This is why everyone should move to Pittsburgh immediately (they should also move specifically into some part of the "Shrines of Pittsburgh" parish territory which has nice church buildings from the immigrant era, in keeping with that article about building communities. I think this would work.)
I think the problem with "moving" the Feast of the Ascension is that it seems to give the appearance that the feast is less important, perhaps optional. As our pastor pointed out last night at Divine Liturgy, the Ascension is not a celebration of Jesus rocketing into the stratosphere. Instead, it is a feast celebrating the ascension of the human nature of Jesus, including Jesus' resurrected body, to the "right hand" of God. It is the culmination of the Paschal Mystery., Here is an important analysis from "The Catholic Thing" this morning--https://www.thecatholicthing.org/-- which I strongly urge you to read.
Whales are the ultimate free range food animal. They go where they will right up until the moment they catch an explosive harpoon. And surely it is better ro kill and eat ONE whale rather than hundreds of cows or myriads of chickens. That seems like basic mathematics. Finally, they are supposed to be smart, so maybe they could be persuaded to see the sense in willingly sacrificing themselves for us, which would never work for dumber animals.
I would actually believe, as far as deer go, at least, that there are many more of them now than there were in generations past. A white tail doe, at least, typically gives birth to twins every year. Their natural predators are mostly gone, and their new primary predator is the automobile. Many communities where I live now engage in deliberate culls and it seems to be very effective - car accidents are costly and dangerous, and hunted deer can be eaten, either by the hunter or donated.
The history of conservation and environmentalism is an interesting one. I take the responsible stewardship position, mostly, and think that it is impossible to think that we can just stop human activity in an area and everything will be fine. There's a fascinating book called An American Canopy that looks at exactly this question with regards to forestry, and whenever wildfires or various wood industries pop up in the news I think about it. Not animals, but it touches on all the same things.
My brother the priest with three parishes in rural Kentucky, has deer whistles on the front of his car. As long as you are going at least 45 miles per hour, they appear to work. He has passed over 500 deer in the course of his travels between parishes without ever having one jump in front of his car. If you live where you can drive fast and where there are lots of deer, you should get deer whistles for the front of your car.
I remember when my grandparents’ city used to hire snipers to cull the deer population every year because they were a danger to drivers. And deer have been responsible for 3 totaled cars in my immediate family (of 6).
Oh, my goodness, Ed! You have just committed an abominable sin by suggesting that there may be too many whales in the world. This contradicts the catechism of the woke, green movement. Sackcloth and ashes for you!
“…I would immediately thin the herd by throwing the top half of the resumé pile in the bin. Bad luck for them, you might think, and it was. But I didn’t want any unlucky people working in the office. My boss had an absolute conniption when he realized this was a standard part of my vetting process, but he couldn’t mount a convincing argument against the logic of it.”
He couldn’t mount a convincing argument because there is none. This is a beautiful, perfect, and abso-expletive-lutely hilarious example of the dangers of pursuing perfect internal logical consistency while ignoring external reality, and I have never loved an Ed story more.
(Except perhaps for every other Ed story, but I’ll ignore those for the sake of internal logical consistency.)
I've been suggesting that certain of these missives be collected into a "Best Of" anthology. The problem is that I keep suggesting it two times a week, every week (in other words, every. single. one.), because they're always so darn good.
Me too! Essays are some of my favorite literature to read and I would adore an anthology of great little essays like the ones Mr. Condon regularly churns out. My favorite lines from this week: Side eyeing the wayward deer: “It’s called living in harmony with your environment” and ending the essay, “ I’m not saying this is a perfect argument here, or that I am in full command of the facts.” 🤣 Never let a few facts get in the way of a good idea, chaps
The Eastern Churches do not authorize the moveable feast. Went to normal Thursday Mass in my diocese yesterday, but traveling this weekend to attend a Divine Liturgy on Sunday. No Ascension for me!
Also, re: Notre Dame, this is clearly a strategic hostile move against the DeNicola Center. Much like how the University of Saint Thomas in MN hates its Catholic Studies, ND hates dNCEC since it’s one of the few remaining bastions of Catholic identity and academic thought at a (broadly-speaking) deeply lost institution. There’s a certain wonderful Aussie priest professor who’s long been banished to the shadow realm of ND
Now, if it had been a bowl of petunias smashed against the ship's prow, given the odds of that happening, we'd know for sure it wasn't just bad luck; but an Infinite Improbability Drive was somehow involved. Again.
Hi Ed! I work for the Coast Guard and have a background as a merchant mariner. Whale strikes are uncommon but do happen from time to time. Lookouts for floating whale carcasses, particularly in the Right Whale speed controlled zones along the mid Atlantic, don’t always catch carcasses or items at night. If the vessel was going the appropriate speed, which is easy to track with modern AIS, the whale would have adequate time to move if still alive. I imagine the vessel would be observing the rules of the road, especially since cruise ships run tight, pre-planned schedules that account for the requisite slowdowns.
I have become increasing sensitive to products made from wheat. Yet, I have no problems with eating large amounts of wheat products in France. Last week, I brought back two small bags of wheat flour from France so I can enjoy baked goods at home.
Maybe the Church can have a supply of hosts made from “clean” wheat flour.
I have often wondered about this. Most of the flour sold in the US is conventionally grown i.e. not organic hard red winter wheat, and I have had friends whose sensitivities to wheat went away when they switched to organic or a different wheat variety (not necessarily a lower gluten grain like spelt, though some have also done that.) Some also do fine with conventional flour if sourdough starter is added to help ferment it. You can use sourdough for pretty much anything (I bake sourdough cakes, cookies, muffins, bagels, etc. in addition to our regular bread).
The contemporary Western diet is certainly plentiful but in a lot of ways it's completely different than what our recent ancestors used to eat and in some ways I'm not surprised some food sensitivities like wheat and dairy seem to increase.
I've heard this as well, that some people do fine with heritage wheat like Einkorn. I have also heard that conventional wheat today has been GMO'd, hybridized, etc to have more gluten than in the past, although a quick Google to confirm suggests that it may be an overblown/ misunderstood claim. I'm sure not risking it though - spent the first 22 years of my life chronically, horribly ill and then within a year of going GF all of my illness resolved :)
If what Penguin Mom is saying is relevant, you might be able to solve your problem by buying wheat berries and grinding them yourself. There are electric grinders. Might be cheaper than French imports in the long run.
There might also be locally grown grain, which is the option we use! Right now we buy all our stuff already milled, but whole berries are an option too. If you're of a prepper bent, the whole berries have a much longer shelf life, too...
I did not grow up or get Educated in the US of A - So I guess was spared the Moby Dick Bison and spare the wild creature .. "dancing with wolves" and whatever else ..is the way to go so as to get critical info as to why we do not have ASCENSION THURSDAY on a TURSDAY -NINE DAYS before The FEAST of Pentecost SUNDAY I know all will work out for the best yet to come.. IN THE END.... Cheers.
Everybody knows Christ ascended into heaven 43 days after the resurrection. Oh wait...
This is why everyone should move to Pittsburgh immediately (they should also move specifically into some part of the "Shrines of Pittsburgh" parish territory which has nice church buildings from the immigrant era, in keeping with that article about building communities. I think this would work.)
I think the problem with "moving" the Feast of the Ascension is that it seems to give the appearance that the feast is less important, perhaps optional. As our pastor pointed out last night at Divine Liturgy, the Ascension is not a celebration of Jesus rocketing into the stratosphere. Instead, it is a feast celebrating the ascension of the human nature of Jesus, including Jesus' resurrected body, to the "right hand" of God. It is the culmination of the Paschal Mystery., Here is an important analysis from "The Catholic Thing" this morning--https://www.thecatholicthing.org/-- which I strongly urge you to read.
Whales are the ultimate free range food animal. They go where they will right up until the moment they catch an explosive harpoon. And surely it is better ro kill and eat ONE whale rather than hundreds of cows or myriads of chickens. That seems like basic mathematics. Finally, they are supposed to be smart, so maybe they could be persuaded to see the sense in willingly sacrificing themselves for us, which would never work for dumber animals.
I would actually believe, as far as deer go, at least, that there are many more of them now than there were in generations past. A white tail doe, at least, typically gives birth to twins every year. Their natural predators are mostly gone, and their new primary predator is the automobile. Many communities where I live now engage in deliberate culls and it seems to be very effective - car accidents are costly and dangerous, and hunted deer can be eaten, either by the hunter or donated.
The history of conservation and environmentalism is an interesting one. I take the responsible stewardship position, mostly, and think that it is impossible to think that we can just stop human activity in an area and everything will be fine. There's a fascinating book called An American Canopy that looks at exactly this question with regards to forestry, and whenever wildfires or various wood industries pop up in the news I think about it. Not animals, but it touches on all the same things.
My brother the priest with three parishes in rural Kentucky, has deer whistles on the front of his car. As long as you are going at least 45 miles per hour, they appear to work. He has passed over 500 deer in the course of his travels between parishes without ever having one jump in front of his car. If you live where you can drive fast and where there are lots of deer, you should get deer whistles for the front of your car.
I remember when my grandparents’ city used to hire snipers to cull the deer population every year because they were a danger to drivers. And deer have been responsible for 3 totaled cars in my immediate family (of 6).
Oh, my goodness, Ed! You have just committed an abominable sin by suggesting that there may be too many whales in the world. This contradicts the catechism of the woke, green movement. Sackcloth and ashes for you!
“…I would immediately thin the herd by throwing the top half of the resumé pile in the bin. Bad luck for them, you might think, and it was. But I didn’t want any unlucky people working in the office. My boss had an absolute conniption when he realized this was a standard part of my vetting process, but he couldn’t mount a convincing argument against the logic of it.”
He couldn’t mount a convincing argument because there is none. This is a beautiful, perfect, and abso-expletive-lutely hilarious example of the dangers of pursuing perfect internal logical consistency while ignoring external reality, and I have never loved an Ed story more.
(Except perhaps for every other Ed story, but I’ll ignore those for the sake of internal logical consistency.)
I've been suggesting that certain of these missives be collected into a "Best Of" anthology. The problem is that I keep suggesting it two times a week, every week (in other words, every. single. one.), because they're always so darn good.
Me too! Essays are some of my favorite literature to read and I would adore an anthology of great little essays like the ones Mr. Condon regularly churns out. My favorite lines from this week: Side eyeing the wayward deer: “It’s called living in harmony with your environment” and ending the essay, “ I’m not saying this is a perfect argument here, or that I am in full command of the facts.” 🤣 Never let a few facts get in the way of a good idea, chaps
The Eastern Churches do not authorize the moveable feast. Went to normal Thursday Mass in my diocese yesterday, but traveling this weekend to attend a Divine Liturgy on Sunday. No Ascension for me!
Also, re: Notre Dame, this is clearly a strategic hostile move against the DeNicola Center. Much like how the University of Saint Thomas in MN hates its Catholic Studies, ND hates dNCEC since it’s one of the few remaining bastions of Catholic identity and academic thought at a (broadly-speaking) deeply lost institution. There’s a certain wonderful Aussie priest professor who’s long been banished to the shadow realm of ND
Now, if it had been a bowl of petunias smashed against the ship's prow, given the odds of that happening, we'd know for sure it wasn't just bad luck; but an Infinite Improbability Drive was somehow involved. Again.
Hi Ed! I work for the Coast Guard and have a background as a merchant mariner. Whale strikes are uncommon but do happen from time to time. Lookouts for floating whale carcasses, particularly in the Right Whale speed controlled zones along the mid Atlantic, don’t always catch carcasses or items at night. If the vessel was going the appropriate speed, which is easy to track with modern AIS, the whale would have adequate time to move if still alive. I imagine the vessel would be observing the rules of the road, especially since cruise ships run tight, pre-planned schedules that account for the requisite slowdowns.
I'm just struggling to understand how a ship can have a 55,000 lb animal stuck in its grill and not notice!
If it’s recent, they won’t notice till they do the fuel calculations at noon :)
We're talking about a cruise ship, right? Google says that's 200,000 tons = 400 million pounds. Does a semi-truck notice when it hits a rat?
sei whales -- the rats of the sea.
I like it.
Gluten-Free
I have become increasing sensitive to products made from wheat. Yet, I have no problems with eating large amounts of wheat products in France. Last week, I brought back two small bags of wheat flour from France so I can enjoy baked goods at home.
Maybe the Church can have a supply of hosts made from “clean” wheat flour.
I have often wondered about this. Most of the flour sold in the US is conventionally grown i.e. not organic hard red winter wheat, and I have had friends whose sensitivities to wheat went away when they switched to organic or a different wheat variety (not necessarily a lower gluten grain like spelt, though some have also done that.) Some also do fine with conventional flour if sourdough starter is added to help ferment it. You can use sourdough for pretty much anything (I bake sourdough cakes, cookies, muffins, bagels, etc. in addition to our regular bread).
The contemporary Western diet is certainly plentiful but in a lot of ways it's completely different than what our recent ancestors used to eat and in some ways I'm not surprised some food sensitivities like wheat and dairy seem to increase.
Also, the wheat in the States is processed with different chemicals than in other parts of the world (I think it is Iodine vs Bromine, not sure).
I've heard this as well, that some people do fine with heritage wheat like Einkorn. I have also heard that conventional wheat today has been GMO'd, hybridized, etc to have more gluten than in the past, although a quick Google to confirm suggests that it may be an overblown/ misunderstood claim. I'm sure not risking it though - spent the first 22 years of my life chronically, horribly ill and then within a year of going GF all of my illness resolved :)
If what Penguin Mom is saying is relevant, you might be able to solve your problem by buying wheat berries and grinding them yourself. There are electric grinders. Might be cheaper than French imports in the long run.
There might also be locally grown grain, which is the option we use! Right now we buy all our stuff already milled, but whole berries are an option too. If you're of a prepper bent, the whole berries have a much longer shelf life, too...
I did not grow up or get Educated in the US of A - So I guess was spared the Moby Dick Bison and spare the wild creature .. "dancing with wolves" and whatever else ..is the way to go so as to get critical info as to why we do not have ASCENSION THURSDAY on a TURSDAY -NINE DAYS before The FEAST of Pentecost SUNDAY I know all will work out for the best yet to come.. IN THE END.... Cheers.
All that talk about whaling and not a single mention of one of the greatest (American) novels ever written? Truly a missed opportunity...
(But I too am flabbergasted how a ship can hit a whale and not notice.)
I included "Moby Dick" as the song at the end of the newsletter!
Ah, I'm a doofus. That's what I get for not paying attention to the videos at the end. Thanks!
Next whaling post, how about Nic Jones’ “The Humpback Whale”, instead of Zep?
I am a paid subscriber. I cannot click on the UND story. It says it’s a private page.
That's unusual. I didn't have that problem. But here's the URL:
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/new-notre-dame-ethics-center-sees
Thanks for making this comment. I was going to as well. In one sense, I’m glad I’m not the only one.
It was my fault - I had a bad link in the newsletter. Should be fixed now
Laudato sei the puckish and prickly, or is it slippery (?) Mr. Condon. Thanks.
If you read both Caritas in veritate by BXVI and Laudato Si by Francis, they actually basically reiterate the same themes.
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Heart warming, educational, and certainly hard hitting.
Very smart, well written and fitting.
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