(Photo courtesy of Bob Lawrence)

Check it out (Hat tip to Lent and Beyond) .

This photo is just wonderful and made my morning brighter. It is on the front page top of the (London) Times Ipad edition–KSH.

“Speaking of Pope Francis, obviously as an observant Catholic, I believe the pope is infallible. But he’s also wrong about a lot of things.”

“By the way, is the pope here? Pope Francis, are you here? Because if you were we probably wouldn’t know because His Humbleness would be out washing the feet of the coat check guy or something. We get it, you’re modest.”

“If Pope Francis were throwing tonight’s party we wouldn’t be in white tie at the Waldorf. We’d be in sweat pants crammed into a corner booth at the IHOP.”

Read it all.

Check it out (there are 57 in all).

It has long been a favourite among publicity-seeking celebrities wanting to post “selfies” online but now the Archbishop of Canterbury has joined the photo sharing site Instagram in his drive to spread the Christian message.

In a first for the Church of England, Justin Welby has joined the app’s 150 million users worldwide with an opening message urging churches and communities to support their local credit union.

His statement came as bishops across England and Scotland prepared to mark International Credit Union Day today.

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To the tune of “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” no less, with eagles, an owl, baby bears, and elks galore among many other things. Watch it all–KSH.

Tom Leopold is a comedy writer who has written and produced for classic shows including “Seinfeld” and “Cheers,” as well as for the shows honoring Tina Fey and Will Ferrell for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Three years ago Leopold converted from Judaism to Catholicism. He chronicled that spiritual journey in a one-man show, “A Comedy Writer Finds God.” The show also explores how his family coped with his daughter’s struggle with an eating disorder. Tom can also be found cohosting the radio show “Entertaining Truth” with Fr. Leo Patalinghug on SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel. Here he talks with Managing Editor Kerry Weber.

Listen to it all.

A group of firefighters is making sure the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy are never forgotten by building playgrounds ”“ 26 of them ”“ each honoring a student or teacher who lost their life.
As they help Newtown families heal, they’re also helping communities rebuild — because each will be in an area ravaged by Superstorm Sandy.
The idea of a playground “was more than just a structure or a place for kids to play on,” said New Jersey firefighter Capt. Bill Lavin and founder of The Sandy Ground: Where Angels Play. “It was a symbol of hope.”

Watch the whole video report.

Films about being adrift seem to suit the national mood: “All Is Lost” is one of a spate of movies this season, including “Gravity,” about Americans unmoored.

–From a profile article on Robert Redford in this week’s New York Times

The National Geographic Channel followed two snake-handling preachers off and on for a year for a called Snake Salvation that will air this fall on Tuesday nights. Pastor Jamie Coots is one of the series’ subjects.

“Snake handling fascinated me because it’s such an extreme gesture of faith,” says Matthew Testa, the series’ executive producer. “We set out to tell this story from the snake handlers’ point of view, to really humanize them, not to judge them, and to show how important religion is in their daily lives with their daily struggles.”

The Tabernacle Church of God in LaFollette, Tenn., is a short drive through the Cumberland Gap from Coots’ church. The pastor here is Andrew Hamblin, a lanky, charismatic 22-year-old, who is the other preacher featured in the TV series. Hamblin wants to modernize the practice of handling snakes in church. He posts photos of himself with snakes on , and he aspires to pastor the first serpent-handling megachurch.

Read or listen to it all.

there are 15 slides in all–check them out (and note there is an autoplay slideshow option).

When riots broke out in France this summer over the country’s prohibition on Muslim veils, many Americans looked on in disbelief. Such a violation of religious liberty would never be tolerated in the United States, a nation founded as a place where victims of religious persecution could worship freely. I once thought the same thing.

That changed in 2008, when I was arrested for observing my faith. My crime? Possessing snakes.

As pastor at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, a Pentecostal church in Middlesboro, Ky., I and my congregants regularly handle venomous snakes such as copperheads and rattlesnakes as part of our services. This might seem strange, but it’s no less worthy of legal protection than the more common traditions observed by Jews, Muslims and mainstream Christians. In fact, as members of a small and unpopular religious minority, congregants of serpent-handling churches are precisely the sort of worshipers that the Constitution was designed to protect.

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We took him shopping and out for dinner–simple pleasures; KSH.

Hugo smashed apart the Lowcountry on Sept. 21, 1989, 24 years ago today. Roll the numbers around in your head: 35 dead, more than 50,000 homeless, half the state without electrical power.

The $6.5 billion in damage the storm did then has been estimated to be more than $8 billion in damage today.

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Watch it all until the end–it may not be what you think. LOL.

Listen to the whole thing–I stumbled onto this by accident this week and I just love it–give it a couple of seconds at the beginning because it does not start cleanly; KSH.

Take a look at all the pictures and note there is an autoplay option.

Look at them all.

Watch it all.

Seamus Heaney’s last words – “Noli timere,” Latin for “Don’t be afraid” – came in a text message to his wife, it was revealed at the poet’s funeral this week. Test yourself on other famous last words.

See how you do on the quiz.

ROFL–read it all.

When Hurricane Katrina destroyed Nikki Moon’s Bay Town Inn bed and breakfast resort in Bay St. Louis, she knew she’d return to Old Town some day.

Eight years later, the resort is back with more amenities and a unique space.

“I knew in my heart that I wanted to do it again,” Moon said. “I just had to wait for the timing to be right.”

Read it all.

As I wonder how it feels to be that mouse, I’m reminded of Thomas Nagel’s famous 1974 essay, “What is it like to be a bat?”””a landmark in the philosophy of mind. Nagel’s thesis was that there is “something that it is like” to undergo particular states of consciousness or being; there is a first-person perspective (for which the technical word is qualia) that will forever elude reductionist explanation. But the inscrutable depths of a laboratory mouse or of his flying cousin are beside the point; what we really want to know is what it is like to be a human being.

Some neuroscientists will tell you that it’s just a matter of time before we possess a complete physicalist map of mental states. I’m certain they are wrong and Nagel is right.

But what is it like to be a human being? The difficulty is that we don’t know which particular experiences specify our humanity; we don’t whether there is some flavor or feel or “pinch of existence” (as William James liked to call it) that goes with being human. Introspection alone can’t answer this question, for our sense of being human is a social acquisition assimilated from our parents, friends and teachers. Faith forms identity: if I accept the religious teaching that I am a creature made by God rather than a man (or laboratory mouse) produced by impersonal mechanisms, it changes everything.

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14 photos in all–they are really fascinating.

In 36 years with three school districts, Bull counts his sick days on one hand — five — and tallies just as many in 13 years as a carrier, first as a substitute in 2000 and then as a full-timer in 2007. The temperatures he works in can swing 120 degrees Fahrenheit, from 115 (46 Celsius) in the summer to below zero in the winter’s wind.

Five years ago, the snow and ice were so deep on the road that his power steering gave out. He zigged and zagged and tore through an electric fence, leaving a hole for 50 head of cattle to roam free. He pushed on the gas, nudging the truck out of trouble and on to the nearest farm for help.

“You just never know what might happen,” Bull says over rib-eye and potato salad at his favorite steakhouse.

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Watch and listen to it all-she is amazing.

As school counselor Jennifer VonLintel gears up for the start of the school year at B.F. Kitchen Elementary School, there are new students to enroll, files to update and schedules to plan ”” including the schedule for Copper, her registered therapy dog and a popular presence in the hallways of the Loveland, Colo., school.

Three days a week, the 3-year-old golden retriever’s assignments can include mingling with kids during recess, being assigned to students who struggle with reading or math anxiety, and providing general companionship and support in the classroom, during counseling office visits, and during after-school programs. Any time a friendly, furry face can provide an extra measure of comfort and assurance, says VonLintel.

When there’s a death in a family or a child receives bad news, “with the parents’ permission, we’ll introduce Copper to the situation,” she says. “Kids find comfort in petting him, and sometimes the parents do, too. ”

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Some areas were hit by the deluge harder than others, but few were spared. This time last year the Greenville area had seen about 21 inches of rain. This year more than 47 inches have fallen so far at the airport, where it’s measured.

At the other end of the state, not far from Myrtle Beach, Darel Watts said it’s been a struggle at Sugarfoot Organic Farms in Conway.

“Planting was late, and then when we would have a window, it just rained after that and drowned seedlings,” he said. “And once we got things growing it was hard to cultivate, and then we got disease.”

“My mom has been on this property since she was 16, and she’s 71, and she said it’s the wettest she’s ever seen,” Watts said. “When there’s a drought, I can irrigate, but I can’t wring it dry.”

Read it all from the local paper (emphasis mine).