A Ghost in the Family

The ISSUU site has a new embed feature which I am using here so everyone can read the classic short story A Ghost in the Family by Rod Dreher.

I think this story can serve as a qualification which explains this comment from the other day. In it, Dreher claims to "revel in news about religion" to explain away his relentless Catholic-bashing noticed by commenter Chip. I would suggest that this statement needs to be qualified. It may not be true that Dreher only revels in bad news about the Catholic Church, but it is certainly true that he only revels in some news about religion. Other religious news which might be interesting to most religious people is entirely boring to Dreher and thus ignored. For example, I would have figured he'd have been all over this Eastern Clergy Can Marry Now story like white on rice, but he hasn't posted on it that I can see.

Here's the entire comment:

Chip says:
November 14, 2014 at 3:09 pm

Rod, am I wrong, or do you revel in bad news about the Catholic Church? I would say about 1 post a day is on that topic. Are you having a hard time letting go?

[NFR: You are wrong, and thin-skinned to boot. I revel in news about religion. The fast-changing religion demographics in Latin America is a huge story with global implications. Neither one is my church, so I don't have a dog in that fight. But the fact that you don't want to hear the news doesn't mean the news isn't there. Blaming the messenger is not a good strategy for dealing with reality. -- RD]

Chip's observation is the one we have made over and over again. The revelry is reserved for tales of paranormal activity or narratives which reinforce his own prejudices. In other words, the religious news stories which he likes best are ones which aim to stimulate the curiosity and not edify the soul.

More Menacing Mannequins in the Macabre Moonlight

Latest installment of Caspar & Lonnie is here, folks, and in this one we meet a Non-Domiciled Indigent Person. Every great story from the Holy Gospels to Happy Gilmore features a Homeless Dude, right? Here's a teaser:

"Don't worry, Lonnie. They are just mannequins." said Caspar with relief. His excellent "sixth sense" told him that no demons were possessing these laughing mannequins, and there was nothing to fear. And Lonnie didn't feel anything tingling in his hands. Nonetheless, both ghosts were very unnerved by the horde of mannequins who, in the weird lighting, appeared as if they were laughing at them for their misfortunes.

I am sure that once Hollywood acquires the film rights to this excellent story of mine, the screen writers will probably juice up parts of it to make it more terrifying. So I imagine that here they would turn it around so that the mannequins Caspar and Lonnie saw were all demon possessed as well, and consequently they would all start walking towards our two friends in the most menacing way possible. And this would be a spot where the CGI lab could add gee-whiz special effects to accentuate the terror of it all. But really, nothing like this happened in this case. Sometimes the mannequins are just mannequins.

[other posts on Oengus Moonboones.]

Caspar & Lonnie Meet a Demon

Another chapter in the exciting serial of Caspar and Lonnie by our friend, the inimitable Oengus Moonbones.

You may have missed the 2nd episode, Evening at the Mall, which I link here for your convenience. It came out shortly after my initial post on which I mentioned the series. I only hope the man continues this intriguing saga.