Time for the Annual Pilgrimage

To Florida Field to see the Gators take on UCF this Saturday. Back in the day I was there for all of them the big and the little games but now a days here in Big Ten country I'll take a dose of SEC mania whenever I can--and hopefully see a high scoring game is just right.
So leaving Notre Dame country, where the crowds are polite and orderly, I'll venture in to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium where the crowd will be frenzied and loud to see short time Notre Dame head coach George O'Leary take on Pope Urban's second year spread offense. It'll be a battle of unbeatens--the game of the century, #1 versus #2 in my pre-season poll (just as valid as the other fictions out there).
Pretty good seats this year too, from the UF athletic director Jeremy Foley. What's my connection? A friend who plays golf with a former Penn State classmate of Foley's (three degrees of separation).
So while the rest of you are watching Ohio State and Texas--I'll be immersed in Gator Heaven--hopefully seeing about 70 points scored by the good guys.
Yesterday's game, Steve Spurrier's appearance in the swamp and Mike Bianci's comments:

From the Orlando Sentinel:

The history books tell us that UF fielded its first team in 1906 with a coach named J.A. "Pee Wee" Forsythe, who doubled as the team's fullback and was paid a $500 salary that first season. A century later, Meyer makes $2 million a year -- and he doesn't even have to suit up. The least he can do is win a championship.
"Since I've left, the Gators haven't won an SEC title," Spurrier said recently when asked why UF fans still adore him. "When they win one or two, that coach will replace me."
But the thing is, if Meyer is to win a championship, he must go through Spurrier to do it. Spurrier was rightfully cheered Saturday on his return to The Swamp; he'll be booed when he brings his Gamecocks here Nov. 11. "South Carolina, that's my team," Spurrier said Saturday. "All my emotions are with South Carolina now."
On this day, Florida fans loved him as one of their own.
In two months, they'll hate him just like everybody else.

Thanks!

From a reader of The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You:

But not until after we'd both ordered a copy of "The How-To Book of the Mass," by Michael Dubriel -- also without previous consultation. Interesting...

The title of Dubriel's book sounds simplistic, but it turned out to be a Godsend. Dubriel explains in detail where every aspect of the Mass originates and why Catholics say the prayers they say, sing the Kyrie and the Gloria, why they sit-stand-kneel, bless themselves and respond at appointed times. He explains the proper forms of the "beating of the breast", the genuflection, the bow, the crossing of oneself, and the proper focus one should maintain for the duration of Mass -- with Biblical parallels and the words of the Early Church for support.

In the end, I'm glad we ordered two copies, because mine ended up with underlines and notes in the margins all over. Which meant that not only had the Mass been illuminated, but at the second service we attended, I wasn't lost. I knew what was happening and why. Highly recommended.

The Pope's Brother Speaks

From The Christian Post:

Looking forward to the pope's visit to Germany and his native Bavaria Sept. 9-14, Ratzinger said he understood the expense of papal travel meant limits on his brother's lingering in his old haunts, including the house the pope still has in Regensburg's Pentling suburb.

One day of the trip is reserved for private time for the two brothers in Regensburg, and for the pope to visit the graves of his mother and father, Maria and Josef, and his sister, Maria, in a local cemetery. Otherwise, the pope will celebrate outdoor Masses in Munich, Regensburg, Altoetting and Freising.

"It's actually just half a day," Ratzinger, 82, said. "Whether it's enough or not, that's all there is. I wish there was more, but a visit is an enormously expensive matter with so many people taking part and the resulting costs. Every second is valuable."

In any case, Georg Ratzinger said he was able to spend almost a month at the papal summer retreat in Castelgandolfo, Italy this year.

The pope, born Joseph Ratzinger, and his brother were ordained priests on the same day in 1951. While Joseph became a theology professor, cardinal of Munich, top Vatican official and then pope, Georg made his career in music, conducting the renowned boys' choir of Regensburg Cathedral.

Catholic Sports Blog

After Amy suggested I start one, I discovered that somebody already had...interesting in that what makes it "Catholic" seems to be all the Catholic allusions used in sports.

The Daily Catholic Sports Blog

A Familiar Face Looking Back at Me

I doubt they have statues in this Orthodox church (another case of shoddy reporting)...

From the Norwich Bulletin:

Peter Dimas was sitting in the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Norwich several weeks ago when he looked up to the pale blue, stuccoed ceiling and saw a familiar face staring back at him.

Even though churches, especially Greek Orthodox, are known for their decor of religious images, the face of Jesus Dimas saw was not one of the statues or pictures that adorn other parts of the church. The eyes, hair, nose and mouth of Jesus are shaded -- though church officials say unintentionally -- into the domed ceiling repainted about eight years ago.

Pope Prays Before Veil of Veronica

From AGI:

"Let's seek the face of the Lord, together let's try to see the lord's face and, in him, find the path for our lives": with these words Benedict XVI explained to worshippers the spirit of his visit today to the Manoppello Sanctuary. "Dear brothers and sister - he said, greeting worshippers in the Sanctuary piazza - thank you for this warm welcome; I see many families from the Church gathered together here: where there is the Pope, this family united with great joy and I see all the beauty of the South of Italy in your faces. I especially greet those who are unwell: you are in our prayers - pray for each other also".

In Some Parts of Russia, Classes on Orthodoxy Mandatory

From Asia News Italy:

The teaching of the Orthodox religion has now become mandatory in the high
schools of four provinces of what once was the atheist Soviet state. In July
Moscow’s Spiritual Academy approved “Basics of Orthodox Culture”, a course soon
to be taught in the provinces of Belgorod, Kaluga, Brjansk and Smolensk. By
2010, the Moscow Patriarchate should have trained some 10,000 religious
teachers. In 11 other provinces, religion will be taught but won’t be
mandatory.
These developments reflect the Russian Orthodox Church’s plan to have
religion taught across the country. By contrast, government officials are
planning a more general course on the “History of World Religions” so as to not
offend the country’s religious minorities.
Aleksij II, patriarch of Moscow
and All Russia, is convinced that “pupils should know the history of their
culture, and this is the goal of ‘Basics of Orthodox Culture’.” He also believes
that this is true for other religions as well.