3.5 Time Outs: Vatican Spies

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy putting the mmmmn in Church Militant since  . . . well, awhile.

It's electric. Except when it's not.

1.

You wanna know what’s better than bacon? Eric Sammons e-mailing to ask, “May I send you a review copy of my new book?”

I know!  I couldn’t believe it either!  I figured the SuperHusband must have driven to Florida in desperation, in order to beg a perfect stranger to please give his wife something, anything, that would help her grow in holiness.  He would have observed that I already had a large collection of freebie plastic rosaries, so please did Mr. Sammons know of anything else that might help?

Another possible explanation is that since I liked the first book, maybe I’d like the next one, too.

2.

I worry sometimes that if I get too many review books, it will cause me to neglect my local Catholic bookstore.  Fear not!  The kids are taking care of us.  For example – item #2 that’s better than bacon: This Sunday the “Roamin’ Catholic” bookmobile was parked at our parish.  Yay!  My favorite time of year!  And the 4th grader spots this DVD and asks, “Please can we get this Mom?”

It’s a pretty simple formula:  Child requests DVD about real-life Nazi-thwarting Secret Agent Nun?  Mom says, “Um.  Yes.”  We haven’t watched it yet, though.  I’ve been too busy yelling at the kids to clean the house growing in holiness.

3.

My biggest disappointment in reading Jack Chick tracts was the discovery that, through some bureaucratic snafu, I’d been cheated.  If I really became a citizen of Vatican City the day I was baptized, where’s my passport???  Ah, but now my son has rectified my problem, and issued me my secret-agent ID:

Don’t worry, I’m still gonna carry my regular ID as well.

3.5

 . . . delightful to read on a Sunday afternoon.  See the review just below this post, or click here.

EDITED to add: And yeah, of course it’s link day.  If you have one you want to share, we’re all eyes.

10 thoughts on “3.5 Time Outs: Vatican Spies”

  2. I assume you are, but I’d check with your boys. Apparently the Vatican spy network uses young contractors to manage their credentials department. They think up all the best code names.

    Reply

    1. Larry L.,

      It gets right to the heart of things. (The guy is wrong, but he asks the right questions. Sift the universe in search of an ounce of mercy? By all means. He only errs in thinking it’s not there.)

      But that’s precisely why we don’t go in for lying about the tooth fairy and so forth. (Play? Pretend? Yes and yes. But kids delight in the pretend even when they know it’s pretend. The lying part is not necessary to the game.)

      Reply

  5. Terry Pratchett finds G K Chesterton to be one of his literary idols. His statement is actually saying there is mercy, justice and all those other things in the universe because we believe they exist. It is the idea simply belief, the act of absolute faith, that their is such a thing as right and wrong makes it exist.

    Reply

    1. It exists whether you or I believe in it or not. (A point we can debate sometime, but moving on . . .) That argued either way, certainly if we didn’t believe in it (mercy, justice, etc.), we wouldn’t act on it. So from a practical standpoint, there’s merit to the idea. In our day to day life, our belief directly impacts how the world works. So I think we’re agreed on that much.

      [And Larry L. — No pressure from me for you to agree with me. Call it like you see it and I’ll do likewise. Bystanders: Lay off Larry L., he’s a good guy, and if you knew half of anything, you’d sit on your hands. By all means friendly discussion is fair game, but keep it civil and give your combox colleagues the benefit of the doubt.]

      Reply

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