The Vicar of Dr Pepper

Each June, the city of Dublin changes its name for a week to Dr Pepper to help celebrate the birthday of Dublin Dr Pepper. Each celebration has a theme as well; this year it was The Wizard of Oz.

A day in Abilene

Since we were in Abilene today, we swung by the Church of the Heavenly Rest, a beautiful gothic structure. Hopefully I can get some pictures of the inside the next time we're in town.

Fr Brown in 3-D!

Click on the picture above for the larger version. Sit back from your monitor and cross your eyes until the two images overlap, and there you have it--Fr Will Brown popping out of the screen, chasing you in his golf cart.

Conference prayers ascending

This week is the St. Michael's Youth Conference--Southwest at in Granbury, TX. I have served on the faculty, but I'm on sabbatical this time around. So I'll be keeping a vigil of prayer for those at the conference, and I invite you to join me.

It is a wonderful immersion experience in the Catholic faith. I recommend it for all youth (ages 12-19). We are blessed with an excellent director, faculty, and staff.

Here is the conference prayer:
O EVERLASTING God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order: Mercifully grant that, as thy holy Angels always do thee service in heaven, so, by thy appointment, they may succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Have a listen to the conference hymn, "Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels":

Ascension Mass in the garden

Today is the feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus. We had a Mass in the church in Dublin at noon and in Comanche (since they have an outdoor altar), we had a Mass in the evening in the church garden. I appreciated the great turnout this evening. I think next year we'll do it an hour later (so we're all in the shade) and follow it up with an ice cream social.

The Vicar of Comanche

The Vicar of Dublin

Guess who got internet service today? To celebrate, here is a picture of the sanctuary of one of my congregations--Trinity Church in Dublin, TX. The congregation was founded in the 1899 and I think the building goes back nearly as far. It is what I would call simply country gothic. The interior and the altar are wood and the exterior is brick (though I think that might have been added later). The windows are not clear but geometric colored glass. They are just washed out in the picture.

I'll post more pictures as I get them.

Farewell sermon

Listen online to my farewell sermon, given at St Alban's Episcopal Church in Arlington, TX on 26 April 2009.

I must be going

Some of the audio can be hard to make out on the old recording, so here are the lyrics below.

(All)
At last we are to meet him,
The famous Captain Spaulding.
From climates hot and scalding,
The Captain has arrived.

Most heartily we’ll greet him,
With plain and fancy cheering.
Until he’s hard of hearing.
The Captain has arrived.
At last - The Captain has arrived.

(Hives)
Mr. Horatio W. Jamison, Field Secretary to Captain Spaulding.

(Jamison)
I represent the Captain who insists on my informing you of these conditions under
which he camps here.
In one thing he is very strict, he wants his women young and picked and as for men,
he won’t have any tramps here.

(All)
As for men he won’t have any tramps here,
There must be no tramps.

(Jamison)
The men must all be very old,
The women warm, the champagne cold.
It’s under these conditions that he camps here.

(Voice off Screen)
I’m announcing Captain Jeffery Spaulding.

(All)
He’s announcing Captain Jeffery Spaulding,

Oh dear, he is coming,
At last he’s here.

(Spaulding)
Hello, I must be going,
I cannot stay, I came to say, I must be going.
I’m glad I came, but just the same I must be going.
La La.

(Mrs. Rittenhouse)
For my sake you must stay.
If you should go away,
You’d spoil this party I am throwing.

(Spaulding)
I’ll stay a week or two,
I’ll stay the summer thru,
But I am telling you,
I must be going.

(All)
Before you go,
Will you oblige us,
And tell us of your deeds so glowing?

(Spaulding)
I’ll do anything you say,
In fact I’ll even stay!

(All)
Good!

(Spaulding)
But I must be going.

(Jamison)
There’s something that I’d like to say,
That he’s too modest to relay.
The Captain is a moral man.
Sometimes he finds it trying.

(Spaulding)
This fact I emphasize with stress,
I never take a drink unless - Somebody’s buying.

(All)
The Captain is a very moral man.

(Jamison)
If he hears anything obscene, He’ll naturally repel it.

(Spaulding)
I hate a dirty joke I do,
Unless it’s told by someone who -
Knows how to tell it.

(All)
The Captain is a very moral man.
Hooray for Captain Spaulding, The African explorer.

(Spaulding)
Did someone call me Shnorrer?

(All)
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.

(Jamison)
He went into the jungle where all the monkeys throw nuts.

(Spaulding)
If I stay here I’ll go nuts.

(All)
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
He put all his reliance, In courage and defiance,
And risked his life for science.

(Spaulding)
Hey, hey.

(Mrs. Rittenhouse)
You are the only white man to cover every acre.

(Spaulding)
I think I’ll try and make her.

(All)
Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.
He put all his reliance, In courage and defiance,
And risked his life for science.

(Spaulding)
Hey, hey.

(All)
Hooray for Captain Spaulding, The African explorer.
He brought his name undying fame
And that is why we say, Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.

(Spaulding attempts to speak)
My friends, I am highly gratified at this magnificent display of effusion and I want
you to know.........

(All)
Hooray for Captain Spaulding, The African explorer.
He brought his name undying fame
And that is why we say, Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.

(Spaulding)
My friends, I am highly gratified at this magnificent display of effusion and I want
you to know.........

Hooray for Captain Spaulding, The African big hero.....

Well, somebody’s got to do it!

What love is all about

Here are two videos that I often use during marriage prep. (That's one reason I wanted to do an entry on this, so I could easily find them.)

The first is a music video of the song "My Idea of Heaven" by Leigh Nash. The video shows examples of couples writing down their idea of what heaven is like to them and then revealing to show how their ideas compare (like the Newlywed Game). There is a story to the expectations and compatibitly (or lack thereof) in the couples and in the beauty of growing old together (see Tobit 8:7-8). I find the song beautiful and moving.

"As it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him'" (1 Cor 2:9).

The next video, titled "99 Balloons" is of a young couple and their firstborn son, Elliot, who lived 99 days after birth and what a blessing he was to their lives. Warning, you will cry, but you ought to watch this. What a Christian perspective this is compared to the kind of sickness we have seen lately! God helps us value the very gifts that some want to throw away.

"We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

Birthday festivities

Today I turned a whopping 34 years old. And the girls helped me celebrate by taking me bowling. We had mass fun.

Visiting Louisiana

Easter Day at St Alban's