Somber affairs

Hello:

Like millions of people today, my heart goes out to those affected by hurricane Katrina. The imagery on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch this morning was horrifying. If you wish to help victims of this disaster through a donation, the Network for Good is a site listing many reputable organizations that can put your generosity to good use.

I can't help but think back to the shameful comments certain people made during the tsunami disaster. In summary, these people (and there were far too many in my opinion) stated that the tsunami was God's wrath being visited upon mostly Muslim nations in retaliation for the 9-11 attacks. I won't delve into the matter any further in this BLOG, but if you are interested in learning more follow this link.

Liguori Publications is owned by the Redemptorist Order of the Roman Catholic Church. I had intended to speak about the Redemptorists (CSsR) at length in a series of upcoming posts, but I need to mention them today because of the hurricane. The Redemptorists maintain a strong presence in New Orleans and several members of the congregation had stayed behind to "ride out the storm". Those members have not been heard from since the storm hit the city. My friend Dave knows them personally and has some insight into the nature of crisis at his BLOG Saintly Sinner.

Today I leave you with Bible Basics: Seeking, Finding, and Growing in God's Wisdom - Job, Wisdom, and Sirach by Marilyn Gustin. This title looks at the nature of crisis and suffering as an element of the human condition. Drawing from the books of Job, Wisdom and Sirach "we learn that people remain largely the same across both time and culture". Marilyn Gustin has published an extensive list of titles with Liguori (including our Bible Basics series) and has developed a style which is readily accessible and easily understood.

It's been an interesting experience writing this BLOG. As wordy as I get, I can only scratch the surface of topics and then have to move right along. BLOGs may be the perfect metaphore for life.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

Things that inspire

Hello:

Hopefully today's post won't ramble away in the fashion that most of them have. The thing that makes me think that might happen is that I really haven't prepared anything for today. I have pages of notes for future posts, but none of them seem quite right for today. I do the same thing with my personal writing projects. Reams of notes, no finished product. Like my writing projects, I'm a work in progress. I continually get better at moving my projects forward and confronting the obstacles that prevent me from writing. Eventually, I'll have something to show for it. Honestly, it won't even matter if it is any good. It's kind of like a mental century ride. The important thing is to complete. John Gregory Dunne said "Writing is manual labor of the mind: a job, like laying pipe" and I think that there is a lot of wisdom in that. Even the never-ending note taking process is further than I have gone before and the daily writing to this BLOG is further yet.

I've been fortunate to know several people who have written, composed, published and / or produced a personal project. My friend John Cleary actually wrote and produced a musical called the Mystic. I don't have links handy for some of the others but I'll make a point of collecting them and sprinkling them liberally through upcoming posts (I bet you can't wait). Anyway, seeing others do these things inspires and strengthens my resolve to accomplish my goals.

In the spirit of inspiration, today I would like to bring attention to the works of Kathleen O'Connell Chesto. Kathleen is another of our major authors and has many titles in print at Liguori Publications (she also publishes with some other houses, but I won't specify them here). She has developed a reputation for writing on topics dealing with family faith, personal inspiration, and child development. Several months ago, she was the focus of a Liguori television infomercial that aired on PAX TV. Honestly, I don't think that sort of ad is good for Liguori and it didn't drive sales the way we had hoped. However the clips are somewhat interesting and you can view them here (Broadband clip 1, Broadband clip2), (Lowband clip1, Lowband clip2). You can also view a sample chapter of Raising Kids Who Care About Themselves, About Their World, About Each Other.

Those of you that know me are no doubt laughing over today's choice. Let's just say that I'm not really fond of "the little people". Somehow though, this selection just seemed to fit. Hopefully by next week, I'll have had some more experiences with Google ads and Froogle to relate to you.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

Insidious plot

Hello:

I am beginning to suspect that I have fallen victim to a trap of my own construction (very Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu). A few posts back I rather smuggly mentioned that with Liguori Publications list of more than 2,000 titles, the Liguorian magazine, and Theological Book Service's offerings it would be a long time before I ran out of titles to feature. I now realize what a reading backlog that I've created for myself. I am going to try REALLY REALLY hard to only suggest titles that I am familiar with (though I may not have read every word), genuinely like and feel may appeal to non-Catholics as well as Catholics. I'm under no allusions that this BLOG will ever pick up massive numbers of readers - BUT - I would like to provide something of value to those of you who are kind enough to visit on a regular basis (or at all).

Today, I'm just going to jump straight into my featured title. I'm still tired from the Saturday's century and it is Monday after all. Last Thursday, I mentioned that one of our top shelf authors is (was?) the recently deceased Abbot M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. It will be in keeping with the mystic and meditative slant that my recent postings have taken to suggest A Place Apart: Monastic Prayer and Practice for Everyone. Basil Pennington had quite a talent for helping those of us mired in the hectic day to day, introduce monastic calm (and dare I say a sense of tranquility?).

I'd like to wrap this up by saying that my thoughts have been with all those enduring hurricane Katrina.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

A mirror to ourselves

Hello:

Well, I survived yesterday's century and successfully completed 102 miles through the rolling hills of Southern Illinois. Despite the temptations, I didn't call it quits with a "Metric" century which is only 70 miles, but pushed myself harder than I ever have before and completed the last 30 miles. More impressive by far, were my friends Chris and Kasey who completed the same route on a tandem. Tandems are much heavier and difficult to ride for long distances.

All in all though, it was ideal weather for a St Louis August. The temperature was in the mid-eighties and the skies were mostly overcast. The humidity was even pretty low. We don't get a lot of days like that here during August.

Last week I wrote about the introspective nature of activities like cycling and said that all cyclists were philosophers. In response to that post, Christine left this comment:

"Your comment about being alone inside your head while cycling rings true for many forms of exercise. There was a time when I ran several miles a day. I looked forward to allowing my mind to explore whatever presented itself. Sometimes that was a difficult decision but more often it was the texture of concrete, the pace of my breathing or the scenery. Mundane, I know. But rarely have I felt more certain of the existence of God."

This is precisely the sort of remark and conversation that I hope this BLOG can spark. I spent some time pondering it (while peddling through those miles yesterday) and realized that I needed to discuss another aspect of "being alone inside your head". Not only does the mind turn toward examining the universe around us it also tends to turn inward. I frequently find myself staring into a mirror crafted from my own soul and polished bright by the miles and the hours.

Typically, I'll start my inward journey when some emotion or motivation doesn't ring true. Some days you just don't ride as well as others, and sometimes when you're weak your friends are strong. It is easy to fall into a trap made of resentment, jealousy and frustration; which I think drains your energy faster than hard riding. The opposite trap is more insidious but equally destructive. It's very easy to take an unhealthy pleasure from out performing your friends. There is a fine line between healthy competition and prideful fulfillment.

I've found that by confronting the image the mirror shows me, these "unhealthy" motivations and feelings tend to melt away. If I keep at it long enough, a ride becomes takes on a certain Buddahist quality. The world narrows and becomes only the breathing, only the peddaling, only the next revolution of the wheel. It is these moments which are the greatest gift of cycling.

The Liguori Publications book I would like to suggest today is Search for the Meaning of Life Essays and Reflections on the Mystical Experience by Willigis Jäger. I have to admit, that I haven't started reading this one yet. It is on my short list to read and I thought it was very topical for this posting. Mysticism and meditation are a couple of topics that have always interested me and there are some interesting tie-ins to many of the Saints.

Well, I think I've rambled enough for today. Worse yet, I've rambled in a hurry. Just glancing back through this post, I'm hoping that the message I'm trying to get across is not lost by my lack of editing.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

Saturday's post - written on Friday released on Sunday

Hello:

Well, I've learned a few things about BLOGGER. If you start a post the day before you post it, the date on it shows the day it was started. Not the day it was released. A small thing, but it tinkers with my idea of having at least one post each day.

I haven't gotten very far on my projects today, but I'm further ahead than I would have been without the time off. I'm becoming somewhat fascinated with this BLOG and I've been playing around with a few things besides just a daily posting. Hopefully, I'll be able to carry off my ideas for redesigning my BLOG template. I have programming experience in a variety of languages but have never picked up HTML. I'm also thinking about introducing GOOGLE ads. I think it will be interesting to see what sorts of ads appear on these pages.

I'm writing this post on Friday, but it's for Saturday's release. I'll be spending all day Saturday peddling my heart out on that Century I mentioned. Saturday evening, I'm going to a friend's annual Fiesta party (yes that means party, party). Not as cool as my own Halloween party of course, but pretty cool anyway. I need to track down some Mexican recipes so I'll have a dish to take. What I ended up doing was buying pastries at one of the Mexican bakeries on Cherokee Street. That area has become a thriving Latino neighborhood.

Hmmm, I think the best segue I can come up with here to tie in a Liguori Publications product, is our Libros Liguori imprint. I've given some attention to Libros before, but it fits nicely with the fiesta theme. I have to admit that I'm not familiar enough with the entire line to pick an appropriate selection (yo hablo espanol un poco) so I'm just picking one that I've been using as a learning tool (I like to see how accurately I can translate the material and if I can at least get the giest of it). El mensaje de Juan Diego by María Eugenia Schindler gives the basics of the Catholic perspective of Juan Diego. Wether you believe in the miraculous nature of these events or not, the role of Juan Diego in history had a tremendous impact on social, political and religious attitudes that have a real world affect which reverberates to the present day. This will probably be a topic that I return to at some point, because I find it fascinating.

Well that is probably more than enough for now. I need to get started on Sunday's post.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

Project with my Grandfather

Hello:

Yesterday I mentioned that I had taken Thursday and Friday off work to catch up on some personal projects. Besides cleaning the house and running to the bank, I like to focus on my writing when I can set some time aside. Today, though I'm hoping to focus on my writing, I'm excited to be working on a project with my Grandfather. My Grandfather is an interesting character. He's 83 now but still sports a full head of hair (more than I can say for myself), stands a proud 6' 2" tall and drives at least as safely as I do ( which may not be saying that much). We lost my Grandmother about 8 years ago and after about 2 years of severe depression, my Grandfather has gotten on about the business of living life. Today, he routinely lies about his age. Sixty seven to be safe, "old enough to get the senior's discount, young enough to interest the younger women" as he would say. He is both the joy and bane of every widow in Southern Illinois.

I'm hoping that the project that he and I are working on will eventually result in a magazine article. If I can't get a magazine to pick it up, I'll post it to the web (and drop the link here) because I think some people will find it interesting and it will certainly tickle my Grandfather.

The entire project revolves around a letter that was recently found in my Grandfather's Sister's things. While my Grandfather (let's call him Pa since the other takes so long to type) was serving in England during World War II, he had received orders that he was being shipped out to France. Pa (which is really what I call him) was under orders not to communicate with anyone, so he asked a lady who's family he had gotten to know if she would write to his Mother and tell her not to worry. My Grandfather shipped out with his transportation division and played a key part in the liberation of Paris from the occupying Nazi forces (2 years ago, he received a commendation from the French ambassador to the United States for his role in reopening the supply lines). His request to the English lady long forgotten, he was recently surprised to receive the letter from his niece who had been going through her Mother's things. His Mother had suffered a stroke about the time the letter had been sent and his Sister Mildred had taken care of their Mother's bills and correspondence. Anyway (where's an editor when you need one?), the letter turns out to be 7 pages long and quite touching. The lady recounts at length how proud my Great-Grandmother should be of her son. His polite manners, his deep affection for a girl back in the states named Alene (who later became my Grandmother) and his superior military service.

I've asked my Grandfather to write something to go in parallel with the letter. I think the contrasts between his experiences and the lady's observations of them should be interesting. I also think that the differences in his outlook as a scared teenager serving his country during war in a foreign land and those of a comfortably retired 83 year old will hold a reader's attention. Truthfully though, even if he and I are the only people to ever find value in this; it will be time and effort well spent. I love my Grandfather dearly, but sometimes we run out of things to talk about. Rehashing the same old adventures from his childhood and mine holds us for a little awhile, and his most recent romantic interludes for a little while more; but the opportunity to build a new set of common interests and experiences is something I am really looking forward to.

Today I'm going to feature two Liguori Publications titles. One from the perspective of children coping with the aging of their parents and the other from the perspective of Grandparents staying active in their Grandchildren's lives. How to Honor Your Aging Parents: Fundamental Principles of Caregiving by Richard P. Johnson, Ph.D. covers a topic that many of us will have to confront and provides a framework to allow us to do it in a healthy fashion. Liguori publishes several titles by Dr. Johnson. The other Liguori title I'd like to mention is Creative Grandparenting Across the Miles by Patricia L. Fry. We carry a variety of titles by Patricia Fry dealing with youth issues. Honestly, this is a topic that I'm not that familiar with but I wanted to provide a balanced perspective (and promote 2 Liguori books).

Well, I may have set a new record for rambling today. If you read this BLOG and have any thoughts about it at all, please take a moment and leave a comment. I'm grateful to Christian_Male who recently left a remark. Many thank you's to all of you who take the time to read this.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

A little R and R

Hello:

I took today and tomorrow off work. Not doing anything special, just catching up on the day to day bric-a-brac that never seems to get done. I'm planning to ride my first century this weekend (that's 100 miles), but I broke a spoke on my bike last Tuesday. Bike shops are notorious for their backlogs but occasionally they'll do a quick fix like a spoke while you wait. I went to Maplewood Cyclery today where I've been taking my business because I've been planning to buy a new bike from them in the Spring. Their "wrench" (bike mechanic) told me I'd be lucky to get it by Monday or Tuesday. I explained that I was looking forward to my first Century this weekend and that I was planning on spending several thousand dollars with them in the Spring (yes - my new bike will cost more than my first car). He said something like "Well we all have to miss rides we want to do". I took my wheel to South Side Cyclery which is pretty close to my house (in the Bevo district of South St. Louis) and they'll have it ready for me tomorrow night. Though I'm grateful to South Side for this, they don't really carry the level of bike I am planning to buy next Spring. There is however BigShark and I think now that I should seriously consider them.

My cycling hobby started about 4 years ago and the annual MS150 (pledge to stop Multiple Sclerosis) was the pinnacle of my rides. The first year that I was biking I might have logged 500 miles including the 150 miles from the MS ride. I finished last year with about 800 miles including the MS150. This year, I have all ready completed 1,004 miles. I plan on doing a century this Saturday and the MS150 is a few weeks away. Obviously, for me this will be a very good year miles wise. Serious cyclists can book 7,000 plus miles in a year (I know people that do this). I doubt that I will ever get to that level, but I still hope to improve a little each year.

Greg LeMond (a three time Tour De France winner) once said "It never gets easier, you just go faster". The more I ponder this statement the more meaningful it becomes. One thing about cycling is that no matter how many people you ride with (like Team Lion's Choice) you have ample time to be alone inside your head. I'm not certain if philosophers seek out cycling or if cycling turns people into philosophers, but I do know that all cyclists are philosophers. You'd be amazed at the wisdoms great and small that you can be routinely exposed to if you hang around cyclists.

Philosophy and Spirituality frequently intersect. As one of the largest Catholic Publishers in the world, Liguori Publications can lay claim to authors that represent some of the greatest modern minds in both philosophy and spirituality. Though I have to admit that I have not read many of his works, Liguori is quite proud to carry several titles by the recently deceased Abbot M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O. One of his works that I have spent enough time with to recognize the value of and feel confident in recommending is The Abbey Prayer Book. This is a simple but beautiful work that lightens the burdens of daily life in subtle but significant ways. I believe this book has value to the Catholic, the Christian or generally Spiritual alike.

I keep telling myself that I'll develop the knack of shortening these posts. I'm beginning to think that that just isn't going to happen. They seem to have found a natural length that is surprisingly consistent in word count and the time taken to write. Since my own satisfaction is a significant motivator in my writing these posts, I think I'll keep them "as is" for now. I'd like to thank Christine for her kind comment to yesterday's post. I sincerely hope that this BLOG will cross the radars of many more people like her.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

A new BLOG in Liguori town?

Hello:

There are now (at least known to me) three Liguori Publications BLOGs in play. The official one where Liguori Press Releases are posted, the new Saintly Sinner by Dave and my own (Dark Glass) that you are reading. Of the three, I am certain that Dave's new BLOG will prove to have more appeal to those seeking insight into Catholic (or just personal) Spirituality.

Writing these posts is always an odd little journey. I may start with a particular destination in mind and then wind up someplace completely different. I may wind up where I intended, but get there by an unexpected route. One thing that I intended to mention yesterday was Catholic Relics. I bring it up because one of the many neat things about working at Liguori is that relics are almost common place items. I mean, you won't see something large like the heart of St. Valentine, but we have several bone chips of St. Gerard Majella and St Francis Xavier Seelos sitting non-chalantly on the occasional bookshelf. Not the type of thing that was common at other companies I have worked for.

Well, I think that I've finished off my thoughts from yesterday; so I'll feature a book for today and then wrap up. Today, I'd like to feature Be Mindful of Us Prayers to the Saints by Anthony Chiffolo. This book is a little more spiritual than titles I will normally feature. Definitely, the sort of thing Dave might write about at his Saintly Sinner Blog. This book contains short biographies of Saints with prayers in the style of their charism. I have found reading it to be a mood lifter. If you enjoy this one, be certain to check out our other titles by Anthony Chiffolo.

Well, I think that I've written more than enough for today. If you're still craving more (I can dream can't I?) feel free to visit my MS150 Fundraising Site. And of course, don't hesitate to leave me a comment.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

My fascination with Saints

Hello:

It's probably because I'm not Catholic, but over the years, I've developed quite a fascination with the Saints. Those that know me are often surprised to learn that I was raised Southern Baptist (which is about as far across the spectrum from Catholicism as you can get). The Church of my youth maintained a certain smugness in its simplicity which laid the foundations of the curiosity I have today for the richness of Catholic ceremony and tradition (can you say "run-on" sentence?). The art, the architecture, the ceremonial hocus pocus all call to me to be explored and investigated. For some reason though, my fascination has always centered on the Saints.

In modern times the Catholic Church has found itself in a bit of quandary in regard to the Saints. In the past strong emphasis on the supernatural carryingson (sp?) of the Saints lead to an awkward devotion that sometimes diverted the faithful from God and caused mistrust with other faiths. Today the Church tries to down play Saintly miracles, while strengthening the importance of the Saints as heros setting good examples through strong and pure character traits.

Myself, I find my fascination with them in the old style. I have accumulated a collection of books and other references that I pour over in idle moments like a child with a comic. Trans and bi location, levitation, divine knowledge and communication. We should develop a Dungeons and Dragons like card game played with Saints, Angels and Demons. Now that I think of it, I bet there is something out there.

Well, this post hit ramble mark from the first sentence. Oh well, that's what get sometimes if you're a BLOG reader (I presume I have SOME readers). I'll wrap this up with another Liguori Publications title that I actually read. A Year With the Saints by Mark Water. This book gives nice brief summaries of the Saints and has beautiful full color illustrations throughout, not just on the cover. It's arranged in a sort of Saint a day format that I think would appeal to anyone wishing to indulge their curiosity regarding the Saints.

Congratulations - it looks like you've made it to the end of this post. If you've been reading since the beginning, we've more than made it past the one week mark (Saturday and Sunday included). Saints are a topic that I will visit from time to time and I'm sure that St. Sebastian will walk onto the stage at some point. He always seems to.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

A brief post?

Hello:

I'm going to try to be quick with this post, but we've seen how well that's worked in the past. I came into work early today to prepare for a meeting. The meeting was canceled, which opened up my entire afternoon. Somehow, I still feel behind.

I had intended to talk about my recent experience with Google adsense words today, but I think that may take too long to do properly. Quick and cheap, but no sales dollars yet. I have only placed a single ad so far so it isn't busting the budget. There seems to be a LOT of research that I need to do into appropriate keywords, etc. I'm certain that I'll return to this topic frequently.

Speaking of topics that I will mention frequently, please visit my MS150 pledge site. Every tax-deductible dollar that you donate goes directly to helping fund medical research and to provide valuable support services to aid those suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. My riding 150 (I'm actually going to try for 200) miles on a bicycle is the easy part. Finding generous donors like yourself (you are susceptible to flattery aren't you) is much tougher.

Today, I'd like to direct your attention to Europe's Monastery and Convent Guesthouses A Pilgrim's Travel GuideRevised and Updated by Kevin J. Wright. We have several books written by Kevin and also several other travel books. Once again, I'm featuring titles that I actually enjoy reading. I'll be visiting Turin, Italy (home of the Shroud of Turin) this February for the Winter Olympics and have gotten some useful information from these books. Don't worry if you want to know more about my trip. I'm sure that between now and then, I will speak about it ad infinitum (you might think ad nueseum).

Don't worry that I might run out of titles to feature. Liguori Publications has over 2,000 titles in it's backlist and of course we are publishing more every day. If I do manage to run out of those, I can start on the Liguorian Magazine or Theological Book Service so have no fear faithful readers (I have an image of people lying awake in their beds, contemplating the horror of thousands of my posts), I'll have plenty of titles to feature.

Hmmm, this might be a little shorter than my standard post but not as brief as I had intended. Please feel free to leave a comment. Spam and hatemail welcome.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

Moonlight ramble had me out until 3:30 AM

Hello:

Yesterday was certainly a non-stop day. I spent several hours and more than $5,000 at Lowes arranging to get a new roof for the house. Then I went to a wedding shower, a dinner party and finally the Moonlight Ramble. I've been riding for about 4 years now and have never seen anything like the 41st annual St Louis Moonlight Ramble. It was a complete circus. More than 10,000 riders. Many were wearing elaborate glow-in-the-dark costumes and riding homemade trick bikes. A lot of families turned out and there were tons of kids. What I saw way too much of though, were people without helmets. It is so easy to get seriously injured on a bike. If you don't care for your own safety, please make your children wear one. In my opinion the event was very dangerous. A lot of people didn't know standard bike etiquete (slow riders to the right, announcing that you are passing, etc). I saw more than one rider taken away in an ambluance. I didn't get home until 3:30 AM, which has made today slow paced. I often get up at 4 AM (I heard that gasp - it works for me).

One last cycling related note - I will be riding in my fourth MS150 bike ride this year. This extremely worthwhile event raises money and awareness to support medical research into Multiple Scelrosis and to provide valuable support services to the more than 400,000 sufferers of MS nationwide. I would really appreciate it if you would make a tax deductible pledge to support my ride. I'll be mentioning this event frequently, but please pledge and please pledge now.

The moon (which was almost full last night) may not be shining right now, but I've still managed to ramble through 2 paragraphs and I haven't even mentioned any of the topics that I had planned for today. I don't know if anyone is actually reading these postings, but I am finding it addicting to make them.

Today, I'd like to mention a Liguori Publications title that has actually been on the secular best sellers list (I think it was the New York Times, but don't quote me on that) and was a featured item on the QVC shopping network. Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette. Not only do I own a copy of this cookbook, I frequently give it as a gift. The recipes are great and the historical quotes and illustrations inside make it a work of art that both my religious and secular friends seem to cherish. We actually have several cookbooks. I enjoy them all, but the soups book is my favorite (probably my favorite of everything we publish).

Well, I think this is more than enough for today. I haven't event started my personal errands. In upcoming posts I'll try to talk about my experiences with Google ads, more on the MS150, my fledgling attempts at writing, some articles on Pope Benedict XVI (maybe, I'm not certain that I want to go there), my love of Missouri Wineries and wine in general and whatever else crosses the shallow horizon of my attention span.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

Even on the weekend?

Hello:

I thought I would go ahead and make a post today even though it is Saturday morning. One of my personal goals for this project is that by engaging in some writing everyday, I will jump start my novel project (though I would be satisfied with completing one of my short-story ideas). I'm one of those people with thousands of ideas and hundreds of works in progress. I think that if I could ever just finish one, the others might start dropping into place. I have become a master of every advoidance technique ever devised. I'm tempted to drop a link to an MP3 of the Beetles' "Paperback Writer", but I'm not interested in walking the labyrinth of copyright issues right now.

I have to admit that I am enjoying creating these BLOG posts. I may have to spin off a strictly personal one soon though. No matter how many times I embed the "hold harmless" language that I'm not Catholic and that this BLOG does not represent any official communication from Liguori Publications, I still find myself hesitating to write certain things or to widely distribute links to this site. For instance, in the first paragraph; I changed a reference to myself as a "poor bastard" to "one of those people". I specifically wrote this paragraph so that I could say "bastard" but give it some context.

Today promises to be incredibly busy. Ordering a new roof for the house (EXPENSIVE), going to a wedding shower (NOT CHEAP), dinner at my friend Liane's house and finally riding in the Moonlight Ramble. I don't think that I've mentioned it before, but I am an avid cyclist. At least, I want to become avid. Right now, I am probably a bit more rabid than avid. This year, I've been trying to do 100 miles a week and am just shy of 1,000 miles for the year. That may sound like a lot to some of you - but I know people who do more than 7,000 miles in a year. I ride with Team Lion's Choice here in St. Louis. Our big event each year is the MS150 ride to support Multiple Scelorosis research. You'll here a lot more about that soon, because I'm hoping that some of you will pledge my ride and help me raise money. I don't have the link ready for that yet though - so save up your dollars. I made a note for myself to set that up for tomorrow's post.

Geesh, it doesn't take much for these posts to become long. I'll try to school myself to break them up more in the future. Don't leave yet, I still want to feature a Liguori product. The title for today's post is Mary, Mother of God Her Life in Icons and Scripture which was Edited by Giovanna Parravicinoand has a Foreword by Robert E. Barron. It is a stunningly beautiful book that I actually keep on the bookcase in my office. I picked this title because I think that anyone with an interest in art would be proud to own this volume. Catholics and many other Christians will find that it resonates strongly with their spirituality. Some of the images are quite moving.

Well, I think that you'll agree that this is more than enough for now. The day awaits. I can't believe how many things I have cut from the schedule (such as going to the gym) and it still looks like a killer day. For good or bad, I have a long list of topics sitting on my desk for tomorrow's post. As my parting thought, if you read this blog - PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave a comment. I'd love to know that someone has seen it.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

Liguori works to remain relevant to the modern Catholic

Hello:

Another crazy week has almost finished here at Liguori Publications. I don't think I mentioned it before but there is another Liguori BLOG. Check out Ligouri's 'official' BLOG site where we publish Press Releases regarding new products and special events. It's probably the most limited utilization of a BLOGs functionality that you will ever see. Depending on my experiences with this BLOG effort - there may be many new ones on the horizon.


Recognizing that it will become increasingly important for Liguori to stay in touch with the needs of parishes; we have recently met with John Howard of Parish Life Consulting for a more "in the trenches" perspective.


We have also placed more emphasis on the needs of the Hispanic Market via our Libros Liguori imprint. The company is putting some weight behind this effort. Myself and several other employees have been taking on-site Spanish classes once a week for the past year and a half. Our Spanish Professor is an interesting character named Emil St Pellicer. Born and raised in Africa (Morrocco), his Father was French and his Mother was Spanish. For variety, he served in the United States Army. I'm sure to mention Emil from time to time. As you might imagine, he is memorable. In addition to the classes, we occasionally have speakers present to the company on a variety of topics dealing with the Latino market. Today, we had Jorge DelGado, Director of Hispanic Ministries for the Archdiocese of Galveston - Houston giving a lecture.

I should be getting back to work, but I want to wrap this up by featuring one of our Spanish titles. Una espiritualidad para catequistasAl servicio del Pueblo de Dios by Richard R. Gaillardetz is one of our popular Spanish titles. I have to admit that I picked it to feature because my friend Israel Martinez (who is also an author) is on the cover. Israel no longer works here, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out his chubby cheeks.

Enjoy your weekend,

P. Del Ricci

Left eye focused - right eye not

Hello:

I made the mistake of starting today's post yesterday. Just dropping in little snippets as they occured to me. The result may be more patchwork than normal. It might be better if I broke topics into separate posts - I guess I'll just have to find my way through guidelines like that. I just decided to break this into at least 2 posts, but I thought I would leave what I had all ready written.


Yesterday, I signed up for Liguori's first Google ads. Since it was mostly a research exercise, I didn't want to spend a fortune. I actually limited it to $15 per day. I'm promoting the book to the right so I picked some key words that could have broken the bank. Bible, Baseball, etc. Since 6 PM yesterday - I've spent about $1. I think my budget will be safe for now.

Going forward, I think I am going to try and highlight one of our titles with each posting. Hopefully, it will drive sales. If nothing else, the cover art will make my BLOG more interesting looking. Today's title is: "And God Said, Play Ball!Amusing and Thought-Provoking Parallels Between the Bible and Baseball" by Gary Graf. It's been a popular title so far because it is so accessible and light hearted. Not my cup of tea (I'm not a big baseball fan and I'm not Catholic) but a fun book none-the-less. Patricia Rice of the St Louis Post-Dispatch, did a nice review of it back in April. You can also read a sample chapter.

Liguori is located just outside of St. Louis, AKA the "Rome of the West"; so don't be surprised that a lot of St Louis references make it into this BLOG.

I need to run off now to attend a lecture (I'll talk more about that in the next post). I would have liked to have posted all of this content at once, but it will be a while before I have time to post the rest of it and I want to get this out. I wouldn't want to disappoint the hoards of readers that rush to this BLOG each day.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

[01/04/06 - We have sold out of the hardback version of And God Said, Play Ball! Amusing and Thought-Provoking Parallels Between the Bible and Baseball by Gary Graf. We have replaced it with a paperback version. I wish we had this problem more often. Feel free to read a sample chapter P. Del Ricci ]

Saint Mosiac 

A little less focused

Hello:

This morning's post will probably be a ramble from start to finish. I'm insanely busy today but I want to keep the flow going with this BLOG. As I've mentioned in every previous post, this BLOG is both an outlet of personal expression AND an experiment to generate sales for my company's e-commerce site (Liguori Publications). Yesterday, I got my first comments made on this BLOG. Of 7 that were posted, 6 were spam. Many thanks to Amanda for leaving a real post.

In regard to this BLOG - yesterday was a research day rather than a post day. I submitted the site to GOOGLE for indexing, learned how to post a photo and learned how to make changes to the BLOG template (check back frequently - I hope to be making changes soon). I also spent time organizing topics that I plan to explore more fully on this BLOG in the future.

I did a little searching this morning to see if my BLOG could be found by Googling Liguori Publications Blog. I couldn't find mine yet - but I found a surprising number of other BLOGS. After some internal debate - I am NOT going to link to them from here. A few were EXTREMELY conservative which I am not (in fact, I'm not Catholic either). It seems best to avoid contact with other BLOGGERS who may not respect that the opinions in this BLOG are my own and do not represent my company.

That should be enough for today.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci

Burne-Jones 

Expanding Role of the Laity in the Church

Hello:

Here we are at my third post and it is hard to say if anyone else has read this BLOG. If you do happen to be here, please take a moment to leave a comment. Even if you hate these posts, I would like to know if someone is there.

Within the Catholic Publishing Industry (I work at Liguori Publications) there is a lot of effort being expended to understand the increasing role of the Laity within the Church. Even the secular newspapers are beginning to cover the phenomenon (article 1, article 2). Traditionally, my company relied on selling into the hierarchy of the Church and this shift has left us needing to realign our editorial development and content distribution to a differently educated and decentralized purchasing base. On the positive side, our eyes and ears are now fully open as we grow more in tune to the needs of the modern Church. In the interest of keeping this BLOG manageablely brief, I'm going to leave this topic right now but expect me to return to this frequently.

So let's talk about the things that I will be discussing on this BLOG and a few other notes that may be interesting. Let's also make very clear that THIS BLOG IS NOT ENDORSED BY LIGUORI PUBLICATIONS. The content and opinions expressed are entirely my own including and factual or theological inaccuracies.

Since this is my personal BLOG where I just happen to be covering topics that relate to my work, I will be giving the content my own personal spin. You may be interested (though you probably won't be) to know that I am not Catholic. I am however fascinated by the history, the art, the architecture and the hierarchy of the Church. So I may discuss topics with ancient roots, like the Eastern Catholic Rite (similar to the Eastern Orthodox but not the same) or modern issues like the large numbers of parish closings that both the Church and cities are struggling with. Things like the board of St Stanislaus being threatened with excommunication as they battle with Bishop Burke will make it onto my radar, whereas the newest fashions in vestments probably won't (I guess it depends on what they look like).

Anyway - this is my personal ramble which will deal with an informed outsider's view of the Catholic Church and events that I care to relate from inside the beautiful campus of Liguori. I hope that a few people will make a habit of checking this BLOG out from time to time. Stick with me long enough and I guarantee that eventually you will be offended, enlightened, and entertained. Hopefully, the stretches of boredom in between won't be too long.

P. Del Ricci

Del Ricci's Second Post - "A Man Who Became Pope"

Hello:

So the buzz around here today is that Hallmark Channel is broadcasting a new movie "A Man Who Became Pope". You may remember from my first post that I work for Liguori Publications (yes, that was a shameless link placement for SEO purposes). Anyway, one of our authors Gian Franco Svidercoschi wrote Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of John Paul II and might be interviewed during a segment of the broadcast. The movie is "loosely based" on his book and they thought he could provide a good back story. It seems that they were still working on the production a few weeks ago when Hallmark contacted us trying to reach the author. The author lives in Italy and apparently the entire country takes vacation during the month of August. At this point (and the thing airs tonight) we don't know if he's in it or not. Now obviously, if he's in it - we'd like to promote that fact. Even if he isn't the movie is based on his book. It's all peering through a dark glass. Being a Catholic Publisher (I did mention that didn't I?) we of course have a lot of titles dealing with the Papacy in general and John Paul II specifically. One of my favorites is The Incredible Book of Vatican Facts and Papal Curiosities: A Treasury of Trivia.

Whoops, started to drift which is a clear indicator that it is time to wind down a posting. Obviously, we don't have as much information about this broadcast as we would like and have not been able to properly prepare for promoting our product. I should be able to publish some additional links regarding the subject later. I hope that some of 'you' will find them of interest.

P. Del Ricci

First post - time to put pen to paper

Hello:

Hopefully more eyes than my own will view this site and it will be judged to have some small value or at least to be of interest. BLOGS, of course, are the uber hot thing right now. Have I created this one just to have one? No. Have I created it because I think that the world is desperately lacking the wisdom I am about to convey? No. I've decided to write / create this BLOG for a variety of straighforward reasons that should become apparent if you read on.

I work for a Catholic Publishing House called Liguori Publications. Though I'll be using a pen name (num de plume) of Padre Philip Del Ricci, it should be easy enough to determine who I am. One of my responsibilities at Liguori is the promotion of content through electronic means, this includes e-commerce and digital distribution (though photocopiers are electronic, this doesn't seem to be one of my responsibilities). One of the beauties of blogs is that they are a cheap, fast and efficient way to increase SEO (Search Engine Optimization). By sprinkling relevent links throughout this posting to sites that I have some affiliation with (Theological Book Service, Liguori's Mission Site, Liguorian Magazine and of course Liguori's e-commerce site) I'm able to increase (oh so slightly) the number of "authoritative" links to those sites which can help to boost our rankings in the search engines.

Another inspiration for this BLOG is personal. Among my other character flaws, I am an aspiring writer who finds it impossible to write (if you have ever considered writing, I suggest you check out Freelance Factor). I've been told that the best way to begin writing is to write. The obstacle for me is that I want to give birth to a complete magnum opus like Athena from Zeaus' head. If I can teach myself that writing small is still writing I may actually write that novel that keeps trying to see the light. Since I am in the enviable position of being able to get paid while I write a BLOG, what have I been waiting for?

I seem to be violating a Cardinal rule (you can tell they are Cardinals because they wear read caps) of BLOGS by writing so long, so I'll publish this and ramble some more later. PLEASE leave a comment if you read this. I am really curious how many people will encounter this BLOG. As things develop, if I find that personal issues keep surfacing that don't blend well with the work-flavor of this one; I will split off a new one to pursue those avenues that I certainly hope that you'll find more interesting.

P. Del Ricci