extreme Catholic

Senator Kennedy came to my parish

It was the year he was serious about running for President of the United States -- 1980 -- President Carter was running for reelection but he first needed the nomination of the Democratic Party. (details on the Wikipedia). Kennedy (then 48) was known for being a Senator (appointed in 1962 at the Constitutional minimum age of 30), for Chappaquiddick in which Mary Jo Kopechne died in mysterious circumstances, and for a Roger Mudd interview where he fumbled the question "Why do you want to be President?"

All of the early primaries were won by Carter but as 1980 progressed, people thought he was not handling the economy and Iran hostage crisis well. There was high unemployment, high interest rates, and all over the globe, the power and influence of the Soviet Union was growing.

Kennedy confidently came to New York, to Queens, to Woodside, to the SE corner of 58th Street and Roosevelt Ave. to Sunday Mass at St. Sebastian. I was 26, and married a year, and I shook the Senator's hand, along with many other Woodsiders on the week of the New York primary. He won New York, but that was Kennedy's peak, and by the time of the convention Carter had a surge. Kennedy never again sought the Presidency.

This undated photo of Mother Teresa and Senator Kennedy was taken in India.

Labels: history, kennedy, poltics, woodside

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:26 PM Permalink

From the Medieval Piety Dept.

Christian Today: and Medieval News: Performance Art

The post also uses the correct word "celebrate" for this Mass.

Also: University of York

It's not religion -- connecting man to God -- it's archeology -- connecting man to the physical artifacts of his past.

PhD student Eleanor McCullough pieced together the Mass used in York churches in the 14th Century based on manuscripts from the period held by York Minster and the Bodleian Library.
This may well be the first time that a York Lady Mass has been reconstructed and performed from the medieval manuscripts here in York since the Reformation.
It will be used in a special ceremony on Saturday 18 July at All Saints Church North Street, in York, to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of North Street.

Labels: anglican, catholic, church, history, liturgy

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:12 PM Permalink

UK Telegraph: Zimbabwe introduces $100 trillion banknote

Zimbabwe's central bank will introduce a $100 trillion Zimbabwean banknote, worth about US $33 on the black market, to try to ease desperate cash shortages, state-run media said on Friday.

This country was once known as Southern Rhodesia after Cecil Rhodes.

The tragedy unfolding in this country almost makes one doubt that democracy can be practiced everywhere and for all. I doubt that any elections in this country were ever free.

We now owe the Weimar Republic an apology. Their inflation was nothing compared to this.

Labels: banking, history

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:21 PM Permalink

Paracelsus

Paracelsus (Wikipedia and Catholic Encyclopedia) is an interesting footnote figure from history. He was born in what would become Switzerland in 1493 at the boundary between the Middle Ages and the Modern Period.

He was an experimentalist which made him in the language of that day, an alchemist. His field was medicine and he rejected what was in the texts of Galen and Avicenna which did not conform to his own observation. Back then it was believed that all disease was attributable to an imbalance of "the four humors of the body". Why have not we heard more about him?

He was arrogant and did not play well with others. Could he have adjusted his demeanor and achieve acceptance? Or was he doomed by the environment he lived in? It might have advanced science 100 or 200 years to have followed his methods. In any case, he is one of the people I plan to seek out when I get to heaven by the grace of God.

Labels: history, science

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:24 PM Permalink