I'm ignoring the scare quotes, because that's not what I want to talk about:
The Catholic Church's leading 'exorcist' is calling for all priests to be allowed to conduct the ritual after Pope Francis apparently performed one in St Peter's Square last week.
On one festive occasion, someone asked our former parish priest if he went in for exorcisms, and he said he'd never attempt one himself, because an exorcist has to spend so much time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, just for protection, that he doesn't really have time for anything else.
Let's take it that Pope Francis knew the risk he was taking -- and let's leave the impromptu demon expulsions to him.
Not quite so many people dead as they thought at first.
As always, the disaster has brought people's religious beliefs to the surface -- and for some people, that's Global Warming/Climate Change. In the hard copy of today's Sun, the last word in this headline was not "debate" but "denial" -- "Tornadoes strike at the heart of climate change denial".
And what about the snow in Newfoundland last weekend -- did that strike at the heart of anything? Nah, just a freak storm.
There's video here -- it doesn't show much if any of the actual deliverance, which is why I haven't bothered embedding it. Still. "Lord, in your name, even the demons were subject to us."
- Say prayers of courage, says Pope Francis, “Not prayers of courtesy: 'Ah, I will pray for you,' I say an Our Father, a Hail Mary and then I forget.”
- And in South Africa: "The Catholic Church says charging people to use existing roads is not acceptable."
- No, this time the priest was not really asking for money: "Some Springfield residents received an e-mail plea for help that appears to have come from their former pastor . . . KY3 News looked up that address in London, and it appears to be a Laundromat."
Selley on the government's mistake in keeping abortion off the order paper by any means necessary:
All the muzzling and machinations haven’t stopped the hysterics from
accusing Mr. Harper of a theocratic agenda to keep Canadian women
barefoot and pregnant; meanwhile, they have quite rightly bolstered his
reputation as an abuser of democracy. Surely this government’s thuggish
reputation is a bigger problem at this point than the
“social-conservative conspiracy” burden it has always successfully
shouldered.
Not exactly astute, and I say that as one who usually votes Tory for lack of any better choice (uh-oh, that word again).
From RTV6:
According to a federal arrest affidavit, Weldon swapped out his girlfriend's antibiotics with abortion pills . . .
He's charged with first degree murder.
Of course, his ex, poor woman, has made it clear she very much wanted this baby, and that's what's supposed to make all the difference. Still, we have an agency of the U.S. government saying it's possible that killing an unborn child is murder.
Me, filling out an overly inquisitive field trip permission slip: Why do they need to know our postal code to be able to reach me by phone? What are they going to do, call up and ask "Are you the Unpronounceables who live in AKA L8R?"
Over the weekend, I learned the difference between major depression and dysthymia -- no, not from Wikipedia, from a doctor who had a lot to get through in a presentation of a couple hours.
If there's a quick way to tell them apart, it's this: Dysthymic people can be in denial over their pain. Major depressives (if that's what you call us) can't.The doctor said this is the only time denial is ever good or useful.
But I don't think it's necessarily good or useful even then. What happens when there are dysthymic deniers and major depressives in the same family? The dysthymics may deny the pain of seeing someone they love sunk in major depression -- which means they're denying that person's pain too. And depressed people need empathy.
One small quibble with something that was mostly excellent. I left knowing more about myself and my own family.
- Recorded message: "This message will now be repeated . . . " followed by silence
- Dollar Tree flyer: "All luau supplies $1.25!"
- CDC: "CDC is not a clinic or hospital. CDC is a public health institution that
is a part of the federal government. CDC cannot refer patients to
specific health care providers or treat or prescribe medication." The things people expect you to be able to do just because you're called the Center for Disease Control!
Today's Post has one of those Mediaplanet inserts, this one on mental health, which perforce is one of my areas of interest. Of course it says it's important to spot and treat mental illness in kids, good and early. In Ontario, it seems, people who deal with kids actually work together to make sure this happens.
Here in Non-Tario?
School: You have to get your child assessed.
Mental Health: We don't have to assess him.
"It's probably been a long day, and now you get to listen to three hours of sex abuse prevention."
-- Guest speaker getting real with her audience
- I will not clean with microfibre cloths and plain water -- until they invent one that's insecticidal
- I will not conclude my spiritual exercises by imagining the guests at Cana or the Last Supper singing "The Parting Glass"
- On the other hand, to quote Lucy van Pelt, who knows what I'll do?
