My ten favourite singers since 1950

In no particular order:

Marilyn McCoo
Karen Carpenter
Dusty Springfield
Elvis Presley
Morrissey
Whitney Houston
Nnenna Freelon
Bobby Darin
the fellow from the Stylistics
Tracy Chapman

St Patrick's in Roxbury: A Video

Fr Waldron is one of the finest priests I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He appears in the video from the three-minute mark until the end.

The video is largely about renovations to Boston's historic St Patrick's Church on Dudley Street. Fr Waldron speaks about the history of the church, and shows flashes of his characteristic humor when asked about a certain "guest" who offered to mow the church's lawn.

Scattered showers

O weatherdudes and weathergals,
I love you all. We could be pals,
But you sound like such ditzes
When you foresee "spritzes
Of precip in certain locales."

Charles d'Orléans

Le temps a laissé son manteau
De vent, de froidure et de pluie
Et s'est vêtu de broderie,
De soleil luisant, clair et beau.
Il n'y a bête ni oiseau
Qu'en son jargon ne chante ou crie:
"Le temps a laissé son manteau
De vent, de froidure et de pluie."

  Rivière, fontaine et ruisseau
Portent, en livrée jolie,
Gouttes d'argent, d'orfèvrerie,
Chacun s'habille de nouveau:
Le temps a laissé son manteau.

*

(In the translation of Sir Henry Wotton:)


The year has changed his mantle cold
Of wind, of rain, of bitter air,
And he goes clad in cloth of gold
Of laughing suns and season fair;
No bird or beast of wood or wold
But doth in cry or song declare
'The year has changed his mantle cold!'

All founts, all rivers seaward rolled
Their pleasant summer livery wear
With silver studs on broidered vair,
The world puts off its raiment old,
The year has changed his mantle cold.

Tweet from @TheCatholicWord

Imagine our degree of joy and holiness if we were to opt for silent prayer in place of social media. Communion vs communication.

— The Catholic Word (@TheCatholicWord) April 20, 2013

Smith reads Heaney and Smith

The 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry, Tracy K. Smith (b. 1972), reads Seamus Heaney's "Digging" and an excerpt from her own poem "My God, It's Full of Stars." Ms Smith also answers a question about "political" poetry:

Fr Dabney on inadequacy

Fr Philip Dabney, CSsR, of Boston's Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, gives a 10-minute homily on inadequacy, imperfection, and the consolations of a life lived humbly: