Please Tell Me That I'm Dreaming...

...or possibly having a nightmare...

*OUCH !*

No, no such luck... I pinched myself, and it's still on Fr. Ray's and Ttony's blogs. According to The Telegraph, the terna, the official list of candidates, has been whittled down to three and submitted by the Nuncio...

The choice is apparently between Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Bishop Arthur Roche and Archbishop Peter Smith.

The Nuncio is obviously not a devotee of Paddy Power. While Archbishop Nichols is favourite at 2-1, the other two are languishing at 12-1.

Well, Sylvester Will Be Pleased...

This might explain why Sylvester and I get along so well... and why I love Garfield !

You Would Be a Pet Cat

Independent and aloof, you don't like to be dependent on anyone. And as for other people, you can take them or leave them. You live your life by your own rules. And you have deep motivations that no one truly understands. Why you would make a great pet: You're not needy or greedy... unlike other four legged friends. Why you would make a bad pet: You're not exactly running down to greet people at the door What you would love about being a cat: Agility and freedom What you would hate about being a cat: Being treated like a dog by clueless humans

What Kind of Pet Would You Be?

New Blog Alert !

John Paul left a comment asking me to give him a plug, so....

Oh, ok... he's over at Mad Trad. Pop over and say hallo!

Very Funny... Thank God I Took Vows!

Fr. Dwight Longenecker has some recent entries for "International Husband of the Year."

First up, we have the entry from Serbia:


Then the UK entry:


The USA has a strong contender:


But I think Poland might just scoop this one:

Pleasantly Surprised...

When I first saw the report (courtesy of the Curt Jester) of three middle-aged Irish priests signing a £1 million recording deal, my heart sank. Was this going to be another cringe-making, guitar-strumming trio, surrounded by liturgical prancers, I wondered?

And then I saw a link to The Telegraph's article on the trio, with video, over at Fr. Longenecker's. The priests are going to be singing sacred music. And wearing clericals. And they sound good...

Just In Case You Thought They'd All Gone...

The Cannonball pointed me to the following post, which really beggars belief. I think I may have been getting complacent, as the WimminPriest crowds at both Southwark and Westminster seem to have given up... or died (well, they were getting on a bit!)

While attempting not to lose my lunch over the keyboard of my computer, I did enjoy the following little caption which accompanied another photo:

Womenpriests gather in front of mobile billboard demanding the ontologically impossible. Hilarity ensues when Rose Hudson notices someone under the age of sixty has infiltrated the photo op.

The only positive outcome of this sorry episode is that I was given the opportunity to check out the blog of the Saint Louis Catholic...

Happy St. George's Day...

Strange how St. George doesn't get quite such a fuss made of him as St. Patrick, St. David or even St. Andrew...

He's a bit like St. Valentine... people have assumed that he was "made up" and so they are a bit embarrassed. They don't want to admit to believing a myth...

I think it might be the dragon that did for him... we don't really believe in dragons - they belong to children's stories. But the dragon was a representation of evil, of Satan. And the princess he rescued represented the Church. Although the details of St. George's life are a little sketchy, it seems that he was born of wealthy parents in Cappadocia, and moved to Palestine on the death of his father. He became a Tribune in the Roman army, and when he complained to the Emperor Diocletian about the treatment of the Christians, he was arrested and thrown into prison himself. He was tortured, dragged through the streets and beheaded.

St. George, Patron of England and martyr, pray for us.

Can Somebody Please Explain To Me Why...

...when you happen to be at home, waiting for a delivery (or similar), the stuff invariably shows up at the very end of your chosen delivery slot, whereas, if you are trying to get home in time for a similar delivery, you find that it arrived fifteen minutes before your allocated delivery time...?

(To be fair, the very nice Sainsbury's delivery man was just sitting in his van waiting for me... )

Heartbreaking...

... there I was, driving down the road to Mass this morning, when I spotted a duck standing at the side of the road looking across. Even though there is a park with a large boating lake nearby, it is not often one sees a duck on the pavement. It seemed to be looking intently at something...

And then I spotted a second duck, in the middle of two lanes, squashed...

The picture would have been worth a thousand words, but not the car-crash which would have ensued if I'd tried to stop to take out my camera!

Which brings me to the joke-in-very-poor-taste for today:

Why did the chicken go to see the clairvoyant?

- to get to the other side...

I Love This Picture...

The Holy Father, young seminarians, enthusiasm... what more could you want?

Mantilla twitched in the direction of Vincenzo... he also has the text of the Holy Father's address to the young people at St. Joseph's Seminary, New York.