I prefer to call it the Holy Flu

...if it causes changes like this:

Jenky also suggested that the Sign of Peace should temporarily take on a new expression. Instead of a handshake or an embrace, parishioners are advised to interact with a “nod of the head or a smile.”

LET THERE BE SUNG TE DEUM!

Two more down

The diocese of Peoria has lost two more priests. Fr Jerry Pilon seems to have been laicized over an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor (which he denies), and Fr Jeffrey Lawrence seems to have left the priesthood to become the publisher of a magazine called Presbyterians Today. Here's a bit from his interview with Presbyterian News Service:

“The last four or five years I’ve felt pretty battered by all the stuff going on in the Catholic church and have been pretty put off by increasingly exclusionary dogma,” he said. “I wanted to continue to contribute to the Lord’s service but didn’t know how.”

Lawrence said he also thought he could always “fall back” on his previous experience in law, advertising, and publishing, but then the Presbyterians Today opportunity offered him the chance to combine his business skills with ministry. “Suddenly, I no longer feel like a square peg in a round hole,” he said.

UPDATE: the diocese says Fr Lawrence is on a personal leave of absence.

UPDATE: here's a background piece on Fr Pilon from the Champaign News-Gazette.