Last Week In Life: July 5, 2021- July 11, 2021

Last Week’s SPECTACULAR STORY OF WEEK

“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight…

[Breadmaking is] one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world’s sweetest smells… there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel,  that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.” ― M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

In 1912 an unfortunate event took place. I’m not actually talking about the sinking of the Titanic. I’m talking about the unfortunate event of the destruction of a prototype machine that was destroyed in a fire.

In 1922 Actress Betty White was born. More on this later.

Fortunately, the machine that was lost to the world in 1912 was rebuilt successfully 16 years later in

1928.

• The Year that the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company was founded by  Pedro Flores, a Filipino immigrant to the United States that opened in Santa Barbara, California.
• The year that St. Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei.
• The year that  aviator Amelia Earhart became  the first woman to make a successful transatlantic flight, as a passenger in a Fokker F.VIIb/3m piloted by Wilmer Stultz, from Newfoundland to Wales.
• The year Mickey Mouse was born and the first movie to win an academy award for best picture, ‘Wings’,  was released in theaters.
• The year that A. A. Milne published his second Winnie the Pooh book,  The House at Pooh Corner.
• The year that Looney Tunes director Chuck Jones and Disney animator Ollie Johnston both turned 16.
• The year that Otto Frederick Rohwedder turned 48, 2 years younger then when I am writing this, and developed and first distributed his invention that was destroyed back in 1912.

On Otto’s birthday, July 7, 1928, The Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri used his machine to sell Kleen Maid Sliced Bread from Mr. Rohwedder’s invention that sliced bread. There was a time when you bought bread that it came as it was baked. But thanks to Otto’s invention, people could sell bread already cut and ready for use. Otto’s original bread-slicing machine is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?”
― Julia Child

After he pioneered the future of bread others expanded upon his invention. A St. Louis baker named Gustav Papendick bought Mr.  Rohwedder’s second bread slicer and set out to improve upon  it by devising a way to keep the slices together. Well at least long enough to allow the loaves to be wrapped.  After several failures trying things like rubber bands, metal pins, and editable glue (kidding) he settled on placing the slices into a cardboard tray. The tray aligned the slices, allowing mechanized wrapping machines to function and Wala, the first greatest thing to happen to sliced bread. But just 2 years later in 1930 a wonderous thing happen when the fabulous  Wonder Bread which first sold bread in 1925, started marketing sliced bread nationwide.

In 1932 another innovation in helping spread the wonder of sliced bread was created. Skippy Peanut Butter.  It is the bestselling brand of peanut butter in China and second only to the J.M. Smucker Company‘s Jif brand worldwide. Skippy comes in a amazing 14 different varieties. The value of bread and the greatest things since its invention continue to happen. For Instance….

the soft, sponge-like, and very white “bread” found some unexpected applications. For instance, while bread had been used since the 17th century to clean the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Wonder Bread proved to be an especially effective sponge in the most recent restoration of Michelangelo’s masterpiece.
How the Phrase ‘The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread’ Originated – The Atlantic

Other stuff that were the best things since sliced bread I think should naturally include…

The Novel entitled  ‘The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread’ by Don Robertson

“…in those days (the 19th century) the children sometimes had to walk miles to school. And I mean miles. Have any of you walked even so much as one mile? I doubt it. Not that I blame you . Why walk when you can go wherever you want in a streetcar or a bus? Only stupid people walk when they can ride. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that what people are always telling you? Feet were invented before wheels, but so what? Getting somewhere on wheels is more comfortable, and that’s what progress is all about, isn’t that so? But is comfort all that good? Doesn’t comfort maybe make us lazy? That’s something to think about isn’t it? What I mean is–we all want to accomplish something. That’s the secret of what everything’s all about–this business of wanting to accomplish something. But if everything is made too easy for us, how can we accomplish? I mean really accomplish. The more things we have helping us, the harder the accomplishing. We get too spoiled. We give up too easily…”
― Don Robertson, The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

In 1968 the band Bread was formed.

Make It with You

In 1985 The Golden Girls ( 1985–1992) premiered on TV starring Betty White who is older than sliced bread. Therefore Sliced Bread is the greatest thing since Betty White.

“The dwarf bread was brought out for inspection. But it was miraculous, the dwarf bread. No one ever went hungry when they had some dwarf bread to avoid. You only had to look at it for a moment, and instantly you could think of dozens of things you’d rather eat. Your boots, for example. Mountains. Raw sheep. Your own foot.”
― Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad

And to make this piece more Catholic, I want to say that the greatest thing before and since sliced bread is the giving of Jesus of himself in the living bread that came down from heaven given to us daily as the Eucharist, which feeds us spiritually.

 FEAST DAYS ,HOLIDAYS AND LAST WEEK IN HISTORY

 Mon  July 5,  2021

  Saint Anthony Zaccaria, priest – Optional Memorial

• 328– The official opening of Constantine’s Bridge built over the Danube between Sucidava (Corabia, Romania) and Oescus (Gigen, Bulgaria) by the Roman architect Theophilus Patricius.
• 1610– John Guy sets sail from Bristol with 39 other colonists for Newfoundland.
• 1687– Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
• 1915– The Liberty Bell leaves Philadelphia by special train on its way to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. This is the last trip outside Philadelphia that the custodians of the bell intend to permit.
• 1971– The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 years, is formally certified by President Richard Nixon
• 1810–  T. Barnum, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (d. 1891) is born.
• 2016– The Juno space probe arrives at Jupiter and begins a 20-month survey of the planet.

 Tuesday July 6, 2021

6 July: Saint Maria Goretti, virgin and martyr – Optional Memorial

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1942, Anne Frank’s family went into hiding. Several weeks earlier, her father, Otto Frank, had approached his Austrian-born bookkeeper, Miep Gies, and asked if she would help hide his family. Otto also asked his employees Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler en Bep Voskuijl to help. They agreed and risked their lives to smuggle food, supplies and news of the outside world into the so-called Secret Annex, whose entrance was hidden behind a movable bookcase. https://www.history.com/news/who-betrayed-anne-frank

International Kissing Day (informally observed)

The main idea behind it was that so many people have forgotten the simple pleasures associated with kissing for kissing’s sake, as opposed to kissing as mere social formality. Kissing can be an enjoyable experience in and of itself and is an expression of love and intimacy. INTERNATIONAL KISSING DAY – July 6, 2021 | National Today

• 1348– Pope Clement VI issues a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death.
• 1751– Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.
• 1893– Guy de Maupassant, French short story writer, novelist, and poet (b. 1850) dies.
• 1902– Maria Goretti, Italian martyr and saint (b. 1890) dies.
• 1921 – Nancy Reagan, American actress and activist, 42nd First Lady of the United States(d. 2016) is born.
• 1932– Kenneth Grahame, Scottish-English author (b. 1859) dies.
• 1946– George W. Bush, American businessman and politician, 43rd President of the United States is born.
• 1947 – The AK-47goes into production in the Soviet Union.
• 1957 – John Lennonand Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.
• 1962 – The Late Late Show, the world’s longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster, airs on RTÉ One for the first time.1623 – Jacopo Melani, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1676)
• 1971– Louis Armstrong, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1901) dies.
• 1975– 50 Cent, American rapper, producer, and actor is born.

Wednesday July 7, 2021

World Chocolate Day

• 1456– A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death.
• 1834– In New York City, four nights of rioting against abolitionists
• 1865– Four conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln are hanged.
• 1898– US President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
• 1928– Sliced bread is sold for the first time (on the inventor’s 48th birthday) by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri.
• 1930– Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (b. 1859) dies.
• 1946 – Howard Hughesnearly dies when his XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft prototype crashes in a Beverly Hills
• 1954– Elvis Presley makes his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, “That’s All Right”.
• 1958– US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
• 1981– US President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Thursday July 8,  2021

Sts. Aquila and Priscilla Feast day: Jul 08

 Friday  July 9,  2021

9 July: Saint Augustine Zhao Rongand companions, martyrs – Optional Memorial

• 1540– King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
• 1776– George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island.
• 1868– The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing African Americans full citizenship and all persons in the United States due process of law.
• 1937– The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault fire.
• 1956– Tom Hanks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter is born.
• 1986– The New Zealand Parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.

   Saturday July 10,  2021

• 1832– U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoes a bill that would re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.
• 1850– U.S. President Millard Fillmore is sworn in, a day after becoming president upon Zachary Taylor‘s death.
• 1856-Nikola Tesla  July  10, 1856 – January 7, 1943 was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system is born.
• 1921– Belfast’s Bloody Sunday: Sixteen people are killed and 161 houses destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• 1938– Howard Hughes begins a 91-hour airplane flight around the world that will set a new record.
• 1962– Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.
• 1978– ABC World News Tonight premieres on ABC.
• 1998– Catholic Church sexual abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.
• 2019– The last Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the line in Puebla, Mexico. The last of 5,961 “Special Edition” cars will be exhibited in a museum.

Sunday July 11,  2021

11 July: Saint Benedict, abbot – Memorial

Bishop Barron’s Homily of the Week

• 1735– Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.
• 1796– The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
• 1801– French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet In the next 27 years he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
• 1804– A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
• 1899 –  B. White, American essayist and journalist (d. 1985) is born.
• 1914– Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball.
• 1919– The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.
• 1921 – Former president of the United StatesWilliam Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th chief justice of the S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.
• 1922– The Hollywood Bowl officially opens.
• 1924– Eric Liddell won the gold medal in 400m at the 1924 Paris Olympics, after refusing to run in the heats for 100m, his favoured distance, on the Sunday.
• 1960 – To Kill a Mockingbirdby Harper Lee is first published, in the United States.
• 1962– First transatlantic satellite television.

 Last Week’s News of the World

Official: Haiti President Jovenel Moïse assassinated at home (msn.com)

 A squad of gunmen assassinated Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and wounded his wife in an overnight raid on their home Wednesday, with police killing four suspects and arresting two others hours later amid growing chaos in a country already enduring gang violence and protests of his increasingly authoritarian rule.

14 days after Florida condo collapse, no signs of survivors (apnews.com)

Emergency workers gave up Wednesday on any hope of finding survivors in the collapsed Florida condo building, telling sobbing families that there was “no chance of life” in the rubble as crews shifted their efforts to recovering more remains.

The announcement followed increasingly somber reports from emergency officials, who said they sought to prepare families for the worst.

“At this point, we have truly exhausted every option available to us in the search-and-rescue mission,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference.

Bishop issues decree: ‘Father Altman is no longer allowed to preach’ or celebrate Mass publicly – Deacon Greg Kandra (thedeaconsbench.com)

This has been a long time coming.

From last September: Bishop issues statement on ‘fraternal correction’ of Father James Altman

From May: Bishop asks Father Altman to resign; priest vows fight 

And then this: Diocese of La Crosse statement on Father Altman

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: A priest posted this on Twitter tonight, and it bears repeating:

“Just a reminder: it is a tragedy for the entire Body of Christ when a priest puts himself into such a grave situation that his faculties are removed. This is not a time for gloating, finger pointing, or detraction. The Christian response is to love our brother and pray for him.”

Let’s be clear: he’s not being suspended because of his personality. It’s because he has created a toxic environment of misinformation, disobedience, and division in the Church. Fr. Casey, OFM @caseyofm Replying to @Miserando1

Woman accused St. Gerard Majella of misconduct. His bishop, St. Alphonsus Liguori forbade the Saint to RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION! The Saint obeyed his superior. He continued to respect his bishop. The woman later confessed her malicious accusation. Obedience was key to the Saint! 

Joseph W. Cunningham@Cunningham1_5h Replying to@cathdad4 and @ProtoApostoli

I like Fr. Jim Altman. Always have, ever since our overlap in seminary. That said, there isn’t a more stupid hill to die on than that of partisan politics, especially in this dumb clown world.-Fr. Josh Miller @FrJoshMiller Jul 8

A Catholic diocese in Nigeria asked Tuesday for prayers for a priest abducted by suspected members of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

“Kindly join us in praying for the quick and safe release of Rev. Fr. Elijah Juma Wada, who was abducted by suspected members of Boko Haram sect along Damboa Maiduguri road in Borno State on Wednesday, June 30,” Fr. John Bakeni told ACI Africa, CNA’s African news partner, on July 6.

Bakeni, the diocesan secretary of the Diocese of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria, said that Juma had left St. Paul Catholic Buma Parish, where he serves as pastor, the day before the kidnapping.

“He spent the night in Biu Local Government Area before proceeding on his journey the following day (Wednesday, June 30) along Biu-Damaturu when he was abducted,” he explained.

Canadian Indigenous leaders call for end of targeting of churches after residential school discoveries (catholicnewsagency.com)

Canadian Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors have called for suspected arson attacks on churches to stop.

Since June 21, five Catholic churches in Canada have burned completely to the ground, while other Catholic and Christian churches have suffered fire damage or have been vandalized with graffiti. Most of the church fires have occurred on tribal land.

Armed Afghan women take to streets in show of defiance against Taliban | Afghanistan | The Guardian

Women have taken up guns in northern and central Afghanistan, marching in the streets in their hundreds and sharing pictures of themselves with assault rifles on social media, in a show of defiance as the Taliban make sweeping gains nationwide.

One of the biggest demonstrations was in central Ghor province, where hundreds of women turned out at the weekend, waving guns and chanting anti-Taliban slogans.

Pro-life cycling group begins annual ‘Ride Across America’ for the unborn (catholicnewsagency.com)

Cyclists will be riding across the country beginning July 11, to raise awareness for the unborn and to fundraise for pregnancy resource centers.

This year, 50 college students and young adults across the country will be riding an average of 100 miles a day for a combined 2,700 miles, with the nonprofit Biking for Babies.

Now in its 12th year of holding bicycle rides for the pro-life cause, Biking for Babies aims to raise $225,000 this year for pregnancy resource centers. By hitting its goal, the group will have surpassed its cumulative $1 million donation mark for its history.

Michigan man unearths 158 bowling balls under his porch | Boing Boing

Some people dig in their yards and make incredible finds. Fossils, gold, pirate trayy-sure, maybe a skull. David Olson of Muskegon, Michigan was removing his concrete porch himself and made a discovery that would thrill the likes of the Dude, Walter Sobchak and other Big Lebowski references. He found 158 vintage bowling balls in the hardened sand under the porch.

 POPE FRANCIS’S FAMOUS LAST WEEK’S WORDS 

UPDATE: Pope out of bed, walking after surgery at Rome hospital – Catholic News Service

The second morning after undergoing colon surgery, Pope Francis was continuing to recover well and, after a restful night, he had breakfast, read the newspapers and got out of bed to walk, the Vatican press office said July 6.

His post-operative recovery is proceeding normally, the press office said, and his “routine follow-up exams are good.”

The day before the Vatican had explained that Pope Francis’ surgery “for diverticular stenosis performed the evening of July 4 involved a left hemicolectomy and lasted about 3 hours.”

The pope was expected to stay in the hospital for a week after the surgery, barring complications

Pope Francis and children in hospital exchange greetings (catholicnewsagency.com)

During his hospitalization, Pope Francis has exchanged affectionate messages with the young patients in the nearby pediatric oncology and children’s neurosurgery wards, according to the Vatican.

The pope, who has been recovering from intestinal surgery in Gemelli University Hospital this week, also received handwritten get well cards from children staying in other hospitals in Rome.

“Dear Pope Francis, feel my prayer like I felt yours when I was sick,” wrote a girl named Giulia, who has undergone treatment at the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital.

Below the message, Giulia drew a picture of her holding Pope Francis’ hand while he is in a hospital bed.

 Pope receives pectoral cross made of wood from Chilean church burned in protests (cruxnow.com)

Minutes before being hospitalized for intestinal surgery on Sunday, Pope Francis was given a pectoral cross made from wooden remains of a church in Chile destroyed by arson last year during street protests.

“There was a very strong and significant social outburst in Chile, with many reactions and violence,” said Bishop Alberto Lorenzelli, explaining the origin of the cross.

“Some churches were burnt down during the protests, including the church of the Assumption. Young people from the Catholic University collected the remains of burnt wood and they made the pectoral cross, as a relic they wanted to give to the Holy Father,” he said.

 BLOG/ARTICLES POSTS OF THE WEEK

Whatever is good, whatever is borne out of love, is loved by God. Even if that good is limited, even if that good is contained in and surrounded by the filth of sin, the good remains and it is loved by God. A diamond found in a trash heap or a gold bar found in a latrine would still be valuable despite where it was found; likewise, the good in us, despite all our sin, is valuable and cherished by God. How much of that good remains is another question. Sin, to be sure, corrupts and destroys what it touches, but so long as there is something left, so long as there is something which exists, there remains some element of goodness which sin has not destroyed.
–God Loves The Good Within All Of Us (patheos.com)

There is nothing about spreading the gospel that requires the horrors of the residential schools.  Nothing.  And kidnapping and genocide are not the only means of sharing the gospel.  It’s the same kind of argument that says African Americans should be grateful for slavery because at least it exposed them to Christianity (there was, of course, already a rich Christian tradition in Africa, but that’s for a different article).

Can the gospel require great sacrifice on the part of those who receive it? For sure.  I think of my fellow Christians persecuted in many parts of the world right now.  But the sacrifices aren’t supposed to be imposed by the ones bringing the gospel.  I cannot fathom a Jesus who looks at children’s bruised and broken bodies, bleeding private parts, and traumatized minds, then shrugs his shoulders with impatience and says, “Hey, you got in, didn’t you?”

Leary’s article is not a “Christian” perspective on anything.  It is the arguments of an angry conservative hell bent on not losing another round in the culture war — who, yes, happens to believe in a Jesus.  Maybe even my Jesus.  I can’t tell.
Telegrams: A “Christian” Defense of the Indian Residential Schools? Yeah, no thanks … (johnrgram.blogspot.com)

It is possible both to admire and venerate Maria Goretti and also to recognize the limitations and failings of her cultural milieu and their tragic effects in her brief life.

To turn a blind eye to those limitations and failings — to elevate her traditional Catholic cultural world above reproach — goes hand in hand with refusing to acknowledge the blind spots in our own religious milieu. Once we ask what Maria’s culture or upbringing may have failed to impart to her, we may have to ask, “What might our own children not have learned from us?”

Many prefer to focus on the evils of external enemies — the sexual revolution, secularism, pornography, gender ideology, etc. — rather than engage in honest self-criticism. Asking what we may have to learn or how we may have to grow can be difficult; how much easier and more comforting to assume that, since we have the true faith, any criticism of what we think or how we live is criticism of the truth. Ultimately, in the words of Thomas Merton, “what we pretend to be defending as the ‘truth’ is really our own self-esteem.” –Maria Goretti’s silence was tragic, not heroic, and not a model for us – Catholic Herald

Pondering Podcasts OF THE WEEK

Claire Kretzschmar, a dancer and soloist with the New York City Ballet, joins the show to discuss her path to becoming a professional dancer, the challenges and joys of being a Catholic in the ballet world, and the spiritual value of dance. She also discusses a beautiful dance film which she choreographed for the NYC Ballet this year, and the Catholic arts community she founded in New York City, of which Thomas is a part.-109—A Catholic in the NYC Ballet—Claire Kretzschmar | Catholic Culture

Book Em, Dano on your reading list

Kung Fu Antipopes and Other Strange Stories by Paul Leone | Jul 3, 2021

Built to Fail: The Inside Story of Blockbuster’s Inevitable Bust Mar 9, 2021 by Alan Payne

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War Apr 27, 2021 by Malcolm Gladwell

Serious Little Catholics: A Memoir Jun 8, 2021 by Kathy Gereau