I like it, I like it a lot: A former prison near Medellin, Colombia will soon be reopened as a Benedictine monastery, according to local officials. It triggers thoughts on all sorts of levels: redemption, cloistered, prison of flesh . . .
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I caught the end of Larry King's interview with sundry Catholics last night. I saw nothing objectionable in the last four minutes. After the show, I checked out Larry's online poll: What is your opinion of the Catholic Church: Favorable/Unfavorable. As of 9:45 p.m., the "Unfavorables" were winning (80% to 20%). Shoot, if 80% of Larry's viewers don't like the RCC, it must be a bad thing. I guess it's time to put away St. Augustine's Confessions and start the Left Behind series.
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From a public audience with the Pope on Sunday: "Each good Christian knows that vacations are an appropriate time for physical relaxation, as well as for nourishing the soul by allowing more time for prayer and meditation." I agree. After all, vacation is a good time for beer, too, and I've frequently claimed that a small amount of beer is a contemplative aid. It's contemplation of the lighter sort (the Stations of the Cross don't exactly fit with that icy Belgian white), but still contemplation.
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Looks promising: "Imagine a library that collected all the world's information about all the world's books and made it available for everyone to view and update. We're building that library."
I ran a few random searches and stumbled across this book: Season of Promises: Praying through Advent with Julian of Norwich, Thomas à Kempis, Caryll Houselander, Thomas Merton, Brother Lawrence, Max Picard. That's quite an assortment, especially the Max Picard (Jew-turned Catholic-returned Jew) kicker at the end. I looked for it at Amazon, but didn't have any luck.
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Better late than never. Leno last Friday: "Former President Bill Clinton about to publish a new book called "Giving.” "Giving.” Shouldn't getting be the name of his new book?"
