That’s one where (a) the priest faces same direction as I, presumably God-ward, (b) he turns the mike off, and (c) the emphasis is primarily on God, secondarily (if at all) on each other.

None of it is impossible in Vatican 2 terms, which allowed, did not mandate (a) facing the people and (b) and (c) mandated or mentioned as taken for granted reverential tones and concept of mass-as-sacrifice (also, secondarily, as meal).

Later: The “if at all” as to emphasis on each other is not to be taken as cold-hearted, not even as cold as Christian charity, as I heard said in the Jesuits long ago. No indeed. Part of what one picks up at mass is love of neighbor. One could hardly miss it.

So from presumed God-direction to neighbor-direction is natural progression. Handclasp at mass has its place, but not at the cost of distraction from prayerfulness…

Papal statements are like St. Paul, trying to be all things to all men. In the recent exhortation, he famously decried “trickle-down” economics and promoted the misleading “inequality” theme or meme.

Kathy Shaidle in Taki’s Magazine:

Yet this same document also condemns “all forms of collectivism” and “sets limits for state interventions”—the same “interventions” the pope calls for in other paragraphs. Like so many papal declarations concerning temporal matters, this one could just as easily have been entitled “Ex Altera Parte, Ex Altera Parte”—“On the One Hand, On the Other Hand.” If anyone can use Evangelii Gaudium to “proof-text” their pet economic philosophy, what good is it, really?

And yet and yet . . .

On balance, though, Pope Francis displays a naive faith in the wisdom and benevolence of the state, especially for someone who survived the Dirty War. (Not all Argentinian priests were so…

Chi Trib’s Rex Huppke has found something he likes pope-wise, even if he disguises it in a splurge of irony and faux detachment. He plays the naif — “Who, me?” — laying schmaltz on heavier than a high-school sophomore going for the prize.

There are some who doubt the efficacy of trickle-down economics [what Pope Francis condemned]. Those people, according to conservatives, are either communists or, apparently, the pope, whose exhortation insulted the memory of Reagan (patron saint of letting rich people keep their money) and REALLY upset Rush Limbaugh (patron saint of saying things loudly so nobody notices that they don’t make sense).

Thought I’d die laughing, Zelda. That man is SO funny. REALLY!!!

He gives a rundown on millenaristic theory and prediction having to do with the papacy and the world ending with a bang simultaneously, then provides an aw-shucks moment.

The smart thing to do would be…

This NOVEMBER 12 (!) column by Wed Jnl regular John Hubbuch had its most recent comment (of 190!) at 1:52 this morning — not counting mine, hours later, at 191.For which this sometime columnist and blogger wants to congratulate what may be the all-time winner in # of comments. CONGRATULATIONS, JOHN!

As for my comment, at 191, have a look. It’s a zinger.

South Oak Park’s Rep. La Shawn Ford wants to rename Cicero Avenue to Mandela Road. It would be “a small gesture from our partnering communities” — Western Springs, LaGrange, LaGrange Park, Brookfield, Forest Park, Proviso Township, Riverside, North Riverside, Berwyn, Oak Park, and Austin, all of the 8th Illinois House District — to honor the late S. African leader, who has been “an inspiration to many,” Ford says in a petition.

Doing this “will send a message that Illinois stands for a strong road for justice,” he adds.

It would to many. But probably not to merchants who have to change their signs and letterheads. Not even, maybe, to the cash-strapped city of Chicago, which would have to change street signs etc. Not to mapmakers — wait: yes to mapmakers, who would gain much business from need for new maps. But not to the town of Cicero, for heaven’s sake…