100...85...50...50...GLORIA STEWART, TONY CURTIS, THE FLINTSTONES, & ANDY GRIFFITH..........

On this Feast of the Guardian Angels, I wish my twin sisters Alice and Alene, a very Happy Birthday..................

It has been a full first Saturday for me at OLOL.  First, I drove with Sister Theresa, to Vintage Estates Convalescent Center for the resumption of the twice monthly 10 am Saturday Mass celebrated there.  14 residents, along with Sister and me, two other OLOL parishioners, and one VE staff member were present for the Mass.  Then at 1 pm, I celebrated my first Quinceanera at OLOL,  the familial and cultural presentation celebration of a 15 year old Latina in the context of a special Mass.  It confirmed the necessity of the review I am currently making of the faith formation component for the entire Quinceanera party : candidate, parents, godparents, sponsors, attendants; as the practice of the faith often times seems secondary, if not gets lost in the social and beautiful backdrop approach to celebrating the occasion.  Just as the Catholic Church revisited Sacramental Preparation / Faith Formation, and developed it further for all, more than forty years ago, in the post conciliar Catholic Church, so too should we set such standards, practices, and expectations, for families requesting these kind of liturgical faith celebrations.  4 pm brought the Saturday Confessions, and 5 pm the Sunday Vigil Mass, and then time to relax, having dinner at, "La Rosa Blanca", Mexican Restaurant and a visit with my friend Jeremy Lipp, before returning to the rectory and the 2 Sunday morning Masses and Ladies Council parish fundraising Breakfast tomorrow.....
                                               .....This week has brought four key culturally entertaining milestones into our purview.  First Gloria Stewart a 1930's and 1940's actress, who retired from movie making in her prime, and was acclaimed for her rendition of the, 'Lullaby of Broadway', in the movie, "Golddiggers of 1935", only to become the oldest actress ever to win an Academy Award, - the Oscar, for coming out of retirement after fifty years to star in the blockbuster, "Titantic", in 1997, died at age 100.....The former Bernie Schwartz, of the Bronx, New York, who more than sixty years ago, became the movie star Tony Curtis, also died this week.  he was 85 years old.  Perhaps best known for his co-starring role in the 1958, number one rated,  20th Century classic comedy film, with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, "Some Like It Hot", he was also famously known as the husband of actress Janet Leigh, who was the first of his six wives, and his daugther, Jamie Leigh Curtis, who is also is a successful actress.....On Thursday night it was the 50th anniversary of the prime time television premiere of the first animated series on a nighttime network, "The Flintstones".  Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Barney and Betty Rubble, Pebbles and Bam Bam, and their pre-historical friends and neighbors, are now a television phenomenon worldwide, and the "Yab A Daba Do", good time began on September 30, 1960.....Tomorrow, October 3, marks the 50th television anniversary of a show, that for eight seasons lit up the tv screens of American homes on Monday nights, along with Lucille Ball and "Family Affair", on CBS, - "The Andy Griffith Show".  It's down home, rural flavor and the cast of comedy characters, the show's star Andy Griffith, surrounded himself with :  Don Knotts, as Deputy Barney Fife; Ronny Howard, as Opie; Frances Bavier, as Aunt Bee; Jim Nabors, as Gomer Pyle; Howard McNear, as Floyd the Barber, Anita Corsault, as Helen Krump; Betty Lynn, as Thelma Lou; George Lindsay, as Goober Pyle; and Jack Dodson, as Howard Sprague; made it a folksy, funny, and easy half hour of entertainment, that has lasted the test of time.  And many of the episodes are not only considered comedy gold, but are used as Sunday School lessons by some churches.  At age 84, Andy Griffith is still active and is presently featured in a health care reform advertisement for American senior citizens.  Fifty years on, the fictional town of Mayberry, North Carolina, is still a great place to spend some time in, on TV Land, cable channel.....This walk down memory lane will hopefully provide you, as it does me, happy memories of the persons and the programs they brought us for 100.....85.....50.....50.....Years..........Farewell Peace  Gloria And Tony; Happy Golden Anniversary  Flintstones And Andy;  Your Fervent Fan And Viewer,   Fr.  Troy