The CatholiCity Message
Volume III, Number 10 – April 9, 1999
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
Happy Easter! Happy Divine Mercy Sunday!
1. WE LOVE HIS WORK
A week before he got married, Steve Breen became one of the youngest Pulitzer Prize winners in history for his amazing editorial cartoons. You might remember when we announced this great news last year, and if you want to find out more about Steve and see some of his most recent (scathing) cartoons, go here:
http://www.c-nclassifieds.com/breen/
The other big news is that Steve landed a contract to create a daily comic strip which went into syndication this week. It's called Grand Avenue, and features a grandmother who takes care of two "Calvin and Hobbes-ish" little kids, Michael and Gabbie. We think it's pretty hilarious. Note that Michael and Gabbie's names "line up" with Saint Michael the Archangel and the Archangel Gabriel. Coincidence? Maybe. If your local newspaper doesn't carry Grand Avenue yet, you'll be able to check it out online in the next week or so at:
Okay, Steve. Now you owe us that $100.
2. THIRTEEN-FIVE WHAT?
13,500 readers. We ran the numbers, and this CatholiCity Message now goes out to that many people, and who knows how many more after you guys forward it to your friends. When we started these little whatever-they-ares, it was kind of as a lark, with just a couple thousand readers. We hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as we've enjoyed writing it. Thanks.
3. OREMUS
Oremus means "Let us pray" in Latin. Let's all 13,500+ of us pray together the following..."Dear Jesus, we trust in You. Make us be instruments of Divine Mercy in the life of another soul today, and tomorrow and the next day, and all the days beyond. Please open our eyes to suffering in others, helping us to always remember that the worst suffering is that borne by a soul-sick person. We trust in You! For the sake of Your sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen."
4. CAUGHT IN A WEB OF GRACE
Marcus Grodi of "The Journey Home" fame on EWTN, and the director of the Coming Home Network, is looking to find someone who converted to Catholicism from Protestantism and was prompted to do so primarily through information and relationships discovered on the Internet. He's also looking to put this convert on his television show. We told him we're sure that many CatholiCity Citizens fall into this category. If you fit the bill, send a short version of your story to him at:
NO LONGER NEEDED
5. "HOUSE OF GOLD" CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Bud Macfarlane has 350 pages of his third novel, House of Gold, finished, and he's rounding third and heading toward home. We're pleased and excited with the what we've seen of the manuscript so far, and we're sure this has a lot to do with your prayers. Keep praying. It's still on schedule for a June release, and we think it's going to blow readers away.
6. WEIRD STUFF
Today, probably because we opened the doors to let the fresh air come in, three flies have been buzzing around us as we write. We snatch all of them out of the air with our lightning fast reflexes, then slam them against the wall. We're three-for-three.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"The short words are best, and the old words are best of all."
Winston Churchill (perfectly illustrating his own point)
"If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is on this: the surest way to arouse and hold the attention of the reader is by being specific, definite, and concrete."
Strunk and White, Elements of Style
"The angel then is an intelligent essence, in perpetual motion, with free will, incorporeal, ministering to God, having obtained by grace an immortal nature; and the Creator alone knows the form and limitation of its nature."
Saint John of Damascus
"Happy is the soul who has made it her business to collect miseries, to pour on them the oil of mercy and heat them on the fire of love!"
Saint Bernard
"Ninety percent of playing this game is half mental."
Yogi Berra
8. JOKE OF THE WEEK
"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies–probably because they are generally the same people."
G.K. Chesterton
Thanks for reading this Message up to this point. As for the rest of you, it doesn't matter because you're not reading this.
With Christ,
Your Friends at CatholiCity
