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Blogs by Byron Edgington
Lucy & the football 3/13/2013 6:09:03 AM
The church is not going to change; Lucy will see to it. Anyone familiar with my book, The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, knows about my personal history of abuse in a catholic seminary when I was fourteen. In an odd way I'm almost grateful for the outcome of those incidents, my dismissal from a life in the priesthood etc. It set me on the path I followed, a life in the sky much more gratifying and meaningful, I'm certain, than one I might have had as a catholic priest.
As I observe the convocation in the Sistine Chapel, where the world's largest collection of ancient, clueless virgins selects a new pope, I have very mixed feelings. A bit of anger, insufficiently disguised, at the institution in which I was swaddled as a child; bemusement at just why anyone still attends to the church at all; and a sort of weariness at the hypocrisy adorning the whole affair. Like with Lucy and her football, catholics the world over are about to tromp forward Charlie-Brown-like to take yet another swag at something that is once again to be yanked away at the last blessed second, forcing them by simple physics onto their beloved backsides. Once again.
The catholic church is "...in the business of change big time,” so says Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan at St. Peter’s Basilica during a Mass he celebrated for U.S. journalists. The football is, as we speak, resting lightly before Lucy, her nimble finger making steady the soon to be booted sphere, until... Charlie Brown is confident, as he has been lo these many years, that friend Lucy will allow him to set the ball flying, arcing in glorious flight, snapping at long last the agonizing wait poor Charles has endured with commendable patience. Here's the punch line: change 'big time' in the catholic church, take it from me, is when the baptismal font at Our Lady of Perpetual Motion in Dubuque is moved from the front of the nave to the back. And breathtaking change such as that requires many years, decades even, carefully penned letters between Rome and Dubuque, confabs between Bishops, priests, rooks, knaves--never any nuns--and the Holy See itself before a single babe is dunked in said font. Centuries even.
Married priests? Women in the priesthood? Gay rights (and rites) in the church? A plausible, definitive agenda to root out pedophiles in church ranks? Not gonna happen. Lucy will see to it. Post a Comment More Blogs by Byron Edgington Off Ramp: Weekly Short for 12/01/2014 - Saturday, December 6, 2014 Weekly Short Story - Saturday, November 15, 2014 The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, $1.99 for Kindle - Tuesday, November 4, 2014 The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, 99 cents for Kindle - Sunday, November 2, 2014 99 cent sale starting 11/7 - Monday, October 27, 2014 Interview: Mike Petersen, Killer Book Marketing - Tuesday, October 14, 2014 Audio Review_The Unheralded King - Sunday, October 5, 2014 Audio Book Reviews - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 SkyWriting: Essays on the Art and Craft of Aviation - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 Silent Sky: From 9/11/202 - Thursday, September 11, 2014 Great stories and a chance to help - Monday, August 25, 2014 The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, $4.95 for Kindle - Saturday, August 23, 2014 SkyWriting: Essays on the Art and Craft of Aviation - Monday, August 11, 2014 Book review: There I Wuz - Monday, August 4, 2014 Lip smacking mystery - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 Book review: The Silver Star - Saturday, July 5, 2014 Book Review: Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses - Sunday, June 29, 2014 Free author promo - Monday, May 19, 2014 Looking for flying tales - Wednesday, May 14, 2014 Nerds of Ohio unite! My review of Best of Ohio - Friday, May 2, 2014 Pilots/Crews I need your stories - Tuesday, April 29, 2014 FREE Download--excerpts from SkyWriting - Monday, April 28, 2014 I'll publish your flying story - Monday, April 28, 2014 E-book just .99 cents - Saturday, March 8, 2014 My aviation memoir is on sale this weekend, March 8/9, just .99 cents Saturday! - Friday, March 7, 2014 e-book sale this weekend - Wednesday, March 5, 2014 The Sky Behind Me, 99 cent sale - Tuesday, March 4, 2014 Call for submissions - Thursday, February 13, 2014 Catching up - Thursday, February 6, 2014 Brrrrr! - Monday, January 6, 2014 Radio Interview tonight - Wednesday, December 4, 2013 Is it done yet? - Wednesday, November 27, 2013 Writing a memoir? Check into this: - Friday, November 15, 2013 From where I sit - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 Daily Very Short Writing Tip - Thursday, November 7, 2013 'To be' or to find a better verb... - Monday, November 4, 2013 Take a hike! - Thursday, October 31, 2013 to publish or not to publish - Wednesday, October 30, 2013 The Sky Writer - Friday, October 25, 2013 Free sample of The Sky Behind Me... - Thursday, October 17, 2013 The new world of PCS - Wednesday, October 16, 2013 Hump Day--Getting over the himp from writer's block - Wednesday, October 2, 2013 The Three 'tells of book promotion - Monday, September 30, 2013 We're all mad here--writers take heart - Thursday, September 19, 2013 How to get the writing off dead plumb: The Writer's Tool Box - Monday, September 16, 2013 Smashwords author interview 9/5/13 - Thursday, September 5, 2013 writers, you may want to stand up for this - Tuesday, September 3, 2013 Writers: Rights, responsibilities and reinventing the flat tire. - Thursday, August 29, 2013 How to write good - Monday, August 26, 2013 Book trailer: The Sky Behind Me... - Friday, August 23, 2013 Author (Self) interview - Thursday, August 22, 2013 Common Core Standards: Back to Literature? - Tuesday, August 20, 2013 George W. Bush and other mistakes - Thursday, August 15, 2013 welcome home - Wednesday, August 14, 2013 Book review: Bargain With Fate Book RTwo Sage trilogy - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 I love Harry Reasoner - Thursday, August 8, 2013 Readin', Ritin' and Wreal Estate--book selling & uts challenges - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 Book review Friday: Dementia, by Hans Peter Braendlin - Friday, August 2, 2013 I'm a writer--I write. Sometimes I rant. - Thursday, August 1, 2013 Memoir as travelogue - Monday, July 29, 2013 Small presses are back - Thursday, July 25, 2013 New Book Project: The Emergent Sky - Tuesday, July 23, 2013 The book biz--short version - Monday, July 22, 2013 What do you want? - Thursday, July 18, 2013 The Sky Behind Me at half price--add value - Tuesday, July 16, 2013 Lies, Damned Lies & Statistics - Monday, July 15, 2013 Blog is my co-pilot - Thursday, July 11, 2013 ridiculous to sublime - Wednesday, July 10, 2013 commo, criticism & culture in Asiana 214 crash - Tuesday, July 9, 2013 Asiana 214--poor weather might have prevented this accident - Monday, July 8, 2013 Book Binding - Friday, July 5, 2013 Notable deaths 4th of July - Thursday, July 4, 2013 The Blue and the Gray - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 Life Du Soleil - Monday, July 1, 2013 takeoff part 2 - Friday, June 28, 2013 Takeoff - Thursday, June 27, 2013 Decorative English - Tuesday, June 25, 2013 To leak, or not to leak... - Monday, June 24, 2013 Separation of church and state - Friday, June 21, 2013 Plus ca change... - Thursday, June 20, 2013 book promotion - Wednesday, June 19, 2013 Tom Wolfe was right - Monday, June 17, 2013 ...can't treat stupid. - Friday, May 31, 2013 Birds do it, bees do it... - Thursday, May 30, 2013 Aviation & Medicine--safety last? - Wednesday, May 29, 2013 Happy Birthday GKC - Tuesday, May 28, 2013 day of remembrance - Monday, May 27, 2013 Lady Hooker, my initiation ceremony in Vietnam - Friday, May 24, 2013 distribution - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 Marriage Equality: Cleared for Takeoff - Thursday, May 16, 2013 dead monk seals in Hawaii - Monday, May 13, 2013 Free download - Thursday, May 9, 2013 Free sample - Tuesday, May 7, 2013 May 4th 1970 - Saturday, May 4, 2013 Entitle-tude - Thursday, May 2, 2013 dateline Columbus OH: 5/01/2313 - Wednesday, May 1, 2013 How to Fly Good #4 - Monday, April 29, 2013 aviation--a very small club - Thursday, April 25, 2013 Traveling Light - Tuesday, April 23, 2013 Marathon Bomber - Monday, April 22, 2013 women in aviation - Friday, April 19, 2013 Aviation and life: Shared conundrums - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 Misperceptions & helicopters--How to Fly Good #3 - Monday, April 15, 2013 Helicopters: A Primer - Thursday, April 11, 2013 Justitia - Wednesday, April 3, 2013 You gotta laugh - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 opening day 2013 - Monday, April 1, 2013 Fearless - Friday, March 29, 2013 Equality under law - Monday, March 25, 2013 Once a missionary, always a missionary - Friday, March 22, 2013 ten years--and for what? - Wednesday, March 20, 2013 come to the hills - Monday, March 18, 2013 stones - Thursday, March 14, 2013 Lucy & the football - Wednesday, March 13, 2013 Separation of church & state - Tuesday, March 12, 2013 Escape Fire - Monday, March 11, 2013 Cycles are things we ride, like it or not - Friday, March 8, 2013 Iraq + 10 years - Thursday, March 7, 2013 A book at the public library - Wednesday, March 6, 2013 A Radical Idea - Monday, March 4, 2013 Power Rangers - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 Take a starving writer to lunch - Monday, February 25, 2013 Our legal code is 200,000 pages--Cyrus Cylinder 1,000 words - Friday, February 22, 2013 A note on a napkin - Thursday, February 21, 2013 New Book Project - Wednesday, February 20, 2013 TWSB The World's Shortest Blog, Post #1 - Tuesday, February 19, 2013 Memoir starts with 'Me.' - Monday, February 18, 2013 Violence against women - Friday, February 15, 2013 Reading - Tuesday, February 12, 2013 Three months from today is S.A.M.E. Day - Saturday, February 9, 2013 Drill baby, drill! - Friday, February 8, 2013 Richard III found in parking lot! - Thursday, February 7, 2013 Of Ice Cream & Imagination - Wednesday, February 6, 2013 Couples - Tuesday, February 5, 2013 Packing to leave - Sunday, February 3, 2013 I was a Cub Scout once. - Saturday, February 2, 2013 Why I write - Friday, February 1, 2013 February is Heart Month - Thursday, January 31, 2013 Go with your gut - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 Current events - Tuesday, January 29, 2013 Challenger-- "...a major malfunction." - Monday, January 28, 2013 This old house - Saturday, January 26, 2013 Child abuse in literature - Friday, January 25, 2013 No Sex Riding Rockets - Thursday, January 24, 2013 Happy Birthday Derek Walcott - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 Cure for blank sheet syndrome - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 Inauguration Day 2013 - Monday, January 21, 2013 Pending book - Saturday, January 19, 2013 Branding - Friday, January 18, 2013 Book reading/signing - Thursday, January 17, 2013 Writing is the easy part - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 Writing contests--Scam or Opportunity? - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 The Big .99 Cent E-book sale - Monday, January 14, 2013 Unintended consequences - Saturday, January 12, 2013 The power of words - Friday, January 11, 2013 Boys will be... Excerpt from Chapter 11 The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life - Thursday, January 10, 2013 Why we write memoirs - Wednesday, January 9, 2013 The Big TSBM 99 cent sale! - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 Air Medical Accidents - Monday, January 7, 2013 Byron Edgington Bailey Prize winner for prose in 2012 - Sunday, January 6, 2013 Looking Back--Looking ahead - Saturday, January 5, 2013 OOOPS - Friday, January 4, 2013 Featured New Release - Thursday, January 3, 2013 Whither Serials? - Wednesday, January 2, 2013 HNY '13 Don't 'should' on yourself - Tuesday, January 1, 2013 Hauoli Makahiki-ho (Happy New Year in Hawaiian - Sunday, December 30, 2012 Old man and the scythe - Thursday, December 27, 2012 Excerpt from The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life - Wednesday, December 26, 2012