When I realized that I was going to have a large family, I looked forward to dropping five of them off at the local Catholic school every morning. Then, my parish ran into a string of bad luck (some of it self-induced) and the parish school started flagging. They shut down the middle school, with the result that I never dropped off five kids at the same school. A pathetically small cross to bear, obviously, but still disappointing.
The cross gets lifted today. The school is doing better, and Little Max is starting pre-school. That gives me five: eighth grade, fifth grade, third grade, first grade, and pre-school. They all start at 7:30. I'll be the envy of . . . Well, maybe no one, but I'm looking forward to it.
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The 174th Oktoberfest looms. Here are my thoughts on the subject from two years ago. Excerpt:
I'm saying that Catholics should lead the way in showing people how to drink and celebrate life.
It reminds me of an interview with John Paul II. An interviewer was inquiring about his skiing and asked, “Isn't it unbecoming for a pope to ski?” To which JPII replied, “No, it's unbecoming for a pope to ski poorly” (that's a rough characterization; I saw the exchange in a movie and don't remember the exact details).
If you're going to do something that's not sinful, do it well. To do otherwise reflects poorly on your faith.
As a lawyer, I've never had much patience for the dripping-with-Christianity businessmen who seem too holy or other-worldly to be competent at their jobs. It simply reflects poorly on Christianity, and if your calling is to be a businessman, you best take it seriously and do the job well. Anything less is a scoff at the Creator who put you in that position.
These same principles apply to Oktoberfest.
If drinking and celebration are good things (and I won't take the time to argue they are; readers unconvinced are referred to the works of Josef Pieper), then Catholics ought to do them well. And if the drinking and celebration take place in the heart of a Catholic region, then that region better make sure celebration is good.
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Maybe there's some sanity in the entertainment world after all: Britney Spears' highly anticipated comeback at the MTV Awards prompted ridicule rather than praise.
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Orwell's suspicions were justified, but there apparently is no evidence that the RCC was spying on him: But Orwell's paranoia, it seems, was justified. The Soviet secret police were watching him in Barcelona in 1937, and now, thanks to documents just released, we know he was also under surveillance by Special Branch and MI5 as early as 1929, while living "down and out" in Paris. Interestingly enough, unlike his many rightwing critics, British spies concluded that he was not a Communist, despite having "advanced" and "unorthodox" opinions.
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During my weekend surfing, I ran across this Wikipedia entry about the Inklings. It's pretty good, as far as I can tell. It also has this great picture of the Eagle and Child Pub (where JRR, CS, and the others liked to drink).
