will celebrate the Solemn Pontifical Traditional Latin Mass at 6pm, and will also administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to several candidates. All are welcome!

I wonder the last time the Sacrament of Confirmation was administered in New York using the traditional Latin rite; decades ago, I should think. Please consider attending if you are in the area. Not only will you be witnessing an historic occasion, you will also be showing support of the good efforts of clergy and laymen of  Holy Innocents in restoring traditional worship to its proper place in Holy Church.

Incidentally, your Bloviator will be singing with the Holy Innocents Schola Cantorum that evening. You should consider attending regardless.

If Your're Free on the Evening of Monday the 26th...

You may wish to come to this (from the Church of Holy Innocents in New York City):

On Monday, March 26th, on the Solemnity of Annunciation, the retired bishop James C. Timlin of the Diocese of Scranton will celebrate the Solemn Pontifical Traditional Latin Mass at 6pm, and will also administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to several candidates. All are welcome!

I wonder the last time the Sacrament of Confirmation was administered in New York using the traditional Latin rite; decades ago, I should think. Please consider attending if you are in the area. Not only will you be witnessing an historic occasion, you will also be showing support of the good efforts of clergy and laymen of  Holy Innocents in restoring traditional worship to its proper place in Holy Church.

Incidentally, your Bloviator will be singing with the Holy Innocents Schola Cantorum that evening. You should consider attending regardless.