Catholicae Testudines

From the CSC archives...

Look what I found in the 1966 Terrapin yearbook -

Archbishop of Washington Patrick A. O'Boyle and Archbishop of Baltimore Lawrence Cardinal Shehan at the dedication of the Newman Center.

Chaplain Fr. Tepe enters the new building, flanked by Knights of Columbus.

Bonus pic: Memorial Chapel before the removal of the old altar.

The picture is for the University's observance of the 1966 World Day of Prayer (imagine that happening now!).  I don't know for sure whose service this is.

"Quiet, Father. I'm an expert liturgist."

Fr. Keyes: Pray for me as I have to endure (must be time for penance) a modern liturgy prepared by some expert liturgists.

Ok, I don't care what often happens - does it seem weird to anyone else for laymen (what is the likelihood in this case that they are not) to dictate liturgy to priests?  Does it seem normal to you that there are expert liturgists who are not priests?

My status

The other day I was treated to a Blue Screen of Death by my laptop seconds after (thanks be to God) saving a paper I had just finished.  When I restarted the computer I became aware of a loud tick-tick-tick! coming from the hard drive.  I managed to back up everything important before it crashed again, but now I suppose I must replace the HD.  Until then I'll be blogging from the library at the CSC and other computer labs on campus, so we'll see how it goes even though I won't get nearly so much screen time.   In the meantime, Albert and Peter are on a roll, so don't forget to tune in regularly.

Ouch.

From Mark Shea,

That's funny. Studio suits had no trouble with making "Dogma" and "Da Vinci Code"

Jittery cowards in Hollywood fear that brittle humorless Muslims will react violently if made fun of. Of course, being cowards, that just means they will make more vicious films about Christians and applaud themselves for their "courage".

Price Gouging

The study of history is a powerful antidote to contemporary arrogance. It is humbling to discover how many of our glib assumptions, which seem to us novel and plausible, have been tested before, not once but many times and in innumerable guises; and discovered to be, at great human cost, wholly false. 

--Paul Johnson

Which leads me to post on what is mistakenly looked down on as price gouging.  Read economist Walter Williams article on why raising your prices, especially in a time of catrastrophe, is absolutely needed.  Remember, prices are not pulled from thin air.  Bill O'Reilly the other night said he keeps looking for the guy who sets the price of oil.  Unfortunately in a free country there is no such person.  Prices are set in the most democratic of ways, if you buy it, you're voting by saying you find that price acceptable.  If you don't buy it, you're voting by saying that you find that price unacceptable.  The price is just a "sweet spot," it's high enough that most people are willing to pay it.  That applies to eggs, cars, houses and yes oil.  You might be generous if you keep your prices low, but only to those who get in line first.  Raising prices is the first step in forcing people to conserve in any meaningful way.  Despite what the well meaning though misguided populists scattered through St. Blogs might say.  I think Jimmy Akin had the best post here, and no it's not just because I asked him to look at it.

As an addendum, I've often noticed (pretty much everywhere), that people often say things like, "He charges to much for X!"  X being some product they know nothing about the buying and selling of.  Yet when you shine the spotlight on them they are always charging a fair price for whatever service they provide, in fact such people will often claim that they charge below what's fair.  This is also the same fallacy that I notice when people read the newspaper, they often claim that whatever group they are a member of treated unfairly and all the articles about them are biased.  But they'll assume the articles about everyone else must be true.

Note: The they used above might sometimes be me too.

Stick this in the Cassandra file

First Trio "Married," in the Netherlands of course.

Along with, Dutch Set to Expand Euthanasia Guidelines.

And finally, "Two hundred and fifty pharmacies across Belgium began offering euthanasia kits last week, reports LifeSiteNews.com.The kits cost 60 Euros ($77 U.S.) and are proposed as a means to make the jobs of doctors, who commit euthanasia in homes easier. A yahoo.com report said that 40 percent of euthanasia occurs in the patient’s home in Belgium."

*Sniff* I never thought I'd see the day *Sniff*

Apparently, we're a Slithering Reptile.  Which is about in the middle of the pack.

Well I found this funny

http://www.funnies.com/couple.html, there's a whole bunch of humorous flash cartoons there.

It came from Samantha Burns, one of the few blogs not in St. Blogs that links to us.

If ever you wondered...

what my rants at family dinners are like, read this.  Well, I'm not nearly as eloquent, but I do froth at the mouth more I'm sure.

Los Angeles also had a parade, studded with the usual smash-the-state flotsam. There were “No Blood For Oil,” signs - the rally equivalent of shouting “Freebird!” at a Skynyrd concert. The Communist Party, a group that manages to keep a straight face when it calls for peace and freedom, was on hand, no doubt glaring at the Socialist Party: we will deal with those splitters later. One placard proclaiming 9/11 an “inside job,” presumably planned to usher in our dark age of fascism, where protestors are slushed in giant shredding machines and spread over Cheney-owned tobacco fields as fertilizer. Okay, that doesn’t happen, but wait until the elections are suspended in ’09, dude . . . FREE MUMIA! WHOOO!

Interesting...

For the Canon Law nerds out there (I don't know how many would read our blog).

A list of the impediments pre-1983 to priestly ordination from Fr. Tucker.