The Journeyman

I was driving home today on Congress, turning right to a side street, when a person on a skateboard rode out in front of me. I honked and him, and he yelled profanely back that he was at a crosswalk.

For those unaware, it is illegal to ride a skateboard on the sidewalk on Congress Ave between the river and the Capitol, on 6th between 700 East 6th and 1200 West 6th, and on Guadalupe between MLK and 29th street.

I probably shouldn't have honked, but he shouldn't yell at me when he's the one actually illegally.

Today I would like to propose another prayer intention, given the news we receive, especially during this period, of numerous road accidents. We must not get used to this sad reality! Human life is too precious and it is too unworthy of man to meet death or become an invalid due to causes that could mostly be avoided. There is certainly a need for a greater sense of responsibility, above all by drivers, as accidents are often caused by excessive speed and imprudent conduct. Driving on public roads calls for moral and civic sense. Indispensable to fostering this is authorities' constant endeavor to prevent, keep watch and restrict. Moreover, as the Church, we feel directly involved at the ethical level: Christians must above all make a personal examination of conscience on their own conduct as drivers; moreover, communities should educate everyone to consider traffic as a field in which life must be protected and love of neighbor concretely exercised.

--Pope Benedict XVI, Sunday, August 17th during his weekly Angelus reflection

My little Versa, named "Vessie" that replaced "Susie", hit the 10,000-mile mark today. The milestone came a bit earlier than it would, but a trip to El Paso or back last weekend help push it closer.

A car, while being just a pile of nuts, bolts, belts and fluids, does take on a personality unlike most objects in our life. I spent more time in my office, using my computer, in my apartment, or standing in the kitchen trying to figure out what to eat for lunch than I do in my car typically. I ride public transit for work more often than not; so I only use the car for errands, appointments and long-distance traveling. That being said, it has a personality more defined than the rest.

My car is a "she". No particular reason for it; I just think of the car in the feminine. I give her a name, Vessie. Does coaxing her to do something help her, in fact, do something. Of course not, but I feel like we're a team trying to achieve a goal.

Perhaps it is the remains of a coachdriver and his horse. The activity and the goal were the same: to travel from point A to point B. Talking to a horse, however, has a much greater probabilty of doing something to enhance performance.

In either case, here's to the first 10% of my car's life (hopefully, at least).

Capital Metro, the public transit authority for the Austin-area, has a blog entry about training the Austin Police Department's DWI unit to drive a new Breath-Alcohol Testing bus donated to the City by CapMetro.

The simulator is pretty sweet; would love to have a chance to see how hard it would be to drive a bus. I'm hoping there's an open house of the bus as well. I suppose they would drive it to a DWI enforcement zone (i.e. South 1st or South Congress around the time bars close) and test folks inside.

The video from Fox News 7 is below.

I pushed through a massive redesign of the website today. As many of the longtime readers know, I started blogging in 2002 with "Random Musings" and switched to "Praying Young" about a year ago.

In the end, I didn't like that transition, so I merged all of the entries from both blogs and transferred them to the root of brandonkraft.com. Every personal blog entry I've posted are all on this site.

RSS feeds have been setup to redirect to the new feed, but a individual feed reader's mileage may vary.

I wanted to pass along a little nugget from this morning's Vatican news briefing. Pope Benedict XVI will be extending a plenary indulgence for all who are attending WYD in Sydney and a partial indulgence for all who pray for the spiritual goals and happy outcome of WYD.

To receive the partial indulgence, all you need to do is pray for the success of WYD and the three "normal" things needed for an indulgence -- confession, communion and praying for the Pope's intentions.

As the Catechism reminds us, an indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. In other words, even though our sin is forgiven, there remain temporal punishment (i.e. purgatory). An indulgence pardons us from the remaining temporal punishment. An indulgence can be "partial"--removing some of the time--or "plenary"--removing all of our temporal punishment.

This is one of those aspects of our faith that not everyone will get excited about and admittedly, it isn't the easiest concept to grasp, but one of the various options the Church gives to us to help us to become closer to God.

You can read more about the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican office whose only job is to handle matters of indulgences and issues of the "internal forum" (i.e. stuff to be talked about under the seal of confession) at their website.

Below is the news brief from the Vatican Information Service:

PLENARY INDULGENCE FOR 23RD WORLD YOUTH DAY

 

VATICAN CITY, 5 JUL 2008 (VIS) - According to a decree made public today and signed by Cardinal James Francis Stafford and Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, O.F.M. Conv., respectively penitentiary major and regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, Benedict XVI will grant the faithful Plenary Indulgence to faithful who "gather at Sydney, Australia, in the spirit of pilgrimage" to participate in celebrations for 23rd World Youth Day, and Partial Indulgence to "all those who, wherever they are, will pray for the spiritual goals of this meeting and for its happy outcome".

 

  The English-language decree reads: "The youth meeting held in the year 2005 in Cologne, offered the Apostolic Penitentiary an opportune occasion, with the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, to open wide to youth the spiritual treasures of the Church, with the aim of gathering singular fruits of sanctification.

 

  "Hence, this year, from 15 to 20 July, in Sydney, 'in the great southern land of the Holy Spirit' (according to the expression of John Paul II), will celebrate the 23rd World Youth Day, with the theme: 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses'.

 

  "Indeed", the decree adds, "young people gathered around the Vicar of Christ will participate in the sacred functions and above all have recourse to the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. In the Sacraments received with a sincere and humble heart, they will earnestly desire to strengthen themselves in the Spirit, and, confirmed by the Chrism of salvation, will openly witness the faith before others even to the ends of the earth. May God grant that the very presence of the Supreme Pontiff among the young people gathered in Sydney express and render it such".

 

  The indulgences may be gained in the following ways:

 

  "The Plenary Indulgence is granted to the faithful who will devotedly participate at some sacred function or pious exercise taking place during the 23rd World Youth Day, including its solemn conclusion, so that, having received the Sacrament of Reconciliation and being truly repentant, they receive Holy Communion and devoutly pray according to the intentions of His Holiness.

 

  "The Partial Indulgence is granted to the faithful, wherever they are during the above-mentioned meeting, if, at least with a contrite spirit, they will raise their prayer to God the Holy Spirit, so that young people are drawn to charity and given the strength to proclaim the Gospel with their life.

 

  "So that all the faithful may more easily obtain these heavenly gifts, priests who have received legitimate approval to hear sacramental confessions, should welcome them with a ready and generous spirit and suggest public prayers to the faithful, for the success of the same World Youth Day".

PENT/DECREE INDULGENCES/WYD                                    VIS 080707 (460)

I've been asked this question much more recently as June 1st rolled closer. When I began my latest role at the University Catholic Center as a Campus Ministry Intern, it was for a year term (the Diocese is an at-will employer, so the year wasn't legally binding, but you get the drift).

I've re-upped for another year! We're still looking at funding for 2008-2009 to see if I will have a comrade in office and, then if grants come through, who will fill that role.

One thing I check every week is the City of Austin's website to see what road closures will occur due to special events. Living so close to downtown, the Palmer Event Center and Auditorium Shores, it is very common for something to be going on.

One thing I check every week is the City of Austin's Event Closure Page, listing road closures due to special events.

The week's press release, released yesterday, informed me that South 1st Street between Oltorf and Cesar Chavez will be closed between 7 am and 5 pm on Saturday. That's the street I live on and that's a long time for the street to be closed.

I placed a call to the City's 311 line to ask if this was a complete closure or if there will be a lane open. During the marathon, for example, one southbound lane was open, allowing traffic to make it to Oltorf westbound and back to the normal street system.

As the operator was aware, the street will be closed. Period. She transferred me to Special Events, who basically said she knew the same thing. I asked about the way the marathon had it setup and asked if that wasn't in the works. She wasn't sure and said she would do research, getting back to me later in the day. She asked me exactly what street I lived on so she could help figure out a route if South 1st was completely closed. Yes, my friend, I live on South 1st.

This wouldn't be a big deal except Vanessa and I have an appointment at 10 am and with the 10K's 4-mile point being right at our apartment complex, I highly doubt all of the racers would be passed us by the time we would need to leave.

Let's hope for good news.

I'm drafting this message in flight on American 384, non-stop service from DFW to JFK, on my way for my Papal weekend. This morning was the public Mass at National's Stadium in Washington, DC, yesterday included a ceremony at the White House (complete with the Battle Hymn of the Republic and Happy Birthday for the pontiff's 81st birthday) and a celebration of Vespers (Evening Prayer) with all of the bishops of the United States (last I heard, not one sent their regrents).

Last night, I was interviewed by KEYE CBS 42 for a set of pieces they're putting together about the Papal visit; the first one with me was aired last night at 10 pm. I've seen myself in HD—somewhat scary, but I digress. In that interview, I mentioned that one of the aspects of Pope Benedict that makes him unique is his status as Pope of the Internet.

Pope John Paul II, of happy memory, was considered the Pope of TV. Anyone who saw any images—stills or video—were inspired by him. Whether it was the picture of him standing in front of a teepee in Native American-styled vestments or with sunglasses on or holding his cane upside down acting like it was a hockey stick, you felt a connection to him. He wrote many profound things, and by all means, they should be read and examined. His Theology of the Body and texts examining the role of Mary were groundbreaking in many ways, but he is remembered by the way he captured people.

Pope Benedict XVI is different. He's cute and hearing him with his German accent is great, but he is much more reserved than John Paul II. I can't imagine Pope Benedict ever using his cane as a hockey stick, for example. His gifts, however, lie with the written word. You may hear, or not, the Pope speak, but you want to go online and download the text. His gift isn't in the presentation of Truth, but in his explanation of the Truth. By training, he is a teacher, serving as a professor in Germany before being called up to the Major Leagues (in reverent terms, the fullness of priesthood as a bishop and then to Rome to serve in the Curia) and his natural gift for teaching is obvious.

He teaches when he speaks—from his weekly General Audiences to his Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist to the Moto Proprio allowing for the more widespread use of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite to, of course, his encyclicals, God is Love and Saved by Hope. Now three years after he was called to the Chair of Peter, Pope Benedict still has more people attend his General Audiences than our rock star John Paul II did. Why? Because they learn from this teacher. This is not to say anything negative about John Paul II, not at all, but only that the timid, quiet German who many consider quite dry has a mystical attraction that people are drawn toward through his catechesis.

The Internet is Pope Benedict XVI's biggest aid in his efforts. In the days after any text of his is released, people from around the world are reading it, discussing it, sharing it, wrestling with it and ultimately, finding a greater understanding of the Catholic faith.

I haven't had the chance to read the full-text yet, but apparently, what he had to say to the United States' bishops last night is worth the read.