St. Blog's Parish Roundup on Papal Visit

• "Good Morning America" goes negative on the Pope, by Matthew Archibold Creative Minority Report April 16, 2008.

• "The head of the cult of Mary has arrived and you see all American media and our President fawning over him!" - Cacciaguida surveys what some fundamentalist Protestant blogs are saying about the papal visit. Of course, if you begin with the premise that Rome is the whore of Babylon and the Pope is the AntiChrist ...

• Betrayal of Religious Leaders by Kisses is Still Fashionable, observes the "Ragin' Cajun'" @ Unskilled Labor.

• Who needs shoddy papal journalism when you have your own Papal Visit Report-o-matic? - Devised by Kevin Jones of Philokalia Republic.

John Stewart's "Daily Show" on the Pope's visit

Papal Coverage on John Stewart's The Daily Show (New York Times religion journalist Peter Steinfels was interviewed).

The Pope's going to be here HOW LONG?

"Three to seven days" -- the papal intinerary has been available online for several months now, and yet the mainstream press are finding themselves "mathematically-challenged." GetReligion reports.

Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert says he can't wait for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to New York City.

Colbert, who is Catholic, has tickets to the papal Mass at Yankee Stadium. "I can't wait. You have not had Communion till you've had it smothered with pump-on nacho cheese." (Via Dallas Morning News' Religion Blog).

Gordon who?!?

Next week a titan on the world stage will fly across the Atlantic to talk war and peace with President Bush and make his mark on the American people. (Guess what -- it's not the pope).

Benedict Bobblehead Broo-Ha-Ha

Washington Post's PopeWatch has the Benedict Bobblehead video which, as American Papist reports, was yanked by DC Metro after the Archdiocese of Washington expressed concern.

The video shows a bobblehead of Pope Benedict XVI riding the Metro as a way of encouraging those who will attend next week's papal Mass to take the Metro instead of drive.

Meanwhile, in "Nerves Frayed Much?" - Amy Welborn surveys members of "St. Blog's parish" for their reactions.

Archdiocese of Washington yanks DC Metro Benedict Bobblehead video

Via PopeWatch:

It seemed like a great marketing campaign to some at Metro: a Pope Benedict XVI bobblehead riding the train. That is, until church officials saw it.

Metro earlier today yanked a YouTube video it had made featuring a Pope bobblehead taking Metro, after the Archdiocese of Washington complained the figure was unauthorized merchandise and improperly dressed. The ad campaign was meant to encourage people to take Metro to the special papal Mass next week at Nationals ballpark, Metro officials said. . . . More (including screenshot)

Washington Times screams "Forced Conversion!"

• When the reporter is not a Catholic, by Julia Duin, assistant national editor/religion, The Washington Times. July 2, 2008.
• Jeff Miller (Curt Jester) responds to the bellyaching.

Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Video Greeting to Benedict (or, "You've GOT to be kidding me")

Thomas Peters (American Papist), in his ongoing review of "welcome videos" put out by American dioceses, discovers "a real humdinger" in the form of that released by Cardinal Mahoney and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (click for video):

... Yes, you read and watch right: the entire video is about the once-a-year blessing of the animals. And of even that, it's mostly about the animals (and Cardinal Mahony, blithely throwing water at everything in sight).

Well, thank God it was something as innocuous as that -- and not Mahoney's "Religious Education Congress", what with its liturgical abominations and theological vacuities -- which might very well have caused Benedict to turn right around and seek refuge in Rome.

"Papal Swag!"

Commerce has begun at 'Catholic to the Max's Official DC Papal Visit 2008 website -- "This site is brought to you by Catholic to the Max, the authorized supplier for the Archdiocese of Washington of items commemorating Pope Benedict’s visit to Washington, DC. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these items will benefit Christ Our Hope Foundation, Inc., the organization supporting the papal visit to Washington."

Prior coverage of CatholictotheMax, via Deacon Greg Kandra:

“As far as T-shirts go, you can’t beat Pope John Paul,” said Dominic Scarnecchia, who was hawking his wares at the Catholic Marketing Network’s international trade show here in late July.

Scarnecchia is a sales associate with “Catholic to the Max,” a hip division of Nelson Woodcraft, a family-owned business that sells Catholic gift items in Steubenville, Ohio.

A student at Franciscan University in Steubenville, he could easily be working the floor at Abercrombie & Fitch or Old Navy, but instead, he was hawking “Get Holy or Die Tryin’ ” and “Puttin’ the STUD back in Bible study” license plate frames and messenger bags.

“You have to start with the youth,” Scarnecchia said. “It’s the future of the Catholic church, like Pope John Paul said.”

Benedict to catch Ballgame in DC?

Catholic News Service' Jim Lackey spots a significant typo in the reporting of Folio magazine / Huffington Post.