Could be verse: poetry ripped from the headlines
By JAMES PARKER | November 14, 2007
Lines upon learning that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will not, as previously rumored, be making a stop in Boston during his upcoming visit to the US
The man who is powered by bells and candles
Must keep himself above earthly scandals:
A visit to this abused flock might be
Injurious to infallibility.
Related:
Kennedy vs. the Catholic Church, The passion of the candidate, Quotes + numbers, March 10, 2006, More
- Kennedy vs. the Catholic Church
Last week, Congressman Patrick Kennedy took the Catholic Church to task for opposing health reform that fails to include an explicit ban on federal funding for abortion. And he was right to do it.
- The passion of the candidate
Pity Mitt Romney, the object of religious persecution, forced to make a public speech confronting the antagonistic forces that have kept his candidacy down by attacking his faith.
- Quotes + numbers, March 10, 2006
“To His Holiness, Benedict XVI” Inscription (translated from Italian) on the back of Pope Benedict XVI’s 2GB iPod Nano, given to him by Vatican Radio employees.
- Priestess | Prior To The Fire
Now Priestess are back in Indieland, rubbing denim-clad elbows with the likes of Nebula and Black Math Horseman.
- 41. Warren Jeffs
Jeffs, the creepy leader of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is a grade-A shitbird — he reportedly described Hurricane Katrina as an answer to his prayers — and so nobody was surprised when he was finally convicted, in 2007, of being an accessory to child rape. (That case also exposed a hideous loophole in the Arizona laws against incest — they only apply to those over 18.) That should’ve been the end of the road, except that according to a recent Salt Lake Tribune story, Jeff’s diaries indicate that he’s retained a hold over his followers from jail. To be continued? We hope not.
- More than Mormons
Despite the comparably juicy family dysfunction it offers, Big Love hasn't achieved the iconic status of its HBO predecessor The Sopranos . Maybe viewers relate better to the mob than to Mormons.
- Mitt’s thorny threesome
Whatever Mitt Romney is doing in a few years, he’ll always have the Summer of ’07.
- The problem with the Pope’s new list of deadly sins
The pope recently declared obscene riches, pedophilia, and causing social injustice as three of the newest deadly sins.
- Clerical error
Oliver O’Grady, “Father Ollie,” the pastor of a Catholic Church in a bucolic, tight-knit Northern California community, would have felt at home in The Bells of St. Mary’s . Watch the trailer for Deliver Us from Evil (QuickTime)
- Review: Fifty Dead Men Walking
In the 1980s in Northern Ireland, a petty hustler named Martin McGartland (Jim Sturgess) went from street-corner obscurity to playing a major role in the war in Belfast between Catholics and Protestants, as he swore allegiance to the militant branch of the IRA while spying for the British police.
- Continuing homophobia
Deirdre Fulton's and Shay Stewart-Bouley's comments and Seth Berner's letter on the Marriage Equality Act repeal are insightful. I would add another perspective.
- Less

Topics:
Lifestyle Features
, Culture and Lifestyle, Religion, Christianity, More
, Culture and Lifestyle, Religion, Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Less