Archive for March 26, 2024

Cabrini: a film about faith and persistence

Posted: March 26, 2024 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

Cabrini, a film about a Catholic nun who built orphanages and hospitals worldwide, is the best movie I have seen in years.

The storyline is outstanding. In 1850, a small and sickly girl, Francesca Cabrini, was born two months prematurely to a farm family in Italy. In her teens, she decided to give her life to Christ. The Daughters of the Sacred Heart rejected her, considering her too weak to endure convent life. She persisted and became a number in 1877, taking the name Frances Xavier Cabrini.

Years before, while visiting her uncle, Father Don Luigi Oldini, she placed violets into paper boats, dropped them into a stream, and imagined they carried her and other missionaries to China, where the great St. Francis Xavier had journeyed 300 years before.

When she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1880, she told Pope Leo XIII she wanted to travel to Asia with her small group of sisters. However, the pope had another idea and sent her to the United States, where Italian immigrants lived in the harsh streets of New York. 

Pope Leo expressed skepticism about that journey and its challenges, given her weakness–a worry compounded when people met her because she was barely five feet tall. But she told him, “We can serve our weakness, or we can serve our purpose. We can’t do both.”

The cinematography and acting are compelling. 

Director Alejandro Monteverde provides a jarring, tightly focused tour of the underside of New York, where the poor scavenged for a life. 

Mother Cabrini, superbly portrayed by Cristiana Dell’Anna, encountered slums, hunger, disease, and virulent anti-Italian sentiment—even among many Irish Catholics, not least among them Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan, played by David Morse. 

The dialogue alternates between Italian and English, but I didn’t find the subtitles as annoying as I often do. Sometimes, the translations were a bit off, but not disturbingly so. 

The movie is not a religious hagiography. Despite almost overwhelming odds, it demonstrates what one person can accomplish. 

Before she died in 1917, Mother Cabrini helped build 67 schools, orphanages, and hospitals worldwide, including in China. 

She was canonized in 1946 and became known in the United States as the patron saint of immigrants.

Five More Sports Thoughts Under the Fedora: Pete Rose must be Laughing his Ass off, The Best team that’s not ready for Prime Time, It’s why you actually play the games, NE who?, How DARE you be so White Straight & Good Ms Clark!

Posted: March 26, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, nba, nfl, nhl, Sports, under the fedora
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I’m sorry but I can’t be the only person in the world who can’t handle the irony of watching and listing to the folks of sports radio and talk all beating their breasts over the Ohtani story just before they reveal their bets sponsored by the official sports book of whatever sport they’re covering at the moment.

I think Pete Rose nailed it

I wonder if draft kings is the official site for Baseball fans to place a bet on how all this ends?

The coach of the Bruins has come out hard against his team’s laxity after a loss against Philly saying bluntly that they aren’t ready for the playoffs.

Mind you this is a Bruins team that is tied for the most points in the NHL, then again last year they had a record setting regular season only to lose their first round series in seven.

I must confess that it has reached the point that if they have a one goal lead or are tied with under two minutes to go I expect them to give up a goal.

I find it one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen in sports

Yesterday the Celtics put their 10 game winning streak on the line against an Atlanta Hawks team that had a dozen players injured and quickly built up a 30 point lead on the Hawk’s home court.

Then managed to squander that lead by the 4th quarter and lose a game that they were favored to win by 12. It’s why you actually play the games.

Now in fairness games like this are going to happen occasionally particularly after a long winning streak and when facing a team with absolutely nothing to lose, but it highlights the problem with sports gambling because ask yourself how many people who lost what seemed a really safe bet are asking themselves if the fix was in?

Am I the only person in the world who appreciates the irony of after letting Brady go and dumping Belichick the first move for the Pats at QB is to sign a guy who was drafted by Bill and Backed up Brady?

In fairness nobody seems to be talking about the Jacoby Brissette signing because they’ve been too busy commenting on a documentary that seems to be all about hitting Belichick.

It’s as if 2001-2018 never happened and the Krafts want to blame Bill for all that’s ever been wrong in the world even though he was the guy who drafted Brady, who kept four QB’s to keep him on the roster, who designated him as the backup and decided to go with him when Bledsoe had healed up. No Bill, no Brady.

But I understand the sports boys wanted to talk about the old stuff, because the new product is likely not going to be all that interesting to watch.

Finally there seems to be a lot of fuss coming about the impending coming of Caitlin Clark to the WNBA. Clark has been filling arenas all over the country and give the possibility that the WNBA team that has he and their opponents might actually draw enough fans to create a team that could be solvent without NBA subsidies.

It appears however that Clark might not be all that welcome as she is guilty of the twin crimes of being both white and straight in a league that is “98% gay” and the idea that she might draw a bunch straight white fans who might swamp the microscopic numbers that the league currently draws seems to horrify the league as well.

It will be interesting to see what she does to the TV numbers because if they shoot up enough the powers that be might decide to lay down the law to the league that currently only exists on the charity and guilt of others.

Finally off to a 7-2 start for my 1972 league. There is a long way to go but as long as Al Downing (0-2) doesn’t pitch ever day for me it’s looking good.