Today is Tony Bennett’s 86th birthday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y22tIJ6toPY.

Maybe Rio: I have not given up hope that some day there will be an Olympiad — summer or winter — that will include an athlete representing the Vatican. It wouldn’t have to be one of the prime time sports. A racewalker or a rhythmic gymnast at the summer games would be fine. Just someone to wear the yellow and white of the Holy See.

Better than a statue: More than five years ago, anticipating that the Cousins Center would sell — and sell quickly, then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan gave the building’s statuary to various parishes. The statue of St. John Vianney, which had stood in the courtyard since the facility opened in 1963, went to St. John Vianney Parish, Brookfield.

Well, a piece of St. John Vianney is back — literally. Near the end of Mass today, Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki placed a relic of the patron saint of pastors in a reliquary on the south side of the Mater Christi Chapel sanctuary.

Congressional gut check: The U.S. bishops have asked Congress to act — before the end of the year — on the religious liberty crisis in health care that was created by the Obama Administration. I can’t imagine Congress having the guts to tackle that issue in an election year. Maybe that’s why Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, chair of the bishops’ committee on pro-life activities, made the request. You can read the cardinal’s letter here http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/upload/Cardinal-DiNardo-s-August-2012-Letter-to-Congress-Regarding-Conscience-Protection.pdf.

Nothing in common: While at Target the other night, I started paging through “Fifty Shades of Grey” to see what people have been discussing. If the few pages I read are an indication of the entire book, the quality of writing is poor, and it’s definitely not a love story. What’s frightening is that it’s the first volume in a trilogy. Three times the crap.
If you’re not caught up in literary pop trash, then you’ll appreciate that National Resurrect Romance Week begins this Sunday. It has nothing in common with “Fifty Shades of Grey.”