Michael Rose on the "Lavendar Mafia" in the Church

From the Dallas Morning News:

It is not enough to point to the recent John Jay College study that found most of the victims of clergy abuse since 1950 were adolescent boys. Revelations concerning seminary life in recent decades have given sufficient impetus to pursue an extensive evaluation of the institutions that train and educate future priests, especially when it comes to the issue of homosexuality.

Several years ago, Father Donald Cozzens, then rector of a Cleveland seminary, wrote that many seminary faculties included a disproportionate number of homosexuals. In his book, The Changing Face of the Priesthood, he commented that "straight men in a predominantly or significantly gay environment commonly experience self doubt."

In my own study of seminary life over the past three decades, I have found that many heterosexual men give up their seminary studies precisely for this reason, leaving behind a student body gradually swollen with homosexuals. I'm not talking about the presence of a few gay-oriented men who want to live chastely, but rather the institutionalization of a gay subculture that has earned some seminaries nicknames such as the Pink Palace, Notre Flame, and Theological Closet.

A Tale of Two Teams

When Urban Meyer turned down an opportunity to interview at the University of Notre Dame last year and Notre Dame ended up with Charlie Weis it seemed as though Notre Dame had lost out on the best coach available.

Now Meyer's Gators have two losses and Weis's Irish also have two losses, but does anyone out there think that it is a wash as to who has their team headed in the right direction?

Meyer inherited a very talented team that played very good but was incredibly inconsistent...beating a top ranked team one week, losing to an unranked team the next.

Weis inherited a team that, well, just looked horrible all of the time.

Now Weis has taken his group of misfits and made them into contenders even in defeat. Meyer has taken his talented team and forced an offensive scheme that, well, makes them look horrible even when they win.

Its to early to tell how all of this will play out, but I'm guessing the Irish fans are pretty happy that they got Weis--Gator fans are starting to wonder why Steve Spurrier isn't back with them and Urban isn't still with the Mountain West Conference.

Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch

And a famous quote...From the Office of Readings:

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.

Hurricane Wilma?

Possibly threatening the Gulf States later this week?

Feast of St. Teresa of Avila

From the Office of Readings:

All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.

What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near. Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his heart.

Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully considered the lives of some of the saints, the great contemplatives, and found that they took no other path: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, Catherine of Siena. A person must walk along this path in freedom, placing himself in God’s hands. If God should desire to raise us to the position of one who is an intimate and shares his secrets, we ought to accept this gladly.

Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favours, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.

In NH Flooding Leaves the Road Less Traveled in Ruins

Pope Appears on Pancake

Pope John Paul II that is...







From Michigan:

"One Sunday morning, Myrna Kincaid's life changed with the flip of a pancake.
'Look at my pancake,' she reflects. 'It looks like, looks like the pope.'
'I thought it could very well look like him,' said Jay, her husband."