THE PAPAL CONCLAVE

To the left, the cardinals are shown processing into the mass in St Peter's Basilica this morning before gathering in the Sistine Chapel to begin the Papal Conclave.

To the right is the Sistine Chapel set up for the for the cardinals meeting in the Papal Conclave to elect the new pope.

The cardinals walk up the aisle toward Michangelo's "The Last Judgement" to place their ballots in the ballot box.

Black smoke issued from the chimney this evening to signal that no pope was elected on the first ballot.  When the new pope has been chosen, white smoke will come from the chimney, and a bell will ring as an additional signal.

The picture of the cardinals in procession made me smile because in my Roman Catholic elementary school such a straggly line would not have been tolerated. We would have heard from the sister in charge, "Straighten that line!"

PAUL RYAN'S FREUDIAN SLIP OF THE DAY

In his press conference, as he presents the GOP's radical new budget, Representative Paul Ryan says :

This to us is something that we're not going to give up on, because we're not going to give up on destroying the health care system for the American people.

Ryan's vaunted concern about the deficit is a cover for his true ambition, as Paul Krugman says:

Meanwhile, he was pursuing radical redistribution away from the needy to the wealthy.

Nothing has changed, except that the plan has gotten even crueler.

Thanks to "The Jed Report" at Daily Kos for the link to the video.

FACEBOOK DRAMA

Well, there's the Papal Conclave now that distracts me a little from Facebook.

And further about Facebook:

Clicking those friendly blue "like" buttons strewn across the Web may be doing more than marking you as a fan of Coca-Cola or Lady Gaga.

It could out you as gay.

It might reveal how you vote.

It might even suggest that you're an unmarried introvert with a high IQ and a weakness for nicotine.

That's the conclusion of a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers reported analyzing the likes of more than 58,000 American Facebook users to make guesses about their personalities and behavior, and even whether they drank, smoked, or did drugs.

Cambridge University researcher David Stillwell, one of the study's authors, said the results may come as a surprise.

"Your likes may be saying more about you than you realize," he said.

OMG!  I am shocked, I tell ya, just shocked.  Seriously, I realize that by just having a presence on Facebook, I've yielded a huge amount of privacy.  Anyone who cares deeply about privacy should go away from the site and stay away.

Some likes were more revealing than others.
...

Men who liked TV song-and-dance sensation "Glee" were more likely to be gay. Men who liked professional wrestling were more likely to be straight. Drinking game aficionados were generally more outgoing than, say, fans of fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett. People who preferred pop diva Jennifer Lopez usually gathered more Facebook friends than those who favored the heavy metal sound of Iron Maiden.

Who would ever have expected...?  Heh heh.  So y'all take care out there in the Facebook jungle.

I will never again friend a person who is not at least a friend of a friend, someone with whom I have not one friend in common.  One time was enough to teach me a lesson, and I can't remember why I chose to do so that one time, but it was a mistake. 

MONDAY EVE

Poor baby must have been scared to death.

NOT RED SHOES, BUT RED SOCKS

No, not those Red Sox.

 

That's the perfect sock for your cassock, Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai. Comfortable and easy on the eyes yet it makes a bold statement at the same time.

Rather dashing, don't you think?

Check out more pictures of fashion statements of the cardinals, along with commentary, at The Huffington Post.

Thanks to Ann V.

IS CARDINAL O'MALLEY A CONTENDA?

Cardinal Sean O'Malley

[Cardinal Sean P.] O’Malley has repeatedly dismissed the notion that he is a contender, and he continued to do so Sunday at his titular church. (All cardinals are assigned as honorary patrons to a Roman church; O’Malley’s is Santa Maria Della Vittoria.)

Clad in a red cardinal’s cassock for Mass, he silently climbed the steps of the church — a Baroque masterpiece resplendent with elaborate frescoes and marble sculpture, most notably Bernini’s masterwork, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa.

The Rev. Rocco Visca, a member of the Discalced Carmelite friars who run Santa Maria Della Vittoria, lavished praise on the cardinal as he opened the service, calling O’Malley humble and a friend to the friars. He said he hoped that this would be O’Malley’s last visit as a cardinal and that the church would be his first stop after he became pope.

Santa Maria Della Vittoria

The titular church of Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who heads the Archdiocese of Boston in the United States, is pictured to the left.

Today, the cardinal priests have a loose patronal relationship with their titular churches (their names and coats of arms are inscribed on plaques in the churches, and many raise funds for their church's maintenance and restoration), but they no longer participate in the actual management of the churches. There are now 143 presbyteral titular churches. Likewise, the cardinal bishops are given only honorary title to the 7 suburbicarian dioceses, and the cardinal deacons are given a similar relationship to the churches of their 69 deaconries.

The Ecstasy of St Teresa

To the left is a photo of Bernini's magnificent sculpture, The Ecstasy of St Teresa. The sculpture follows closely the descriptions in her writings of Teresa of Ávila's ecstatic experiences during prayerful contemplative meditation.

In answer to my playful question in the title of the post, I believe the chances that Cardinal O'Malley or any prelate from the United States will be elected pope are slim to none.  The view of the US and its leaders from the outside is, all too often, as power-hungry and desirous of ruling the world, and few cardinals wish to put the power of the Vatican in the hands of an American.  Besides, the Italian cardinals think it's time to put an Italian back on the papal throne.  Barring an agreement on the election of an Italian, the next choice might be a cardinal from a third-world country or from a country in one of the Americas, but not the United States.  There you have my predictions, which are not specific, nor should they in any way be considered conjectures from an expert in papal elections.

FOUR CARDINALS TAKE A BREAK FROM THE CONCLAVE?

 

I report; you decide.

Don't blame me.  Blame Paul (A.), who had his poor, long-suffering wife do the work.

TROMBONE SHORTY - NPR MUSIC TINY DESK CONCERT

A terrific set by Trombone Shorty and the guys in the tiny space in NPR's studios.

He can play the horn. He can sing. And that's made him the latest musical star of a great New Orleans tradition. But Trombone Shorty mainly just wants you to dance: "I know you came here to move," he sings to an office full of NPR staff.

Set List:
"Dumaine St."
"Lagniappe"
"Do To Me"

SPRING IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER

 

Well, it is.

UPDATE FROM THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA

The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, the true diocese of The Episcopal Church posted the following news story:

CHARLESTON – A motion filed today asks the U.S. District Court to grant a preliminary injunction to stop Mark Lawrence from using the name and marks of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and from representing that his activities are associated with the diocese.

The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg, the person who is actually recognized as the Bishop of the Diocese by The Episcopal Church, needs immediate relief to prevent Bishop Lawrence from further undermining his leadership of the diocese, according to a memorandum filed with the motion.

Bishop Lawrence’s actions violate the federal trademark law known as the Lanham Act, misleading worshipers and donors, causing confusion, and harming the reputation of the diocese, the memo says.

“In holding himself out as the representative of the Diocese and in using the Diocese’s exact marks, there is no doubt that Bishop Lawrence has endeavored to create the very public confusion that the Lanham Act was designed to prohibit,” the memo says.

Confusion is the name of the game played by Mark Lawrence.  The former bishop in The Episcopal Church left the church, but he still wants to claim the name of the diocese he and his followers left behind.  Why?

Matthew D. McGill, an attorney representing the continuing diocese says:

“Bishop Lawrence had every right to leave The Episcopal Church, but he can’t take the Diocese’s name and intellectual property with him,” said McGill, who practices in his firm’s constitutional law and intellectual property groups. “The Diocese is part of The Episcopal Church.  The notion that Bishop Lawrence and his followers can decide to dissociate the Diocese from the Church and keep it for themselves is foreclosed by an unbroken line of Supreme Court precedent stretching back at least 140 years.”

Exactly.  And further;

Affidavits filed on March 7 in support of the case include statements from:

-          Dr. Walter Edgar, Professor of History at the University of South Carolina and author of “South Carolina: A History,” who notes that there is no historical support for the notion that the Diocese of South Carolina was one of the “founders” of The Episcopal Church, or that its formation predates the establishment of The Episcopal Church. In fact, “it was the actions of the organizers of The Episcopal Church that actually precipitated the formation of a structure for the parishes in South Carolina,” Dr. Edgar writes. “The South Carolina organization did not even have a bishop until 1795, six years after the formation of The Episcopal Church.” The Episcopal Church’s Constitution was adopted in 1789, and the Diocese of South Carolina acceded to that Constitution in 1790. That accession stayed in place continuously, Dr. Edgar noted, until Bishop Lawrence and others aligned with him took actions that purported to remove the accession clause and other references to The Episcopal Church from the diocese’s Constitution and Canons.  (My emphasis)

Read the entire news report at the diocesan website.
 
Dr Edgar sheds much light on the history of the diocese, which has been spun in an entirely different direction by Mark Lawrence and his followers. 

The true diocese of The Episcopal Church and the schismatics both meet in convention this weekend.  I offer my prayers.

UPDATE: There's joy and thanksgiving in The Episcopal Church in South Carolina.  Check out the diocesan Facebook page for pictures and reports on the convention this weekend, especially the pictures of the representatives from St Mark's Port Royal, the newest mission in the diocese.  St Mark's appealed for mission status for years, but Mark Lawrence never granted their request.