Monday, May 22, 2006

Monday Morning Grab Bag

A couple things to start the week:

First, the clock hadn't struck 8am yesterday when the following message arrived from Boston: "All hell is breaking loose at Caritas Christi Health Care." A sexual-harrassment case involving the provider's president was splashed on the front page of the Globe, where it continues today. Cardinal Sean O'Malley issued a "stern reprimand," the head of Caritas' HR didn't like that and went to the press -- despite the board's voting to back the sanction and nothing more.

Not pretty and, so I'm told, a bit more complex than meets the eye.

Second, this might be a rerun, but if you haven't heard it, then it's new to you: the Pope's Latinist -- Reggie Foster, OCD -- on the translation of Benedict XVI's first encyclical Deus caritas est. (Link opens as RealAudio.) Foster always makes good copy, as they say, but this is the great one in especially rare form. Money quote: "And I told the students the other day -- we were reading St. Augustine -- they were almost in tears over St. Augustine, it's so beautiful. I said 'Well, you have nothing to say. Just translate St. Augustine in the pulpit, and sit down, AND SHUT UP!'"

Third, it was a thrill to spend a chunk of Saturday with Bill McGarvey, rockstar/editor in chief of Busted Halo, as he made a triumphant return trip to his native city. In a church which seems ever more internecine and inaccessible to the wider world in its discussions amongst its members, BH -- an apostolate of the Paulists -- serves as a much-needed reminder of why the church exists, and how far the biz often finds itself from its true mission in our times. In case you already haven't, do check it out.

And, finally, last call for the "words of wisdom" to the newly-ordained. I'm running behind on everything... All apologies. Doesn't help that I'm a bit stuffed up with a head cold and that the machine I've had for four months (the readership's gift) is already crashing left and right, programs aren't opening, and I've had to restore my files four times in the last week. I might need Reggie to perform an exorcism on this thing. In the meantime, word to the wise: don't buy a Dell. And, suffice it to say, as the exigencies allow, I'm converting to the cult of Apple.

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