Pensieves
Episcopal News Service. July 23, 1981 [81209]
The Ven. Erwin M. Soukup, Editor of Advance, Diocese of Chicago
Angered by a wave of vandalism, a group of residents in St. Albans, Vermont, has launched a movement to reinstate the public pillory. Next year, we would surmise, comes the ducking pool.
Henry McCorkle, publisher of The Episcopalian, made the observation in a recent speech that he was surveying a newsstand in a railroad station while waiting for his train. More than 200 magazines were displayed on the racks. Only one had a religious overtone: "The Shooter's Bible." It was a gun magazine.
The blunder in the Tax Reform Act of 1969 should begin to give the Church cause for thought. It penalizes working spouses in two-earner families. According to the government's own estimate, a married couple paid $673 more in income taxes in 1978 than did an unmarried pair living together. The IRS would seem to encourage "living in sin" in an age when the Moral Majority is trying to get sex off television and Congress is considering putting prayer back into schoolrooms.
Had problems keeping awake during one of those interminable meetings that belabor the life of the Church and the work of the Lord? A new expression describes the circumstances perfectly. It's called "sensory overload."
One rector found a new way to inform his confirmation class how to determine the time of the year when the season of Advent occurs: "Sometime between the World Series and the Super Bowl!"
Things I Did Not Know I Needed Department: A Middlefield, Massachusetts, manufacturer is offering a "traditional nightcap" for sale. It is touted to be of classic red cotton flannel in luxurious layers and guaranteed to prevent that 30 percent of body heat that is lost through the scalp from escaping. That, and a pair of snuggly sanctuary slippers, and all's comfy in the world.