January 8th, 2024
Dear Diary,
I’ve heard that their getting some kind of birthday party together for me already – it’s over a month away, but it’s never too early to plan something fun. I got a shock when Fr. Tommy said something about my “70th year” – I thought, hey! That’s not until next year! But Fr. Tommy explained the Roman calculation something or other – like, the start of my 70th year is my 69th birthday. Then he started in on the year people can stop fasting, which was a happier subject. The whole thing put me into a bad mood. I feel old! I don’t wanna feel old! My doctor has been after me as per usual. Eat this, don’t eat that, move more. I know, I know.
Ash Wednesday is Valentine’s Day this year. One meatless meal at a really cozy restaurant sounds great! Hard to beat last year’s Lobster Thermadoor. This year, maybe something simpler? A lot of restaurants will have specials for V Day. Maybe some shrimp scampy at Razzo’s with a nice white wine. I’ll take Fr. Tommy – gotta get him to eat a bit more cuz he’s scrawnier than ever. Or maybe Tommy and Gilbert? And someone else so it doesn’t look like a date. There’s too much of that in the news.
I’m getting more questions about blessing folks, “couples”. I told our priests to make them happy. Just go ahead and bless them and use that ten-second rule like that pervy cardinal in Rome said.
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I’m confused. Is Bishop McButterpants an actual liberal or just a garden-variety idiot?
@PostCatholic
You mean there’s a difference?
@PostCatholic – por que no los dos?
At turning 69, +Atticus must realize that he will not be ascending higher in the hierarchy. So he is biding his time till retirement. For sure he does not want any apostolic visitors before his retirement.
Still hard to imagine that he has nothing more on his mind than his fastive dinner on Ash Wednesday/Valentines day. Maybe he should give a dispensation from abstinence that day, as many bishops are happy to do on St. Patrick’s Day when it falls on a Friday. After all, he is always ready to do what is needed to “make people happy”.
When will be learn from the Eastern Churches that Lent is the time of the Great Fast? Paul
PostCatholic, his Lordship +F. Atticus is not a full-on radical spirit of Aquarius Liberal. He’s just a guy trying to survive having been promoted past his competencies because the others around him were too abrasive (traditional priests), slimy (60’s hippies) or disturbingly anti-Catholic (liberals). He’s out of his depth and trying to avoid any comments on anything, and just cares about a good meal and a quiet life.
He’s remarkably similar to most of the bishops in the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.
Funny how often incompetence is rewarded.
PostCatholic, Is there a difference?
BW, that’s exactly as it seemed to me.
BW how true
+Atticus is similar to many academic leaders in the United States. They want all constitutents to be happy: students, faculty, parents, donors and staff. Never say anything or do anything that offends. Of course, as we have seen with recent experiences of major university presidents, that strategy does not always work, sometimes, just sometimes, leaders have to make hard unpopular decisions. Meaning saying no to specific groups. While on the surface +Atticus seems harmless enough, I would not want to rely on him in any crisis or difficult situation. Like many university leaders he would prefer either to ignore or minimize the seriousness of any crisis situation.
This truly is the rarest of years, having Valentine’s on Ash Wednesday (truly a boon for the lay chaste single vocation) and St. Patrick’s on Sunday (corned beef in any quantity without dispensation, even in Black Duck), the combination of which is only possible on a Leap (Election) Year. Afterwards, we get April Fool’s on Easter Monday, and also the Thursday (not Holy) between April 8 and 16 (i.e. the 11th), in an even year, the feast day of an oddly named Saint (Stanislaus), mere days after the Great North American Eclipse. Perhaps Fr. Tommy, if he really wants to make an impression, may also want to inform his big boss that the paths of this Total Eclipse and its famous “Great American” predecessor in August 2017 make a big “X” centered somewhere in Kentucky along the Mississippi, in the vicinity of the New Madrid Fault (is that where Libville is located?), and that at the exact midpoint in time between them, in the uncertain dark winter of December 2020, yet another Total Eclipse occurred… over Buenos Aires, Argentina. Is the Warning or Miracle to be announced by Sr. Conchita subject to a ten-second rule, or is that only for the art of kissing? Oh, never mind – faith supplies! Though Letitia (and Tucho) may be amorous, Shrimp Scampi is delicious, and nothing else matters!
True story:
Years ago a buddy of mine wanted to go have dinner on the night that just happened to be Valentine’s Day. I kindly replied “can we go another day?”