Archives for 2013

Illinois became the 15th state to allow gay marriage. I write that realizing that I just wrote the most fucked up sentence in the history of sentences. I’ve already noted that the 4th century Catholic church not only sanctified gay marriages, it performed them. That’s right, it took 61 brave members of the Illinois House of Representatives to drag our happy asses into the 4th century. You can make what you want out of the phrase “happy asses.” So, I’m thrilled shitless that my LGBT friends get the same legal protections for their relationships that my two failed marriages enjoy. But I’m horribly saddened that this is an issue in the first place. Granting people the same rights as people …. God, how fucked up is that statement? …. shouldn’t be difficult, yet it is. Hate, fear, ignorance and greed – see how much money these assholes earn off their idiot followers – continue to hamper efforts to make us all equal under the eyes of the law. But, they only hamper. Slowly, inexorably, justice comes, equality reigns and we become a better species.

I give you the more polite thoughts of others.

“At some point in our lifetime, gay marriage won’t be an issue, and everyone who stood against this civil right will look as outdated as George Wallace standing on the school steps keeping James Hood from entering the University of Alabama because he was black.”
― George Clooney

“I’m a supporter of gay rights. And not a closet supporter either. From the time I was a kid, I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community. There are so many qualities that make up a human being… by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant.”
― Paul Newman

“I suppose it’s not a social norm, and not a manly thing to do — to feel, discuss feelings. So that’s what I’m giving the finger to. Social norms and stuff…what good are social norms, really? I think all they do is project a limited and harmful image of people. It thus impedes a broader social acceptance of what someone, or a group of people, might actually be like.”
― Jess C. Scott, New Order

“Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea. Understand that your morality is not law. Understand that we are you. Understand that if we decide to have sex whether safe, safer, or unsafe, it is our decision and you have no rights in our lovemaking.”
― Derek Jarman

“It takes no compromise to give people their rights…it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression.”
― Harvey Milk

“Jerry Falwell said that the reason that September 11th happened, the reason that God allowed it to happen, was because of certain people in our country. People like, and I’m quoting, ‘the pagans,’ which is a motorcycle group. Feminists; he brought up feminists. […] And I couldn’t believe it, he said that God had actually talked to him and said, these were the people. That was the reason. It was those people, and that was the reason God allowed this to happen. And I thought, ‘That’s odd.’ Because God had called me twelve hours before, and He said the reason He was upset was because of people like Jerry Falwell.”
― Lewis Black

“Let’s make a law that gay people can have birthdays, but straight people get more cake–you know, to send the right message to kids.”
― Bill Maher, New Rules

“Being an American is about having the right to be who you are. Sometimes that doesn’t happen.”
― Herb Ritts

“Another Thing I’m Sick of Hearing: If I started that gay rights group, I must be gay. So if i start an animal rights group, what does that make me? A giraffe?”
― James Howe, Addie on the Inside

“Just because I like to suck cock doesn’t make me any less American than Jesse Helms.”
― Allen Ginsberg

“The pressures on gay teens can be overwhelming–to keep secrets, tell lies, deny who you are, and try to be who you’re not. Remember: you are special and worth being cared about, loved, and accepted just as you are. Never, ever let anyone convince you otherwise.”
― Alex Sanchez

When the law passed I received an email saying “you should list all the gays you know and congratulate them.”

I understood, and generically supported, the concept. I should cheer my LGBT friends. And I do. By not listing them since they are no different than you or me.

A dead Republican, Abraham Lincoln, would approve.

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The level of stupid oozing up out of the sewers of America is starting to get frightening. A mom in Virginia dressed her 7 year old kid up as a Klansman. Why? Because it’s a family tradition. Mom even tossed out this little bon mot; “It’s supposed to be white with white, black with black, man with woman and all of that. That’s what the KKK stands for.” Well, yeah, that and a race war that they hope will eliminate non whites from the planet. It doesn’t get any more “family values” than that. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Just the week before Halloween I wrote about several examples of blatant racism. At the time I said I found it oddly heartening that we were forcing the xenophobes and haters into the light. I still do feel that way as I believe it will be best for the world in the long run. But it does get wearing after a while. Anyway, thanks to laws and things that annoy these folks the Klan can no longer hunt black people. That, however, does not prevent stupid people from owning guns.

And the level of stupid I’m about to introduce you to is staggering. 3 people in Oklahoma were arrested after a Big Foot hunt went wrong. Go ahead and read that again before you move on.

Three people in Oklahoma were arrested over a bogus Sasquatch hunt that authorities say wasted their time and put a man in the hospital with a nasty gunshot wound.

Omar Pineda, 21, was arrested after he told Rogers County deputies that he shot his friend in the back when a “barking noise” spooked him during a hunt for Bigfoot late Saturday night.

“If [they] had just been factual, upfront and truthful with us and explained that this was truly an accident, as strange as it might sound, we would have went ahead and investigated and probably nobody would have [gone] to jail,” Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton told News On 6. “[But]… when you start off with an explanation like that, [how] do you believe anything after that?”

According to KFOR, the bullet entered the victim’s back and went through his stomach. He underwent surgery at an area hospital and is expected to survive.

Pineda’s father-in-law, Perry Don James, 53, was also arrested in connection with the so-called “Bigfoot hunt.” Police said that James, who is a convicted felon, threw a gun in a pond, which police dive teams then had to recover. He is charged with felon in possession of a firearm and destruction of evidence.

Lacey Jane Pineda, 22, the wife of the shooting suspect, was charged with obstruction after allegedly lying to police about the shooting. Omar Pineda is charged with careless use of a firearm.

Oklahoma is not known as a hotspot for Bigfoot sightings in the U.S., although more than a few encounters have been reported there over the years.

I know people hate science because of its insistent reliance on facts and stuff, but I am going to have to insist that facts be kept in play here. I have pointed out several times why Bigfoot can’t exist.That does not mean there aren’t wonders in the world, that same link will introduce you to one, just that you don’t get to use made up creatures to commit attempted murder.

Not even in Oklahoma.

In keeping with the fun world we live in, people are now reporting military and commercial drones as UFOs.

There was once a time when UFO sightings turned out to be easily identified objects like weather balloons, lenticular clouds, satellites, meteorites, planets, conventional aircraft, weather anomalies and other normal things.

Now, here come the drones, the newest addition to the growing list of misidentified things in the sky that many people claim are ships from another part of our galaxy. (Watch the HuffPost Live video above)

Here’s the big problem with all of this: Not only do these unmanned objects look like UFOs or flying saucers, a lot of them are deliberately and inexpensively created to look like UFOs or flying saucers.

It’s a simple equation: More drones in the sky = more UFO reports.

From a “flying saucer” drone created by a Canadian science center to deliberately fool people at a baseball game (see image above), to a news agency’s hovering, camera-mounted craft observing a large crowd of protestors in Moscow, drone technology is used for military purposes as well as consumerism trickery.

Yes, that’s right, it’s easier to believe in beings from Alpha Venturi swinging through our atmosphere than it is to believe we are looking at something made in Alabama. Which is the fun state where you can have a minimum wage job making million dollar drones.

Now, how do we tie all of this together?

Add a Kardashian.

Lee Spiegal reports that the Kardashians, heroes of all things base or ignorant, went on a UFO hunt.

Part of keeping up with America’s most watched reality TV family, the Kardashians, means we now know that several members of the family have a strong belief in UFOs and aliens.

On Sunday’s episode of the E! channel’s long-running “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” the Kardashian/Jenner family set out on a trip to hunt for aliens at America’s top secret — and legendary — military base, known as Area 51.

Back in March, OpenMinds.tv reported how Kendall Jenner had revealed her own UFO sighting, followed by her sister Khloe Kardashian’s disclosure of her belief in UFOs.

At the same time, the CIA revealed that Area 51 actually existed in the Nevada desert where, for decades, America built and tested high altitude spy aircraft technology. It also bred decades of rumors and speculation that the CIA was researching alleged alien technology at Area 51.

Put it all together and this is where the Kardashians wanted to go.

They recruited Open Minds writer, radio host and HuffPost blogger Alejandro Rojas to guide them as close as possible to the fabled military base which continues to depend on very tight security to keep civilians away — even those named Kardashian.

Ah yes, the most secret place on earth that everyone’s known about for decades and that has it’s own Wikipedia page. They don’t let civilians on the base because that’s where the new technology that keeps America safe is developed and they’d rather not see it previewed on national TV by Kendall Jenner and her unctuous ilk.

Stupid is what it is but these people are willfully ignorant. They revel in their avoidance of facts.

Sadly, according to three lawyers I checked with, we cannot beat these people with hammers. So I guess we’ll just have to keep hammering home the truth.

Bounce My Bitch Up – Moduloktopus & Madd Martigann (The Prodigy) from Michael Gold on Vimeo.

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It’s time, once again, for children of all ages to dress up like sluts and embarrass themselves in public. Who could ask for a better holiday than that? I mean, we surrendered the Saturnalia to Christmas, so officially being allowed to be who you’re not was missing from our lives. Halloween brings that back. Speaking of back, as in bringing sexy back, you’ll be pleased to note that thick chicks tend to be smarter and live longer than those chicks who need a biscuit. ABC News spent a lot of time sharing that knowledge with the universe yesterday morning. For me this is great news. Some women, hello Miley Cyrus, more closely resemble a 12 year old boy and, to be quite honest, 12 year old boys do not turn me on. By the way, the link for Miley is for when she still had talent. I wouldn’t twerk on you. I’m better than that. Nevertheless, I like a little cushion when I’m pushin if you catch my drift. As the old saying goes, straight lines are for boys and soap box derbies, real men handle curves.

I think I got off track there. Sorry about that.

Halloween. This blog is supposed to be about Halloween.

Okay, first a nice overview of the day from Halloween History.

Halloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. The word Halloween is a shortening of All Hallows’ Evening also known as Hallowe’en or All Hallows’ Eve.

Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, bonfires, costume parties, visiting “haunted houses” and carving jack-o-lanterns. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century including Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom as well as of Australia and New Zealand.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (pronounced “sah-win”).

The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture. Samhain was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and prepare for winter. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops.

The festival would frequently involve bonfires. It is believed that the fires attracted insects to the area which attracted bats to the area. These are additional attributes of the history of Halloween.

Masks and costumes were worn in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or appease them.

Trick-or-treating, is an activity for children on or around Halloween in which they proceed from house to house in costumes, asking for treats such as confectionery with the question, “Trick or treat?” The “trick” part of “trick or treat” is a threat to play a trick on the homeowner or his property if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating is one of the main traditions of Halloween. It has become socially expected that if one lives in a neighborhood with children one should purchase treats in preparation for trick-or-treaters.

The history of Halloween has evolved. The activity is popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, and due to increased American cultural influence in recent years, imported through exposure to US television and other media, trick-or-treating has started to occur among children in many parts of Europe, and in the Saudi Aramco camps of Dhahran, Akaria compounds and Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia. The most significant growth and resistance is in the United Kingdom, where the police have threatened to prosecute parents who allow their children to carry out the “trick” element. In continental Europe, where the commerce-driven importation of Halloween is seen with more skepticism, numerous destructive or illegal “tricks” and police warnings have further raised suspicion about this game and Halloween in general.

In Ohio, Iowa, and Massachusetts, the night designated for Trick-or-treating is often referred to as Beggars Night.

Part of the history of Halloween is Halloween costumes. The practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages, and includes Christmas wassailing. Trick-or-treating resembles the late medieval practice of “souling,” when poor folk would go door to door on Hallowmas (November 1), receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day (November 2). It originated in Ireland and Britain, although similar practices for the souls of the dead were found as far south as Italy. Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of “puling [whimpering, whining], like a beggar at Hallowmas.”

Yet there is no evidence that souling was ever practiced in America, and trick-or-treating may have developed in America independent of any Irish or British antecedent. There is little primary Halloween history documentation of masking or costuming on Halloween in Ireland, the UK, or America before 1900. The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in English speaking North America occurs in 1911, when a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, near the border of upstate New York, reported that it was normal for the smaller children to go street guising (see below) on Halloween between 6 and 7 p.m., visiting shops and neighbors to be rewarded with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs. Another isolated reference appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920. The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating. Ruth Edna Kelley, in her 1919 history of the holiday, The Book of Hallowe’en, makes no mention of such a custom in the chapter “Hallowe’en in America.” It does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the earliest known uses in print of the term “trick or treat” appearing in 1934, and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939. Thus, although a quarter million Scots-Irish immigrated to America between 1717 and 1770, the Irish Potato Famine brought almost a million immigrants in 1845-1849, and British and Irish immigration to America peaked in the 1880s, ritualized begging on Halloween was virtually unknown in America until generations later.

My grandfather, who was born in Cork, used to bitch that we practiced Halloween on the wrong day. Not that he or I could do anything about it. On the other hand, I was 4, I would have been thrilled if every day was Halloween.

Yes, that’s a link to the extended remix. It’s a party here, after all.

Halloween, as you can tell, is just another way to celebrate life. You chat with your ancestors, make sure evil is abated and share a feast & treats. These are all good things.

Or, as Damian (THE OMEN) Thompson points out, it’s a holiday that must be cleansed from the earth according to those who would rule us.

Fundamentalist Christians are also in their element. Given that Halloween is the feast of Satan (they have decided), they feel they have permission to go into rhetorical overdrive – and these aren’t exactly folks who hold back in the first place.

Meet William J Schnoebelen, former “witch high priest” – funny how ex-Satanists always insist that they were senior devil-worshippers, not just part of the demonic rank and file. He writes:

Halloween used to be called Samhain, and is still celebrated as an ancient pagan festival of the dead by witches all over the world. Unfortunately, just giving the date a “holy” name like All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints’ Eve cannot change its grisly character. Halloween is an occasion when the ancient gods (actually demons) are worshiped with human sacrifice. The apostle Paul warns us: “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils” (1 Cor. 10:20).

If you are a Christian parent, God has given you a precious responsibility in your children. Remember, their ability to resist spiritual wickedness is much less than yours. If you allow your children to participate in Halloween (Trick or Treating, costume parties, etc.) you are allowing them to play on “the devil’s turf,” and Satan will definitely press his home court advantage. You are opening up doorways into their young lives for evil by bringing them into a kind of “fellowship” with these ancient “gods”.

Some of this is actually true: the Celtic festival of Samhain, when the spirits of the dead were supposed to return, does seem to have been adapted by the early Church to become Halloween. But Halloween as an occasion for human sacrifices? There’s no evidence of that – you just have to guess that if the Celtic druids were into human sacrifice, which they were, then they may have killed people on this feast day.

Meanwhile, demonbuster.com is so alarmed by Halloween that it tells readers to “Do some major Deliverance on yourself” if you ever celebrated the holiday. That means self-exorcism. Says demonbuster:

Burn any left over halloween stuff in your home. Don’t even open your doors to pass out “tracts”. If you do, then you are celebrating this unholy day.

Really? In which case, those of us who are irritated by anti-Halloween campaigners have a ready-made response. If they try to press a fundamentalist tract into your hand today, just yell: “Keep away from me, inadvertent agent of Satan!”

Or, you could do as a guy I know did last year. He put out a big, empty, bowl with a sign that said “Free Candy.” Kids assumed all the candy was taken and left him alone.

Yes, he is the dictionary definition of an asshole.

You might want to have headphones on if you click that particular link.

Oh, never mind, your coworkers will figure it out once you start singing along, and you will, everyone does.

Nevertheless, this must be the favorite time of year for practicing witches, right?

According to Daniel Burke, not so much.

Like lots of people, when October 31 rolls around, Trey Capnerhurst dons a pointy hat and doles out candy to children who darken the door of her cottage in Alberta.

But she’s not celebrating Halloween. In fact, she kind of hates it.

Capnerhurst says she’s a real, flesh-and-blood witch, and Halloween stereotypes of witches as broom-riding hags drive her a bit batty.

“Witches are not fictional creatures,” the 45-year-old wrote in a recent article on WitchVox.com.

“We are not werewolves or Frankenstein monsters. We do not have green skin, and only some of us have warts.”

Warts or not, many witches say they have mixed feelings about Halloween.

Some look forward to the day when witchcraft is front and center and no one looks askance at big black hats. Others complain that the holiday reinforces negative stereotypes of witches as evil outliers who boil children in black cauldrons.

Capnerhurst falls into the latter camp.

Hanging up witch decorations at Halloween is no better than wearing blackface costumes or taking a slur, like “Redskins,” as the name of your football team, she says.

“Unless one actually is a witch, dressing up as stereotypical witches is bigotry,” Capnerhurst said.

In June, the wife and mother of two started her own church for “traditional” witches called Disir, an old Norse word meaning “matron deities,” she says.

(Capnerhurst draws a distinction between “traditional” witches, like her, who were born into the religion, and Wiccans, most of whom are converts.)

Most Wiccans identify as witches, and they form the largest branch of the burgeoning neo-pagan movement, said Helen A. Berger, a leading scholar of neo-paganism at Brandeis University.

A 2008 survey counted about 342,000 Wiccans in the United States and nearly as many who identify simply as “pagans,” a significant increase from the last American Religious Identification Survey, taken in 2001.

Three-quarters of American Wiccans are women, according to Berger.

“It’s harder to train male Wiccans,” Capnerhurst said with a cheery sigh. “Most men just aren’t going to sweep the kitchen and think about sweeping out the bad energy.”

The faith is fiercely individualistic. Although there are umbrella groups like Wisconsin-based Circle Sanctuary, most Wiccans practice their own blends of witchcraft.

After centuries of persecution in Europe and colonial America, modern witches still bear a sharp suspicion of authority. The rede, or ethical statement at the core of Wicca, is: Harm none and do as you will.

Despite the rising popularity of their faith, many Wiccans remain “in the broom closet,” fearful of losing their jobs, their families or their reputations, said Berger and other experts.

Here’s the thing, true Wiccans are the most peaceful people on the planet. Their whole gig is based on being in balance with nature. Oh sure, sometimes they want to get a little naked, paint themselves blue and frolic with a tree but, really, who among us hasn’t? If you think it’s evil to be au naturel in the middle of nature, I assure you that the problem lies within you and not in anything Wiccan.

Let’s make a deal; it’s Halloween and I like you. Each of you. So be safe, have fun, send pics of all the hot naked chicks you meet and come back to us tomorrow for the radio show.

But, most of all, respect each other out there. You’d be amazed at the rewards you’ll reap.

MONOMANIAX “Pigalle” (NSFW) from BLACK FROG video on Vimeo.

Listen to Bill McCormick on WBIG (FOX! Sports) every Friday around 9:10 AM.
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During the history of history the Catholic Church has accomplished some tremendous things. It has also been responsible for some of the most vile atrocities know to man or woman or beast or what have you. I have friends who can’t get past the Spanish Inquisition. I can understand that. However, having been raised Catholic my world view is a tad more nuanced. Or so I hope. I have covered how porn led to people learning to read the bible and helped literacy in general. It’s a simple fact. It doesn’t make me anti-this or pro-that. What simply is cannot be denied. It doesn’t help, either, when people in power within the church, such as Chicago’s very own Francis Cardinal George, make dogmatic statements like “It has always been this way” when “no it hasn’t” and “who cares” are both correct responses. Still, softly at first and now, with Pope Francis at the helm, more decisively, the Church has been making forays into humanity that don’t feel as though they were scripted in the Middle Ages. And they’re doing so in a way that every beer swilling sports fan can appreciate.

In 2010 the Vatican quietly got Vatican City certified to compete in the Olympics. In 2012 they fielded a small, ragtag group – no sorry, that’s Battlestar Galactica – they fielded competitors. They showed up in London and did well for first timers, even coming home with a silver medal in synchronized swimming.

The Vatican Olympic team 2012 participated in the fields of football, synchronized swimming, athletics, canoeing and boxing. During the London Olympic Games of 2012, the Vatican Olympic team managed to win one medal: a silver medal in synchronizes swimming.

During the London Olympic Games, the Vatican Olympic team was represented by some of the following athletes: Synchronized swimming was represented by Paolo Moretti and Ahmed al-Abdulla; marathon was represented by Cardinal Enrico Domeniconi; boxing (light flyweight) was represented by Matteo Albani; canoeing was represented by Federico de Luigi.

The Vatican City national football team surprised many by beating Portugal 2-1 in the opening match. However, the Portuguese coach said that the defeated resulted from his players’ fear of scoring against the “God’s football team” which could be seen as desecration. Unfortunately, the Vatican City national football did not manage to win against San Marino and Sao Tome and Principe; which were in the same group. The Vatican national football team finished last in that group with three points.

Speaking of the Vatican’s football team, that’s soccer for those of us on the right side of the pond, they are painfully bad but need not be. Currently the only people who can play on the Vatican’s official team are members of the Swiss Guard. They are the Catholic equivalent of the Secret Service here. Just like our guys and gals train day and night to take a bullet for the president and/or his family, the Swiss Guard trains the same amount to protect the pope.

A job made especially difficult now that there is a pope who truly believes his life or death truly is God’s will so he just traipses out into crowds at random. That’s fun for the faithful but I bet guard members are drinking heavily now.

That’s a joke kids.

Nevertheless, according to the Vatican’s media department, that may change.

The soccer thing, not the drinking thing.

The Vatican national football team is fully supported by the Vatican. During the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, the pope used to visit the team when training and encourage the players stating the importance of sports and playing as a representative of their state.

As a way of improving the Vatican national football squad, there have been suggestions to take some players from the Catholic seminaries from different parts of the world. This suggestion has not yet been acted upon. If accepted, this will be one way of enabling a teem where the players have some time to train and play with other teams.

I think this is a good idea. While I doubt that young seminarians would compete with Man U, at least teams comprised of players like that would stand a shot at competing.

Also, tiny trivia, the Vatican is one of only nine fully recognized sovereign states whose national team is not a FIFA member. The others are Monaco, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Marshall Islands (they have no national football team), Palau and the United Kingdom.

there’s no UK team due to the fact that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all field their own teams.

Now you know.

Anyway, about 500 years ago the Catholic Church got into a near war with the Anglican Church, because nothing shows the love of Jesus like a good war.

Well, Pope Francis of “Who am I to judge” fame, thinks that it might be a good idea to revisit that particular conflict. But, because this pope is very different than any pope I can remember, Philip Pullella is reporting that he wants to revisit on a cricket pitch.

The Vatican officially declared its intention to defeat the Church of England on Tuesday – not in a theological re-match nearly 500 years after they split, but on the cricket pitch.

The challenge was launched at the baptism of the St. Peter’s Cricket Club.

Vatican officials said the league will be composed of teams of priests and seminarians from Catholic colleges and seminaries in Rome.

The seminaries and religious colleges will play each other in a “Twenty20” tournament, where games last about three hours.

After that, the best players will form a Vatican team, which will be called the “Vatican XI,” and challenge the Church of England to form its own team of Anglican priests and seminarians to play in London at Lord’s, the home of cricket.

“The Vatican team will be able to play anybody in the world. We hope to see a Vatican team playing at Lord’s,” said Alfonso Jayarajah, a Sri Lankan who was the first captain of the Italian national team and a board member of St. Peter’s Cricket Club.

“We hope to have ecumenical dialogue through cricket and play a Church of England side by September,” said Father Theodore Mascarenhas, an Indian official at the Vatican’s Council for Culture, who once played as an off-spin bowler.

The idea for a Catholic cricket club was the brainchild of John McCarthy, Australia’s ambassador to the Vatican. He wanted to see something similar to the Clericus Cup, a soccer tournament among the religious colleges and seminaries of Rome.

He enlisted the support of other diplomats and prelates from what he called “other cricket countries” – including Britain, South Africa and Pakistan – and found “anonymous sponsors from the cricketing world”.

In response to a suggestion that cricketing terms and field positions might be translated into Latin or Italian, McCarthy was firm: “English is the language of cricket and will remain the language of cricket”.

The Vatican team will wear the official colors of the tiny city-state – yellow and white – and their jackets will have the seal of the papacy, two crossed keys.

By all accounts Pope Francis is not much of a cricket man. He still supports the San Lorenzo football club of his native Buenos Aires.

But Mascarenhas, the Indian priest who is the chairman of the St. Peter’s Cricket Club said: “I am sure that cricket will be another thing that he accepts as part of his openness.”

How nice. If the Pope can accept gays I guess he can tolerate cricket players.

If that sentiment doesn’t prove the new pope has his priorities right nothing does.

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