Newsletter #67

Hi!
1. May is one of the prettiest months to be in Chicago! Today is the
15th so we find ourselves right in the middle of it. It is cool and
sunny! All the trees are unbelievably large! So full of green leaves!
I guess it is because you get used to icy skeletons in instead of nice
green trees. It is also an enjoyable time because it is Mary's month
and pilgrimages are pleasant affairs too!!

2. It has been a quiet but solid week! Nothing much going on! Still
managed to hear lots of confessions and see a few people in down town
Chicago. Today I spent the day at Northridge Prep (A College similar
to Redfield). I gave a few short talks on the Scapular. I introduced
one of the classes with a Geography lesson. I wanted to show where
Mount Carmel was i.e. Israel. I began with a comment that many
"foreigners" consider that Americans have little knowledge of
Geography. Surprisingly they agreed with me! I said: "Well let's start
off with the USA on a world map. We all know where that is. I said
below is South America, and moving across to the right we come to
Europe then Asia and what is there is the bottom right had side! They
all yelled out cheerfully and spontaneously Australia! It was fun!
They were Juniors that is Year 11! It is always seems fun to teach!

3. I am getting a little more daring in my "mild criticisms" of
American society! I gave a talk on the Priests Workshop and made
several comments about impressions I have of the US! The anti-European
bias, lack of historical perspective etc! And today at school in the
"staff meeting" after school (i.e. a beer drinking moment) I had a
very enjoyable exchange! English and history teachers are good for
bouncing off ideas and comparing books. Both audiences were
surprisingly sympathetic and interested in what I had to say!

4. As for sources of ideas! I finished "The History of Ethics by Peter
Kreeft!" It was very good. I even sent him an email, which he
answered. He made a claim that the rate of suicide amongst aborigines
was zero. I said it was not true. He seemed happy for the
clarification. The 66 CD's of the Catholic Bible arrived! I am very
keen to begin to listen to it. I will start with the two books of
Chronicles! I have managed to get a Cassette player so the "secrets"
Toqueville's 'Democracy in American" has been opened up a little. I
can listen to it only when close to a power supply i.e. in the Center!
In both audiences that I referred to above, many people quoted
Toqueville. I am more and more convinced that I will have to at least
suffer to be barraged by his ideas. A nice and quaint thing about the
tape is that the reader has a charming French accent! At the moment I
am listening to "General Grant" by Moser. It is delightfully
informative!

5. Some time ago I set a blog. [ http://frpaulgrant.blogspot.com/ ]. I
have never used it except to post a big batch of newsletters! Someone
contacted me through it during the week! It is the first time anyone
has noticed it! I might start putting the Newsletters there!

6. We had a couple of visitors this week! They were "intellectuals"
from Europe! So Wednesday was a pleasant evening. The conversation was
mostly about passive Europe and active USA with regard to trying to
have an influence in the Public Domain.

7. I did not receive a lot of news from the usual correspondents this
week! So can't say too much of about "dispatches" from abroad!
Although part of a reply did say, "Love (…) from the land of the
kangaroos".

8. AND I did receive a warning about my accent: "Your anecdote
concerning the woman parishioner at Nicholas Walker's first communion
were informative and I urge you again, Fr Paul, to spare us in
Australia and say you are Swedish when anyone mentions your accent"!

9. There is a much talk over here about the price of fuel. I received
something to calm people down:
"Think a gallon of gas is expensive? The following puts things in perspective.
Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29 ... $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19...$9.52 per gallon
Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 ... $10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray 16 oz $1.25 ... $10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15...$33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil 6 oz $8.35...$178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85 .. $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 ...$25.42 per gallon
Scope 1.5 oz $0.99...$84.48 per gallon
And this is the REAL KICKER... Evian water 9 oz $1.49..$21.19 per
gallon! $21.19 for WATER and the buyers don't even know the source
(Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)
AND
Ever wonder why printers are so cheap? So they have you hooked for the
ink. Someone calculated the cost of the ink at...(you won't believe
it...but it is true...) $5,200 a gal. (five thousand two hundred
dollars) So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car
doesn't run on water, Scope, or Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, Nyquil or God
forbid, Printer Ink! Just a little humor to help ease the pain of your
next trip to the pump.!

10. Finally "Please discourage your friend from diving to the bottom
of the Yap trench. If he could get there he would end up the size of a
billiard ball".

Regards to all!