The CatholiCity Message
Volume II, Number 25 – June 25, 1998
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
As they used to say on Monty Python, "And now, for something completely different."
1. DAMNED IF YOU DO DEPARTMENT
After receiving a few courteous complaints, we apologized last week for offending CatholiCity folks with a joke. This week, we got ten times as many reactions from others of you saying how much you liked the joke, not finding it offensive in the least. Here's our hard and fast but also amazingly loose and squishy rule: We'll only tell jokes that we would feel comfortable telling our moms.
So it depends on what your mother is like. Our moms have a sense of proportion, and apparently, so do most of yours.
2. FREEBIE NEWSLETTER
For several years we've enjoyed a monthly patriotic, politically conservative–yet always stimulating–newsletter called "Imprimis," which is published by Hillsdale College. It's truly free. It has over 750,000 subscribers. To subscribe, send your name and address to Imprimis, External Affairs, 33 East College Street, Hillsdale, MI 49242. There is no catch.
3. REAL JOB OPENINGS
Fr. Owen Kerns, LC, publisher of the weekly National Catholic Register, called us the other day wondering if any CatholiCity folks would be qualified for two job openings at his fine newspaper. The positions are Editor and Assistant Editor. Only those with experience in newspaper editing need apply. You or your relative or friend may send a resume to:
(JOB OPENING FILLED)
4. BREASTFEEDING
We recommend it. It is as natural as breathing to a newborn.
5. HOMESCHOOLING
With no formal classes, just about every family teaches their toddlers a very difficult language, English. They begin when the child is born with simple sounds and work up to words over a period of months. The average homeschooled four-year-old speaks in all five major tenses, has thousands of words in his vocabulary, and even dreams in English–a true sign of lingual mastery.
6. READING
An activity that usually takes place at home, but which can occur anywhere with natural or artificial light. Books, magazines, or websites are required for this activity. We recommend it. You'll have to turn off the television, though.
7. GOD'S WILL
We Catholics are often wondering how do we come to know God's will. The best book we've ever read on the topic is by Fr. Michael Scanlan, TOR, President of Franciscan University of Steubenville, entitled What Does God Want? It's practical. It's a short, inexpensive book. The "measuring stick" for deciding what God wants is usually quite simple: "Is this prudent? Is this reasonable?" You can order online here:
8. 200,000 HOMEPAGE VISITORS
It took almost two years for the first 100,000 visitors to come to the CatholiCity homepage. It took less than six months for the 2nd 100,000 visitors to visit the homepage. You're one of them. Thank you. You are the ones who told others about CatholiCity. Of course, maybe 1/3 of our visitors come to the City by way of the homepage. Many more go directly to other pages. In fact, we guestimate that 1,000,000 people will have visited CatholiCity in some way or another before January of 1999.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."
G.K. Chesterton.
Comment: We suppose the dictum applies to this CatholiCity Message. Is it a mere coincidence that the great Catholic Minds of this Millennium were enveloped in bodies weighing over 300 pounds? (Who are they? Chesterton and Saint Thomas Aquinas, of course. Big appetites for Truth, those two. Aside from these two Big Guys, applying the words "great mind" to other mortals strikes us a quite thin.)
Yours in Christ,
Your Friends Pushing 300 lbs. at CatholiCity
