Amateur Catholic miscellany

B-Teamer Owen Swain writes:

http://onionboy.typepad.com/luminousmiseries/
I was wondering if you could update the link. My blog is no longer called luminousmiseries_ii but once again is known simply as luminousmiseries and the correct url is above. Thanks. I know, I am an amatuer

--
::thrive!
Owen

I changed it in the blogroll, Owen. Sorry it took so long.


Rebecca Taylor of Mary Meets Dolly fame sent in a confession:

Subject: I took the money

Dear Amateur Catholic,

Last week I gave a talk on stem cells and cloning at a local parish. After it was over, the lady that booked me handed me a check, and instead of telling her to donate it to the Church, I said, "Thank-you" and took the money. Shocking, I know. I guess I just wanted the sensation and satisfaction of knowing that someone actually paid me for speaking out loud.

Can I still be part of the B-team? Please?

Ashamed, but sincere, ;)

Rebecca Taylor
www.marymeetsdolly.com/blog

See Rebecca, I wish you wouldn't have sent that in. Really, what we don't know won't hurt us. Nevertheless, the damage is done and now we need to spin this somehow. Hmmm, let's see...what would a Jesuit do? Oh - I got it! Since it's perfectly acceptable for a B-Teamer to accept beer for speaking (or for any other matter), all you have to do is explain that the woman who booked you was too busy to pick up your beer, so being the benevolent amateur that you are, you did the charitable thing and accepted the check and picked up the beer yourself. What if you didn't stop and pick up the beer on the way home? No problem. God is outside of time, He can apply it to past or future purchases. There, you're all set. No harm, no foul - thanks to Jesuit thought.

Also from Rebecca:

The Genetics and Health blog is a great online resource for all things genetics. It is written by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei, a Ph.D. in epidemiology and genetics and has been honored with a Forbes "Best of the Web" award.

Dr. Lei has a series called the Genetics Interview where she interviews a professional in the genetics field, usually with an M.D. or Ph.D. A few weeks ago she contacted me to do an interview for her site. It is up today. Here is the link:

http://www.geneticsandhealth.com/2006/10/12/genetics-interview-20-rebecca-taylor-of-mary-meets-dolly/

The science community on the internet can very very anti-religious and hostile to the pro-life point of view. Dr. Lei is very courageous giving me a forum to present some of the Catholic teaching on current issues in genetics and biotechnology to a largely secular audience. I imagine there maybe some negative feedback.

If you feel so inclined, please leave a comment after my interview to let Dr. Lei you appreciate the presentation of a pro-life, religious point of view.

Thanks,
Rebecca Taylor