Catholic quote of the week: In a letter to each of the 19 men Pope Francis named cardinals on July 12, he wrote, “The cardinalship does not imply promotion; it is neither an honor nor a decoration; it is simply a service that requires you to broaden your gaze and open your hearts.”
That is not something you expect a former “prince of the church,” a term by which cardinals are known, to say to future princes of the church. And that’s another reason why I admire our Holy Father.
Talk about someone who has been practicing the virtue of patience — consider that among the pope’s appointees to the College of Cardinals is Blessed Pope John XXIII’s secretary, Cardinal-designate Loris Capovilla. He’s 98.
Holy Harley: Following reports that the Vatican is going to have Pope Francis’ Harley and his leather motorcycle jacket auctioned, with the proceeds designated to aid the poor, a reader of this blog, my brother Daryl, noted that if the pope is ever canonized a saint, the jacket, if the pope had worn it, would be a second class relic, and the bike, if he had sat on it, a third class relic. I’d like to see the Harley Museum enter the bidding in order to display the bike within their walls.
Hiding their shame? Bob Bembenek, a Catholic Herald ad rep and another follower of this blog, noted that the Bucks have been playing worse this season with the Cousins Center window that allowed visitors to watch their practices covered than they did in previous seasons when the window was uncovered. Still don’t know what they’re hiding, unless it’s the shame of being 7-31.
Handwriting on the wall: Sunday marks the beginning of National Handwriting Analysis Week. Given the debate about whether or not children need to learn how to write in cursive, there might not be anything to analyze a decade from now.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Amid all the commemorations, consider the similarities between the late civil rights leader and our Holy Father.
