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Originally posted at Talk to Action.

In previous posts I have called for mainstream Catholics to offer remonstrance - an earnest presentation of reasons for opposition or grievance against the reactionaries now fomenting schism within the Church; and against a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that increasingly sound more like its most theocratic ally inclined members. And there is no better example than the bishops' opportunistic efforts to hold health insurance reform hostage to their antiabortion agenda.

Spring is finally coming to the DC area.  Snowdrops have come and gone, crocuses are still blooming in parks and lawns.  On my walk home the other day, I found a tiny bit of snow remaining in a shady spot; a filthy dirty pile of the stuff that probably won’t last the weekend.  Elsewhere, it’s gone, melted into the ground or down the storm drains.

The sun has shone bright the last few days, and yesterday it got up to 70.  You wear a cardigan or light jacket to work in the morning, and then stuff in the briefcase, or drape it over your arm, on the way home.  It’s been one of those times when you find any excuse to go outside, to go to the bank or down the street to the Thai restaurant for lunch.

The trees have yet to give forth much in the way of buds, but the other day, when I started up my car, I had to run the wipers to brush away a layer of powder.  Pollen?  Or dust from the roads and a nearby construction project?  I’m not yet feeling the misery of tree pollen season...or maybe it’s a pollen I’m not allergic to.

So today’s a day for making the most of the sunshine and warmth, for who knows how long it will last?

Welcome to Coffee Hour! Pull up a chair, pour your favorite beverage, and tell us about your day! For the first time in ages, I'm fancying an iced beverage more than something steaming hot! Spring has sprung! :)

Last night, I did something that I tell myself I should do every night: I wrote out my to-do list for the next day. I've been feeling pretty stressed lately, and it is slowly dawning on me that I might just have myself a wee bit over-committed. At the very least, I need manage my time and my work much more conscientiously than I have been recently. Doing that little bit of planning seemed like a good first step. I was certain that the five minutes I spent writing my tidy little list, complete with a timed schedule of when I would do each task, would make today run as smooth as buttah.

Who was it who said that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable? ;)

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Glenn Beck's recent admonition that people who attend a church that teaches social justice should leave -- was anti-Catholicism. This was obvious from a wide range of perspectives --from a Jesuit scholar to a liberal newspaper columnist and a neoconservative evangelical blogger.

Yet perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this tawdry episode was that stepping forward to defend Glenn Beck was none other than Bill Donohue leader of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

I woke today hearing a tapping on my window; for a moment thought someone was outside, then realized it was just the rain.  It's been raining pretty heavily here, with flood alerts because the melting snow has saturated the ground and already raised streams and rivers.

And suddenly it brought this song to mind...

More after the fold...

From the Ministry Institute at Mater Dei ( Full post )

As I've blogged here in years past, we always got the day after Halloween off. As young kids, we thought it might be to recover from the fun of the night before and have a day to barter candy from siblings. We thought this even though the nuns told us again and again the reason we had it off was because it was a feast day (and the mandatory Mass was a reminder it wasn't just a fun, fun day.) ( Full post )

Father Dan's Jubilee homily contained some great Jesuit history. And now the big challenge facing the Jesuits is lower numbers than the society once had. Interesting side note: California politico Jerry Brown was a year ahead of Father in the Society. He left in his fourth year. ( Full post )

From Britain's newspaper The Telegraph: ( Full post )

Blog reader Kipling L. McVay was in search of information about Mary Magdalene and her condemnation by Pope Gregory. (See post below.) ( Full post )

When Jesuit Dan Kendall was a novitiate in 1957 in California, the young men worked the seminary's vineyards. ( Full post )

The last Catholicism for a New Millennium lecture for the Fall will be this Thursday, November 29, at 7:30 at the Gonzaga Law School. John Perry SJ, from the University of Manitoba speaking on “Torture: Religious Ethics and National Security” ( Full post )

Monk and mystic Thomas Merton wrote these words in his 1949 book Seeds of Contemplation. See any parallels to today's world? ( Full post )

Took a long weekend to fly to San Francisco to celebrate Jesuit Dan Kendall's 50th year as a Jesuit. ( Full post )

Beliefnet has a cute cover story today reviewing 10 religious Halloween candies, representing a variety of faith traditions. (These are actual candies, mostly available through religious Web sites.) ( Full post )

I'm shuttering Journey to Vatican III today. It was a bit of a tough decision for me, because the blog has been a way to research Catholic issues and I've "met" Catholics from around the world who e-mailed me after reading blog items. ( Full post )

(This post is being simulblogged at Matter of Opinion. Go there if you do know some of the pioneers mentioned below. Almost all of them are well-known to people in regional Catholic Land.) ( Full post )

John Allen's weekly column in National Catholic Reporter had an interesting analysis of the pope's relationship with Latin American bishops. Liberation theology is always a sticking point. ( Full post )

My life goes in cycles when I'm around groups of people or in social situations when no one -- but me, usually -- is asking any questions. ( Full post )

This is not an original thought I'm presenting here. I heard it Monday morning on MSNBC when a Catholic commentator said he wished the Catholic clergy had been so open and accepting responsibility of the sex-abuse scandal in the church as Oprah has been about the sex-abuse scandal in her South African school.
As CBS/AP reported:
Oprah Winfrey said Monday she was not responsible for hiring at her school for disadvantaged South African girls but that the screening process was inadequate and "the buck always stops with me." ( Full post )