Pick A Holiday, Any Holiday

Happy Monday to one and all, Happy Columbus Day to the fratelli d'Italia here in the States, saludos a nuesto Hispanohablantes en este Dia de la Raza -- and, of course, Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends in the Great White North. (With a special memento for the Canadians on ad limina.)

A couple things of note to start the workweek:

• The next stop on the liturgy train rolls into Chicago today as the USCCB Committee for the Liturgy queries "the advice of organizations and groups dealing with questions of music and the liturgy" as the conference prepares to revise the foundational documents on tunes, hymns and inspired songs in Catholic worship. As you know, the topic alone is enough to keep things rockin' and rollin' for a good bit, so stay tuned for updates as they drop.
  

• Scorcese, the seminarian? As raves roll in for the directing legend's latest, The Departed, Martin Scorcese opens up on his faith to The Independent, saying that he spent a short period in the sem in 1956, with a bit on how the Catholic ethos has influenced his filmmaking. Money quote: "My whole life has been movies and religion. That's it. Nothing else."

• A group of New Hampshire priests have decided to take matters into their own hands, asking their own to kick in a minimum of $1,000 each toward a "Mercy Fund" for clerics suspended on abuse allegations. While organizers have expanded the effort to aid sick and retired clerics, one told the AP that "The whole thing is about being merciful to people. Some made a big mistake. I'm sure some said they are sorry. And we just want to be of assistance to some who are in financial need." While Bishop John McCormack of Manchester hasn't given his public blessing to the initiative, a diocesan representative interviewed didn't oppose it, either.

• In a development which signaled a marked change from what one observer called "fiery anti-Roman tub-thumping," the uber-Protestant head of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, met this morning with Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh, the primate of All Ireland. The summit's sheer occurrence provided another hopeful moment as discussions on the resurrection of Ulster devolution ramp up in advance of Wednesday's all-party summit at St Andrew's.

• Speaking of things political, for those of you interested in what was supposed to be Armageddon -- i.e. the "Battle of the Catholics" for Pennsylvania's Senate seat, word's getting out that it's been a dozer, with one pundit telling yesterday's Inky that it just "might be the most boring important Senate race [she] can ever remember." One recent poll had Democrat Bob Casey, Jr., the state treasurer, up 14 points over incumbent Republican Rick Santorum; within a week, however, a new sounding had Casey's lead down to 9... and all without a sanction in sight. Stay tuned, though -- it could still get messy.

• On this day, however, the one score which matters most is... Birds 38, Boys 24, T.O. being as well-received as Marty Haugen at a Tridentine Mass. The celebrations are only dying down right about now -- you'd think they won the Super Bowl -- and it seems that, indeed, one of our fine-feathered hierarchs was in attendance. So now our kind can breathe, and halt the battery-throwing, for a bit; more than a handful of Philly fans are heading to Dallas for the next clash... on Christmas Day.
  

Back to work, back to work....

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