trinacriabob

lunch pail

Yahoo! When I make reservations for a trip way in advance, I always keep checking and re-checking in case a better deal comes along in the interim. So, that's what I did over the weekend. For my Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Atlanta trip in late May/early June, I was able to snag a Lucerne for 3 days at $ 6 more (total) than the Stratus I had originally reserved from Dollar. Looks like I will be piloting a Lucerne around So. Fla. if one is in the premium fleet when I happen to show up at the counter. I hope so.

Somehow I don't think C&G has the critical mass for a get together, given the snippets I've read on mere handfuls at best getting together for an auto show. I'd go to one, but I don't know about most of the others...as private as they are.

Am Italian. Speak Italian. But so happy NOT to have an Italian car. A reliable, inexpensive $ 25,000 GM car works just fine for me. As an art form, though, I appreciate what it is. Let some conspicuous consumer who has oodles of disposable income pop for it.

This site will take ANY topic and take it down the path of homosexuality. Leave it to Let's talk about Catholicism and Christians who won't include us. That was more interesting...

Masochism has an h, Olds.I agree with you. I think the apostles were married, and if they could marry, then so should the parish priest. He might be better adjusted for it and have his intimacy needs met, thus serving his congregation better. On the other hand, he may not be into it and can remain single. They certainly need that option. I don't agree with everything the Catholic church says and does - like the celibate priest issue and that of telling someone how many kids they can/can't have.

I was just pulling your leg!

co-workers

Flybry, you skipped over me. What's with that? :AH-HA_wink:

Standing my ground for the 70's (primarily late) to early 80's. It's when I transitioned from lyricized music to that without lyrics - namely jazz. Driving fast is a definite possibility with the former while driving mellow is the way to go with the latter. People at work know that, if they need some trashy disco or any black vocalist (except rap crap), mine is the office to pop your head into.

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Who is it that rejects the Bible? Specifc sects of Christianity? You need to ENUMERATE them (via a list) if you choose to make such a broad sweeping assertion. Is it the Episcopals, the Catholics, the Lutherans, the Greek Orthodox? A list is in order. I am at least confident enough to assert that EVERY single Christian (Catholic, Lutheran, Foursquare, AOG, Pentecostal, Baptist, Greek Orthodox, etc. etc....every last God-damn :AH-HA_wink: one of them-God has a sense of humor) is a candidate for salvation. I will not opine on Mormons and Jehovah's Witness since they have another book I know nothing about in addition to/in lieu of the Bible and the Comparative Religions course at my kick-ass Catholic undergraduate university (where Protestants, Jews and Muslims were in attendance without the least amount of discomfort) was one of the first to fill up. Hence, I took "Moral Teachings of the New Testament" where we went through the Gospels and the letters of the Apostles. We ARE keeping it civil. It's just that we are just standing our ground. I also detect more tolerance and inclusiveness among some members of the C&G community than I do of others. This is actually funny. I haven't had a religious debate in a very long time. It's because I try to embody Christian values in how I do my job, how I interact with others, etc. etc. It doesn't need to be discussed. It is internalized...much like a tea bag that has had ample time to steep in a cup of hot water.

seals

That has been a real "black eye" for the Catholic Church...and I am truly embarrassed for it. I am very careful how I donate to make sure the money doesn't get funneled into paying for these legal battles. In fact, I typically donate to other Christian organizations for relief services and such as a result of these events. Several archdiocese have bankrupted over this very issue - Portland OR included. It has never occurred in any parish I've attended nor in any of the schools in which I have been enrolled. Now, this isn't to say it hasn't happened in other sects as well. A big Christian church on Seattle's east side suburbs, called Overlake, had a bad scandal of this type in the 90s. And so have the Boy Scouts over the years. It's just that, admittedly, the Catholic Church is the biggest offender in this regard. But that's just the "bad apple" factor. For starters, the clergy should be able to marry. I've never been against that. I saw bits and pieces of those trials in the media. What a terrible thing for the people who went through that at a young age to have to deal with those memories again, and have to share them with the public in the process. It has been a bad thing. But look at how the tide has turned to vigilance and "whistle blowing"...I think that these events, going forward, will be few and far between in North America.

Quoting scripture to a currently subscribing "Christian" (ehm-ehm) is also irritating. I dropped my best friend from childhood who went from being Catholic when I knew him in LA to making an entire circuit of Protestant churches in the Sacramento CA area to find the "right one" (church, that is). The bottom line is that I have noticed no improvement whatsoever in how he lives his life as a Christian but a drastic improvement in his ability to quote scripture...which has always been in a condescending tone. People should just LIVE their Christianity and SHUT UP.

pre-law

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I guess I don't understand why some of the (toward the fundamentalist end of the spectrum) Christian sects are so INVESTED in taking pot-shots at Catholicism (and probably Greek Orthodoxy and Eastern Rite Catholicism, as well) when we are not in the least bit geared toward reciprocating these feelings. Is it that our congregation is a self-confident one? In a Catholic university, two of my business profs were Jewish, one of my stats teachers was Muslin and my operations management prof was Mormon. They were welcome on the campus and on the faculty. I wonder if the inverse would be true at a small Bible college. As I drive down the freeway and see a Lutheran, Episcopal, Baptist, Catholic, Orthodox, AOG or Foursquare church, the first reaction I have is "oh, there's another church that teaches the message of Christianity." The ONLY difference might be that some of the sermon readers, depending on their demographics, may have more of a "twang" than others. That's it.

And so expensive.

Colosseum

Question 1: Then where do the First Reading, the Second Reading and the Gospel Reading, which is the focal point of our Mass, come from? Essentially the same Bible you use. Question 2: Then what are we? Did you read an earlier post of mine? My Catholic university had courses called "Roots of Catholic Christianity" and "Moral Teachings of the New Testament" - the latter out of the very book that should UNITE all Christians rather than splintering them. Incidentally, to address comments such as your last one, a parish in the foothill community of El Dorado Hills very clearly states in its mission statement something about a being community of "Catholic Christians." You can rag on Catholics all you want. I (and the other Catholics on here) have both a thick skin and we are brighter than the average dweeb walking around (Catholics and Jews have the highest educational attainment in the US), but saying we are excluded from the ranks of Christianity is a reactionary, a vestige of some church congregations who don't like us...probably because our "market share" is the highest.

Another reason for the lacking of Bible integration at a young age is because it's tough. It wasn't even that integrated in religious classes in high school. However, at my Catholic univ., I finally got into the Bible. The lower div course was called "Roots of Catholic Christianity" (Look, in the same phrase ) and the upper div course was called "Moral Teachings of the New Testament." It was the latter course that really gave me an appreciation of what being a Christian is all about.

NDL, I think I understand what you are saying. Catholics, Lutherans, Mennonites, Pentecostals and fundamentalists are ALL Christians. It's just that any of the people in these sects may or may not be able to call themselves Christians - that's a function of whether they believe in the message and act like one. Agreed? But even then, those who believe and act accordingly sometimes "fall off the wagon." They just happen to be a Christian who fell off the wagon and is dusting themselves off to get back on board. Turbo, I don't know how the Catholic church asks less of its members than a Lutheran, Baptist or A.O.G. church. That was a head scratcher for me. I will say this - there are parishes within our church that differ drastically. One that I was a member of in Atlanta made my skin crawl. Itc "culture" comes from the top. I thought the priests and the office personnel were uptight snobs and it filtered into the congregation - kind of dysfunctional, really. Then, I've been to some that are truly a community. Like I said in an earlier post, I will NEVER knock another Christian sect...only when they have the balls to think that their group can take "cuts in line" in front of another Christian sect at the end of our journey here on earth.

Turbo, I hope that's a RARE occurrence. I know VERY FEW fire and brimstone Catholics and I like it that way. The more Catholics you know, the more you should run into the "it's up to you -- whatever" mindset regarding religious beliefs. Ignore this person on this issue.

And THAT's the irritant. For some "born agains," Catholics ARE NOT Christians. How do they figure? Well, it's because we haven't "been born again and accepted Jesus as our personal savior" in the exact same manner and timeframe that they have.