It's Not Easy

I (almost) didn't have to take this quiz to know the result. Kermit is my Muppet soulmate...no doubt about it. Perhaps I was a frog in a previous life?

Here's my official result to the Muppet Personality Test:

You are Kermit
Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know.
You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems.
Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green.
Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

Someday you'll find it, the rainbow connection...

Old and New

One of the things I have loved about attending Mass over the years is the music.

Catholic Report has this interesting story about our Holy Father's read on liturgical music new and old.

It seems Pope Benedict wants to encourage good Catholics to keep the old in mind with the new when appreciating liturical music. Context is especially important here. "Old stuff" is the hit parade of 16th century composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. "New stuff", as viewed by the pontiff includes the latest hits of the 89-year-old former director of the Sistine Chapel Choir, Monsignor Domenico Bartolucci.

(Give me a minute here. I'm checking my ipod. Nope. Nothin'.)

The Holy Father says that this mix of Palestrina and Bartolucci is music to his ears, and so shall it be for us, too.

...having Palestrina's music and Msgr. Bartolucci's music on the same program "confirms the conviction that sacred polyphony, particularly that of the so-called Roman school, is a heritage to preserve with care, to keep alive and to be made known."

The entire church should be able to hear that type of music, he said, because it is part of the church's "invaluable spiritual, artistic and cultural patrimony."

If the Holy Father's intent is to encourage the music of past while welcoming the liturigal music of the present, I'm all ears. That said, I did a bit of on-line research on "modern day" composer Bartolucci. Most of it was in Italian, which is far from my native tounge. But, I was hard pressed to find anything that we here in the Cafeteria would consider "modern".

At amazon.com, I found a sample of "Ex Omibus Terroribus", a very Gregorian Chant-like tune from the Monsignor. Go here, and click on track #7. "Christus Est Qui Natus Hodie" (that's track #11 here) could be tagged as slighty-more-modern-than-Gregorian chant.

With all due respect to the Monsignor, let's shed some light on some much more modern liturgical favorites. What's the song you most love to sing on Sunday?

Cleaning Up

I was long overdue for a little housekeeping here in the Cafeteria. I finally tended to the list of blogs over there on the right. I added a few new blogs, took away a few inactive blogs and finally changed the link to Talmida's new place.

My "Outside Reading" list still includes my favorite places to stop by. Just added to the list are Nate Nelson's latest entry in the blogosphere, The Gadfly of Thought. It's great to see that Nate's back. I loved his recent entry capturing the spectrum of reaction (including mine) to Bishop Katharine's appointment. (Apparently not everyone is as excited about it as I am!) Welcome newly ordained Father Pat Mulcahy and his blog, Caritas Christi Urget Nos. Between Fr. Pat and groovy-sister-in-training Susan, it's inspiring to witness the vocation journeys of these two buddies in blog-land.

The "Fill-In-The-Blank Catholics" list has some entertaining new entries. Amateur Catholic is fun. (I aspire to some day join the ranks of the B Team!) Ironic Catholic delivers a healthy dose of humor (an essential side-dish here in the Cafeteria!). I added Lapped Catholic because I would have put any blog named Damned Catholic at the top of my list.

A newcomer to the "City Catholics" list is Kansas City Catholic. Add that to the things Kansas City is known for: BBQ, tornadoes, friendly folks and now a fine Catholic blog.

A warm welcome to all. Happy surfing!

Score!

If I wasn't (or am ever not) a Catholic, I'm convinced I'd be(come) an Episcopalian. (Of course, first I'd have to make sure I know how to spell that.) There's just a lot about that religion that speaks to me. ("And, vice versa," my Episcopalian friends say to me about the Catholic Church.)

Not that I'm keeping score, but if I was (or ever do), this would be a big week for the Episcopal Church. This from Episcopal News Service:

The Episcopal Church, 30 years after it allowed women to become priests and bishops, has elected a woman as its Presiding Bishop. Katharine Jefferts Schori, 52, bishop of Nevada, was elected from a slate of seven nominees, on the fifth ballot June 18, as the 26th Presiding Bishop. She is the first woman to hold the top post in the church's nearly 400-year history.

Is that cool, or what? Congratulations Bishop Katharine!

Is anyone in Rome listening? Because, guess what? Millions of American Catholics (and perhaps soon-to-be Episcopalians) are.