Friday, June 30, 2006

Prayer Emergency

Click for larger version. Largest.



The cardinal eggs in the nest near our front door have started to hatch. Pictured above are two newby birds and their four as of yet unhatched siblings. In the middle of the scruff you may be able to distinguish a small, opened beak.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Howard Donkey Hires A Catholic Outreach Coordinator

Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee hires a Catholic Outreach Coordinator

Click to view larger image. Largest.


Sketch for a new Howard Donkey cartoon, in progress. I'll lower the handlebars here a bit to show a banner which says 'Rosary For Life' on the wall behind the cars.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Ms. StarMole Bails

Click for larger image. Largest.

Continuing our current storyline. In progress.

Monday, June 26, 2006

faithmouse liturgical calendar / Optional Memorial of St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer, priest

St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer of Spain, founder of Opus Dei

Click to view larger image. Largest.

St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer of Spain
is the founder of Opus Dei.
I based today's cartoon on two events in St. Josemaria Escriva's life, the first being when at 16 years of age he came upon a Carmelite friar's bare footprints in the snow, which helped to eventually decide the young man towards the priesthood; the second when years later he himself hiked to France by way of the Pyreneese mountains in order to escape persecution during the Spanish civil war. St. Escriva was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 6, 2002. A full biography can be found at Josemariaescriva.info

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Priceless

Click to view larger image. Largest.

Historieta 'Inestimable' de la Favorable-Vida.
Dessin animé 'Inestimable' fe la Pro-vie.


'Priceless' Pro-Life cartoon, in progress, Historieta 'Inestimable' de la Favorable-Vida, in marcha, Dessin animé 'Inestimable' fe la Pro-vie, in marche

Friday, June 23, 2006

faithmouse liturgical calendar / Solemnity Of The Birth Of St. John The Baptist

In English, Spanish and French.

Solemnity of the birth of John The Baptist
Click to view larger image.


Solemnidad del nacimiento de San Juan Bautista
Tecleo para una imagen más grande
Solennite de la naissance de Jean-Baptiste
Clic pour regarder une plus grande image.

Thanks to Bertalin at the French Pro-Life Blog pour la Vie (Blog for Life) for posting the French version of today's John the Baptist cartoon. Thanks as well to Dave for posting the English version on his man with black hat. Nicole B. of As My World Turns - A Conservative Mom in Her "Right" Mind has added faithmouse to her blogroll, as has Chris Jubb at Jubberish. Much appreciated! Congratulations to Canadian singer-songwriter Frank Trainor for his first year online.

faithmouse liturgical calendar / Solemnity Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus

faithmouse liturgical calendar, solemnity of the sacred heart of Jesus

Click to view larger image. Largest.

Thanks to Barb for displaying today's toon on her SFO Mom.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

1LT Laura Margaret Walker Memorial Portrait

1LT Laura Margaret Walker Memorial Portrait

Click to view larger image. Largest.

1LT Laura Margaret Walker USA Memorial Page - West Point.org

First Lieutenant Walker was killed one year ago this August while working in Afghanistan on a road building project.

faithmouse liturgical calendar / St. Aloysius Gonzaga

faithmouse liturgical calendar, Memorial of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, confessor, patron saint of Aids patients and care-givers

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

1LT Laura Margaret Walker Memorial Portrait, In Progress

1LT Laura Margaret Walker Memorial Portrait

Click to view larger image. Largest.
In Progress...


blue eggs in a cardinal's nest in Minnesota

Click to view larger image.

The cardinals at our front door have a project in progress as well; a second brood of eggs. This is Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal's third nest in the same location. As you can see by the very solid construction in the photograph above, it looks as if this nest might be a success. The nest before this one was hastily built and collapsed on our porch in a flaming disaster. This was my fault, as I removed the first empty nest immediately upon discovering it (the nest is within three feet of our front door, and we have two cats) but the persistent cardinals quickly constructed a second nest which was so weak the eggs kept falling out and smashing on our front porch.

Even though my intentions were good (birds in cats) I felt pretty bad for screwing up the life of birds. I did my best one afternoon to plug up the holes in the nest, but I'm afraid I don't have much experience at constructing nests. Following an overnight thunderstorm a few days later, the entire enterprise was gone.

I discovered this most recent nest after finding a dead Baltimore oriole in our front garden. This particular Baltimore oriole, I suspect, was the same one I had found sitting on the middle of the road in a rainstorm one evening and had brought home for rehabilitation, placing it in a leaf barrel on our front porch, directly under the as-of-yet undiscovered third cardinal's nest. The oriole recovered and flew away the next morning, only to return and die for some reason in our front garden. It's too much of a coincidence to say these are two different Baltimore orioles, although they could be. But I don't think so.



I spent a few hours last night researching and working on a cartoon having to do with Connie Chung's farewell skit on her MSNBC show,which I was going to call MAD TV. It would have been a pretty good cartoon, especially as I was going to throw Dan Rather and Katie Couric in there as well, all singing badly and wearing evening gowns.

I've decided not to finish the cartoon, but I have one observation to offer which I hadn't come across in my reading of a number of other blogs on the same subject. Mrs. Chung revealed the motivation for her seemingly absurd performance in the very first stanza of her self-penned torchlight tune-

We came to do a show, for very little dough.
By little, I mean I could make more working on skid row
.

In a media world where freakish news and entertainment receives the most attention, and where her own value as a professional new anchor had been reduced by changes in the marketplace to near zero, Mrs. Chung made a very calculated move to reinvent herself as a buzz worthy 59 year old media experienced nutcase.

A ringmaster, fired from the circus and about to be escorted from the tent, tries to retain the spotlight by changing into a clown. Clowns get paid much better than ringmasters these days anyway. A much better cartoon, that.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi, Father's Day, illegal immigration cartoon

Click for larger image. Largest.


A cartoon for both Corpus Christi and Father's Day, incorporating the theme of illegal immigration. In progress. Should have this finished late Saturday evening or so.



Corpus Christi, Father's Day, illegal immigration cartoon

Click for larger image.

Completed Image

Friday, June 16, 2006

A Poot Fourth Of July, In Progress

First of four panels for this cartoon. In the second panel, Poot eats a stack of Al Franken books. Come the third and four panels you'll see why this is a Fourth Of July toon.

Preview of a Liturgical calendar cartoon for next Monday (St. Romuald).

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Evening Prayer / Poot

Click to view larger image.

Click to view larger image. Character sketch for a cartoon in progress entitled League Of Indecency.

Chris and I visited the Catholic catalogue store Leaflet Missal yesterday, which happens to be headquartered in St. Paul. Picked up a 2006 llustrated Saints Calendar, Saint Joseph Guide For The Liturgy Of The Hours, and A Catechism Of Church History, 4th Edition, by Father Robert Fox.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Body Of Christ

Click to view larger image. Largest.

Eucharists in the form of a heart; the arrow an allusion to the spear in Christ's side. Priests hands and robe red because he also shares in the sacrifice of Christ. Came up with this on the way to something else. Would probably make for a nice Valentine's Day image.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

June 13, 2006 - Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua

Saint Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor of the church

Click cartoon to view larger image.

Thought it might be fun to draw a cartoon or two in tune with the Liturgical calendar. Chris and I have had the good fortune to visit the tomb of St. Anthony, which is located inside of the basilica which bears his name in Padua, Italy. The church in the cartoon is a simplified version of that same building (not actually red, but the color looks good aside a big green cat). I'll find and post a few photos from that visit sometime later today.

Thanks to Barb for posting the above image on her SFO Mom , as well as to Carolina Cannonball at The Crescat for doing the same.



Inside of a brochure we picked up at the Basilica. Click for larger.



I didn't take any photographs inside the church itself, but this image from the brochure has a decent photograph of the tomb of St. Anthony. Click to view a much larger image.

Directly behind this family is the Chapel of the Treasury, which displays the tongue, jawbone and vocal chords of the saint.




Photo I took inside one of the Basilica's courtyards. Click for larger.


Photo from a cafe across the street. Click for larger.


Photo of a very young priest who was sitting outside the cafe with his friends. Click for larger.

The Basilica of St. Anthony has an exceptionally informative web site, which includes a virtual tour, images of the church for your desktop (I recommend the sensational Presbiterio) and a live webcam of the outside of the Basilica, the latter situated at a vantage point somewhere above the cafe in the previous photographs. Fellow U.S. Midwesterners should add seven hours to deduce Padua time.

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Liturgical Violation

Click to view larger image. Largest.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Die Wahrheit Macht Frei

Click to view larger image. Largest.

After providing 180,000 trouble free miles, my car died. Rest in peace my 1995 Nissan Quest.
I've got a new car now, but the time I've had to devote to visiting dealerships has sucked dry the little time I have in life for blogging. Now that I'm back online I should be able to churn out these last few cartoons in progress somewhat proficiently.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Motion Picture Association of America Slaps Film With PG Rating For Christian Message

MPAA - New tool of the Left


The title of this post might have summarized a satirical faithmouse cartoon a few years ago; now it's a news story. The Motion Picture Association of America has deemed the squeaky clean, evangelistic film Facing The Giants too "heavily laden with messages from one religion" according to Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films.

The MPAA is advising parents against allowing their children to see Facing The Giants unsupervised, not because of profanity, or nudity, or sexual content...but because a coach talks to a student about Christ, and similar content. That's it. According to this new standard being set by the MPAA, a religious message by itself can no longer be deemed non offensive and safe for the entire family.

Not very long ago, a film devoid of sex and profanity would have been assigned immediately to the G category. If the MPAA knew ahead of time that such a film was being made by an organization such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, they would have mailed the film its G. The very definition of a G rating used to be that the film was a Disney cartoon, a Warren Miller surfing/skiing movie, or something Christian.

If Quentin Tarantino was revealed as the director of Facing The Giants I suspect it would have easily acheived its G from the folks at the MPAA, who might have wondered why such a talented director was throwing away his career. More than likely it isn't solely the evangelistic message of Facing The Giants which has earned the PG, but the Baptist organization which made it. The irrational PG rating against Giants may be nothing more than a politically inspired ad-hominem against the product of a religious group which is disliked by many in Hollywood for its very forward stance against same-sex marriage.

What these folks at the MPAA are now declaring is that, by association, every person, church service, televised program, sacred destination, book, film, drawing, mural, play, bumpersticker, T shirt, music CD...ad-infinitem, which presents nothing more offensive than the straightforward idea that perhaps there is a God somewhere who loves us and wants us to be happy (whoever the fiilmakers might profess that God to be), is by nature offensive to those who may not agree with that message, and should be slapped with a warning label.

Now that's offensive.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Bits

Still working on the Die Wahrheit Macht Frei cartoon.


Click above to view larger cartoon.

At our recent Stella blogparty, Mitchell Hadley of Our Word And Welcome To It shared with us some particularly egregious liturgical violations he's encountered here in the Twin Cities Catholic community, a subject I thought might make for a good occasional series. Just by coincidence, our correspondent the original Faithmouse was present at Mary, Mother Of The Church in Burnsville last Pentecost Sunday and witnessed the second reading presented simultaneously and in its entirety in both English and Spanish. Voila, our first 'Liturgical Violation' cartoon, in progress.

The last bit of the Officer Gilchrist and Sevo memorial illustration.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Die Wahrheit Macht Frei, In Progress

Click to view larger image. Largest.

Draft of a cartoon on the subject of Pope Benedict XVI's recent visit to Auschwitz. Should have the finished version posted late tonight. Die wahrheit macht frei translates as the truth shall set you free, the John 8:32 verse which became the German arbeit macht frei, a German peasant saying which was later incorporated by the Nazis as the entrance slogan at several concentration camps. It's telling that one of the most evil places in history has as its greeting a secularized and twisted application of the promise of Christianity.

I'm finishing the Officer Gilchrist and Sevo memorial portrait begun a little over a month ago. Below is a drawing which I plan to incorporate into the final version. Puppy Sevo will be running into these hands, and then I'll have a 'cameo' of Officer Gilchrist and his current dog Buddy in the upper right corner of the drawing.


Larger.

As you can see, I'm not concerned about using today's 666 date. If anything, the number is a constant reminder to me as to who gets to claim the final victory (good guys win). To mark the date, I've let it stand prominently in the drawing above. Evil has no hands to use but our own.

You know, I've forgotten all about that cake/bread.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Stelllla!

Chris and I were blessed to host a meeting of the Stella Borealis Northland Catholic Roundtable yesterday evening here in the wooded outer orbit of the Twin Cities and its much abuzzed Catholic community. I played Stanley Kowalski to a room full of Tennessee Williamses. Our house creaked and swayed from the weight of combined intellect and sincere dissertation. It was a very successful get-together-I ended up with a bunch of free pastry and fresh ideas for future cartoons.

Ray at Stella Borealis arrived foremost bearing two pints of macaroni salad; different types I think. They were well sampled by the end of the evening. Nothing personal, but I have a childhood induced apprehension regarding cold pasta in mayonnaise.

Dan and Joy of Lumen Fedei brought a breakfast cake type cake, the remnants of which I'm currently enjoying for breakfast. Very good. It has bits of what look like ham but must be plum.

Judith and Mitchell Hadley of Our Word And Welcome To It brought both large chocolate covered cookies and some sort of cake/bread. I plan on posting a report on the latter, of which there is one piece remaining, sometime tomorrow.

Susan of Desperate Irish Housewife presented the gathering with a bottle of the infamous three buck chuck from our newly opened Trader Joe's market, which we assented to sample. It was a Charles Shaw 2005 California Chardonnay, a light white wine which in my opinion compares favorably to Blue Nun.

Scott Fischer at Viam Pacis was foistered with the remainders of much of the above and more (less the wine) for his ample household, a donation this Weight Watcher savvy twosome was more than happy to make. Its just too much of a temptation to have all this stuff calling out from our fridge at 3 A.M.

Again, I'll report on that cake/bread tomorrow...

Friday, June 02, 2006

The Madonna's True Confessional Tour

the madonna's true confessional tour

Click above to view larger image. Largest.

Have a few revisions in mind for today's new Father Augustine the Cat cartoon, which I'll try to get to later this evening. Image revised 1 A.M. Saturday.

Thanks to Dawn Eden for displaying yesterday's Ben Kessler cartoon. A hat tip to Stella Borealis and Barb at SFO Mom for doing the same. Much appreciated. Big Mike Thompson is displaying the older Chill In The Air cartoon, alongside a link to an interesting story about Christianity and the Colorado Rockies baseball francaise. Angel Queen has posted both the Stella banner I designed a few weeks ago and the report Ray wrote on a recent funeral service at St. Joan Of Arc Church here in the Twin Cities area. Hedgehodge Lover at LiveJournal displays the We're Going To The Hunter S. Thompson Suicide Party! cartoon from last year. Nicole B at As My World Turns has added faithmouse to her blogroll. Eisbrecher at the German bLOGgy (adult content) has posted the Da Vinci Commode cartoon. Thanks!

No new cartoon for tomorrow; however, the original faithmouse and I are hosting the second meeting of the Stella Borealis Northland Catholic Roundtable, which I'll report on with perhaps an embarrassing pic or two. I have a few pieces in progress, including the Armel/Garbarino memorial portrait and the most recent Ms. StarMole cartoon, wherein she deletes a previous version of herself using Photoshop. I also have a Pope Benedict/Rainbow/Auschwitz cartoon in mind, although it hasn't progressed any father than the back of my occipital lobe at the moment...