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I wonder how much they're paying people to attend.

We haven't seen anything in a while from the always incisive Paglia. But at least Sullivan is still writing.

This Lent, the priesthood itself has been crucified in a very real sense. All priests -- even those who have been completely faithful and have heroically sacrificed everything for God -- are now under a cloud of suspicion.

I hope that those in authority are doing some substantial self-examination right now. If they are, good will ultimately come out of this.

I'd like to see a study on Maryland drivers. Whenever I see a particularly asinine, boneheaded maneuver on the highway, I check the state license plate to see where the maroon comes from.

And it's ALWAYS MARYLAND.

From Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan: Part IV. Of the Kingdom of Darkness. Chap xlvii. Of the Benefit that proceedeth from such Darkness...

It is simply breathtaking how much schlock writing was produced to oil the English Protestant money-machine and the ersatz aristocracy that patronized it. What drivel! Perhaps the only more amazing thing is that some people actually consider this rubbish serious literature.

But since you're into the "antique," I'll now try to explain my point in the style of Hobbes. Something like this -- "They hath been led astray by an unholy and false nobility, rampant on their gilded thrones, all sprung from the blood-soaked garden of ruined monastery and abbey. Yea, they hath rendered unto Caesar the things of God and, lo, hath fallen prostrate before their own Mammon-God, whose name be "Bourgeois." They hath turned their face against Peter and that unity for which God Himself prayed on that doleful night of waxing evil."

Please do not again post any other Hobbes mediocrities and/or whore-of-Babylon nonsense until you can produce evidence of a single Protestant clergyman whose sanctity in any way rivals that of any pope of the last 400 years.

True celibacy teaches the value of sacrifice to the laity. On the downside, I haven't heard one priest yet who could preach about REAL family life the way protestant preachers can. I know they grew up in families, but their experience as a child in a family does NOT translate to the married state.

Gotta disagree. The average priest gains immense experience in both analyzing and handling family dynamics in and through counseling so many different families. The breadth and depth of the knowledge they acquire on the job is impressive.

I know three married Episcopal priests in the Ft. Worth diocese, and they, and their families, are ecstatic at the support they've received and in being in the Catholic Church.

Interesting but anecdotal. To coin a phrase.

Here are some additional interesting anecdotes: http://www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/Homiletic/June97/clergy.html.

I believe he's dying to seize control of the oil company.

Chavez is an anti-clerical control freak -- i.e., a Communist.

If you guys can think of some good conservative movies put them here too.

In terms of some good conservative themes, the Bogie-Hepburn Sabrina is great. The underlying theme of the movie is that a profligate, comfort-seeking life does not ultimately lead to happiness.

But one of the best parts is when Bogie gives this soliloquy about the greatness of the capitalist system. He talks about how the wealthy "industrialists" always get ragged on for exploiting the poor, when, in fact, it's the industrialists who raise peoples' standards of living and often pay out of their own pockets for the needs of the poor. Great scene.

I agree with your points. I was just offering the information of the one anomaly of married Catholic priest.

Roger. Sorry for the TMI moment.

Have a good day.

Currently, if a married Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism, he may be both married and a practicing priest.

Yes indeed. But a news story that appeared in the Pittsburgh Gazette(?) about nine months ago calls that type of arrangement into question. One of these married priests was profiled, and it was implicit that he was on the edge of burn-out. It was explicit that his family was unhappy with the situation -- his responsibilities made it impossible for him to be home more than minimal amounts of time. His wife and children were suffering as a result.

Pius XII rightly condemned what he termed a "false archaeologism" that during his reign was showing the first signs of life. This movement essentially made the assumption a priori that the practices of the early Church were superior to those of later centuries. The movement of course excluded any notion of a return to the early Church's severe penitential practices from its agenda, since those practices do not comport with the arm-chair radical, bourgeois mentality that has so distinctly marked this movement from the beginning.

We must remember that Church practices were not instituted on capricious whim. They were instituted after the Church learned -- from the experience of centuries -- that a new or different practice would be better than the particular practice of the early Christians. Celibacy, aside from being a higher state in life in a metaphysical sense, helps the priest to better model the great High Priest, whose instrument He is.

As with Christ, the priest's spouse is the Church. A married priest's heart is divided between his wife and family and his flock. All parties suffer as a result.

No,the answer is clear out the homosexuals priests,live with a Church that is purer and poorer and stronger and maybe even smaller,for a while.Then in an atmosphere of serenity study the scriptures and pray and seek to discern what Christ really wants of his "consecreted followers".

Very well said. Part of the problem (perhaps the principal part) was addressed in a talk given by a certain saint of the 20th Century which I once saw on videotape. This priest said something like, "Children, pray for the Church. In past centuries, the heretics would leave the Church. But now, they're not leaving!"

Maybe people in past centuries had a little more intellectual honesty. Or maybe people today are just more brazen in their attempts to re-create God and His Church in their own image.

"Bubblicious."

But seriously, my major issue with the piece is that Michael's skin is much lighter in person.

I don't want this to happen to me. I am presently a sophmore in college and am seriously feeling a calling to the priesthood, but I really don't want this to happen to me.

Try to find an Opus Dei priest and get into spiritual direction to discern your vocation. Opus Dei screens its candidates for ordination very, very well. I have yet to meet a weirdo among the Opus Dei clergy.

If a homosexual marries a woman without revealing his condition, that's grounds for annulment. And I think it's grounds for laicization too.

The gay clergy must go. Period. The psychological issues are too profound.

An outraged BUMP.

Air support on the way for this patriot and his entire family. God bless you all.

Condit said tonight that not only was his wife in town, that they went to eat at the 5 Boys or 5 Brothers (or something like that) restaurant.

Five Guys. Rock-solid burgers. So-so fries. Great unshelled peanuts while you wait. Old school.

Sorry, but if you can't discern the flaw in your original assertion even after it was pointed out, you are still playing in the minor leagues. Don't quit your day job.

I think you think you know what you're trying to say, but I don't think you know what you've actually said. Assuming you have pointed out my "flaw" -- which, truth be told, you have not -- please be patient and do so again.

But don't hurt yourself.

All of Virginia is officially Gawd's country. But all roads end, where I hope my days will end...Richmond.