Hello, Dr. Sam...

A friend of mine was back home visiting family for Christmas (Sam) so we had a chance to get together and spend some "quality time." Here's some pics...

(A deranged version of the "Three Musketeers?")


(A face that strikes fear into the hearts of clay pigeons...)

Mass on Sunday...

Here's a bit better video of Mass this past Sunday... from the prayers at the foot of the altar to the epistle:

Christmas Mass...

A little video (I know, it's dark...) of Christmas Mass with a few friends of mine back home:

Home for the Holidays...

Driving home for the Christmas break. Thanks be to God the papers and exams are over... for the moment. Headed home on Friday. It was snowing pretty good in the mountains, which made for interesting driving (not so bad that I couldn't snap this pic...).

Fishing with "Heresy"...

Some pics from a recent excursion to the Gunpowder River. "Heresy" was up paying a visit to Baltimore, and gleefully (ok, not so gleefully) froze with me trying to catch a fish or two...

Thanksgiving Break II...

Missa Tridentina (or the "Gregorian Mass" as some have taken to calling it...) on Sunday:

Thanksgiving Break...

Enjoying a few days back home for the Thanksgiving holiday... getting in a little "trigger time"

Medieval Priests Form Precursor to the NRA???

Ok, the title is a bit tongue-in-cheek... but read this interesting history lesson from the Council of Potiers (1079 A.D.) and the subsequent debate centered upon a cleric's right to bear arms... read it here

You might be a redneck if...

Perhaps the most complete list of "you might be a redneck if..." jokes ever compiled. See them here.

Gunpowder River Trout...

Another successful friday fishing the Gunpowder River just north of Baltimore...

More "Bad Habits"

Has it been a month already??? Here's another "Bad Habit..."



In the immortal words of my elderly neighbor growing up: "things went wrong in the Church when they unlocked the convents and let the nuns run free..."

The "Moron Brothers"...

More of the finest Kentucky has to offer...

The Turtle Man!!!

Perhaps the funniest thing I have ever seen...

More pics from the "field trip..."

A few more shots of the JCL I "field trip" last week, thanks to Fr. Vincent:

The most important piece of "luggage" is loaded onto the caboose:

The engine rolls onto the turntable at Frostburg:

Having too good a time? (note the "easy cheese"... oh yeah):

A few group shots:

A Great Man...

Brother taught my Latin class at St. X my sophomore and junior years. Everyone had to take a foreign language, and since I always wanted to be different I decided to take Latin. Everyone else took Spanish, or French mostly. While the school had Latin listed on the course roster, they must have figured that no one would sign up for it, because they had no one to teach it. Well seven of us signed up, and instead of telling us to choose something else, Brother John Joseph, at age 83, agreed to come out of retirement to teach us Latin for two years. Many stories could be told of that class, and the hijinks of fifteen and sixteen year olds... but suffice it to say that Brother was a tremendous influence. For Brother, Latin was an opportunity to teach us about more than just a foreign language. It was often about much more than that. History, music, language, religion. All these flowed into one subject. Brother was a great collector of holy cards, and would give them to us on a regular basis. One I keep to this day. On it is a quote from Fulton Sheen: "Measure your generosity not by what you give, but by what you have left." It's been a little more than seven years now since he passed away. A truly great man: Brother John Joseph Sterne, CFX. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.