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Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Juanita Broadrick's Old Friend Holds Forth on Taking Responsibility In a stunning new development, it turns out Bush's presidency prompts Clinton to think and talk about Himself. State of Connecticut Punishes Boy Scouts for Not Abiding by 1980 US Conference of Catholic Bishops Code of Child Safety Right thinking will be rewarded. Wrong thinking will be punished. Southern Baptist Richard Land on the Situation, VOTF and other stuff Thanks to Sean Gallagher for the link. Geriatric! Come back here you whippersnapper and I'll hit you with my cane! Emily, I love ya, but you're wrong. It is not a foregone conclusion that "abandoning ...belief in the Resurrection, the Virgin Birth, and the Trinity....is the eventual fate of all congregations separated from Rome." Is it a very real possibility? Yes, and the lamentable career of liberal Protestantism (including I Can't Believe It's not Roman Catholicism This is not, of course, to say I think the Petrine office and union with the Church optional. We are bound by the sacraments--including Holy Orders. But God is not bound. The Petrine office itself teaches this. Oh dear. Another breach in the Fortress wall Rod's address is rdreher@nationalreview.com, in case any readers want to protest the gross violation of journalistic integrity he committed by publishing an incorrect thought from a member of the gay community. Tony Campolo has often been described as "prophetic" by secular media types Translation: he's another shallow shill for Clinton and critic of healthy Evangelicalism Speaking of Wonder Magazine... Another delightfully perpendicular writer and whiz kid behind Wonder is the, er, wonderful Lint Hatcher. Another escapee from Festung Homosexual heard from A search party composed of representatives from the NY Times editorial board, ABC News, and CNN has orders to track Signorile down and, if necessary, shoot to kill lest he publish more incorrect thoughts. Meanwhile, a media blackout has the nation under lockdown in the hopes that not discussing the AIDS conference will make the facts it brought to light go away. Dreher makes further points along the same lines, but he is a non-person writing for a pretend magazine, so that doesn't matter. More on Savage Several readers seem to have the impression I was giving Savage an endorsement. I wasn't. I was simply pointing out that Savage, in his profane way is acknowledging what I have pointed out elsewhere: that you can't square the circle. Homosexual practice (not orientation) and Catholic teaching are irreconcilable and attempts to cling to both are as doomed as the attempt to serve God and Mammon. There are, of course, other courses to pursue besides rejection of the gospel or vain attempts to square the circle (which is simply another and slower way of rejecting the gospel if pursued to the bitter end). Acceptance of the gospel, so often found difficult and left untried, is always an option. David Morrison and other Courageous Christians are an excellent guide here--and therefore often bitterly hated by those who despise and fear the cross. Nonetheless, they are signs of Christ crucified, the power and the wisdom of God. Why I love Evangelicals Someday guys like this are going to discover to their surprise and delight that they are card-carrying members of what John Paul calls the Church of Mary and that that's not bad. The Evangelical sense of committed discipleship is something I wish we could distill into a serum and inject into the bloodstream of the American bishops. God bless Evangelicals! Wonder Magazine has a website! The delightful (and sadly little known) Wonder Magazine has a website, edited by the delightful (and soon to be better known) Rod Bennett. What? You don't know about Rod? He's the author of a terrific book called Four Witnesses: The Early Church in her Own Words. After you are done reading The Supper of the Lamb (and all my books, of course), go get Four Witnesses. Nihil? Is that you? A reader writes: I'm appalled reading one of your blogs, "Back up your Birth Control ...", the comments on which go like this ... oops ... as this ... ok, they go as this, "Says ... " ... Here's what you say, "Says whom?". This is grammatically incorrect. "Says" is the verb; and there has to be a subject. The subject has to be in the nominative case. Therefore, since the subject in this case (this case, not the nominative case, but the real case here under discussion, which is the nominative case) is someone saying "Says", then, therefore, and since "whom" in your sentence is not at all any kind whatsoever of an object and does not take the action, but actually delivers the action... thus, "whom", the "m" of which denotes objective case, therefore, q.e.d., by rules of English grammar (not that the English have it so much together, but it's also by the rules of German grammar, and even possibly German Catholic grammar ... one would have to do a thorough study on whether it was the Protestant or the Catholic tribes of Germany who dominated or controlled or managed the investiture of the "m" in "whom" ... in the translational manner of speaking (not to mention James Joyce, of late Irish memory ... there being yet some memory left ... not to say that the memory is leftist, no, not this ...), well let's assume for the matter of clarity that it was a board of grammar equally Protestant and Catholic, of equal women and men, and equally of those from the lower classes as from the upper, and, yes, with equal numbers of homosexual clerical grammarians in that board ... well, I don't know if I like this at all here ... Who put the "m" into the language anyway? But the logically obvious proof here is that you should have written ... ok, typed "who" without the "m". Says who? Fair Enough. I Can Buy That. A friend of mine, who is a world-class expert on the relationship between Church and State under communist regimes, writes: I just caught your post on the Cuban defectors, and the response of a hierarch about them. Remember, that given the circumstances he almost has to say what he's saying, or the chances of any Cuban Catholic youth getting a visa signed while old fuzz beard is alive are pretty much nill. Precisely because the Church is living hand to mouth and the persecution is subtle, leaders there have to give more an appearance of "neutrality" than they might like. The way the spokesperson said what he said puts the "blame" of the defection on people Castro's security thugs can't hurt. Okay. I can buy that. Indeed, I can even respect the Cuban spokesman for being willing to endure brickbats from people like me so that other Cubans might get out in the future. I do still have a hard time with the Canadian guy though, unless the Canadian regime is more repressive than I've heard. Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Jody, my blog's Village Atheist and Self-Appointed Guardian of Truth in Journalism... has fresh difficulties facing him. First, of course, is the strange delusion he is suffering from that this blog is "journalism". I thought it was my private forum for talking about whatever interested me. I'll leave him to figure that out. Second, is the entertaining fact that Dan Savage, who really does claim to be a journalist, says that the problem with the Catholic Church's sex scandals "is gay priests." Another breach in the wall of Festung Homosexual! Jody shall no doubt be as swift to ensure that this homophobic lie from the pit of hell is denounced in the pages of The Stranger as part of his pursuit of journalistic purity. The Bishops' Secret Letter Courtesy of Deal Hudson at Crisis Dear Friend, Un-freakin'-believable It's unfortunate that 23 young Cubans used World Youth Day as an opportunity to seek asylum in Canada, organizers of the Toronto event say. And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. Go and do likewise.(Luke 10:30-32. Canadian Revised Parable of the Good Samaritan) UPDATE: Please read this before making dumb snap judgements like me. The Holy Spirit is Being Exceedingly Counter-Intuitive in Boston And yet. It makes sense. The great heart-cry of youth is heroism and it takes courage and nobility to face down jeers and opposition for being a sap in order to go to your Mother's aid when she is extremely sick. Alright! Now it's available in easy to link text format! If you didn't do it before, go read this insightful essay on the Scandal from Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP, of the Catherine of Siena Institute. Brilliance Must be Acknowledged Christopher Johnson over at Midwest Conservative Journal coins a new name for the Anglican communion: I Can't Believe It's Not Roman Catholicism! I don't think the accusation of anti-Catholicism against Ashcroft is fair But I am troubled at the Big Brotherish overtures the State is making in the War on Terror. A friend used to say that we were three meals away from a revolution. I think we are one or two terrorist acts away from completely abandoning our rights to whoever says they will protect us from getting blown up. And I frankly find the TIPS program ("every citizen a rat!") sinister. National Review Catches up with St. Blog's My one quibble with the article is the subtitle. It should have been "What the hell are the Catholic bishops thinking?" Vile words for vile things. I mean, think about it, VoTF at least has the excuse of being a bunch of clueless lay nincompoops whose entire mission in life is not to know and teach the Tradition of the Catholic Church. They're just a bunch of ad hocs who are scrambling to respond to a crisis--a crisis created by their bishops, not by them. So it's somewhat excusable when they get abortion advocates from SIECUS to guide them. After all, what do they know? But what the frickin' hell excuse do our shepherds have for putting a Clintonoid partial birth abortion advocate in a position to guide them? Otherwise, nice work, K-Lo. JPII: Between the Lidless Eye Reactionaries and the Tapioca Left Critics of the Pope continue to inadvertently persuade me to stick closer to him than ever. Just yesterday on my blog, there was an exciting series of posts from hysterical reactionaries who hate this Pope, clearly regard him as an egomaniac (a charge that is, quite simply, stupid on the face of it) and whose main beef is that he is not acting as totalitarian micromanager of the Church by elbowing all his brother bishops aside and excommunicating everybody to the left of Pat Buchanan. Today I see on Emily Stimpson's blog that the Tapioca Left, meanwhile, is looking forward to that Great Rosy Dawn when we will finally get a Pope who is not so eager as John Paul is to act as totalitarian micromanager of the Church by elbowing all his brother bishops aside and excommunicate everybody to the left of Pat Buchanan. When you see a thing condemned for being to round and too square, too fat and too thin, too black and too white, you may be sure that it is very good. No! It Can't be True! Abstinence Education Works to Decrease HIV Infections?! No! It's a lie from Fear-Based Moralists! Condoms are the True and Only Way! We must find a way to make people repeat this Article of Faith from the Libertine Creed of the 60s three times every morning and thereby make it true. Research continues daily! Greater and greater rewards for those who succeed! More and more terrible punishments for those who fail! What do Andrew Sullivan and Sean Hannity have in common? Both are what I would call "tribal Catholics". People whose primal allegiance is to the Church as a sort of flag, who couldn't imagine themselves as anything other than Catholics at some core level, and yet who, at the level of "grasp of the Church's teaching" are often stunningly ignorant. My take on Sullivan is already clear with respect to his various amazingly silly statements concerning the Church's teaching on sexuality. But Hannity is often much the same. I recall one shocking show I happened to catch in which he did the standard conservative "opposed to abortion" bit but also said that a rape victim should "root out the evil seed". This is, not to put too fine a point on it, a barbarous notion of ritual impurity and defilement that while perhaps suitable for a Sumerian morality of 5000 BC is simply completely out of touch with the last traces of Catholic thought. A baby, Mr. Hannity, is not rendered an "evil seed" due to the sins of its father. It does not deserve the death penalty because of the manner of its conception. Hannity, like most people whose first allegiance is to American conservatism rather than the teaching of the Church betrays other typical prejudices, as that whatever we choose to do in war is justified by the fact that we are Americans, that original sin does not really affect laissez faire capitalists, and that the fitting response to instantaneous failure to pass a zero tolerance policy (no matter how stupidly it will be implemented) is to call for some better "product" that "works." In all this, I think the common denominator is tribal Catholicism: the curious tendency to see the Church as a flag, a caucus, or a consumer purchase and not a teacher. Garry "Mater Si, Magister No" Wills strikes me as another such tribalist. It's not an altogether bad position. I prefer people with a visceral sense of loyalty to those who have no sense of loyalty at all. But I prefer even more loyal people who can listen to the Church's teaching and receive it ("as you receive me", says our Lord) and then trust that teaching to reform, not deform, the Church in the image of Christ and not in their own image. "Back up your Birth Control with Emergency Contraception" "Emergency Contraception" being translated means "abortion". This helpful campaign is being sponsored by SIECUS, one of the guiding stars for VOTF. ("F" stands for "Faithful"). Glad to see VOTF working hard to protect innocent children from violence. Meanwhile, the monitors of the VOTF message board, acting more and more like bureaucrats from Minitrue, are busy suppressing information posted concerning the affiliation of Debra Hafner (a recent speaker at the VOTF national meeting) with SIECUS and Planned Parenthood). When they were told that said affiliations were sufficient to render her unsuitable as a speaker for a Catholic event. The two-worded response from a monitor identified as "nimda" was, and I quote: "Says whom?" VOTF Continues Down the Path of Being Co-Opted by the Same Tired Radicals From the VOTF message board, posted Mon Jul 22, 2002 3:05 pm: I attended the conference Saturday and was greatly disappointed in many respects. Jim Muller and Paul Baier have emphasized that VOTF was not a left or right wing group, but wished to transcend what is obviously a barren dispute in order to side with the victims of clerical abusiveness. Stuff you don't hear about in the NY Times. Prediction: VOTF will congeal into an ur-Call to Action group, flail about for a few more years, maintain a small base of people who have utterly forgotten what they are to be about (if they ever knew) and simply join the background of yapping malcontents espousing doomed leftisms. A pity really. Monday, July 29, 2002
I can't resist these A man walked into a doctor's office with a cucumber up his nose, a carrot in his right ear, and a banana in his left ear. "What's wrong with me, Doc?" he asked. The doctor took one glance and pronounced, "You're not eating properly." b'dum BUM! So this horse walks into a bar. Bartender sez: "Why the long face?" b'dum BUM! So a priest, a rabbi, a minister, a penguin, and a dancing bear walk into the bar. Bartender sez: "What is this, some kind of joke?" b'dum BUM! So this dyslexic walks into a bra... b'dum BUM! Thank you very much! I'm here all week! Try the veal! A reader sez: Just now reading your blogs about VOtF, I wonder why in all the VOtF deception and lying (I got some of it first hand weeks ago in an email exhange with Paul Baier of VOtF), that no one is sitting that organization down in the liar's seat. (Liar's seat? Yes, in fact I just now invented this phrase ... if you've heard it before, then I haven't except for possibly being an additional inventor of it.) My own impression of VOTF is not of lying, but of profound confusion. Being fallen, it's certainly on the cards that they could fall to lying, just as they are already falling to muzzling those who criticize them. But I've not seen it yet. I simply see badly catechized people flailing around and saying increasingly stupid things because they don't have the foggiest idea what it is they are really trying to do. If they aren't careful (and I've seen little evidence they are) they will be rapidly co-opted by the same tired dissidents who know exactly what they want to do. That's my son Luke! 
He's the tall blond guy with the "World Youth Day" T-Shirt on. I am delighted that news of the death of World Youth Day appears to have been exaggerated. Luke returns home tonight! Quintessential Baby Boomer Narcissism No wonder the kids look right over the Boomer's heads with longing to the generations before them. By the way, bulletin to the Boomers: it was not you guys who passed the Civil Rights Act. It was the WWII generation. Useful rule of thumb: Constructive Civil Rights work: think Martin Luther King Jr. Boomer era civil rights work: think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Oh, and don't forget to call them "Reverend". Perhaps no generation in the history of the world has thought more highly of itself with less grounds than my own. More Truth Cancer Watched "Cromwell" last night. A very interesting portrayal of the process of Truth Cancer. Cromwell begins by opposing the tyrannical power of King Charles (who dissolved Parliament and ruled by "divine right"--until he needed money). When he recalls Parliament, Cromwell gives many sincere speeches about the rights of "the people" and winds up fighting Charles, who gets it in the neck in the end. Cromwell eventually...dissolves Parliament because they aren't up to his levels of righteousness and rules as Lord Protector till his death. It somehow made me think of VOTF. David Alexander has sent VOTF the link to Dom Bettinelli's story that I posted below. Their response: Bettinelli is not a "reliable source." Is this not perfect? Does it not sound exactly like a stonewalling press release from the Archdiocese of Boston or LA? Amazing how quickly VOTF is coming to sound like a bunch of butt-covering "Deny, deny, deny" flaks from Cdl Mahony's office, denying stories that the LA New Times has beaucoup documentation on. Similarly, Dom has the documentation on the "Sex for Kids!" advocacy of SIECUS right on his site in SIECUS' own words. He likewise has documentation that VOTF has given SIECUS pride of place in their conference on "reforming" the Church. If they are really open to the voice of the faithful then they had better learn to to deal with it when the faithful point out their folly and stop talking like an abusive bishop covering his derriere when confronted with the facts. Sunday, July 28, 2002
More ICEL Translation Entries from readers! Smile and the world smiles with you: Become celebration in a world that celebrates your becoming. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence: Creator of all that is good, help us learn to respect boundaries and gift you with gratefulness for our fair share. Onward Christian Soldiers ICEL translation: Diversity brings peace to all nations Voice of the Fuddled Sinks Deeper Into Stockholm Syndrome Dom Bettinelli reports: Deborah Hafner was one of the honored guests at the recent "Voice of the Faithful" confab at the Hynes. "To oppose all forms of sexual oppression including notions of.... the innocence of children." Do not misunderstand this. SIECUS is not talking about the dangers of oppressing the innocence of children by sexual abuse. It means that the "notion of the innocence of children" is a form of oppression that keeps children from enjoying sex with people like Paul Shanley. These are the cretins that VOTF is turning to in its "response" to sexual abuse of children. Tutored by men like Shanley for 20 years, VOTF is now naturally turning to people with his ideas (it's all they know or understand) in order to resolve the crisis prompted by his betrayal. How pitiable. How stupid. How contemptible. This has to be a world record example of Truth Cancer metastasizing into its opposite. Scant months ago, VOTF began by saying we must reject the Tradition in order to exalt one piece of it [in this case, the need to protect children]. Already, they are embracing creeps who are now calling for more freedom to have sex with children as they cling to the rejection of Tradition but forget what they were trying to save. Show me a culture that despises virginity and I'll show you a culture that hates children. God bless David Alexander (and send him speedy help from other orthodox Catholics (hint! hint!) as he tries to keep VOTF from running headlong off the cliff their neglectful shepherds have steered them toward. Saturday, July 27, 2002
This weekend's piece is up on Catholic Exchange Me, I'm going to see steamer trains with my guys! Till next we meet, toodleoo! Oh, and remember, wouldn't this be an excellent weekend to learn more about the Eucharist, discover Sacred Tradition, explore the Bible, come to love and appreciate the Blessed Virgin, or educate yourself on a faithful lay response to the Situation? Of course it would! And you can do so (and help feed this ox of a writer and his family as he treads out an extremely modest income of grain) by buying any or all of my books and tapes. Friday, July 26, 2002
Bravo Bishop Robert Vasa, Diocese of Baker, Oregon! "Perhaps our laxity in not more strongly proclaiming and enforcing the teachings of the church about the necessity of chastity before marriage, the sinfulness of contraception within marriage, the evil of adultery, the evil of homosexual acts, the horror of abortion and the necessity of Sunday Mass has been an abdication of leadership. Our failure to act more effectively relative to moral decadence within the clergy is certainly a sign of a lack of moral leadership and we will work to remedy this defect. I am pleased to see so many of the Faithful rallying for Bishops to speak out more directly against evil, insisting on stricter 'moral standards' for those (clergy and laity) involved in ministry. This provides a perfect opportunity for Bishops to teach much more strictly and forthrightly, not only about the evil of child sexual abuse by clergy or anyone else but about many other pressing moral issues in our society at large. The laity have asked for a stronger moral voice from their Bishops and I hope we have the courage to respond." Blessed Father in the faith, your words are like cold water to people in the desert. Keep it up! Readers interested in praising good bishops (which is vastly more effective than flailing at bad ones) can email their kudos to the Chancellor of the Diocese. Nope, Calvinism is not somehow uniquely subject to corruption And I certainly didn't mean to suggest it is. Indeed, each religious tradition has its peculiar forms of sanctity and corruption. A Calvinist saint (and there are some such as Francis Schaeffer) doesn't look like a Catholic, Orthodox, or Baptist saint. Indeed, none of them look like each other. But there is a secret bond which still unites them all. C.S. Lewis talks about this and even notes that it extends to non-Christian traditions. He much preferred talking to a real Jew or Muslim than to the vague, watery, homogenous adherents of religious traditions, people "not exactly obedient" to any religious faith. He believed this was because at the core of what was best in each tradition, Christ was secretly at work. I believe the same. Conversely, when different traditions go to rot, they stink differently. Baptists can't produce a Rasputin or a Stalin odor. These have a distinct stench of rotting Orthodoxy to them. Likewise, the Orthodox could never give us Robert Tilton, nor does John Shelby Spong smell like anything but decayed Anglicanism. As to rotten Catholic faith, there seems to be a shift. It used to be that bad Catholics smelled like Hitler or (Jesuit schooled) Heinrich Himmler. Since Vatican II, bad Catholics typically smell more like Frances Kissling. The point is, any religious tradition can go to rot, not just Calvinists. But all the traditions have their glories too. I'm having way too much fun on HMS Blog Inspired by a reader on this blog, I've proposed a new contest over there. Sadly, HMS Blog has no comments box. But by all means, please offer your translations in the comment box here! More of that fine-tuned sense of Arab morality Once a man commits the venial sin of mass murder, it's only a matter of time before he does something serious like embezzle. Exhibit #4098343598 in the "Why Amy Welborn is a National Treasure" Display Authentic reconciliation is only achieved by fidelity to honesty, not by hitting the snooze button. An offended Calvinist writes about my cracking wise concerning the "fumes of Calvinism": Huh? Concepts highly prized by Puritans still exist in debased form in American mass culture. We're still a city on a hill, though we now use the hill to broadcast Planned Parenthood messages written by comfortable white Rockefeller Foundation types to all those charming little brown-skinned people who need our ministrations in order to make sure there aren't too many of them. We're still certain we're Elect, even though we've been elected to bring the blessings of MTV to the world. Total depravity is true--of Republicans. We're still predestined, but it's predestination by the Forces of History, and its goal is Total Conformity to the Image and Likeness of the Editorial Board of the New York Times. It's not an accident that places like Boston have long been centers of this sort of thinking. Calvinism mutated to Unitarianism and, when it died and rotted in a shallow secular grave, gave off fumes of self-righteous liberalism than you can still smell. Sure there are still a few diehards who truly believe in Calvinism as it was in the 16th Century. They live, for the most part, in a compound in Moscow Idaho and are confidently awaiting the mass conversion of American society to their way of thinking as they invoke the spirit of Rushdoony. They will wait long. Likewise, Calvinism is not quite the driving force it once was in England. As C.S. Lewis once observed, "I am a converted pagan living among apostate Puritans." For a lengthier treatment of the curious way in which cultures can die of Truth Cancer (and the way in which the gospel can redeem us from such a fate) see my essay "Truth Cancer and the Redemption of Rebellion". The answer is "No." Zero Tolerance policies are stupid and simply another way of avoiding the task of being a bishop. Rome, I predict, will reject the Policy for this reason. At this point, American bishops will have a choice: 1) deal with the fact that their task is to govern their Churches and begin the difficult process of finally learning how to do it, or 2) turn to the cameras and say "We tried. Lord knows we tried. But Rome will not permit reform. Don't blame us. Blame Rome." God grant them the grace of the sacrament of Holy Orders to do the former and shun the latter course. More Weird Choices for the Bishop's Oversight Board You've never heard of most of these people have you? Neither have I. Greg Popcak talks about why yet another of these guys is a remarkably dubious candidate for dealing with sexual abuse. He also links to Domenico Bettinelli's piece on board member Pamela Hayes, who's given $18,000 to various pro-abort candidates and is a big supporter of the Ice Queen Senator from New York, Lady Macbeth Clinton. (And what's up with the aviation company guy on the board? What's he know about Catholic theology, pastoral care, or, well...anything?) Happily, the board looks like it's fixing to become cocooned in administrative chaos rather than metastasize into some destructive Frankenstein, but we're not out of the woods yet. A much simpler solution would be for the bishops to learn what their office is and live it. Then they would need no board. And on a happy note Rome has told the little liturgical fidgets at the International Commission on English in the Liturgy that their cute improvements on the Mass will not be needed anymore Word is that Vox Clara will be doing the translation. My apologies I've been thinking about what I've written the last couple of days and I'm not happy with all of it. I think I've been very quick to be cynical about our bishops and to stoke the fires of despair. Therefore, I want to apologize if I've prompted any reader toward more cynicism too. What got me thinking about this was the piece by Fr. Michael Sweeney (which, if you haven't read it, you should immediately do). He writes: Priests and bishops have failed to take seriously the lay faithful they serve and with whom they are called to collaborate in the mission of the Church. They have covered up the actions of certain priests, fearing that Christ’s people would falter in their faith if they became aware of such transgressions. They did not trust that the laity were as capable of faithfulness as they themselves, and that their faith—a gift of God—does not depend upon the witness of the hierarchy. So, instead of me making snide remarks about how hopeless our bishops are, I should be about the business of trusting that God means to and will bring about repentance and genuine holiness. I should act on this by extending reconciliation to them, even if they are not yet capable of trusting (and, in some cases, deserving) it. This does not mean turning a blind eye when they do something absurd (like putting partial-birth abortion booster Panetta on a panel created in response to child abuse). Nor does it mean not being living the prophetic office of baptism, being "wise as a serpent" and making noise when one of them (like McCormack or Mahony) gives strong indications he is returning to old habits once the heat is off. But it does mean refusing to adopt a mental outlook of settled cynicism, as though God does not exist and cannot act. It means living my vocation as a layperson and doing my priestly office, also given in baptism, to offer reconciliation as Christ does. Such grace is not offered to those who earn it, but to those who need it, just as Christ offered mercy to the people who were executing him. For my failure to do this, I offer my profound apologies to my readers, my exhortation to do likewise, and the continued hope that our shepherds will take up the cross of Christ and find in it his mercy and the grace to do their office. One Last Thing on Lefty Puritanism One common critique of Christianity (and Judaism) is the curious biblical idea of corporate personality. Jewish prophets frequently tend to conflate a people with their patriarch so that "Israel" refers both to the man Jacob and to his progeny or "Edom" to Esau or his heirs. The actions of the individual and the destiny of the people are often oddly overlapped in the Old Testament. The apotheosis of this way of thinking is found in Paul, who sees the sin of Adam as affecting the entire human race so that for the one sin, all die "in" Adam. Likewise, he sees the redemption of Christ as redeeming all "in" Christ. Not surprisingly, many moderns are turned off by this. They think that "original sin" means we get the blame for what Adam did and protest Christianity as a "religion of guilt". As one angry professor of mine once derisively sneered about the doctrine of original sin: "If your grandfather was a horse thief, does that make you a horse thief?" Like Pilate, he did not stay for an answer. Village Atheists never seem to have time for that. Many such people wind up in Seattle, the least churched city in the least churched state in the nation. A couple of years ago, some girl band guitarist (call her "Suzie Q", I can't remember her name) killed herself on heroin here in Seattle. So what does the headline in the local Arts Elite mag say the next day? "Did Seattle Kill Suzie Q?". The whole article was aimed at indicting "Seattle"--all of us--for the collective guilt of having a big heroin subculture. It aimed to blame every citizen for their hand in her death. And, of course, once blamed, that's it. Article over. No possibility of redemption. Just guilt. Boy, what a step up from that religion of guilt, Christianity. Like Mick Jagger says, "Who killed the Kennedys? After all, it was you and me." No. I did not kill the Kennedys. I didn't kill Suzie Q. I never owned a slave, nor did any ancestor of mine (poor Irish that they were). I am guilty of no collective Euroguilt "in" Columbus and don't much feel like making reparations to people who don't even have grandparents who were slaves. I do not feel a sense of responsibility for the Holocaust, particularly since my father stayed awake for three solid days servicing the bombers that provided air cover for D-Day. Now, I did share in the common affliction of original sin (until I was baptized and received the missing life of the Blessed Trinity in my soul), but that does not mean I was "blamed" for Adam's sin. It means that Adam and Eve lost the life of communion with God they *should* have passed on to us and so I was, like everybody else, born with a spiritual "birth defect", a hole in my soul where the divine life should have been. Not surprisingly, I acted in accord with my wound and sinned like they did, selfishly trying to suck in any and every creature to fill the hole and trampling over plenty of people in the process. I still sinfully give in to that weakness (it's called concupiscence) and need to go to confession and try to live a better life afterwards by the grace of Christ. But, unlike the Leftist Puritan's hopeless refrain, "You are guilty of murder because you live in Seattle and there is no mercy for you", I found that Christ could do more than point out real (not imaginary) sin. He could forgive it and take it away. Speaking of post-modern Puritanism Years ago my pal Dave listened to a long piece NPR did on "How to have a Green Vacation". Listeners were urged for half an hour to only have environmentally friendly vacations. But the best part came at the end, when the host furrowed his brow and asked the Big Moral Question: "But... can we really be justified in having any vacation as long as there is environmental damage going on anywhere in the world?" This is precisely the excuse Lake Wobegon Pastor Ingqvist's parishioners give him for not underwriting any vacation time. "How can you feel right about taking a vacation as long as there is sin and suffering anywhere on earth?" At least Pastor Ingqvist believes in heaven. Leftism is puritanism without any of the consolations of the Puritans. All the guilt and no sacrament of reconciliation. Sandra Miesel (rhymes with "diesel") comments on the Jesuits sadistically martyred at the hands of the Iroquois: I'm not making this up: several years ago our state museum had a show on Jesuit Fr. deSmet and the Rocky Mountain Indians, called SACRED ENCOUNTERS. The catalog had a picture of the Iroquois torturing Jesuits with the caption that they killed them that way to honor them!! One of the curious holdovers of Puritanism in the PC Left is the insistence that only Christians and Europeans should really be held accountable as adults and full moral agents for their actions. From excuse-making for Iroquois (but full moral accountability for white settlers), to the ceaseless overlooking of the grossness of men like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson (but full blame for the stupid statements of Jerry Falwell on 9/11), to the constant willingness to call for "contextualization" of every heinous thing the Aztecs did (but full accountability for Cortez), this pattern plays out. The PC Left betrays all the high-handed contempt that Cotton Mather felt for the heathen in its insistence on infantilizing non-Christian/non-European evildoers while simultaneously regarding Christians and Europeans (this would include Euro-Americans of course) as full moral agents accountable for their actions. I agree that Christians and Europeans should be held accountable. I merely suggest that the world would be a far better place if slimes like Al Sharpton were treated as the disgusting wretches they are and not persistently lionized as respected leaders whose little foibles are excusable because, well, he and his community must be infantilized since the heathen can't be expected to live up to the standards of the Elect. Amazing how the fumes of Calvinism linger on long after the theology is dead. Thursday, July 25, 2002
Okay, so Amrhine's a "Fredneck" A reader sez: I'm not sure writing for the Free-Lance Star qualifies as being a "distinguished columnist." Have you ever *been* to Fredericksburg? I lived there for a year, and it's one big strip mall surrounded by memorials to people who were traitors to the United States. The carpetbaggers from DC (like me) knew the bigotted locals as "Frednecks" (as opposed to the locals who just didn't like Yankees; they were generally nice people, if a little lost in the past). 1492: The Conquest of Paradise and All That Those who are enthusiasts for the myth that the world is neatly divisible into Evil Christian European Environmental Rapists vs. Happy Matriarchal Earth-Affirming Pagans in Touch with their Sexuality and the Rhythms of Mother Gaia should contemplate this little vignette from the martyrdom of St. John Brebeuf: Brébeuf's death, as described by witnesses, was not likely to be lost to history even without a shrine. His flesh was apparently stripped from the bone, his skin blistered by boiling water in derision of the baptisms he had conducted among the Huron, his body burned by pitch and resin-drenched bark and heated stones, his lips cut off when he would not stop praying and, finally, his heart ripped from his chest during his final conscious moments. Turns out that even non-Christians are fallen. Whaddaya know. (Though I'm sure there are a few fringe Christian haters out there who will tell you, like a Wahoobi moron blaming a rape victim, that the victim was asking for it and secretly enjoyed it. These people are about as rare as academics at Ivy League schools in the general population. In fact, they *are* academics at Ivy League Schools for the most part.) Fr. Rob Johansen's Take on our Hapless Bench of Bishops or "the Democratic Party at Prayer" as Sandra Miesel tartly describes them. "Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints." Revelation 13:10 None of this--I repeat, none of this--is a reason to give up on the Church (as some of my readers have toyed with). The Church is more than our hapless bench of bishops--and they are not eternal. The answer to spineless, clueless bishops is not to give up and go but to stay and soldier on. Christ is still Lord of the Church and we are called to love Her now above all. Go. Read. This. Fr. Michael Sweeney of the St. Catherine of the Siena Institute gives an incredibly insightful take on the Situation titled "Putting our Past In Front: Redeeming the Scandal". You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 to view the document. You can download Adobe for free here. If you read nothing else today. Read this article. Written by a man who along with Sherry Weddell, the other director of the Siena Institute, understands the *real* (and thrilling) Catholic theology of the laity better than virtually anybody in the world. What the difference between Alberto Fujimori and Richard Amrhine? One's a disgraced former president, the other is a distinguished columnist. Now this is News! According to Greg "Scoop" Popcak, eight courageous members of our largely hapless bench of bishops sent a letter to all the bishops in the United States. The letter calls for the creation of a Plenary Council to address the issues of homosexuality and dissent which serves as the foundation for this present crisis in the Church. More bishops have signed onto the letter since Thursday. My hope springs eternal. Multiplying Clintonoids and the Bishops Who Need Them First it was Robert Bennett, Clinton's lawyer. Now it's Leon Panetta, stalwart defender of partial birth abortion. These are the sort of people our shepherds have put on the "Stop Me Before I Let a Child be Raped Again" panel that's supposed to make sure they are doing the elementary work that a moral being should be capable of doing. How on earth do these guys expect to be taken seriously? Wednesday, July 24, 2002
As readers of this blog know... I think it fitting to use vile words to describe vile things and beautiful words to describe beautiful things. I think it vile to use beautiful words to describe vile things and vile words to describe beautiful things. I also think it vile to used anesthetized words to describe evil things. Josh Claybourn's blog is debating the vile language question. Christians often strain at gnats and swallow camels. It bothers them more to be told what yer average rap "singer" has to say than the fact that they do, in fact, say it. In case you'd forgotten it, Rev. Sun Myung Moon is still a royal kook and so are his disciples I especially like the unsolicited testimonials from various denizens of the netherworld to supplement the unanimous chorus of endorsement for Moon from the founders of the Great Religions. Here's a product endorsement from Karl Marx and channelled through some Moonie seer or other: Karl Marx (1818-1883, The founder of Marxism; born in Trier, Germany.): I, Marx, affirm God's existence and that He is the Parent of all humankind. I denied God and shouted loudly with confidence to the extent that people believed me more than God. Now I'd like to reveal my experience with God to the whole world. I felt that my theoretical paradigm was crumbling as I listened to the Godism lecture. At the same time my pride was damaged severely. When I listened to Godism, I thought it was a dream, but it was not. Then a beam of light came into my heart like a red-hot bullet. We now know Marx is in hell. Where else would you spend an eternity listening to Godism lectures? Greg Krehbiel Explains it all for you! The puckish Mr. Krehbiel sez: I've figured out the next Dispensationalist end of the world scenario. See this. Where's Kirk Cameron when you need him? Sean Gallagher notes that Richard Land of the Southern Baptists is discussing the Death Penalty I have no argument with Land's basic thesis. Romans 13 is crystal clear. Caesar has a right to his sword. However, as Sean points out, the question of when and under what circumstances Caesar should use it is a matter for prudential judgment, informed by the teaching of the Church. Land doesn't really go into this. Granting Caesar his sword, it remains to be asked, "Should Caesar wield it as often as humanly possible. If not, then how do we determine when he should. It is to that question the Pope speaks in Evangelium Vitae. I am gratified to hear that other Christians are beginning to realize that urging the sword upon Caesar and encouraging him to use it with abandon is, perhaps, not the smartest thing Christians living in a rapidly dechristianizing culture have ever done. 98% Failure Rate That, according to Mary Beth Bonacci, is what a government study determined last year concerning the effectiveness of condoms in preventing STDs. Imagine any other product promoted as "safe" operating under a 98% failure rate. Safe! Only 98 out of 100 children slowly strangle to death on this toy! Experts applaud new "safe" fireworks for keeping 2 out of 100 users from blowing their hands off! IBM proudly unveils its new energy-efficient Electrocute 333 computer today, which only delivers a deadly twelve amp shock to 98 out of 100 users. Now the real headline: UN acknowledges condoms don't work. A non-Catholic reader complains of the loopy new Archbishop of Canterbury... He supports women ministers, so he should be shunned by all right-thinking Christians. I have no problem with women "ministers", merely with women priests. A woman can minister (i.e. "serve") as well as a man. She simply can't confect the Eucharist or celebrate Holy Orders, Confirmation or Anointing. It's certainly not my place to tell other denominations how to order their internal affairs (though I am endlessly fascinated by the many non-Catholics I meet who very much want to tell the Catholic Church how to order Hers), but, from a Catholic perspective, the only thing the Church makes clear is that women cannot be ordained to the sacerdotal priestly office. She makes no claim that women cannot participate in governance or teach. That is why we have abbesses in our tradition, as well as female doctors of the Church (not to mention queens). One of the ticking time bombs left by this papacy (which no one has noticed yet) is that Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, in making it clear the priestly office is all we are talking about with respect to women, is that there is now a much clearer possibility for a lay woman to be made a cardinal. We've had lay cardinals in the past. So there's no particular reason we couldn't have them again--and that some of them could be women. I'd be in favor of it, so long as they are orthodox. Speaking of Rod... As this blog notes, Andrew Sullivan is pretty good on the war and Bush. He was one of the first voices of moral clarity out of the gate after 9/11 and performed invaluable services to humanity by carefully documenting (and exploding) the stupidity and evil of the "We hate life, ourselves, and you" Left which couldn't articulate an intelligent response to Islamofascism to save its soul. For that, I will always be grateful. But when it comes to sex and the Catholic Faith, Sullivan is a fool. And he is so, not by a failure of the intellect, but by a failure of the will. His demand is that Catholic moral teaching justify his sex life and he tortures himself and the faith into an intellectual pretzel in the attempt to make it do so. He's a walking, talking illustration of the fact that, for moderns, heresy typically begins in the groin. (Interestingly, for ancients, this is often not the case, but that's grist for another blog.) Rod Dreher highlights this in a blog today, but it is evident everytime Sullivan opens his mouth concerning Catholic moral teaching. In Catholicese, the latinate phrase is "concupiscence darkens the intellect". In plain English, sin makes you stupid. Or as C.S. Lewis said, "The trouble with trying to be stupider than you really are is that you can often succeed." From the Fortress Homosexual McMinistry of Truth Data: Out of 1200 cases of reported priestly abuse, 85% of the victims were male. Conclusion: "While some have blamed homosexuality..." followed by 12 paragraphs of blah blah studiously avoiding the connection of two very large dots. Bp. McCormack of Manchester NH in the news again... A priest says McCormack is trying to destroy him for knowing to much about a pervert priest. McCormack's henchmen say, in true Clintonian form, that the priest is "mentally unstable". The priest "consented to a psychological evaluation in April. Though he was found to be mentally sound, Arsenault told the clinic conducting the examination that MacCormack lacked "any prudent sense of with whom to share confidences," according to a copy of the psychological report reviewed by The Associated Press. Translation: the priest actually thought that bishops like McCormack could be trusted to do the right thing. But padre! This is the bishop who expected us to believe that he just didn't notice anything amiss when credible evidence was given to him that Paul Shanley advocated sex with minors. Boy, McCormack's a new man after Dallas. |
