Wherein Fr. Z sends his readers to Crux… yes… you read that right.

My friend the nearly ubiquitous John L. Allen, Jr, formerly of the Fishwrap and now with the Boston Globe, at the site of his new project Crux has a fun column.

I don’t get to say “fun” about Crux very often, which increases the fun.  HERE

He writes, inter alia, about baseball.   He cites the undersigned, which increased the fun.

I am not going to tell you what he wrote.

But it’s fun.

(Hint: It involves a Pope, some Latin, tobacco and – another fun topic – excommunication!)

And pray for John.  He’s a Yankees fan… which no one deserves.

 

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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19 Comments

  1. Dr. Edward Peters says:

    Not a bad piece, really, and this, from someone who likes sports, and hates all sports analogies to anything. btw, JA’s line about “Think the infield fly rule for baseball fans and the Pauline privilege for Catholics.)” actually, I think the PP applies to all the baptized, but it’s an argument I’m working on for another context. Happy Easter. edp.

  2. Mariana2 says:

    “Both reward patience. If you’re the kind of person who needs immediate results, neither baseball nor Catholicism is really your game.”

    Pfft ; ). CRICKET matches can take days! Also there are Maiden overs in Cricket, so much more Catholic than baseball.

  3. Spade says:

    John Allen likes the DH rule?

    Crux is totally dead to me. Dead.

  4. Peggy R says:

    Well, not every one can be part of Cardinal Nation. (I own NOT ONE bit of Cardinal wear. I don’t want to dress like all the sheep here, though I am hooked from now til October. Matheny can go soon, however.)

    And why are the Cards-Cubs playing the same time as the Blues-Blackhawks tonight? Both in Chicago? What a brawler of a night it’s going to be. The NHL race is pretty exciting right now, too.

  5. jameeka says:

    “disappointabuntur”?

  6. Tristan says:

    DH seems like “Spirit of Vatican II” to me.. invent and dumb things down in an attempt to keep people entertained.

  7. Matt Robare says:

    Baseball is a Trinitarian game (three strikes, three outs, nine innings). Baseball is even referenced in The Bible, in Genesis 1:1 “In the big inning . . .”

    The Boston Globe once published an article about a Red Sox-Yankees game in Latin. I don’t remember the title or the author, but it was collected in the book “Impossible Dreams.”

    Baseball also reflects Catholic social teaching — a good team plays with solidarity and subsidiarity and Major League Baseball uses various means to try to maintain parity, keeping competition in check to preserve prosperity for everybody.

    And Mariana2, Cricket matches might take days, but only Cubs fans these days know what it’s like to be awaiting the Messiah — and Red Sox fans know what the first Easter was like.

  8. benedetta says:

    I grew up a Yankees fan, and I remained one for quite awhile, however, I have already renounced it. Trying to decide where to place my allegiance next. Red Sox, no. Cubs, I don’t think so. Cardinals seems tempting but I think Orioles is where I will land. Perhaps I will spend the season considering it before finally committing.

  9. GrumpyYoungMan says:

    Allen was ok until he threw his support to the DH…the AL brings in this silly new concept, yet the NL is “Protestant???”

  10. crickally says:

    Matt Robare : If it was in the big inning that God created the heavens and the earth, when the seventh inning came did He stretch? or just rest?
    Happy Easter.

  11. rafferju says:

    got half way through the article and had to stop, Father i’m sorry I took your advice on this one. Crux is not a place for a catholic.

  12. danidunn says:

    I’m with Spade.

    Besides, a lot on nonsense to get to the good part.

  13. jflare says:

    I’m afraid Mr. Allen lost me pretty quickly in this one. He seems to justify moral relativism by proclaiming that such a state will at least allow for a lack of violence between sects. He doesn’t seem to comprehend how militant secularism in the public square has not been good for this nation and likely will not be for someone else’s.
    As to the Red Sox vs Yankees controversy, I have the rough impression that the curse of the Bambino has been..overcome(?). I’ve never been a big baseball fan in general, leaning much more toward soccer or volleyball, so I don’t get into the baseball controversies much.
    *chuckles* Besides, my Nebraska Cornhuskers (college football) seem to stir up plenty of excitement even without the baseball legends!

  14. Martlet says:

    I disagree, raffrju. It is precisely the place for a Catholic. Out in the public square proclaiming what the Church really teaches. Otherwise, we abandon the curious and those who are genuinely seeking to the “mis-ministrations” of those who have moulded for themselves a convenient and comfortable “catholicism”.

  15. PA mom says:

    Cute piece! Much better than the piece in the Wall Street Journal by Rocco …. Which started slicing and dicing us Catholics apart from the first sentence.

  16. Gregg the Obscure says:

    Seems to me that the DH is like turning around the altar. Prior to the DH, every player faced the opposing pitcher, but subsequently the pitcher doesn’t face the same way as his teammates.

  17. The Masked Chicken says:

    I’m for any game that allows masked chickens on the field, or at least the bleachers.

    The Chicken

  18. Grabski says:

    I understand that the American League innovated at its inception to allow Sunday games and to sell beer at the park, to attract Catholic fans.

  19. jflare says:

    Martlet, I think rafferju meant that Crux does very poorly at presenting actual Catholic faith in the public square. I’ve read worse than this article there before.

Comments are closed.