Waiting for Godot to Leave

Fr. Maurice Nutt, Redemptorist After my wife and I were received into the Catholic Church, back in 2000, our parish priest suggested that we prepare for Confirmation by attending RCIA, the "Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults".  Foolishly I agreed. It was nine months long and a total joke.  It was run by a liberal nun in a pants suit and her cadre of parish supporters, and it made sure that absolutely nothing Catholic was taught to any of us.  It was a shocking wake up call that the Church so lovingly described by Chesterton and Belloc had taken quite a few steps backward. One of the things Sister Liz (that was her name, God rest her rebellious soul) made us do was go to a Mass at "the Rock" church on the near North Side.  The only difference between what went on in RCIA at our parish and what was going on at the Rock church was, while the latter made me just as miserable, it didn't last nine months, but only for about two or three hours. That...

In April we will begin performing my comedy murder mystery Cleaver It to Beaver - which means that I have to write it soon. This also means that I have to research the series on which my mystery will be based, Leave It to Beaver.   Yesterday we watched an episode featuring Gilbert Bates, a neighbor of Beaver's and a sometimes friend / sometimes enemy.  Gilbert is portrayed by Stephen Talbot, whose real-life father Lyle Talbot also appeared on several episodes of the series. "Lyle Talbot!" I thought.  "I worked with Lyle Talbot!" Well, sort of. I held the curtain for him when he'd make his exits and entrances for Camelot! at St. Louis' Westport Playhouse in 1980.  Talbot portrayed the magician Merlin.  He was 78 at the time, and my mother was excited to hear that I was working as a stagehand for a show he was in.  He was, apparently, at one time a kind of matinee idol - at least that's what I gathered from my mother's admiration of him...

Yeah, OK, "Devout Catholic" is great, "Young Catholic" is great, "Chastity" is great. But give me a break. This is from The Chastity Project ... “The first few months we dated, I never knew he drank. I would have never guessed it because, after all, he went to mass every Sunday. One time, he invited me to go out with his friends. He kissed me when he was drunk. I felt so dirty after. No girl grows up dreaming one of her first kisses would be in a dive bar with a wasted boyfriend." The article goes on to point out the dangers of alcoholism and binge drinking, and God bless them for that.  But the above quotation, which the author claims is from a "true story, retold with permission" reeks of the kind of Unreality that you only find at suburban Masses. I'm assuming the "retelling" is what makes me retch.  I hope so.  If it's a direct quote, we're in trouble. I mean, are there really young Catholic women...