Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The Birthday Cake


But in the form of ziggarat?
The Pope's White House speech may be found here

10 comments:

gemoftheocean said...

I noticed they tactfully just put on the one candle - :-D Though it would be interesting to see if he could blow out 81!

Ma Tucker said...

Well, at least it's not a pyramid with the ONE EYE. LOL
Good on them for getting him a cake.

Volpius Leonius said...

I must say so far I am extremely impressed with the USA's welcome of His Holiness.

As the Pope said, God bless America!

Anonymous said...

I hope His Holiness is not expected to consume the whole of the cake! And where are all his guests - the room seems to be a bit sparse?

gemoftheocean said...

Pelerin ... I suspect that's the Esat Room in the White House, actually, quite large, you're just looking at one end of it. On the bottom picture, at the far left behind the chef, you can just see the woman standing...dollars to doughnuts that room is pretty full. The reporter is taken photo from in front of the crowd, rather than behind it.

Sadie Vacantist said...

Currently watching verspers from Washington DC on EWTN. The music and singing are both dire. To cap it all, at an event attended by the USBC, a woman does the reading! Does every USBC liturgy mandate that there must be at least one participating female? This is in front of a Pope and the World's most famous litugist. The intercessions were unintelligible even in English!

This visit is not going well. The Catholic university Church was empty because the USBC didn't want the public in. These bishops are scared of letting this little German anywhere near American catholics!

Sadie Vacantist said...

I'm afraid the Pope's speech to the Bishops is very dull and I think his dress code over the top. Perhaps he should concentrate on the SP and that's his lot.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Sadie,
I notice you posted your comment over 10 mins before the end of the discourse, therefore I can't take it that seriously.

Sadie Vacantist said...

Fr Blake ~ the first 10 minutes were enough! He was speaking way too quickly and frankly it was difficult to understand at times even though his accent is less pronounced than JPII. That could be a personal trait of course and unfair to criticize on that basis.

I remain to be convinced that the Vatican understands the USA or the Anglo-Saxon world in general. If they had of done at the start of the council 45 years ago we would not be in the mess we are in today.

The Catholic Church was thriving here in 1962 but by 1968 we were having failed Franco-German models of worship imposed upon us. This Pope is partly resonsible for the disaster. I am not sure that dressing like Pius XII is going to resolve the problems.

On the side of the angels said...

Sadie I don't mean to be rude but I've experienced american catholicism on the front line and regrettably its been more akin to 'catholic' americanism for nearly sixty years....what you perceive as european models weren't tried and failed - they weren't even tried !
Yes the main source of the contamination was the seminaries and the catholic institutions and northern european modernism and liturgical 'californication' but most of all it was abject clerical indolence and failure to step up to the sanctuary.
For you to even remotely or indirectly blame His Holiness [and his 'brand' of orthodoxy and catholic praxis ]for the mess is not only specious and inaccurate - it's the diammetrical opposite of the Truth of what's occurred in your nation.
I simply cannot believe that even now the autarchs within the US national conference of bishops are hostile and antagonistic to this Papal lifeline - and as for the clergy ? You know as well as I that the majority of US priests care more about money, self-aggrandisement , personal comfort and the autonomy to do whatever they bloody well wish to - a lifestyle which includes doing as little as possible for the biggest gain - even the hardworking, devout, orthodox priests are rogue individuals who work off their own back with little support from their fellow clerics ; and regrettably more than a few of the 'doing' priests are working hard to their own agenda, doing what they like to do , not what is required of them as shepherds, fishers of men, sacrificial victims for their communities.

His Holiness is kicking butt , but with a love, gentleness and concern that a significant amount of the US clergy don't deserve !

He is the best thing to happen to the church in decades - and if the US church cannot appreciate it or seize the opportunity it will be their most grievous loss.

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