News flashes
Paddy Power, the popular Irish bookmaker gives 2 to 1 odds that the next Pope will be Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria.
- Music Monk Coffee advertises its produce as being “Faithfully Catholic.” (comment: strong? keeps you awake? healthy?)
- Keith Nelson, also known as Kinko the Clown, said, “Before you call anyone in Washington a clown, consider how hard a clown works, and that
clowns make people happy, and at the very least, do no harm.”
- The University of Kentucky removed The Holocaust from the school curriculum “because it offended the Muslim population.”
Today’s Martyrs
- In Alexandria, Egypt, al-Qaida militants exploded a powerful bomb in a Coptic Church during a New Year Mass, killing 21 and wounding 80
parishioners. One of the survivors said, “All I could see were body parts scattered all over—legs and bits of flesh.” Angry Christians chanted, “With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross.”
- On Christmas Day, Muslim extremists exploded a bomb at the Evangelical Chapel in Manila, Philippines, wounding a 9-year-old girl and 11 parishioners.
My favorite priest, layperson, breathing saint or organization
Joyful Catholics deserves a Joyful Pastor. And at Our Lady of Lourdes 
Parish in Bethesda, MD, that is what we have with Msgr. Edward Filardi. In addition to his executive ability in managing a large religious institution, with ease he demonstrates his love and concern for all parishioners. He radiates the joyfulness of Catholicism.
Now, tell me about your favorite priest, layperson or organization that is making a difference
Interesting sayings
Intelligence is the ability to take in information from the world and to find patterns in that information that allows you to organize your perception and understand the eternal world.
Brian Greene, author of “The Hidden Reality”
Sarah Palen is an effective cheer leader, but don’t throw her the ball.
Regimra
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Ben Stein
Communiqués
To give controversy (which sells books) to her sorry Nickel and Dimed,
Barbara Elrenreich calls Jesus “a wine-guzzling vagrant and precocious socialist.” If she had said this about Mohammad, she would have put her life in danger and the publishing house would be fire-bombed. What wimps we Christians are!
Patrick Donovan
Your “The hell with trivia” is right on the target. We Catholics get too fixated by the shadows to see the light.
Regina Lichbach
Chuckle time
The Santa Claus in a department store was surprised to see a young woman in line.
“And, my dear,” he said, “what do you want for Christmas?”
“It’s something for my mother,” she said quickly.
“That’s very thoughtful. And what is it you want for her?”
She replied, “A son-in-law.”
Special Intentions List
As you pray with a broad brush, please include these loved ones, who have been submitted by our readers. You, too, are invited to send me names of your special persons who are in need of prayer. My address is aljagoe@comcast.net. They will be on the list for 60 days. At the end of that time, if prayers are still needed, you merely have to renew the name.
Juanita Caldwell, Isola Todd, David Abbey, Linwood “Skip” Williams, Roseanne Somlock, Nicholas Gallagher, Tom Lewis, Donald Whitcomb, Violeta Zepeda, John Aylor, Rev. Joseph Marini, Enrique Portillo, Sharon McPike, Tom Ryan,Joseph Normile, Jim Quimby, Russell Edwards, Gertrude Goldstein, Rev. Stephen Huffstetter, Hugh Cannon, Eric Moore, Joan Barrett, 8-year-old Michael Fotta and his parents, Lolita Alvarez, Camilus Musselman, Ed Block, Isobel Milligan, Peter Bartkiewiez and his family, Joe Toles, Bob Earll, Camilus Musselman, Ed Cole, Bishop Thomas Olmsted, Jay Parker, William Stephenson, Roger Stoven, Bob Abbott, Denny Kline, Lois Pinkin, Larry Mannino, Cheryl DeSantis, Lenore Sommers
The cholera victims in Haiti, those in refugee camps throughout the world.
