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(chuckle) When my best friend became disillusioned with AOL, he began referring to it as "The Collective" (as in the Borg of Star Trek), and bailed. A few months later when I bailed, I found out why he called it by that pet name - I was only able to effect my escape by calling my credit card company and telling them that future charges from AOL were not authorized. (Sure beat calling up AOL to cancel and getting spammed within an inch of my life!)

Remember when AOL software fit on a couple of floppies? :-)

I don't know about St. Edward the Confessor, but as a Roman Catholic, seeing the High and Low Masses (and lack of reference to Rome on their sign) made me curious so I did some searching.

http://stedwards.home.att.net/index.html
real live preacher

Your St. Edwards is part of the Western Rite Catholic Church. I'll be interested to read your impressions if you do go.

What church would want to be named after the patron saint of kings, bad marriages, and separated spouses?

One that isn't in communion with Rome, for starters.

http://bigumuse.blogspot.com

For the records, AOL cd's can be extremely useful. They make great coasters, and I've got a few of them propping up a wobbly leg on my loveseat.

Wonder what the Catholic bloggers are saying about your church......

We are one in the spirit, as long as my oneness worships the same way your oneness does?

Don't worry. Not really mad. I still make fun of boys, Christian or heathen, who wear their pants down round their ankles.

St. Ed didn't really get a glowing description in Wikipedia. I am a member of St. Edward the Confessor Episcopal Church, and we think he was a cool guy. He founded Westminster Abbey, and was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. That is actually about all we know about him, other than his lineage and the fact that he had no children. Of course, we are also pretty sure he did not chop the head off of his wife, like another king in English history tied to our Church.

I have never posted a comment before, so I'd like to take the opportunity to say I love your site, even if you bust on my buddy St. Ed. I am discerning a call to the priesthood, so I have been especially interested in your thought on the ordained ministry.

Peace

I know of a real in-communion-with-Rome St. Edward the Confessor here in San Francisco. (The Archdiocese closed it about 10 years ago.) It is/was out on California Street, in Presidio Heights.

I don't know. Seems like kings, separated spouses and bad marriages might need a dedicated saint all their own these days. They probably need all the help they can get, wherever they can get it!

I can't help noticing that there used to be something before the word "Catholic" that's been painted over. I wonder what that was?

(Perhaps "Roman", and then they broke away from Rome?)

I wonder if the people at St Edward's church realise he is the saint of separated spouses and bad marriages. So many churches seem not to know how to deal with these things. Some churches even encourage women to stay in abusive, and even violent, marriages. We could do with more churches for people in bad marriages and for separated spouses.

I once read that the battle of Hastings was down to Edward the Confessor being shipwrecked off Normandy and rescued by William of Normandy, later William the Conqueror. While his guest Edward was strongly encouraged to make William his heir and may have been practically forced to sign a document to this end. I believe that Edward's wife was the sister of Harold Godwinson, who was deemed Edward's natural successor by the English.

Yeah, but before AOL became the margarine of online service providers, it was the coolest thing around because of the GUI--and it was Macintosh-only.

It didn't all go downhill until the PC users came stampeding in.

http://web.mac.com/smpuckster

I like the Devil's Dictionary definition for a saint:

Saint: A dead sinner revised and edited.

Keep the great stuff coming!

Peace.

Thanks for the helping of chuckles this morning - just what I needed with my coffee and muffin!

http://www.myspace.com/ashvajenny

Actually I think it's great that difficult marriages and separated spouses have a patron saint. (Don't know any kings, but I'm sure they need one too.)

Would love to go with you some Tuesday morning. A Baptist and a Lutheran both from Baylor attending a possible Western Rite Catholic Church Low Mass. Now that ought to be worth admission. Let me know when you are planning to go. BTW, my family loved worshipping with you guys. Even if we did forget and eat the bread before everyone else.

A priest once encouraged me to seek the patronage of a little known saint since they would probably be happy to have the attention and be really generous with me. Maybe that was the idea here :-)

AOL disks? I dunno. Maybe you could gather them up and use them when you play disc golf. It looks like that the supply will never end, and they could add a new challenge.

BTW, I looked up the church in an old San Antonio phone book. It is listed as "St. Edward the Confessor Holy Catholic Church Western Rite. So maybe it was "Holy" that was painted over on the sign. Because of being named after the patron saint of kings, separated spouses, and bad marriages?

If I died, and if we had saints at Covenant, I wonder what I would be the patron saint of...
Mystics, Cynics and pole dancers springs to mind.

Anyone else?

OldPoet

Gordon,

This is the first thing you've written that I really didnt get.

I grew up in a Baptist church, and they sure loved to make fun of Saints, maybe its a baptist thing?

I'm not Catholic, I just think saints are cool. They're the Christians who have come before us. If St. Edward understands about bad marriages, I bet he understood about depression and grown-up girls who never had a dad to love them, and lots of things that most churches want distance from. That's the kind of guy I'd want to have as my confessor.

You sort of have to go a little further than just "patron saint of kings, difficult marriages and separated spouses. As one commenter said, he built Westminster Abbey. Also, according to the Patron Saint Index,

During his reign Edward repulsed invasion, helped restore the King of Scotland to his throne, remitted unjust taxes, and was noted for his generosity to the poor and strangers, and for his piety and love of God. He married to satisfy his people, but he and the queen remained chaste. Reported to have the power to heal by touch. Built churches, including Westminster Abbey.

Sounds like a decent enough guy to name your church after; especially that whole "generosity to the poor and strangers" bit.

Rev. Ref

I think that Catholic Churches get bored with names sometimes. I mean, Sacred Heart, St. Mary's, St. Joseph's, St. Michael's, St. John's, Holy Family, etc are a dime a dozen. Perhaps bored church-namers consult a list of saints, put them in a hat, and draw for names. I mean, St. Gerard, St. Casimir, St. Mary Magdalen, St. Bede, and searching my parents' diocese, there's a St. Pancratius, all of which are fairly unusual for American church names.

My favorite saint of all time is St. Dympna. The church in which my grandfather was baptized in County Monaghan, Ireland, is St. Dympna's. After spending some months just reveling in the pronunciation of her nutty name, I finally looked her up on the several saints' websites. She's the Patron of the Mentally Ill.

I'm grateful. My crazy family needed all the help it could get!! :)

Katy McKenna Raymond www.fallible.com

It's kinda too bad that St. Edward didn't smile for his icon, I'm just sayin'. Plus, in the world of "The Inquisition, la la la..." (nod to Monty Python) why would ANY church want to be named after a Confessor.... I guess it's not as bad as "The Inquisitor" but still.

I think the tip-off for being patron saint of bad marriages would be the whole married but chaste rule.

Edward the Confessor is hardly an obscure saint: he's the patron saint of England!

Stopping in after a long time and was rather surprised by this post. Your irreverence is one of my favorite qualities but there's something bothering me about this one.

To the Anonymous User who posted on August 16, 2007 at 1:43pm:
It's the first I've heard that Edward the Confessor is the patron saint of England. When did this come about? I thought it was still St George. My son went to several St George's day parades when he was in the Cubs and Scouts on the understanding that he was celebrating his country's patron saint. Plus the Union flag is made up of the crosses of St Andrew (for Scotland), St David (for Wales) and St George (for England) and maybe St Patrick, too.

Interesting, Gordon, that you think that Protestants don't have saints in their tradition. Baptists and other non-conformists may not and the more Evnagelical churches may not, but they do feature for some members of the Church of England who are Protestant but still embrace the rich legacy of the saints, although they may not venerate them in the same way some, but not all, Catholics do. Some Protestants even think that all the saints who have gone before are in a sense around and about cheering them on and encouraging them on their journey.

What I find most odd is that the solemn high mass is at 10:30 while the low mass is at 8. It seems to me that the low mass sort of folk would be the most inclined to sleep in.

-goatmeal

As a Catholic, Roman version, I can tell you, we take our saints bloody seriously! My father's favorite is St. Anthony, patron saint of lost things. When I was little, he taught me the Very Special Prayer to St. Anthony to use whenever I was in Dire Need:

Tony, Tony, look around.
Something's lost and MUST be found!

I can tell you, in all my 48 years, Tony has only ever failed me once. And I suppose I wasn't meant to find that particular item for some obscure reason I'll probably never understand.

;)
Pat Christensen