My morning paper informs me:
Alligator finds its way into Florida woman’s bathroom
PALMETTO, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman found an unwelcome weekend guest in her bathroom — a 7-foot alligator.
Alexis Dunbar says she screamed and the gator hissed when she found it inside the bathroom of her home Saturday afternoon. Her boyfriend propped a small table by the bathroom to keep the gator inside until an officer from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission showed up to take him away.
Dunbar believes the gator used a doggie door on the back porch to get inside the house. Dunbar lives in Palmetto, which is south of St. Petersburg.
Spring is mating season for alligators and wildlife officials urge people to be extremely cautious, especially around water.
We have had minor run-ins with Florida wildlife. We have had to evict from our pool a large and unhappy turtle and two snakes who had been engaging amorous activity at the edge of the pool and had fallen in.
Although my favorite story is still the one about the women in Naples who had taken her dog for a walk, returned home, and then heard knocking at the door. She looked out the window and saw no one. The knocking resumed. She looked down and saw a large alligator hitting the door and asking if Skippy could come out and play. She screamed. The alligator did not go away.
The alligator got word of the “Florida Forever”agenda, apparently you did not Leon..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVTGK1uYqJo&feature=related
Leon, you have all the fun. I’ve lived on Miami Beach, Coconut Grove and Miami since 1972 and have never had such an experience.
I sent the article to a friend. He wrote back, asking if I put a screen over the tub drain. I replied, “Only when you’re in town!)
Sorry to post something completely off topic in this thread, but I don’t know how else to send you a message. (Please feel free to delete this.)
I would be very interested in your response to this.
http://www.fallibleblogma.com/index.php/archbishop-dolan-meets-a-critic-of-priests/
Crowhill,
The Archbishop is giving the same answers as the Catholic League. My question would be to ask him if he even has an Exorcist assigned to his Diocese. Also, given the latest scandal concerning a well known alleged Exorcist accused of sexual improprieties, I certainly do not think it laughable that certain persons involved claim to be worse off than before they went to him for the Ritual. But then maybe Archbishop Dolan does think it is all a joke.
The Diocese I live in made the headlines in the early nineties.They had already paid 3 and half million in silence settlements to abuse victims. If that kind of money was being paid out by Physicians, Teacher’s unions or schools and the Boy Scouts they all would have gone belly up by now. After reading that article, I have less respect for the Archbishop.
Mary — thanks for the response. I should have been more clear in my question.
I’m curious what people think about the numbers the Archbishop is assuming. I know there are people who want us to believe that the problem in the RCC is no worse than it is in Boy Scouts or schools or whatever, but I don’t buy it, and I’m curious what Leon thinks.
But … I really shouldn’t be hijacking this thread, so I ought to find a way to fit alligators into this.
If you live in Florida and have a small child, which is the greater threat — an alligator, a Scout leader, or the local priest?
I was saddened that husband lost his job and we could not purchase the condo in Boca my niece offered me .I have a friend who lives in Naples. She told me about the cougar that was treed on the next block in her development. Lots of children in her neighborhood and the wildlife people came and anesthesized the cat and relocated it. She complained that they were bringing in cougars from out West to help in the repopulation of the Florida panther. Hearing about these rats that walk on the phone wires outside , not to mention some big lizards that swim in the canals and eat pets when the opportunity arises , and I am not speaking of alligators along with the Burmese python pet overpopulation in the wild all resulted in my desire to move being squelched. She also warned me not to schedule a trip to River Country at a popular Orlando destination during Gay weeks there. How’s that for a segue Crowhill?
Crowhill, I read Arsebishop Dolan’s comments. He’s nothing more than a spinmeister. On Palm Sunday last year, he even said that the church should “not be singled out for a horror that has cursed every culture, religion, organization, institution, school, agency and family in the world.”
What gall!
You know, if I were that man in the airport and the good arsebishop suggested that I look myself in the mirror and ask myself if I see a predator, I would have slapped his face! Dolan is very, very lucky that didn’t happen to him.
Joseph, that is if you believe the exchange he realted every even happened.
Well, he does seem to be “the flavour of the month” and has become the face of the Church in the USA. One probably doesn’t rise to the top in the present climate by asking difficult questions.
As to numbers. My graduating class was a third homosexual, which some experts would say is likely reflective of the proportion among Catholic clergy in Canada and the US. So already we’re talking about a much bigger percentage of same sex attracted individuals than would be found among teachers (scout masters I have no idea about). Most of the scandals have involved post pubescent males. I think it’s quite possible then that our numbers are relativelybigger. I believe Sipes estimates up to 10% of clergy have had some degree of sexual contact with young people.
Does mandatory celibacy attract more same sex attrated guys? Perhaps. Though I think the Anglicans/Episcopalians may have similar stat’s. Could it be that the form western Christianity has taken in style and culture draws more feminine and homosexual men than most other professions and vocations? Leon could certainly enlighten us in that regard. However, the Greeks have had some scandals with their clergy that echo our own, so I don’t know. An interesting and indeed vital topic
Fr, Thankyou for your honesty Your estimates are compatable with what I have heard from ex seminarians who were disgusted by what they dealt with in the seminary . A priest friend confided that in his Diocese he dreaded mandatory priestly retreats because of what he saw and heard amongst the priests.
I thought about what ArchBishp Dolan said about parents as the most prolific abusers, and wondered who calculated the number of parents verses the percentage of them who molest their children and concocted the ratio of priest to parent abusers? Comparing priest abusers to parents is like comparing apples to oranges. Who calculated the number of adults who have offspring in the world? Also, the number of priest abusers is based on those reported which were proven credible! The best defense is offense? How very Christian!
P.S. Forgive typos bad arthritis in hands makes this a chore.
>Could it be that the form western Christianity
>has taken in style and culture draws more
>feminine and homosexual men than most other
>professions and vocations?
Certainly. There is an argument to be made that most forms of religion don’t appeal to men.
We can’t pin the blame entirely on any one cause, but we also can’t allow the fact that there are multiple causes to distract us from the fact that there really are causes.