Laughter and the Saints (Fr. James Martin)

Well--OK, this is a few months late, but every Catholic humor blog needs this 27 minute (funny!) lecture on why humor is appropriate in the seriously Christian life. Enjoy!

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Caption Contest #49

Picture source.

Caption away in the midrash box.

They will beat their swords into plowshares. Or big shiny electric crosses.

I know he was going for humor...but I think I hate this with a white hot passion.

But I like LarryD's comment: " 'If you wish to be my disciple, deny yourself, pick up your light sabre, and follow me.' Kinda."

HT to Acts of the Apostasy.

More Christian Humor Links

I'm running into lots of new Catholic and/or Christian humor sites. Take a look:

• B-Movie Catechism "One man's desperate attempt to reconcile his love of his Catholic faith with his passion for really, really bad movies."
• The Brothers and Sisters of Perpetual Discernment A parody site on discerning Catholic religious vocations. Definitely soap-operatic: instead of "The Young and the Restless," think "The Young and Religious".
• Nuns Having Fun Richard Glen Michael Davis, one of the authors of Growing Up Catholic, is behind this one.
• Stuff Christians Like Very clever pokes at Christian (esp. Evangelical, it seems to me) culture.

Enjoy!--I.C.

Friday's QOTD

It seems to me that the meaning of man's life
consists in proving to himself
every minute
that he's a man
and not a piano key.

--Fyodor Doestoyesky
(found here)

Stuff Catholics Like: Sex

Whew. Did it get warm in here?

My latest post is up at Stuff Catholics Like, where I am still trying to get my land legs, writing-wise.

p.s. Don't worry, it's rated G. Sorry, Korrektiv guys.

Sacred Trash

Check out the bins.
(picture source)

Truth Is Stranger #77: Welcome Our Extraterrestrial Brothers and Sisters In Christ!

From the Vatican (yes, really):

(AP) VATICAN CITY - Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.

OK, actually, I do agree with the director of the Observatory here. I can go Franciscan and welcome Brother Green Hairy Alien. But did he have to say "extraterrestrial brother"? Why not just wave a red flag in front of my blog and scream "POST ME! POST ME!"

And, uh, clearly he hasn't been watching the latest version of Doctor Who. If those aliens are our brothers and sisters, we have some serious Fall action going on outside of humanity.

Full story here.

HT: Ray at Stella Borealis.

College Reporter Confuses Catholic Women for Chemo Patients

Joliet, IL: A young college reporter thought he had his first break.

"I was all set to be the next Bob Woodward," University of Illinois student Matthew Swain admitted sheepishly. "Our journalism professor warned us about writing on religion--he said you can't win. This proves he's right."

Swain, a practicing Presbyterian attending Mass at St. Agatha's Parish with his girlfriend, noticed that many women in the traditional parish were wearing scarves over their heads. The next morning, he was writing a speculative piece for his blog on the high correlation between Catholic women, chemotherapy, and chemical dumps on the parish property.

The problem was, the women were wearing chapel veils.

"We're not cancer patients, at least, not most of us," argued Sarah Gostomski. "We just want to show respect for God in worship by covering our heads."

Swain thought he had covered his bases. "See, first I thought these women must be Muslim. But then I saw the crucifix, and remembered, oh yeah, my girlfriend's Catholic. Then I thought they must be nuns, but then I noticed some of them had kids, and I heard that Vatican II loosened up some things, but not that one. So obviously the next choice was that the parish was just above a chemical sinkhole causing cancer in women at an alarming rate. Any educated person would have come to the same conclusion."

When asked why he didn't inquire with his girlfriend about the head coverings, he shrunk back in horror. "Dude, I don't ask my girl about fashion. I mean, she was wearing a hat, I guess it was cute, but I didn't know what to say after that. Best just to nod and smile whenever that comes up. We just don't go there."

Fr. Anthony Bain, the pastor, was taking the unexpected parish publicity in stride: "I think the only chemical spill has been some burnt coffee. And we fixed the burner. So...come visit."

--I.C.

Immortalized?

OK, so one of my posts goes somewhat viral (at least locally) and gets made into a T-shirt by the Fair Trade Coffee and Chocolates group at my school. Said T-shirt is given to me as a gift and enthusiastically modeled by chic #3.

If you can't read it, it says:

"Spit out that slave-trade coffee, you child-labor-loving freak."

I'm so touched (sniff). Mind you, the post said that was NOT the way to open conversation. You can catch the context in Etiquette Tips for Liberal and Conservative Catholics, here.

Change You Can Believe In

Joy and Peace, everyone.

Phenomenal picture from here. HT to Happy Catholic. Poster generator here.

Caption Contest #48

Picture source here (thanks to Ken Duffy!).

UPDATE! We have winners:
Tim of Lapped Catholic:
Despite the legends and songs of individuals losing their souls to Satan in dramatic and heart wrenching ways, the devil actually acquires souls in much more mundane ways than most would think.

Allen from Allen's Brain:
"Sinner. Venial Sinner. Clergy. Saint. Convert."

"Bingo!"

Light And Leaven On A University Campus

...Part of what I have been working on, when not grading this week.

(I am in there, after the "leaven" frame, teaching away.)

I really like these students. Please wish them well--most of those pictured are going to major seminary, graduate school in theology, or off to do youth ministry in the Church. Graduation is this Saturday.

(Really in a video-watching mood?: here's last year's.)

Multiple Choice Fun

I'm still grading, cleaning, meeting with committees, recovering from research projects, and getting ready for the upcoming graduation here at RSCU (really SMALL Catholic university). Plus my computer at home is on the fritz (...insert primal scream here...). So for my post: real multiple choice questions I have asked on my first year student exams. The course is a basic introduction to reading the Bible through theology.

• The "woman clothed with the sun" in Revelation 12 is understood to symbolically represent... A. Mary B. Deborah C. Esther D. Dr. IC
• "The state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed" is called... A. heaven B. purgatory C. hell D. class time

More coming as time allows. Feel free to suggest your own.