Carolina State Symbols: Tar Heels, Palmettos -- and Seminarians

Whispers in the Loggia ^ | July 26, 2007 | Rocco Palma

[Frank Sheed]

Carolina State Symbols: Tar Heels, Palmettos -- and Seminarians

Further evidencing the rise of the Southern states as American Catholicism's boomtown, Bishop Robert Baker of Charleston will ordain six new priests tomorrow night -- the largest crop for South Carolina's lone diocese (Catholic pop. 176,000) since 1956.

Due to the large number of candidates, the ordination Mass is being held in a convention center in the state capital of Columbia. In May, the historic local church (founded in 1820) welcomed 22 new permanent deacons; since 1990, its Catholic presence has more than doubled, now comprising 4% of the general population.

Just up I-95 in the diocese of Raleigh, eight "new men" are entering formation this fall, bringing its total number of seminarians to 21. The result of Bishop Michael Burbidge's full-court press for a heightened awareness of priestly vocations in the burgeoning diocese, in a stroke of pure coincidence, come September the Raleigh recruits will find themselves at St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where the bishop served as rector from 1999-2004.

The chair-elect of the USCCB's Committee on Vocations, Burbidge marks his first anniversary in North Carolina next weekend, and one of the incoming class was profiled in the local News & Observer last weekend.

Clearly, the ref's jersey (with coat of arms patch) paid off.


PHOTO: Joe Benton/The New Catholic Miscellany

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posted by Rocco Palmo at 13:51   

[Frank Sheed]

The Church and the South...great news!

[Frank Sheed]

Bumper crops in the Carolinas...of seminarians!

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[pgkdan]

come September the Raleigh recruits will find themselves at St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where the bishop served as rector from 1999-2004.

Great news for the Carolinas. Even better...these new candidates will get a great education and preperation for the priestly life at St Charles Borromeo.

[maryz]

Bishop Robert Baker of Charleston will ordain six new priests tomorrow night -- the largest crop for South Carolina's lone diocese (Catholic pop. 176,000) since 1956.

Booming indeed -- the Boston archdiocese has a Catholic population of about 2 million -- and we had seven ordinations this year. (Which I think is actually better than it's been.)

[AnAmericanMother]

Woooo hooooo!

Carolina State Symbols: Tar Heels, Palmettos -- and Seminarians

Don't forget the South Carolina State Dog:

Boykin Spaniel -- a small, intelligent, hard-headed retriever. Perfect companion for seminary or rectory! Could probably be trained to flush and retrieve heretics!

[Frank Sheed]

Please note that these two Bishops are Pope Benedict appointees, I believe. He is choosing young, orthodox men who are going to revitalize the U.S. Church.

The amazing thing is that the “revolution” is occurring in the South which has relatively few Catholics, but the South has a history of family, deep religious convictions and patriotism. This is quite a story. Bishop Burbidge has been Bishop for just over a year, I believe!

F

[Frank Sheed]

Perfect companion for seminary or rectory! Could probably be trained to flush and retrieve heretics!

If you can pull off that training stunt, I'll be the first purchaser of such a Spaniel. We will both become rich!

[AnAmericanMother]

I'm not that good a dog trainer.

But I love the little Boykins. They vary somewhat in size, the largest ones (usually the males) are a little bit smaller than my very diminutive Lab - who at 40 pounds is way undersized for a Lab. Most of them are probably around 20 pounds, but a little female may top out at as little as 15. But they are real go getters and will retrieve anything -- don't see why they couldn't drag an Albigensian in by the leg . . . .

I talked a friend into getting one, a tiny female they named Daisy, and she is nuts about her. Her husband said he wasn't going to have ANYTHING to do with the dog . . . guess who always has Daisy in his lap or at his feet? She's 4 months old and weighs 8 pounds.

[Tax-chick]

We had five ordinations in Charlotte this spring (including a record three Patricks :-), with more expected later in the year.

I’m counting the days until we get a young, vigorous, orthodox pastor at St. Luke’s! (Not that Father Hawker isn’t wonderful, in a rather drifty old Democrat great-uncle sorta way ...)

[Biggirl]

Question: Is this dog a member of the “AKC” or accepted as a pure breed dog? This breed is new to me. Thanks.

[Biggirl]

Congrats and welcome new priests!

I do believe the American south is going to be the center of the rebirth of the RC Church in America and as the generation of priests from VCII begin to retire, expect more such traditional younger priests.

[aomagrat]

since 1990, its Catholic presence has more than doubled

Probably due to Mexican immigration.

[snowsislander]

Carolina State Symbols: Tar Heels, Palmettos

While the palmetto is indeed an official state symbol for the Palmetto State, I believe that "Tar Heel" is only a nickname for the Tar Heel State.

(I checked a list of state symbols for North Carolina, and I didn't see anything like a "Tar Heel"; the closest was the pine tree which does produce pine tar, and a leading theory on the origin of the "tar" in "tar heel" gives it as pine tar.)

[AnAmericanMother]

The Boykin is a recognized breed in UKC (United Kennel Club). The Boykin folks (like the Border Collie folks) do not want to join AKC because the breed is primarily a performance breed, and they don't want it ruined by the conformation breeders (and judges). UKC is very much a performance-oriented registry.

AKC is a good organization in many ways, but their bread and butter is conformation showing. That causes problems with breeds whose primary characteristic is not conformation (looks) but function (retrieving, herding, etc.) Judges reward a certain "look", and breeders begin to breed for that look and exaggerate it, often at the expense of the breed's original purpose. That's why you now have two types of Labs, Goldens & Irish Setters (Field vs. Conformation) that don't even look very much alike.

My own breed is Labs, and it's scary how fat and short-legged the conformation dogs have become. Many of them couldn't possibly do a 100 yard retrieve on a warm day without stroking out. Some of them are even losing their marking ability, nose, and drive to retrieve. My first Lab is half conformation and half field -- some people have realized their mistake and have started backcrossing -- but she took after the field side and that's how I got into dog performance events.

It's not really the AKC's fault, it's just the nature of conformation showing. I saw the same thing in CFA when I bred and showed Siamese cats.

The Boykin people just want to avoid all that hassle from the start. It is a lesser known breed, most folks outside the SC area have never heard of it. A breeder from near Columbia SC runs her dogs in GA field trials, which is how I came to know about the Boykins. They are adorable and smaller than a Lab if you don't like a big dog.