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RIDDLE

DO YOU KNOW THAT THEY ARE TEARING DOWN TITAN STADIUM?
THEY ARE GOING TO BUILD HONEYMOON COTTAGES FOR THE PRIESTS.

Data entry tech comment: TITAN STADIUM IS A NICKNAME FOR THE UNIV. OF DETROIT'S STADIUM.

Where learned: UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT

Keyword(s): RELIGION CATHOLICISM

Subject headings: RIDDLE -- Riddle Question

Date learned: 09-27-1967

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CHRISTMAS CUSTOM

AT CHRISTMAS TIME, THE CHURCH ORGANIST OF ST. PETER & PAUL
SELLS A SMALL WAFER CALLED OPLATIKA. THEY ARE SQUARE
AND TASTE LIKE A COMMUNION TYPE HOST. AFTER MIDNIGHT MASS,
THE FAMILIES HAVE A DINNER AT WHICH EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY
BREAKS OFF A PIECE AND EATS IT.

Submitter comment:

[St. Peter & Paul is a] Roman Catholic [church.]

Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT ; informant's home

Keyword(s): FOOD CUSTOM ; ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

Subject headings: CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- December 21 solstice to March 20 Oplatki
CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- December 21 solstice to March 20 Church

Date learned: 11-02-1969

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CAT BURIAL JOKE

A WOMAN BROUGHT HER DEAD CAT TO THE LOCAL CATHOLIC CHURCH AND
ASKED THE PRIEST TO HAVE A BURIAL SERVICE FOR HIM. THE PRIEST
SAID, "WE DO NOT BURY CATS. YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE HIM TO ANOTHER
CHURCH." SHE SAID, "I WAS GOING TO SPEND $35,000 ON THE
FUNERAL." THE PRIEST SAID, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOUR CAT WAS
CATHOLIC."

Where learned: MICHIGAN ; HAMTRAMCK

Keyword(s): CAT ; CATHOLIC CHURCH ; FUNERAL PREPARATION ; HUMOR ; PRIEST ; RELIGION ; SURPRISE ENDING

James Callow Keyword(s): SATIRE OF MERCENARY CATHOLIC PRIESTS

Subject headings: PROSE NARRATIVE -- Jest Anecdote

Date learned: 10-09-1971

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POPE PAUL'S GOT RHYTHM.

Data entry tech comment: THIS VERSE COULD REFER TO A POPULAR SONG OR IT COULD
DEAL WITH THE METHOD OF BIRTH CONTROL UNDER THE LAWS OF THE CHURCH.

Where learned: DETROIT ; MICHIGAN, ASSUMED

Keyword(s): RELIGION PUN

James Callow Keyword(s): CATHOLICISM ; I'VE GOT RHYTHM

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Art Craft Architecture Art, Craft, Architecture

Date learned: 11-20-1968

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CARRY A ROSARY AT ALL TIMES SO THAT THE BLESSED MOTHER WILL
PROTECT YOU.

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Keyword(s): Catholic ; SACRAMENTAL ; VIRGIN MARY

Subject headings: BELIEF -- Religious hero
BELIEF -- Use of Object

Date learned: 06-14-1973

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IF YOU PUT A BLESSED MOTHER STATUE IN THE WINDOW, IT WON'T
RAIN.

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE

Keyword(s): Catholic ; CATHOLICISM ; VIRGIN MARY

Subject headings: BELIEF -- Religious hero
BELIEF -- Sign or prediction through Natural atmospheric phenomenon

Date learned: 06-14-1973

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A woman was in church praying to the Blessed Mother. Suddenly she heard a voice say, "My name is Jesus." The woman did not answer, but only prayed harder. Again the voice sounded. The woman turned around, looked, and continued praying. Again in happened. The woman was then very angry and said "Keep Quiet! Can't you see I am talking to your mother?"

Data entry tech comment:

Motifs entered by TRD

Where learned: SCHOOL ; Myself

Keyword(s): Catholic ; CATHOLICISM ; Family Relationships ; HUMOR ; MOTHER ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS ; Religious Humor ; Respect for Elders ; VIRGIN MARY

Subject headings: PROSE NARRATIVE -- Religious

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A woman was in church praying to the Blessed Mother. Suddenly she heard a voice say, "My name is Jesus." The woman did not answer, but only prayed harder. Again the voice sounded. The woman turned around, looked, and continued praying. Again in happened. The woman was then very angry and said "Keep Quiet! Can't you see I am talking to your mother?"

Data entry tech comment:

Motifs entered by TRD

Where learned: SCHOOL ; Myself

Keyword(s): Catholic ; Catholocism ; Family Relationships ; HUMOR ; MOTHER ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS ; Religious Humor ; Respect for Elders ; VIRGIN MARY

Subject headings:

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Caught

Three men: a Catholic, Jew and Protestant; were digging a ditch in front of a house of inequity. They looked up and saw the Rabbi coming down the street. The Rabbi stopped in front of the house, looked both ways and ran up the steps. When this happened the Catholic and Protestant really gave it to the Jew. A little later, the Protestant minister came down the street, stopped in front of the house, looked both ways and ran up the steps. Well now it was the Protestant's turn to be razzed. A little later the three saw a Catholic priest walk up to the front of the house, look both ways and run up the steps. The Catholic man yelled "There must be somebody sick in there!"

Data entry tech comment:

Motifs added by TRD

Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT ; Watson, Hugh

Keyword(s): ALLUSION TO PROSTITUTION ; Catholic ; HUMOR ; Jewish ; JOKE ; PROSTITUTION ; Protestant ; RELIGION

Subject headings: PROSE NARRATIVE -- Jest Anecdote

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Ethnic: Native American

The Pipe:

The place to start in liturgical adaptation is to use the Sacred Pipe as a prayer instrument. This will probably in time lead to the Pipe as an official sacramental like holy water. The Pipe is a wonderful symbol of Christ because it is the instrument of the mediator in the Sioux Religion just as the Sacred Humanity is the instrument of Christ the Mediator in our Christian Religion. Christ fulfills the Pipe rather than destroys it since He does in a more perfect way what the person praying with the Pipe does in an imperfect way. The Pipe, then, is the great Sioux foreshadowing of Christ in HIs Priestly Office. A person who understands and appreciates the Sacred Pipe will be disposed and not hindered from accepting Christ. I have found this true from experience. The Pipe must be purified, even exorcised if necessary like Holy Water and "baptized." When this is done, it is no longer the same Pipe which the early missionaries condemned. Once a person, whether Indian or non-Indian had this vision, he can no longer pray with the Pipe in exactly the same way as before. This is most important to remember: we are no longer talking about the same exact Pipe as the early missionaries because they did not see it in this way.

The Sacred Pipe is the religious symbol which is at the center of every traditional religious ceremony which all Indians of the Plains performed. It would be well to read one book, The Sacred Pipe, by Joseph E. Brown, Oklahoma Press (republished this year). In this account of Nicholas Black Elk, one of the great Catholic catechists on the Pine Ridge Reservation, we see all that the Pipe might stand for. If we want to grasp and summarize all the true cultural religious values of the Sioux Religion, then we must make our approach to adaptation beginning with the Sacred Pipe. If someone would build a Gothic Church, sing (a) Gregorian chant and wear Roman vestaments and at the same time reject the Sacred Humanity of Christ, this would be faulty acceptance of the Catholic Religion. The same is literally true of adapting the externals of the Sioux Religion such as language, music, beadwork, etc. without the Pipe. Whatever is said of the Sioux Religion is true of all the Plains Indians.

By adapting the Pipe we are getting at the natural starting point in their own minds. When you have taken the Pipe into the Catholic Church, you have taken in the essential good of their religion. Does this mean that we need to take in all their religious values without careful examination? No, some of these must be purified or even rejected. The advantage of starting with the Pipe as a prayer instrument (which it always was in their tradition) is that it creates a frequent occasion for dialog with the Indian people and for becoming involved in conversations which were closed to one before. It is most important to talk to the Indian people in an atmosphere of sympathetic acceptance to learn what the Pipe really means to them.

There will be good Catholic Indians who will not want to accept the Pipe because it has been condemned by some Fathers. It is important here to give time for new ideas to seep in. It took three or four months for one of my good Catholic full bloods to accept the use of the Pipe by the priest because of past condemnation. But when the idea finally got across that we are "baptizing" the Pipe, he said with great joy that he "wanted to be the godfather." It wasn't that he did not love the Pipe, but rather he rejected whatever the Fathers told him was bad regardless of how dear it was to him. A person could have taken his first reaction to the Pipe during those first several months as an argument against using the Pipe. But as it turned out, just the opposite is true. In fact, the injustice on our part for denying him the use of his own religious culture which he valued becomes evident. That is why the only way we can continue to discuss liturgical adaptation of Indians culture and make decisions concerning it, is to actually use the Pipe, begin a dialog and give sufficient time for honest reactions to become known.

One great advantage to using the Pipe for many communities is that it does not necessarily involve the Lakota language or Indian language of any Plains Tribe. If a community is almost entirely Indian speaking, using the language is good. But if the community is split, then the Indian language drives the full blood and the mixed bloods into the disunity of the ghettos. I don't think it is advisable to have a Mass just for Indian speaking people and one for non-Indian speaking people. This will never create the Christian Community. On the other hand, the Pipe is a symbol and a symbol can mean different people. [sic]  To many full bloods it still has a very literal appeal because they are still living in some way in the traditional world. These people have often been leading double lives. There are probably more Indians going through the sweat lodge and making a fast or vision quest on top of the hill than most people realize.

However, to the non-Indian speaking mixed blood the Pipe should be a symbol of his Indian identity and help enable him to accept his Indian identity with pride. Fr. Bryde's thesis is that there is a social pathology involved in today's Indian Culture and the place to start for everyone, full and mixed blood alike, is to build a pride in their Indian identity. This is what the use of the Pipe in the liturgy can do as well as to unite a fragmented community. In comparison to the above approach, the singing of a white man's son[g]s translated to the Indian was a useful but very weak approach to adaptation. It served its purpose in its own time.

In conclusion, the starting point is to use the Pipe as a prayer instrument and be prepared for open dialog with the Indian People. This use is in complete conformity with our Catholic Faith and should requite [sic] the permission of a local superior only. Eventually, it may become an official sacramental requiring the permission of the Bishop. Thus we are putting the Pipe in a very precise place that we can easily defend and explain so that we can have confidence that we know what we are doing. This is a small beginning since we can hardly do less. If we never go any further than this, we still have enriched the Catholic Church with a wonderful cultural gift and we have allowed the Indian people to accept their Indian identity at least to some extent when they become Catholic. However, when this step is taken, other developments will appear. I use the Pipe as a prayer instrument because I pray with more meaning and greater sincerity. The prayers and rituals will follow.

Data entry tech comment:

Motifs added by TRD

Where learned: CANADA ; Tekakwitha Conference ; Steinmetz SJ, Paul B ; WINNIPEG ; MANITOBA

Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; BELIEF ; CATHOLICISM ; Colonialism ; Essay ; ETHNIC ; Native American ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS ; SYMBOL

Subject headings: BELIEF -- Prayer

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Ethnic: Native American

Indian Burial Custom:

Informant noted a ritualistic use of pipe smoking in Indian Burial practices which - he bleived - is a co-mixture of Indian and Catholic beliefs.

Data entry tech comment:

Motifs added by TRD

Where learned: MICHIGAN ; UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; DETROIT ; Fr Walters S J, Ted

Keyword(s): AMERICAN INDIAN ; BURIAL ; CATHOLICISM ; CUSTOMS ; DEATH ; ETHNIC ; Funeral ; Native American ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS

Subject headings: CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial

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Religion

Catholic Baptism:

At the baptism of a child the priest sprinkles salt over the tongue of the child to represent the bitterness of life he will face.

Data entry tech comment:

Motifs added by TRD

Keyword(s): BABY ; BAPTISM ; BAPTISM ; Bitterness ; Catholic ; CEREMONY ; CHURCH ; Original Sin ; RELIGION ; RELIGIOUS ; Rite ; RITUAL ; Salt ; SIN

Subject headings: CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Baptism Naming rite

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Toast

Ireland was Ireland when England was a pup,
And Ireland was Ireland when England had grown up.
and I'm an Irish Catholic and I go to early mass,
And if the lousy Limeys don't like it
They can kiss me bloomin' arse.

Submitter comment:

He heard it from an Irish Friend

Data entry tech comment:

Motifs Added By TRD

Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT ; Lash, Michael

Keyword(s): Catholic ; Culture ; England ; ETHNIC ; Ethnicity ; IRELAND ; Irish ; Limey ; Mass ; Slur ; TOAST

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Speech Speech

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Holiday Tradition

We have a family tradition. Christmas Eve dinner is the same each year. There is no meat served at that meal, going back to the Catholic observance of Christmas Eve as a day of abstinence. THe foods served are spaghetti with anchovi sauce, Baccala ( Cod fish with almonds and spices), fillet of sole, fried shrimp.

Data entry tech comment:

Input by TRD

Where learned: TENNESSEE ; SPRINGFIELD ; Dorris, Rose Mary

Keyword(s): ABSTINENCE ; Catholic ; Dinner ; ETHNIC ; FISH ; FOOD ; holiday ; Italian ; meat ; RELIGION ; tradition

Subject headings: Food Drink -- Typical menus for the various meals For meal hours, see F574.84. Special or festive meals

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