“Ineffable” sighting… in the wild!

His Excellency Most Rev. Donald "Ineffable" Trautman, the Bishop of Erie, is concerned that people in the pews aren’t able to understand words such as "ineffable".

Granted, vocabulary of the new translation of the Roman Missal is no longer his primary method of attack, but it is emblematic of his approach.

The translation is clearly tooo haaard and people are not very bright.

I believe the Erie Bishop is not in touch with the people in the pews if he thinks words such as "ineffable" are tooo haaard

From a reader:

I play a collectible card game called Magic: The Gathering.  This game is targeted to the 13+ crowd, but look at one of the cards I found recently.  Wizards of the Coast must think the average 13 year old is smarter than the average Catholic when they use big words like this on their cards.

 


 

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11 Comments

  1. jbalza007 says:

    Mail the card to Bp. Trautman? ;)

  2. DCtrad says:

    I loved to play Magic the Gathering when I was young. I started playing when I was 11 yrs old. Plus mind you it is quite to pagans game however harmless in itself. Also this game for over 10yrs has been a favorate classic for collage kids.

  3. Randy says:

    What he is really complaining about is that the church will be required to do some teaching. What doesn’t? Sports, politics, SciFi, Ipods, etc. Everything requires people to learn some concepts and terminology. Why can’t Catholicism ask people to learn? Maybe Bp. Trautman might want to contemplate why the office of bishop is sometimes called the primary teaching office. It is like my son’s first grade teacher complaining he does not know how to read.

  4. catholicmidwest says:

    He thinks he is teaching, Randy. The only problem is, he thinks we know nothing at all and are not teachable. In addition, he doesn’t know the meaning of the word “ineffable” so he thinks we can’t possibly know it either.

    I have news for Bp. Trautman. If he doesn’t know the meaning of words such as “ineffable” or “consubstantial,” considering the amount of education he is *supposed* to have had on the subject, I’d say he’s considerably less intelligent than at least half of us out here. Moreover, he is demonstrating that he doesn’t even have a grasp of the simple word “bishop” even though he is one! If he wasn’t an F student in grad school, he should have been. Someone was sleeping at the switch.

  5. catholicmidwest says:

    PS, in addition to being a lousy student, B. Trautman is a lousy teacher.

    TEACHER RULE #1: Expect your students to learn. They will rise to the occasion if you give them half a chance.

  6. Jayna says:

    I had to read a biography of Che Guevara (Companero by Jorge Castaneda) for my Latin American history class. The author used “ineffable.”

  7. Mitchell NY says:

    The great pastoral Bishop has by now taught all Catholics and non Catholics alike the meaning of this word by his endless claim of ignorance on behalf of the public. Now that he has done his job so well and called so much attention to it, it will no longer be unfamiliar to many in the pews when the new Missal comes out. We should all write him a letter of thanks for making the new translation all the more possible and less difficult. Smooth sailing ahead.

  8. germangreek says:

    I work for a community college in the Midwest. Our communications director, in campus-wide emails, can’t keep “your” and “you’re” straight, or “mail” and “male”. So I can sympathize with the bishop’s concern, but I’m reluctant to sign on to a project which requires passing under a bar low enough to accommodate the average well-educated American.

  9. ssoldie says:

    What’s happened to dictionaries? I have been using one since grade school and teachers urged the use of them. I am 73 and still using them as I am an avid reader. I have found that in the last 50 years, the Church has dumbed down a large portion of it’s members and they don’t even know it, nor do they care, most have ‘ichy ears’, and like to feel good. The Bishop’s like Trautman (and the like’s) have done a good job.

  10. legolasegb says:

    I do not see the picture of this card. Could anyone let me know the name of this card?

  11. legolasegb says:

    Nevermind, I rummaged around and was able to search the Flavor text in the Gatherer:
    http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193759

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