Food for soul & body

LITURGICAL PROBLEMS:

1. Man behind me at mass sang:

* "To-ma-hah-row" and "Ah-hah-men," twice inserting "hah," which is not part of the liturgy.

* "Ho-ho-holy Lord," inserting "ho" which is not part of the liturgy either.

* "Have mercy ah-hahn us," inserting "hahn," which is also not part of the liturgy.

2. Fr. L. substituted "God" for "father" at a key point in mass, free-lancing -- apparently because he prefers "inclusive language" and does not approve of God as father. It happens at the close of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where since 1975 the church's powers that be have ordained this:

Through him,

with him,

and in him,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

all glory and honor is yours,

almighty Father, for ever and ever. [Italics added]

I don't like the idea of Fr. L. free-lancing in the first place (not fair), and I like it even less that he does so without explaining it every darn time. Truth in packaging and all that.

DIDN'T MEAN TO PRY: I called Muldoon's Irish American Eatery in Wheaton, asked the young woman, "What are your hours tomorrow?"

"I don't have any," she replied. "I'm not working tomorrow."

I explained that I had the restaurant in mind. She apologized and after asking around told me 11 a.m. to midnight, but bar would stay open later than that.

AFRAID OF "HIS"?: "With Commissioner Patrick Doolin's announcement that he is running for the office of mayor of Forest Park next year, the election period is officially open. . . . Political newcomer John Plepel is the only other villager to announce their candidacy so far," says Dave Goetz in the Forest Park Review.

Their candidacy? How many John Piepels are there?

Goetz is eloquent nonetheless with:

God help our country if there exists a more corrupt county than our own Cook County. I guess we're supposed to believe that the son that almost no one had ever heard of is qualified to sit at the helm of a $3 billion budget. Try again. I don't know much about Peraica except that he isn't a Cook County Democrat. That's enough for me this year.

Tell it, brother.