Another Book Meme!

I wasn't tagged for this, but what the hell. I was an English major; I love to read; and this is about books. The ones I've read are in bold, the ones I'd like to read are highlighted. I did make one modification: for the sake of space, any book I haven't heard of I took out. Fr. Erik has the full list.

1. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. Hated it when I had to read it in high school, loved it when I read it later as a mature adult. Could care less that Mark Twain hated Jane Austen's writings, even though I really like Mark Twain.

2. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lost count of the number of times I have read this at about 35. The movies drove me nuts because of all the deviations from plot and characters.

3. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre. Read it and appreciated it more in adulthood than during my kid years, but it is still quite a dark story.

4. J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series. Haven't read them, don't particularly want to.

5. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird. Loved this when I was a kid, though I haven't read it for years and years.

6. The Bible. If I haven't read it, I'm in a lot of trouble.

7. Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff is a sociopath.

8. George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four. Had to read it in junior high. Every kid should have to read it in junior high.

9. Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.

10. Louisa May Alcott, Little Women.

11. Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Angel Clare, like others of Hardy's characters, is a dink.

12. Joseph Heller, Catch 22.

13. Complete Works of Shakespeare. I have read from them; not read all of them.

14. Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca.

15. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit. Of course!

16. J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye. Read it in high school. Hated it. Found it tawdry and sordid.

17. George Eliot, Middlemarch.

18. Margaret Mitchell, Gone With The Wind. I think the movie was enough for me.

19. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. Read it in high school. Jazz Age sophisticates making a complete hash out of life for themselves and others.

20. Charles Dickens, Bleak House. Though I like Dickens, I haven't read this one.

21. Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace. The length of the book doesn't deter me; just haven't got a huge desire to read it.

22. Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Read this in college (not on the reading list, just wanted to). I don't remember much about it except that it was quite funny.

23. Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited.

24. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment. Just haven't got the urge to read Russian novelists.

25. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath. Read it in high school; found it and all the other works of John Steinbeck that I had to read depressing.

26. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland. Never saw the movie, either.

27. Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows. Tried to read it, couldn't get into it.

28. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina. Once again, just not into Russian novelists.

29. Charles Dickens, David Copperfield. Read it in adulthood and found it excellent.

30. C.S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia. Nope, haven't read it, though I like C.S. Lewis.

31. Jane Austen, Emma. One of these days, I hope to get around to reading this, as I really like Jane Austin.

32. Jane Austen, Persuasion. Haven't read the book, but I really liked the movie with Ann Rice and Ciaran Hinds.

33. Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha. Zero desire.

34. A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh. Never read this. Did read the Raggedy Ann books.

35. George Orwell, Animal Farm. Four legs good, two legs better!

36. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code. I saw the movie, and it was crap. That was enough of a waste of money.

37. Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White. The only thing I really know about Wilkie Collins is that Mark Twain once upbraided him for praising James Fenimore Cooper, which frankly, he deserved.

38. L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. Never read the books, saw the miniseries.

39. Thomas Hardy, Far From The Madding Crowd. Thomas Hardy wasted enough of my time with Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure for me to want to read any more of his stuff.

40. Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale. I actually had to read this in (Catholic) high school. I wasn't old enough to read it then, and I'm still not old enough to read it now.

41. William Golding, Lord of the Flies. Zero desire.

42. Frank Herbert, Dune. Saw the movies, of course.

43. Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility. Excellent book; the movie wasn't so bad either, even though Emma Thompson was a little long in the tooth to be playing Eleanor.

44. Charles Dickens, A Tale Of Two Cities. Another excellent Dickens classic.

45. Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. I'm very much afraid there are a lot of people who would like to live in it.

50. John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men. Read it in high school; hated it (see The Grapes of Wrath above).

51. Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita. I couldn't have put it better than Fr. Richsteig: "I avoid porn even when it masquarades as literature."

52. Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo. I tried to read this after reading The Three Musketeers, but failed.

53. Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure. Had to read this for my Victorian Lit class in college. Couldn't stand it. Was especially maddened by the fact that I was being propped up to sympathize with complete morons who were presented to me as tragic-romantic heroes, when what they really were was arrantly stupid.

54. Herman Melville, Moby Dick. No real motivation to read it.

55. Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist. Read and enjoyed it in adulthood.

56. Bram Stoker, Dracula. Vampires really aren't my bag.

57. Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden.

58. James Joyce, Ulysses. I think I had to read this in high school, but I remember nothing of it.

59. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar. No desire.

60. William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair.

61. Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. Who hasn't seen one of the many movie adaptations? But oddly enough, I have never actually read the book.

62. Alice Walker, The Color Purple. Pure filth.

63. Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day. Saw the movie, never read the book. Thought the characters in the movie were too stupid for me to want to read the book.

64. Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary. Read it in high school. Hated it, notwithstanding Flaubert's le mot juste.

65. E.B. White, Charlotte's Web. Loved this so much as a kid, and read it so many times, my parents tried to take it away from me.

66. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Some of my absolute favorite bedtime reading -- I actually have a volume of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories. My five favorites: The Hound of the Baskervilles; The Sign of Four; "The Musgrave Ritual"; "The Adventure of the Priory School"; "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton".

67. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness. Just have no desire.

68. Antoine De Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince.

69. Richard Adams, Watership Down. No desire.

70. Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers. Read this in adulthood; actually had to labor to get through it.

71. Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Never had a desire to read this.

72. Victor Hugo, Les Miserables. Never read the book, never saw the play.

73 Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Who didn't have to read this in high school?

Anybody who wants to be tagged, go for it. (I'm sure somebody I know would have a different list.)

Bummer, Man: The Fuzz Cracks Down

Pursuant to ancient tradition, the Name of God has been declared off-limits in the Catholic liturgy. And so now Rome has officially consigned to the ash-heap of history all the hippy-dip, '60s- and '70s-style Yahweh tunes, including, but not limited to, the following:

-- Dan Schutte, "Yahweh the Faithful One": Yahweh's love will last forever/His faithfulness till the end of time/Yahweh is a loving yawn -- whoops, I mean, God.
-- Weston Priory, "Yahweh [is the God of my salvation": Verse 2: Be with us, Lord, as we break through with each other/to find the truth and beauty of each friend. Huh????

-- Dan Schutte (again), "Sing a New Song": Yahweh's people dance for joy/Wreathed all in baggy crepe/Fat women leap in leotards/We all just sit and gape...

-- Michael Joncas, "Let the King of Glory Come": Who is the King of glory?/Yahweh, holy and strong!/Who is the Lord of Majesty?/Yahweh, mighty and strong! Shish-boom-bah!
-- Dan Schutte (yet again), "Yahweeeeeeeeehhh, I Knoooowww You are Neeeeaaaaarrrrrr": 'Nuff said.

Now if only we could acquire a similar respect for God's Word, and quit cramming Bible texts -- especially the Psalms -- into ill-fitting, inferior and just plain crappy musical arrangements.

Prayer Alert: The Fitzpatricks

Please pray for Bonnie and Les Fitzpatrick, OPL, and their family. Bonnie's mother just had a major heart attack, and the outlook is not good.

St. John of God (not pictured to the right; that's El Greco's portrait of St. Dominic)) is the patron of heart patients. Herewith a prayer for his intercession:

Dear Convert, after a sinful life, through the power of God's holy Word you learned to love your fellow human beings. Self-sacrificing, you founded the Society of Hospital Brothers. No wonder the Church made you the patron of patients and nurses. That is why we confidently have recourse to you. Please give assistance to Bonnie's mother, and teach us to be kind like you. Amen.

Fr. Shady Tree and His Acorns

The Curt Jester describes -- whoops! I mean, SHARES -- his experiences while visiting at another parish:

The Mass was said by an Irish priest who started with what I guess you could call a census (people never learn from King David). "How many of you are from out of town?" pretty much everybody raised their hands. "How many of you are from outside the U.S.?" He then proceeded down the isle extracting country of origin from a number of people who raised their hands. We are no five minutes into the Mass. Next it was "How many are married over 50 years please stand up." Followed by encouragement for applause and then "Stand up if you are a grandparent" Here he inserts mandatory joke about them being free babysitters." Then we had the "everybody introduce yourself to the people around you ." I had heard of this practice at some parishes, but never had to suffer through this false bit of community that has everybody glad handing the other (I though this was reserved for the Kiss of Peace). We are now ten minutes into the start of Mass and we haven't even got to the confeitor yet.

Then, the killer question-slash-reality check:

Now if priests are going to act like a Vegas lounge act can I also be a heckler?

What Did They Expect?

Some "traditional" members of the canonically suppressed St. Stanislaus Kostka parish in St. Louis, Missouri are unnerved at the direction the former parish is being taken by the increasingly kooky Fr. Marek Bozek, who is in the process of being defrocked after participating in the "ordination" of some priestesses in November.

In 2005, Bozek was "hired" by the parish out of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, whose bishop promptly suspended him for abandoning his post without leave, thereby depriving him of the exercise of his priestly office. Hailed as the "savior" of St. Stanislaus, which was -- and is -- embroiled in a feud with the Archdiocese of St. Louis over control of the parish, Bozek went on to pursue his bizarre vision of a "Catholic Church" that ordains women, abolishes the clerical discipline of celibacy, and blesses gay unions. His program for a "church" that makes no moral demands on its adherents has attracted hordes of left-wing ideologues and malcontents to his congregation, a development that some welcome as a purported gathering of lost sheep into the fold.

Meanwhile, Bozek increasingly gives himself over, not only to crass materialism (e.g., a 143% salary hike, a luxury apartment and a brand-new BMW) but to delusions of grandeur, having bought a silver bishop's ring and openly declared his "willingness" to serve as the bishop of a new "underground" church. He has revealed that he has been in "talks" with schismatic and heretical groups like Married Priests Now! -- headed by former "married" archbishop Emmanuel Malingo, who has gone over to the Moonies -- and something called "the Therese of Divine Peace Inclusive Community," headed by two "Catholic" priestesses. Seeing that these overtures do not sit well with at least part of his congregation, Bozek downplays them and insists that St. Stan's will remain Catholic.

Rationalizing his moral infidelity and his apparent thirst for power and prestige, Bozek declares: "The Roman Catholic family can be described today as dysfunctional, toxic or abusive. For decades we have allowed the men who claim to be our shepherds to abuse us." Yet, although in formal schism, Bozek denies being the spiritual offspring of Martin Luther. "No one has an ambition to create a new denomination," he claims. "My vision is to be Roman Catholic and wait for the regime to collapse."

At long last, some parishioners at St. Stanislaus Kostka are viewing developments in their parish with alarm. Yet nothing that has come to pass there has been unforeseeable. In his open letter to the parishioners of St. Stanislaus and to the faithful of his archdiocese, Archbishop Raymond Burke notes, with the precision of a laser scalpel, that "those who choose to go into schism believe that they can be the Church without the pastoral teaching, ministration of the sacraments and governance of the Apostles and their successors." Indeed. Pursuant to canon law, all of the sacraments now celebrated at St. Stanislaus are illicit, if not invalid, as the Archbishop explains:

The ordained priest who goes into schism...is...rendered irregular for the exercise of Holy Orders (cf. can. 1044, §1, 2º). In other words, he may not exercise the Sacrament of Holy Orders which he has received. Any Mass celebrated by a suspended and excommunicated priest is valid, but illicit. To knowingly and willingly celebrate the Holy Mass, when one is legitimately prohibited from doing so, is a most grave sin. A priest under the penalty of excommunication does not give valid sacramental absolution (cf. can. 966, §1). Neither can he validly officiate at a wedding (cf. can. 1108, §1).

The celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation by a schismatic priest is invalid because he no longer has any faculty to do so, either by universal Church law or the granting of the faculty by the diocesan bishop (cf. can. 882). Baptism and the Anointing of the Sick are conferred validly but not licitly (cf. cann. 862; and 1003, §§1-2).

The faithful who approach a schismatic priest for the reception of the sacraments, except in the case of danger of death, commit a mortal sin.

In other words, by continuing on the way they are going, the schismatics and those they have lured out of the state of grace are either receiving no sacraments at all; or else, such valid sacraments as they do receive serve merely to compound their guilt. Such is the fate of all who buy into the false dichotomy between Christ and His Church.

At the Last Supper, Jesus admonished His disciples that He was the vine, and they were the branches, and that if they were to bear any fruit, they must remain in Him. The people of St. Stanislaus are finding out the hard way that when you cut yourself off from the True Vine, you not only don't bear any fruit; you also fall into the hands of a nutjob.

If the "traditional" parishioners really want to be traditional, and lay authentic claim to that title, they can only do so by returning to Rome. May the real St. Stanislaus Kostka, who received Holy Communion (validly and licitly) from angels, obtain the reconciliation of these misguided people with the true Church.

Ho-Hum

In China, there is no freedom of religion. Big deal.

In China, there is no freedom of peaceable assembly. So what?

In China, there is no right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Whatever.

In China, there is no freedom of speech. Yawn.

In China, political dissent is a crime, and those who are accused of crimes have no right to due process. And your point is...?

Today we find out that at the Olympic opening ceremonies, the Chi-Coms faked a performance by a cute little girl in pigtails, who lip-synched a patriotic song as the Communist flag was brought into the arena. The world rises to its feet in indignation.

What a blow to the image of Red China.

Another One for the TMI Files: Uses for Afterbirth

Matthew McConaughey, goofball actor and father out of wedlock of a newborn son, has big plans for -- the placenta.
McConaughey, who cannot be troubled to marry Camila Alves, the mother of his child, has neveretheless gone to great pains to preserve the afterbirth so that, pursuant to purported ancient custom, he can plant it in an orchard.
"It's going to be in the orchards and it's going to bear some wonderful fruit," claims McConaughey in a CNN interview. "When I was in Australia, they had a placenta tree that was on the river ... and all the placentas of all that tribe, all that clan, whatever aboriginal tribe that was, all the placentas went under that one tree and it was this huge behemoth of just health and strength. This tree was just growing taller and stronger above the rest of Mother Nature around it. It was gorgeous."
Yes, trees do tend to grow taller and stronger than all the rest of Mother Nature around them; that's part of what makes them "trees." After having apparently claimed that the "ritual" of placenta-planting is found in "several cultures," world-renowned anthropologist McConaughey can cite to only one such alleged culture, whose name escapes him. For a second, reading the above transcription, I thought he was saying he believed that trees actually grow from placentas. Wouldn't be a bit surprised if the natives managed to sell him on that idea, and keep him going on it for at least a while.
The AP story records McConaughey's comment that, for the foregoing reasons, the birth of his son will one day bring joy to others. If the kid's afterbirth is what's needed to bring joy to the world, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the kid himself.

Casabianca

The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead.

Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm;
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud, though childlike form.

The flames roll'd on...he would not go
Without his father's word;
That father, faint in death below,
His voice no longer heard.

He call'd aloud..."Say, father, say
If yet my task is done!"
He knew not that the chieftain lay
Unconscious of his son.

"Speak, father!" once again he cried
"If I may yet be gone!"
And but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames roll'd on.

Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair,
And looked from that lone post of death,
In still yet brave despair;

And shouted but one more aloud,
"My father, must I stay?"
While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud
The wreathing fires made way,

They wrapt the ship in splendour wild,
They caught the flag on high,
And stream'd above the gallant child,
Like banners in the sky.

There came a burst of thunder sound...
The boy-oh! where was he?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea.

With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part;
But the noblest thing which perished there
Was that young faithful heart.

Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1826)

The Dominican Shield

Every so often somebody asks me for an explanation of Dominican symbols, so I guess the feast of St. Dominic is a good time to post an explanation of the Dominican shield from the Barry University website (not meant, by the way, as an endorsement of Barry University):

The Dominican shield consists of four white and four black gyrons or triangles. These symbolize the unity of a body of people working together for the common good. The "cross fleury" (or cross with a fleur de lis at each end) superimposed upon the gyrons, signifies victory, duty and self-sacrifice. The sable or black of the shield symbolizes wisdom, silence, fortitude and penance. The light color (which could be white, argent or silver) signifies peace, purity, charity and sincerity. Sometimes, the motto of the Order surrounds the shield. It reads "Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare," which means "to praise God, to bless His people and to preach His gospel." Frequently too, the shield may also be surounded by the six or eight pointed star which is the distinguishing symbol of St. Dominic.

August 8th: Feast of St. Dominic

The Litany of St. Dominic

Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.

God, the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.

God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.

God, the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.

Holy Mother of God...

Queen of the Holy Rosary...

Our glorious father, St. Dominic...

St. Dominic, follower of Jesus Christ...

St. Dominic, eminently endowed with the virtues of His Sacred Heart...

St. Dominic, adorer of the Blessed Sacrament...

St. Dominic, singularly devoted to our Blessed Lady...

St. Dominic, promoter of her honor...

St. Dominic, promulgator of the Holy Rosary...

St. Dominic, splendor of the priesthood...

St. Dominic, founder of the Friars Preachers...

St. Dominic, apostle of the Albigenses...

St. Dominic, mirror of ecclesiastical discipline...

St. Dominic, rose of patience...

St. Dominic, most ardent for the salvation of souls...

St. Dominic, most desirous of martyrdom...

St. Dominic, evangelical man...

St. Dominic, doctor of truth...

St. Dominic, ivory of chastity...

St. Dominic, man of truly apostolic heart...

St. Dominic, poor in the midst of riches...

St. Dominic, rich in an unspotted life...

St. Dominic, burning with zeal for perishing souls...

St. Dominic, preacher of the Gospel...

St. Dominic, rule of abstinence...

St. Dominic, herald of heavenly things...

St. Dominic, salt of the earth...

St. Dominic, who didst water the earth with thy blood...

St. Dominic, shining in the choir of virgins...

St. Dominic, most humble...

St. Dominic, most obedient...

St. Dominic, most chaste...

St. Dominic, most charitable...

That at the hour of death we may be received unto heaven with thee...
Be merciful unto us, O Lord, and pardon us.

Be merciful unto us, O Lord, and graciously hear us.
From all sin and evil, Deliver us, O Lord.

From the snares of the devil...

From eternal death...

By the merits of our holy father, St. Dominic...

By his ardent love...

By his indefatigable zeal...

By his extraordinary labors...

By his inexpressible penances...

By his voluntary poverty...

By his perpetual chastity...

By his perfect obedience...

By his profound humility...

By his rare constancy...

By all his other virtues...
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
V. Pray for us, O blessed father Dominic,

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord God, that we Thy servants may enjoy continual health of mind and body and that through the glorious intercession of blessed Mary ever Virgin, we may be delivered from present sorrow, and hereafter enjoy everlasting happiness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.