(not commenting on asshooks. not commenting on asshooks. not commenting on asshooks)

That's really more of a second-date thing.

I didn't! I was very non-threatening! I didn't even bring the cleavage!

Dude, always bring the cleavage. Threatening does not mean what you think it means.

BT's link made me think about my SiL, who is a VERY devout catholic and teaches in a Catholic school. She has cut our whole family out of her life. after being with my Bro for 25 years. I know she is concerned that my family is a. not Catholic and B. Liberal and this has become worse over the last few years. She hasn't seen my mom, who lives an hour away, in 8 months, not even when mom was hospitalized with pneumonia a few weeks back. When my mom and other brother called to wish SiL a happy birthday a few months back, she refused to get on the phone.

My brother, after saying everything was fine for months, finally said that they have "issues" but they are still living together and doing stuff together and that he was not going to talk about it. My mom thought it was something personal about her, but recently my cousin (to whom she always seemed pretty close) wrote SiL a letter, saying she had been having marriage issues herself and was there for her if she ever wanted to talk. She never got an answer.

My suspicion is that she is getting even more involved in church stuff--she has friends in Opus Dei and seems like she would be a good candidate. I can tell my brother is unhappy, but he also won't say anything about it to me or anyone, so there's nothing to be done.

Yay, Zenkitty! That sounds like a decent first date to me. Even without the asshooks.

If they would just stick it out for a week, they'd learn it's not that scary.

Make a deal with them.

"Stick with me for a week and I'll give you M&Ms.

Two weeks, and we'll talk about s'mores.

Three weeks, and you owe me a Dove bar."

I would LOVE that!! Ha!

But isn't it an elective?

Yes and no. We lost a lot of electives in the budget cuts a couple of years ago. As a result, there are very few the kids actually get to choose and those are all year-long electives (Spanish, choir, band, orchestra). All the semester long electives (there are only 4: general music, art, first aid/nutrition, and drama) are just in a pot and kids get put whereever their schedule allows. They don't get a choice.

ugh Scrappy, that sounds so hard.

Fixed, sj. Sorry about that.

Thanks, Burrell. I am on the phone with my mom about it several times a week. It's really hard for her to give up wanting to fix it, or at least to know WHY.

Oh, Scrappy, that sounds thoroughly miserable. Opus Dei is such completely, poisonously bad news, so toxic to everyone in its orbit.

Yay good first date and potential friend with potential for potential, Zen!

I really, really hate the hierarchy.

One of the Boston parishes [shut down by Bishop Lennon in order to redirect funds to cover abuse survivor lawsuits and settlements], St Frances Cabrini in Scituate, Massachusetts, has been occupied for the past eight years by parishioners who have refused to accept its closure. They have a roster chart to ensure at least one person is at the church at any time, so that the archdiocese can’t change the locks.

OTOH, I really kind of love the (non-Opus Dei) lay members. Eight years. That's one seriously fucking impressive Occupy movement. (There was also a parish in Cleveland that did an even more elaborate and impressive end run around the same bishop attempting to pull the same shit -- the article is kind of jaw-dropping, in an amazed "Holy crap, why can I not hire or vote for these people to organize every popular uprising ever because they are so terrifyingly good at it" way.)

The traditional greeting at my parish is now (very bitterly), "Aren't we lucky to be living in such an interesting time to be a Catholic!"

I must be really lucky in the Catholics I know. Because my uncle still loves me and I am really not Catholic. He just accepts it. And this weekend is the 40th anniversary of his ordination. Priest Party!

It's a really messed up organization, I think. I think there are absolute horrors done in its name. But the people I know really have a faith and want to do good. There's something to be said for that.

The traditional greeting at my parish is now (very bitterly), "Aren't we lucky to be living in such an interesting time to be a Catholic!"

I will not attribute the quote but I have heard, "May the Pope open his eyes. Or close them."