www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Archbishop Ireland lives again

I love to hear Mozart in church. And, apparently, so does the Holy Father.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/holysmoke/sep07/worrying-times-for-ageing-trendies.htm

I don't blame the Irish, just the Irish-Americans. Ever read Thomas Day's Why Catholics Can't Sing?

I shudder to think what Catholicism would be like in America, not to mention Canada, Australia and the UK without the Irish influence. Never heard anything about the Irish not liking religious processions. Some of the biggest ones we had in Chicago were in Irish parishes.

As for the Poles in England, it's all a result of the crazy European Union. Maybe the English are moving to Poland.

The St. Patrick Day Parades are very Irish.

Ever see a St. Patrick's Day Procession i.e. with a statue, acolytes carrying the candles and cross, and a priest in vestments, and hymns being sung?

Father, I don't understand that slang "The Cream of Wheat"

"The Cream of Wheat" = "Bland" or...?

Then again, I grew up on cream of wheat, and anyone taking credit for it is alright by me! Matter of fact, it is 22 degrees and snowing here... a hot bowl sounds mighty tastey just now.

The now deceased German pastor (38 years) of the RC church where I work used to say, "the Irish ruined the church." I never really understood what he meant by that until we had an Irish assistant pastor. Irish spirituality can apparently have a dark side. We heard sermon after sermon about flesh being ripped from bodies roasting in hell, and arms being pulled off by demons, etc. Now I know all the Irish are not like that, but one who is can surely give the rest a bad name.

SS:

I read Father Serge's post and I think from the context he's making a statement about the current state of evangelization and instruction of the faithful in the English-speaking world. Our Spanish brethren have a better grasp of the Faith as they come into the U.S. And interestingly enough, we have seminarians from Africa with advanced degrees from seminaries abroad who are required to go to a seminary in the U.S. before they are ordained. One man I recently read about even had a degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University and is being asked to go to a seminary in the U.S. before being accepted for ordination here. There was a man from Africa who was resident at our parish during his summers who had already finished his training in Nigeria who was required to go to a seminary here before he would be ordained.

BOB

I was honestly just asking what the expression means.

I had never heard "cream of wheat" in an expression before.

That is a provacative assertion. To indict a whole ethnic group as being "the cause" of a series of problems is rather poor form.

In seminary a student from Slovakia once told me "The Hungarians are an awful problem for us. We hate them."

This grandson of a Hungarian was not terribly impressed.

Besides, certain Irish priests (and at least one Irish Melkite!) demonstrate that such a mass indictment is not well founded.

Honestly, what is cream of wheat -- except a cereal for babies.

I just learned about "baking your noodle" apparently it means "frying one's brain."

Kids keep coming up with unique and not so unique expressions. They are not even in the new Dictionary of Idioms which I purchased from Oxford University Press.

I guess you already know that 'bad' is 'good.'
And 'good' is 'bad.'

But now we have changed the topic.

Archbishop Ireland's parochial way of thinking will live on until the end of time, unfortunately. It is a part of our fallen nature.

Correction!

what is cream of wheat -- except a delicious cereal for babies.

CoW gets such a bad rap. I'll take it any day over grits, which is nothing but gross to me.

Ah well.

Okay, I prefer Cream of Rice made by boiling brown rice and then purifying it in the blender. It is especially good when sick as it settles the stomach.

And now we are really off topic.

Maybe a mod can split the recipes and food talk into the Town Hall.

My apologies.

Cream of Wheat is the name of a hot cereal which I have never liked - because I find that it has no taste (this is obviously subjective; no doubt there are people who like the stuff). I had a great-aunt who used to force it into my digestive tract at every possible opportunity.

Rather illogically, as a slang expression it tends to mean an irremediable and tasteless mush which negates its ingredients rather than celebrating them. There are plenty of things to do with wheat which are delicious (starting with honest fresh-baked bread and sweet butter).

Thomas Day's wonderful book Why Catholics Can't Sing is a magnificent analysis of several aspects of the problem. I read it at least once a year, and I recommend it highly.

Fr. Serge

This is all so funny. So we have people who are 'cream of wheat', people who are 'white bread', and people (as coined in the big fat Greek wedding) who are 'dry toast'. Hmmmm.....it seems like we people are made up of alot of starch, and too many starchy carbohydrates are not good for anyone!

Alice

Wonder how many Catholic Dioceses would exist in America today, not to mention churches,convents, schools, seminaries, hospitals etc, if not for the Irish Catholic presence in this country. Quite frankly, no single ethnic group has played a more significant role.