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Month: June 2010

HOMILIES SOULD BE UNDER EIGHT MINUTES LONG

HOMILIES SOULD BE UNDER EIGHT MINUTES LONG

That's the title of an article that was recently published by the Catholic News Service. Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops has written that the Sunday sermon or homily should not be longer then eight minutes which is about the average listener's attention span, he says. The bishop also urges preachers to spend the appropriate amount of time to "craft a well-prepared and relevant sermon for Mass." Among the general guidelines, he also suggests that a…

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EXCOMMUNICATION & THE BISHOP’S TRIGGER FINGER

EXCOMMUNICATION & THE BISHOP’S TRIGGER FINGER

Phoenix Bishop Thomas Olmsted excommunicated a nun who served on a hospital commission that voted to allow an abortion for a woman who would not survive if she delivered and a fetus with little or no chance of survival.  We have seen during recent political campaigns and in other settings, that many bishops seem to relish the power they claim to possess to excommunicate or deny communion to those they have decided are immoral. As one letter writer to a Catholic…

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CHARLES PLUMB AND HIS PARACHUTE

CHARLES PLUMB AND HIS PARACHUTE

There is a website called inspire 21.com http://www.inspire21.com/stories/truestories/. It features true stories that are inspiring to read. One of the stories is a story I read somewhere else in the past and had forgotten about. The story is entitled "Who packs your parachute? It involves a true story about Charles Plumb and his parachute experience. Charles Plumb was a U.S. Navy jet pilot. He was a graduate of the Naval Academy. He flew in Vietnam. After flying 75 combat missions his luck ran out….

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CHARLIE CHAN & THE SATURDAY MANTINEE IN ANACORTES

CHARLIE CHAN & THE SATURDAY MANTINEE IN ANACORTES

When I was a child growing up in Anacortes, Washington, there were two movie theaters in town. One, the Empire Theater, at 7th & Commerical Avenue, was directly across from our family’s grocery store. The building is there, but the theater hasn't operated in many years. Today, Burton Jewelers occupies the area which was the lobby and ticket office. Since I was too young to work at the store they would take me with the family to our family grocery store, but, I…

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DESMOND T. DOSS, A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WHO WON THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR

DESMOND T. DOSS, A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WHO WON THE CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR

I hadn't head of Desmond Doss (1919 – 2006)- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Doss - who was the first conscientious objector to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor until I came across a note about him. He was one of only three who was so honored. He was a Private first class at the time of his actions. As a Seventh Day Adventist Doss refused to carry a weapon into combat and served in the Pacific theater of World War II as a medic. He…

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MATT EMMONS AND HIS BAD LUCK

MATT EMMONS AND HIS BAD LUCK

Matt Emmons is a native of New Jersey, and an American competitive sport shooter. He began shooting competitively at high school. At 17 he became a member of the National Rifle Team. In college he won the NCCA a rifle championship four times when he in college. He has had an amazing career of success in his field. But, he also has had a bizarre history of bad luck in the Olympic shooting events. In the 2004 Summer Olympics he had…

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YOU’VE HEARD OF “SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT”? WELL…….

YOU’VE HEARD OF “SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT”? WELL…….

You get all the news here. A couple of news items caught my eye this week. The first two involve a couple of guys who managed to shoot themselves in the testicles. How could they have done that, you ask? Well, to start with, it helps to not use common sense. Our first victim was a macho kind of guy who, for reasons I’ll never know, walked into a Lynnwood Lowe’s Home Improvement store with a handgun stuffed down the waistband of his pants. Maybe he had…

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