Archive for the ‘special events’ Category

Every (#Catholic) Earn an #Indulgence for Rush Limbaugh Day Sunday May 30

Posted: May 27, 2021 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine, special events
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Be generous to all the living, and withhold not your kindness from the dead.

Sirach 7:33

A couple of days ago at work I was listening to music on my very old iPod that I bought off my son’s friend about 15 years ago when I suddenly had the thought to put on Manheim Steamroller.

That might seem an odd choice as Christmas is half a year away but we are asked to keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts all year long so I put on the album while I was working. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it and the concerts I had gone to with my wife and kids the latest being at the Colonial in Boston before this insanity took place

As I was doing my work it occurred to me that this pleasure along with the joy of those concerts was one more thing that I and millions of others owed to Rush Limbaugh who had introduced Chip Davis and his music to his audience and thus to the country and world. I found myself thinking about the impact he had on the nation culturally and politically from the initial victory of the GOP breaking the 40 year run of Democrat control of the house in 1994 to his role along with Sarah Palin in the 63 seat red wave in 2010.

One might consider this a debt we can’t repay as he’s been dead now for several months but by an odd coincidence as I was thinking of all I owed him I remembered a project that I’m working on The Indulgence Calendar.

I’ll be writing more about the indulgence Calendar (along with some downloads) on Memorial day but the bottom line is that if you are a Catholic there IS something you can do for Rush Limbaugh: You can earn an indulgence for him.

Now Rush wasn’t Catholic but that doesn’t matter. You can earn an indulgence for any deceased person and the merits of said indulgences do not depend on if the subject was Catholic thus I propose:

Every Catholic Earn An Indulgence for Rush Limbaugh Day

Sunday May 30th 2021

I propose this date because

  • I will be starting the indulgence Calendar June 1st and want to sneak this in before it.
  • Holy Communion is necessary for an indulgence (see #1 below) so a Sunday maxes out the number of Catholics.
  • Finally I think Rush would not want to make Memorial Day (May 31) about him rather than vets who gave their lives

Now to earn an indulgence there are certain norms that must be followed here are the ones that apply from my indulgence calendar

  1. Communion on the day of an indulgence. This can be applied to any amount of indulgences that day.
  2. Confession within two weeks of the day of an indulgence. Applies to all indulgences during that period
  3. Prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father (an Our Father, Hail Mary or any appropriate prayer) once per day of indulgence.
  4. To earn an indulgence you must be in a state of grace (no unconfessed mortal sin) at the time of the indulgenced act….

11. No unbaptized person nor any Christian who is currently under the penalty of excommunication may earn an indulgence.

12. You must ACTIVELY seek and or state your intention to obtain an indulgence for the act or prayer that carries it to be valid.

So if you are a Catholic going to mass and receiving communion on Sunday all you have to do, in addition to receiving communion to earn an indulgence for Rush Limbaugh Sunday May 30th is:

  1. Declare your intention to do so
  2. Make sure you go or have gone to Confession sometime between May 11th and June 19th
  3. Say an Our Father and a Hail Mary for the intentions of the Pope that day
  4. And do any act or prayer that carries an indulgence (outside of mass) from reading scripture to Praying the Angelus or even the sign of the cross.

Additionally Earning an indulgence for the dead in purgatory is a spiritual work of mercy so in doing this for Rush we are also helping ourselves along our path to Christ.

Oh and fyi, there is no limit to the number of partial indulgences that you can earn in a day as long as you declare your intention to earn it so feel free to obtain multiple indulgences for Rush and maybe one for yourself.

If you want to learn more about indulgences stop by on May 31st and I’ll introduce you to my Indulgence Calendar Project which launches June 1st.

The true meaning of Memorial Day

Posted: May 25, 2021 by chrisharper in special events
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By Christopher Harper

In many small towns throughout America, Memorial Day is special.

Almost everyone knows someone who served in the military; most know someone who died.

Here in Muncy, Pennsylvania, two memorials stand out.

A few years ago, the town and the state recognized two fallen soldiers by naming bridges after them.

Army Pvt. Walter L. Smith, who served in the Spanish-American War, and U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. William F. Merrill, a Vietnam War veteran, died in service to their country.

The war against Spain was declared in April 1898 after the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor. On May 12, 1898, Smith enlisted at Williamsport and was mustered into service as a private in Co. D, 12th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, According to historical documents found by his family, Smith met his fate while on a supply patrol with a small detachment in the Philippines on July 28, 1901. “[He] bravely and selflessly defended men in his company against an overwhelming attack by some 60 native insurgents. During the battle, Smith’s sergeant, the only other armed man, was shot and killed. Fighting alone, Smith saved the lives of two unarmed soldiers but was overpowered, captured, and taken prisoner,” according to the local newspaper.

While his remains never were recovered, in 2006, family members honored his service by placing a government-issued memorial headstone in the Smith family plot at Muncy Cemetery.

Merrill was with the 1st Marines during Operation Oklahoma Hills, an operation to clear out the enemy from their base camps and infiltration routes southwest of Da Nang, Vietnam.

On Nov. 26, 1969, Merrill and nine fellow Marines came to a ravine. The first to cross hit a wire attached to a booby trap, and he called out for Merrill, who guarded the device as the rest of the Marines went around it. As Merrill and his sergeant were standing at the device, the explosive detonated, killing Merrill and fatally wounding the other man. Merrill’s body was returned home to his family for interment at Boalsburg Cemetery.

“These were two sons of Muncy who went off to do their duties – like many sons of Muncy – but were unfortunately never able to come home.”State Rep. Garth Everett, R-Muncy, a former U.S. Air Force member, said at the bridge dedication ceremony.

The service of Smith and Merrill in two distant wars underlines the true meaning of Memorial Day.

Prayers for Priest Cenacle Procession & Interviews

Posted: April 25, 2021 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine, special events
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On Wednesday I was invited to cover a small prayer event for the sake of Priests. Mary Ann Harold of WQPH explains.

The event consisted of a Marian Procession with prayer (which took place just before the interview)

followed by prayer intention (where I plugged indulgences more on that in a week or two btw)

and the praying of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary. I recorded the 1st decade

Before things go started I shot a pair of interviews with attendees. The 1st was with a woman who talked about her conversion to the Catholic faith:

And the 2nd was with a gentleman named Manuel originally from the Azores whose upcoming book is titled: Memoirs of a Visionary

Between covid and my job I haven’t been able to do much of this kind of think in a bit. Hopefully that will change this year.

A Few Photos and Videos from the Tender Bar Shoot in my neighborhood earlier this month with Ben Affleck and George Clooney

Posted: April 24, 2021 by datechguy in culture, entertainment, local, oddities, special events, trade
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There are the people in my neighborhood

One of the interesting things about having part of a movie shot in your neighborhood is the number of people who turn up, both your neighbors who you end up talking to and people from around the area. While I went outside a couple of times my wife spent most of the day outside getting up very early and taking photos and videos with the camera I usually use for interviews (which have been few and far between due to work and COVID although I had a pair of Catholic ones this week, more on that tomorrow). She pretty much shot a bunch of one minute clips and a fair amount of photos till she came home tired around 2 and crashed. The biggest take away I got from them was that despite the better pay a lot of acting, at least in movies which aren’t on the same deadline as a weekly TV show, is that like any other job there is a fair amount of tedious repetition.

Because she took so many shots I’m only uploading a few plus three videos. Be aware that the date on the Camera was set wrong. While the shoot had been scheduled for the 7th it was actually done on the 8th.

There are plenty more but I think this gives the gist of what is going on with the police controlling the crowd and traffic and the guys in charge letting people know when to be quiet etc.

I figured the Diner would have done pretty well with these folks but alas for Ed because there were three different days when the shooting might have taken place his regulars stayed away those days and he only got a quick burst of business when they called lunch the day of the shooting which didn’t make up for it.

Anyways here are the three videos here is one with a shot of their car pulling out

My wife shot a lot of those, didn’t upload the others since they were pretty much the same. DaWife says they did it about five times. Each time they pull out, when Clooney calls cut Affleck backs up and they get ready to do it again.

Here is another shot of Clooney joking with the kid and Affleck before another shot. This would be just visible from my front yard.

And finally here is a 3rd shot of him directing the kid before another shot and then the shot itself. The antique cars were parked in the neighborhood for about a week before the shoot but then again I’m old enough that to me they don’t seem like antiques they’re just the cars I remember from the 70’s. In fact my 1st two cars were a 67 Barracuda and a 75 Buick LeSabre both convertables.

My chief interest in all of these is how the work is actually done as I’m not experienced in it. Granted it’s not work in the sense that my dad worked or that I or my sons or my wife do but it’s work and it takes them away from their homes for long periods of time. Granted it would have been cool to get Clooney to sign the season 1 of ER that I bought my wife 20+ years ago and my son had hoped to get a Batman comic signed by both as they each (Clooney meh, Affleck actually very good) played the role but there was none of that.

And frankly in an age of cancel culture where people are looking to bring down folks for saying or doing the wrong thing the last thing you really want to do is mix with a bunch of strangers with cameras any one of whom might hold a grudge and be looking to get their 15 min of fame by giving you grief. That realization precludes Jimmy Stewart’s old advice to Raquel Welch about fans and autographs these days and must be a pain in the neck, particularly if someone happens to be affable by nature who previously enjoyed meeting the fans.

At least the pay is good.

As I said there are a lot more pictures and a lot more video but they seem too repetitive to upload to youtube and given how close to the vest things have been around here I can’t justify the extra bandwidth charges to put them all up. Feel free to hit DaTipJar to offset those costs.

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