Summer Vibing, installment 1
An Italian 80's synth disco band, graduations, and an ordination
Good Monday to you all my Substack subscribers, this one is a free post just to say hello and let you know what is coming.
But first, I want to introduce you to my latest obsession, Italo-disco sensation Mind Enterprises. With a peculiar mix of 80’s synth pop, throwback stylings, and a penchant for my favorite Italian apothocaric Campari, these guys have found me in just the nick of time to set the soundtrack to my summer. Enjoy them HERE on Instagram or on X HERE. At first I enjoyed it ironically, but after a few days, I like them sans irony. Vibe away friends.
We’ve had a busy June here in the Zelden House, with two graduations and an ordination. My eldest graduated from Portsmouth Abbey, where we have made our home since she was a mere 6 months old. My youngest graduated from 8th grade across the street at St. Philomena’s and she is headed to the Abbey in the fall. My brother Josh is now Fr. Josh, and will start his new assignment in Baton Rouge on July 1, and I’ll be posting on his ordination and gather some of my thoughts on the state of the church not quite two months into Leo’s reign.
My obsession with the post-conciliar period of my church continues apace, especially as old and covered up wounds have been revealed (again) in the interregnum between Pope Francis and Pope Leo. We are still arguing over what the church is to be, and my contention is that in order to chart some kind of path forward, we need to have a high resolution sense of what exactly happened, both in terms of the central office, but in all the local franchises. In other words, we must understand what happened at the parish level. To that end, I recorded two shows on my YouTube channel with two women who lived through it.
The first one I recorded was with the great
where we covered the parish scene in the late 70s and early 80s. You can watch HERE:Amy has been writing about the church for years, and was one of the original bloggers I ever read back in the early 2000’s. I’d love to hear what y’all think.
My next show I did was with my own mother Judy. She was a college freshman at Loyola in New Orleans the year the council convened. When I say she lived through it, I really mean it. It was an absolute pleasure to sit down with her and pick her brain. I hope that the apple (me) does not fall too far from the tree (her). You can watch us HERE:
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My next two Subscriber only posts will be on the beauty of an ordination followed by a mediation on the tension and interplay between what C.S. Lewis called “Logres and Britain” in his seminal novel That Hideous Strength.