IT'S ANNIVERSARY TIME!

Adam's Ale is SIX YEARS OLD this February!  (Actually, this happened on the 3rd of February but I forgot.  That's 42 in dog years.  This blog is almost as old as I am now.)

That also means that THIS GUY is six years old:

It all started six years ago when I accidentally came across this video:

Then read her book and invited her to Cleveland to give some talks.  When she was in town she twisted my arm into starting a blog.  (Thank you Dawn.)

1,653, well 1,654 now, posts later Adam's Ale is still plugging along in its small little way. 

There have also been 7,519 posted comments by you.
The highest ranking referring site is our Akron Knight of Columbus and the Catholic Blog Site.
The page that keeps getting hits to this day is "The Official Prayer of the Catholic Church"
The highest ranking countries reading AA is the U.S., Russia, France, and Germany. (Interesting) 

Every year about this time I start to evaluate if this is the best use of my time.  I wonder if it is doing enough good to justify the part of the morning that I spend on it.  Fortunately THIS GUY:

recommends that priests blog.  And still more people read this daily than hear my daily homilies.  The only other thing that really saves it is that it give me a platform to address certain issues on which I would not otherwise have the opportunity.  So for at least the time being we will plug along.  If you like the blog, please consider saying a little prayer for it.

God bless & thanks for reading!


Fr. V

IT'S ADAM'S ALE'S FIFTH ANNIVERSARY!

Today is the fifth anniversary of Adam's Ale!  It appears that the value of the site has gone down about $30 from last year - hopefully that is the work of the economy and not quality of the blog . . .

My site is worth$8,311.44Your website value?

IN OTHER NEWS: Before today there were 1,418 posts, 280,763 visits with an average of about 175 people per day - still more than hear my daily homilies so I guess we'll keep it up a spot longer at least.

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating

Yikes!  It used to be rated G.  The site explains that this is because the word abortion is mentioned six times, drugs three times, death twice, and porn once.  Of course if the same criteria were applied to my homilies they likely would be rated an X or two.

It's been way out!



And just for the heck of it - do you need a saint?  Here is a Saint Name Generator.

A final note to all of you readers, you were prayed for today and a candle lit in St. Augustine church in Larchmont NY.

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK CCII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: "The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always." from Willa Cather's, "Death Comes for the Archbishop"

QUOTE II: "In our day - when the sanctity of life is threatened not only by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, but also by embryonic research and eugenic temptations to eliminate the weak, the disabled, and the infirm elderly - this aspect of Catholic identity becomes even more vital to our discipleship." Archbishop Charles Chaput

IN OTHER NEWS:

IT IS ADAM'S ALE'S FOURTH ANNIVERSARY!

The first draught of Adam's Ale can be seen here (8 February 2007) when through the encouragement of Dawn Eden this blog started brewing. A big sip of Adam's Ale to everyone who contributes, reads, aids and abets this little project. God bless you!

My site is worth

My site is worth$8,311.44Your website value?

Since 2007 there has been 215,819 visits with 306,204 page views with an average of 207 per day. It's been fun so far! Let's stay in touch.

Here are some things to help celebrate:

Fr. Ference wrote an EXCELLENT article for the Homiletic and Pastoral Review that I highly recommend to you. Good job brother.

Here is another article that he recommends concerning beautiful women and the pro-life movement. Very interesting.

Frank sent this video in. I did not expect it to be very interesting but found myself watching it to the very end. No real connection to this blog other than it helps celebrate.

Along the same lines of having no real connection to this blog, Lynn sent this video in about Falling Water. Thanks! Recover well Lynn.

Brian sent this link to the Catholic News Angency (CNA)

Frank sent this puzzle game in. It is rather interesting. It helps to know that if you get a piect in its proper place there is a funny little sound that is made. WARNING: ADDICTION LEVEL LOW.

Ellen sent this in, "Publisher's Weekly is the trade magazine for publishers and booksellers. How delightful to see a surge in new editions of GKC coming out in 2011!" To read more look here.

Here is part one of six of Pam Stenzel's lecture to young folk about what they need to know about sex. It's not too bad for adults either. I do not recommend it for persons under grade 7. I think the most touching part is the second video. The information is quite shocking but important.

On a less cheery note - AT&T provides this PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT conerning texting and driving. Warning: It's sad.

SUNDAY VIDEO ON TAP - UNSHAKABLE!

Today is Low Sunday, Dominicana In Albis, Quasi Modo Sunday, the Second Sunday of our Easter celebration, and of course, Divine Mercy Sunday. Here is a faith shot in the arm to help you celebrate!




IN OTHER NEWS:

R.B. has graciously begun the construction of the Adam’s Ale domain. (THANKS!) I’m excited. There is not much there yet but if you want to see it: http://www.adamsale.org/

The greatest secret the Church ever tried not to keep: it’s social justice teaching. Here is a site that I accidentally stumbled upon if this interests you.

This is too cool! Kaz from NY sent this site. It is a twenty four hour media stream of the Vatican. Wait! Is that Fr. O. I see? Shouldn’t he be studying?

http://mediastream.vatican.va/mpeg4lan.sdp

The Diocese of Cleveland E-newsletter sends this link for Catholic job hunters.

Finally:

On Friday night, a few priests, seminarians, and a bunch of friends went to go see “Into Great Silence” here in Cleveland. I recommend the following if you are going to go see it.

First, for anyone over six feet (as I am) be prepared. I went to go see the four-hour Hamlet a number of years ago. I was much better prepared. I brought pillows to be comfortable through it. Theater seats were not designed for us. Bring a pillow or two. It will make the event much more enjoyable.

We were in one of the smaller screening rooms and it was pretty much packed. When we left it was not only dark outside, the rest of the theater was dark and abandoned. We should have gone out and talked after but it was late and (some of us) were tired. But consider having time to discuss the movie afterwards. As I bump into people or hear from them by Email the big question is, "So what did you think?" It would have been great to be able to talk about what each of us took away from the experience that night.

Prepare yourself to see this film. Go intending to contemplate as if praying for it is a beautiful, contemplative film! But don’t go expecting to see “a movie” as such.

And be wary if you join this order and they hand you a blue habit.

I hope you enjoy!

THE FIRST DRAUGHT OF ADAM'S ALE

Greetings and welcome to Adam's Ale. A big thank you and a first toast of Adam's Ale goes out to Dawn Eden and Brett (aka Saint Kansas) who helped and encouraged me to stop just thinking about opening a blog and actually do it.

If you are unfamiliar with Dawn, she is an incredibly spiritual and kind person and the author of The Thrill of the Chaste and Saint Kansas is an awesomely talented musician who did the instrumentals and vocal on her video Chastity Rome-Chick Blues.

This past week we met up in Ohio to bring the bring the hope and joy of her message to the good people of the great Diocese of Cleveland. A toast of Adam's Ale to the brave souls who turned out despite the sub-zero winds blowing off of Lake Erie. It shows how seriously you take your faith that while most of north east Ohio was shut down and shivering Clevelanders huddled around fire places and heating ducts you turned out to be challenged and supported in your faith. This bodes well for the future of Catholic life here!

A quick note about Adam's Ale. Having every other name rejected as having been taken already I resorted to perusing Latin dictionaries and indexes of books looking for something interesting. Adam's Ale, as it turns out, is water: the only drink available in the Garden of Eden. Throughout Scripture water is the source of purification and sanctification and perhaps through this blog I can share some of that joy of living through Adam's Ale with anyone who cares to pop by. (I also like the reference to Eden since Dawn helped this Luddite figure out how to put this together.) A prayer is going out tonight to you, whoever you may be, that will be joining me in the future.