I'd like to smack Nobel upside the head

Well not Alfred Nobel himself. But how about the head of the committee that gives out the prize?

Nobel literature head: US too insular to compete
Sep 30 03:54 PM US/Eastern
By MALIN RISING and HILLEL ITALIE
Associated Press Writers

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Bad news for American writers hoping for a Nobel Prize next week: the top member of the award jury believes the United States is too insular and ignorant to compete with Europe when it comes to great writing.

Counters the head of the U.S. National Book Foundation: "Put him in touch with me, and I'll send him a reading list."

As the Swedish Academy enters final deliberations for this year's award, permanent secretary Horace Engdahl said it's no coincidence that most winners are European.

"Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the center of the literary world ... not the United States," he told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

He said the 16-member award jury has not selected this year's winner, and dropped no hints about who was on the short list. Americans Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates usually figure in speculation, but Engdahl wouldn't comment on any names.

Speaking generally about American literature, however, he said U.S. writers are "too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture," dragging down the quality of their work.

"The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature," Engdahl said. "That ignorance is restraining."

Read the entire article for the scathing reaction from the American literary establishment. And I don't blame them. While I too am not a huge fan of most American literature - for entirely different reasons of course - the fact that they overlooked Proust suggests that Philip Roth shouldn't feel too bad if he never gets to go to Stockholm.

The Universe Bulletin

There are some people who look at the diocese of Cleveland's newspaper, the Catholic Universe Bulletin, only for the entertainment value they derive from the copy errors. Which are sometimes hideous. And which are sometimes in the headline. On the front page.

I am not one of those people, although I am not the UB's biggest fan either. However last week I saw two great articles in the paper, both of which motivated me to clip and save and add to my unorganized files. The one department "Theologically Speaking," which on this occasion covered the subject of suffering, I can't find online, however I did find my other favorite piece, which was written by Bishop Lennon. Our ordinary writes a column every week for his paper (he is the publisher) as do most bishops I believe.

A lot of times the bishop writes about the Vibrant Parish Life program or the "clustering process," in other words the plan for closing parishes. Please note that is not the only thing Vibrant Parish Life is supposed to do, but that is what it "means" to most people. This week was no different, but his effort this time was unique in that it came from a truly personal perspective. He wrote about the parish he grew up in, in Boston, how much he loved it and how he celebrated so many life milestones with his family there -baptisms, weddings, funerals. And he also wrote about how, as Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Boston, he had to see his old parish close. He notes how difficult and sad that decision was, but also that even though the parish is closed, its positive influence continues in his life.

You can read the piece here. I think for a lot of people the main thing is that they want someone to acknowledge their pain and give them a way to move forward. He ends the column very well: "As we continue the clustering process, please know your Bishop has experienced a wonderful parish, has had it close, and strives to live the gift received going forward as a testimony that God’s gift is not ended."

That has got to be one mean left hook

Check this out:

Priest who makes a fight of it when he wants his message to hit home

NICK PISA IN ROME

Meet Father Max Pusceddu, the priest with a difference who uses his fists to spread the word of the Lord.

Father Max, 32, regularly takes to the ring in middleweight bouts against allcomers and leads with an impressive left-hand, or "south paw" to the knowledgeable.

Hundreds of spectators regularly turn up for the boxing matches. Many carry banners with bloodthirsty and unholy phrases such as "Father Max kill him" or "Father Max no mercy." Ringside fans of "Don Max" include policemen, mayors, lawyers and even some nuns.

A native of Pirri in the Italian province of Cagliari, Father Max is parish priest of Vallermosa, which has 2,000 inhabitants.

The priest, who arrives not in a traditional satin boxing gown but his black cassock, has won all his fights bar one.

He uses the bouts to promote his charity fund-raising for a priest training college in Congo and has been boxing since he was ten years old.

Full article.

He does have the sympathy of his bishop, although the authorities were initially opposed. And so he's won all but one match! I wonder who it was who had the nerve to beat him!

Go it via Catholic and Enjoying It.