The Pope

Until the Pope can get his priests to keep their hands off little boys (and off each other or any other man/boy that falls victim to their priestly ways, after all there is a certain vow of celibacy) I think he should keep his opinions on the US and the modern world to himself.

Another perspective...The Pope is old as is my grandmother....their views of the modern world are not dissimilar, heck, I am shocked by the behavior of modern society, but Girls Gone Wild is what freaks me out, not legal abortions or same sex marriages. Not only is the Pope old and sharing the conservative views of many of his same cohorts, but he is also of another culture, a more conservative old world culture.

Article on the Pope's comments

there was this guy who once said..."let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
and then some lesser unknown person said, "people in glass houses should not throw stones"
that is a lot of stones being thrown around and some that should be blocked or withheld
maybe it would be easier if people just stood in front of the mirror, took a good look, and then policed themselves for a little while, the church included

once I ask my teacher Sister Columkill about a priest and some of his human imperfections she replied, "thou shall not touch god's anointed ones"
that statement worked for a 6th grader, but now I would have to say that yes, priests are allowed to have humanly imperfection, but being a priest does not put them above the law; whether that law be of the church or the state

no way to bring this one back to the bike, but I will share this with you

Sister Columkill was an Old Irish Nun who taught at Our Lady of Lourdes school in Bethesda. She was an odd mixture of gentle and strong. Her skin looked soft as if it had grown in the misty Irish country side, her garb was the classic black dress and black nun habit, she wore black shoes, and glasses shaped like a cats eyes. She was a strange, mysterious, old woman, her age was unknown, somewhere between 55 and 155 years of age. Sister Columkill had eyes in the back of her head, there was not a trick that she missed. She was a quirky old bird with a passion for education. Her mathematics classes were unmatched. She turned it all into a game. There were competitions and fun mnemonic devices, no chance of sleeping in her class, and less chance of not learning. She was dedicated to the core.

I can not recall the whole limerick, but here is what I can retrieve....

How many kids could Columkill kill, if Columkill could kill kids?
that sentence seemed longer when I was a child. It seemed clever and true. It had a myth and legend that seemed to be as old as she was. As much as all the students fear(and thought they hated) the nuns, everyone was sad to see them go.