Recounting the days.

The newly formed Benedictine Perpetual Calendar Association in Ipswich, Australia recently petitioned Pope Benedict XVI for a reform of the Gregorian calendar (introduced in 1482 by Pope Gregory XIII). The petition proposes to adjust the calendar so that each year dates would consistently fall on the same days of the week. New Year's Day would always fall on a Sunday, Christmas Day would always be a Monday, and July 4 a Wednesday.

The association wants to designate the day after Saturday, December 30 as a kind of limbo day that would not have a day of the week attached to it. Similarly, in leap years, an extra day would be inserted after June 30. As a result of the reform, "people would have to buy only one calendar, which would last a lifetime.... [They] could confidently plan ahead many years in advance, with the certainty of an absolutely fixed calendar."

The new calendar is named after the current pope because the association hopes he will introduce this reform. "Pope Benedict XVI ... could go down in history as the reformer of the modern calendar--the spiritual leader who brought common sense to the current calendar of confusion." (The Tablet and www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/division2/perpetual_calendar.php)