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Ginnie James, who has died aged 67, was a feisty yet warm-hearted figure, equally at home in the bullrings of Portugal and the racing villages of the Lambourn Valley. One of the high points of her life came in 1961, when she decided she wished to become a bullfighter. Aged 21 she took herself to Portugal, immersing herself in the culture and being taken under the wing of one of the most prominent families in the largely closed world of Portuguese bullfighting (which differs from the Spanish version in that the bull is killed away from the ring). Determined to...

Good evening to all. I'd like to ask everybody's prayers for a friend who has fought a long and valiant struggle against cancer, but has come to the end of the fight. She's in hospice now, and it's only a matter of days before the Lord calls her home. She is a beautiful little lady, very faithful, very kind, and always busy in and around the church. She was in our handbell choir during her last remission, and played the bells next to me until she became too ill to continue. Please pray that she suffer as little as possible,...

Rome, Jan 2: The Catholic church is placing heavy metal, punk and jazz in hell and classical music in heaven in a musical on Dante's "Divine Comedy" composed by a Vatican conductor. Father Marco Frisina, who directs the Rome diocesan choir and has composed a number of pieces for Italian television and popes, plans to premier the show in autumn here before taking it on a tour of European capitals. According to a report in Tuesday's La Repubblica, Frisina will be using "rebellious" rock, punk and jazz tunes to represent hell while heaven will be described using classical and symphonic...

Progress report - Candlewood Rock 'n' Roll Ruby is now just over 12 weeks old . . . and boy has she grown! Shelley is actually o.k. with it all now. They play together (mostly tug-o-war) and explore things peacefully side by side, although Shelley still will take a toy away from Ruby just to show that she can . . . and Ruby submits gracefully with a sit and a lick on the face. Kid's got BIG EARS. "Mom! Not while I'm on the john!"

The Puppy to Be Named Later arrived today via Air Cargo, exactly 7 weeks old. She is, as advertised, a pistol. Very pretty, poised, self-confident to the point of brashness, friendly. She glommed onto me like a little black shadow. All I have to do is call "Pup-pup-pup-pup!" and she's there like a shot. Shelley-the-Lab is pretty o.k. with all this. We have had two "border incidents" - the puppy went galloping across the kitchen to shove her head in the water bowl while Shelley was drinking, and drew a snarl and a nip. Then the puppy tried to snatch...

Clad in black robes, judges of all stripes paraded through a downtown Atlanta church Thursday to receive a blessing of peace and justice. Federal bankruptcy magistrates strode alongside Superior Court judges at the annual "Red Mass" ceremony, an ancient service that dates to the Middle Ages. The service was billed as an interfaith celebration, and afterward the Catholic hosts gave awards to a Jewish judge and Protestant attorney for their work. But the ceremony was not without a heavy political undertone. judges to re-examine the death penalty and called for a ban on embryonic stem cell research. Of abortion, he...

Vanity of vanities . . . I put a deposit down today on a female Black Labrador Retriever, born 8/16. She'll be ready to come home in October. So now I've got to figure out a name for this little bundle of joy. She's coming from Wisconsin, from Candlewood Kennels which is arguably the best field trial kennel in the country. She's not a typical field trial dog, she has some "dual purpose" (i.e. show and hunt test) on her mom's side. Her mom is a fully trained hunting dog who has produced good field dogs. The tradition is to...

OK Catholics, here's a question of dogma/doctrine for you. We took my daughter up to Davidson College last week, and of course we hit the College Fair and the religious life table. Had a nice chat with a couple of rabbis on the chaplains' staff. Saw a lady who was manning the Catholic table . . . much to my surprise she had a little plastic tag IDing her as a chaplain. And she (self-described) runs the Catholic program at the school. We had a little chat, I avoided (out of politeness) asking her straight up how a woman could...

Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, who was president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the height of the clergy molestation crisis, has been appointed by Pope John Paul II to serve as Archbishop of Atlanta, the archdiocese announced Thursday. Gregory, who had been serving as bishop in Belleville, Ill., will become Atlanta's sixth archbishop. "I welcome the opportunity to serve the people of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. I am deeply grateful to the Holy Father for his confidence and support," Gregory said. He succeeds Archbishop John F. Donoghue, who is resigning for reason of age. He is 76.

My mom just called me on the phone - they found a spot on her mammogram and did a surgical biopsy yesterday - it is malignant. They caught it fairly early, but she said it was rather large "a 1.7" - I am unfamiliar with the scale used. They will be operating Thursday week to remove and test nearby lymph nodes. What they find at that time will determine the course of treatment, but the current plan is for radiation.My mother in law beat this last year (thanks I'm sure in part to the prayer warriors of FR), and my...

I have a favor to ask, hope somebody can help. Our riding instructor is a Democrat (ouch) but we're working on it. She posted a chart on her office door that is obviously an Email from the DNC or some other Dem source. It purports to be a side by side comparison of economic conditions under Clinton and under Bush. It compares such things as unemployment rates, national debt, etc. It purports to cite Bureau of Labor statistics. It is uniformly good for Clinton and bad for Bush. I KNOW the figures are wrong because the unemployment rate is shown...

Hi to everyone from Jeanne-inundated Atlanta! While the generator and the DSL are still working, I'd like to ask for your prayers for a friend. She's the Youth Minister at our parish, and she's been very, very kind to my children as we made the transition from ECUSA to the Catholic Faith. My daughter went on a youth retreat that she led, and thinks she is just wonderful (I think so too.) She is leading the confirmation class that my daughter has just started. Anyhow, she wasn't in church on Sunday for the confirmands' presentation, and it turned out she...

As a newly-minted Catholic, I'm turning to Catholic musicians and singers for help. I'm now a "rotating cantor" in my church, about every fourth Sunday. I'm expected to lead the psalm and also provide a solo as an offertory anthem on Sundays when the choir doesn't sing two anthems. So far, I've had good luck using hymns and sacred solos that recall or elaborate on the Gospel for the day, drawing on my "English tradition" and 23 years in my former choir with a director who almost always managed to link the music with the Lectionary for the day. But...

I'm sure you are all aware of the implosion taking place in the Episcopal Church. We are in the difficult position of finding a new church home in the Northwest Atlanta metro area. Unfortunately, the bishop is a heretic and orthodox parishes are few and far between. One of the most likely just fragmented and will likely cease to exist. The other is across town, but we are planning to visit. Failing that, our choices are among the various small churches that have split off from the Episcopal church in the past (none are very near us) and two Catholic...

A group called the National Conference for Community and Justice (I think they used to be the National Conference for Christians and Jews) is running an "Anytown USA" "creative leadership training experience" at my child's school later this month. Are they on the level? Anybody have any experience with the group or this program? Judging from their website they look a bit on the liberal side for my taste. My daughter is a committed and thoughtful conservative and I'm not worried about anybody "getting to" her - I just don't want her to waste her time if this is a...

Please excuse me if I have posted this incorrectly. I have lurked since '98 but have only recently dared to post. (insert mental picture here of middle aged lady cautiously putting foot into water) I need the help of the many talented and articulate pro-life advocates I know are on FR. My daughter's "ethics" class discussed abortion today. Out of 20 kids in her class in a supposedly religious church school, she was the ONLY one that took a pro-life stance. She came home somewhat annoyed and disturbed, but with a mission. "Mom," she said, "for every argument I have...