23 Comments

I've seen way to many dinner parties go horribly wrong in Frasier to host one.

Expand full comment

In case anyone wants to play a game for next weeks Human Dignity document, the folks over at Reddit have made a BINGO card for the release.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CatholicMemes/s/5IkyeGlX8T

Expand full comment

I'd say the odds of a BINGO are pretty good.

Expand full comment

Bingo? I expect practically the whole card to be covered! (The only one that seems unlikely is a certain someone admitting to being sedevacantist.)

Expand full comment

One annoyingly pedantic correction: Julius Caesar was never an emperor, nor was the Julian calendar introduced at the time that he was made dictator for life. He first gave attention to the problem in 48 BC while campaigning in Egypt, then implemented the reform (with substantial assistance from astronomers and mathematicians) during his consular year in 46 BC. He was proclaimed dictator for life in 44 BC (an extension of the temporary dictatorships held over the previous five years), and was assassinated soon after. His nephew and adopted son Augustus became the first emperor as such in 27 BC, after an extended civil war.

Expand full comment

We welcome annoying pedantry here!

Expand full comment

I’d love to know the guidelines for a drinks party - that seems something I’d be more capable of

Expand full comment

I was really hoping the YouTube link today would be to one of your old “TV spots”.

Expand full comment

It might have been, if only Ed would have been singing; something by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, or Nat King Cole, preferably.

Expand full comment

surprises me a bit that your discussion of "papal parlor game" has no mentioned of the Holy Spirit. I am of the belief that all of the "parlor games" being played/discussed are all part of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit uses these "games" for us to arrive at correct decision.

Expand full comment

For a succesful dinner party you need a good Middler. Check it out on Curb Your Enthusiasm. It's the only thing that is missing in your description but it is essential.

Expand full comment

If Cardinal Parolin is “too much Benedict XVI, that is a positive endorsement in my opinion.

Expand full comment

The obvious solution: Pillar-reader dinner parties. You can meet new people but you know they’re cool because they read the Pillar! (The challenge is always lining up babysitting.)

Expand full comment

Ed and JD, regarding this week’s podcast episode, in all charity, there were a number of things you guys spoke casually and inaccurately about regarding Fiducia supplicans and related. The most prominent being an offhand comment that Pope Francis didn’t sign that document or doesn’t sign documents recently from the DDF. Pope Francis did sign FS…a fact that was repeatedly referred to in subsequent DDF/ ++Fernandez comments/clarification on FS.

And, interestingly, there was a small rescript issued last fall explaining what it means when the Pope’s signature appears at the end of such DDF documents: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20231021_rescriptum-ex-audientia-ssmi_it.html

I find you two are usually quite accurate in your discussions…and I don’t think this was a small matter per se, so I thought it was fair to bring to your attention. Also, if there is a more appropriate place to comment regarding podcast episodes…I am happy to be educated on where that may be found. 🍺👍🏼

Expand full comment

I probably would not be a good dinner party host as you describe. I'm actually to the point where I loathe hosting any kind of group dinner. At age 66, I'm tired of cooking and I'm tired of everyone having such different dietary restrictions. People who don't do dairy, or gluten, or pork, or ham and on and on and on. I never know what to serve anymore!

Expand full comment

Not to mention the food waste that happens when people help themselves to items they don’t eat anyway. It’s just no fun anymore.

Expand full comment

Just serve what you like!

I'll cook up some salmon, if my main dish is meat, but that's it.

Don't give it up because gathering around good food is essential to creating family bonds!

I love it!

Expand full comment

"but two drinks before dinner aids conversation and means people go easier on the wine at table"

Baffled.

Anyone who takes a dinner party seriously - actually anyone who takes preparing a full course dinner for any guests seriously - is going to have both a well- stocked bar and broad selection of wine on hand.

Mixed drinks alone demands... scotch, bourbon, whiskey, vodka. Anyone from the south or west will demand tequila or rum. Then you have specialty liquors, apertifs, after-dinner drinks.

No getting around a major investment in alcohol at a dinner party. Then again, with changing tastes and people who are more health conscious, the whole idea of a set piece meal event is something of a throwback.

Expand full comment

If we don't throw it back in, we'll be worse off for it!

Expand full comment

--> I can't say I've been to a proper Dinner Party. I've been to plenty of parties, including where I've eaten dinner. But, nothing like what you're envisioning. But, it sounds fascinating, except for the people.

--> I'm glad that I read the captions for the "ads". Otherwise I might have missed the opportunity to sign up for a summer course at St. Bernard's. My only problem is that I prefer Session I courses, but I have more time during Session 2. Decisions, decisions.

Expand full comment

I've thrown quite a few dinner parties at Waffle House.

Expand full comment

"it simply isn’t possible to unpack the significance of the Paschal narrative without rooting it in the celebration of Passover.

Easter isn’t a “date.” It is living history, linked in and out of time to God’s plan of salvation for all mankind and His relationship with His people. We don’t mark the occasion like an anniversary, we live it fully and actively — or at least we should."

Bravo! We in the East continue to call the festival "Pascha" (Greek for Passover) and yours is the first time I have ever seen a Latin-Rite connection of "Eostre" to Passover. I think it would behoove the "West" to return to using "Pascha" as the name of the feast. As for the setting of a fixed date, I suggest any proposal coming out of Canterbury be summarily dismissed :-). The "inconvenience" of tying the feast to the lunar cycle might just provoke some comprehension of what we celebrate.

Expand full comment

I guess I've never been to a dinner party, as described.

Our kids are now all in college (2 in grad school), and I love meeting people and having people meet, so we just started a monthly Couples Game Night. Not everyone knows everyone. I know all the women, but I've met a couple of husband this way. And there's an hour of drinks and snacks before the games begin.

We find there's still plenty time for conversation during the game, and a lot of laughter. I highly recommend it. Fewer rules,, and getting to know more people is still the focus.

Expand full comment