Imbolc \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Valentine Moon<\/p>\n
Cybermage Bill Schmidt held the hot hand tonight in Sheepshead. \u00a0He just kept winning. \u00a0And came out ahead, well ahead for the evening. \u00a0The card gods blessed him in his coming and in his going. \u00a0My cards were middling. \u00a0In the black, but barely.<\/p>\n
Since this is three ex-Jesuits, a very engaged Catholic layman, and me, a former clergy, talk turned to the Pope. \u00a0One guy thought the headline for Benedict’s resignation should have been: \u00a0Too Pooped to Pope! \u00a0Great line.<\/p>\n
The Vatican has always fascinated me. \u00a0Partly the mystery and secrecy, the Vatican library for example. \u00a0Partly its nation-state status inside the city limits of Rome. \u00a0Partly its peculiar prominence among the world’s religions. \u00a0Partly the long history and partly its long reach. \u00a0Partly the great outfits. \u00a0Surely the great art.<\/p>\n
Kate and I sent the thank-you notes for our wedding, penned over the Atlantic on a Pan-Am airliner, from the Vatican Post Office. \u00a0We also first had what we call Popeteria salad (mozzarella and tomatoes with basil and olive oil) in the cafeteria of the Vatican Museum. \u00a0When we were there in March of 1990, the Last Judgment was still in the process of being cleaned, but the rest was, well, pristine. \u00a0Ha, ha.<\/p>\n
Michelangelo. Raphael. Bernini. Great and illustrious names in Italian art decorated–decorated–St. Peter’s, the chapels, apartments and even the hallways. \u00a0The Vatican is a great monument to the power of the Western artistic vision as well as the power of the papacy and the curia.<\/p>\n
Sede vacante. \u00a0The chair is empty. \u00a0Now the inside ball, politicking without politicking. \u00a0Running without running. \u00a0Men in cardinal soutanes and small cardinal berettas file in and begin a centuries old tradition, an oligarchy of the church chooses their monarch.<\/p>\n
Set aside the metaphysics, this is just plain interesting from a human and organizational and historical perspective.<\/p>\n
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Imbolc \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Valentine Moon Cybermage Bill Schmidt held the hot hand tonight in Sheepshead. \u00a0He just kept winning. \u00a0And came out ahead, well ahead for the evening. … Continue reading Too Pooped to Pope!<\/span>