My name is Steve Bogner, a 40-something husband and father of two boys in Cincinnati, OH. Extremism - whether conservative or liberal or whatever - is something I try to avoid. The world isn't perfect, the truth is usually in the middle, and things are rarely as simple as they seem.
This is a moderate, Jesuit-flavored Catholic blog. I'll write about Catholicism, holiness and spirituality along with a bit of politics, social justice and Catholic mystics. I'm not an expert in any of these, but if you like reading about them, then this is a place to do that.
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At Mass this past Sunday, our priest spoke a bit about Pope John 23rd. He retold a quote from the pope that I had never heard, but that doesn't mean much. It made us all laugh:
One day Pope John 23rd was asked how many people work at the Vatican? His Holiness replied: "Oh, about half."
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I love it, Steve. The Pope was just a figurehead to me, a position occupied in a faith I didn't really know other than word of mouth along the way; and, admittedly, much of that was opinionated rather than fact. When that first book was published some time back, I took a few raised eyebrows over purchasing it; but it greatly spoke to me of who this man was as a person. I was and am Pentecostal, but hold him in my memory with a sense of respect........
Posted by: Jim | August 24, 2005 at 09:38 PM
Sounds like when you work for the government. What a wonderful sense of humor he had.
Posted by: Fran | August 24, 2005 at 11:05 PM
Hmm. I wonder which half Cardinal Ratzinger fit under...
Posted by: Lee | August 25, 2005 at 11:22 PM