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Apr
2
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Here, CBS 3 news anchor Larry Mendte introducing a class assembly I never had at my Catholic high school: A fake drunk driving accident!
Yes, administrators at Cardinal O’Hara decided to hold a pretend car crash to show students the perils of drunk driving; the students no doubt responded by saying it was only deadly (well, pretend deadly) because they staged it that way.
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dmac | 5:02 PM | 2 Comments
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Dec
26
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Oh, yeah, that priest from Ryan who allegedly stole $900k and molested three students? I was an altar boy for him.
I don’t actually remember much about the priest, Rev. Charles Newman, who was president of Archbishop Ryan High School and said mass at my parish, St. Martha. He actually never said much to us; everybody went to his masses because he said them fast.
Anyway, yeah, so: The alleged molester priest did not molest me. Hooray! NBC 10 has the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s statement on the issue; they confirm the abuse took place, pretty much.
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dmac | 4:08 PM | 5 Comments
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Sep
17
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Pope Benedict XVI — the coolest pope ever, since he has an iPod, a Santa hat, Serengeti sunglasses and Prada shoes — could be coming to Philadelphia!
The Pope would be here as part of the Archdiocese’s 200-year celebration and also to pick up a couple cheesesteaks at Pat’s. (You can order in Latin there.) Actually, the pope is already going to New York and the Catholic News Service wrote he might swing down to Philadelphia since even Prince Charles was able to do that.
He’ll be taking the Popemobile here, since I assume it drives on water. Right?
Pope to visit Phila. in 2008? [Philly.com]
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dmac | 12:09 PM | 1 Comment
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Jul
30
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Although I’ve just been making fun of his Villanova background in my coverage of alleged corrupt NBA ref Tim Donaghy (right, during his career missing the foreign object in “Macho Man” Randy Savage’s tights), the shame he’s inflicting on institutions goes far beyond the Main Line. Or, rather, it also goes to Cardinal O’Hara, who the Inquirer says has been “hit hard” by the referee scandal.
Donaghy isn’t just a mid-1980s O’Hara grad, he also met (alleged, I guess) Phoenixville bookie James “Baa Baa” Battista in high school, who federal investigators also contacted in regards to the NBA scandal. Tim and Baa Baa are apparently bringing down the name of their alma mater:
Some O’Hara graduates, not surprisingly, are unhappy with the negative publicity the story has brought to the 44-year-old Catholic high school, which also produced three other NBA referees. “I think it does a disservice to my alma mater to allow the alleged misdeeds of one person [to] blacken the reputation of a school which has nothing to do with this scandal,” said Rosemary Connors, an O’Hara graduate from Broomall.
Oh, see, here I thought Donaghy was accused of fixing O’Hara games in exchange for molesting tips from Philadelphia Archdiocese priests. Whoops, my fault!
O’Hara hit hard by NBA referee scandal [Inquirer]
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dmac | 11:57 AM | 2 Comments
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Jul
27
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Last night, Cardinal Justin Rigali, the head of the Catholic Church here in Philadelphia, held a theology discussion at Finnegan’s Wake. Coincidentally, Finnegan’s Wake is pretty much my idea of hell.
The Cardinal has been holding these Thursday discussions at the bar during the summer and will be holding them until August 16. It’s apparently not a mass, so if you got excited about the idea of drinking some transubstantiated Coors Light, you’re out of luck.
Part of Rigali’s talk:
“If we’ve been forgiven by God and realize it, then you know what? It’s a whole new way of life. It’s a whole different attitude to other people. We are compassionate, we are merciful, we are forgiving.”
Actually, considering the amount of jerks at Finnegan’s Wake and similar bars, maybe this was a good place to go to teach forgiveness.
Local Bar Features Theology Lesson with Cardinal Rigali [KYW 1060]
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dmac | 11:06 AM | 6 Comments
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Nov
21
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• In order to raise money for transit projects, the state is considering selling the turnpike in order to get a boatload of money to spend on roads paved with silver and SEPTA trucks that run on rainbows. [Bucks County Courier Times]
• Can’t do any better than just quoting it: “Why wasn’t Afghanistan enough?… We had a chance to do all the things the Quiet Americans wanted us to do. Invade a country, get rid of their bad leaders, pave the streets with gold, and create a wonderful paradise which could be an example for the world. Why couldn’t we do that in Afghanistan?” [Atrios]
• A lesson to all Philadelphians: If you go to New Hampshire, there’s a good chance you’ll be tasered. [NBC 10]
• Action News lets us know the skinny on HPV. [6 ABC]
• And, finally, the Catholic Church in America may have had its problems dealing with pedophile priests, but it’s not the mob. You see, the mob is a different group of Catholics. [Daily News]
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dmac | 4:10 PM | 0 Comments
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Jun
16
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• The Language Log investigates the history of using asterisks or dashes to block out those d— curse words. Turns out it goes back to 1680! Fucking interesting, I say! [Language Log]
• Philly gets some love from CNN for not being as fat as we used to be. Yes, they’re praising our city for a woman (Fitness Czar Gwen Foster) who came up with the plan of “virtual ‘trips’ to creatively named cities such as Hon-A-Lose-It, Hawaii; and Las Veggies, Nevada.” Eh, sounds good to us. Hooray for a more fit Philadelphia! (Well, according to suspicious magazine rankings.) [CNN]
• Puppy in a hose! [Cute Overload]
• The Philadelphia Archdiocese is being sued under federal racketeering laws. Legal experts — surprise — say it’s a long shot. [Inquirer]
• Philadelphia’s Planning Commission seems kind of like every other kind of government in this town. Maybe the world. [Changing Skyline]
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dmac | 4:00 PM | 0 Comments
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• Will Bunch gets a call from a PR person for Wal-Mart and decides to 
