Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS - Even though he's only 37 and in good health, Nathan Davis has already made out his will. In it, he bequeaths money to the University of Alabama athletic department and his ashes to Bryant-Denny Stadium. Davis, whose heavily tattooed body is a living tribute to his beloved school, wants his remains to become an actual part of it. "I spell it out in my will," Davis said. "My first choice is to spread my ashes at the stadium, second is on the Walk of Champions, and third is on Bear Bryant's statue." Davis is one of an...

VATICAN CITY, FEB. 6, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The cardinal who administered ashes to Benedict XVI today says the exhortations that accompany the rite are not easy to say to a Pope.Cardinal Jozef Tomko, cardinal-priest of the Basilica of Santa Sabina where the Bishop of Rome celebrated this evening's Ash Wednesday Mass, has been the prelate who administers ashes to the Pontiff for the last 12 years. He receives this task because he was assigned the cardinal titular church where the Pontiff traditionally celebrates Mass for the beginning of Lent. Like all Catholics, the Holy Father receives the ashes while the one...

Roman Catholics grow up hearing the words on Ash Wednesday as they receive a sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads:"For dust you are and to dust you will return."But Christians at many Protestant churches around the city will be hearing those words from Genesis 3:19 today as they, too, are marked by ashes on the first day of Lent, the 40-day somber season leading to Easter.Protestant churches in recent years have increasingly turned to the rite to increase spirituality and devotional preparation for Easter Sunday among their members."There is a trend ... toward more sacramental forms and...

Richards originally claimed he was misquoted, after his publicists attempted to quash the story. Richards, who last weekend claimed he would live to the age of 150, revealed that although he did snort his father, he did not mix his ashes with cocaine, as his previous NME.COM quote implied. "The cocaine bit was rubbish," he said. "I said I chopped him up like cocaine, not with. "I pulled the lid off [my father's urn] and out comes a bit of dad on the dining room table," Richards continued. "I'm going, 'I can't use the brush and dustpan for this'. "What...

ELMIRA, N.Y. — A New York state woman who was quick with the bargains at her rummage sale mistakenly accepted 50 cents for a ceramic turtle with the ashes of her husband's previous wife inside. Now, Anita Lewis is desperately searching for the buyer who said she planned to use the urn as a cookie jar. Ms. Lewis said she hauled items into her yard early Saturday while her husband slept.

Beaming him up was the easy part - the problem was transporting him back to Earth. A search team continues to look for a rocket carrying ashes of the actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on Star Trek, almost two weeks after it hurtled to the edge of space from New Mexico. Remains of the Canadian-born actor, who died two years ago at the age of 85, blasted off from a remote launch site on April 29 carrying a payload that included the ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper and several experiments. A spokeswoman for Houston-based Space Services Inc, which organised...

UPHAM, N.M. - The cremated remains of actor James Doohan, who portrayed engineer "Scotty" on "Star Trek," and of Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper soared into suborbital space Saturday aboard a rocket. It was the first successful launch from Spaceport America, a commercial spaceport being developed in the southern New Mexico desert. Suzan Cooper and Wende Doohan fired the rocket carrying small amounts of their husbands' ashes, and those of about 200 others, at 8:56 a.m. local time. "Go baby, go baby," said Eric Knight of the commercial launch company, UP Aerospace Inc. of Farmington, Conn. Since it was a suborbital...

The ashes of Star Trek star James Doohan will be blasted into space this weekend when a rocket carrying a symbolic portion of the late actor's cremated remains is launched in New Mexico.

“The Sign of the Ashes” (Gen. 3:19)Today we begin the season of Lent, forty days, not counting the Sundays--forty days of preparation leading up to Easter. The word “Lent” is related to our word, “length.” This is a time of year when the days are getting longer; the length of daylight is increasing day by day. Just as nature moves from the deadness of winter to the new life of spring, so in the church we mirror that movement from death to life. The solemn season of Lent leads to the joy and vitality of Easter. Lent is the time...

Eve and Steven Greene made a simple plea to the burglar who broke into their house: keep the valuables but return the cremated remains of their four-year-old son. "Just drop it off somewhere with a note on it," Steven Greene said. "And that'll be that." It worked. Someone left the urn containing the ashes of Zachary Greene at the end of the Greenes' driveway Wednesday morning, two days after it was taken in a burglary. Police said a burglar broke into the home, snacked on Cheerios and tracked mud all over the house as he filled pillowcases with about US$10,000...

AUSTRALIA has won the fifth Test in Sydney by 10 wickets after crushing England today, completing the first Ashes series whitewash in 86 years. The win closes the careers of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer. Set 46 to win, Langer and Matthew Hayden reached the total without fuss. Langer finished not out 20 and Hayden, who smashed a six to level the scores and then hit the winning run, was unbeaten on 23. The two players spent several moments hugging delighted teammates, who walked on to the ground after the match was won. England's team walked over to...

Vatican City, Feb. 24, 2006 (CNA) - The Vatican announced today that next week, Pope Benedict himself will mark the beginning of lent with an Ash Wednesday Mass at Rome’s Basilica of Santa Sabina, an act which will serve to renew an ancient Lenten tradition long held by the Diocese of Rome.The late Pope John Paul II was forced to abandon the practice as his health deteriorated late in life.Prior to Mass, the Holy Father will preside at brief prayer in the nearby Church of St. Anselm on Rome’s Aventine Hill.Following that, he will lead a penitential procession to the...

Saturday, 15 October 2005, 08:48 GMT 09:48 UK Space date set for Scotty's ashes Star Trek actor James Doohan, who played Scotty in the series, will have his final wish granted when his ashes are sent into space on 6 December. Doohan died of Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia in July, aged 85. His ashes will be accompanied by thousands of tributes from fans of the sci-fi show. "James spent so much time with fans and many want to come to his space blast," a Space Services Inc spokeswoman said. The firm will fire the ashes into orbit from a California...

npower Test Match Series: England v Australia 08-09-2005 at The Brit Oval In Play England won the toss and decided to bat England 1st Innings 373 all out (105.3 overs) England 2nd Innings 73 for 3 (25.0 overs) Australia 1st Innings 367 all out (107.1 overs)

CANTON, Mass. --A year after Patrick Holland won a groundbreaking legal battle to "divorce" his father for murdering his mother, the 15-year-old still doesn't have his mother's cremated remains, jewelry, photos or money -- thanks to wrangling over her estate. Liz Holland's father, Robert McCrocklin of Quicksburg, Va., was appointed administrator of the estate shortly after Daniel Holland shot her in 1998. Daniel Holland was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The case is still on appeal. McCrocklin has not filed an accounting of what he did with his daughter's possessions or $15,646 from the...

WOODY CREEK, Colo. - Iconoclastic journalist Hunter S. Thompson would have loved the 153-foot tower built to blast his ashes into the sky, said one of his many friends and admirers gathered for an unsolemn farewell. "It's a beautiful structure. Of course, he would not have been able to resist putting a few holes into it," said Michael Cleverly, referring to his former neighbor's love of shooting guns. "But it weighs several tons, so it could handle a few holes." The counterculture author killed himself six months ago at his home near Aspen. His ashes, intermingled with fireworks, were to...

WAUKEGAN, Ill. Officials at a Salvation Army center in northern Illinois are hoping someone will come forward to reclaim an unusual donation. It seems someone dropped off a box containing the cremated remains of a man named Homer Oglesby at the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Waukegan. Center administrator Pamela Church says the ashes were found when workers were sorting through a larger donation made several weeks ago. She says it's obviously a mistake and she's hoping his family comes forward to claim them. Oglesby was almost 90 when he died in Waukegan in November of 2003. Church says...

The family of Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman who died in March after her feeding tube was removed, say that they have no idea where her ashes have been laid to rest. Giving their first interview since the tube was removed at the request of Mrs Schiavo's husband, the family claimed on American television that he was keeping her remains from them. Bob and Mary Schindler, and their surviving children, Bobby Jr and Suzanne, claimed that Michael Schiavo had ignored a court order that he should keep them informed about her ashes and plans for a memorial service. Mr...

MIAMI - The family of a severely brain-damaged woman who died after her feeding tube was removed in March said Friday they still have not been told where her remains will be laid to rest. Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings, who waged a lengthy court battle over her end-of-life wishes, said on Fox's "Hannity & Colmes" show that her husband is keeping her remains from them. "They were supposed to tell us, and we still have not heard from ... Michael Schiavo where Terri's been laid," said Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler. "Our family expected this. Michael has disobeyed court...

Blending Christianity with American Indian spirituality, Father Ed Cook made a cross mark on the foreheads of people at the Congregation of the Great Spirit on Wednesday after dipping his thumb into ashes made by burning more than just the palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday. "Turn away from sin, and follow the Gospel," Cook said to each person as members of the intertribal, predominantly American Indian congregation came forward to participate in a centuries-old Christian ritual. In their Roman Catholic congregation, however, the palm ashes are mixed in advance with ashes from a large, clay firepot where...

'Reef Balls' Enable Loved Ones' Remains to Sleep With the Fishes Associated Press Sep 25, 2004 OCEAN CITY, N.J. (AP) - As if shooting a loved one's ashes into space or pressing them into artificial diamonds were not sufficiently offbeat, relatives of the deceased now can have their ashes mixed into concrete to help form ocean habitats. A Georgia company has placed about 200 of the concrete cones, called "reef balls," in the ocean, mostly along the Gulf Coast. Last week, it interred cones filled with the ashes of several people about seven miles off the shore as part of...

Sorry but im a jr high student and half of my friends and people in my school wear the bracelets and dont play the game. just cuz some peeps wear them for that reason its kinda like prostitutes only doing that. our parents are always badgering us about the bracelets like do you know what those mean why do you where those? it usually winds up in i dont want you to wear them and that makes us wear them more! i doubt that anyone would lose sleep over them and if you did your just trying to prevent your...

BOSTON (Reuters) - A tall, rugged, blue-blood millionaire war hero from Massachusetts with the initials JFK, Sen. John Forbes Kerry rose from the political dead to claim the right to challenge President Bush (news - web sites). An early bet as the Democrats' best hope to win the White House on Nov. 2, he was running way behind in last year's pre-primary polls in Iowa and New Hampshire but recovered ground as voters took a second look at the field and rewarded him with a stunning comeback in the first two contests of the political campaign. Since wrapping up the...

Original caption: With the sign of the cross on his forehead, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., leaves St. John's Cathedral after an Ash Wednesday visit in Cleveland, Ohio, Wednesday Feb. 25, 2004. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

February 25, 2004Ash Wednesday Psalm: Wednesday 11 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Reading II Gospel Reading IJl 2:12-18 Even now, says the LORD,return to me with your whole heart,with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;Rend your hearts, not your garments,and return to the LORD, your God.For gracious and merciful is he,slow to anger, rich in kindness,and relenting in punishment.Perhaps he will again relentand leave behind him a blessing,Offerings and libationsfor the LORD, your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion!proclaim a fast,call an assembly;Gather the people,notify the congregation;Assemble the elders,gather the childrenand the infants at the breast;Let the bridegroom quit his roomand the...

<p>LAKE CUYAMACA -- On a wind-whipped Thursday morning, Shelley Rannikko and a bustle of old and new friends dashed across a concrete slab, sweeping away ashes, unfolding table legs, frying turkey and heating gravy on propane stoves.</p> <p>This was the Thanksgiving that nothing was going to stop.</p>

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Rocky Oldaker bought a wood box for $2 at a thrift store because it looked interesting. When he opened it, what he found inside was priceless to Linda Bigford: her mother's ashes. "I don't think that is what someone's life should boil down to ... $2 at a thrift store," said Oldaker, who bought the box along with a stuffed animal and a picture frame. When he unscrewed the box bottom at home, Oldaker discovered a plastic bag of ashes and a note identifying them as those of June Peltier of Marion, Mich. Peltier, 77, died...

<p>A San Mateo man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to collect a $1,500 ransom for the return of the cremated remains of a dog belonging to a Foster City family, authorities said today.</p> <p>Kenneth So, 23, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of residential burglary and attempted extortion in San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City and remained in jail today in lieu of $50,000 bail.</p>