Is My Phylactery Showing?: January 2009

A Remote Corner of the Catholic Blogosphere

My readership here has never been large, and oddly, I seem to get fewer hits when I post. Perhaps this blog is more of a palate cleanser. Anyhoo, take a lookee at my stats for today.

Impressive in a way...

My blog is the raspberry sherbet of the blogosphere.

Jan

A Cool Thing About Studying the Fathers

You get to learn just how long these little disagreements and misunderstandings have been around. Case in point is St. Ignatius. Here's a paragraph from his "Letter to the Philadelphians":

I beseech you, therefore, do nothing in a spirit of division, but according to Christian teaching.

Jan

Review Topics for Lecture 1

These are the study questions from my first lecture in Patristics. Feel free to leave comments if it apppears that I've gone off the tracks.

Describe the four criteria necessary to be considered a Father of the Church

Chronology: To be a Father of the Church, one must have lived during the early formative age of the Church beginning with the late first century and ending in the East in around 749 (at the death of John Damascene); and in the West in 604 (the death of St.

Jan

We All Need Socialist Artwork Now and Then.

Maybe I won't say anything more about this. Make your own here.

If you don't recognize the photo, see this post.

Jan

Help! Patres Eccelsiae

For all of you fellow theology geeks out there, I would appreciate a little assistance. I'm taking a class on patristics this semester, and I'm attempting to find an English translation of Patres Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II's apostolic letter written on the 16th centenary of St. Basil. It's assigned reading for the course, but apparently it's only available widely in Latin or Italian. Our course tutor believes it to be available somewhere on the Web, but I'm having no luck finding.

Jan

Poems by Emily's Younger Brother

Emily Dickinson, that is. Didn't know she had a younger brother who was also a poet? There's a good reason for that.*

Ansley Dickinson's style seems somewhat derivative, yet he has a completely different vision than his elder sister. Let me share just two pieces. I'm sure you'll spot the similarities very quickly.

Jan

Once more with feeling...

Jim Treacher posted this video today. I posted it prior to the election. As good now as it was in the early 90s.

Jan

Fender Bender

I have a small request for prayers today. I had a small accident on my way to morning Mass after dropping my daughter off at school. Traffic was heavy, and I was attempting to change lanes when the traffic in my lane came to a standstill (only moving around 10-15 MPH). The damage to my vehicle (almost paid off) was small and probably more than the other vehicle, but I can feel a bit of misalignment in my next and back.

Jan

Let the Jeers Begin

I'm not sure why I'm posting these, and I'm fairly certain I'll regret it. Maybe Patrick Madrid will stop by and be tempted to post some band photos of his own.

I was proposing to my current bandmate Chris that perhaps it would be fun to throw in an old Stryper song, and suggested this one. Michael Sweet, the vocalist, was something else. He's actually filling in for the late Brad Delp on ths current Boston revival tour. There aren't many people who could pull that off.

Jan

Greatest in the Kingdom

I woke this morning to the news that one of our elder parishioners, Jim Finney, had had a heart attack last night and passed away. This is another loss for us in two weeks, the first being Monsignor Donoghue, a priest of the Diocese of Boise for some 54 years. He's been in declining health for some years, so his passing was expected. However, he was highly esteemed in the diocese, a hero to many of the younger priests, and all around an inspirational figure in our community.

Is My Phylactery Showing?

Faithful Catholic or modern-day pharisee? Sometimes I might be a bit of both.