Between the symbolism, substance – and, indeed, surprise – of the moment, there's a lot in the air, and at least as much to be untangled.
Ergo, with this long day's "late edition" in the works – and no shortage to unravel over time ahead, both here and beyond – the reminder's in order that these pages only keep coming your way thanks to your support....
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(11.45pm CT) – Just to be clear, when it comes to Houston Chancery, the adage "Where there's smoke..." doesn't apply like it usually would.Along those lines, on the eve of today's warrants – which, according to a Harris County op, have actually been expected from the Montgomery County DA for the last several months – late Tuesday saw the Cardinal-President of the US bench give his most significant off-script talk before or since this month's cataclysmic USCCB meeting in Baltimore to the NBC affiliate of his home-church: the nation's fourth-largest city and its 1.8 million Catholics (a fold grown six times over since 1990).
That the tape began with an ask to confirm Whispers' reporting from a month ago was rather amusing... then again, given how Texas first received word of its watershed red hat, that Houston media still haven't learned how this beat works under good circumstances leads one to wonder how they can duly cover this. (To wit, that a lead anchor in a major market can even think that the US has "246 dioceses" – 49 over the mark – let alone say it on air is clearly something beyond this scribe's pay grade.)
As the venerable Pietro Sambi (blessings and peace be upon him) famously warned DiNardo before dropping the scarlet bomb: "Sit down"...
...and 11 years later, the wisdom of that word needed well elsewhere – yet in the final year of a term he had to be dragged to accept in the first place – here now, the President of the United States (Bishops):
On the other side, meanwhile, the "Appetite for Destruction"-esque decibel levels that accompanied the Fall Classic – which only seemed to increase with one's distance from the Floor – served to drown out the most striking crisis-induced shift that the helm of the US' largest religious body has ever witnessed, even if the beginning of its effect still remains to emerge:
If history's any indicator, it'd be a shock if 5 percent of this readership bothered to click into either of these clips... yet in a time when some kind of "leadership" from the trenches is the cry – a task which begins with listening – even more than usual, folks, ignoring what's right in front of you is even less of an excuse.
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