I'm outta here till Monday.
Ciao!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Of Course, He's Barking Mad
We should all go on listening to the people who created the problem. After all, if they created it, they are the only people who can be trusted to fix it.
Ignore him. Trust the Best and the Brightest. Have they ever been wrong?
The Case of the Haunted Hospital
Of course, materialists are required by their creed to automatically reject all such stories as bunk. Catholics are content to wait until they've seen evidence. If the evidence looks sound, then I'd have no particular problem believing there is something supernatural going on. Likewise, if the evidence look dubious, I'm content to be dubious. But I'm basically guided by the evidence, not by an irrational dogma that forbids me from thinking about the possibility of the supernatural.
I am amused by the "artist's impression". Who knew ancient Romans looked like Superman?
I am amused by the "artist's impression". Who knew ancient Romans looked like Superman?
Williamson Cowboys Up
Text of the letter sent to To His Eminence Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos:
It's not a perfect apology since his remarks were not, you know, "imprudent" but wrong. Still and all, it's a manly acknowledgement of guilt and should be honored with forgiveness and mercy. The reaction of should be interesting. I suspect the enemies of the Church who are always banging on about how the Church is all about guilt and shame will suddenly discover that the Church is (like her Lord) scandalously merciful and go on calling for Williamson's (and Benedict's) heads. Guys like Andrew Sullivan won't just let this golden opportunity to bash Benedict go out of some interest in Christian mercy. There are too many political points to be scored!
Your Eminence
Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.
For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:"Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you."
Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the document signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of you.
Sincerely yours in Christ
+Richard Williamson
It's not a perfect apology since his remarks were not, you know, "imprudent" but wrong. Still and all, it's a manly acknowledgement of guilt and should be honored with forgiveness and mercy. The reaction of should be interesting. I suspect the enemies of the Church who are always banging on about how the Church is all about guilt and shame will suddenly discover that the Church is (like her Lord) scandalously merciful and go on calling for Williamson's (and Benedict's) heads. Guys like Andrew Sullivan won't just let this golden opportunity to bash Benedict go out of some interest in Christian mercy. There are too many political points to be scored!
A reader with a very impressively exotic name, a prodigious database of vocabulary words, and an appreciation for the finer things writes:
Dear Mr. Shea:
An unconventionally and obtrusively direct and straightforward intrusion into your electronic mailbox without the customary courtesy of introducing oneself, but urgency of purpose requires I forego colouring this missive with Ciceronian polish and therefore must put the question straight to you:
Have you even been aware all this while of the Brothers Chaps' collaborating with Telltale Games to create S.B.C.G.A.P.? (The last and final instalment of the season was released back in December.)
For the uninitiate, permit me to interrupt and explain that he is referring to "StrongBad's Cool Game for Attractive People", the Brothers Chaps latest contribution to Western Civilization for which a grateful nation should give thanks.
We continue:
Given the scores of hidden Generation X miscreants to be found festering in the Catholic world ranging from closet metalheads
...to old school Sierra / Lucasarts adventure game enthusiasts to 80s nostalgists to retired arcade veterans, in return for feeding the hungry masses with this piece of news you will certainly earn for yourself from them Masses of thanksgiving for your sake.
But seriously though, there is something you failed to add that constitutes a grave omission. As in Judaism a Torah requires a Talmud, so does the Homestar site require the Homestar Wiki, a very indispensible tool necessary for interpreting the sage mutterings in every Homestar Flash cartoon and replete with useful information from transcripts to the inside jokes and real-world references in each cartoon. It is essential for getting the full experience. It would be recommendable to place the link to it alongside the one to the main site you added on your blog. Here's the U.R.L.: www.hrwiki.org
Continue faithfully to spread our dotty cult far and wide.
Jokingly yours,
Samer AlBatal
P.S. Good job spotting the new hremail. I can't imagine it as a permanent replacement for sbemails yet I'm afraid.
Thanks for this suggestion. It is noted and ignored. :) I see myself more as an evangelist for the glories of Homestarrunner than as a catechist. My task is to get people in the door. Those who fall in love with HR will, out of the abundance of that love, naturally Google for more information and find it.
Besides, after the trauma of setting up the new template, my nerves are still too raw to go back in now and add still more material to the left rail.
I need a drink.
Seriously, dude: cool name!
Common Ground on Abortion Found, Thanks to the Prince of Peace!
Raving Theist has the scoop.
The basic approach of the Left to compromise on abortion is "On the one hand, we defeat the prolife movement and crush all who support it. On the other hand, prolifers lose and die, hopefully in searing pain."
The basic approach of the Left to compromise on abortion is "On the one hand, we defeat the prolife movement and crush all who support it. On the other hand, prolifers lose and die, hopefully in searing pain."
A reader writes
My mom, Aurea, suffered a very significant stroke late Wednesday night. It's a matter of days now, if not just hours.
Please pray for a happy death for my Mom, Aurea (her name means "golden" in Portuguese) & for my family, many of whom are not currently practicing their Catholic faith.
Thank you all - I very much appreciate your prayers. Mom is my best friend & I'm going to miss her. You are all in my prayers, too!
Father, hear the prayer of your servant and grant Aurea the grace of a happy death. Grant also your grace and consolation to her family in this hour, and the grace of renewed faith in you for all her children. We ask this through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Mother Mary, pray for your daughter, Aurea, and all who are your children through baptism.
Bart Simpson, Scientologist
You'd think that a little more of the character would rub off on her and make her smarter than that.
The attraction of Scientology for Hollywood types has always entirely eluded me.
The attraction of Scientology for Hollywood types has always entirely eluded me.
Guy Who Founded Weather Channel...
thinks Global Warming is rubbish.
One can't help but notice the subtle shift in language from "global warming" to "climate change", accompanied by stories which somehow link the fact that the earth has cooled over the last decade, or stories about winter weather, with the same panicky narrative. One senses the same sort of shifting kaleidoscopic circle of "everything proves we are right, even when it contradicts what we just said" that one heard in the ramp up to the War (another moment of manufactured public hysteria).
I only allow one world-historical blunder per decade and I used my allotment up trusting the Bushies. So I remain agnostic aboutglobal warming climate change hysteria.
One can't help but notice the subtle shift in language from "global warming" to "climate change", accompanied by stories which somehow link the fact that the earth has cooled over the last decade, or stories about winter weather, with the same panicky narrative. One senses the same sort of shifting kaleidoscopic circle of "everything proves we are right, even when it contradicts what we just said" that one heard in the ramp up to the War (another moment of manufactured public hysteria).
I only allow one world-historical blunder per decade and I used my allotment up trusting the Bushies. So I remain agnostic about
A grateful nation says...
thanks for the war, Mr. Bush!
Lovingly made by collateral damage who will always remember his efforts to liberate them from their parents in his War of Choice. It is, fittingly, near their orphanage.
Some highlights of religious news in 2003:
JANUARY: Pope John Paul II, in annual address to diplomats, says war on Iraq must be “very last option.”
FEBRUARY: Chorus of religious opposition to pending Iraq war mounts. Vatican steps up diplomatic campaign to stave off war and disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein peacefully. U.S. theologian Michael Novak stirs controversy with Rome trip to argue war on Iraq is justified as self-defense. Cardinal Ratzinger tersely replies "Pre-emptive war is not in the Catechism. Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, pope’s foreign minister, says unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq without U.N. authorization would be a “crime against peace.”
MARCH: Cardinal Pio Laghi as pope’s special envoy meets with Bush, tells media that Iraq war without U.N. authorization would be “immoral ... illegal, unjust.” Vatican issues one-sentence comment: “Whoever decides that all the peaceful means made available under international law are exhausted assumes a grave responsibility before God, his conscience and history.”
Mission accomplished.
Lovingly made by collateral damage who will always remember his efforts to liberate them from their parents in his War of Choice. It is, fittingly, near their orphanage.
Some highlights of religious news in 2003:
JANUARY: Pope John Paul II, in annual address to diplomats, says war on Iraq must be “very last option.”
FEBRUARY: Chorus of religious opposition to pending Iraq war mounts. Vatican steps up diplomatic campaign to stave off war and disarm Iraqi President Saddam Hussein peacefully. U.S. theologian Michael Novak stirs controversy with Rome trip to argue war on Iraq is justified as self-defense. Cardinal Ratzinger tersely replies "Pre-emptive war is not in the Catechism. Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, pope’s foreign minister, says unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq without U.N. authorization would be a “crime against peace.”
MARCH: Cardinal Pio Laghi as pope’s special envoy meets with Bush, tells media that Iraq war without U.N. authorization would be “immoral ... illegal, unjust.” Vatican issues one-sentence comment: “Whoever decides that all the peaceful means made available under international law are exhausted assumes a grave responsibility before God, his conscience and history.”
Mission accomplished.
Hmmm... I'm not sold
Scott Richert makes a number of good points about the teapot tempest over Benedict's attempts to bend over backwards for the SSPX. He's perfectly right, of course, that Andrew Sullivan and his ilk are wilfully dishonest in their reportage and commentary because of their blind hatred for Benedict. And so it's true, as far as it goes, that no amount of PR would help to mollify enemies of the Church who are bent on reading this action in the worst possible light. But I just don't see how he arrives at the conclusion that
That makes no sense to me, unless (which is possible) the SSPX is made up of such hypersensitive martinets that they would be offended by a loud and clear pre-emptive announcement that attempts to achieve reconciliation with them does not in the slightest involve endorsement of the kooky conspiracy theories and anti-semitism of some. If that's the case, does it not suggest that they are more wedded to anti-semitism than to fidelity to Christ?
Judging from the way in the which the SSPX mucky mucks immediately jumped on Williamson and shut him down, it would appear this is not so. So I don't see why Rome could not have done some pre-emptive catechesis for the innocent onlooker (such as, say, the Israeli Rabbinate, who can hardly be expected to know much about Catholic inside baseball). Yes, strictly speaking, how the Church orders her internal affairs is not the business of outsiders, whethe rabbis or secular reporters. But the fact is, the Pope is the teacher of the world and the world is always watching. Not everybody in the world is filled with Andrew Sullivan's zealous and hysterical hatred of Benedict. Lots of people are, quite understandably, puzzled when they see headlines like "Pope Welcomes Holocaust-Denying Bishop". Taking some modest steps to prevent such headlines *before* they are written rather than after still seems to me prudent.
Don't get me wrong. I think what Benedict did was valiant and I hope it bears fruit. I also hope the SSPX, once reconciled, will not constitute a canker in the Body of Christ, full of impenitent and embittered malcontents and anti-semites who, having temporarily muted themselves, begin to embarrass the Church from within. There is some reason to fear this, as John Allen demonstrates and as anybody who has had many dealings with the numerous anti-semitic ravings of Rad Trads knows. Indeed, one of the less impressive aspects of this whole affair has been the "I'm shocked--SHOCKED--to discover Williamson is an anti-semitic kook act of his fellow SSPXer's bishops since anybody who has spent time listening to him (or for that matter to a great many in the Rad Trad community (ably represented by Angelqueen or Traditio.com) knows that Rad Tradism and Jew hatred are often like peas and carrots. It's a good thing Fellay did, shutting Williamson down. But it was rather belated and one can only wonder how long the muzzle can stay on before he and the people like him explode in a torrent of anti-semitic invective, whack paranoid conspiracy theories, and general lunacy.
Still, the Catholic Church has had a long habit of picking up deadly serpent, drinking poison and not dying, and healing the desperately sick (Mark 16:17-18). When the animating principle of your society is the Spirit of man who died by crucifixion and then walked out of the tomb three days later, you can generally know that you are safe in expecting surprising victories of life and love.
So I remain hopeful that Benedict's enormous sacrifice and risk on behalf of unity will bear fruit, not only in formal ecclesial reunion, but in a new spirit of charity and sanity among even the nastiest anti-semites in the SSPX. I also hope that the rift with offended Jews will be quickly patched up and that offended Catholics who don't get what is happening will recall that St. Matthew was likewise a nasty piece of work (tax collectors were collaborationist theives who cooperated with the Romans in oppressing their own people while adding a hefty surcharge for "personal expenses" to the taxes demanded by the Romans). Jesus has always been in the business of calling Highly Unpleasant People to himself and has always exhibited something of Rome's lack of interest in how it plays in Peoria (or LA, DC, or Jerusalem). So while the catechist in me can't help but see this fracas from the perspective of a "lost learning opportunity", I still recognize that sometimes God is highly impolitic.
At any rate, His will be done. Whatever I think, the Holy Father will do as he pleases.
Update: Scott clarifies what he meant in the graf I published. Now it makes sense. I get it and agree--as far as it goes. But I still think Rome missed a catechetical opportunity and that post-media ruckus catechesis will pretty much inevitably be read as damage control, even by people who are well-disposed to the Church. I realize there's no pleasing the Andrew Sullivan's of the world. I'm thinking more of the mushy middle: the people who know very little about the Church but don't bear her any particular ill will.
If the Vatican had more concern for public relations, might this controversy have been avoided? Certainly--but it is hard to imagine how it could have been avoided without continuing the schism in the Body of Christ.
That makes no sense to me, unless (which is possible) the SSPX is made up of such hypersensitive martinets that they would be offended by a loud and clear pre-emptive announcement that attempts to achieve reconciliation with them does not in the slightest involve endorsement of the kooky conspiracy theories and anti-semitism of some. If that's the case, does it not suggest that they are more wedded to anti-semitism than to fidelity to Christ?
Judging from the way in the which the SSPX mucky mucks immediately jumped on Williamson and shut him down, it would appear this is not so. So I don't see why Rome could not have done some pre-emptive catechesis for the innocent onlooker (such as, say, the Israeli Rabbinate, who can hardly be expected to know much about Catholic inside baseball). Yes, strictly speaking, how the Church orders her internal affairs is not the business of outsiders, whethe rabbis or secular reporters. But the fact is, the Pope is the teacher of the world and the world is always watching. Not everybody in the world is filled with Andrew Sullivan's zealous and hysterical hatred of Benedict. Lots of people are, quite understandably, puzzled when they see headlines like "Pope Welcomes Holocaust-Denying Bishop". Taking some modest steps to prevent such headlines *before* they are written rather than after still seems to me prudent.
Don't get me wrong. I think what Benedict did was valiant and I hope it bears fruit. I also hope the SSPX, once reconciled, will not constitute a canker in the Body of Christ, full of impenitent and embittered malcontents and anti-semites who, having temporarily muted themselves, begin to embarrass the Church from within. There is some reason to fear this, as John Allen demonstrates and as anybody who has had many dealings with the numerous anti-semitic ravings of Rad Trads knows. Indeed, one of the less impressive aspects of this whole affair has been the "I'm shocked--SHOCKED--to discover Williamson is an anti-semitic kook act of his fellow SSPXer's bishops since anybody who has spent time listening to him (or for that matter to a great many in the Rad Trad community (ably represented by Angelqueen or Traditio.com) knows that Rad Tradism and Jew hatred are often like peas and carrots. It's a good thing Fellay did, shutting Williamson down. But it was rather belated and one can only wonder how long the muzzle can stay on before he and the people like him explode in a torrent of anti-semitic invective, whack paranoid conspiracy theories, and general lunacy.
Still, the Catholic Church has had a long habit of picking up deadly serpent, drinking poison and not dying, and healing the desperately sick (Mark 16:17-18). When the animating principle of your society is the Spirit of man who died by crucifixion and then walked out of the tomb three days later, you can generally know that you are safe in expecting surprising victories of life and love.
So I remain hopeful that Benedict's enormous sacrifice and risk on behalf of unity will bear fruit, not only in formal ecclesial reunion, but in a new spirit of charity and sanity among even the nastiest anti-semites in the SSPX. I also hope that the rift with offended Jews will be quickly patched up and that offended Catholics who don't get what is happening will recall that St. Matthew was likewise a nasty piece of work (tax collectors were collaborationist theives who cooperated with the Romans in oppressing their own people while adding a hefty surcharge for "personal expenses" to the taxes demanded by the Romans). Jesus has always been in the business of calling Highly Unpleasant People to himself and has always exhibited something of Rome's lack of interest in how it plays in Peoria (or LA, DC, or Jerusalem). So while the catechist in me can't help but see this fracas from the perspective of a "lost learning opportunity", I still recognize that sometimes God is highly impolitic.
At any rate, His will be done. Whatever I think, the Holy Father will do as he pleases.
Update: Scott clarifies what he meant in the graf I published. Now it makes sense. I get it and agree--as far as it goes. But I still think Rome missed a catechetical opportunity and that post-media ruckus catechesis will pretty much inevitably be read as damage control, even by people who are well-disposed to the Church. I realize there's no pleasing the Andrew Sullivan's of the world. I'm thinking more of the mushy middle: the people who know very little about the Church but don't bear her any particular ill will.
We Who Live in the Sunny Land of THE FUTURE Must Never Forget the Torments Endured by our Forebears
80s hair. Phone modems. Greenscreen monitors. I have to lie down for a while and pray the nightmares don't start again.
Those Darn French
The French want more money for their 35 hour work week. So riots ensue and the US is blamed. From the Wonderland of MSM reporting we get two delightful paragraphs:
and
What? No "Imagine"?
After dark, as Paris crowds thinned, some protesters clashed with police, throwing bottles, overturning cars and starting a fire in the street, but no major violence was reported.
and
The powerful CGT union was out in force, with its red balloons filling the horizon and loudspeakers blasting the revolutionary song "The Internationale." Other unions favored the hippy anthem "California Dreamin.'"
What? No "Imagine"?
A reader writes
Through some internet detective work I dug up some useful contact information for the folks over at NBC Televsision. I emailed John Miller, NBC's Chief Marketing Officer and Jeff Zucker, the CEO regarding the decision to pull the CatholicVote.org pro-life ad. John was kind enough to email back and suggest that I contact Sales or Broadcast Standards as they are the divisions that make calls on commercials. Unfortunately he didn't provide me with any names, but I have turned up the following list. I suggest we unleash the power of St. Blog's to make sure the NBC execs know how we really feel.
Jeff.Zucker@nbcuni.com
President and CEO, NBC Universal
Jeff.Gaspin@nbcuni.com
President and COO, Universal Television Group
Kenneth.Schanzer@nbcuni.com
President, NBC Sports
Derek.Bond@nbcuni.com
Executive VP Studios & Broadcast Operations
Bo.Argentino@nbcuni.com
Senior VP Advertising & Media Sales, NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution
Scot.Chastain@nbcuni.com
VP Affiliate Advertising and Promotion Services, NBC Entertainment
Dick.Ebersol@nbcuni.com
Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics
Mike.McCarley@nbcuni.com
VP Communications and Marketing, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics
Jacky.Olitsky@nbcuni.com
Director of Program Standards
alan.wurtzel@nbcuni.com
Broadcast Standards
Below is the letter I sent:I am a longtime fan of your network and am continually impressed by the quality of shows you have produced. Brilliant comedies like The Office, engaging shows like Heroes and timely, factual news reporting continually impress me. But I am deeply disappointed that a network which so readily aired campaign coverage of President Obama's campaign and inauguration would refuse to continue to support him with this ad. I have seen the entirety of the ad submitted by CatholicVote.org and was pleased to see such a positive affirmation of support for our new president. If you have not personally seen the ad, I encourage you to view it at the catholicvote.org website. You can view it on the main page. NBC claimed the decision was made because you do not allow political or issue advocacy advertisements. However, the ad does nothing to condemn those who believe in pro-choice, nor does it raise any political issue about President Obama. It is a heartfelt show of support for Obama and all those who rise from difficult circumstances to achieve great things. I feel that the refusal to run the ad amounts to nothing other than blatant discrimination based on who submitted the ad, rather than its content. Whether you agree with me, I ask you to take this letter seriously, as I am one of many who are disappointed by this decision.
Thank you for your time.
Worth a shot.
This Does not Appear to Be a Parody
For the Stuart Smalley in your life:
I especially love the "New Moonie Recruit" guy at the end, leaping out of his chair in an orgiastic rush of self-affirmation.
Someday archaeologists will excavate the debris of our civilization and, if there's any justice, this CD have a special glass case devoted to it along with a lengthy description of the late 20th century Western religion of the Self and the various tantric methods that members of the cult used to whip themselves into a frenzy of auto-adulation as a compensation for their profound sense of inadequacy.
I especially love the "New Moonie Recruit" guy at the end, leaping out of his chair in an orgiastic rush of self-affirmation.
Someday archaeologists will excavate the debris of our civilization and, if there's any justice, this CD have a special glass case devoted to it along with a lengthy description of the late 20th century Western religion of the Self and the various tantric methods that members of the cult used to whip themselves into a frenzy of auto-adulation as a compensation for their profound sense of inadequacy.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Prince of Peace Will End the Culture Wars
Even intransigent God-botherers can have a seat at the table if they will simply acknowledge that the God we worship is now seated in the White House and that all his judgements are righteous and true. When the Prince of Peace says partial birth abortion is okay, Catholic hospitals must be compelled to provide it, and gay marriage is a glorious sacrament of our civic us-ness that makes it all fine. The Era of Good Feelings has begun!
Because Corporate Capitalism is All About the Free Exchange of Goods and Ideas
NBC Sacks Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad
Thanks be to God democratic capitalism was preserved from the effects of the Fall! That's why it is redeeming the world abroad better than the Church ever could and remaking all people in the image and likeness of America!
Thanks be to God democratic capitalism was preserved from the effects of the Fall! That's why it is redeeming the world abroad better than the Church ever could and remaking all people in the image and likeness of America!
The Mystic East!
Simple, earth-affirming pagans in touch with the rhythms of nature and unaffected by cruel Judeo-Christian notions of sin and guilt celebrate their sexuality with unaffected innocence and childlike wonder. We in the West have so much to learn if we are to shrug off this horrible burden of Christian morality and return to the purity of paganism.
February 12 is the Feast of St. Charles Darwin (pbuh)
and the 200th anniversary of his birth. So expect this year to be chockablock with atheist materialist agitprop masquerading as science lit. Here's a little offering from the "Let's agree to respect each other and admit you theists are doomed" school of pop sci pseudo-theology. Turns out science and religion cannot be reconciled because some guy with a science degree says so.
Atheism will Make the World into a Swedish Paradise!
Pay no attention to that Gulag behind the curtain.
Another academic proves the rule that it takes years of careful training to make yourself supernaturally stupid.
Another academic proves the rule that it takes years of careful training to make yourself supernaturally stupid.
Darwin Hagiography
Turns out Darwin was a human being and therefore inconsistent. On the one hand, he was a good Victorian liberal who loathed the chains of the slave. I bet he loved Dickens too.
What remains unsaid in this article is that he was also as much a social Darwinist as Herbert Spencer (who actually coined the phrase "survival of the fittest") and cheerfully agreed with his cousin Francis Galton about that fascinating new science of applied evolution called "eugenics".
What remains unsaid in this article is that he was also as much a social Darwinist as Herbert Spencer (who actually coined the phrase "survival of the fittest") and cheerfully agreed with his cousin Francis Galton about that fascinating new science of applied evolution called "eugenics".
Mahony, Again
America's Most Egregiously Odious Bishop Goes Under the Fed's Microscope. Time to hire a new PR firm as a response to evil.
Fight FOCA!
The reason FOCA isn't yet introduced in Congress is because the Catholic bishops and pro-life leaders have been uncommonly vocal and strident in opposing it. Greater opposition from more Americans might encourage Congress not to expand abortion funding or promotion by other means.
Please join the campaign.
Please join the campaign.
People Like This Should be Held in Special Honor
A celibate, faithful man with SSA tells his story. Such valiant acts of discipleship deserve the praises of his brothers and sisters and will, I am confident, be met with cheers at the Gates of Heaven.
Things Happen Too Fast!
I'm still swamped with work, so I've missed out on all the fast-paced Jewish/Catholic hubbub surrounding the SSPX business. No sooner had I heard the Israeli Rabbinate was majorly ticked with Rome because of Williamson than I get this from a reader:
What has struck me about all this is that it doesn't seem to occur to anybody that, if trying to open the door to reconciliation with the SSPX means "Benedict is endorsing the wack views of Williamson" then it follows that Benedict must hate not only Jews, but himself, since Williamson has said lotsa vicious and stupid things about both Benedict and his predecessor. Since I strongly doubt that Benedict *does* in fact hate himself and his predecessor, it has always been obvious to me that he doesn't endorse Williamson's anti-Jewish crapola either.
That said, the Vatican could really use some remedial lessons in how to think outside the ecclesial bubble and defuse unnecessary crises before they happen, just as ever-so-many people outside the Catholic communion could stand to learn how to think and not immediately leap to the conclusion "Benedict wants to shred his life's work and repudiate all Catholic/Jewish relations as a waste of time". A little perspective would really help here. I'm glad the Israeli rabbis are cooling off. It would have helped if they'd tried to understand a little Catholic inside baseball. But I suppose we can't have everything.
Well, since every other Catholic blogger in the Northern hemisphere, besides yourself, is reporting this, allow me to pass along the bigger story. Every other Catholic blogger in the Northern hemisphere, besides yourself, is reporting that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has severed ties with the Vatican. What no one seems to be reporting is that by mid-morning my time (PST), the Chief Rabbi of Israel had already reacted favorably to Benedict's declarations of today:Pope Benedict XVI's strong stand against denying the Holocaust was welcomed Wednesday by the highest Jewish authority in Israeli, which had threatened to sever ties indefinitely with the Vatican. ,,,
The director general of the Chief Rabbinate, Oded Wiener, later told ANSA that the pope's words were ''a great step forwards in resolving this question''. ''His statements were very important for us and for the whole world,'' he added.
Wiener said that no decision had yet been made on whether the Rabbinate would send a representative to a March 2-4 meeting in Rome with the Catholic Church's Commission for Religious Relations with Jews.
Initially it had been decided to cancel the meeting, but this was before the pope's words on the Shoah, he added.
The work of the commission, created eight years ago by the late Pope John Paul II, ''is extremely important for the dialogue and exceptional personal relationships it has created,'' Wiener said. ...
Mordechay Lewy said the pope's reiteration during his Wednesday general audience that the Holocaust cannot be denied was ''very clear...and useful for clearing up the misunderstanding that arose in the last few days''.
''Anyone who heard the pope's words now knows perfectly well what side the Church is on,'' Lewy said. He said it would be ''mistaken'' to give the anti-modernist Williamson the power to affect relations between Israel and the Holy See. As for the pope's visit, which is rumoured to have been set up for May, the ambassador said: ''We are working all the time and what happened in the last few days has not affected preparations''. ''The pope is welcome in Israel at any time''.
What has struck me about all this is that it doesn't seem to occur to anybody that, if trying to open the door to reconciliation with the SSPX means "Benedict is endorsing the wack views of Williamson" then it follows that Benedict must hate not only Jews, but himself, since Williamson has said lotsa vicious and stupid things about both Benedict and his predecessor. Since I strongly doubt that Benedict *does* in fact hate himself and his predecessor, it has always been obvious to me that he doesn't endorse Williamson's anti-Jewish crapola either.
That said, the Vatican could really use some remedial lessons in how to think outside the ecclesial bubble and defuse unnecessary crises before they happen, just as ever-so-many people outside the Catholic communion could stand to learn how to think and not immediately leap to the conclusion "Benedict wants to shred his life's work and repudiate all Catholic/Jewish relations as a waste of time". A little perspective would really help here. I'm glad the Israeli rabbis are cooling off. It would have helped if they'd tried to understand a little Catholic inside baseball. But I suppose we can't have everything.
Oprahfied Theology
Spiritual reflections from the Kawfee Tawk crowd. They're not bad people. They're just sheep without a shepherd, regurgitating all the fluff they've been eating from a diet of TV and the spiritual equivalent of Twinkies. Standard Catholic apologetics (which is overwhelmingly masculine and combative) is a non-starter for reaching such people, who are not looking to what they call "spirituality" for intellectual rigor, but for love, acceptance, and community. No small part of what is wrong with a lot of Catholic apologetics is that the response to that observation will be snort of derision and not an attempt to understand why. The sooner many in the Catholic apologetics subculture figure out that love and truth are not opposites, the sooner we can proceed with the New Evangelization.
Learning Some Manners
Down below, I posted a little poem from a reader. Most people were polite and made intelligent remarks about the poem. One reader logged on just to snark about it for no purpose other than to be nasty. I don't need mindless nasty darts in my combox, so I deleted it. Now the reader writes, "What are you, a Mao Communist? What's with the censorship?" thus demonstrating one of Shea's Iron Laws: "The ruder and more adolescent you are, the more likely you are to complain about 'censorship' rather than ask 'Am I being a jerk?'"
Ahem. From the left rail: Also, all entries in comments boxes are solely the responsibility of the person writing the comment. I take no responsibility for comments left on my blog, though I reserve the right to delete and/or ban commenters as I please. Conduct yourself as you would in my living room and you'll generally be just fine.
Bottom line: I don't owe you a forum. You are here as my guest and if you act like an adolescent jerk I will delete your stuff. If you continue to do so after you've been warned, I will ban you. Learn manners. Play nice. Don't run with scissors.
That is all.
Ahem. From the left rail: Also, all entries in comments boxes are solely the responsibility of the person writing the comment. I take no responsibility for comments left on my blog, though I reserve the right to delete and/or ban commenters as I please. Conduct yourself as you would in my living room and you'll generally be just fine.
Bottom line: I don't owe you a forum. You are here as my guest and if you act like an adolescent jerk I will delete your stuff. If you continue to do so after you've been warned, I will ban you. Learn manners. Play nice. Don't run with scissors.
That is all.
Against the Grain is Suddenly Born Again!
After years and years of incredible nuance on behalf of Bush Administration torture policies ("Golly, what *is* torture anyway! It's all so confusing!"), after years of warm and sympathetic hearings for any and all arguments that, however tendentious, explain away the obvious teaching of the Church in a cloud of sophistry, after playing empathetic host all the usual suspect from the Ladies' Gossip Sewing Circle--shazam!
All of a sudden, Against the Grain has had a born again experience and is So Very Concerned about Obama making use of Bush's hard-fought "right" to inflict torture and "enhanced interrogation". Best part of this naked exercise of chutzpah: the simultaneous denunciation of Obama's "moral posturing" (which, in fact, is what it is) with the ongoing sotto voce suggestion that Bush was a great but flawed man who (sadly) didn't torture enough. That's the point on tacking on the irrelevant story of the detainee who was (stupidly) freed from Gitmo. The Rubber Hose Right reader is left to connect that dots that opponents of torture don't get that these people are animals. Of course, left out of the discussion is the fact that the choice is not between "Set every prisoner free, no matter how dangerous, and tell them butterflies are beautiful and so are they" and "Torture them."
I look forward to the spectacle of Against the Grain's sudden development of a troubled conscience about torture now that a Lefty wields the power to do evil that has been so long defended, nuanced, minimized and explained away on that blog. Should be very entertaining. Welcome, however, belatedly, to the temporarily convenient world of Catholic moral teaching, AtG! I wonder how many other bloggers who have laughed off Bush use of torture will suddenly grow a conscience now.
All of a sudden, Against the Grain has had a born again experience and is So Very Concerned about Obama making use of Bush's hard-fought "right" to inflict torture and "enhanced interrogation". Best part of this naked exercise of chutzpah: the simultaneous denunciation of Obama's "moral posturing" (which, in fact, is what it is) with the ongoing sotto voce suggestion that Bush was a great but flawed man who (sadly) didn't torture enough. That's the point on tacking on the irrelevant story of the detainee who was (stupidly) freed from Gitmo. The Rubber Hose Right reader is left to connect that dots that opponents of torture don't get that these people are animals. Of course, left out of the discussion is the fact that the choice is not between "Set every prisoner free, no matter how dangerous, and tell them butterflies are beautiful and so are they" and "Torture them."
I look forward to the spectacle of Against the Grain's sudden development of a troubled conscience about torture now that a Lefty wields the power to do evil that has been so long defended, nuanced, minimized and explained away on that blog. Should be very entertaining. Welcome, however, belatedly, to the temporarily convenient world of Catholic moral teaching, AtG! I wonder how many other bloggers who have laughed off Bush use of torture will suddenly grow a conscience now.
Letters! Oh, we get letters! We get your letters ev'ry day!
One "Jay Donovan" writes:
Sorry to hear you reject the teaching of Mother Church in Veritatis Splendor, Lumen Gentium and Evangelium Vitae. You may delude yourself that you are a faithful Catholic, but in fact you are just another garden variety American dissenter. The only difference between you and Catholics for a Free Choice is what you happen to dissent about.
Repent, receive the sacrament of reconciliation, and do penance.
He replies:
You have the gall to write a note full of ignorant judgment and then play the persecution card when somebody who knows what the Church teaches calls you on it.
Grow up, dude. Learn something about Church teaching before you start excommunicating people as "ultra-liberals". My critique of torture is thoroughly rooted in the teaching of Veritatis Splendor, Lumen Gentium, Evangelium Vitae and the Catechism. The Church says that torture is gravely and intrinsically immoral. If you don't know that, then you don't know what you are talking about. If you do know it and ignore it, then take a seat alongside Catholics for a Free Choice, because you are the dissenter, not me.
Now: a *real* Catholic, when presented with the teaching of Holy Church, would repent and apologize. A fake Catholic will whine that he is being picked on and persecuted. Which are you?
He responds:
You and Catholics for a Free Choice: made for each other. You can all sit
around and talk about how stupid Holy Church is.
If you know how to read the Catechism, you might start here:
Also this:
So: do you actually know anything about the Church's teaching when you run around excommunicating people as "ultra-liberal"?
Repent. Go to confession. Do penance.
As a Roman Catholic I find your ultra-liberal ideology on torture upsetting to say the least. Torture is acceptable, extremely useful and has it's place when it's a last resort to getting critical information.
YOU don't know crap. Leave it up to the Military. Your not qualified to even write on the subject. A pseudo - intellectual at best.
Sorry to hear you reject the teaching of Mother Church in Veritatis Splendor, Lumen Gentium and Evangelium Vitae. You may delude yourself that you are a faithful Catholic, but in fact you are just another garden variety American dissenter. The only difference between you and Catholics for a Free Choice is what you happen to dissent about.
Repent, receive the sacrament of reconciliation, and do penance.
He replies:
Garden variety? Shameful to pass judgment like that; as I suspected I wonderful shot at how I choose to pray.
You have the gall to write a note full of ignorant judgment and then play the persecution card when somebody who knows what the Church teaches calls you on it.
Grow up, dude. Learn something about Church teaching before you start excommunicating people as "ultra-liberals". My critique of torture is thoroughly rooted in the teaching of Veritatis Splendor, Lumen Gentium, Evangelium Vitae and the Catechism. The Church says that torture is gravely and intrinsically immoral. If you don't know that, then you don't know what you are talking about. If you do know it and ignore it, then take a seat alongside Catholics for a Free Choice, because you are the dissenter, not me.
Now: a *real* Catholic, when presented with the teaching of Holy Church, would repent and apologize. A fake Catholic will whine that he is being picked on and persecuted. Which are you?
He responds:
Right..........
You and Catholics for a Free Choice: made for each other. You can all sit
around and talk about how stupid Holy Church is.
If you know how to read the Catechism, you might start here:
2297 Kidnapping and hostage taking bring on a reign of terror; by means of threats they subject their victims to intolerable pressures. They are morally wrong. Terrorism threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity. Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity. Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.
2298 In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture. Regrettable as these facts are, the Church always taught the duty of clemency and mercy. She forbade clerics to shed blood. In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person. On the contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors.
Also this:
2312 The Church and human reason both assert the permanent validity of the moral law during armed conflict. "The mere fact that war has regrettably broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between the warring parties."
2313 Non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners must be respected and treated humanely.
So: do you actually know anything about the Church's teaching when you run around excommunicating people as "ultra-liberal"?
Repent. Go to confession. Do penance.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
We Went to Fr. Tom's Vigil Last Night
It was beautiful and moving (and a mob scene). One testimony to a live well lived is the number of people who turn up at your funeral, especially poor people. Dignitaries always draw a crowd because other dignitaries have to be there to keep up appearances. The throng that was there last night *wanted* to be there because everybody loved Fr. Tom.
Today will be his funeral at 10 AM and I expect another huge crowd (though mitigated by the fact that it's happening during work hours). We go to honor him and pray for his soul, though truth to tell I think we are more in need of his prayers. But anything we can do to help usher him into the Ecstasy I would not hesitate to do.
I'll be gone for the rest of the day what with the funeral and other work. Please say a prayer for the repose of the soul of a great saint. And while you are at it, please pray for Baby Jack, who is still having trouble breathing on his own. You might ask Fr. Tom to do some intercession of Jack's behalf.
Blessings and I'll see you tomorrow!
Fr. Tom, pray for us!
Another Hopeful Sign that the SSPX is willing to play ball
In addition to Bp. Fellay's "So shut up already" directive to Williamson yesterday, there comes this:
I didn't realize Lefebvre father was murdered by the Nazis.
Note of the District Superior for Germany of the SSPX
As District Superior of the Society [of Saint Pius X] in Germany, I am very troubled by the words pronounced by Bishop Williamson here in this country.
The banalization of the genocide of the Jews by the Nazi regime and of its horror are unacceptable for us.
The persecution and murder of an incalculable number of Jews under the Third Reich touches us painfully and they also violate the Christian commandment of love for neighbor which does not distinguish ethnicities.
I must apologize for this behavior and dissociate myself from such a view.
Such dissociation is also necessary for us because the father of Archbishop Lefebvre died in a KZ [concentration camp] and because numerous Catholic priests lost their lives in Hitler's concentration camps.
Stuttgart, January 27, 2009
Father Franz Schmidberger
[Father Schmidberger was the Superior-General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X at the time of the consecrations of 1988.]
I didn't realize Lefebvre father was murdered by the Nazis.
Give Obama Credit/Blame Where it is Due
So, just to clarify: It's the Catholic speaker who was for birth control as "economic stimulus"; it's the unapologetically pro-choice president who is
intervening. Incredible.
Like Margaret, I choose to take it as a hopeful sign that Obama did this rather than dwell on what a maroon Pelosi is.
On the other hand, it looks like the huzzahs were premature for Obama's supposed rejection of torture. As I feared, the changes, while a step in the right direction, leave the door wide open for the Executive to go on exploiting Bush's hard-won battle to be a tyrant if the President pleases.
- "Obama's Executive Order bans some -- not all -- US officials from torturing but it does not ban any of them, himself included, from sponsoring torture overseas," informs Allan Nairn — The Torture Ban That Doesn't Ban Torture. The author suggests "his policy change affects only a slight percentage of US-culpable tortures and could be completely consistent with an increase in US-backed torture worldwide."
"The institutions of the Imperial Executive remain intact," writes William N. Grigg — The Torture State Endures. The author notes that "all Obama's executive order has done is to suspend the CIA's use of patently illegal torture techniques and to move 'expeditiously' to close down illegal torture facilities -- pending the announcement of new policies on these matters by a special panel that won't report its findings for at least six months."
Of course, as we know from the history of abortion and euthanasia in this country, there is absolutely zero chance that a precedent for evil, once established under one administration, will lead to further expansion of that evil under future administations. Now that we are governed by Him Who is Without Sin, we need not fear ever again that Caesar will misuse his powers to harm innocent people. If there's any lesson the 20th Century should have taught us as Americans, it's that Caesar can be trusted to look out for the interests of innocent people. So keep reading those NRO articles about the glorious promise that torture holds for keeping us all safe.
HT: Western Confucian
It turns out the New Testament is enormously complex
Various threads below are touching on the relationship between Christians and Jews. On some threads (namely, those critical of Israeli butchery of civilians and children), I can generally expect that sooner or later somebody will call me an anti-semite for failing to endorse everything Israel does merely because Israel did it and then assured us all it was fine.
Meanwhile, on threads pertaining to SSPX kookery and Bp. Williamson's attempts to minimize the slaughter of the Holocaust while maximizing whatever helps the cause of Jew hatred, I can generally rely on the fact that somebody will scold me for being a Judaizing heretic and one of those awful Jew lovers.
It's fun being me.
So it was sort of a refreshing tangent to get a question from a reader who appeared to actually want to know what I thought rather than simply volunteering to tell me what I thought. Here is our brief correspondence:
I replied, "Yes" and reference this article (though I should have been more thorough since the mistake lies not in seeing hostility toward Jews in the New Testament, but in misunderstanding what it means and how Christians are to live in obedience to Scripture). Because I was not clear, my commenter asked a perfectly reasonable question:
I reply:
It does imply hostility. It's pretty characteristically Jewish polemic because John is a characterically Jewish writer engaging in what he regards as an internecine fight between Jews who have remained faithful to God's revelation and those who have refused to acknowledge it. Jewish literature is absolutely chockablock with this sort of thing. Think Moses and the Levites after the sin of the Golden Calf. Think Phineas. Think Joshua saying "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" not to a bunch of pagan, but to fellow Israelites. Think the the prophets. In short, John regards himself and those who have followed Jesus as the real Jews and (very typically for John) sees those who have not followed Christ in light of earlier Old Testament examples of apostasy.
The reference to "Satan" (that is, Accuser (cf. Job)) is telling given that it is written by somebody in exile for his faith in Jesus. He will later (Rev 12) link the phenomenon of accusation against the faith with the Devil, precisely because (like Paul) he understands the reality of his suffering to be caused, not by flesh and blood, but by powers and principalities using human agents. And it is simple, documentable fact that many Jews were active persecutors of Christians in this period.
It should be noted that one finds samples of this sort of thing on both sides of the aisle in ancient Christian/Jewish polemic. John is, ironically, a very typical Jew of his time in argument with those who bitterly oppose Jesus and who have done a bang up job of hating and hurting him and his community. The very phrase "synagogue of Satan" is written, mind you, to buck up the spirits of Jewish Christians who have suffered excommunication and persecution from brother Jews who have accused and exiled them as "minim". The Jews would have had no particular interest in what Gentiles were doing. John is writing to assure his Jewish Christian brethren that their ostracism is not a sign of divine disapproval, but a sign that the same spirit of accusation which unjustly rejected their Lord is still at work in their own experience and that they are, in fact, still in union with God.
The question is not, "Are there expressions of internecine hostility between believing and unbelieving Jews in the New Testament?" Of course there are. The question is: "How are we to understand these in terms of what God wants us to do?" On this, the Church is really pretty clear:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hi...- aetate_en.html
There are two basic mistakes we can make here. The first is pretending that the only Jew present at the crucifixion was Jesus and that the apostles were hallucinating when they fancied that they were being hounded, jailed, beaten and killed by Jews or those acting on Jewish instigation.
The other is to pretend that the millions upon millions of Jews who received the gospel do not exist and that Jews are uniquely guilty of the death of Christ. Compounding this error is the false notion that we should attribute to all Jews living today the sins committed by some Jews in the past. The latter error is especially pernicious for Gentile Christians because it subtly excuses us from the fact that *we* are just as guilty since Christ's death was because of our sins too. If we try the "Jews did it, not me" defense at the Pearly Gates, I shudder to think of the consequences. God would have every right to say to the anti-semitic Gentile "Since you deny that you are responsible for the death of my Son, then you shall have none of the benefits of his death."
Meanwhile, on threads pertaining to SSPX kookery and Bp. Williamson's attempts to minimize the slaughter of the Holocaust while maximizing whatever helps the cause of Jew hatred, I can generally rely on the fact that somebody will scold me for being a Judaizing heretic and one of those awful Jew lovers.
It's fun being me.
So it was sort of a refreshing tangent to get a question from a reader who appeared to actually want to know what I thought rather than simply volunteering to tell me what I thought. Here is our brief correspondence:
Some, maybe many, Jews might feel certain passages in the New Testament express hostility towards Jews. Are they as mistaken as Catholic traditionalists?
I replied, "Yes" and reference this article (though I should have been more thorough since the mistake lies not in seeing hostility toward Jews in the New Testament, but in misunderstanding what it means and how Christians are to live in obedience to Scripture). Because I was not clear, my commenter asked a perfectly reasonable question:
So how would one explain to a Jew that an expression like "synagogue of Satan" doesn't imply enmity to those Jews who rejected Jesus?
(Not trying to goad or bait, just curious.)
I reply:
It does imply hostility. It's pretty characteristically Jewish polemic because John is a characterically Jewish writer engaging in what he regards as an internecine fight between Jews who have remained faithful to God's revelation and those who have refused to acknowledge it. Jewish literature is absolutely chockablock with this sort of thing. Think Moses and the Levites after the sin of the Golden Calf. Think Phineas. Think Joshua saying "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" not to a bunch of pagan, but to fellow Israelites. Think the the prophets. In short, John regards himself and those who have followed Jesus as the real Jews and (very typically for John) sees those who have not followed Christ in light of earlier Old Testament examples of apostasy.
The reference to "Satan" (that is, Accuser (cf. Job)) is telling given that it is written by somebody in exile for his faith in Jesus. He will later (Rev 12) link the phenomenon of accusation against the faith with the Devil, precisely because (like Paul) he understands the reality of his suffering to be caused, not by flesh and blood, but by powers and principalities using human agents. And it is simple, documentable fact that many Jews were active persecutors of Christians in this period.
It should be noted that one finds samples of this sort of thing on both sides of the aisle in ancient Christian/Jewish polemic. John is, ironically, a very typical Jew of his time in argument with those who bitterly oppose Jesus and who have done a bang up job of hating and hurting him and his community. The very phrase "synagogue of Satan" is written, mind you, to buck up the spirits of Jewish Christians who have suffered excommunication and persecution from brother Jews who have accused and exiled them as "minim". The Jews would have had no particular interest in what Gentiles were doing. John is writing to assure his Jewish Christian brethren that their ostracism is not a sign of divine disapproval, but a sign that the same spirit of accusation which unjustly rejected their Lord is still at work in their own experience and that they are, in fact, still in union with God.
The question is not, "Are there expressions of internecine hostility between believing and unbelieving Jews in the New Testament?" Of course there are. The question is: "How are we to understand these in terms of what God wants us to do?" On this, the Church is really pretty clear:
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hi...- aetate_en.html
There are two basic mistakes we can make here. The first is pretending that the only Jew present at the crucifixion was Jesus and that the apostles were hallucinating when they fancied that they were being hounded, jailed, beaten and killed by Jews or those acting on Jewish instigation.
The other is to pretend that the millions upon millions of Jews who received the gospel do not exist and that Jews are uniquely guilty of the death of Christ. Compounding this error is the false notion that we should attribute to all Jews living today the sins committed by some Jews in the past. The latter error is especially pernicious for Gentile Christians because it subtly excuses us from the fact that *we* are just as guilty since Christ's death was because of our sins too. If we try the "Jews did it, not me" defense at the Pearly Gates, I shudder to think of the consequences. God would have every right to say to the anti-semitic Gentile "Since you deny that you are responsible for the death of my Son, then you shall have none of the benefits of his death."
Canuck Brownshirts on the March!
One thing Lefties seem to just *love* is crushing free speech.
In related brownshirt news from the People's Republic of Maplegrad, we find this story of petty officious tyranny from the egregious Human Rights tinpot dictators with delusions of godhood. La Shaidle, co-author of the appropriately titled The Tyranny of Nice, tells the story:
Closer to home, the Left in America is already busy wasting our time trying to muzzle Limbaugh free speech rights because he blasphemed the Supreme Maximum Leader.
Yes. Pesky individuals are weak and must be snapped like sticks. But bundled together in unquestioning unity with the Supreme Maximum Leader (like this) we can be strong and accomplish all the visionary work of the New Order.
In related brownshirt news from the People's Republic of Maplegrad, we find this story of petty officious tyranny from the egregious Human Rights tinpot dictators with delusions of godhood. La Shaidle, co-author of the appropriately titled The Tyranny of Nice, tells the story:
Letter carriers in Cornwall, Ontario -- a small town on the St. Lawrence seaway -- had a long standing tradition. As they started their day they would say Merci Seigneur pour la belle journee, "Thank you Lord for the beautiful day." Nice. But no longer.
Someone complained and -- thanks to our "human rights" apparatus -- postal employees who use the expression are now to be suspended without pay.To be clear: This is Year Zero stuff. Human rights commissions in Canada have nothing to do with human rights. Human rights commissions in Canada are a calculated assault on tradition. The idea is to erase the small pleasures that define us as human beings such that the ensuing void of soul may be filled up with whatever fashionable lies suit our political and cultural establishments (including our supposed conservative political establishment).
Closer to home, the Left in America is already busy wasting our time trying to muzzle Limbaugh free speech rights because he blasphemed the Supreme Maximum Leader.
“Jobs, health care, our place in the world — the stakes for our nation are high and every American needs President Obama to succeed,” the petition reads. “Stand strong against Rush Limbaugh’s Attacks — sign our petition, telling Rush what you think of his attacks on President Obama.”
Yes. Pesky individuals are weak and must be snapped like sticks. But bundled together in unquestioning unity with the Supreme Maximum Leader (like this) we can be strong and accomplish all the visionary work of the New Order.
“Real success is in adult stem-cell research."
Lord Alton of Liverpool, an independent peer, said embryonic stem-cell research had not been able to produce a single medical treatment “whereas pluripotent stem cells have the versatility”.
“The issue was always with the versatility,” he said. “In this country we have destroyed or experimented on over 200,000 human embryos with no cures forthcoming. I have argued throughout that it was unnecessary but also pointless to use embryos.”
He said it was “emotional blackmail” to imply that anyone who opposed the “destruction of human embryos” was “standing in the way of science”.
Yep. But this all about the money, Lord Alton. Science is entirely secondary.
A reader writes
Just under a year ago, my father's Arkansas town was hit by a tornado. No loss of life, praise God, but a number of businesses were destroyed. This year - today - it is an ice storm that has already caused significant damage in the form of downed branches and trees; killed thirteen; and left my father and many others without power. It is too dangerous for him to go outside to see what damage has been done to his property, but he can hear branches snapping and falling on the house. The storm is not going to end until tomorrow afternoon. It is very difficult to get specifics as Highland is such a small town; even with last year's tornado, details were very scant. It is not a wealthy town and it has already had one severe blow.
I ask for your prayers for his safety and that of everyone else affected by this storm, and that there be no serious damage to homes or businesses.
Lord, hear our prayer!
Reader Ben Douglass writes the following after attending the Inauguration
At the Inauguration
I am out of place here.
Am I out of place?
Yes, but in a different sense,
In the cravenness whence
Iʼve ill used this dayʼs grace,
Blending while I should appear
A sign of contradiction.
A man of God mounts the stage.
The godless look sheepish as he prays.
No fear: this oneʼs no Ambrose, Leo;
He lacks the perspicacity and candor of Pio.
Repent! Repent! you butcher of your ways
Is what he should have told that brephophage.
Or was that above his pay grade?
Time fumbles to the Moment,
And tumid enthusiasm erupts
Into a cheer, spasmodic
Eructation of unhealthy souls,
Which reechoed on the air extols
gods both olympian and chthonic.
The miasma out and in corrupts.
Some woman reads some spiny prose,
Exceptionable for its affected solemnity
And unshaped metaphors, ill framed
By periodic carriage returns.
She remembers some oppressed yet spurns
The names of the dead who were not named;
She writes them no indemnity.
Now who will do the benignity?
Who will tell that one
That his ideology needs darning?
If not cleric, nor artist, nor I disarming?
Few indeed, and of those some
Surpass the very liberals for indignity,
Whose bacchanalia lasts past 4 a.m.
There is nothing left today
But to bitterly clutch my Rosary and say,
O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended. Through the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners. Amen.
My guess is that this will not get featured on NPR.
Speaking of Catholic Exchange....
Here is Mary Kochan, dilating upon the meaning of the word "disappointing?"
My Latest on Catholic Exchange
In which we discuss the difference between clericalism and authentic cooperation between the ordained and lay offices.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
“Go back to your death”
War crimes are okay when Israelis commit them, just as they are okay when we commit them. Of course, this is being reported by people unapproved to enter Gaza by the Israelis, so it's all a lie--and besides those civilians had it coming.
How I Feel About Youse Guys
This little film summarizes the gratitude I feel toward my wonderful readers:
You have been generous and supportive and kind to us Sheas through the years and I think it should be said and acknowledged a lot more than I have done. I get snowed under with work and over-focused on the one or two people who turn up in the comboxes to be nasty and dumb. While I was in Dallas, I went to the Eucharistic chapel to pray and God asked, "When was the last time you told your readers how grateful you are to them for their generosity, patience with your faults, and faithfulness in prayer?"
I mumbled something only God could hear. He cocked an eyebrow and suggested that perhaps some concrete act of gratitude to all y'all was in order. Then, I came home, surfed over to The Anchoress , found this film, and everything fell into place.
So: my sincerest gratitude to youse guys for your continual support of this blog and of all us Sheas. We owe you a debt of gratitude we will never be able to repay. May God our Father bless you all through Christ Jesus!
You have been generous and supportive and kind to us Sheas through the years and I think it should be said and acknowledged a lot more than I have done. I get snowed under with work and over-focused on the one or two people who turn up in the comboxes to be nasty and dumb. While I was in Dallas, I went to the Eucharistic chapel to pray and God asked, "When was the last time you told your readers how grateful you are to them for their generosity, patience with your faults, and faithfulness in prayer?"
I mumbled something only God could hear. He cocked an eyebrow and suggested that perhaps some concrete act of gratitude to all y'all was in order. Then, I came home, surfed over to The Anchoress , found this film, and everything fell into place.
So: my sincerest gratitude to youse guys for your continual support of this blog and of all us Sheas. We owe you a debt of gratitude we will never be able to repay. May God our Father bless you all through Christ Jesus!
Reader Tim Jones will Paint for Food
He writes:
Lord, hear our prayer!
I'd appreciate it if you could ask your readers for prayers regarding my state of soon-to-be-unemployed-ness.
Directing them to my blog and my Etsy store wouldn't hurt, either.
I'm always hopeful and optimistic, and I rest in the providence of God... but I'm still a bit apprehensive. I believe prayer works, and if they can just add this intention to their prayer list (along with a special intention for the healing of your blog format... heh) I'd be very deeply grateful.
Lord, hear our prayer!
SSPX Reverb
Various Takes On the Controversy Around St. Blog's
Me, I think the Pope is valiant in his attempts to heal the schism, and that Williamson basically incarnates the very ugliest and most repellent features of reactionary dissent, including arrogant pride, bizarre conspiracy theories, and the all-too-common phenomenon of Jew hatred. I wish I could say I didn't think so, but I'm just about willing to bet that this gesture of reconciliation which is costing the Pope (and the Church) a huge amount will be spat upon by selfish jerks like Williamson, who will only ratchet up their repellent behavior in order to try to keep the reconciliation from happening. It's a little microcosm of what God has to go through, dying for the radically unworthy no matter how much humiliation it costs him, just to save whoever he can. Here's hoping that the majority of the SSPXers tell Williamson to shut his pie-hole or get lost.
Me, I think the Pope is valiant in his attempts to heal the schism, and that Williamson basically incarnates the very ugliest and most repellent features of reactionary dissent, including arrogant pride, bizarre conspiracy theories, and the all-too-common phenomenon of Jew hatred. I wish I could say I didn't think so, but I'm just about willing to bet that this gesture of reconciliation which is costing the Pope (and the Church) a huge amount will be spat upon by selfish jerks like Williamson, who will only ratchet up their repellent behavior in order to try to keep the reconciliation from happening. It's a little microcosm of what God has to go through, dying for the radically unworthy no matter how much humiliation it costs him, just to save whoever he can. Here's hoping that the majority of the SSPXers tell Williamson to shut his pie-hole or get lost.
Well-Meaning Person Tries to Figure Out How Believers and Unbelievers Can Have a "Shared Ethic"
She's apparently unaware that we already do. It works like this: God is just, wise, good and loving and creates us all in his image and likeness. Some people admit this and try to be just, wise, loving and good out of love for him. Some people admit this and try to be just, wise, loving and good out of fear of him. Some people do not admit this and try to be just, wise, loving and good out of a muddled notion that they are Just That Sort of Chap. Some people do not admit this and try to be just, wise, loving and good out of a muddled notion that Their Chromosomes Command It. Some people do not admit this, say, "Screw trying to be just, wise, loving and good" and do what they want.
It is not the case that an unbeliever must perforce be immoral. It is absolutely the case that an unbeliever cannot supply a coherent account of why he is moral, nor even how he knows what good and evil are. So you get claptrap about "selfish genes" and other bilge to try to paper over the fact that atheist morality basically consists of theft of bits and pieces from pagan natural law (which is ultimately from God) and/or Judeo-Christian tradition. I have no objection to the theft. It's what keeps atheists in possession of what sanity they have. But theft it remains. A materialist can give absolutely no account of morality because you cannot derive Ought from Is. Anyone who claims you can is practicing sleight of hand and self-deception.
It is not the case that an unbeliever must perforce be immoral. It is absolutely the case that an unbeliever cannot supply a coherent account of why he is moral, nor even how he knows what good and evil are. So you get claptrap about "selfish genes" and other bilge to try to paper over the fact that atheist morality basically consists of theft of bits and pieces from pagan natural law (which is ultimately from God) and/or Judeo-Christian tradition. I have no objection to the theft. It's what keeps atheists in possession of what sanity they have. But theft it remains. A materialist can give absolutely no account of morality because you cannot derive Ought from Is. Anyone who claims you can is practicing sleight of hand and self-deception.
Consequentialism Works!
Over at HuffPo, a spokesman for the Obama Administration defends the policy of funding and encouraging abortion by claiming that higher abortion rates have reduced crime and kept us all safer. Of course, no right-thinking American would so much as suggest that this is self-serving consequentialist BS from the Obama Minister of Propaganda.
Oh! Wait! I'm sorry! I meant to write this:
Over at NRO, a spokesman for the Bush Administration defends the policy of torturing and abusing prisoners by claiming that torture has produced actionable intelligence and kept us all safer. Of course, no right-thinking American would so much as suggest that this is self-serving consequentialist BS from the Bush Minister of Propaganda.
Oh! Wait! I'm sorry! I meant to write this:
Over at NRO, a spokesman for the Bush Administration defends the policy of torturing and abusing prisoners by claiming that torture has produced actionable intelligence and kept us all safer. Of course, no right-thinking American would so much as suggest that this is self-serving consequentialist BS from the Bush Minister of Propaganda.
Thanks for your prayers!
A reader writes:
Thank you for your prayers --about a month ago, I asked for them for an OB/GYN who was considering changing her practice to totally pro-life, non-contraceptive. She is doing it! The letter to her patients goes out soon.
Please pray for her, because as you know the going will not be not easy, and in the eyes of the world, of course, her timing is ludicrous. (FOCA,anyone??!!)
We must, must continue to pray for our physicians and their conversions, and gently in charity lead them in that direction, if possible!!!
Greenies Who Long For Genocide
A reader writes:
It will be a refreshing change of pace to get to watch the Left try to figure out how to cope with their radicalized nutcases for a while--assuming they do try to cope with them and don't just say, "Yes. It is the obligation of we Best and Brightest to make sure the right members of the herd are culled."
I found an interview with David Williams on Youtube, wherein he describes his plans for human survival:
So I'm reading the usual Global warming hysterics on the NPR website and I click on the comment section to see a responsible, educated and environmentally conscious person of the left write the following:David Williams (DW_558) wrote:
Even such a seemigly wise idea as population reduction, be it by mass suicide, mass genocide or "natural selection" is unlikely to be sufficient, given the runanaway population of humans on this planet. Even if a few BILLION people died, there would still be billions left, and if the "sensible ones" chose to sacrifice themselves for the cause that would leave the billions who don't care to go on polluting the planet. There are various world population counters, some that also counts other parameters, and it is alarming to see just how fast we are heading (unstoppably?) towards our own destruction.
Apart from the discussion about the percentage of CO2 and water, it shouldn't be forgotten that there are other gases out there with a far greater greehouse warming potential. Carbon dioxide is taken as a reference with a value of 1 and for refrigeration is even considered an environmentally friendly alternative!
January 27, 2009 8:43:47 AM CST
I'm not sure this is the change most of use were looking for but it seems with Nancy Pelosi's contraception comment and B. Hussein Obama's move to support overseas abortions with tax payer money- this person knew what they were getting with the new administration.
It will be a refreshing change of pace to get to watch the Left try to figure out how to cope with their radicalized nutcases for a while--assuming they do try to cope with them and don't just say, "Yes. It is the obligation of we Best and Brightest to make sure the right members of the herd are culled."
I found an interview with David Williams on Youtube, wherein he describes his plans for human survival:
Episcopalian Event Horizon
Chris Johnson writes:
The most hilarious part is that an Episcopalian priest who has become an ordained Buddhist actually vows himself to a moral standard that is far closer to Christian morality than to Episcopalian libertinism.
With the Episcopalians, you eventually reach a certain point where the jokes CAN'T come anymore.
The most hilarious part is that an Episcopalian priest who has become an ordained Buddhist actually vows himself to a moral standard that is far closer to Christian morality than to Episcopalian libertinism.
He Knows if You've Been Sleeping. He Knows If You're Awake!
Obama Takes Over Second Role in Blessed Trinity, Assumes Duties of Holy Spirit.
Still Fiddling with the Update
So let me distract you by referring you to the typically insightful, quirky, original and profound thinking of one of my personal faves, Eve Tushnet.
Monday, January 26, 2009
In the words of Zaphod Beeblebrox....
Don't panic. I'm updating the template on the blog. I will restore commenting as soon as I figure out how, as well as various other stuff.
A reader writes:
Mark can you ask your readers if anyone has an aerial shot or really good pic that shows the extent of the crowd at the March for Life? I want to make a background pic for a catholic site. I want people to see whqt 200,000 pro-life people look like :)
Consider yourselves asked.
Memo to Andrew Sullivan...
...(and All Catholics Who Are Breezily Ready to Excommunicate Other Catholics): Be Careful What You Wish For
Our Long National Nightmare is Over
At last, there is a new hremail at Homestarrunner.com!
Also, don't forget to check out Coach Z's 110% Hustle for Sports Video!
Also, don't forget to check out Coach Z's 110% Hustle for Sports Video!
Jimmy Akin and His Family Could Use Our Prayers
I just wanted to send a note letting you know that my father, Jim Akin, passed away late yesterday afternoon. He had been very sick for a couple of months and, although he stabilized after his initial illness, he suffered a sudden downturn, and there was nothing the doctors could do for him.
The downturn was so sudden that I was not able to get back to Arkansas, but I have the comfort that I was able to visit him shortly before Christmas and I was able to speak to him by phone the day he died (he was not detectably conscious, but who knows what people in this situation can perceive).
I also have the very great comfort that he received the anointing of the sick and last rites the day he died.
My sister, brother, and sister-in-law were with him when he passed. It was a peaceful death, and he was surrounded by people who love him.
I am doing okay. It is obviously a very sad time, but this was not unexpected, and I have peace about the situation. Although I was not able to be there at the very end, by God's grace I was able to do what I needed to do to ensure his spiritual and physical care, and that is of enormous comfort to me.
I will be going back to Texas for the funeral. He will be buried in the family plot, next to my mother.
I want to express a very heart-felt thank you for your friendship and your prayers.
Jimmy
Father, grant eternal rest to Jim Akin and grace, peace and consolation to his family and those who love him. May his soul and all the soul's of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Olson and Miesel Do Triage to Keep Unsuspecting NBC Viewers...
...from Becoming Stupider from Watching "The Last Templar"
Some are born stupid. Some achieve stupidity. And some have stupidity thrust upon them.
Some are born stupid. Some achieve stupidity. And some have stupidity thrust upon them.
Fun in Dallas
So I went to the Dallas area on Friday at the invitation of St. Anthony parish in Wylie, TX. Reader Mark Windsor picked me up at DFW (the gigantickest airport in the US of A). Mark used to be a travel agent and so was ideally suited to navigate the Byzantine complexities of DFW and get us out into the real world.
When we walked out into the evening I was surprised because it was 5:20 PM and a) still broad daylight (it's already dark up here in the dank fastnesses of Seattle) and b) it was really warm. Like, 78 degrees warm. Like a lovely day in spring warm. "Ah! The South!" I thought to myself. Lovely to get away from the bone-chilling fog of My Native Land on the shores of Puget Sound.
So we drive off to Dallas. The big plan is to get together with Rod Dreher (who I have never actually met) and, weenieish as it sounds when you are in Texas, go not to some barbecue pit or steak house, but to a sushi place called the Hibachi Grill (a concession to my weakness for seafood that will earn everybody involved some sort of merits in purgatory). So off we go, with Mark and I getting to know each other (he obviously knows a lot more about me since he reads the blog, so I do most of the questioning and he does most of the answering). Texas is (for a Seattleite) amazingly flat and brown. It's hard for us Puget Sounders to get our bearing when you don't have two mountain ranges on either side of you to tell you where east and west are. So I got totally lost. But the general direction seems to have been east and then north.
We get to the restaurant and it is still lovely, albeit night has fallen. But zephyr breezes fan our faces as we go in the joint and find Dreher and a friend (who turns out to also be a friend of Barb Nicolosi's) already tippling beers and chatting. We have a fine meal (though somewhat intimidating since, you know, there I am sitting across the table from the Pope of Crunchy Con-dom! I not only need to be conversant about newsy stuff and theology stuff, but I have to give the illusion that I know what I'm doing when I order good food. Muscling down my impulse to order a cheeseburger and fries, I get the shrimp and scallop dish and feel that I've dodged a bullet.
Then, the incalculable happens: chopsticks! They don't have silverware here! Summoning remote body memory from the depths of the past, I casually break the chopsticks apart and begin to eat (after we have said a proper grace, of course). The conversation goes swimmingly, from Nicolosi to various adventures in eating to sundry hilarious anecdotes to Rod's recollections of an exorcist he once knew and various speculations about whether places can be particularly infested with demons or fortified with angels and the Presence of God. We were there for a couple of hours and had a jolly time. The main thing that struck me about Rod was how not-from-Louisiana he sounds. Perhaps he can explain what happened. Maybe living in the Northeast corridor for a long time has a corrosive effect on local Southern dialects. Anyway, he's a nice guy and it was fun to finally meet at last. If he noticed my raw ineptitude with the chopsticks he never let on, so I opted to pat myself on the back for a ruse well accomplished.
As we left, I noticed a chill in the air for the first time, and when we got to Wylie, it was getting downright cold. We went in the house where I was staying (the gracious Cole family) and, after a short visit I turned in.
Next morning, it was 32 freakin' degree outside! A 46 degree drop! And it stayed that way all day. I couldn't believe it! And it turns out this is normal for Dallas!
Anyway, we went off to St. Anthony's to get set up. We celebrated Mass and then did the talks. During the day I had the privilege of meeting several readers, including Bull Schuck, Tim Brandenburg, Kevin (I didn't get his last name) and Julie Davis, the Happy Catholic. The talks seemed to go well (though I'm a poor judge) and the day was over before I knew it. St. Anthony's is a great parish. If you live in the Dallas area and are looking for a committed and well-catechized bunch of Catholics, check it out.
After we were done, I had a lot of time to kill before flying home. So Mark asked what I'd like to see in Dallas. Being an American history buff, and being somebody who knows nothing about Dallas, I thought of the only thing I could think of: Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated.
So we went to Dealey Plaza, a very surreal experience. Growing up in the shadow of JFK's assassination, I knew the basic layout of the place before we got there, but I never really grasped how *small* it is. You park in a lot next to the Schoolbook Depository (now renamed something less evocative of November 22, 1963) and you walk over to the plaza, which looks pretty much like it did on that day. Before you get there you are assailed by a big black guy who is bundled up against the cold and talking in rapid fire, hawking a special edition something or other newspaper thingie for five bucks and rapidly rattling off the "sights" you can see ("first X on the road is the throat shot, second X is the head shot, over there is the grassy knoll, if you step over here you can see the window that was the sniper's nest..."). It was rather ghastly and weird and you realize what a ghoul you are for coming to this place of death. But you still walk over there. How could you not? I remember that weekend even though I was only five. Mark W. could remember it and he was only two. This is a Historic Place. It commands attention.
We strolled over to the spot where Abraham Zapruder was standing with his movie camera that afternoon. What was driven home to me was the sheer implausibility of the vast network of conspiracy mythos that grew up like a jungle around this particular event. The grassy knoll and the fence where the supposed second gunman was supposed to be lurking were *extremely* close at hand on my right. I mean spitting distance on a breezy day. I mean you don't have to raise your voice to talk to somebody over that fence if you were Abraham Zapruder. A rifle fired from there would leave you deaf in your right ear. Zapruder noticed nothing. That's because there was no second gunman. All you needed to do the deed was a guy with Marine Corps Marksman training and a big chip on his shoulder. Oswald had both.
Mark tells me that every few years, somebody with a new conspiracy theory manages to convince the powers that be to shut down Dealey Plaza and run some new forensic or acoustics test. It's a nightmare for traffic. And, I am now certain, it's a total waste of time.
I think there's something in the human psyche that is not prepared for the fact that technology makes it possible for a relatively small number of people to inflict enormous pain on millions. We want the cause to be proportionate to the effect. So some people can't rest with the idea that Oswald acted alone. One man can't have cause so much suffering for so many.
But he could and, I am convinced, he did. God rest the soul of JFK and God have mercy on the wretch who killed him.
When we walked out into the evening I was surprised because it was 5:20 PM and a) still broad daylight (it's already dark up here in the dank fastnesses of Seattle) and b) it was really warm. Like, 78 degrees warm. Like a lovely day in spring warm. "Ah! The South!" I thought to myself. Lovely to get away from the bone-chilling fog of My Native Land on the shores of Puget Sound.
So we drive off to Dallas. The big plan is to get together with Rod Dreher (who I have never actually met) and, weenieish as it sounds when you are in Texas, go not to some barbecue pit or steak house, but to a sushi place called the Hibachi Grill (a concession to my weakness for seafood that will earn everybody involved some sort of merits in purgatory). So off we go, with Mark and I getting to know each other (he obviously knows a lot more about me since he reads the blog, so I do most of the questioning and he does most of the answering). Texas is (for a Seattleite) amazingly flat and brown. It's hard for us Puget Sounders to get our bearing when you don't have two mountain ranges on either side of you to tell you where east and west are. So I got totally lost. But the general direction seems to have been east and then north.
We get to the restaurant and it is still lovely, albeit night has fallen. But zephyr breezes fan our faces as we go in the joint and find Dreher and a friend (who turns out to also be a friend of Barb Nicolosi's) already tippling beers and chatting. We have a fine meal (though somewhat intimidating since, you know, there I am sitting across the table from the Pope of Crunchy Con-dom! I not only need to be conversant about newsy stuff and theology stuff, but I have to give the illusion that I know what I'm doing when I order good food. Muscling down my impulse to order a cheeseburger and fries, I get the shrimp and scallop dish and feel that I've dodged a bullet.
Then, the incalculable happens: chopsticks! They don't have silverware here! Summoning remote body memory from the depths of the past, I casually break the chopsticks apart and begin to eat (after we have said a proper grace, of course). The conversation goes swimmingly, from Nicolosi to various adventures in eating to sundry hilarious anecdotes to Rod's recollections of an exorcist he once knew and various speculations about whether places can be particularly infested with demons or fortified with angels and the Presence of God. We were there for a couple of hours and had a jolly time. The main thing that struck me about Rod was how not-from-Louisiana he sounds. Perhaps he can explain what happened. Maybe living in the Northeast corridor for a long time has a corrosive effect on local Southern dialects. Anyway, he's a nice guy and it was fun to finally meet at last. If he noticed my raw ineptitude with the chopsticks he never let on, so I opted to pat myself on the back for a ruse well accomplished.
As we left, I noticed a chill in the air for the first time, and when we got to Wylie, it was getting downright cold. We went in the house where I was staying (the gracious Cole family) and, after a short visit I turned in.
Next morning, it was 32 freakin' degree outside! A 46 degree drop! And it stayed that way all day. I couldn't believe it! And it turns out this is normal for Dallas!
Anyway, we went off to St. Anthony's to get set up. We celebrated Mass and then did the talks. During the day I had the privilege of meeting several readers, including Bull Schuck, Tim Brandenburg, Kevin (I didn't get his last name) and Julie Davis, the Happy Catholic. The talks seemed to go well (though I'm a poor judge) and the day was over before I knew it. St. Anthony's is a great parish. If you live in the Dallas area and are looking for a committed and well-catechized bunch of Catholics, check it out.
After we were done, I had a lot of time to kill before flying home. So Mark asked what I'd like to see in Dallas. Being an American history buff, and being somebody who knows nothing about Dallas, I thought of the only thing I could think of: Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated.
So we went to Dealey Plaza, a very surreal experience. Growing up in the shadow of JFK's assassination, I knew the basic layout of the place before we got there, but I never really grasped how *small* it is. You park in a lot next to the Schoolbook Depository (now renamed something less evocative of November 22, 1963) and you walk over to the plaza, which looks pretty much like it did on that day. Before you get there you are assailed by a big black guy who is bundled up against the cold and talking in rapid fire, hawking a special edition something or other newspaper thingie for five bucks and rapidly rattling off the "sights" you can see ("first X on the road is the throat shot, second X is the head shot, over there is the grassy knoll, if you step over here you can see the window that was the sniper's nest..."). It was rather ghastly and weird and you realize what a ghoul you are for coming to this place of death. But you still walk over there. How could you not? I remember that weekend even though I was only five. Mark W. could remember it and he was only two. This is a Historic Place. It commands attention.
We strolled over to the spot where Abraham Zapruder was standing with his movie camera that afternoon. What was driven home to me was the sheer implausibility of the vast network of conspiracy mythos that grew up like a jungle around this particular event. The grassy knoll and the fence where the supposed second gunman was supposed to be lurking were *extremely* close at hand on my right. I mean spitting distance on a breezy day. I mean you don't have to raise your voice to talk to somebody over that fence if you were Abraham Zapruder. A rifle fired from there would leave you deaf in your right ear. Zapruder noticed nothing. That's because there was no second gunman. All you needed to do the deed was a guy with Marine Corps Marksman training and a big chip on his shoulder. Oswald had both.
Mark tells me that every few years, somebody with a new conspiracy theory manages to convince the powers that be to shut down Dealey Plaza and run some new forensic or acoustics test. It's a nightmare for traffic. And, I am now certain, it's a total waste of time.
I think there's something in the human psyche that is not prepared for the fact that technology makes it possible for a relatively small number of people to inflict enormous pain on millions. We want the cause to be proportionate to the effect. So some people can't rest with the idea that Oswald acted alone. One man can't have cause so much suffering for so many.
But he could and, I am convinced, he did. God rest the soul of JFK and God have mercy on the wretch who killed him.
Amazing How Often People Give Away the Game and Make Clear What Torture is Really About
Whenever you hear somebody say that torture is not as serious as abortion because it's inflicted against evil terrorists and not innocent babies, remember that what they are really saying is that the purpose of torture is punishment, not information gathering, and we can be sure that the people we are punishing are guilty. In one of the more spectacular feats of intellectual compartmentalization they will say this at the very same time they will tell you that we have to torture people in order to find out what they know so that we can be safe (by which they mean "We have to torture people in order to find out if they are people who deserve to be tortured."). Again and again, people who argue this way simply never seem to consider the reality that when you torture people to find out what they know, one of the things you often find out is that they knew nothing and were innocent people--and that you have now just committed a sin which places you in danger of the everlasting fires of hell if you do not repent. They also fail to grasp that when you commit such a sin (or make excuses for it) but don't, you know, *repent* of it, you actually complicate your sin with further sins of the intellect that will only make your damnation surer if you don't repent.
And that's why I've fought this sort of stuff on my blog for years.
And that's why I've fought this sort of stuff on my blog for years.
My friend Roy Schoeman, Author of Salvation is from the Jews, writes:
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, 2009
I hope and pray that you had a very Blessed Christmas season, and have a New Year that brings you deeper into the Sacred Heart of our beloved Lord! I also wanted to let you know of a couple of upcoming engagements...
On Tuesday, February 3rd at 2PM I will be giving a talk at the Montrose School in Medfield, Mass. If you are interested in attending, contact me for more information.
On the evening of February 9 I will be speaking to the inmates at Norfolk prison. I hope to see none of you there! But your prayers are very, very welcome.
I will be giving some talks along with Marino Restrepo (who has a very interesting conversion story and a very exciting ministry) in the Eastern Massachusetts/Rhode Island area around March 18-21. As venues become fixed I'll put them up on my site. Immediately following that I will be speaking at a week-long retreat in Rougemont, Quebec.
For those of you in the U.K. , I will be leading a retreat at the Pantasaph Retreat House in Wales, U.K. (quite close to Manchester and Liverpool) over the Easter Triduum this year, Thursday April 9 to Easter Sunday, April 12. I expect it to be quite exciting, trying to enter deeply into those days of the Passion and the central event of our Salvation with a perspective rooted in the Judaism of the time. For more information, contact me or the retreat house .
April 25 and 26th I will be speaking at Holy Spirit Parish in Hamburg, Michigan (not far from Detroit).
May 20-26th I will be on a speaking tour in Ecuador. Then May 28-June 1 will be on a speaking tour in the San Francisco/Northern California area organized by my publisher, Ignatius Press. In mid-June I will be returning to England - right now June 20th is a fixed date in London, with several other talks in the UK in the days immediately preceding and following that one.
I have some time free in the UK around the June 20th date, and during the Northern California tour - if you know of someone who might like to have me speak then, drop me an email.
I will post all available information on these venues, and any others that come up, on my website. As I get more details, I will put them up, but of course you are always welcome to email me for more information, too.
One reason to send out notices like this is, of course, to inform people who may be able to come to one of the events, but the main reason - other than just to stay in touch - is to shamelessly beg for prayers for these activities, and for my "ministry" in general. Not for my sake, but that the Jewish people, Jesus' own people, may come to the fullness of the life with God that they brought to the rest of the world! And to console the Heart of our beloved Lord, who is still waiting (and weeping) to be recognized by "His own" (Jn 1:11) - and of course, that His will may be done and He may return in glory! As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states (para 674): The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel."
Let us all pray for that glorious day!
May God Bless you abundantly! -- Roy
A reader writes:
Please ask your readers to pray for Loretta, who has Stage IV cancer and is preparing to begin chemo.
Also, my old Evangelical pastor, Jerry Crick writes:
Dear friends;
It has been a long time since I wrote and share what God is doing in my life. There have been many challenges and I have learned a great deal from the Holy Spirit. God is gracious and I would like to share with you some of what he's doing with me.
To bring you up to speed on my medical condition, I have been diagnosed with multiple systems atrophy. This is a form of Parkinson's which affects the entire brain. It is incurable and seriously limits the length of time a person has to live . When I first received this diagnosis, I was concerned and my faith was challenged. How would I live? What would happen to my family? What would it be like to see my body deteriorate right before my own eyes. Doctors change medication many times looking for the right mix to deal with the symptoms. I began physical therapy and worked very hard at it. It brought great results. I doubled my strength and my walking time and I regained 70% of my lost balance. My head began to clear up like to think logically again. I stopped falling; which had become a regular part of my life. I still cannot write and I can't type other than hunt and peck. I have no transportation, so I can't work. I spend most of my days isolated and alone.
Well things are about to change! The Holy Spirit is talking to me about the choices that I need to make. He's telling me from the depth of his heart that I must begin to choose the road of life. I've spent hours of meditation on what his life in Jesus. I spent days meditating just where my life is going. And I am convinced of two things. First, in the midst of suffering and loss though we may never have understanding as to why we are suffering, his presence, his person never leaves us. His grace is for everything and forever. A few weeks ago, the idea of healing crossed over from mental thought through prayer that I spoke into believing the goodness of God. The power of God resides in all of us. We are the righteousness of God in Christ through faith by grace. Born into the kingdom through no good act of our own. Maintained in the kingdom of the unending grace of God.
The second area God is speaking to me about is controlling my mind and my emotions; submitting them to the truth of the word and the actions of the Holy Spirit. In short this means trusting God for everything all the time. The pain may reign in the body and weakness may challenge my very will to live, but true life is found in trusting him with everything. We too must say 'though he slay, I will trust him".
I have gone from being bedridden for a year unable to walk without help and unable to speak intelligently, despairing of life and begging God to take me home. I have cried. I have been angry. I prayed until I couldn't think or feel. I had many many people pray for me and I've appreciated those tremendously. Little over a year ago, Randy Clark brought his ministry team to Denver. I was only well enough to attend one evening meeting. He prayed for me and I felt some release from Parkinson's. I also was healed of sleep apnea. This was a great blessing and failed my hope to the top. In light of this healing, I returned to the neurologist for some more tests. This report was not good. He said he could medicate the symptoms and keep me comfortable but, there was no cure and no real hope for me.
At this time God began to speak to my heart about living faith relationally. He told me to choose the road of life. He told me to avoid the road of death. Over and over again in the .night his spirit washed me like waves of warm water. I could feel the old wounds and scars seem to disappear. I could feel the dirt that was left from sin being washed away. When it was revealing to me was that God loves me gave, his life for me and is ready to lead me on the path of life. I'm stronger today than any time in my life. I know God has healed me. It may take some time for the healing to show the surface, but in my soul I am whole healthy.
There are some challenges ahead. I have not worked for two years. The church is closed. My photography abilities are seriously limited by my failing eyesight. I still believe I'm called to ministry and that there are things ahead that I cannot even imagine. God has provided for us miraculously but we still live day to day and paycheck to paycheck. If anything goes wrong anyone needs something new like a pair of jeans, we're stuck There's also the issue of knowing where God wants me to serve and vision he has for my life.
To summarize my health is improving because God is healing me. I'm ready willing and able go back to work doing whatever God wants me to do. Whether I work in ministry minister in my work, I believe I'm headed down a new road. I believe I have the power to see others healed and delivered and to see the loss come to know Jesus. The battle is almost over. I've got the enemy on the run. His weapons have not defeated me, but only made me stronger. If you get any inspiration feel free to e-mail or call. You can pray for another car for me so that I can go to work. Also pray that God will open the doors to the next step in my destiny.
I can't thank you enough for standing by me and my family. The body of Christ worldwide has come to our aid and we can never repay what they did. In the darkest of times, when all seemed lost and hopeless there was always someone who would pray or call or came by for a visit or sent some money a card or phone. This sharing of life proves the Scripture that when one is hurt all are hurt. So join us in our time of joy. God is on the move. He is faithful to his word. Miracles have just begun.
In his service,
Jerry
Father, hear the prayers of your children for healing, and grant them the grace to trust in you and your Son, come what may. We ask this through Jesus the Lord, Amen.
Pelosi: Let's Contracept Our Way...
...to Economic Revival!
Because fewer consumers and workers is the sure-fire way to societal and financial health! Ask the woman who invoked St. Augustine as her ally in the war for abortion on demand. She's not a dunce or anything.
It's gonna be a long four years.
Because fewer consumers and workers is the sure-fire way to societal and financial health! Ask the woman who invoked St. Augustine as her ally in the war for abortion on demand. She's not a dunce or anything.
It's gonna be a long four years.
Fr. Raymond de Souza Groks How the Obama Left is Figuring Out How to Use Religion
The more religion becomes a consumer mode for accessorizing, rather than a matter of truth, the more Americans, including ignorant Catholics and Evangelical Emergent types, will have no problem with it. When Christianity ceases to be about what is true and simply becomes one's preferred way of coping with life, the more helpless one becomes the liberal theological project.
Rick Warren was, in a way, a perfect demonstration of this. He is to be commended for taking a deep gulp and actually praying a Christian prayer at the Inauguration. But the way in which he introduced it: "I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life", which, being translated, means, "Jesus is my subjective experience." Caesar *loves* Jesus to be a purely subjective experience, because that means Caesar gets all the real estate and Jesus gets to be a fantasy some people like to console themselve with. If, at some point, these people with Jesus fantasy try to act in the public square in a way Caesar doesn't like, he can just bark "STOP IMPOSING YOUR VALUES ON ME!!!!" and the people with the private fetish about Jesus will generally apologize, meekly say, "Well... he changed *my* life!" and then back off.
The Dems will use this to great effect over the next few years. And a great many Emergent folks and clueless Catholics will fancy that their religion is being respected while this is done, because we will periodically get to hear somebody from the civil right movement mention God or Obama allude to the Bible or some gospel choir sing about the brotherhood of man.
Rick Warren was, in a way, a perfect demonstration of this. He is to be commended for taking a deep gulp and actually praying a Christian prayer at the Inauguration. But the way in which he introduced it: "I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life", which, being translated, means, "Jesus is my subjective experience." Caesar *loves* Jesus to be a purely subjective experience, because that means Caesar gets all the real estate and Jesus gets to be a fantasy some people like to console themselve with. If, at some point, these people with Jesus fantasy try to act in the public square in a way Caesar doesn't like, he can just bark "STOP IMPOSING YOUR VALUES ON ME!!!!" and the people with the private fetish about Jesus will generally apologize, meekly say, "Well... he changed *my* life!" and then back off.
The Dems will use this to great effect over the next few years. And a great many Emergent folks and clueless Catholics will fancy that their religion is being respected while this is done, because we will periodically get to hear somebody from the civil right movement mention God or Obama allude to the Bible or some gospel choir sing about the brotherhood of man.
Reader Ed the Roman writes:
Work is a mess right now, by which I mean there is a strong possibility of either a pay cut or no work at all in about three weeks.
Please put in a good word for me.
Father, please look with love upon your son Ed and grant him and his family the provision they need in order to get through this difficult time. Lord Jesus, you are the Providence of God. Please provide for Ed's earthly needs and all the needs of your children during this time of economic stress. Help us all to trust in you more deeply during this window of opportunity.
We ask this in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Fr. Robert Barron is pretty sensible
"Scripturally minded people should not allow their suspicion to give way to a complete cynicism regarding politics. Since God is powerful, power in itself cannot be construed as something evil," states Barron. "The United States is a nation 'under God' which means political figures-whether they accept it or not-are under a higher authority and they can't do whatever they want."
“People don't start asking...
...the really hard questions until they're really pressed to it,” he says.
The universe has, built into it, a way of not allowing the consequences of ignoring God from going unnoticed forever. Of course, being fallen, we tend to immediately forget the lessons as soon as things get easy again. But troughs are still invaluable times for us. In the words of Screwtape:
Contrary to popular belief, suffering does not teach us anything--apart from grace. It just hurts. But thanks be to God, we need never be apart from grace since he took flesh and rather aggressively inserted himself into the human drama so that we could see what suffering means in the cross and be transformed through it by the Spirit.
The universe has, built into it, a way of not allowing the consequences of ignoring God from going unnoticed forever. Of course, being fallen, we tend to immediately forget the lessons as soon as things get easy again. But troughs are still invaluable times for us. In the words of Screwtape:
MY DEAR WORMWOOD,
So you "have great hopes that the patient's religious phase is dying away", have you? I always thought the Training College had gone to pieces since they put old Slubgob at the head of it, and now I am sure. Has no one ever told you about the law of Undulation?
Humans are amphibians—half spirit and half animal. (The Enemy's determination to produce such a revolting hybrid was one of the things that determined Our Father to withdraw his support from Him.) As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time means to change. Their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation—the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks. If you had watched your patient carefully you would have seen this undulation in every department of his life—his interest in his work, his affection for his friends, his physical appetites, all go up and down. As long as he lives on earth periods of emotional and bodily richness and liveliness will alternate with periods of numbness and poverty. The dryness and dulness through which your patient is now going are not, as you fondly suppose, your workmanship; they are merely a natural phenomenon which will do us no good unless you make a good use of it.
To decide what the best use of it is, you must ask what use the Enemy wants to make of it, and then do the opposite. Now it may surprise you to learn that in His efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks; some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else. The reason is this. To us a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense. But the obedience which the Enemy demands of men is quite a different thing. One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself—creatures, whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over. Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself: the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.
And that is where the troughs come in. You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot "tempt" to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
Contrary to popular belief, suffering does not teach us anything--apart from grace. It just hurts. But thanks be to God, we need never be apart from grace since he took flesh and rather aggressively inserted himself into the human drama so that we could see what suffering means in the cross and be transformed through it by the Spirit.
Sigh
One of the thorny difficulties of trying to heal schism in the Church is that schismatics aren't always brave and plucky rebels whose noble purity of heart led them to bravely oppose grave evil in a Church that Just Didn't Understand Them.
Sometimes, the schismatics are dim-witted, self-aggrandizing, anti-semitic jerks like Bp. Richard Williamson.
So why would the Pope want reunion with them? Well, because the excommunication was never about Williamson's dim-witted, self-aggrandizing, anti-semitic jerkness, but about the consecration of bishops in defiance of communion with the Catholic Church. Likewise, the goal of reunion is not to bless the jerkness of Williamson, but to make it possible for people in need of salvation to return to union with Christ's saving Church. Naturally, the Andrew Sullivans and Little Green Footballs types of the world are, for the sake of various agendas, painting this as "the Nazi Pope returns to his Hitler Youth roots", but it's nothing of the kind. Indeed, no small part of Williamson's agenda is to hold onto his little fiefdom by embarrassing the Church with his antics and keeping his SSPX followers with him and not with Rome. But the sooner sane Trads can get out of the hothose of baleful influence, the better off they will be.
Some Jews are, naturally, upset by Williamson's loony ravings. But I think the Pope is basically operating on the principle that it is the sick that needeth the physician, not the healthy. He can let the SSPX go on being a hothouse presided over by a nut like Williamson, or he can do what he can to bring them into full communion with the Church and hope that the blood of Christ will wash away the toxins of Jew-hatred that have been building up in the system. I will not be at all surprised to hear a) that Williamson takes a retirement after a short interval or B) that Williamson hives off into schism again, but only manages to take a small nucleus of embittered Jew-hating malcontents with him, while most of the rest of the SSPX people stay in communion with Rome.
For a bit more on this matter from the canon law perspective, Ed Peters has the scoop.
Sometimes, the schismatics are dim-witted, self-aggrandizing, anti-semitic jerks like Bp. Richard Williamson.
So why would the Pope want reunion with them? Well, because the excommunication was never about Williamson's dim-witted, self-aggrandizing, anti-semitic jerkness, but about the consecration of bishops in defiance of communion with the Catholic Church. Likewise, the goal of reunion is not to bless the jerkness of Williamson, but to make it possible for people in need of salvation to return to union with Christ's saving Church. Naturally, the Andrew Sullivans and Little Green Footballs types of the world are, for the sake of various agendas, painting this as "the Nazi Pope returns to his Hitler Youth roots", but it's nothing of the kind. Indeed, no small part of Williamson's agenda is to hold onto his little fiefdom by embarrassing the Church with his antics and keeping his SSPX followers with him and not with Rome. But the sooner sane Trads can get out of the hothose of baleful influence, the better off they will be.
Some Jews are, naturally, upset by Williamson's loony ravings. But I think the Pope is basically operating on the principle that it is the sick that needeth the physician, not the healthy. He can let the SSPX go on being a hothouse presided over by a nut like Williamson, or he can do what he can to bring them into full communion with the Church and hope that the blood of Christ will wash away the toxins of Jew-hatred that have been building up in the system. I will not be at all surprised to hear a) that Williamson takes a retirement after a short interval or B) that Williamson hives off into schism again, but only manages to take a small nucleus of embittered Jew-hating malcontents with him, while most of the rest of the SSPX people stay in communion with Rome.
For a bit more on this matter from the canon law perspective, Ed Peters has the scoop.
The Beloved Luke Has been Busy
First, he writes me:
Then, a while later, I get this totally unrelated bit of whimsy:
My heart swells with paternal pride.
Here's a typically silly media-meets-church article on the Pope's new YouTube channel. My favorite line:For the Vatican, it was the latest effort to keep up to speed with the rapidly changing field of communications and new media. For a 2,000-year-old institution known for being very set in its ways, it was something of a revolution.
OMG, THA CHUCH HAZ INTERNETS!!!1!!?? One gets the impression that Vatican officials posting things online is something akin to a walrus wearing the latest fashions and using sophisticated construction tools. I also enjoyed this bit: "While the YouTube initiative was novel, it was in keeping with the Church's history of using whatever means available to communicate: parchment, printing press, radio, television and Internet." Well, I guess the Church eventually got 'round to using the printing press, so this shouldn't come as a real surprise...
Then, a while later, I get this totally unrelated bit of whimsy:
This is a silly, silly poem I wrote in a fit of linguistic joy upon discovering the name for a poetic device I knew I liked but didn't know the name for. Just thought you'd get some kind of a kick out of it.
Procrustean Enjambment: A Lesson.
Gleefully composed by Luke Shea
The title of this little rhyme,
which you have now glanced at,
has likely drawn forth from your mind
the question "What is *that*?"
"What on earth's 'Procrustean'?
And how is it Enjambed?"
These all may be ques-ti-ons
you're asking, Sir or Ma'am.
For the minds which may inquire
about this lengthy phrase,
let my knowledge burn like fire
across mental pathways
to light your minds like match to torch.
Allow me to explain
these words. It will not burn or scorch.
It won't cause any pain.
In fact, the last word of the phrase
I have here demonstrated
in a rather clever way.
I'm proud of just how great it
sounded when I did. And lo!
I've done it once again!
I think that here within this po-
-em I've enjambed more than
most folks can pack into one day,
or even twenty-one!
And if you'll look upwards a ways
you'll see I've gone and done
the craziest thing possible
and demoed word one, too!
And let me say it was a pl-
-easing thing to do!
"Out with it!" you may now cry.
"Don't beat around the bush!"
Alright! Okay! I will comply!
There is no need to push.
To start with, let me tell you of
Enjambment's humble duty
to make a couplet much more love-
-able and full of beauty.
Simply put, Enjambment means
a sentence which continues
from line A and goes on to B's
geographic venues.
Enjambent starts, and then goes on
And stops, but in the middle
Of the line that's next. It con-
-tinues onwards to fiddle
with upcoming stanzas. It
just doesn't know its place.
The lines jump on in starts and fits
and soon, across your face
you'll find a smile a-creeping
as you come to know and love
this new and wondrous leaping
the words are partaking of.
I like verse which works this way
a lot. I think it's better
to let your words join in the fray
unboxed, unchained, unfettered.
Now, if you haven't caught on
to the second thing I'm teaching,
*Procrustean* rhyme is brought on
by leading words to breaching
through the binding limits
of a poem's metered structure.
by slicing words in two bits
and placing this disrupture
at the ending of a line
so words are carried over.
Bisected words are very fine!
More rare than four-leafed clover!
It's a funny way to cheat
that lends a line hilar-
-ity. It is a noble feat
to be so here-and-there.
And now you know, dear readers,
just what Procrustean En-
-jambment is. The meter's
Tyranny is at an end!
Be sure to use it frequently,
And don't fall out of prac-
-tice. Go and rhyme intently!
Address this awful lack!
Enjamb and Procrust everywhere
You can Enjamb and pro-
-crust! Keep the rhymes from ending square
anyplace you go!
A Post-Script on the Origin of the Term "Procrustean":
Procrustean rhymes are named for one
Procrustes, from a myth
from ancient Greece. His story's fun.
I'll end this poem with
A brief recital of the way
He passed his name to rhymes
Which start and end in stranger pla-
-ces than most other kinds.
It seems he had, or so they say,
A hotel on a road
Which many travelled in his day.
And inside this abode
He kept an iron bed which was
Adjustable in size.
When folk came in, our man would pause
And measure with his eyes
And if he found is visitor
To be of ample height
He'd go and shrink the bed before
The guest lay down that night.
And once the guest was on the bed
He'd cut them down to size.
Or, if too short, he'd stretch instead.
Rack, or hacksaw to the thighs.
"No one will ever fit just right!
I'll change it as I pleases!"
Said Procrustes, but one night
Our man ran into Theseus.
Theseus was smart and fed
Old 'Crusty his own drug
By leaving both his feet and head
Bleeding on the rug.
Thus Procrustes met his end,
And thus this rhyme meets its.
And when you stretch and chop and bend
A word until it fits
You'll know that old Procrustes
Is the one behind it all.
He taught us how to bust these
Words until they're neat and small
Enough to jam in corners where
A longer word is needed.
A syllable will fit in there
When whole words are defeated.
My heart swells with paternal pride.
"Imagine a medicine that has a staggering 75% success rate in treating cancer...
Update: Too bad. Looks like a scam.
A reader writes:
If you'd be so kind, please direct your legion of readers to the Rosaries for Life website as the 72 day "Conversion of America" novena starts on the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The novena ends on April 6th, at the beginning of Holy Week.
Also, people can sign up to provide prayer support for America and the unborn for the next four years (1490 rosaries) if they see fit.
My Friend Lals Bids a Moving Farewell to Fr. Tom
His Vigil will be at Blessed Sacrament 7 PM tomorrow. The funeral will be the next day (same place) at 10 AM. Get there early for both because I think it will be extremely crowded: a beautiful testimony to a man much loved.
I've already started to ask his intercession.
Santo subito!
I've already started to ask his intercession.
Santo subito!
Special Responsibilities
Obama has done a very evil thing and a very good thing.
As you knew he would he declares open season on innocent children. God willing, this is as far as he carried his pro-abort zeal and FOCA will languish. But we can just coast on hope. The Church calls us to act.
And, he simultaneously orders an end to torture and prisoner abuse as a policy of these United States.
Over the years, I've gotten a lot of mail from people who say things like, "I like what you write about the faith, but I don't understand why you have been banging away about torture and prisoner abuse so much." Again and again, people tell me they perceive some mysterious disconnect between all the Catholic theology stuff I write and the stuff about torture.
For my part, the mystery is how anybody on earth could see a disconnect. Over on his blog, Zippy manages to summarize better than I could the peculiar sense of responsibility I've felt (and think every person who voted for Bush ought to feel):
The first paragraph pretty much sums it up as far as how I viewed my responsibility as a Catholic in the public square: I voted for the guy so I was responsible to criticize him when he committed evil with the vote I gave him. I was also responsible to educate people who hadn't given the matter much thought, especially when there were some in our culture laboring with might and main to excuse and justify evil and lead innocents astray with falsehood. Despite the multiple numbers of lies told to the effect that I "hate" Bush, the fact remains that I do not and a cursory comparison of what I've had to say with that of people who *really* hate Bush (cf. Dem Underground, Moveon, Air America, etc.) would make this clear. I basically confined my critique to the matter of war crimes (though I do think he made great strides in bollixing up the economy too and I think his interest in prolife matters was, like his father's pretty tepid). I've always been willing to acknowledge that they guy did some things right. But the mischief done to supporters (including Catholic supporters) who embraced consequentialism in defense of grave evil was never something I could just sit back and ignore.
Now, of course, some critics are treating my opposition to all this as though it constituted support for Obama, which is nothing but another lie. I have never supported Obama, precisely because he has made it clear that he means to do all in his power to sacrifice the unborn to Moloch. I oppose this as strenuously as I oppose all other grave evil.
That said, I think Zippy is right. While all of us have an obligation to oppose grave evil, the Catholics of the Kmiec/Vox Nova stripe have a special and peculiar obligation to immediately and vociferously speak out against Obama's pro-abortion actions and to be the very first ones out of the gate to do so. They should lead the way in speaking out, not be making mealy-mouthed excuses for what he is doing, practice minimizing its significance and generally take up the mantle of the Coalition for Fog for the left. I hope they will listen to Zippy's rebuke. And I hope guys like Doug Kmiec will be as quick to come out with a rebuke for Obama as he was to produce a whining bit of self-defense for supporting the guy.
As you knew he would he declares open season on innocent children. God willing, this is as far as he carried his pro-abort zeal and FOCA will languish. But we can just coast on hope. The Church calls us to act.
And, he simultaneously orders an end to torture and prisoner abuse as a policy of these United States.
Dear Friends:
We hope you've heard the good news that today President Obama signed the executive order we have been seeking -- an executive order that ends the CIA abuse of detainees, closes U.S. secret prisons, and provides the International Committee of the Red Cross with access to U.S.-held detainees. We have stopped our "count-up" clock -- the clock marking the hours that had passed until an executive order halting U.S.-sponsored torture was signed.
This is a moment for celebration and thanksgiving. We have all prayed and labored faithfully for this significant step toward ending U.S.-sponsored torture.
Thank you for all your efforts to help reach this goal.
Is there more to do? Yes!
Along with these sweeping changes in policy, the executive order created a Special Task Force charged with reviewing the Army Field Manual's interrogation guidelines to determine whether "different or additional guidance" is necessary for the CIA. The Task Force has 180 days to report. We need to make sure that any new interrogation technique that the Special Task Force recommends abides by the "Golden Rule" (in other words, each new technique must be both legal and moral if used upon a captured American).
Please email the White House to thank President Obama for his action today and to urge him to ensure that any additional interrogation techniques recommended by the Special Task Force comply with the principle of the "Golden Rule" -- that we will use only those interrogation techniques that would be considered moral and legal if used upon a captured American.
Click here [http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2162/t/3961/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26460] to email the White House.
In the coming months we will focus on a legislative agenda to make permanent the elements of this executive order by codifying them into law. We will also continue working to secure a nonpartisan investigation that will provide the critical information necessary to create effective safeguards against the future use of torture and allow the nation to decide whether to pursue criminal prosecutions of those involved in authorizing or implementing policies that led to the use of torture.
Together, we can build on today's victory and ensure that our grandchildren will be able to say, "Our nation once engaged in torture, but we don't do that anymore." May it be so.
Sincerely,
Linda Gustitus, President
Rev. Richard Killmer, Executive Director
Over the years, I've gotten a lot of mail from people who say things like, "I like what you write about the faith, but I don't understand why you have been banging away about torture and prisoner abuse so much." Again and again, people tell me they perceive some mysterious disconnect between all the Catholic theology stuff I write and the stuff about torture.
For my part, the mystery is how anybody on earth could see a disconnect. Over on his blog, Zippy manages to summarize better than I could the peculiar sense of responsibility I've felt (and think every person who voted for Bush ought to feel):
Those who supported President Bush had a special obligation to publicly oppose his immoral policies: for example, Bush supporters had a special obligation to publicly oppose his policy of torturing prisoners for "actionable information".
For the most part they didn't, of course; indeed many did just the opposite, engaging in a lengthy propaganda campaign of excuse-making, misdirection, and general intransigence. Tom called the phenomenon "making the case for fog"; Mark adopted the term "Coalition for Fog" to describe the armies of folks who, while they often did not defend torture directly, did everything they could to, well, blanket the issue in a fog of misdirection. Mark's colorful rhetoric earned him the subconscious admiration of his ideological enemies.
But now we have a new president, and, unlike his predecessor's torture policies, his despicable policies on abortion are quite overt. Even if we completely failed to distinguish the gravity of the two issues, the fact that these policies are explicit and unapologetic takes things to a whole new level. So, naturally, it is out with the old Coalition for Fog, and in with the new. New, improved, and ten times more despicable than the competing brand! Plus ca change, and all that.
The first paragraph pretty much sums it up as far as how I viewed my responsibility as a Catholic in the public square: I voted for the guy so I was responsible to criticize him when he committed evil with the vote I gave him. I was also responsible to educate people who hadn't given the matter much thought, especially when there were some in our culture laboring with might and main to excuse and justify evil and lead innocents astray with falsehood. Despite the multiple numbers of lies told to the effect that I "hate" Bush, the fact remains that I do not and a cursory comparison of what I've had to say with that of people who *really* hate Bush (cf. Dem Underground, Moveon, Air America, etc.) would make this clear. I basically confined my critique to the matter of war crimes (though I do think he made great strides in bollixing up the economy too and I think his interest in prolife matters was, like his father's pretty tepid). I've always been willing to acknowledge that they guy did some things right. But the mischief done to supporters (including Catholic supporters) who embraced consequentialism in defense of grave evil was never something I could just sit back and ignore.
Now, of course, some critics are treating my opposition to all this as though it constituted support for Obama, which is nothing but another lie. I have never supported Obama, precisely because he has made it clear that he means to do all in his power to sacrifice the unborn to Moloch. I oppose this as strenuously as I oppose all other grave evil.
That said, I think Zippy is right. While all of us have an obligation to oppose grave evil, the Catholics of the Kmiec/Vox Nova stripe have a special and peculiar obligation to immediately and vociferously speak out against Obama's pro-abortion actions and to be the very first ones out of the gate to do so. They should lead the way in speaking out, not be making mealy-mouthed excuses for what he is doing, practice minimizing its significance and generally take up the mantle of the Coalition for Fog for the left. I hope they will listen to Zippy's rebuke. And I hope guys like Doug Kmiec will be as quick to come out with a rebuke for Obama as he was to produce a whining bit of self-defense for supporting the guy.
Are Scientists Hardwired to Assume that All Unconscious Beliefs are Hardwired?
Just because something is unconscious doesn't meant it's "hardwired" (i.e, genetic). Fifty years ago, an average southern white would have called his black neighbor "boy" without a second thought and (very often) without any intention of malice. It was just an unconscious prejudice. Fifty years and a whole lot of consciousness-raising later, people rightly recognize that this belittlement of human dignity is wicked. Unconsciously held notions have exerted tremendous influence on people all through history without being "hardwired" in the slightest. The notion that there is some necessary conflict between God and science is precisely one of these prejudices which have nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with a dominant cultural narrative that is relatively recent in Western history. For St. Thomas, such a conflict would have been unintelligible nonsense.
The Daily Kraken is all about the Oscars
Of course, there are rumors (which I will neither confirm nor deny) that Hollywood is buzzing about Manalive, but modesty (not to mention sanity) forbids we boast too much until we've, y'know, shot the first frame of it.
Speaking of which, Dale Ahlquist writes:
I head off to Savannah on March 2 and will basically be there all month. While I'm there I will try to dash off some production diaries on the blog so's you'll have a sense of what we are doing. This is all new to me as my background was in theatre, not film. But hopefully you'll get a sense of what it feels like to make a small-budget indie film. Also, I will, hopefully, not be awful.
For now, the practical reality means I have a *boatload* of work to get written before I go so I can clear the decks and not have to write during March (except for the production diaries). Low budget films mean low budget pay for actors (far less than I would normally make for a month of writing). So in order to keep a roof over our heads and bread on the table while I'm gone, I need to do March's work now so we can meet the dry spell when all I'll make is the extremely modest pay for acting. It's sort of counter-intuitive, I know, since you automatically figure that a lead role in movie must involve big bucks. But this is emphatically a film being done by Chestertonians for love, not money.
So forgive me if I don't blog as much in the run up to March and if my replies to emails are terse. I'm *really* under the gun to get work done, make our monthly "just enough to survive and save a pittance", and get ready to go be Innocent Smith.
Speaking of which, Dale Ahlquist writes:
We have found a wife for you.
Joey and I were in Savannah this weekend, and held auditions. We cast the rest of the movie, including the role of Mary Grey aka Mrs. Innocent Smith. She's a redhead, as called for in the script, and she has movie experience. She was in Forrest Gump! (also filmed in Savannah). Her name is Katherine Harrington.
The auditions went just great, and I'm really pleased with the location. Joey is still firming up several details, but I'm just thrilled about how things are falling into place.
Joey will confirm the dates with you the dates that you are needed in Savannah. A final script is on its way as well.
It's time to start getting genuinely excited.
Also, Rod Bennett confirmed for the conference. He'll be speaking on Chesterton and Frank Capra. And David Deavel will speak on Chesterton and Alfred Hitchcock. We'll also premiere the trailer for Manalive.
I head off to Savannah on March 2 and will basically be there all month. While I'm there I will try to dash off some production diaries on the blog so's you'll have a sense of what we are doing. This is all new to me as my background was in theatre, not film. But hopefully you'll get a sense of what it feels like to make a small-budget indie film. Also, I will, hopefully, not be awful.
For now, the practical reality means I have a *boatload* of work to get written before I go so I can clear the decks and not have to write during March (except for the production diaries). Low budget films mean low budget pay for actors (far less than I would normally make for a month of writing). So in order to keep a roof over our heads and bread on the table while I'm gone, I need to do March's work now so we can meet the dry spell when all I'll make is the extremely modest pay for acting. It's sort of counter-intuitive, I know, since you automatically figure that a lead role in movie must involve big bucks. But this is emphatically a film being done by Chestertonians for love, not money.
So forgive me if I don't blog as much in the run up to March and if my replies to emails are terse. I'm *really* under the gun to get work done, make our monthly "just enough to survive and save a pittance", and get ready to go be Innocent Smith.
A reader writes:
Grrr...
Another year, another media blackout of the March for life. The only story I found about it in mainstream media was on a local DC news site. The Headline: March for life leads to more road closures.
How much longer do we have to go simply being obedient to the tastes and preferences of the chattering classes? How long before we can make life very uncomfortable for our news media and politicians (on both sides of the isle)? I don't mean be violent, but there has to be a greater level of civil disobedience that we can achieve. We're too kind and courteous to really upset someone's day.
Any thoughts?
Don't worry. You're upsetting someone's day. The news vacuum is eloquent testimony to that. It's the sort of silence that screams "We are ignoring you" as loud as it can. And if pro-lifers go on with our vigils and protests, now that we have been "defeated", refusing to acknowledge the defeat and continuing to be a peaceful testimony of conscience, I strongly suspect the culture of death will very soon explode with violence and persecution once they realize we will not roll over and play dead as we are supposed to do now that they have all the political power they want.
Your task is to continue to be Christ-like and not embrace the temptation to something more "radical". The radicals will be coming your way soon enough. Brace yourself for that with prayer.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Hey Dallas area readers! Don't forget! Phone the neighbors and wake the kids!
January 24 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM. St. Anthony parish, Wylie TX. Topics: 101 Reasons Not to Be Catholic, This is My Body, Making Senses Out of Scripture.
In the words of Samuel Goldwyn, "Don't miss it if you can."
This means I will be on the road tomorrow, so I'll see all y'all on Monday!
January 24 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM. St. Anthony parish, Wylie TX. Topics: 101 Reasons Not to Be Catholic, This is My Body, Making Senses Out of Scripture.
In the words of Samuel Goldwyn, "Don't miss it if you can."
This means I will be on the road tomorrow, so I'll see all y'all on Monday!
Fr. Tom Kraft, OP, died this morning at 10 AM.
May his soul and all the souls of the faithul departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Fr. Tom, when you get settled in up there, please do pray for all of us who love you and will miss you. I miss you already, but I'm grateful that your sufferings are at an end.
Update: According to Sherry Weddell, who knows these things, the vigil will be 1/27 at 7 p.m. and the funeral will be at 10 am. 1/28 (Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas). Both will be held at Blessed Sacrament.
Expect a gigantic crowd.
May his soul and all the souls of the faithul departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Fr. Tom, when you get settled in up there, please do pray for all of us who love you and will miss you. I miss you already, but I'm grateful that your sufferings are at an end.
"'How do I feel?' Samwise cried. 'Well, I don't know how to say it. I feel, I feel' — he waved his arms in the air — 'I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!' "
"All the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them, now in the Elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness."
Update: According to Sherry Weddell, who knows these things, the vigil will be 1/27 at 7 p.m. and the funeral will be at 10 am. 1/28 (Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas). Both will be held at Blessed Sacrament.
Expect a gigantic crowd.
Bill O'Reilly, Living Incarnation of the Hannitized Catholic Right
The sooner self-described Faithful Conservative Catholics detoxify and purge their souls of filth like this and return to the actual teaching of the Church, the sooner we can get on with authentic Catholic faith and practice. A Catholic mind that confuses this pagan swill with Catholic thinking is like a Catholic tongue that can't tell the difference between Belgian chocolate and a dog turd.
The sooner self-described Faithful Conservative Catholics detoxify and purge their souls of filth like this and return to the actual teaching of the Church, the sooner we can get on with authentic Catholic faith and practice. A Catholic mind that confuses this pagan swill with Catholic thinking is like a Catholic tongue that can't tell the difference between Belgian chocolate and a dog turd.
Saying Anything and Everything
A reader notes that the website I mentioned below that is peddling various atheist bric-a-brac so that socially inept gits will feel affirmed in their okayness offers t-shirts and coffee mugs with these quotes:
Does anybody notice a certain dissonance here? One would think that the sort of people who spend their days combing through the Bible for contradictions would give some thought to making sure their agitprop was coherent. Instead, a hundred years after the publication of Orthodoxy, the same tired blunders are made. The Prophet Chesterton had their number back in 1908:
A century later, and still atheism's effect on thoughtful people is as Chesterton described it:
A reader notes that the website I mentioned below that is peddling various atheist bric-a-brac so that socially inept gits will feel affirmed in their okayness offers t-shirts and coffee mugs with these quotes:
"The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad." - Friedrich Nietzsche
"The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference." - Charles Darwin
Does anybody notice a certain dissonance here? One would think that the sort of people who spend their days combing through the Bible for contradictions would give some thought to making sure their agitprop was coherent. Instead, a hundred years after the publication of Orthodoxy, the same tired blunders are made. The Prophet Chesterton had their number back in 1908:
This odd effect of the great agnostics in arousing doubts deeper than their own might be illustrated in many ways. I take only one. As I read and re-read all the non-Christian or anti-Christian accounts of the faith, from Huxley to Bradlaugh, a slow and awful impression grew gradually but graphically upon my mind—the impression that Christianity must be a most extraordinary thing. For not only (as I understood) had Christianity the most flaming vices, but it had apparently a mystical talent for combining vices which seemed inconsistent with each other. It was attacked on all sides and for all contradictory reasons. No sooner had one rationalist demonstrated that it was too far to the east than another demonstrated with equal clearness that it was much too far to the west. No sooner had my indignation died down at its angular and aggressive squareness than I was called up again to notice and condemn its enervating and sensual roundness. In case any reader has not come across the thing I mean, I will give such instances as I remember at random of this self-contradiction in the sceptical attack. I give four or five of them; there are fifty more.
Thus, for instance, I was much moved by the eloquent attack on Christianity as a thing of inhuman gloom; for I thought (and still think) sincere pessimism the unpardonable sin. Insincere pessimism is a social accomplishment, rather agreeable than otherwise; and fortunately nearly all pessimism is insincere. But if Christianity was, as these people said, a thing purely pessimistic and opposed to life, then I was quite prepared to blow up St. Paul’s Cathedral. But the extraordinary thing is this. They did prove to me in Chapter I. (to my complete satisfaction) that Christianity was too pessimistic; and then, in Chapter II, they began to prove to me that it was a great deal too optimistic. One accusation against Christianity was that it prevented men, by morbid tears and terrors, from seeking joy and liberty in the bosom of Nature. But another accusation was that it comforted men with a fictitious providence, and put them in a pink-and-white nursery. One great agnostic asked why Nature was not beautiful enough, and why it was hard to be free. Another great agnostic objected that Christian optimism, “the garment of make-believe woven by pious hands,” hid from us the fact that Nature was ugly, and that it was impossible to be free. One rationalist had hardly done calling Christianity a nightmare before another began to call it a fool’s paradise.
A century later, and still atheism's effect on thoughtful people is as Chesterton described it:
As I laid down the last of Colonel Ingersoll’s atheistic lectures the dreadful thought broke across my mind, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”
My friend, Fr. Michael Sweeney, once remarked to me that the question is not whether the Church could survive persecution in the US but whether the US could survive persecuting the Church
Stories like this make me think of that remark. What with sin making you extremely stupid and all, I have to wonder if Caesar, now drunk on the wine of leftist hatred of the Church will really be stupid enough to start trying to strangle the whole network of social services provided by the Church, just out of stupid spite.
The Church will go on till the end of time somehow or other. But the US is a purely human institution that can easily commit suicide if it decides it is more important to hate and murder the Church than it is to care for the least of these.
Stories like this make me think of that remark. What with sin making you extremely stupid and all, I have to wonder if Caesar, now drunk on the wine of leftist hatred of the Church will really be stupid enough to start trying to strangle the whole network of social services provided by the Church, just out of stupid spite.
The Church will go on till the end of time somehow or other. But the US is a purely human institution that can easily commit suicide if it decides it is more important to hate and murder the Church than it is to care for the least of these.
Bitter, Socially Inept Gits Feel Affirmed in their Okayness
One of the silliest attempts to ride the Victimism Wagon is the moaning and groaning of atheists over their alleged sufferings and oppression in American culture. What cracks me up is the rejoicing over "counting now" when, in a world of atheistic materialism, the atheist already has everything that "counts". It's only in a world which credits notions of a transcendent human dignity (that is, a religious world) that the atheist claim to be somehow oppressed or disenfranchised has *any* hope of making sense. If you are just a smart ape with needs for physical and emotional security, three squares a day, shelter, sex, and a bit of amusement, well buddy, America's got that for you in greater quantities than you could ever need. So stop whining about being oppressed. Indeed, you've even got access to media so you can be a kvetching harpy about your atheism and nobody takes you out and shoots you (something atheists are singularly eager to do with religionists at this very hour in China). So cry me a river.
One of the silliest attempts to ride the Victimism Wagon is the moaning and groaning of atheists over their alleged sufferings and oppression in American culture. What cracks me up is the rejoicing over "counting now" when, in a world of atheistic materialism, the atheist already has everything that "counts". It's only in a world which credits notions of a transcendent human dignity (that is, a religious world) that the atheist claim to be somehow oppressed or disenfranchised has *any* hope of making sense. If you are just a smart ape with needs for physical and emotional security, three squares a day, shelter, sex, and a bit of amusement, well buddy, America's got that for you in greater quantities than you could ever need. So stop whining about being oppressed. Indeed, you've even got access to media so you can be a kvetching harpy about your atheism and nobody takes you out and shoots you (something atheists are singularly eager to do with religionists at this very hour in China). So cry me a river.
Worshippers of Moloch Are Like Kids in a Candy Store
Our task remains what it ever was: pray and work. Not just social conservatives are betrayed by politicians. We may hope that Obama let's his worshippers down. Indeed, given the preposterous messianic hype, we may be certain he shall. Let's pray that part of the betrayal comes in prompt abandonment of any serious intention to pursue FOCA.
Our task remains what it ever was: pray and work. Not just social conservatives are betrayed by politicians. We may hope that Obama let's his worshippers down. Indeed, given the preposterous messianic hype, we may be certain he shall. Let's pray that part of the betrayal comes in prompt abandonment of any serious intention to pursue FOCA.
Best Neologism of 2009
A reader writes:
Brilliant! That pretty much defines countless millions of square miles of what now constitute "Western values" (i.e., those values being proposed to us by the Manufacturers of Culture as a counter-narrative to the gospel and Christian virtues). I will file it away for future use.
A reader writes:
Hey, Mark, you may get terrific questions as a Catholic author/speaker, but as a Catholic high school teacher, I get terrific answers. My current favorite:
Q: Name the seven capital/deadly sins.
A. (among the others): Sluttony
Brilliant! That pretty much defines countless millions of square miles of what now constitute "Western values" (i.e., those values being proposed to us by the Manufacturers of Culture as a counter-narrative to the gospel and Christian virtues). I will file it away for future use.
Interesting story of a newly ordained married priest here in Western Washington
The guy's a Lutheran convert.
The comments are mostly the usual yah yah from yutzes. Only with Christianity can people who understand nothing about it shove their oar in and declare, with a sort of boast, their complete ignorance. An commenter on an article about say, quantum physics or French literature, is universally recognized as a boorish dunce if his only response is "I will never understand this garbage". But say it about Christianity (and especially Catholic Christianity) and you are widely applauded as a thoughtful person.
The guy's a Lutheran convert.
The comments are mostly the usual yah yah from yutzes. Only with Christianity can people who understand nothing about it shove their oar in and declare, with a sort of boast, their complete ignorance. An commenter on an article about say, quantum physics or French literature, is universally recognized as a boorish dunce if his only response is "I will never understand this garbage". But say it about Christianity (and especially Catholic Christianity) and you are widely applauded as a thoughtful person.
Tim Powers is cool
A while back, I made the acquaintance of Tim Powers, because he writes terrific stories, and I am hopelessly inept as a fiction writer, but filled with a quixotic hope that I might try my hand at it. Powers, for them that don't know, has a genius for concocting tales of occult intrigue, mixed a sort of noir-ish world of gamblers, spies, strange supernatural powers and--what interests me most--real historical characters with odd and anomalous moments in their lives (as we all have).
He makes it a rule to always slavishly conform the events of his stories to the known data about those historical characters, while ingeniously "explaining" that data by showing what they were *really* up to and what they *really* meant when they said or did this curious thing. Result: stories in which British double agent Kim Philby is actually the servant of a might fallen angel, or Einstein and Charlie Chaplin are somehow involved in a time travel experiment, or Bugsy Seigel was murdered by an evil expert in tarot who used the power of the cards to switch bodies with helpless victims, or a kid in LA accidently inhales the ghost of Thomas Edison and finds himself on the run from a whole underworld of nasty ghost huffers. Great fun!
Yesterday, I dropped Powers a line when I read that Obama had repeated the oath of office (due to Roberts' "muffed" administration of the oath--or at least that's the official story) and suggested that this is the seed of a new Tim Powers novel, especially when the story says:
I told Powers:
So, this morning he writes back:
Also, it's worth noting that the second oath was not said on the Bible. So there you are!
Hey! You think these things just happen?
A while back, I made the acquaintance of Tim Powers, because he writes terrific stories, and I am hopelessly inept as a fiction writer, but filled with a quixotic hope that I might try my hand at it. Powers, for them that don't know, has a genius for concocting tales of occult intrigue, mixed a sort of noir-ish world of gamblers, spies, strange supernatural powers and--what interests me most--real historical characters with odd and anomalous moments in their lives (as we all have).
He makes it a rule to always slavishly conform the events of his stories to the known data about those historical characters, while ingeniously "explaining" that data by showing what they were *really* up to and what they *really* meant when they said or did this curious thing. Result: stories in which British double agent Kim Philby is actually the servant of a might fallen angel, or Einstein and Charlie Chaplin are somehow involved in a time travel experiment, or Bugsy Seigel was murdered by an evil expert in tarot who used the power of the cards to switch bodies with helpless victims, or a kid in LA accidently inhales the ghost of Thomas Edison and finds himself on the run from a whole underworld of nasty ghost huffers. Great fun!
Yesterday, I dropped Powers a line when I read that Obama had repeated the oath of office (due to Roberts' "muffed" administration of the oath--or at least that's the official story) and suggested that this is the seed of a new Tim Powers novel, especially when the story says:
ABC's Terry Moran adds, this has happened twice before: Chester Arthur in 1881; Calvin Coolidge in 1923.
I told Powers:
I think the connection between them and Obama and occult forces involving, er, mastery of the Novus Ordo Seclorum symbol on the dollar and, um, Kenyan shamanism in a grand bid for immortality and limitless power is subtle, yet clear. The only question is: how did they rub out the Kennedys? :)
So, this morning he writes back:
The important thing probably is what that particular section of the oath means in some other language, if just considered as phonetic syllables. It's essential to deviate from the standard text, as if by accident, so as to pronounce certain syllables in a certain order. Then once the covert invocation is read, they can "catch themselves" and go back and say the phrase the way everybody expects.
This implies that the oath was deliberately written in such a way as to
permit this unevident occult move. Probably the Masons set it up.
Also, it's worth noting that the second oath was not said on the Bible. So there you are!
Hey! You think these things just happen?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
My Latest for Inside Catholic
I wanted Fr. Tom's sacrifice to have as broad an audience as possible, so I submitted the story to Inside Catholic.
A great, great man. Please pray for him. He is reportedly bedridden now and can acknowledge, but not respond to visitors. We may lose him very soon now.
I wanted Fr. Tom's sacrifice to have as broad an audience as possible, so I submitted the story to Inside Catholic.
A great, great man. Please pray for him. He is reportedly bedridden now and can acknowledge, but not respond to visitors. We may lose him very soon now.
This is Freakin' Hilarious
Not only does it capture perfectly the vibe of instructional films (NOT videos) I remember from my high school years, but it also nails the curious brain-vacuum-inducing bafflement that math always created in my English-major mind whenever I tried to track the whizzing blur of formulae the teacher breezed through for the non-math-challenged.
I came away from high school figuring, "If God had meant us to do math, he would not have given us calculators."
Not only does it capture perfectly the vibe of instructional films (NOT videos) I remember from my high school years, but it also nails the curious brain-vacuum-inducing bafflement that math always created in my English-major mind whenever I tried to track the whizzing blur of formulae the teacher breezed through for the non-math-challenged.
I came away from high school figuring, "If God had meant us to do math, he would not have given us calculators."
Priests are Not Theological Vending Machines
In which we learn not to borrow trouble by leaping to conclusions when your priest can't instantly spit out an answer to some obscure theological problem.
In which we learn not to borrow trouble by leaping to conclusions when your priest can't instantly spit out an answer to some obscure theological problem.
The Civic Equivalent of Sedevacantism
Some kook in the fever swamps is already theorizing that Obama isn't really president because Robert muffed the wording of the oath.
Meanwhile, I would like to start a national campaign demanding that Biden be recognized as the the *true* 44th President since he was already sworn in (and Obama was not) when Bush's term expired at noon. Obama is actually our 45th president. I wonder how many other veeps were President for five minutes on Inauguration Day. Why is the government covering this up?!?!??!?
Some kook in the fever swamps is already theorizing that Obama isn't really president because Robert muffed the wording of the oath.
Meanwhile, I would like to start a national campaign demanding that Biden be recognized as the the *true* 44th President since he was already sworn in (and Obama was not) when Bush's term expired at noon. Obama is actually our 45th president. I wonder how many other veeps were President for five minutes on Inauguration Day. Why is the government covering this up?!?!??!?
Amy Welborn Applies her Typically Formidable and Sober Intellect to the Obama Hype
What a gift that woman is.
What a gift that woman is.
More for the "How Similar We Are" file
A reader writes:
A reader writes:
Black liberals being as lunatic about Obama as white evangelicals were about Bush.
This is soooooooo Seattle and, Even More, Sooooooo Totally Fremont
A friend writes:
For my own views on Seattle's brain-dead intelligentsia and their habit of worshipping the intellect rather than using it, go here.
A friend writes:
I got this from one of my Seattle women's writers forums. This is perfect for your People's Republic of Washington segment. Calling all Comrades...It's a Lenin Poetry Slam! Write your own collective couplets about the fearless leader of Fremont. We'll all Trotsky over to see the winning entry emblazoned in Bolshevik Brass on the sidewalk.THE LENIN POEMS
Having moved to Fremont, very near the Lenin statue, it has come to my attention that we're lacking something significant- a Lenin poem! A poem in brass, a verse to lift and root Lenin. No time to waste!
Emma Lazarus saw the Statue of Liberty as a beacon to the world. When you look at the Fremont Lenin, what do you see? In conjunction with nothing in particular, I am requesting commemorative poems for the Lenin statue. I'll put the winning poem on a plaque and the (best of the) rest in a chapbook. I'll "publicly pour" copies of the chapbook onto the statue on July 4th 2009.
This isn't a call. This is a challenge. Write the Lenin poem. The statue may go, but the poem will stay. All ages, languages and genres accepted, but plaque-sized please, brass ain't cheap. If in another language, provide an English translation. No previously published works. Send your poems on or before 1 April 2009. If by e-mail, send to mimiallin@gmail.com with the subject line "The Lenin Poems." If by snail mail, include your name and contact on each page. Send to: A. K. Allin, 600 N 36th St. #210, Seattle, WA 98103. No materials will be returned. Do not send your only copies. Authors retain all rights. Poetry judges: A. K. Allin, Gregory Crosby and Vanessa DeWolf.
Thank you, Fremont!
aka
Online Lenin Statue References:
Wikipedia's Statue of Lenin (Seattle):
Artists' Republic of Fremont: Lenin Statue:
Lenin Statue at Roadside America:
For my own views on Seattle's brain-dead intelligentsia and their habit of worshipping the intellect rather than using it, go here.
Of course, politicians do lie
And so, we have yet to see if Obama actually follows through on that promise to end the use of torture and prisoner abuse that is one of the main stains on the previous Administration. He has indicated he wants to, but.....
Being a consequentialist like most Americans, Obama is also hedging his bets it would appear:
This, being translated, could well be the torture equivalent of "life and health of the mother" crapola that makes abortion legal right up to birth. In fact, I can see no real difference between such a policy and what the Bush Administration essentially secured in 2006 when they reserved the right to order the CIA to torture.
So, we may well be looking at an Administration that combines a willingness to torture with a zeal for abortion unmatched in previous Administrations--all justified by "what works".
Weird how original sin corrupts a democracy.
And so, we have yet to see if Obama actually follows through on that promise to end the use of torture and prisoner abuse that is one of the main stains on the previous Administration. He has indicated he wants to, but.....
Being a consequentialist like most Americans, Obama is also hedging his bets it would appear:
However, Obama's changes may not be absolute. His advisers are considering adding a classified loophole to the rules that could allow the CIA to use some interrogation methods not specifically authorized by the Pentagon, the officials said.
This, being translated, could well be the torture equivalent of "life and health of the mother" crapola that makes abortion legal right up to birth. In fact, I can see no real difference between such a policy and what the Bush Administration essentially secured in 2006 when they reserved the right to order the CIA to torture.
So, we may well be looking at an Administration that combines a willingness to torture with a zeal for abortion unmatched in previous Administrations--all justified by "what works".
Weird how original sin corrupts a democracy.
Fifty Bazillion Reactions to the Inaugural
We watched it on the computer with the kids. Not often you see dramatic American history happening before you eyes as a scheduled event.
I think what struck me was how similar American rhetoric on both sides of the aisle is, when compared with rhetoric about America from anywhere else. C.S. Lewis once remarked in his introduction to Athanasius' "On the Incarnation":
Most commentators have remarked on how Obama's address was a repudiation of the previous Administration, both for good and for ill. That is certainly true. Some of it is obviously evil, such as the telegraphed embrace of cannibalism so that vain Baby Boomer can keep their looks a few more years. Some of it was obviously good, such as the not-so-veiled rejection of the Bush embrace of torture and war crimes so that cowardly Baby Boomers can feel safe.
But underneath these cosmetics was a solid and sturdy conviction that America remains a secular messianic (and increasingly alternative) Light to the Nations that promises a better hope for the world than the Kingdom of Christ. Obama is every bit as convinced the American Missionary Imperative to remake the world in our Image and Likeness as Bush was. He simply thinks Bush did it the wrong way. His call for responsibility (which I welcome and applaud) was as rooted in neo-Puritanism as Bush's ideas about faith-based renewal of American society. He believes in exporting American "values" as fervently as Bush (and the rest of us). He merely quibbles about which values are paramount. For Bush, it was democratic capitalism. For Obama, it is the triumph of the imperial autonomous self over the ancient tribal ties of blood and life.
America has always had a streak of antipathy to Catholic social teaching, expressed very frequently in the love of consequentialism and the notion that good ends justify evil means. Obama's stated purpose of finding "what works" with no reference to "what is right" is classically American and undergirds both Abu Ghraib and Planned Parenthood. Obama's conviction that we have a mission in the world is also. Only nations still in the grip of revolutionary fervor speak that way. When was the last time we heard of the Canadian or Spanish or Japanese "mission to the world"? We have talked that way since the start. It has nothing to do with our being a superpower. Lincoln talked that way when the country was tearing itself in two. Our very money bears the legend "Novus Ordo Seclorum". It's in the DNA.
All of which is to say, what impressed me about the inaugural was rather counter-intuitive for those who are still caught up in the fires of internecine partisanship within out borders: how very similar both the American Left and the American Right are--because they are both so deeply American.
Just a FWIW.
We watched it on the computer with the kids. Not often you see dramatic American history happening before you eyes as a scheduled event.
I think what struck me was how similar American rhetoric on both sides of the aisle is, when compared with rhetoric about America from anywhere else. C.S. Lewis once remarked in his introduction to Athanasius' "On the Incarnation":
Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook - even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it. Nothing strikes me more when I read the controversies of past ages than the fact that both sides were usually assuming without question a good deal which we should now absolutely deny. They thought that they were as completely opposed as two sides could be, but in fact they were all the time secretly united - united with each other and against earlier and later ages - by a great mass of common assumptions. We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century - the blindness about which posterity will ask, "But how could they have thought that?" - lies where we have never suspected it, and concerns something about which there is untroubled agreement between Hitler and President Roosevelt or between Mr. H. G. Wells and Karl Barth. None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books.
Most commentators have remarked on how Obama's address was a repudiation of the previous Administration, both for good and for ill. That is certainly true. Some of it is obviously evil, such as the telegraphed embrace of cannibalism so that vain Baby Boomer can keep their looks a few more years. Some of it was obviously good, such as the not-so-veiled rejection of the Bush embrace of torture and war crimes so that cowardly Baby Boomers can feel safe.
But underneath these cosmetics was a solid and sturdy conviction that America remains a secular messianic (and increasingly alternative) Light to the Nations that promises a better hope for the world than the Kingdom of Christ. Obama is every bit as convinced the American Missionary Imperative to remake the world in our Image and Likeness as Bush was. He simply thinks Bush did it the wrong way. His call for responsibility (which I welcome and applaud) was as rooted in neo-Puritanism as Bush's ideas about faith-based renewal of American society. He believes in exporting American "values" as fervently as Bush (and the rest of us). He merely quibbles about which values are paramount. For Bush, it was democratic capitalism. For Obama, it is the triumph of the imperial autonomous self over the ancient tribal ties of blood and life.
America has always had a streak of antipathy to Catholic social teaching, expressed very frequently in the love of consequentialism and the notion that good ends justify evil means. Obama's stated purpose of finding "what works" with no reference to "what is right" is classically American and undergirds both Abu Ghraib and Planned Parenthood. Obama's conviction that we have a mission in the world is also. Only nations still in the grip of revolutionary fervor speak that way. When was the last time we heard of the Canadian or Spanish or Japanese "mission to the world"? We have talked that way since the start. It has nothing to do with our being a superpower. Lincoln talked that way when the country was tearing itself in two. Our very money bears the legend "Novus Ordo Seclorum". It's in the DNA.
All of which is to say, what impressed me about the inaugural was rather counter-intuitive for those who are still caught up in the fires of internecine partisanship within out borders: how very similar both the American Left and the American Right are--because they are both so deeply American.
Just a FWIW.
A Handbook for the Loyal Opposition
This sounds about right. I caught Rush the other day when I was out driving around, telling the world about how he hoped Obama failed. It reminded me of the crazies who obsessed for years over the "stolen" election of 2000 and who valued defeating any initiative by Bush more than they valued the good of the country. Of course, what Limbaugh means is that he doesn't want Obama's loony lefty ideas to be implemented with the power of the state. Neither do I. But the thing about partisan politics is that it quickly morphs into a fervent hope that the country suffer rather than your ideological opponent see success, because that might endanger your precious ideology. I wish Obama success because I wish my country success. I am *highly* skeptical that Obama will achieve success (by which I mean "an increase in the common good" not "massive power for Lefties"). I fear greatly he will achieve the latter--and that he will use many of the tools forged for him by his predecessor to inflict that power on the rest of us.
This sounds about right. I caught Rush the other day when I was out driving around, telling the world about how he hoped Obama failed. It reminded me of the crazies who obsessed for years over the "stolen" election of 2000 and who valued defeating any initiative by Bush more than they valued the good of the country. Of course, what Limbaugh means is that he doesn't want Obama's loony lefty ideas to be implemented with the power of the state. Neither do I. But the thing about partisan politics is that it quickly morphs into a fervent hope that the country suffer rather than your ideological opponent see success, because that might endanger your precious ideology. I wish Obama success because I wish my country success. I am *highly* skeptical that Obama will achieve success (by which I mean "an increase in the common good" not "massive power for Lefties"). I fear greatly he will achieve the latter--and that he will use many of the tools forged for him by his predecessor to inflict that power on the rest of us.
A republic, madam--if you can keep it. - Benjamin Franklin
I'm all for civic spiritedness and I think there's been a rather killjoy sourness from Right in the face of the spontaneous outbursts of public-mindedness by the supporters of Obama. A lot of it strikes me as, well, just the sort of thing you should expect and cultivate from young people who are awakening to the fact that it's not all about them. Pledges to serve your fellow human beings are, on the whole, a positive step, albeit not the sum total of our social obligations as Catholics. But in the main, I think Christ smiles more readily on the soul that makes some clumsy attempt to step outside itself and do something for others than upon the one whose first reaction to "I pledge to serve others" is a snort of bitterness and cynical contempt.
That said, it must also be emphasized that the first virtue drunks require is to smell the coffee and get some prudence. So while I don't begrudge the various dancing hairdos and celebritainment types their spasm of "Ask not what your country, can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country" enthusiasm. I also note that their devotion to the US looks pretty much like it is not informed by the concept that we are a nation of laws, but rather of personal fealty the Supreme Maximum Leader:
This is the sort of thing said by a people ripe for tyranny--a tired democracy temporarily high on the amphetamine of Obama's personal charisma. It's an enthusiasm carried along on gusts of emotion and a sense of personal loyalty to the Big Cheese. We've just seen how well that worked with the last Administration (whose head valued personal loyalty above numerous higher principles). We'll see if Obama is as big a fool as his cultists or if his sober demeanor is (as I hope and pray) smart enough not to believe the hype. If he is that sober, it will be more than we deserve. If not, then pride goeth before a fall.
My personal favorite moment in the video? Well, gosh, it's hard to pick. Ashton and Demi pledging to serve the Supreme Maximum Leader is good in a flesh-crawling sort of way, but I think I gotta go with Harvey Dent urging us to trust the State and make ourselves the serfs of the Dear Leader.
I'm all for civic spiritedness and I think there's been a rather killjoy sourness from Right in the face of the spontaneous outbursts of public-mindedness by the supporters of Obama. A lot of it strikes me as, well, just the sort of thing you should expect and cultivate from young people who are awakening to the fact that it's not all about them. Pledges to serve your fellow human beings are, on the whole, a positive step, albeit not the sum total of our social obligations as Catholics. But in the main, I think Christ smiles more readily on the soul that makes some clumsy attempt to step outside itself and do something for others than upon the one whose first reaction to "I pledge to serve others" is a snort of bitterness and cynical contempt.
That said, it must also be emphasized that the first virtue drunks require is to smell the coffee and get some prudence. So while I don't begrudge the various dancing hairdos and celebritainment types their spasm of "Ask not what your country, can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country" enthusiasm. I also note that their devotion to the US looks pretty much like it is not informed by the concept that we are a nation of laws, but rather of personal fealty the Supreme Maximum Leader:
This is the sort of thing said by a people ripe for tyranny--a tired democracy temporarily high on the amphetamine of Obama's personal charisma. It's an enthusiasm carried along on gusts of emotion and a sense of personal loyalty to the Big Cheese. We've just seen how well that worked with the last Administration (whose head valued personal loyalty above numerous higher principles). We'll see if Obama is as big a fool as his cultists or if his sober demeanor is (as I hope and pray) smart enough not to believe the hype. If he is that sober, it will be more than we deserve. If not, then pride goeth before a fall.
My personal favorite moment in the video? Well, gosh, it's hard to pick. Ashton and Demi pledging to serve the Supreme Maximum Leader is good in a flesh-crawling sort of way, but I think I gotta go with Harvey Dent urging us to trust the State and make ourselves the serfs of the Dear Leader.
I am reminded of C.S. Lewis' remark that there is wishful thinking in hell, as well as on earth
A reader writes:
What strikes me about it is, as usual, how utterly Christocentric the western atheist project is. It is overwhelming *Christ* in whom McCabe does not believe. Islam is not even on the radar.
A reader writes:
For a laugh, read this old (1936) essay by Joseph McCabe, one of G.K. Chesterton's atheist interlocutors (look in Heretics, for example). In it, we learn about "The Myth of [Soviet] Persecution" and how atheism is "SWEEPING THE WORLD" in lovely places like China. The real gems are his predictions for the future:
"That Atheism has grown in the last 10 years a hundred times more rapidly than any religion ever grew.
That it is moderate to claim that there are considerably more than 200,000,000 Atheists today.
That the growth has been checked only by fraudulent misrepresentations and savage persecution.
That the growth is such that if freedom is again generally secured in the next 10 years we may justly expect Atheists to be more numerous than genuine Christians in 20 years."
Yup, by 1956 there were supposed to be more atheists than Christians.
What strikes me about it is, as usual, how utterly Christocentric the western atheist project is. It is overwhelming *Christ* in whom McCabe does not believe. Islam is not even on the radar.
Obama Does not Fail to Disappoint: Kicks off Administration by Making His Offering to Moloch
My flickering hope is that, like all politicians, he is a liar and doesn't plan to do much to push FOCA. My fear is that he is a man of his word.
My flickering hope is that, like all politicians, he is a liar and doesn't plan to do much to push FOCA. My fear is that he is a man of his word.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
More Vast Quantities of Work to Do
Plus, I'm gonna watch the Inauguration via streaming video. What? You think a history buff like me is gonna miss this seminal moment in American history?
Oh! Speaking of streaming over the web, I will be on Sound Insight tomorrow at 8 AM PST. You can listen in Seattle on 1050 AM or in Spokane on 970 AM. Or you can stream it here (the link is in the pink box in the upper right hand corner of the page).
Back tomorrow.
Plus, I'm gonna watch the Inauguration via streaming video. What? You think a history buff like me is gonna miss this seminal moment in American history?
Oh! Speaking of streaming over the web, I will be on Sound Insight tomorrow at 8 AM PST. You can listen in Seattle on 1050 AM or in Spokane on 970 AM. Or you can stream it here (the link is in the pink box in the upper right hand corner of the page).
Back tomorrow.
MSM: In between our paroxysm of ecstasy, we promise we will do our due diligence
Mmhmm. Well. We'll see, won't we? I remember the conservative media types swearing back in 94 that they would "hold the GOP's feet to the fire" and make sure all that stuff about smaller gov't and term limits and sanctity of life actually happened. Instead, they wound up cheerleading for explosive federal gigantism, laughing off war crimes as frat hazing, and laboring to figure out ways to denounce critics as un-American.
The One Ring has this way of perverting all those pledges of good faith. It will work even faster on those who have no vestigial believe in original sin to impede the progress of devouring pride.
Mmhmm. Well. We'll see, won't we? I remember the conservative media types swearing back in 94 that they would "hold the GOP's feet to the fire" and make sure all that stuff about smaller gov't and term limits and sanctity of life actually happened. Instead, they wound up cheerleading for explosive federal gigantism, laughing off war crimes as frat hazing, and laboring to figure out ways to denounce critics as un-American.
The One Ring has this way of perverting all those pledges of good faith. It will work even faster on those who have no vestigial believe in original sin to impede the progress of devouring pride.
Of Rabbits and Rabbinates
The Italian rabbinate is in a snit because the Church prays for the conversion of Jews along with everybody else. That pretty much goes with the whole "go into all the world" thing that Christ commanded. However, the Italian rabbinate somehow considers this an attack on Jews and refused to participate in Italian Catholic Church’s annual Day of Judaism.
To me, the most absurd part of this is this statement:
I will take the rabbi at his word when he says that "the more or less official response [is] the Jews have nothing to fear, the hope expressed in the prayer ‘Pro Judaeis’ is ‘purely eschatological,’ a hope for the End Times, and not an invitation to active proselytism (which already was forbidden by Paul VI)." I'm not up on Paul VI's views on evangelization of Jews, nor do I quite grasp the difference between "proselytizing" and "evangelizing". I'm less than convinced that Paul VI really forbids the evangelization of a segment of humanity due to their ethnicity. But I find it easy to believe that some prelates are so timid that they effectively mean "we're not praying for Jews to come to faith in Christ, you know, now or anything. Just in the sweet bye and bye."
What cracks me up is that even this watery wish is denounced by the rabbis as some sort of big threat and a spectacle is whomped up to shout down the already pathetically timid Italian church. Even more incredible is the claim that refusing to so much as suggest that Christ is the savior of the world (including Jews) is "not a matter, therefore, of hypersensitivity; it is a matter of the most banal sense of respect owed to the other person as a creature of God."
Penn Jillette, for heaven's sake, gets it better than the parties in this dispute
If Christians really believe what Christ says, then they must bear witness to it, even to Jews. It is no insult to Jews to do so. Indeed, the insult, as Jillette makes clear, would be to do nothing and let souls be lost.
I've always thought Michael Medved and Rabbi Daniel Lapin had as sane a response as a Jew can have to Christian evangelization (short of actually believing in Christ, which is the sanest response). Lapin says, "I don't care if you think I'm going to hell. I care if you want to kill me or drive me out of my home. That's in pretty short supply from Christians today, most of whom are the most philo-semitic people on earth. Why should I set out to alienate them?" Medved is similar, remarking, "Christians who evangelize me are trying to give me the most precious thing in their lives. Why should I resent that?" The Italian rabbis could learn from that.
And Italian churchmen could grow a bit of spine and stop being ashamed of the gospel.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)
The Italian rabbinate is in a snit because the Church prays for the conversion of Jews along with everybody else. That pretty much goes with the whole "go into all the world" thing that Christ commanded. However, the Italian rabbinate somehow considers this an attack on Jews and refused to participate in Italian Catholic Church’s annual Day of Judaism.
To me, the most absurd part of this is this statement:
This has been the more or less official response (a response from the Conference of Bishops is lacking): the Jews have nothing to fear, the hope expressed in the prayer ‘Pro Judaeis’ is ‘purely eschatological,’ a hope for the End Times, and not an invitation to active proselytism (which already was forbidden by Paul VI). This response has not satisfied the Italian Rabbinate. If I insist, even in a purely eschatological tone, that my neighbor would have to become like me to be worthy of salvation, I am not respecting his identity. It is not a matter, therefore, of hypersensitivity; it is a matter of the most banal sense of respect owed to the other person as a creature of God.
I will take the rabbi at his word when he says that "the more or less official response [is] the Jews have nothing to fear, the hope expressed in the prayer ‘Pro Judaeis’ is ‘purely eschatological,’ a hope for the End Times, and not an invitation to active proselytism (which already was forbidden by Paul VI)." I'm not up on Paul VI's views on evangelization of Jews, nor do I quite grasp the difference between "proselytizing" and "evangelizing". I'm less than convinced that Paul VI really forbids the evangelization of a segment of humanity due to their ethnicity. But I find it easy to believe that some prelates are so timid that they effectively mean "we're not praying for Jews to come to faith in Christ, you know, now or anything. Just in the sweet bye and bye."
What cracks me up is that even this watery wish is denounced by the rabbis as some sort of big threat and a spectacle is whomped up to shout down the already pathetically timid Italian church. Even more incredible is the claim that refusing to so much as suggest that Christ is the savior of the world (including Jews) is "not a matter, therefore, of hypersensitivity; it is a matter of the most banal sense of respect owed to the other person as a creature of God."
Penn Jillette, for heaven's sake, gets it better than the parties in this dispute
If Christians really believe what Christ says, then they must bear witness to it, even to Jews. It is no insult to Jews to do so. Indeed, the insult, as Jillette makes clear, would be to do nothing and let souls be lost.
I've always thought Michael Medved and Rabbi Daniel Lapin had as sane a response as a Jew can have to Christian evangelization (short of actually believing in Christ, which is the sanest response). Lapin says, "I don't care if you think I'm going to hell. I care if you want to kill me or drive me out of my home. That's in pretty short supply from Christians today, most of whom are the most philo-semitic people on earth. Why should I set out to alienate them?" Medved is similar, remarking, "Christians who evangelize me are trying to give me the most precious thing in their lives. Why should I resent that?" The Italian rabbis could learn from that.
And Italian churchmen could grow a bit of spine and stop being ashamed of the gospel.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)
More Information Than You Require about the Anthem "Hail to the Chief"
It's Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt. However, I did enjoy this:
It's Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt. However, I did enjoy this:
In the film My Fellow Americans, two ex-Presidents played by Jack Lemmon and James Garner discuss their annoyance at hearing the song played wherever they would go. Humorously, they both admit they made up their own lyrics in their head ("Hail to the chief, he's the chief and he needs hailing, he is the chief so everybody hail like crazy." or "Hail to the Chief if you don't I'll have to kill you, I am the chief so you had better watch your step, you bastards")
The Inimitable Kate Schori Holds Forth on the Oppressive Catholic Church
To pass from the Church of Lewis, Sayers and Williams to this in one short lifetime. What a letdown. Sayers would have had this sort of dimwitted nonsense for breakfast.
To pass from the Church of Lewis, Sayers and Williams to this in one short lifetime. What a letdown. Sayers would have had this sort of dimwitted nonsense for breakfast.
Walk for Life West Coast
It will be held this coming Saturday in San Francisco.
Also, here in Washington, there is a March for Life on the capitol today, a fitting way to welcome the reign of our new Democrat Overlords.
It will be held this coming Saturday in San Francisco.
Also, here in Washington, there is a March for Life on the capitol today, a fitting way to welcome the reign of our new Democrat Overlords.