Some fire in some Verizon facility knocked out my internet access this AM. Now I've got other stuff to do. And it's a holiday for most of us Murkans anyway what with the Fourth of July being tomorrow and all.
Plus, it's just gorgeous out!
So, I've decided to give in to all the divine hints, blow off blogging for the day, finish my other work, and then go swimming or take my kidlets to a movie.
So: Happy Fourth, all y'all! And to all my English friends, no hard feelings, okay? You're a terrific country, but it just wasn't working out. We both cried a few tears when we broke up, but we also knew it was for the best. You talk normal. We talk funny. You like tea and Benny Hill. We like pork rinds and NASCAR. I think it's best that we called it quits and saw other people. Stay beautiful. I'll always treasure our time together.
PS: I'm outta here early on Monday to go do an interview with Johnnette Benkovic at EWTN in Alabama. (Subject: Mary: Mother of the Son, which you really do need to read since it's, like, the smokin' hot Catholic book this summer).
I will get back around dinner time on Tuesday and be back in the blogging saddle again on Wednesday. Till then: Ciao. Stay safe and sane. And you kids, don't put no firecrackers up your noses!
Friday, July 03, 2009
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Web Site Story
Amazing what the kids can do these days:
I was a little disappointed they didn't riff on "Officer Krupke" as "Shift-Control-Alt Key", but perhaps there will be future installments.
I was a little disappointed they didn't riff on "Officer Krupke" as "Shift-Control-Alt Key", but perhaps there will be future installments.
Working on My Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Today, I have five crates of books to sign and send back to Catholic Answers, as well as sundry errands to run and an essay to write. So: ciao!
Local Human Toothache Gets Mention by Colbert
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| 4th of July Under Attack | ||||
| ||||
Seattle abounds with such annoying people. I've been to the Gasworks Extravaganza once. The traffic is murder and I'm never doing it again. But the notion that this is an environmental hazard is preposterous.
By the way, you can see fireworks at Gasworks in "Sleepless in Seattle", a film which never lets you see that Tom Hank's houseboat is directly beneath the Aurora Bridge (a favorite suicide spot for jumpers). He also performs prodigies with his little boat, going from the south end of Queen Anne, all the way across Elliot bay (and through numerous ferry and shipping lanes) to Alki on a gallon of gas--all followed by Meg Ryan in a car!
I think Chesterton was a saint
I also think him deeply prophetic. But I don't think him infallible. So, though people are sending me links to this denunciation:
I don't find myself much moved to outrage. The fact is, our views of race *have* changed since Chesterton's time and it is not inappropriate to note it, just as some word of explanation is in order when introducing a younger readers to, say, Nigger Jim in Huck Finn, or to what the term "gay" meant to a pre-1970s reader, or to what Louis de Montfort does and does not mean when he speaks of the Glories of Mary.
So when Chesterton responds to the claim that "Britain is as Protestant as the sea is salt" by saying:
I think only a fool could say that a modern reader--especially a young one--would not need some explanation in order to avoid concluding either that Chesterton was a racist (not true) or that calling black people "nigger" is really okay (also not true).
Chesterton is a man of his time, using the common parlance of the time. "Nigger dance" is common British parlance of the time for "jazz dance" (as, in fact, the Wikipedia has edited it in it "sanitized for you protection" version). He is referring to the sort of thing Bertie Wooster went in for and is pointing out that this is not exactly what Cranmer and Knox had in mind.
He has no history of American slavery and, in fact, is deeply hostile to Britain's imperialism, being a confirmed "Little Englander". He writes oodles of essays belittling the notion of "Nordic superiority" and such. Indeed, if there is any "race" toward which he harbors a particular hostility it is the Prussian or Teutonic race. But this is to misread him, for what matters to him are ideas, not genes. He does think that different nations have different qualities and characteristics (as does everybody). But he emphatically rejects the idea that there is such a thing as racial superiority, because he is a Catholic.
He has a complex relationship with Judaism (as I already noted here) and much of it is on display in the Everlasting Man. So a modern reader, encountering his willingness to credit the blood libel is not exactly off the beam in noting that "our views of race have changed". But (such is Chesterton's complexity) that does not in slightest exhaust the discussion (except here in the Land of Simplicity where the world is divided neatly into friends and enemies of Israel and you are all one or or all the other). Chesterton is, in fact, a friend of Israel according to that neat template, since he believed that a people should have a home.
Anyhow, the point is this: Chesterton's views on race are out of step with our time and are certain to cause confusion. How do I know? Because in other ways, his views on race were out of step with his time and caused confusion. He shares just enough in common with both our time and with his to be intelligible, and just enough that is not in step with either time to baffle us. Sometimes he's just wrong, I think. But mostly he is wise. It would be a shame if a modern reader, trained to Pavlovianly respond to acoustic stimuli like "nigger" were to fling him away with the same impoverishing ignorance that makes idiots routinely ban Huck Finn as "racist". So I don't think the suggestion to discuss Chesterton is a bad one, just as I have no problem with the suggestion of discussing Twain before plunging into his unsparing portrayal of antebellum Southern culture.
A reader says that he recently picked up a 2008 reprint of Chesterton’s Everlasting Man. And our reader was surprised to find a disclaimer by the publisher on the title page:“This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today. Parents might wish to discuss with their children how views on race have changed before allowing them to read this classic work.”
And here I’ll let our reader take over:As my father-in-law would say, this is ludicrous! It is wrong in so many ways I don’t know where to begin. In the first place, it is an act of cowardice on the part of the publishers. If they were ashamed of the content, why did they print it in the first place? It is also an act of arrogance: How dare they presume to know how Chesterton would have written his book today? Or to apologize on his behalf? Somehow, I find it difficult to imagine that Chesterton would have been cowed by the strictures of political correctness.?.?.?.
If the publisher had included a preface that properly discussed the issues they fear may be of concern, that would be one thing. But to print a cigarette-packet-style warning so that parents can prepare their children for the “horrors” ahead is unseemly.
Very modern. Very dumb.
I don't find myself much moved to outrage. The fact is, our views of race *have* changed since Chesterton's time and it is not inappropriate to note it, just as some word of explanation is in order when introducing a younger readers to, say, Nigger Jim in Huck Finn, or to what the term "gay" meant to a pre-1970s reader, or to what Louis de Montfort does and does not mean when he speaks of the Glories of Mary.
So when Chesterton responds to the claim that "Britain is as Protestant as the sea is salt" by saying:
Gazing reverently at the profound Protestantism of Mr. Michael Arlen or Mr. Noel Coward, or the latest nigger dance in Mayfair, we might be tempted to ask: If the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?
I think only a fool could say that a modern reader--especially a young one--would not need some explanation in order to avoid concluding either that Chesterton was a racist (not true) or that calling black people "nigger" is really okay (also not true).
Chesterton is a man of his time, using the common parlance of the time. "Nigger dance" is common British parlance of the time for "jazz dance" (as, in fact, the Wikipedia has edited it in it "sanitized for you protection" version). He is referring to the sort of thing Bertie Wooster went in for and is pointing out that this is not exactly what Cranmer and Knox had in mind.
He has no history of American slavery and, in fact, is deeply hostile to Britain's imperialism, being a confirmed "Little Englander". He writes oodles of essays belittling the notion of "Nordic superiority" and such. Indeed, if there is any "race" toward which he harbors a particular hostility it is the Prussian or Teutonic race. But this is to misread him, for what matters to him are ideas, not genes. He does think that different nations have different qualities and characteristics (as does everybody). But he emphatically rejects the idea that there is such a thing as racial superiority, because he is a Catholic.
He has a complex relationship with Judaism (as I already noted here) and much of it is on display in the Everlasting Man. So a modern reader, encountering his willingness to credit the blood libel is not exactly off the beam in noting that "our views of race have changed". But (such is Chesterton's complexity) that does not in slightest exhaust the discussion (except here in the Land of Simplicity where the world is divided neatly into friends and enemies of Israel and you are all one or or all the other). Chesterton is, in fact, a friend of Israel according to that neat template, since he believed that a people should have a home.
Anyhow, the point is this: Chesterton's views on race are out of step with our time and are certain to cause confusion. How do I know? Because in other ways, his views on race were out of step with his time and caused confusion. He shares just enough in common with both our time and with his to be intelligible, and just enough that is not in step with either time to baffle us. Sometimes he's just wrong, I think. But mostly he is wise. It would be a shame if a modern reader, trained to Pavlovianly respond to acoustic stimuli like "nigger" were to fling him away with the same impoverishing ignorance that makes idiots routinely ban Huck Finn as "racist". So I don't think the suggestion to discuss Chesterton is a bad one, just as I have no problem with the suggestion of discussing Twain before plunging into his unsparing portrayal of antebellum Southern culture.
Amazing!
Waterboarding only 3 people causes over 100 deaths!
Cuz we weren't torturing people or anything. Why, those especially tricky terrorist types no doubt *deliberately* died just in order to make the Bush/Cheney policies of enhanced interrogation look bad.
Besides, even if it was "torture" it was necessary to keep us safe!
And even if it wasn't necessary to keep us safe, they had it coming!
And even if they might not have had it coming (given the fact that 80% of the victims at Abu Ghraib were innocent, as well as several innocent victims at Bagram), this is war! Collateral Damage!
And even though the Catechism says prisoners of war must be treated humanely, shut up! The point is, we *can't* have been wrong to defend Bush/Cheney torture policies all those years because we can't have been wrong!
The *real* evil here is that people who oppose US war crimes and excuses for same made in the name of God are *mean*. Torture is a pecadillo committed by well-meaning patriots. Opposition to torture is phariseeism and moral posturing.
No. Really!
Cuz we weren't torturing people or anything. Why, those especially tricky terrorist types no doubt *deliberately* died just in order to make the Bush/Cheney policies of enhanced interrogation look bad.
Besides, even if it was "torture" it was necessary to keep us safe!
And even if it wasn't necessary to keep us safe, they had it coming!
And even if they might not have had it coming (given the fact that 80% of the victims at Abu Ghraib were innocent, as well as several innocent victims at Bagram), this is war! Collateral Damage!
And even though the Catechism says prisoners of war must be treated humanely, shut up! The point is, we *can't* have been wrong to defend Bush/Cheney torture policies all those years because we can't have been wrong!
The *real* evil here is that people who oppose US war crimes and excuses for same made in the name of God are *mean*. Torture is a pecadillo committed by well-meaning patriots. Opposition to torture is phariseeism and moral posturing.
No. Really!
Obama Seems to Be Starting Some Sort of Catholic Campaign
First, he is meeting with Catholic press today.
Then, on July 10, he will be meeting the Pope. Hopefully, some exposure to Catholics in their natural habitat will have some effect for the good. I always tend to be doubtful with pols, but we'll see.
Then, on July 10, he will be meeting the Pope. Hopefully, some exposure to Catholics in their natural habitat will have some effect for the good. I always tend to be doubtful with pols, but we'll see.
Manalive Fever is Sweeping the Nation!
or the Internet! Or Myspace! Or, well, at least one Myspace site:
I think I had vaguely heard of this, but it's such a vague memory that I'm not even sure. So thanks for pointing it out to my distracted attention!
No news on the film. It's supposed to be completed (as in "ready to show") by September or so. Meanwhile Dale Ahlquist is doing whatever it is Executive Producers do to get films distributed. When I know more, so will you!
Just thought I'd direct your attention--if it hasn't been directed in that direction already--to something that was recently posted on the American Chesterton Society blog, about an artist who has written a song entitled "Innocent Smith"...and I needn't tell you what the song is about, I am sure!! You can find it here. Then, go to the music player on the side and scroll down to the song, "Innocent Smith." The song is actually pretty good. I wish I could figure out a way to get it other than joining myspace (which I refuse to do...).
I think I had vaguely heard of this, but it's such a vague memory that I'm not even sure. So thanks for pointing it out to my distracted attention!
No news on the film. It's supposed to be completed (as in "ready to show") by September or so. Meanwhile Dale Ahlquist is doing whatever it is Executive Producers do to get films distributed. When I know more, so will you!
Most Embarrassing Michael Jackson Tribute Ever
I can sort of buy the props from Astaire since both had similar mass appeal (though Astaire on a bad day still towers over Jackson). Sinatra, well, what can I say? Mark Twain thought Joan of Arc his best book. Sometimes artists are not great critics.
But it's the rest of the piece that is, well... to paraphrase the Man himself: Read it. Just read it.
The comboxes are also beyond parody, especially when we get to the "Mine's bigger" posturing about how Jackson did more to end the Cold War than Reagan. Wonderfully delusional stuff from Vox Nova's Voice for Catholic Abortion.
But it's the rest of the piece that is, well... to paraphrase the Man himself: Read it. Just read it.
The comboxes are also beyond parody, especially when we get to the "Mine's bigger" posturing about how Jackson did more to end the Cold War than Reagan. Wonderfully delusional stuff from Vox Nova's Voice for Catholic Abortion.
163 Followers!
Exxxxcellent! As a reward for my labors in swelling my ranks and in celebration of my greatness in berating you into making new recruits for my legion of shuffling zombies, I hereby present you with another fine piece of 80s art:
It pains me to have to do that. I am a warm and fuzzy Dark Lord. Padding around the inner recesses of the Dark Tower in my pink muffy slippers, I often pause in my brooding to think fondly of the way you, my followers, bow and scrape in my presence. I genuinely appreciate the way you struggle to suppress all original and creative thoughts lest you outshine me and bear the dreadful consequences. My security forces have often commented on the way in which you love me by reporting on any thoughts of rebellion in your midst. My Eye gets misty just thinking about the way you love and (especially) fear me. I see your efforts to be good bootlicking toadies--because I see everything you are doing, all the time.
But still: imperfection must not be tolerated. So - One final warning: keep the ranks swelling with fresh recruits or I shall unleash my ultimate weapon: the Literal Rick-Roll!
That is all!
It pains me to have to do that. I am a warm and fuzzy Dark Lord. Padding around the inner recesses of the Dark Tower in my pink muffy slippers, I often pause in my brooding to think fondly of the way you, my followers, bow and scrape in my presence. I genuinely appreciate the way you struggle to suppress all original and creative thoughts lest you outshine me and bear the dreadful consequences. My security forces have often commented on the way in which you love me by reporting on any thoughts of rebellion in your midst. My Eye gets misty just thinking about the way you love and (especially) fear me. I see your efforts to be good bootlicking toadies--because I see everything you are doing, all the time.
But still: imperfection must not be tolerated. So - One final warning: keep the ranks swelling with fresh recruits or I shall unleash my ultimate weapon: the Literal Rick-Roll!
That is all!
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Sci-Fi Catholic is Feeling Left Out
Nobody is celebrating his perversion and he has a God-given right to expect that everybody does. As do we all!
Help! I'm being oppressed!
Help! I'm being oppressed!
You are Henry VIII...
...and upon your desire for temporal power you will build your imitation of my Church, and the gates of Hell will eventually prevail against it. What did you expect, chubby? That a communion founded to legitimate your divorce and snarf up real estate for you and your buddies while starving and murdering the poor and holy would last forever? Sheesh! I've got a big enough job keeping the Catholic Church from going belly up what with all the screw-ups there. I can't keep your project going forever too. I will save all the good folk caught in the middle of your war with my Church and its various screw-up and power-hungry types who, like you, could not care less about Me. But no, I don't have a burning interest in keeping something called "Anglicanism" going for all eternity. It's had a good 500 hundred year run, but it's passed the sell-by date.
Radical Feminist Scholarship
Where "accuracy" and "facts" are patriarchal concepts.
In radical feminist scholarship, if an assertion *feels* true, that's what matters, not whether it actually *is* true. By this method, the world shall be convinced that feminism is intellectually serious and not simply a melange of emotionalism and the worship of power.
In radical feminist scholarship, if an assertion *feels* true, that's what matters, not whether it actually *is* true. By this method, the world shall be convinced that feminism is intellectually serious and not simply a melange of emotionalism and the worship of power.
Prayer Request
A reader writes:
Father, hear and grant all these prayers through your Son, Jesus Christ. Mother Mary, pray for your children!
I ordered your Mary trilogy for Father's day, started the first book and am really enjoying it. I'm having to compete with my college sophomore daughter for reading time.
Unfortunately, I'm going to probably have more time to read it, because I lost a job today for the second time this year. While the immediate future is not in jeopardy, mid-term we would end up using up our retirement long before we're retired, and long term things look a little dire. I'm trying to discern how much of this was my fault, and how I can explain to my next employer that this was just a blip, while debating the ethics of just omitting a job I didn't have for even 60 days from my resume. All the while I KNOW it wasn't my fault, and so I'm having to forgive one time, two times - 490 (70X7) times is going to come pretty quickly. Anyway, along with other unemployed, I hope you and your readers will pray for me.
I'd also request that your readers pray for a friend of mine who is trying to adopt their third child from the Ukraine. They adopted the two older sisters, and have had real challenges with them from a behavior standpoint, but they are now trying to adopt the little sister and having a tough time with the Ukranian bureaucracy. This couple is really doing God's work, and could use the prayers of all.
Father, hear and grant all these prayers through your Son, Jesus Christ. Mother Mary, pray for your children!
Bishops are to be honored as teachers articulating the Tradition...
...until they say things inconvenient to our political views. Then, we can ignore them and even spit on them as idiots should they get in the way of war fever.
A Lay Catholic Missionary in Honduras
I'm not what you would call well-versed in Honduran politics and history. But then again, neither are you. If you think you are because you've read someting in the last 48 hours from some journal written by ideologues and designed to feed you your opinions on stuff you actually know nothing about, then welcome to the world of pseudo-knowledge.
Meanwhile, I continue to maintain that you and I know basically nothing about Honduras if you are an average Westerner. However, we can get bits and pieces of information if we want to. Here, for instance, is a bit of information from a fine young Catholic woman who is living there and doing mission work. It's not the definitive story of course. But it has the great advantage of subsidiarity (i.e. it's written by somebody who is actually there) and it has the further advantage of being written by somebody with no particular ideological dog in the fight.
God protect her, the poor, the weak and the vulnerable from being trampled as the elephants jockey and fight for power. Father, hear and answer our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Meanwhile, I continue to maintain that you and I know basically nothing about Honduras if you are an average Westerner. However, we can get bits and pieces of information if we want to. Here, for instance, is a bit of information from a fine young Catholic woman who is living there and doing mission work. It's not the definitive story of course. But it has the great advantage of subsidiarity (i.e. it's written by somebody who is actually there) and it has the further advantage of being written by somebody with no particular ideological dog in the fight.
God protect her, the poor, the weak and the vulnerable from being trampled as the elephants jockey and fight for power. Father, hear and answer our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Interesting Discussion on Gender Identity Over at Catholic Exchange
Of the multiplication of gender these days, there is no end.
Idiots Use Child as Ideological Mannequin
A Swedish couple believe so strongly that gender is a social construction that they do not reveal whether their 2.5-year-old is a boy or a girl.
Idiot mother explains her stupid, selfish and cruel plan, "We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mold from the outset. It's cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead."
Then media does the standard balancing act, first interviewing a normal person who points out the bleedin' obvious:
Then, for "balance", they get the worthless views of ideological fool:
After that, like Doonesbury's Roland Hedley Burton, they wrap it all up with the meaningless "light quip/remains to be seen" ending:
The "remains to be seen" ending is a favorite fallback of the journalist who doesn't want to appear judgmental when confronted with severe moral retardation that *might* be sort of appealing to trendy types. So rather than saying "These people are insane child abusers who are unfit to be parents (you can only say that about homeschoolers and Catholics who have more than 2.3 children) you get some variation on "Whether this controversial (journalese for "evil") method of child-rearing will result in the fulfillment of Pinker's or Henkel's prophecy's remains to be seen. Meanwhile, life goes on." Another lifestyle article on life's colorful pageant is filed. Another child is abandoned to his fate at that hands of ideological experimenters. And another journalist does her job of covering up for the right sort of evil with a light laugh.
Idiot mother explains her stupid, selfish and cruel plan, "We want Pop to grow up more freely and avoid being forced into a specific gender mold from the outset. It's cruel to bring a child into the world with a blue or pink stamp on their forehead."
Then media does the standard balancing act, first interviewing a normal person who points out the bleedin' obvious:
"Child-rearing should not be about providing an opportunity to prove an ideological point, but about responding to each child's needs as an individual," Susan Pinker, a psychologist who is the author of a book about sex differences in the workplace, told the Local. "I don't think that trying to keep a child's sex a secret will fool anyone, nor do I think it's wise or ethical. As with any family secret, when we try to keep an elemental truth from children, it usually blows up in the parents' face, via psychosomatic illness or rebellious behavior."
Then, for "balance", they get the worthless views of ideological fool:
Kristina Henkel, Swedish gender equality consultant, says Pop's parents' experiment could help the child develop as an individual without being boxed in by gender-role stereotyping from birth. "If the child is dressed up as a girl or boy, it affects them because people see and treat them in a more gender-typical way," Henkel explains. "Girls are told they are cute in their dresses, and boys are told they are cool with their car toys. But if you give them no gender they will be seen more as a human or not a stereotype as a boy or girl."
After that, like Doonesbury's Roland Hedley Burton, they wrap it all up with the meaningless "light quip/remains to be seen" ending:
Pop's parents say that they will reveal the child's gender when Pop thinks it is time to do so. In any case, he or she will soon have more company. The family is expecting another child, and with the next bundle of joy, the parents plan to continue playing the "what's it to you?" gender card.
The "remains to be seen" ending is a favorite fallback of the journalist who doesn't want to appear judgmental when confronted with severe moral retardation that *might* be sort of appealing to trendy types. So rather than saying "These people are insane child abusers who are unfit to be parents (you can only say that about homeschoolers and Catholics who have more than 2.3 children) you get some variation on "Whether this controversial (journalese for "evil") method of child-rearing will result in the fulfillment of Pinker's or Henkel's prophecy's remains to be seen. Meanwhile, life goes on." Another lifestyle article on life's colorful pageant is filed. Another child is abandoned to his fate at that hands of ideological experimenters. And another journalist does her job of covering up for the right sort of evil with a light laugh.
A friend writes
How.dee Marcus Sheavius,
A new website that may be of interest to your bootlicking slaves. Put together by a great young local guy, Brian Morey. May get some Byzantine content later on. Don't know yet how the audio sounds since I am at work using a woefully not-updated Mac workstation. (Does well with graphics arts, but not so good for Youtube, et al.) Anyway, F, as they say, WIW.
Roger, as they say, that.
Still 160 Followers!
Your your Disgraces, my Thorns, Shadies, and Gentlegoons. I note with extreme displeasure that my ranks have stopped swelling. Naturally, I blame you. I've been putting in long hours brooding and can't be expected to do everything. However, since there has been an alarming 48 hour pauses in the rank swelling process, it appears I have to take drastic action.
That action comes in the form of cruel and unusual punishment, otherwise known as the Winners of the 2009 Bulwer-Lytton Bad Writing Contest. Savor the exquisite wretchedness of a man I am proud to hail as a fellow Washingtonian:
The awesomeness continues:
There's more but...
That is all.
That action comes in the form of cruel and unusual punishment, otherwise known as the Winners of the 2009 Bulwer-Lytton Bad Writing Contest. Savor the exquisite wretchedness of a man I am proud to hail as a fellow Washingtonian:
Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the "Ellie May," a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.
David McKenzie
Federal Way, WA
The awesomeness continues:
Runner-Up
The wind dry-shaved the cracked earth like a dull razor--the double edge kind from the plastic bag that you shouldn't use more than twice, but you do; but Trevor Earp had to face it as he started the second morning of his hopeless search for Drover, the Irish Wolfhound he had found as a pup near death from a fight with a prairie dog and nursed back to health, stolen by a traveling circus so that the monkey would have something to ride.
Warren Blair
Ashburn, VA
Grand Panjandrum's Special Award
Fleur looked down her nose at Guilliame, something she was accomplished at, being six foot three in her stocking feet, and having one of those long French noses, not pert like Bridget Bardot's, but more like the one that Charles De Gaulle had when he was still alive and President of France and he wore that cap that was shaped like a little hatbox with a bill in the front to offset his nose, but it didn't work.
Marguerite Ahl
Prescott valley, AZ
There's more but...
That is all.
Homosexual Gene Robinson, who is homosexual
says (in a homosexual way) that there's no future for non-homosexual-celebrating-and-ordaining Churches. Robinson, who is homosexual and whose mission consists of reminding people of that fact, is openly homosexual and lives in an openly homosexual relationship with an open homosexual, who is homosexual.
In related news: entire Catholic Church to close Monday.
In related news: entire Catholic Church to close Monday.
For Them What's Interested
A reader writes:
Check thou it out!
I am the Editor-in-Chief of a new independent and anonymous traditionalist journal entitled Veritatis Praeco. Everything involving the journal is operated by college students, and we're looking for support from the wider Catholic community. We are a not-for-profit organization, and are simply looking to cull more interest in the journal, particularly by publicizing the blog during the summer, while we are between semesters. If you can do anything to help us out, we would greatly appreciate it. At the very least, if you could look at our blog and give us any suggestions (it's still a work in progress), that would be fantastic.
Check thou it out!
Cult of Moloch Runs Storefront Church of Abortion
Here's a story about an abortuary that is a little more frank than most about its fundamentalist hatred of Christ.
What strikes me is the "scratch an atheist, find a fundamentalist" aesthetic of these people.
What strikes me is the "scratch an atheist, find a fundamentalist" aesthetic of these people.
The Gomer Pyle Axiom of High and Low Expectations
A reader from Utah writes some very kind words:
Thank you for your very kind words about Mary, Mother of the Son. I'm glad the book is of service!
Your note puts me in mind of something I've been thinking about for a while. I often hear from Catholics about how lousy their education in the Faith was. All over the place, Catholics who are waking up to the treasure of the Faith have a very common response: "Why didn't anybody ever tell me?"
That's to be expected. When you discover that you aren't an orphan in a Dickens story but are instead a sort of spiritual Richie Rich, sitting on top of this colossal gold mine of apostolic tradition and that it's yours for the asking, it can be dazzling. It can also engender feelings of anger: "We wuz robbed!"
But there are some things I think we should add to the mix. First and foremost, we wasn't always robbed. In my own case, no small part of the reason I never knew this stuff growing up was because I had no desire to hang around with, you know, Christians.
Beyond this, though, is what I call the Gomer Pyle Axiom of High and Low Expectations. When we expect greatness, mere adequacy is a hanging offense. When we expect nothing (as we do from Gomer Pyle) than we react as though a new Caruso has been born when Gomer burst forth in a voice of moderate tone and talent.
We expect awesomeness from the Catholic Church. What we usually get, at the parish level, is people who are more or less like us--average--doing the religious ed. At the time, we just sort of shuffle through the averageness, not expecting more. Then we discover the full awesomeness of the Church and feel robbed. What we are overlooking, I think, is that the reason we are seeing the awesomeness *now* is because the Church's members are creating more and more and more and *MORE* catechetical materials which really are doing a pretty darn good job of delivering the goods as far as helping us discover the length, breadth, height and depth of the riches of the fullness of Christ.
20 years ago, when I came into the Church, there wasn't much out there at a lay catechetical level. There was the Hardon Catechism, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, various books by Peter Kreeft, Catholic and Christian, and a couple of volumes of conversion stories. Ten years later, when I spoke at my parish, there were two lunch tables groaning with books and A/V materials. Now you could probably fill 10 or 20 tables with stuff. So the good news is: the Body of Christ has heard and responded to the cry of "Teach me!" from the faithful! Now the problem is "How to drink from a firehose." A perusal of all the stuff from say, Ignatius, Catholic Answers, St. Joseph Communications, and all the other Catholic media outlets out there would bury us in information.
All of which is to say, "Take hope!" We live in a radically theologically illiterate age. But we also live in a time when it has never been easier for even a total illiterate to gain a really sound education in the faith if they want to. And if you are reading this, you aren't illiterate. So dig in and enjoy!
I've just finished Vol II of your trilogy and want to say "Thank You" for sharing the bounty of riches you have amassed on your faith journey and now have recorded in your wonderful style. I have such newfound depth and appreciation of the Marian doctrines. Another delight for me in reading your books is the revelation of the charm, depth, humanity and struggles of the Early Church.
As a very poorly cathechized Catholic (despite 9 years of Catholic school--grades 4-12. It is breathtaking to realize the paucity of faith transmission despite my being an eager learner who loved history.), I never knew such accessible accounts of the mind and life of the early Church existed. I learned practically nothing of church history--it saddens me to think of the monumental waste of money my parents incurred for a so called "Catholic" education.
Your books should become required study for every Catholic (and Evangelical!) high school student worldwide . (I will pray that your trilogy becomes a classic to be found in the library of every Christian home and classroom).
Again, thanks. You have done the Faith a great service . Our King and His/Our Mother must be very pleased, indeed.
Your pal in the American "Zion",
Thank you for your very kind words about Mary, Mother of the Son. I'm glad the book is of service!
Your note puts me in mind of something I've been thinking about for a while. I often hear from Catholics about how lousy their education in the Faith was. All over the place, Catholics who are waking up to the treasure of the Faith have a very common response: "Why didn't anybody ever tell me?"
That's to be expected. When you discover that you aren't an orphan in a Dickens story but are instead a sort of spiritual Richie Rich, sitting on top of this colossal gold mine of apostolic tradition and that it's yours for the asking, it can be dazzling. It can also engender feelings of anger: "We wuz robbed!"
But there are some things I think we should add to the mix. First and foremost, we wasn't always robbed. In my own case, no small part of the reason I never knew this stuff growing up was because I had no desire to hang around with, you know, Christians.
Beyond this, though, is what I call the Gomer Pyle Axiom of High and Low Expectations. When we expect greatness, mere adequacy is a hanging offense. When we expect nothing (as we do from Gomer Pyle) than we react as though a new Caruso has been born when Gomer burst forth in a voice of moderate tone and talent.
We expect awesomeness from the Catholic Church. What we usually get, at the parish level, is people who are more or less like us--average--doing the religious ed. At the time, we just sort of shuffle through the averageness, not expecting more. Then we discover the full awesomeness of the Church and feel robbed. What we are overlooking, I think, is that the reason we are seeing the awesomeness *now* is because the Church's members are creating more and more and more and *MORE* catechetical materials which really are doing a pretty darn good job of delivering the goods as far as helping us discover the length, breadth, height and depth of the riches of the fullness of Christ.
20 years ago, when I came into the Church, there wasn't much out there at a lay catechetical level. There was the Hardon Catechism, Catholicism and Fundamentalism, various books by Peter Kreeft, Catholic and Christian, and a couple of volumes of conversion stories. Ten years later, when I spoke at my parish, there were two lunch tables groaning with books and A/V materials. Now you could probably fill 10 or 20 tables with stuff. So the good news is: the Body of Christ has heard and responded to the cry of "Teach me!" from the faithful! Now the problem is "How to drink from a firehose." A perusal of all the stuff from say, Ignatius, Catholic Answers, St. Joseph Communications, and all the other Catholic media outlets out there would bury us in information.
All of which is to say, "Take hope!" We live in a radically theologically illiterate age. But we also live in a time when it has never been easier for even a total illiterate to gain a really sound education in the faith if they want to. And if you are reading this, you aren't illiterate. So dig in and enjoy!
Hoping for the Worst II
The Catholic tradition has always insisted on loving the poor in real, not theoretical, ways. So it has, right from the beginning, pronounced a blessing on giving alms in, for instance, the Sermon on the Mount. It's all well and good to have a plan for social uplift and improvement of the lot of the poor and job creation for the poor and long term theories about reducing poverty. Just don't, in the middle of all that abstraction, forget to take care of the poor man who is sitting right in front of your face.
This was the fatal mistake of most radical leftism. It reached the point where the actual physical poor man sitting right there in front of the lefty's face was less real than the abstract Triumphant Proletarian of the Future. There was a famous instance in which one 19th century Lefty was walking with a friend when a beggar approached. The friend reached into his pocket for a few coins to give the beggar when the Lefty stopped him, saying "Don't delay the Revolution!" When your abstract theories lead you to wish and do evil against flesh and blood people right now, your system is now evil and it's time for you to repent, rethink, and return to God. Because you've reached the stage where you are now saying "Let us do evil that good may come of it."
I mention this because I remember a time (how very long ago it seems now), when "being patriotic" meant "loving your country" and desiring what is good for your neighbor. This meant your real, concrete, actual flesh and blood neighbor. And being patriotic, being an extension of the second greatest commandment to our borders, was not intended as a rejection of the love of foreign neighbors, but as a sort of dress rehearsal for loving *all* neighbors as our Lord commanded.
But in the bizarre alchemy of the craziness that is Movement Conservatism, patriotism no longer means that. Having taken on some weirdly Trotskyite and Lefty tendencies to cherish the ideal over the real, Movement Conservatism now exalts lunatics who think it patriotic to say (I am not making this up) the only chance we have as a country is for Osama bin Laden to detonate a major weapon on our soil.
Note the similarity of the logic. The lunatics have an obsession with illegal immigrants. Their hope and prayer: bring on the mass death and don't delay the Revolution! Our only hope is that great evil be done so that good may come of it!
Remember: *these* are the people who excommunicated as "unpatriotic" those who said the Iraq War did not meet just war criteria and the use of torture was both sinful and un-American. These are the self-appointed arbiters of True Patriotism[TM]. These lunatics who *hope* for the slaughter of millions of innocent Americans. Down such roads does the insanity of consequentialism lead.
Barking mad.
This was the fatal mistake of most radical leftism. It reached the point where the actual physical poor man sitting right there in front of the lefty's face was less real than the abstract Triumphant Proletarian of the Future. There was a famous instance in which one 19th century Lefty was walking with a friend when a beggar approached. The friend reached into his pocket for a few coins to give the beggar when the Lefty stopped him, saying "Don't delay the Revolution!" When your abstract theories lead you to wish and do evil against flesh and blood people right now, your system is now evil and it's time for you to repent, rethink, and return to God. Because you've reached the stage where you are now saying "Let us do evil that good may come of it."
I mention this because I remember a time (how very long ago it seems now), when "being patriotic" meant "loving your country" and desiring what is good for your neighbor. This meant your real, concrete, actual flesh and blood neighbor. And being patriotic, being an extension of the second greatest commandment to our borders, was not intended as a rejection of the love of foreign neighbors, but as a sort of dress rehearsal for loving *all* neighbors as our Lord commanded.
But in the bizarre alchemy of the craziness that is Movement Conservatism, patriotism no longer means that. Having taken on some weirdly Trotskyite and Lefty tendencies to cherish the ideal over the real, Movement Conservatism now exalts lunatics who think it patriotic to say (I am not making this up) the only chance we have as a country is for Osama bin Laden to detonate a major weapon on our soil.
Note the similarity of the logic. The lunatics have an obsession with illegal immigrants. Their hope and prayer: bring on the mass death and don't delay the Revolution! Our only hope is that great evil be done so that good may come of it!
Remember: *these* are the people who excommunicated as "unpatriotic" those who said the Iraq War did not meet just war criteria and the use of torture was both sinful and un-American. These are the self-appointed arbiters of True Patriotism[TM]. These lunatics who *hope* for the slaughter of millions of innocent Americans. Down such roads does the insanity of consequentialism lead.
Barking mad.
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