Today, we celebrate American Catholicism's coming of age: it's the memorial of St. John Neumann:
John lived in Bohemia until he came to America in 1836. Having already completed his studies, he was ordained soon after he arrived. He was a parish priest in Buffalo for four years before joining the Redemptorists in Pittsburgh. He built fifty churches and opened nearly a hundred schools, and was the first American man to be canonized.
Quote of the Day:
We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true. Robert Wilensky
Probably the most-interesting article of the new year so far. Excerpt:
This past September, Robert Redeker, a French high-school philosophy teacher at Saint-Orens-de-Gameville (a small city near Toulouse) and the author of several scholarly books, published an op-ed article in the newspaper Le Figaro. The piece, a response to the controversy over remarks about Islam made a week earlier by Pope Benedict XVI, was titled “What Should the Free World Do in the Face of Islamist Intimidation?” It was a fierce critique of what Redeker called Islam's attempt “to place its leaden cloak over the world.” If Jesus was “a master of love,” he wrote, Muhammad was “a master of hatred.” Of the three “religions of the book,” Islam was the only one that overtly preached holy war. “Whereas Judaism and Christianity are religions whose rites reject and delegitimize violence,” Redeker concluded, “Islam is a religion that, in its own sacred text, as well as in its everyday rites, exalts violence and hatred.”
Having been posted online, the article was read all across France and in other countries as well, and was quickly translated into Arabic. Denunciations of Redeker's “insult of the prophet” spread across the Internet. Within a day after publication, the piece was being condemned on al Jazeera by the popular on-air preacher (and unofficial voice of Osama bin Laden) Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi. In Egypt and Tunisia, the offending issue of Le Figaro was banned.
As for Redeker himself, he soon received a large number of threats by letter and e-mail. On an Islamist website, he was sentenced to death in a posting that, in order to facilitate a potential assassin's task, also provided his address and a photograph of his home.
Looking for good movie rentals in 2007? This story from CNS lists 20 good movies from 2006.
Brews You Can Use
Okay, this retro picture is awfully juvenile, but it cracked me up:
Practically in my back yard: Frankenmuth, Michigan, the Bavarian Inn Beer Event. The Bavarian Inn is a very neat place. I'm normally there only when it's dastardly crowded for the annual music festival. I suspect this event will be less crowded, which is good, since attendees will need more room to walk/sway through the hotel.
Aaaaargh! The History Channel had a show on the history of brewing, and I didn't know about it. It's a cruel world. If anyone hears of it playing again, please let me know.
Expand your knowledge of stout here, plus see a beautiful picture. Excerpt:
In his 1977 edition of The World Guide to Beer Michael Jackson generally describes three: bitter stout, milk or sweet stout and Russian or imperial stout. By 1995, Michael Lewis in his book Stout describes how to brew six different styles: west coast, Irish draught, dry, sweet, Caribbean and imperial. Beyond these, I can think of two traditional styles including oatmeal and Baltic.
