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Pro's and Con's of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

PROS:

Great ticket system. If you have a will-call ticket, you can go to any ticket venue at the site and when the venue is 2 1/5 miles around this is a life saver. There they take your info and print out your ticket in a few seconds--excellent service.

Good parking. I consistently am able to park within a 1/4 mile of one of the entrances and pay $10, compare that to parking about 3/4 of a mile from Daytona and paying $40.

Easy in and Easy out. Again I encountered no traffic coming in or leaving--but then I am not a sheep and do not park or drive where everyone else does. But again in contrast to Daytona (where the shortcuts I used to know, now are apparently known by everyone) it took close to two hours to even begin to move.

Civilized Crowd. This is Indiana and apart from the three idiots--two women who did rebel yells as loud as they could toward each other throughout the race, and the fat 30+ year old guy who didn't know anything about NASCAR but kept yelling all the lines from Talladega Nights that he learned-- for the most part you're dealing with a classier crowd than you are at Michigan or Daytona (I've had a similar experience at Atlanta--classier crowd--but it could be that it was 35 degrees on the day of the race).

Great Soundsystem. Indy is about the only track I've ever been to where you can actually hear the announcer during the race.

CONS

Lousy Concession Stands. Usual crap food, long lines and stragegically place about an 1/8 of mile between stands. If want a grilled chicken sandwich, you are out of luck. I did get an excellent cob of sweet corn though in the infield (with no line). This actually is something that most NASCAR tracks have in common, I'm trying hard to think of any track I've been to that had anything like what you can find at most baseball stadiums now.

Lousy Racing. The thing about Indy is once the race starts the show is over. I used to think that the Indy 500 was boring because no one passed--but if NASCAR only raced at tracks like Indy and not at Daytona, Talladega and Bristol it would soon have very few fans. Watching one lap of racing followed by 90 laps of follow the leader is not all that exciting to watch in 90 degree, sun in your face with the rebel yell screaming broads behind you. Here's my take--bank the turns like Daytona--then you can build stands all the way around the track because then you'll actually have a competitive race.

Archaeologist's work may make case for 'Georgia martyrs'

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Are these the relics of a prospective saint, or just the bones of another
sinner? Time — along with some forensic investigation, a little DNA analysis and some luck — may tell.

A half-century after the skull was unearthed at the site of a former Spanish mission near Darien, and 20 years after the Diocese of Savannah proposed beatification for the "Georgia martyrs," science and religion have found a common bond in their curiosity about the weathered remains.

"Without any living relatives, there is little chance of being very definitive about the identity," says Stojanowski. "But there are some tests that can narrow the possibilities."

That prospect has persuaded Harkins, historian at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, and the official "vice postulator" for the Cause of the Georgia Martyrs, to spend a little of the faithful's money on a scientific long shot.

"The case for beatification of the Georgia martyrs is a historical one, and it will be accepted or rejected by the Vatican on the basis of the historical record," Harkins says.

The Transfiguration

From Pope Benedict's Angelus:

“On the transfigured face of Jesus shone a ray of the divine light that He guarded within. This very light radiates on the face of Christ on the day of the Resurrection. Thus, the Transfiguration is like an anticipation of the Paschal mystery... The... Resurrection overcame once and for all the power of the shadow of evil. With the risen Christ, truth and love triumph over deceit and sin. In Him, the light of God now illuminates the life of men and the path of history permanently. ‘I am the light of the world,’ He says in the Gospel. ‘Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ (Jn 8:12).”

Talladega Nights Makes Fun of NASCAR but Blasphemes Jesus

I'm a big NASCAR fan--will be at the Brickyard tomorrow and have already been to Daytona and Michigan races earlier this year. So I went to see Talladega Nights like a lot of other people last night in a sold out showing.
On the face of it the movie is mildly funny with long stretches in between laughs. The plot is very similar to Anchorman where the hot shot dumb guy is replaced with someone who is marginalized but more talented and the former star ends up in the gutter until he has a miraculous comeback. Much of the humor is based on Ricky Bobby's stupidity and no doubt based on Hollywood's stereotype of the Southern U.S. But the character of Ricky Bobby is inconsistent and perhaps the longest stick in the movie centers on him saying grace to "baby Jesus" with a great discourse that as I said in the headline borders on blasphemy.
Now first of all southern Baptist don't pray to the baby Jesus, in fact Catholics are the only organized group that has this devotion. Mother Angelica's Monastery in Alabama is dedicated to the baby Jesus (and I wondered if that wasn't the source of this bit) and is not too far from Talladega where some parts of the movie were filmed on location.
I'm sick of something sacred to those who believe, like I do, that Jesus is the Son of God, being used as a vehicle of ridicule. You won't see Hollywood ridicule Arabs and their faith in Allah or see Mohammad being mocked. Why? Because radical Moslem fundamentalist would blow up the theaters and the studios.
Christians have been taught to turn the other cheek, by Jesus. That has to make the movie makers happy. But Christian's who believe that Jesus is their savior shouldn't waste a dime on Talladega Nights.

Theologian Found Dead

From All Africa.com:

A Catholic theologian was found dead in unclear circumstances at the Catholic University of Central Africa last Saturday.

Father Patrick Adeso was professor at the university and a consultant of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Itinerant People. He was also the national chaplain of the Charismatic Renewal Movement in Cameroon.

His body was found in his room at the campus of the university in the eastern suburbs of the Cameroonian capital, according to media reports. MISNA reported that the door of his office was locked from inside and there was no sign that there had been violence.

The 55-year-old priest of Kumo Diocese was buried on Tuesday.

Catholic Relief Rejects Openly Gay Priest Volunteer

I know the priest. When a good friend of mine was a seminarian for Syracuse, Fr. Daley was the vocation director.

From Syracuse.Com:

A priest of the Syracuse Diocese says Catholic Relief Services has dismissed him from its volunteer program in Africa because he is gay.

"They said I was an openly gay priest with a high profile. They said a controversial figure would not be in their best interests," said the Rev. Fred Daley, 58.

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Costello said he was disappointed by the decision.

Infanticide at Abortion Clinic in Florida

From LifeSite:

“We were able to locate the mother of this child, who is an 18-year-old female. We located her. She, in fact, reiterated that she did come to this clinic to have an abortion, and she gave birth to the baby while waiting for the doctor to arrive. The doctor was not here,” Lt. Ralph Garcia of the Hialeah Police Department told NBC6 News.

According to the anonymous caller who reported the incident, after the woman gave birth to her child in the waiting room, "Employees cut the umbilical cord, put the baby in a bag and walked away with it," Garcia said.

Pope's Student Circle Studies Evolution This Year

From Magister:

This year’s Ratzinger-Schülerkreis seminar will focus on "Schöpfung und
Evolution", creation and evolution. The private meeting is set for Saturday,
September 2, and Sunday, September 3, at the Pontifical Villa in the pope's
summer residence of Castel Gandolfo. The Ratzinger-Schülerkreis, that is the
‘Ratzinger Students’ Circle’, brings together once a year the old theology
professor, now pope Benedict XVI, and his former students to discuss a new topic
every year.

The first such meeting was held when Joseph Ratzinger was still a professor
in Regensburg. Once he became archbishop of Munich, his students asked him to
continue and he accepted.

When he moved to Rome to take up the post of prefect of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith the annual event continued. Typically, meetings
were held at a monastery over a weekend. When the 2004 meeting ended,
participants left already knowing the following year’s subject: the concept of
God in Islam.

Pope Renews Pleas for Peace

During the weekly audience, from Asia News Italy:

With “a heart full of sorrow” and the “chilling images of mangled bodies of so many people, especially children,” before his eyes, Benedict XVI appealed once again for prayers “for the dear, martyred region of the Middle East”, for more effective commitment from the international community for an “immediate cessation of all hostilities” and for “conditions for a definitive political solution to the crisis”.

Recalling in particular the massacre in Qana in Lebanon, the pope said: “I wish to repeat that nothing can justify the spilling of innocent blood, no matter from which part it comes!”

Benedict XVI emphasized that only a “definitive political solution to the crisis” will be capable of “delivering a more serene and safe future for generations to come”.

Feast of St. Alphonsus Liguori

From the Office of Readings:

All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our
God, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good. It is part of the love of God to
acquire and to nurture all the virtues which make a man perfect.Has not God in
fact won for himself a claim on all our love?

From all eternity he has loved us. And it is in this vein that he speaks to
us: “O man, consider carefully that I first loved you. You had not yet appeared
in the light of day, nor did the world yet exist, but already I loved you. From
all eternity I have loved you”.

Women "ordained" on the Three Rivers

What are there names?

(Found) Here are the names:

Eileen McCafferty DiFranco
Olivia Doko
Joan Clark Houk
Bridget Mary Meehan (Sister for Christian Community) (author)
Rebecca McGuyver
Dana Reynolds
Kathleen Strack
Kathy Sullivan Vandenberg

Cheryl Bristol (who identifies herself as a lesbian by birth, Catholic by choice)
Juanita Cordero
Mary Ellen Robertson (author of two books)
Janice Sevre-Duszynska

Where do they work?

Can anyone find this info, it seems absent from every news story I've read. Time for them to come out of the closet.

Tropical Storm Chris Forms in the Atlantic

From the Sun Sentinel:

Tropical Storm Chris, the third named storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane
season, developed early Tuesday near the Leeward Islands, forecasters said.

Chris
had sustained winds near 40 miles per hour, just above the threshold for a
tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Why "When 'Ratzinger' was a Swear Word"?

A few commentor's have asked me why I would want to write a book about the divisiveness of the Church so I figured I'd answer here for others who may not have written.

This is one of those issues that there are endless examples of because "Ratzinger" became the lightning rod for both the left and the right (he's considered a liberal and heretic by the tridentine crowd) and there is great irony in him being chosen as pope.

I had hardly read anything he wrote before his election, but had to read as much as I could when he was elected because the publishing company I work for was doing a "quick book" on the election. It was during this time, reading his works that I came to see why he was such a threat to both sides--he has to be the most brilliant person I've read about the place of the faith in the world today! Benedict has answers for all sides.

Reflecting on this I grew rather angry that he had not been featured in my theological training. Studying him would have been invaluable for engaging the world that we live in and bringing the Gospel message to our time.

That the environment of the church is so incredibly hostile to him is a sure sign of demonic activity, I'd say. Yet the "gates of Hell" shall not prevail and the Holy Spirit has won the day!

I've written about the Vision of St. John Bosco on this blog before and I think my first chapter would lay out some of what I wrote there.

In an ironic twist I read just this morning that Pope Benedict is highlighting his papacy as one focused on unity. The Holy Spirit seems to have a great sense of humor.

Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

He says it all right here...

Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God our Lord, and by this
means to save his soul.
And the other things on the face of the earth are
created for man and that they may help him in prosecuting the end for which he
is created.
From this it follows that man is to use them as much as they help
him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them so far as they hinder him as
to it.
For this it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created
things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free will and is not
prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness,
riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short
life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive
for us to the end for which we are created.

Cardinal George on the Mend

Faithful come to the hospital to offer prayers, from Chicago Sun Times:

George sat up for two hours in a chair Sunday. "He's getting a little tired doing it, but it was good for him,'' Dolan said.

Even though he was in bed, George celebrated Sunday mass in his room with Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Dolan said. His vital signs were stable and he had no fever.

The next step will be for George to start walking, she said. He walks with a limp and leg brace because of complications from childhood polio, so "he may have to use a walker or crutches."

Where 'Ratzinger" Was a Swear Word

Those educated in Catholic institutions know of what I speak and not a few converts have been surprised to encounter someone in a parish who was less than enthusiastic about the faith...all of this contempt seemed to reach its zenith with the mention of one name "Ratzinger."

As I tell people I'm planning to write a book "Where Ratzinger Was a Swear Word" they share with me their own experiences, and I'd like to start sharing them here. I'd also invite readers to email me their own experiences with the caveat that in doing so they are giving me permission to use them in the book insuring of course their anonymity.

When the rector of a major U.S. seminary invited then Cardinal Ratzinger to be the ordaining prelate for that year's class of deacons, he told me that three diocesan vocational directors promptly notified him that they would be pulling out all of their seminarians from the seminary the following semester. I asked him if they followed through on their threat and he replied, "They did."

"In the Name of God Lay Down Your Arms!"

Pope Benedict, today from Asia News Italy:

“In the name of God, I appeal to all those responsible for this spiral of violence to immediately lay down their weapons on all sides! I ask rulers and institutional institutions not to spare any effort to attain this necessary cessation of hostilities so as to be able to build, through dialogue, a lasting and stable coexistence of all the peoples of the Middle East. I ask men of goodwill to intensify the delivery of humanitarian aid to those peoples who are so sorely tried and in so much need. But above all, let the confident prayer to God, who is good and merciful, continue to come forth from every heart so that he may concede his peace to that region and to the whole world.” He added: “I entrust this heartfelt appeal to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Prince of Peace and Queen of Peace, so venerated in mid-eastern countries, where soon we hope to see reigning that reconciliation for which the Lord Jesus offered his precious Blood.”

Women "ordained" by Bishop in "Good Standing"

Interesting tidbit hidden in this story, who is this bishop and how could he not be known? From the Washington Post:

The group she belongs to began in 2002, when a renegade bishop ordained seven women in Germany. The Vatican quickly excommunicated the women. The next year, another bishop in good standing but who was never identified secretly ordained two women as bishops, saying he disagreed with the church teaching on women. More ordinations have taken place since, and the number of women in training for the priesthood has climbed to 120 today, Fresen said.

Mel Gibson Apologizes

For what he said when arrested the other night for DUI, from the Irish Examiner:

Hollywood star Mel Gibson has apologised for saying ”despicable” things to police officers when he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

“I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable,” the actor-director said in a statement without elaborating.

What did he say, you wonder?

According to the report, in addition to threatening the arresting deputy and trying to escape, Gibson allegedly said, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world,” and asked the officer James Mee, “Are you a Jew?”