Of all the challenges Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan has in New York, the biggest one might be The New York Times. He is taking them to task http://blog.archny.org/ again for their anti-Catholic coverage, this time for an offensive photo from the play, “The Divine Sister,” and reprinting of a piece of “artwork” from an exhibit that is comprised of posters from ACT UP. One of the posters refers to and depicts the late-Cardinal John O’Connor as a “scumbag.”If there is fire in the archbishop’s words, you should see and hear him in a TV interview http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/10/22/exclusive-archbishop-dolan-vs-the-n-y-times/.

No one should underestimate the intensity with which the archbishop defends the faith. He is often smiling and mild-mannered, but attack something or someone he loves, and the inner, apostolic fire emerges. To paraphrase the late Jim Croce: “You don’t tug on the archbishop’s cape/you don’t spit into the wind/you don’t pull the mask off the ol’ Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Tim.”

Speaking of audio and video, Jesuit Fr. Jim Martin, an America magazine editor who gave the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s Pallium Lecture Oct. 21, should not only keep writing, but he should make his work available in audio and video formats. There has to be a market for “Laughing with the Saints: Joy, Humor and Laughter in the Spiritual Life” – the topic of his presentation. Of the four Pallium Lectures I’ve covered, this was, by far, the most engaging. By the way, he’d be happy if you bought his latest book, “The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.”  

Well, had I known…. I must not have been a very good Catholic parent. In the late ’80s, my school-age children begged to be allowed to watch “The Simpsons.” I watched one episode and vetoed their request. Little did I know that the Holy See, through its newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, would one day determine that Homer and Bart are Catholics. They even note that parents should let their children watch “the adventures of the little guys in yellow.”

Since I have only seen that one episode, and I obviously missed the catechetical value in it, I was going to ask “The Simpsons” diehards among you to tell me in which episode father and son were baptized. However, Al Jean, the show’s executive producer, has already told the BBC that the Simpsons are Protestant.

Catholics who weren’t: The recent death of actor Tom Bosley got me wondering if TV’s “Fr. Dowling” was Catholic. He was Jewish.

Welcome: If you are a former reader of my recently ended column, “Catholic Thought,” in the Northwest Indiana Times, welcome to my blog.

Mood swings: Everyone is in a better mood when the Packers win. Thus, a winning streak – something to carry us through Advent – would be welcome.