doughnuts, huh??

By Fr. Wilson ( articles ) | Jun 24, 2003

Well MAY Dunkin' Donuts emphasize bagels now. The bagel is the worthiest of breakfast foods. With all respect to doughnuts, or to Dunkin's "Donuts" even... ah. the Bagel.

When I was in seminary in Dallas, the saddest mornings were the ones where they had "bagels" for breakfast. "Bagels." In Texas. The other guys would say, "Hey, Joe, just like home, huh?? Just like Noo Yawk??" I'd just sit there disconsolate, born and bred as I'd been in the new Jerusalem of the east coast, mumbling, "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee, O Sion; as for our harps, we hanged them up upon the trees that are therein."

[Almost as bad was "Pizza Lunch," where I first encountered the Little Frisbees of Death. Pizza in Dallas. "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"]

My first parish after ordination was the perfect setting for me. It was twenty-five city blocks by eight blocks (ten thousand Catholics living therein), with an elevated train running down the main drag/commercial strip, Jamaica Ave. In the morning I'd say the 7AM Mass, then hop up to the end of the block, make a right, buy bagels and cream cheese (two bags -- for us and for the sisters) and newspapers, and a cuppa steaming black coffee to sip on the way back. A Korean Presbyterian family made the most FANTASTIC bagels, a great assortment. Then, back to the rectory for the papers. In my current parish, I'm glad to say, a real baker just opened up three doors from Dunkin' Donuts. SPLENDID bagels. And he's doing great business.

Meanwhile... in Dallas there is something called the "New York Deli." All I could think was, "Blessed shall he be that taketh thy children and throweth them against the stones."