The CatholiCity Message
Volume IV, Number 12 – June 15, 2000
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
At the Catholic Marketing Network Tradeshow in Chicago last week, we were able to nail down some great offers from other Catholic publishers and apostolates, which we'll let you know about soon enough. The free stuff will include a Catholic magazine, a Catholic audio book, and a wonderful Catholic handbook from Sophia Institute Press. We've got about seven hundred items for you this week, but in the interests of time, we'll skip about 692 of them...
1. STARTING TO KICK
Let's all 20,000+ of us CatholiCity Citizens pray for expectant mothers, especially those who are being pressured into abortions. "Dear Mary, intercede on behalf of CatholiCity Moms and all mothers who are expecting babies. Send powerful armies of God's angels to protect these mothers and their babies physically and spiritually. Please, we beg you, procure from your Son the supernatural graces needed to change the minds of hearts of those who are contemplating aborting their children during this very minute, this very day, this very week. We love life. We love you. We love moms. We love babies. Amen."
2. THIS NEVER FAILS TO GET A SMILE
We have a friend named John Klee, a Notre Dame grad. He is a rocket scientist by training. John once pointed out to us that you can't say his last name out loud without smiling. Try it now. "Klee" is the absolutely perfect word for getting smiles when taking photographs.
Finally, you can toss saying the unreliable "Cheese" into the dungheap of history. If we say so ourselves, it's valuable nuggets like this that make the CatholiCity CatholiCity Message so practical, unique, and odd.
3. BACK FOR SECONDS
If you're new to CatholiCity, We are sure you'll want to join our workers and thousands of CatholiCity Citizens for our second international 54 Day Rosary Novena of the Jubilee Year, starting on 22 June, Feast of Saint Thomas More, and ending on 14 August, Feast of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. For more details, go to:
http://www.catholicity.com/support/praywithus.html/
4. WRONG AGAIN TIMES TWO
In our last message, based on newswire reports,
we mentioned that a recent Mass concelebrated by over 3000 priests at Saint Peter's in Rome was the largest ever. A priest then emailed me with the amazing fact that he concelebrated Mass with close to 6000 priests during a worldwide retreat for clergy in Rome in 1984. Wow. In an unrelated story, after reading about the Gray/Brown squirrel wars in Ohio, dozens of Citizens emailed us with news that the Buckeye State is also populated by super-friendly black squirrels, originally imported from Canada. These black rodents, are, it is theorized, may be acting as peace-keeping forces in the DMZ somewhere between Columbus and Cleveland.
5. GREAT NOT GOOD ENOUGH
While reading George Weigel's wonderful biography of Pope John Paul II, Witness to Hope, it struck us that all the recent talk of eventually declaring this remarkable man "Pope John Paul the Great" might be off the mark. Consider his papal motto, "Totus Tuus," which is translated into English in the longer form as "I am all yours Mary and all that I have is yours," and his tremendous devotion to Our Lady. Perhaps a more fitting title for him would be based on a Latin word most associated with Mary:
Magnificat. Well, somewhat related. It was Mary who told Saint Elizabeth, "My soul magnifies the Lord." More than any other pope, based on his travels alone, has anyone ever magnified the Lord the way John Paul has? So let us consider calling him:
"John Paul the Magnificent"
In all three of Saint Jude Media novels, not comfortable with even mentioning John Paul II by name, the author informed us that he always had the narrator and characters refer to him as "the Magnificent Pole." Hmmnn. John Paul the Magnificent. It makes sense to us. If you agree, copy this email to everyone you know, and ask them to start writing letters to the editors of Catholic magazines, newspapers, and websites for a grass roots campaign, which, like almost all grass roots movements, will surely fail, but provide fun and excitement to we blades of grass. A generation from now, if "the Magnificent" catches on, you'll really have something to tell your grandchildren...or not.
6. UNDER A DIGITAL BASKET
If you have a personal or business webpage, consider adding a "CatholiCity" logo to your homepage. A free graphic file is available here:
http://www.catholicity.com/support/linktous.html
7. THE BEST FOR LAST
If you loved Marie Bellet's first music album,
"What I Wanted to Say," then you'll be happy to hear her second album was just released last week. In fact, we're honored to report we've gotten to know Marie and her husband Bill since our review in this CatholiCity Message melted down their home-based Elm Street Records in November of 1998.
They're totally cool. We admit it: We are complete groupies. Fans. Belletheads. We've only had a chance to listen to a few songs on the album since they handed it to us at the Catholic Marketing Network tradeshow last week, but so far it's as wonderful and heartrending as the first album. It's worth the price just to see the unbelievably striking and indescribably beautiful photo of Marie, pregnant with her (now born)
eighth child, on the back side of the CD case. To read our original review of Marie's "What I Wanted to Say," go here:
http://www.catholicity.com/catholicitymessage/archives/wm1998-11-13.html
To order her second album, "Ordinary Time," go here:
8. LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD MEN
From billboards by the Archdiocese of Chicago, featuring a black background with a giant Roman collar on the top:
"If you're waiting for a sign from God, this is it. Consider the Priesthood."
"Help Wanted. Inquire Within Yourself. Consider the Priesthood."
"Maximize your potential. Minimize your wardrobe. Consider the Priesthood."
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans. That the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred."
William H. Murray
Thanks for reading. Our goal with this message is simple; we hope we brought a nice smile to your face, a good thought to your mind, a genuine prayer to your heart, a new bullet to your evangelical arsenal, and a certainty that there's a Catholic home for you on the Internet.
Yours in Christ,
Your Homies at CatholiCity
