Poor Fr. White ... after all these years of complaining (in an Irish brogue, no less) that the church was no place for singing Irish tunes before Mass, they are cutting the more secular songfest and stocking my folder with more suitably traditional music. =)
Given the numbers (or lack of same =) so far, an excellent opportunity to strategize a plan for the continued viability of our merry little band of activists, newshounds and apologists ... come what may.
All that in mind, I shall get permission to announce it in the bulletin this weekend, plug it at the Latin Mass, Notre Dame seminary and those I know will be interested in my catechism class, Young Adults and the choir. Sounds ambitious but I'm closing it at 27 total, including us, so we're comfortable in the double parlour and I can swing providing breakfast and afternoon refreshments for folks.
I'm thinking we can meet at PJ's coffee shop on the corner. Starting with Mass would be great but there's one at 5:30 we can attend instead that day and I figure it's quite possible we'll be up late talking and perhaps having a few spirits with our after-supper coffee the night before ...
We can then host the working sessions from 10-4 with boxed lunches at 1:00. (Small fee to cover a set of notebook/outlines I'll provide, box lunch and a donation to St. Pat's for letting us use the space.) RSVP's will be essential so I've got sufficient notebooks on hand.
(I'm happy to offer to burn CD's of the presentations themselves which also include outlines and the array -- thus far -- of FR human life and and apologetics threads I've saved to disk to use at St. Pat's for those attendees and FR folks who are interested. We can discuss that later.)
I'm always happy to speak on human life but I thought (given the Archbishop's letter in the Clarion and the fact we'll have some interested New Orleanians and perhaps a few seminarians present) perhaps I could introduce and moderate a discussion on married priests, homosexuality and the Boston Scandal to get things off to a rousing start after lunch break.
I'd rather prepare hard copy on the human life issues, invite folks to take a look at same if the they've got the chance during lunch and simply point out some highlights and field a few questions, if any, before we have a Rosary for Life and closing prayer by 3:30.
This give folks -- including the priests, if they are there -- to be finished in time for the 4:00 Vigil Mass. It give us the opportunity for an hour or so of post mortem, tidying up and brainstorming before 5:30 Mass.
I see no reason we shouldn't invite anyone who's interested to stick around and sit in ... this hour can cover whatever we like but I'm definitely interested in designing a little website for FR's militant Catholics and fellow activist and apologist Christians and friends of all faiths.
I think it would be nice to have a touchstone up and running so we can stay connected for purposes of activism, camaraderie and build a body of readily available data and research and/or activist assistance and alerts as is possible.
With any luck, we can get the priests or some of the attendees to join us for supper that evening if they can't make the party on Sunday evening. We'll play food and drink by ear but I'll come prepared for contingencies ... in case there's a critical need for wine or refreshments. =)
I guess I just need to know what we're going to call ourselves. Any ideas?
It would behoove ANYONE who has a suggestion to write in. Once upon a time, my sister and I became editors of the diocesan youth newsletter. We held a contest to name the thing but no one responded so it remained The Newsletter With No Name (masthead featuring my spaghetti-western inspired logo with curl of smoke and a Clint Eastwood cigar =) for the rest of our tenure. A cult classic ... particularly our "The Making of the Newsletter with No Name" issue.
I guess, in the wake of Vatican II, there was the occasional upside where lax supervision and free rein were concerned. It was a fine little newsletter but we had altogether too much fun composing it.