Out & About

Fr Gregory of “Antioch Abouna” posts from England on the terrorist attack on London.

Another blogging priest, Fr John Parker (OCA). This is the same priest who was mentioned here last month. Check out his blog.

Today, July 8th, is the birthday of the novelist and short story writer J.F. Powers, born in Jacksonville, Illinois (1917). He was a writer who didn’t have too many readers in his lifetime. He wrote primarily about the lives of Catholic priests. But after his death in 1999, many critics ranked him among the greatest—and funniest—fiction writers of the late twentieth century.

He grew up in a town with very few Catholics other than his own family, and he later said, “The town was Protestant. The best people were Protestants and you felt that. That, to some extent, made a philosopher out of me. It made me mad.” He went to study at Quincy College Academy, run by Franciscan friars, where most of the students went into the priesthood. But at the last minute, J.F. Powers decided against becoming a priest. He said, “I just didn’t care for the look of the life. The praying would have attracted me. I wouldn’t have minded the celibacy, but I couldn’t see myself standing outside church Sunday morning talking to a bunch of old women.”
Stolen from The Writer’s Almanac; to subscribe click HERE.

Finally …

It won’t be long before the start of football season — for this I am thankful. I’m also blessed that my wife and oldest daughter share my interest in the game. Though, for some reason, I don’t share my wife’s enthusiasm for Bret Favre! (What’s that about?) But everyone has their quirks. I mean, I used to state, with a serious face, that I was going to have the Gap Band perform at my wedding. Thankfully, I didn’t. Anyway, here’s a guy who loved the game of football to death! Really!

While I found the story somewhat humorous, I felt mostly sad. This is a horrible way to treat the passing of a loved one — a misuse of the body, if you ask me. I mean, Go Steelers and all, but … really. But really, go Steelers!