7 Quick Takes: Lent-o-matic Reading List

This time next week, we’ll be all penitential, right? In anticipation, I’ve slidden my Lent Links to the top of the page in the sidebar. As you find more Lent-o-rama goodness around the internet, please let me know and I will add your links to the list.

Meanwhile, I present to you 10,000 offline reading choices for your Lenten edification, most of which I’ve reviewed or mentioned previously, and loved enough to remember even now.

–> If you’re sick of hearing me go on and on about these same great books over and over and over, might I suggest you offer it up? (It is Friday, a day of penance even in ordinary time, ya know.) Or click the post-it notes and find something new to read.

For everyone else, here’s my list:

1. Pure Lenten Fiction Poke-n-the-soul:

The Gargoyle Code. I love this book. Readable, fun, insightful. It is designed to be read an episode a day through Lent, but that would take more Lenten discipline than I could ever muster. Every time Fr. L. asks people about this or that new idea of his, I tell him, “Write more fiction.” One day either he’ll cave and give us more, or maybe just ban me from his combox.

–> To see a few samples of the genre — not from the book, but written as bonus material, check out the Slubgrip Instructs Series on Patheos. Suitable for teens and adults.

2. If you only buy one devotional, this is the one:

For G-rated daily Lenten reflections that will kick your sorry slothful rear, you can’t go wrong with my friend Sarah’s booklet Welcome Risen Jesus. It is like its author – cute out on the outside, farm-woman practical realism on the inside. Good for elementary-age and up, independently readable from about 3rd grade. Very inexpensive, probably the best Lenten value going this year. My original review is here, and you can see my slightly less self-centered Amazon review here.

3. Sex, Money, and Everything Else:

Who am I? What are my priorities? How do I make my actions match my values? You don’t think of it as a “Lenten”, but the Theology of the Body for Teens series will get your head on straight. Strong PG-13 warning. If your brain has been warped by the wider culture, this is the antidote. Not just for teens.

If you struggle with money problems, this book will not teach you how to budget, choose good investments, or pay off your house and credit card debt in ten easy steps. It will teach you how to put money into it’s proper place spiritually — how to live your vocation fully, and not let money get in the way of becoming the person God wants you to be.

–> If you don’t struggle with money, this the perfect book, because it uses the example of something you do understand (cash!), to help you then see how to address the vices and stumbling blocks that plague you in other areas of your life.

My original review of Why Enough is Never Enough is right here. I say the same thing only in more detail.

4. Proof that some people can watch TV without rotting their brains:

We’re not supposed to be gloomy when we fast and pray, right? Good spiritual reading, not how you’d expect it. Highly recommended. My Amazon review of Happy Catholic is here.

5. If you have a crush on Ronald Knox:

Msgr. Knox is who you read after you’ve sailed your way through Chesterton and CS Lewis, and are still hungry for more. He’s readable, and hilarious, but listen if you don’t say the same think about Lewis and GKC, forget it. If you are new to these authors, you can see a ton of GK Chesterton for free at the Christian Classics Etheral Library. [You do not need to love Chesterton’s longer fiction. Skip that. Skip skip skip.]

I can vouch for The Hidden Stream because I’ve read it and loved it. Currently in my reading pile is A Retreat for Lay People, which promises to be more of the same, but I’ve only just cracked the book. Also in my personal backlog is A Biblical Walk Through the Mass by Edward Sri, which comes very well-recommended but I can’t make any promises yet.

6. Because you aren’t dumb, and you don’t need big words to prove it:

I suspect Eric Sammons is smarter than almost anybody. But his book is written for normal people, and to prove it I tested my copy on the parish secretary, my ten-year-old, and the owner of my local Catholic bookstore. Who fell in love and next thing she knew it was the book club book for her shop, again attended by regular Catholics who just want to know more about God. Interesting, readable, well-written, can’t-go-wrong Lenten pick. It won’t feel penitential, it will help you grow closer to Christ. Great book. My original review of Who is Jesus Christ? is here.

7. Pure Popery Goodness for Everybody.

For normal people, I am told the book you want is Come Meet Jesus by Amy Welborn.

If you run to the geeky end of the spectrum, here are my reviews of The Apostles, Illustrated Edition and of The Fathers, either of which would make good Lenten reading if you are the right type.

For about seven people I know, The Doctors of the Church, which I’ve almost finished, would be just the thing. But don’t even think about touching Doctors until you are 100% at home with The Catechism of the Catholic Church, and have a firm grasp on the broad outline of Church history and the lives of the more well-known saints.

Normal people wanting a decent, approachable Catechism, don’t let the goofy name fool you, The Youcat is a great book.

***

That’s my list. What did I miss?

Kolbe Academy – Midyear Reviews

I was thinking of writing a series Kolbe reviews this spring, but kept getting distracted. Then Mrs. Darwin e-mailed me with a couple questions, and I took that as my sign. Back at week five I wrote this summary, and I don’t think much has changed. What I will do this round, though, is to write about the program in general this week, and then do a subject-by-subject set of more detailed reviews in subsequent weeks. Enjoy. And keep me on task, eh?

1. Why we decided to go with a formal program.

Two reasons. #1 is that I wanted to outsource the writing of course plans, because I could. So, the availability of ready-made, day-by-day course plans became a deciding factor in which program to choose.

#2 is that the boy was starting 6th grade, and needed to get his rear kicked. I’m all about relaxed education in the early years. But when you hit 9th grade, son, you need to be ready to work. And that means middle school is for suffering.

Note that I’m only using Kolbe for the 4th and 6th grader. Littles continue to use mom-directed relaxed learning. So all my comments relate to using the program for people who can read competently on their own.

2. How we picked Kolbe Academy.

I knew I needed the course plans. My other deciding factors were:

Very strong preference for a Catholic program.
We were planning to use a formal curriculum provider with transcript services through high school; I wanted to try out my likely pick ahead of time.

I gave a serious look at Mother of Divine Grace and St. Thomas Aquinas Academy. For all three, I reviewed the high school syllabus, since that was one of our end goals. Though the programs are similar, Kolbe repeatedly came in as the one that was the closest match to what Jon & I had envisioned for high school for our children.

I also looked through the overall philosophy, the earlier-grades curricula, and the services offered. I spoke to a couple of longtime internet friends who had used the program for ages and graduated students, and also dug around the Kolbe forums and asked a few question about some substitutions I wanted to make. In all it seemed like the best fit for us for a variety of reasons.

3. What Kolbe offers and how it all works.

Kolbe writes a day-by-day curriculum for all subjects all grades. (I think high school might be weekly plans instead of daily?) You can choose to use the program in a variety of ways:

Just take a look at what they do, acquire your books somewhere, and use those books.

Purchase course plans for the subjects you want to take. I think they run about $30 per-subject-per-grade-per-year (double check, prices change). This is the best choice if you just want to get a set of plans for one or two subjects. Note that in some classes the plans are very detailed and instructional; in others, they just break up the book into so many pages a day. As I do my subject-by-subject notes, I’ll tell you which are which.

Enroll with them, which means you get the whole bundle of plans for your grade for one lump sum price, plus some other optional support services. You can request plans for up or down one grade no questions asked. For example, both my 4th and 6th grader are doing the 5th grade history class, because I wanted them on the same subject. (My kids are otherwise working on grade-level.) If you “enroll”, you get to choose whether you submit grades, etc etc. You can choose not to use the reporting and transcript services if you don’t want or need them.

–> If there are several curriculum providers that you think would work just as well, add up your costs for your family. Each has its own pricing scheme, and your needs will determine which is the best deal. Also add up the book costs, because that, too, can vary considerably.

4. The Experience.

When you fill out the form and enroll, a little while later a giant box comes to your door. It contains all your course plans, plus an assortment of forms (for if you wish to submit grades), and a booklet with instructions, philosophical notes, how to write a book report, etc etc. Big fat HSLDA discount code on the front. The course plans are loose leaf printouts with holes punched for three-ring binders. They include some information about the course, the day-by-day plans, and then a quarterly exams and answer keys for most subjects. Each nine-week quarter is seven weeks of lessons, then one week set aside for review, and one week for exams. For most subjects the plans are for a 4-day week, with Friday set aside for review, special projects, catch-up, field trips, etc.

Don’t order plans from the bookstore if you are planning to “enroll”. Even if you need something weird like 10th grade geometry plans for your 2nd grade math prodigy, call or e-mail and see about getting the substitution with your enrollment. [Okay, they are going to question that one.] Basically the approach seems to be that if you’re an enrolled parent with bona fide course plan needs, they take care of you; the various limitations and restrictions are to prevent abuses, not to make your life painful and expensive. But, be organized and don’t have them send you this giant box of all things 4th grade, only to call back a week later and expect all things 5th grade for free because you didn’t know your kid was so smart. Call or e-mail and sort it out efficiently ahead of time.

–> You can request a placement exam when you enroll. You don’t have to take it, let alone send it to anybody. It’s just a set of exams that helps you ballpark your child. Or in my case, quick make sure the kids are introduced to topics they’ll need to know in the coming year.

You acquire your books however you like. They sell them at their bookstore, and some of the in-house publications can of course only be had through their store. But most of the books could also be acquired second hand via cathswap or had from the many other vendors out there. To my knowledge, Kolbe does not include out-of-print books in their curricula. [A complaint I have heard of other programs, but have not verified. Do your own research.] They do use some older-edition books still (or again) being printed; they stock what you need in their shop at reasonable new-book prices.

5. Hand-holding.

A few weeks into our school year, a nice lady called me. She said she was my Kolbe something-or-other, complimented me on my practice of screening phone calls with the machine to avoid interruptions, and asked how things were going. I said, “Going great.” She said, “Wonderful,” and quickly hung up before I could rope her into a longer conversation. We’ve avoided each other ever since. I’m not even sure who she is.

–> If you wanted or needed assistance, they offer it. In addition to your friendly-but-evasive caseworker (I bet she is NOT really avoiding me, okay, seriously, she sounded like a potentially helpful person), you can register at the forums and post questions and get help there. A friend of mine has used the Enhanced Evaluation Service for one of her high school students and says that for that student, it was a good investment. (EES is an additional service at an additional charge above regular bare-bones enrollment.) They also offer some online discussion groups for high school courses, I do not know all the details on that.

[FYI: MODG has a good reputation for online / conference call courses if you are looking for someone else to teach your child a distance education class.]

Additionally, even through high school, you can take whatever class you want. So if you want to take Algebra with a local tutor and all your other courses through Kolbe and six other programs, you can still report through Kolbe and earn a diploma through them as long as you meet the graduation requirements.

If you need standardized testing, Kolbe does offer that, for anybody. I just got a letter in the mail. $45-50 per test for enrolled families, $55-60 for everyone else and their pet monkey.

6. Big Brother. Just not there. Just not. If you want Kolbe to keep track of your grades, you need to send in a quarterly report card (when you get around to it, no particular deadline) with one work sample for each subject. You grade the work, they keep your grades in a file in case someone calls and asks about them. –> I haven’t mailed in any grades yet, though, so I’ll need to follow up with a report on that a different day.

When you submit your first grades of the year, you also send in your course plan — that is, a list of what you’ve actually decided to teach. There is no expectation that you will follow the Kolbe-provided course plans to the letter. Every single plan says, “adapt these to your needs”. Often there are suggestions on how to lighten the load if your student is overwhelmed. There are sometimes suggestions on how to grade, but you make the final decision. You can also just chuck the Kolbe-suggested book and do something else, or skip the subject entirely depending on which subject. If you call or post on the forums, they will suggest alternatives if you don’t like the default book.

7. My kids and the course plans. I put all the plans in binders sorted by subject, and store them in my office. [Next year I am going to make my binders match the subject-sequence of the kids’ binders, so it is faster to move plans in and out.] Then I made each big kid a 3-ring binder Plan Book. I load just the plans for the present quarter, with a tab divider for each subject. I made up a calendar for our school year so they can see where we are in the plans. (Ie, today is Q3, Week 1, Day 3.) Within a couple weeks of the start of the year, both kids could reliably read the plans, figure out their assignments, and get it all done.

8. Reality. Whether they do the work depends on:

Their mood.
Whether someone checks to make sure they get it done.

My rule is that I’m available from 8am until noon for questions and help, Monday – Friday. Outside of those hours, they are still chained to the desk until the work is done, but parental assistance is at the discretion and convenience of the parent. I loaded their subjects into their binders so that if they work from front to back, they get the hardest and most-likely-to-need-assistance work done first thing.

They use a composition book for 98% of their written work, and a graph-paper spiral notebook for math problems that need extra space. Having all work in one place makes it easier for me to find assignments and check them off. They don’t get credit if the assignment isn’t labeled so I can easily see what I’m looking at as I flip through the book. (I need subject, date, page numbers, etc.)

9. How much mom-time and mom-help?

I’d estimate that 80-90% or more of their work my kids can do independently. [Both kids are smart, one is way above grade-level for reading, the other is normal normal.] I think that a diligent parent who wanted to maximize learning would set aside an hour per school day for a typical (not special needs) student who can read independently, work at grade level, and stay on task with the normal amount of oversight. [Just normal good work environment, with a parent present but not hovering, TV turned off, etc.] That’s cumulative time spent through the day checking work, answering questions, and studying together when needed.

You can scale back the amount of parental assistance, but you get relatively more self-teaching and less education, and that is a decision you’d need to make based on the realities of your student, your family, and the other demands on your time.

–> My philosophy is that their are certain essentials where you can’t cut corners, and then there are some extras that can be done with more or less intensity at any given time. If I’m pinched, essentials still require my attention, but it isn’t the end of the world if my daughter doesn’t really grasp the difference between dipthongs and digraphs with quite the nuance the textbook writer had hoped. [Translation: My bigs don’t get the full hour of mom-attention every single day. Note that in regular school, students don’t get an hour of one-on-one teacher time every day either.]

10. What other general questions do you have?

Post in the combox, and I can reply there or make a new post if there is a ton to say. You are also welcome e-mail me (let me know who you are), and if you do, let me know whether the text of your question is bloggable.

I’ll do a subject-by-subject starting next week. Any votes on what subject first?

HSLDA Supports Religious Freedom

From HSLDA’s website:

Urgent calls are needed to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) and your two U.S. senators to urge them to support Amendment No. 1520 by Senator Roy Blunt (MO). This amendment would halt the Obama Administration’s new mandate requiring all employers—including religious employers—to violate their consciences and provide free birth control and abortion-inducing drugs to their employees. . . .

. . . HSLDA and a host of organizations across the religious and political spectrum continue to strongly oppose the Obama Administration’s mandate. If the president can force religious employers to violate their religious views and own conscience, the president can threaten any of our liberties.

While this is not a homeschool issue, many families homeschool because of their faith. This attack against religious freedom, if not stopped, could mean the beginning of the end for the free exercise of religion for all.

I knew I liked HSLDA ages ago. Good bunch of people doing a good work.

3.5 Time Outs: Feminine Genius

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, without whom Tuesdays would be so . . . different.

3.5 Time Outs Tuesday — Not everyone's a girl-blogger. Click the photo to find out what the guys are saying.

I don’t see an official announcement yet, so I won’t spill the beans on the details, but I’ve been instructed to spend the next month or two pondering the word women. I can’t decide if I was the intentional choice for that one, or just lucky. There are so many seriously-girlesque-with-hearts-on-top ladies out there in the Catholic blogosphere, and here I am, feeling pretty fashionable when I’ve got on a new black t-shirt and jeans instead of an old black t-shirt and jeans. Then again, I am not the only Catholic homeschooling mom at my parish who played rugby in college.

But anyway, it’s got me thinking about that word. Okay I’m familiar with the biological details, but what, exactly, is it that makes girls different enough to get their own apostolic letter?

Ladies, will somebody please tell Larry the secret code for getting all those cute little post-it-notes above his frog? Dorian? Hallie? Fulwilinator? Anyone? Anyone? Please? He’ll never even own half of Tuesday, if that frog keeps hiding away his linkfest inside the frog cave. Maybe someone should check with Mrs. D. to confirm he’s in good standing and can be admitted to auxiliary membership.

UPDATE: Larry says you get what you pay for. Not his fault he’d rather spend his cash on the worthy Mrs. D. Masculine genius, right there. I’m with it.

Internet Valentines:

At CWG, Karina Fabian applies the bacon analogy to the new non-compromise. If you like her post, she asks you to please share it around.

Also hidden in the CWG Monday line-up (yes, I am personally responsible for the post pile-on, go ahead, flog me), Ellen Gable Hrkach tells you the cold hard truth about the work required to succeed at self-publishing. Now you know what it is traditional publishers have been doing all these years.

And super-bonus: Today we have an actual Valentine-themed post. Ordinarily Kathryn writes on third Tuesdays, but I bumped her up a week when I saw what she had planned.

I think the similarity of color-schemes between the CWG blog and the Vatican website is coincidental. Only Ann Lewis knows for sure. Has anyone noticed whether she’s got the Vatican-spy secret decoder ring?

If you know someone who takes that last question seriously, you need a dose of masculine genius:

Perfect valentine for your budding junior apologist. Nothing like a good argument with a lunatic to really make an adolescent boy enjoy religion.

Free girl-book, today only: My friend’s mom Christine Bush has her kindle romance Cowboy Boots on sale today for Valentine’s Day. Free download. I haven’t read it yet, but thought it was worth a look at that price.

From my inbox: The Catholic Company is offering 14% off all orders today only, use coupon code LOVE14 during checkout. Timely if you owe your godchildren across-country some good Lenten reading. I imagine there are other discounts to be had today, feel free to share your info in the combox.

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Sursum Corda? I saw it on a Confederate battle flag. SC’s 7th Batallion. The full motto is Sursum Corda – Quid Non Pro Patria? on a field of blue with a cross made of stars in the center. It was made by the Ursuline nuns in Columbia. Very cool detail: metal sequins on the stars.

If you go [no visit to the Inferno is complete without a quick stroll right past the inner door to the State Museum and on to the end of the hall where the good exhibits hide], call ahead and arrange a tour with the curator for education, Joe Long. He isn’t Catholic, but ask him to tell you his St. Anthony story. It’s a classic.

Dehydrated Water - SC Confederate Relic Room — The only kind of water that ever, ever, touches the single malt my Valentine sent me.

Love and Priestly Ministry at the End of Life

On the way home from the funeral vigil, my seven-year-old told me, “This weekend I’m going to give up donuts and playground for Father Fix.” For the repose of his soul.

It had been her idea to attend the wake. Had she had her way, we would have gone to “all the funeral things,” as she put it, even to the point of calculating whether we could beat the hearse to New Jersey for the burial. (No, darling, we are not driving to New Jersey for the burial. If I’m going to drive that distance, we will go to Florida to see your great-grandmother.) She saw all the funeral flowers at the church and tried to figure out where, at eight at night, we could quick go out and buy some flowers of our own to put on that altar in Father’s honor.

She had loved that man.

And I didn’t even know she knew him.

Father Fix was the retired pastor of our parish, retired before ever we joined the parish when my daughter was a baby. He lived in a nearby nursing home, and on Sunday mornings a pair of parishioners would bring him to Mass.

He’d sit up by the front pews in his clericals, and receive Holy Communion right after the priest and deacon, and then during the communion procession, about half the congregation would pat his shoulder or shake his hand as they passed him on their way back to their own seats. During donuts after mass people who knew him would sit with him, and one time I thanked him for donating the (stunning) remnants of his library to the parish. He told me he was glad someone was reading his books. I am not smart enough to read most of his books, but I can admire them.

On Sunday morning before he died, I remember seeing him at mass and thinking, “He will not be with us much longer.” And how sorry we would be at that loss.

Wednesday when I learned he had died, I wasn’t sure whether to attend his funeral services. I had barely known him, I thought. There were so many others who had known him for decades, who remembered him as their pastor and friend. I didn’t want to crowd the church, stealing precious seat space from people who had known him so much of their lives.

But my daughter? She had known him since forever.

He was one of her priests. By her reckoning, he was more reliably present than any other priest to grace our parish. The way she counted it, Father Fix sitting in his nursing-home-issue wheelchair, shaking hands and whispering good wishes to all who wanted his blessing, he was doing as great a work as anything else that happened at mass.

He was doing a work that even a toddler can understand. Long before she could tell you about transubstantiation, or make sense of the Gospel, or figure out that the homily was something that might be meant for her little ears, she could understand the ministry of Father Fix. When I told her he had died, she said to me, “He was always so nice to everybody.”

How could you not love a man who had been kind to you at mass every week of your life?

So we went to the funeral vigil. We signed the guest register, and took extra prayer cards to bring home to the siblings, and sat in a wedge-corner pew perfect for two. She studied the picture of Father Fix on one side of the memorial card, and was delighted when I flipped it over to show her the image on the other side – the Sacred Heart of Jesus. After the eulogy, she directed me to get in line to visit the casket.

When it was her turn, she knelt before Father’s body and prayed.

He was decked out in the gold vestments he’d requested – a request she had learned of on her class’s church tour that week. Her teacher had told them about the liturgical colors, and explained why we wouldn’t be seeing gold again for a while, until new ones could be obtained.

After my daughter prayed, we looked through the the scrapbooks on the table in the narthex. Pictures, newspaper articles, all documenting that other life he had lived.

People will say of someone who suffers great infirmity at the end of life, “He is not the man we once knew.” I felt that betrayal in reverse: Looking through pictures of earlier honors and busy parish events, the man my daughter and I had known was not there. Where was the peaceful, quiet man who loved everybody?

Oh sure, a parish needs a pastor. Somebody’s got to confer sacraments and manage the building fund, and on an ordinary day I’d agree those are essentials of the priestly vocation. Through the sacrament of holy orders, the Holy Spirit confers a grace and a distinctive mark upon a man, setting him aside for these works.

It was not my idea that she make a sacrifice on Father’s behalf. It was her idea, born of her love for her priest, unbidden by anyone.

What is a priest for?

He proclaims the Gospel. In a particular way, through the sacraments, he brings God to us and us to God. The Holy Spirit works through a priest, to share the life of Christ with each of us.

For seven years my daughter was in-between sacraments. A lifetime.

And during those long seven years, God who is Love Himself put a particular priest in our pews. “What is your name?” Moses had asked of God. The answer wasn’t, “I am He who does.” It was: I am.

In those pews was a little girl who didn’t need a doing-priest. She needed a being-priest.

Father put himself at the service of the Lord. His life’s mission was to share the love of Christ in whatever way God required. And he did.

7 Quick Takes: People, Places, Things

7 Quick Takes Post-It Notes — Click to see more takes at Betty's place.

Until yesterday, I had no idea — zero — about the history of shipping orphaned British children to the colonies to work as indentured servants. I did know about the American orphan trains, thanks to the picture book on the subject.

You can read about the British Home Children at Rose McCormick-Brandon’s site, The Promise of Home.

This week we met the governor’s dog, Simba. I can’t find an image for you, but if you book a (free) tour of the SC Governor’s Mansion, the odds are in your favor. (We also caught sight of the first gentleman, but he saw the tour group through the window and slipped around to a back entrance.)

This is my new favorite historic building tour for kids, because it is a real live occupied home. Which means nothing is roped off, and you are allowed to touch things. Mostly the kids did not touch things, because they have sense and know better than to put their fingers on somebody’s dishes or plop down on the living room couch. The downstairs area that you tour looks exactly like your grandmother’s formal living room that even your mom isn’t allowed to go into without permission. So you put on living room manners.

But the tour guide did have us all pull out dining room chairs to inspect the deer-hoof carving on the feet of the chairs. If you poured out a bottle of SC Concentrate, that building is what you’d get.

After a jumbled first-round of Sacrament of Confession last week, I re-booted and had a much better second half. Helped that we had laid the groundwork the week before; also that I revised the study guide so that the students didn’t have to copy so much off the board.

My trusty teenage assistant was out sick last week. Lucky for him, we didn’t do 10,000 Gun Questions until this week. He agreed, it is a very fun class.

I’m still only halfway through writing report cards for Q2. Quarter break is almost over. Need to crank the rest out and mail off a couple quarters worth of grades and work samples to Kolbe. Not something that Kolbe requires (unless you want a transcript from them), nor that is a legal requirement for us. But I am finding that it helps me teach better, if I have that extra grown-up looking over my shoulder.

My daughter (the Bun – #3 child) loves beanie-snaps. She’s having some for breakfast-dessert. These:

#4 would eat sour cream exclusively if we let her.

Pray for Allie Hathaway. Also for the repose of the soul of Fr. Robert Fix.

These are the times that

call for zombie music.

(Same rendition of re: Your Brain that I posted before. The kids started singing it in the truck on the way home from religious ed tonight, and I thought, “Wow, that really sums up the situation so much better than my heated anti-HHS rhetoric.” Happy listening.)

3.5 Time Outs: Sursum Corda

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who, I am sorry to learn, does not like leftovers for breakfast. Read the whole tragic childhood tale by clicking the photo:

You’ll never guess where I saw the words Sursum Corda last Friday, when I was busy not getting my seven takes up on time for that other person.

***

Also I learned later in the day: Though “Sursum Corda” sure sounds like the name of a papal encyclical, it isn’t.

Which means: I gave somebody a little bit of wrong information. Nuts. But I also gave a lot of correct information. For example, you would have found it in this book – p. xxvii. And others like it.

But you know, if you google the words Sursum Corda + Pope Benedict, you get a lot of hits. Is it my fault I spend too much time on the Internet reading this stuff until it becomes one giant jumble of confused trivia? Wait, don’t answer that.

You may have noticed that adolescent boys don’t necessarily google these same topics. Which is why I have begun a massive print propaganda campaign, in which I subscribe to the publications I think my child should read, then leave them on the bathroom counter for him to discover when he’s hiding from his math homework.

Might I add that Catholic Answers, Envoy, OSV and The Register run some seriously good articles? It is as if all the stuff you read for free online is not the very best of contemporary Catholic writing, and that there is value to be had in paying writers for their work. I never guessed.

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So your hints for the solution to #1 are:

A.) The Inferno.

B.) In which city you can still see this guy’s house:

C. ) And this hat. Which causes me to pun horribly every time I see it:

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