RC2 joined some friends at St. Rita's in Arlington last night for a concert by the Palestrina Choir. They presented William Byrd's Mass for Four Voices. Absolutely gorgeous early Renaissance music polyphany. Fr. Paul Scalia says St. Rita's is the most beautiful parish in the Arlington Diocese, and he may be right --even if he is stationed there at present.
However, prior to the concert, a bunch of us had dinner together, where RC2 heard this non-verifiable, but in her opinion credible, piece of gossip. One of the guests had been working on the Terri Schiavo case since 2003 and walked us through many details of the case. We got to talking about how odd it was that we assembled Conservatives found ourselves on the same side as Jesse Jackson. A Hill staffer present said her boss understood that it was Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. who got his dad involved. He reportedly told his dad, "You've got to get involved. If you doubt it, talk to Aretha and ask her what she thinks."
Apparently Aretha Franklin took care of her ailing father for the last year of his life and considers it the most important thing she has ever done. And apparently she is the one who persuaded Jesse Jackson to help the Schindlers.
