Daily Links, Oct. 20: Bishops who bet on baseball

We just wrapped up production of our December issue and as of this afternoon, it’s off to the printer. It’s hard to believe that next week, we start on our first issue of 2012. Changes are a-brew here in our offices, changes you’ll notice in the January issue. So, if you don’t already subscribe, you should get on that.

The World Series got underway yesterday. National Catholic Reporter writes that St. Louis Archbishop Robert J. Carlson and Ft. Worth Bishop Kevin W. Vann have made a friendly wager on the game. “If the Cardinals win, Bishop Vann will send a taste of authentic Texas BBQ along with a Stetson cowboy hat. If the Rangers take the title, Archbishop Carlson will send a taste of local St. Louis favorites, including toasted ravioli from The Hill, Gus’s pretzels, locally-brewed Schlafly Beer and Fitz’s Root Beer, along with a Cardinals baseball cap to replace the caps Bishop Vann discarded when he moved to Texas.” These days, news about bishops tends to be dark and dismal, so this lighthearted story is appreciated—by me, anyway. One commenter grumpily opined, “These guys need to get a life, a wife, and a paying job so they can see what the world (and world series) is really like.” Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I suggest an ice cream sundae.

Speaking of news that’s dark and dismal, I’ve been trying all afternoon to avoid that photo of Ghadhafi that’s floating around the interwebs. The Vatican is calling the death of former president of Libya a moment that marks the end of a “harsh and oppressive regime.” Some experts aren’t so optimistic about what the death means for the country’s civil war.

In honor of World Food Day, Vox Nova reflects on why there’s so much about food in the Bible and what that means for our approach to it. Meanwhile, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun in China is on a hunger strike in protest of a recent court ruling that allows the government oversight in religious schools in China.

Our own catechetical/theology department, Glad You Asked is drawing significant criticism from one particular corner of the Catholic web. The article in question answers a question all Catholics will likely face at some point in their life: Can I receive communion at a Protestant church? Despite the many of the commenters’ accusations and personal attacks, the article does not promote or encourage going to communion at a Lutheran church, but, after explaining why it’s in contrast with the Code of Canon Law, merely explores why some Catholics have and would. See what you think.

Finally, Scott Alessi attempts to sort out just what Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain’s views on religion are.