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This is just so awesome:

Caption: “Few historians know of the heartwarming friendship between French Reformation theologian John Calvin and English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, the latter of whom may or may not have been real, considering he was not even born yet.” – SpaceCoyote

While nuns in Austria spray people in the face with water to raise funds, nuns on this side of the Atlantic have their own unique approach to making their bottom line:

Sister James Dolores, 73, gives her best surfer-girl pose in Stone Harbor, NJ, where her Pennsylvania convent owns a beachfront retreat called Villa Maria by the Sea.

“I’m really getting the hang of this,” said the spritely, no-nonsense nun. “No one ever thought they’d see me on a board.”

Though Sister James, of Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, doesn’t actually hang 10, the nun has a special relationship with local surfers, and her mother house will host its 15th annual Nun’s Beach Surf Invitational on Sept. 11. The proceeds go to the maintenance of the breathtaking, 6½-acre, 150-bedroom waterfront complex. (New York Post)

I think they should give out copies of Peter Kreeft’s I Surf, Therfore I am: A Philosophy of Surfing to the winners. The author introduces his work in this fashion:

This is the first book about surfing ever written by a philosopher. The author, a 70-year-old surfanatic, has been Professor of Philosophy at Boston College for over 40 years and has written 50 other books on philosophy, religion, and culture. But compared to this one, the others are nothing but straw.

Somehow I can’t imagine St. Thomas on a surfboard.

Earlier this year myself and a couple buddies started a Facebook group called “RAMBO CATHOLICS.” This inside joke came from a NYT Magazine quote:

“Citing [Robert P.] George’s comparison of Catholic scholars who support abortion rights to defenders of chattel slavery, Cathleen Kaveny of the Notre Dame Law School, another scholar of law and theology in the Thomistic tradition, has called George and his allies “Rambo Catholics” and “ecclesiastical bullies.”

The group’s tagline goes If saving unborn babies and defending marriage makes me a Rambo Catholic well then, baby, SIGN ME UP!!!”

We’re about to pass 1,000 members, and papists have been uploading their favorite (hilarious) “Rambo Catholic” photos. So if you are bored this week and want to join a new group…

Not for the faint of heart…

And what’s worse, it’s real.

Ph/t: Relevant Mag.

This hilarious cartoon made it around the Catholic twitterverse yesterday and I had to share:

In case this is too insider baseball for some, “to follow someone on Twitter means to subscribe to their Tweets or updates on the site.”

Ph/t: St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church blog

Reuters:

A Hungarian Roman Catholic priest has become a YouTube hit with his distinctive method of spreading the word on wheels.

The Reverend Zoltan Lendvai, 45, who lives and preaches in Redics, a small village on Hungary’s border with Slovenia, believes skateboarding can open the way to God for young people. The video of him in action, Funny Priest Skateboarding, has so far attracted close to 170,000 hits and now also has a music version.

Lendvai says he follows the ways of Saint John Bosco, an Italian priest and educator in the 19th century who dedicated his life to improving the lot of poor youngsters and used games as part of their education.

Here he is in action (no ollies, sadly – I guess the cassock gets in the way):

What a wild ride it’s been for Actor Neal McDonough. Back in March he was fired by ABC for refusing to film sex scenes in their new TV series Scoundrels. And now he’s got a new gig, as Nikki Finke reports:

“I hear McDonough has co-created and will executive produce and star in VIGILANTE PRIEST, a one hour drama for Starz which is fast-tracking the project.

I hear the series was his own idea, and he will co-create it with Law & Order vet Walon Green who will also exec produce and write. John Avnet also will be executive producing and directing the pilot. McDonough will take on the title role: an ex-cop turned priest who is cleaning up the streets of Los Angeles “one sinner at a time”. I continue to applaud the Band Of Brothers and Desperate Housewives standout for sticking to his principles even if it has cost him jobs.”

“One sinner at a time”? That’s one heck of a tag line!

This whole idea sounds like an article from The Onion but hey, I’m willing to see how it turns out.

Ph/t: The Deacon’s Bench

It’s not often you see a headline with nuns and a well-known financial firm. But that’s what appeared in the Financial Times yesterday:

The Sisters of Jesus & Mary take on Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley will this week be served with a class action by a group of Irish investors, including hundreds of nuns, who claim the US bank failed to satisfy its contractual obligations related to €6m of bonds they purchased, resulting in the near total wipe-out of their investment. 

I don’t have a subscription to the Financial Times, but Business Insider explains the situation.

General principle: you don’t want nuns angry at you.

This was sent in to me by a reader this week and it seemed too fantastic not to be true:

My father was in a private audience with Pope Pius XII. He asked where my father was from (New York City) and the Holy Father then asked: “how are the Yankees doing?”

I don’t know, but it looks like the Holy Father’s (holy) hands could throw a mean slider!

Papist baseball fans will also appreciate this (verified) story:

“During a USO tour by a number of players in 1944, [Baseball Hall of Famer Joe] Medwick was among several individuals given an audience by Pope Pius XII. Upon being asked by the Pope what his vocation was, Medwick replied, “Your Holiness, I’m Joe Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal.” (source)

The photo I chose for yesterday’s Papist Picture of the Day is making waves today. The UK tabloids happily chirped little editorials such as this:

“Pope Benedict donned the trendy hat as he walked around his estate in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.”

The latest papal accessory has also inspired the inevitable photoshop entries:

It’s good to see people having a bit of fun with this (and in good taste!).

Two questions: what’s with all the craziness in the Archdiocese of Vienna, and what is with religious in Austria and spa treatments?

From the Associated Press:

Some Catholics may well sweat in the confessional as they admit to things they shouldn’t have done. But Vienna’s archdiocese has ruled that the box-like structure where believers confess their sins cannot be turned into a sauna.

Bidding on a confessional described on eBay as ideal for conversion into a one-person sauna, a small bar or a children’s playhouse was ended when the archdiocese stepped in.Archdiocese spokesman Erich Leitenberger told the daily Salzburger Nachrichten that auctioning “objects that were used for dispensing the sacraments is not acceptable.”

Confessionals “should not be converted into saunas or bars,” he was quoted Tuesday as saying. Leitenberger did not return calls to the AP. The confessional was offered for auction by a Vienna church undergoing renovations. 

Curiously, the highest reported amount offered by one of the 40 bidders before the item was yanked from the internet Monday was 666.66 euros.

I don’t find that fact curious in the least – we all know “he who shall not be named” was probably bidding on it!

Typically this would be a post I’d save for “Offbeat Friday”, but its in the news today:

A large statue of Jesus that has been seen by millions across the country was destroyed by a fire late Monday night.

The King of Kings statue that stood outside the Solid Rock Church located on Union Road just off Interstate 75 is now in ruins. Only a few wire frames are still standing. (WDTN)

Here is the video someone captured:

Mark Brumley at Insight Scoop has some magnificent comments to share about the melting of “Giant Butter Jesus”:

To be sure, the fire isn’t a “coincidence”, as one church member suggested. I’m not sure the church member had in mind what I do: when you build large fiberglass objects, you risk lightning striking them and burning them to the ground. That seems to be what happened here.

It might be expected by certain Christians that God would modified the laws of physics in the case of large fiberglass objects in the shape of Jesus, but apparently, in the divine wisdom, he has chosen to stick to the plan and have electricity work as electricity and fiberglass behave as fiberglass.   

The comment cake, however, has to go to The Courtier, who titled his post on the subject … wait for it:

“Will the REAL Touchdown Jesus Please Stand Up?”

Personally, I recommend going with stone – for obvious reasons: