Christ-Haunted

Credit Where Credit Is Due

2005-11-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

The former first lady urged President Bush to protest China's forced abortions, according to Lifesite, which quotes from a portion of a letter Hilary Clinton recently wrote to the president:

"Since first introduced in 1979, China's one-child policy has evoked strong concern over human rights abuses. These abuses have reportedly included denial of social benefits, fines, detention, destruction of property, forced abortion and forced sterilization. . .," she wrote. "In 1995, as a participant in the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, I heard first hand about these practices and spoke against them."

Blessed Mary

2005-11-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

The Blessed Virgin Mary is blessed because of her discipleship than her motherhood, says St. Augustine.

Torturous Debate

2005-11-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

Fascinating discussion about torture is going on at Mark Shea's blog, sparked by a challenge to lurkers to express their views on the use of torture in the War on Terror.

As a point of focus, Mark linked to a Wall Street Journal column, which he called an execrable piece of filthy agitprop for Strength Through Torture.

By the way, I agree with Mark on this. St. Paul tells us not to do evil in the hopes of good. Sin kills us and I want to live, that is, forever, as in having eternal life.

Lots of good commentary on this topic over at Mark's. For the most part, people on either side are addressing the discussion with the respect it deserves. And it is a serious topic. Do we torture prisoners or not? And if so, are we prepared for the consequences? History suggests otherwise. By that I mean, World Wars I and II introduced new and more efficient ways to kill and terrorize populations. It is no coincidence that Modernism emerged out of the shell-shocked nations of Europe following World War I. After Modernism's popularization came Existentialism, a soul numbness that accelerated following World War II and that continues to this day.

U.S. Catholic Bishops: End State Murder Now

2005-11-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

During yesterday's meeting, U.S. Catholic Bishops approved a new statement on the so-called "death penalty", saying it is a "tragic illusion", and urging the U.S. to abolish it.

I Must See This Film

2005-11-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

A movie that takes you into another world via silence and time. The Carthusian monks are the subjects of Into Great Silence, what the U.K. Telegraph calls a "strangely fascinating meditation" on the daily lives of these monks of the French Alps. These monks are the strictest religious order in Christianity, living in near silence and constant prayer.

H/T Open Book.

So Dosing Yourself With Hormones Isn't A Good Thing After All?

2005-11-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

So the birth control patch isn't so safe. No kidding. In fact, it's riskier than the pill, killing about a dozen young women last year from blood clots and dozens more survived strokes and other clot-related illnesses.

Funny. I saw a Planned Parenthood ad for the pill and the patch today. It ran in the local "alternative" rag and the ad featured the usual young, healthy looking, urban hipsters. I could be wrong on this but none of the models appeared to be gasping for breath due to a clot blocking their lungs. Neither of the models looked like they had been paralyzed by a stroke. I'm sure this was an oversight.

The AP reports also that the company disclosed, in an internal memo, its refusal to fund studies comparing the patch to the pill out of fears that the results would not be positive (cash-wise) for its makers.

Okay, so birth control makers may not necessarily be looking out for the health, safety, and lives of women. Who knew?

New Law Requires Public Discloure of Church Financial Data in Mass.

2005-11-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Turns out the post I wrote way back in August about the end of the First Amendment rights in Massachusetts has come to pass.

Legal Protection for Catholic Employers

2005-11-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

A reader writes:

"Found this great article at the Beckett Fund site about Churches being able to preserve church autonomy in respect to the hring practices of teachers. This is in relationship to Katelyn Sills and Loretto HS."

Ms. Sills, you may recall, is the high school girl whose mother notified the Bishop of Sacramento of the abortion activities carried on by the girl's teacher. The school reluctantly fired the teacher after being ordered to by the bishop. A newspaper outed Katelyn's identity and her blog has been swarmed by agents of the culture of death ever since. Katelyn has been expelled by the same nuns who refused initially to fire the abortion rights teacher. Now the teacher plans on suing. So it's important that the right of Catholic institutions to require employees not to publicly protest church teachings is upheld.

A Place for Kindness

2005-11-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

Got this email today from the owner of Oaktree.org seeking a link:"I am a fellow Christian that has also helped start a website/blog/prayer chain called Oaktree.org (www.oaktree.org.) ... We are interested in giving people that seek Christian community and conversation in their life every opportunity possible to find it."

They seem to be evangelicals, if that matters any. Myself, I'm just glad to see some online Agape action. I recommend Oaktree with the caveat that one of their links connects to a site that says Catholic thought on Mary is "dangerous". I realize some evangelicals misinterpret our love of Mary, but ... come on now.

Oaktree itself seems to take an ecumenical stance. In fact, Catholics looking to perform spiritual or corporal works of mercy can take some hints from the mission of Oaktree to provide an open source venue for people seeking, hope, prayers, money, and community.

Says the FAQ:
"OakTree.org gives those willing to help an opportunity to directly impact the person in need; we call this direct effect giving. We open the channel between those in need and those willing to help. After financial assistance, prayers, encouragement or advice is provided to the person in need, the one helped is encouraged to do two things. First thing is to thank the person that helped them by posting a public "thank you" and then pledge to help someone else within the following 90 days. This continues the direct effect indefinitely! "

I spent some time at Oaktree -- a nice little spot of kindness on the Internet. It's good to know they are Christians by their love, rather than by their sarcasm and pharisee-like devotion to the Law like so many Catholic sites.

Blogs 4 $$$

2005-11-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

What's the 2005 version of the professional protestor? "The activist blogger"!

According to a post on the ever-amusing Craigslist, if you are an "active member of the progressive movement" and have a strong command of the written language (hint: not really necessary for a career in the blogging arts), and feel your posts are worth $3 each, then you may be qualified to be a professional licensed blogger.

Since most bloggers are already blogging at work, the extra coin can seriously up your hourly pay rate.

Denver to Ordain 14

2005-11-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

So says Abp. Chaput in his weekly column: In Denver we’re blessed with an abundance of seminarians. They study in two new diocesan seminaries founded in the 1990s: St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary. These are wonderful young men. They’re carefully screened for their character, background, balance and dedication before they enter. And they’re formed throughout their education in a spirit of service and healthy chastity.

How exciting it is to live in the Archdiocese of Denver where a "vocations crisis" does not exist. Thanks be to God!

Elsewhere, The Denver Catholic Register reports that J. Michael Miller, C.S.B., secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, spoke to seminarians and faculty last week about the role of the priest. The article talks a bit about the "priest as teacher", but then delves into the unexpected (well, to me anyway):

We must speak from the heart,” Archbishop Miller said. “Proclaim the Gospel, but not on your own authority, rather Christ’s.” Then quoting Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Miller said that priests are not sent to proclaim themselves, but the mystery of Christ.

“Like John the Baptist, the priest is only the precursor,” he said. “The focus is not on him, but on the other.”

In proclaiming the Gospel, Archbishop Miller said that seminarians must become masters of prayer. There is a need in the world, he said, a need to know Christ, but often people don’t ask for it.

“People want to know God,” he said. “They come to you to teach them to pray.”

How very true -- we laity do need our priests to help us pray. Very much so.

The comparison to John the Baptist reminds me of the prophet's response when asked whether he is the Christ: "I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie." The best priests know they are nothing next to the one whom they proclaim.

Religion Ghosts In Paris

2005-11-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Get Religion, the finest web-based media criticism site, has a fascinating discussion going on about the elements going unreported in the "Paris Is Burning" news story.

Mainstream Media Now ID-ing Rioting Youth (But Still Burying Lead)

2005-11-07T09:00:00.003-07:00

This Associated Press news story about the violence in Paris over the last 11 days departs from other mainstream news stories in that it finally does identify the perpetrators as coming from mainly "Muslim" or "African immigrant" communities, which gives a different impression from earlier reports that "French youths" were rioting. Of course, it took 8 paragraphs for the reporter to get around to identifying the actors in this story but at least he got around to it.

Why does it matter? For one, it's a journalism basic to identify the "Who" as well as the "What", "Where", "When," and "Why" of a story. As basic as the inverted pyramid structure. So when the pros fail in the fundamentals of News Writing 101, it raises suspicions that they are hiding something and begs the question why this is so.

Identifying the rioters as Muslims or African immigrants tells the reader a whole lot more about the nature of this event than saying "French youths are rioting." Youths riot over won or lost football games. They riot at keg parties (at least they do in Boulder). They riot because they hate George Bush and he happens to be in their city (at least they do in Portland -- or try to). Identifying the perpetrators in the case of the Paris riots tells us that these are not spawned by vague "unrest" (a news speak term if I ever heard one), but by political or religious reasons. Considering that Europe and the U.S. have been targeted by Muslim terrorists in recent years, the question of who is rioting becomes crucial.

By the way, the Union for Islamic Organizations of France, identified here as France's largest "Muslim fundamentalist organization" has forbidden Muslims from participating in the riots. This piece of information is also important. Guess how far down the page it is buried.

A Prioress? Where do I apply?

2005-11-07T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Prioress
You scored 0% Cardinal, 66% Monk, 52% Lady, and 45% Knight!

You are a moral person and are also highly intellectual. You like your solitude but are also kind and helpful to those around you. Guided by a belief in the goodness of mankind you will likely be christened a saint after your life is over.

You scored high as both the Lady and the Monk. You can try again to get a more precise description of either the Monk or the lady, or you can be happy that you're an individual.

Link: The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test written by KnightlyKnave on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

But It All Sounds So Sensible

2005-11-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

Let's be perfectly clear. Kathleen Lundquist is not exaggerating when she describes abuses of "assisted suicide". I know this 1.) because I lived in Oregon for nearly 3 years, and 2.) I know somebody who tried to kill his father.

"John" was dating my roommate "Jane"*. One day Jane picked me up from the airport and on the way home, after I told her about my trip to New York, explained that she had had an exhausting week. John's father had had a stroke, she said. He was in the hospital, unconscious. The man's children were pressuring their mother to pull the plug. As Jane put it, the kids thought they were doing the old man a favor. For many years he had expressed his fear of death thusly:"If I ever get so that I can't feed or clean myself, shoot me." The father kept a shotgun under his bed and referred to it when he instructed the children over and over to kill him should he become helpless.

John and his siblings did not get their way because the father regained consciousness. Unable to speak or move one side of his body, John's dad was forced to defend his own life after being told by hospital personnel that unless he could indicate otherwise, the family was going to act on his earlier stated wishes to be put to death.

I have had three near-death experiences: Two severe bouts of pneumonia and one bad accident that resulted in numerous bone fractures. I also nearly drowned a few times. I can't imagine in the midst of these having to also defend my life against a bureaucracy, not to mention my own children.

Somehow, John's father managed to indicate to the bureaucrats that yes, he wanted to live. And, this is the part that spooked Jane the most, John was actually disappointed he didn't get to kill his dad.

"All week [John] kept calling me apologizing for not being around and saying he'd see me 'Once we kill him'. He seemed to be almost looking forward to it. Then when his mom said that she would not pull the plug, [John] seemed almost angry," Jane told me. She decided to break up with John.

As for John's father, he never left the hospital. Seeing that everybody around him but for his poor wife wanted to hasten his death, John's dad did them all a favor and died.

Before meeting John, Jane was unabashedly pro-assisted suicide. (She harbored doubts after her experience with John, but never quite came around to opposing the law.) Jane's support of assisted suicide was shared with just about every other Oregonian I knew. Except for John, whom I never liked, these were kind-hearted pragmatic people who saw assisted suicide as a way to ease suffering and to allow individual autonomy. Oregonians think there is such a thing as radical individualism. You just can't reason with them.

One guy I dated in Portland decided I was a religious fundamentalist kook because I was against assisted suicide. He accused me of being cynical when I told him that Oregon's system was designed for abuse. He kept telling me about "safeguards". As Lundquist puts it:

"By now, you’ve all heard of the DWDA and its sensible-sounding requirements: a terminal illness, six months to live, three requests (one in writing), a second concurring medical opinion, self-administration of the drug overdose, no lethal injections. Over the past seven years that Oregon’s DWDA has been in effect, every single one of these walls against abuse has been breached." [emphasis hers]

Lundquist goes on to describe case after case of abuse of the tenets of Oregon's assisted suicide law. If you don't live in Oregon, you may wonder why these cases are not being publicized. They are. There is no outrage because the people of Oregon refuse to hear. Why is this? Lundquist explains:

"In his famous sermon, John Donne said, “No man is an island”; supporters of assisted suicide seem firmly to believe the opposite. They regard any need for others to care for them as the greatest horror, the greatest cause of suffering, to be avoided at any cost. This raises the question: Can this sort of “suffering” really be avoided? Does such a radically self-reliant attitude actually improve our society, or does it in fact diminish us as a human community?"

Appealing to the Oregonian sense of social justice, I argued that assisted suicide would cause more suffering; that it would be only a matter of time before HMOs began "incentivizing" suicide. These compassionate rugged individualists nearly always responded the same way: They looked at me like I had just grown two heads and said that this would never happen. Oh no? In 2002, National Review Online reported that Kaiser Permanente (the HMO whose slogan, ironically, is "Thrive") emailed 800 physicians seeking volunteers to assist in patient suicides.

There is nothing compassionate about Oregon's assisted suicide law. We know that since assisted suicide became legal, more and more people are dying under from that which should be called by its true name: Murder. Moreover, there's no compassion in telling sick and disabled people that their state is such that the law recognizes they should not want to live.

As Lundquist puts it:

"Disability rights groups (such as the one cheerily named Not Dead Yet) boldly carry the banner against assisted suicide, and this is the reason: They deal every day with personal issues of loss of autonomy, loss of control of bodily functions, loss of former physical or mental abilities, and many others. And yet, they insist that their lives are worth living. They insist that they are dignified human beings. Every time someone sounds off using the media’s megaphone with some version of “I wouldn’t want to live in that state,” it’s as if that person had walked up to a wheelchair-bound or mentally ill person on the street and said right to his or her face, “You know, don’t you think you'd be better off dead?” This is compassion?"

*Names changed to protect the guilty.

Nifty

2005-11-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

The remains of 16th century astronomer Copernicus, who challenged the notion that the Sun revolves around the Earth, have been found in a Polish church.

Tendrils in the World Wide Web

2005-11-03T18:37:00.000-07:00

How beautiful and recursive this Internet thingy has turned out to be.

Today I read over some lovely pieces on humility over at Disputations, which linked to Waiting in Joyful Hope's piece on forgiveness. At the same site, Fr. Dowd posts a link to a piece by Oregonian Kathleen Lindquist at Catholic Exchange on the horrors of living in a state that permits "assisted suicide". Lindquist's chilling piece deserves its own post, which I hope to have up by morning.

Disuptations on Humility

2005-11-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

Disputations has two wonderful items today about humility.

The first post is about a priest who is given food from a starving family at Christmas. He accepts the food reluctantly, telling his companion, "Tim, you know you really have to be humble to accept a gift of food from a family that poor."

A comment box fisticuffs has emerged at Disputations over whether the priest should have accepted the family's gift. I agree with what this guy wrote, "Actually, the true gift is not the bread: the true gift is the *giving of* the bread. As in the Eucharist, I would think. As in Love made manifest. The father is not feeding the priest; the father is *loving* the priest."

The second post is about St. Martin de Porres, whose feast day is today, and his "way of humility". This inspired Disuptations to ponder various ways of humility:

"The humility of St. Dominic lay in disregard of honors and comforts that might impede the preaching of the Gospel. St. Thomas's humility guarded against distractions from his study. St. Catherine is the great doctor of the "she who is not" humility that stands as nothing before God.

St. Martin's humility strikes me as marked by complete absence of ambition. He had no desire for anything greater than he had, and in fact desired to have less. He wasn't interested in doing great things -- not for himself, and not even for God."

Lots of food for the journey here.

Clueless Condescension

2005-11-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

This National Catholic Reporter essay says more than I think the author intended. Really, this is almost too perfect of a parody of white, western, clueless condescension. Peg Helminski recounts a conversation with an African Catholic about women's ordination. Abena, who had been tortured in Cameroon for her faith and is preparing to be martyred once she returns, opposed to women's ordination. Helminski sees Abena's opinion as "sexist" yet forgives her since Abena is a "product of her culture" and is too "simple" to hold Helminski's "ever-evolving, collective understanding of God."

Helminski writes:

I do not know why women keep trying to be Jesus. They should try only to imitate the example of humility and obedience of our Blessed Mother.”

“Abena, are you saying that men should not try to imitate the example of Mary?”

I struggled to contain my anger. And I succeeded because this was Abena, a very simple woman, not a bishop, the pope or a Vatican spokesperson, all of whom, I think, should have a broader view of church history and the place of culture in determining our ever-evolving, collective understanding of God.

She laughed readily, “Of course, we all should. But what is more important is that women learn the beauty of raising children.

“Just today God has answered my prayer. The husband of a sister of ours planned to divorce her because she has not been pregnant in many years. I learned today that she is two months with child. God is so good!”

My blood nearly boiled at the sexist content of this assertion and her archaic proof of God’s mercy. Yet, I forgave her immediately because I recognized that she is a product of her culture. Only recently from Cameroon, she was jailed there for her faith. Shackled, she was beaten on the soles of her feet. Now, walking is difficult. Wearing shoes is still painful.

“They wanted to break my spirit,” she laughed when she told me. “They only strengthened my faith!”

Though Helminski's faith has not been tried, she writes that she and Abena are "evenly matched" in religious conviction. Somehow, I doubt it. Abena's faith, as described by Helminski, is joyous and generous even though she has been tortured and expects to die a martyr when she returns to Cameroon. Helminski, a product of Minnesota, believes the Church should conform to the expectations of a handful of western liberals and becomes enraged ("I struggled to contain my anger." "My blood nearly boiled") when others express beliefs to the contrary.

God bless Abena.

Thanks, Colorado!

2005-11-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Referendum C passes; D is deadlocked.

As a lower, lower, middle-class Coloradoan with ongoing health issues and no insurance, I thank the voters for assuring that I can access decent health care.

Update: D has failed.

What I Think You'll Like

2005-10-28T13:10:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: I'm taking some time off from blogging while I try to refocus. I expect I'll be back from time to time though. In the meantime, feel free to peruse the archives and the "What I think You'll Like" links at the right side of the page. God bless.

I seem to have lost focus in this little corner of the Internet. Don't ask me why, but I seem to have lost my oomph. Seeking inspiration, I dug into the archives of this blog and plastered my all-time favorite posts along the right side of this page. I encourage one and all to spend some time here and to drop me a line letting me know what you think!

I Just Might Do That

2005-10-26T11:38:00.000-06:00

Abp. Charles Chaput recommends reading The Chronicles of Narnia in anticipation of the Dec. 9 release of the movie based on C.S. Lewis's tales.

This Picture Makes Me Smile

2005-10-25T17:42:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Spirit Daily for posting this picture of a happy-looking Padre St. Pio.

I Wouldn't Mind At All If Anne Rice Commented Here

2005-10-25T17:03:00.000-06:00

Anne Rice reads the blogs! Apparently she took a look at Speculative Catholic's take on her upcoming novel and felt compelled to reply.

Anne Rice (or somebody using her name) wrote: "I ask you not to pre-judge this book. It has absolutely nothing to do with the gnostic gospels. The book is an attempt to fictionally depict the Jesus of faith, the jesus of the four gospels, set against a backdrop that has been thoroughly researched as to archaeology, sociology and history. I can understand if you have no interest in it, but I ask that you not jump to conclusions about based on fragmentary comments. Whatever, thank you for caring enough to mention it, and I appreciate the interest you've shown. Anne Rice, Paradise West, California."

Reviews of and other information about Rice's Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt can be found here.

High School Catholic Persecuted

2005-10-25T16:09:00.000-06:00

The daughter of the woman who notified the Archdiocese of Sacramento of the pro-abortion activism of a Catholic high school teacher is being harrassed on her blog following the publication of the girl's name in a local newspaper article.

Katelyn Sills was identified in the account as a sophomore at the high school where the fired teacher worked. Agents of the culture of death have been quick to target Sills for insult and condemnation.

Here's a sample from someone called "alum68": "you and your family are an embarrasment to Loretto. Mind your own business. Hopefully all your families hard earned money will go to Mrs. Bain. Worry more about the priest abusing children and think about all the nums that have done unspeakable things that the media is only time away from mentioning."

And from another commentor:"I think it would be great if your peers all bring cameras to school Monday. I hope they follow you after school, to your job, to your home, to the mall. I hope you're treated to the barbaric intrusiveness of being photographed at all times, and that it makes you think. And then I hope you transfer, not only to a different school, but into a different religion. Catholicism isn't a hate-based belief system, and we don't need your kind ... Christ is love, not hate."
Unfreaking believable.

Can Abraham's Children Co-Exist?

2005-10-24T15:48:00.000-06:00

Bono seems to think so, according to Beliefnet.

Thank You, God

2005-10-24T10:37:00.000-06:00

Bishops reaffirm clerical celibacy.

Anne Rice's Interview With The Savior

2005-10-24T08:18:00.000-06:00

Okay. I'm in. Despite Anne Rice's soft-core pornographic tendencies. Despite the author's life's work as a marketer for paganism through her Vampire series, (After these novels came out, Rice repented and returned to the Catholic Church.) And despite Rice's preoccupation with darkness and moral ambiguity, I'm really, really, looking forward to her upcoming series on the life of Jesus.

Update: Mark Shea urges caution regarding Anne Rice's latest series: "It is a trade hazard of writers that we can build idols out of characters. All the more dangerous when the character is our Lord. Pride makes it easy to mold him to our preferences and then worship the fictional Jesus rather than let him mold us to his as we worship the real Jesus." An important point, especially coming from Shea who has just written a book on the Virgin Mary.

The Blogosphere Reacts to Chaput Saying State Murder Is Wrong

2005-10-20T18:26:00.000-06:00

Over at Open Book, the Catholic blogosphere is in a tizzy over remarks by Archbishop Chaput in his latest column that the death penalty is wrong. The column is adapted from the archbishop's address to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Chaput admonishes the bishops that "Choosing against the death penalty is choosing in favor of life. We need to end the death penalty, and we need to do it soon."

I saw the archbishop's column the other day but it never occurred to me to blog on it because Chaput says nothing that is new here. I mean, what part of "Thou shalt not kill ..." do we not understand? Okay, so the Church's argument is more nuanced, than I'm crediting it here. Let's see what the archbishop has to say.

Chaput writes:

"What Catholic teaching on the death penalty does involve is this: a call to set aside unnecessary violence, including violence by the state, in the name of human dignity and building a culture of life. In the wake of the bloodiest century in history, the Church invites us to recover our own humanity by choosing God’s higher road of restraint and mercy instead of state-sanctioned killing that implicates all of us as citizens.

“The Catechism of the Catholic Church” explains it in these words: If “non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor [i.e., the convicted murderer], authority [should] limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person” (2267).

Conservative Catholics tend not to accept this reasoning, preferring to parse the catechism into tiny shards of meaninglessness, each reflecting their own biases. Read the comments at Open Book, and you'll see what I mean.

Bono and The Funky Pontiff

2005-10-19T22:50:00.000-06:00

Hat tip: The Curt Jester.

What Ever Happened to the Real Presence?

2005-10-19T14:42:00.000-06:00

Fathers at the Synod in Rome are scratching their heads over how to explain the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, according to Catholic News Service.

The problem appears to be universal, bishops said, who are seeking ways to improve catechesis on the Eucharist. Reasons given for this lack of understanding include the rational, materialist mentality in the so-called North, and the difficulty in distinguishing between the Eucharist and animistic idols in the South.

A provocative point:

"Nigerian Bishop Joseph Bagobiri of Kafanchan called on the synod to develop a "theology of presence" so that the faithful are not confused and know that Christ is present sacramentally but not physically in the Eucharist.

The problem, he said, is that in trying to teach about the real presence the church must confront "the delicate line of demarcation between that which is real and that which is only a representation of the reality."

Pope Film Problematic

2005-10-19T11:45:00.000-06:00

George Weigel corrects several glaring inaccuracies -- and in some cases fabrications!-- that showed up in the Hallmark movie, "Karol: A Man Who Would Be Pope".

A Teachable Moment In Oregon?

2005-10-19T09:30:00.000-06:00

The Catholic Medical Association will hold its conference in Portland, Oregon, where people think it's okay for doctors to give deadly doses of drugs to their patients.

When Criminal Acts Become Acts Of Mercy

2005-10-19T09:12:00.000-06:00

Americans may believe otherwise, but when Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount, he did not say, "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment ... unless it's the sick, disabled, or elderly.'" Over the past several decades, this nation has confused compassion with killing because we no longer understand that life is a gift from the Creator, not the government. Find out how we lost our way here.

Seize the Dei Helps CISTO Seek CHIM

2005-10-19T08:39:00.000-06:00

CISTO= Catholic In Skimpy Tight Outift. CHIM = Catholic Hyper Intellectual Male. Seize the Dei defines Catholicism. Hat tip to Bettnet.

Is The Priesthood Really This Glam?

2005-10-18T16:36:00.000-06:00

Last summer images of a priest in a Matrix-like pose holding a cross and a rosary caught on, and even though it's now autumn, I still don't know what to make of this particular priest recruitment campaign. The Matrix movie was very popular with its Christian themes, its heroism, and bad ass special effects. The poster's tie-in to The Matrix is intentional, and detailed. In fact, like in the movie, the vocations poster has the imagery of a series of computer codes arranged vertically, except the poster's computer code is actually the words to Salve Regina.

So, why am I doubtful about this campaign? The message of the ad series is that holy priests are heroes, saving the world from evil, much in the same way that Neo and Trinity fought for good in the movie. A worthwhile and important message, but I wonder about the effectiveness of using worldly images in order to attract men who will then (we hope) reject the world in favor of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Fr. Jonathan Meyer, associate director of youth and young adult ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, conceived and starred in the poster (shown above). He says this image of a warrior priest will draw vocations.

"Today's seminarian," he said, "is engaged with the world but is also committed to orthodoxy, like (Pope) John Paul II," Fr. Meyer told Catholic Online.

The poster's designer, Missy Scarlett explains on her web site, "This vocations poster calls us to ponder the message behind the sunglasses. The truth of the priesthood, is a fulfilling life of sacrifice, a life that testifies to the meaning of the sacrifice of the Mass. The Mass - a living organism requiring the importance of your presence, the priest, and Jesus Christ." She's got more pictures of other recruitment campaign posters up on her site. None of them as popular as the Matrix-themed one, but all every bit as good.

Perhaps I am in a minority with my misgivings about this ad. According to Google, only two commentators objected to the poster -- neither of them fond of the Catholic Church.

Rebuilding the Gulf Coast the Third Way

2005-10-18T15:29:00.000-06:00

Got an email from Michael Greaney of the Center for Economic and Social Justice, about the center's project to rebuild the Gulf Coast areas that were devastated by Hurricane Katrina and Rita "in a manner consistent with Catholic social teaching and without putting everything on the backs of the taxpayers while at the same time embodying a preferential option for the poor."

This rebuilding project would use a method called "capital homesteading".

Greaney writes:
"Capital homesteading is derived from the social doctrine of Pius XI, particularly as found in Quadragesimo Anno and Divini Redemptoris, and the economic justice ideas of Louis Kelso and Mortimer Adler in their books, The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) and The New Capitalists (1961). Despite the latter titles, what Kelso and Adler discuss is the antithesis of both capitalism and socialism."

Umm ... okay. I'm a person of prayer not economics, and, frankly, haven't the background to form an opinion on CESJ, I'm just passing this along in case anyone's interested.

Depressing ...

2005-10-17T13:26:00.000-06:00

Every news article on the topic of "Death With Dignity Act" supports Oregon.

Madonna Again Proves Irony of Her Name

2005-10-17T10:40:00.000-06:00

I'm not into celebrity gossip but -- poor Lourdes. Her mother is named Madonna, but she behaves more like Mommy Dearest than the Mother of All Peoples. (Exception: According to the Drudge Report Madonna is now preaching that all who do not repent will go to Hell and that "the Beast" is the modern age.)

But I digress. This week, Madonna over shares that she takes away little Lourdes clothes if she leaves them on the floor, forcing the 9-year old to wear the same outfit over and over. Also, Lourdes and her little brother Rocco are not allowed to drink milk or eat ice cream. Further, Madonna (Lord, how I hate calling her by that name. Can I call her Cruella De Ville instead?) withholds chocolate from the kids.

Is she mean, or has Madonna finally lost her mind? It seems to have already happened to Tom Cruise and Michael Jackson (whom Madonna accompanied to the Grammys one year in the '80s.)

AP Uses The Words "human" and "sacrifice" in Embryonic Stem Cell Story

2005-10-17T07:50:00.000-06:00

The Curt Jester notes an interesting detail in a recent AP story on the search for ethical means of obtaining human stem cells for research:

From the AP story: "Currently, scientists must sacrifice human embryos to harvest such cells, which can form any tissue type and are seen as valuable for studying and treating illnesses like diabetes and Parkinson's disease."

As the Curt Jester says: "Alleluia."

Reading this makes me proud to be Catholic, the only faith to have spoken up aggressively against using embryonic stem cells. If it is true that abortion is a poverty, then human sacrifice is slavery.

Simplicity, Chastity and Continence? Dude, it's the prom!

2005-10-17T07:38:00.000-06:00

A Long Island Catholic high school's prom has been canceled by the school's principal due to decadence:

As the principal put it in a letter last spring:

"It is not primarily the sex/booze/drugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be; it is rather the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake in a word, financial decadence," Brother Hoagland said, fed up with what he calls the "bacchanalian aspects" of the prom.

"Each year it gets worse becomes more exaggerated, more expensive, more emotionally traumatic," he added. "We are withdrawing from the battle and allowing the parents full responsibility. (Kellenberg) is willing to sponsor a prom, but not an orgy."

Congratulations on this school for living up to the values of the faith. It's shame that other Catholic high schools have not taken a similar stance.

From the Dept. of "If We Forget the Poor We Will Go To Hell"*

2005-10-15T15:44:00.000-06:00

Religious leaders in Colorado -- including my own shepherd Archbishop Charles Chaput -- rally around Referenda C and D, which would increase spending for the poor, the elderly, and the sick if passed in November. Astonishingly, this time the media are okay with religious "meddling" in public policy. In fact, the Denver Post quotes from the Gospel of Matthew in a glowing editorial.

*Phrase coined by Abp.Chaput during a 2004 Mass when he had parishioners repeat three times during the homily: "If we forget the poor,we will go to Hell."

When Dawn Breaks: A Man's Life and Death

2005-10-15T11:45:00.000-06:00

Found via Open Book, a blog about a man whose brother is dying. The first blog entry is about the brother's death. Go back and read the early posts about the diagnosis. All the important things are here and it's nothing less than a miracle that a grieving brother has found the words to bring life to this moment of death.

What Religion Is Your OS?

2005-10-15T09:59:00.000-06:00

"I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counterreformist and has been influenced by the methodical path of the Jesuits.... It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation. DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that all can reach salvation"--Umberto Ecco 1994.

Ecco's words are still true even though most of us don't spend much time with DOS these days and the hallmark of the Macintosh, the GUI (graphical user interface), is now featured in both PCs and Macintoshes. Some day, perhaps, the Protestants will likewise adopt the Catholic version of the GUI (i.e., icons, smells, and bells).

Doctor exercises conscience ....

2005-10-14T18:10:00.000-06:00

... refuses to prescribe contraceptives.

Paradoxical Piety

2005-10-14T15:49:00.000-06:00

A sculpture by Surrealist Spanish painter Salvador Dali given to an Italian friar who exorcised a demon from him has been found. Hat tip to Open Book.

Synod Double Shot

2005-10-14T15:42:00.000-06:00

John Allen's report from the Synod yesterday is posted at National Catholic Reporter, and his weekly column,Word From Rome,also covers synodal doings this week. Here's a list of the issues raised by Cardinal Scola considered to be important to guiding the work at the Synod:

How to educate people in the various dimensions of the Eucharist?
How to link the liturgy to life?
How to offer the Eucharist in a regular way to all the faithful, and how to structure the assembly on Sunday for communities awaiting a priest?
How to promote Eucharistic adoration that leads back to a liturgical celebration?
How to fashion an ecclesiology that sees the Eucharist as the principle and form for organizing the church?
How to recover the integrity of Christian initiation -- baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist? How to foster the connection between Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation?
How to promote a welcoming pastoral stance for those who live in irregular situations?
How to educate people about the centrality of the Sunday Eucharistic celebration?
What are the criteria for organizing multiple Eucharistic celebrations for small communities within larger parish communities?
How can the Eucharistic celebration be brought to the sick and the old? How can psychologically ill people best participate in the Eucharist?
How to foster the missionary dimension of the Eucharist?
How does the Eucharistic celebration educate for social responsibility?
How to educate people about the cosmological dimension of the Eucharist?
How to foster "full, conscious, active and fruitful" participation in the Eucharist?
What are the criteria for art and architecture in service to the beauty of the liturgy?
Is it opportune to revisit certain aspects of the Roman Rite (such as the location of the kiss of peace)?
What are the criteria for correct inculturation of the single Eucharistic mystery?

The Trinity Explained

2005-10-14T10:26:00.000-06:00

Mark Shea and Jeff Cavins explain the Trinity in this morning's "Word of Encouragement" from Catholic Exchange, a real blessing for me since I can never really get a handle on the Trinitarian nature of God, let alone explain it to others. So, I'm very grateful for this:

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

--------------------
The Trinitarian nature of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is hinted
at in the mysterious words of today's verse. For the image of God is
not fully expressed in Adam alone, but in Adam-and-Eve together.
Indeed, Scripture tells us -- after a relentlessly upbeat account of
creation which is repeatedly punctuated by the exclamation "God saw that
it was good... God saw that it was good... God saw that it was very
good" -- that there was one thing God saw that was not good: a human
being all alone. So God gives Adam to Eve and Eve to Adam just as the
Father gives himself completely to the Son and the Son gives himself
completely to the Father. Moreover, just as Adam and Eve together bear
fruit a new human life, so from the eternal love of Father and Son
proceeds the person of the Holy Spirit. In a mysterious way, Genesis
and the mystery of human love foreshadow something of the ultimate
reality behind the world: the love of the Blessed Trinity. Today, thank
God for the family, whether natural or spiritual, that God has given you
in his love as a school for heaven."

Miracle of the Sun

2005-10-13T17:36:00.000-06:00

Today is the 88th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, where the sun appeared to hurtle towards the earth before the astonished eyes of tens of thousands at the site where Mary appeared to the three shepherd children in Portugal.

I watched the movie on Fatima with a group of friends a few months back. The children of one of them -- herself about 8 years old -- remarked that Jacinta, one of the shepherds who saw the Blessed Virgin, seemed not to do much but cry a lot. I hadn't noticed, either because I cried a lot as a child, or because it seemed to me that Jacinta had a lot to cry about.

Spirit Daily has a remarkableprofile of little Jacinta, who at the time of her death had reached a depth of spiritual maturity that was way beyond her years -- even for a saint.

Here's an excerpt:

"Even after she was taken sick, which eventually led to her death, she would get out of bed to bow her head to the floor, and pray as the Angel had taught for the glory of God, Jesus in the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which God is offended and to beg for the conversion of poor sinners. A priest finally had to tell her, as she would fall over at times doing this, that she should say the prayer in bed."

Thanks to Money Bags for remembering this day.

Christ Touching the Untouchables

2005-10-13T16:09:00.000-06:00

Brian Saint-Paul (what a cool last name) writes in the Crisis magazine e-newsletter that many of India's "untouchables" are converting to Christianity and Islam. Known as the Dalit, India's untouchables number 250 million and account for nearly 1/3 of the country's population, yet they have no political voice.

Here's what Betsy Vigneri, a media consultant with the Dalit Freedom Network told Saint-Paul:
"I've found that when Dalits hear about Jesus, they're deeply
moved to learn that He loves them," Vigneri said. "All their lives,
they've been told how horrible they are. But they hear that Jesus not
only loves them but died for them. In their minds, He reached out to
the Untouchables of His day. Touched them... talked to them... ate
with them... These are all forbidden for a higher caste person to do
with the Dalits."

A Snapshot of The Global Church

2005-10-12T13:59:00.000-06:00

The Eucharist is suffering from the West's indifference, persecution from Romania to Mogadishu, and a global shortage of priest. The global church is a rich tapestry of contrasts, according to Sandro Magister, who provides an analysis of the Synod in Rome so far. It ends Oct. 23.

Hat tip to Amy Welborn, who also inspired the title of this post.

I Spy Godspy

2005-10-12T12:49:00.000-06:00

Don't check in too much with Godspy, but when I do it's always a couple hours of solid reading -- of either content found on the site itself, or from Godspy's compendium of links.

Today is a meaty news link kind of day featuring: an article in the journal First Things on Bush's indifference to the pro-life movement; a review by Robert Pinsky of Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking, an account of the death of Didion's husband and her daughter's terminal illness, (with an excerpt); and an article on how the so-called "emergent" church is looking to "dead Christians" as examples of how to be close to Jesus,which is what Catholics have been doing with the saints for centuries, but I won't tell if you don't.

Synod Update

2005-10-12T11:04:00.000-06:00

Cardinal Pell offered one of the more forceful defenses of clerical celibacy yesterday at the Synod.

From the National Catholic Reporter:

“To loosen this tradition now would be a serious error, which would provoke confusion in the mission areas and would not strengthen spiritual vitality in the First World,” Pell said.

“It would be a departure from the practice of the Lord Himself, bring significant practical disadvantages to the work of the church, e.g., financial, and weaken the sign value of the priesthood; it would weaken, too, the witness to loving sacrifice, and to the reality of the Last Things, and the rewards of Heaven,” Pell said.

Also, an interesting and provocative quote:

"Wednesday morning the synod heard from some of its “auditors,” including Henrietta de Villa, former ambassador of the Philippines to the Holy See.

Noting that a traditional Latin term for the church is mater et magistra, “mother and teacher,” de Villa suggested that perhaps one reason the church fails to impress some young people as a teacher is because “they have never experienced her as a mother.

Also, good, tough questions from the Protestants on intercommunion.

Allard the Dullard

2005-10-12T10:53:00.000-06:00

Colorado senator Wayne Allard was one of the 9 Republican senators who voted in favor of torture this past week.

"Love Is Infinite Desire"

2005-10-12T08:51:00.000-06:00

The Magnificat provides an essay by British mystic Caryll Houselander to illuminate yesterday's Mass reading. Lots of spiritual nourishment in this piece. Here's an excerpt from the print publication:

"It is impossible to know God, even through the sense of absence, without falling in love with him ... By a curious paradox, our loss reveals the Divine Presence to us: Love is infinite desire.

On all the works of man we find the touch of Christ, provided that we are looking for some sign that God has been there... Only complacency can take away the sharp edge of love; boredom cannot do it and neither can aridity, for love is known as desire, which is stronger than we are and drives us as the wind drives a sail.

It is expedient that Christ should go, because we shall then seek, and seeking, touch the edge of the truths we cannot yet bear; because in the search we become aware of the wonder and mystery that contentment blinds us to."

More information on Houselander here, including an essay she wrote on simplicity.

Lonely? Looking For Love?

2005-10-12T08:20:00.000-06:00

Consider this:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin or your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell”-C.S. Lewis.

via Bishop Olmstead's essay on the Eucharist and loneliness.

New Features

2005-10-12T07:44:00.000-06:00

To your right are a couple of brand spankin' new features: a Catholic news ticker, courtesy of Catholic World News, and the day's Mass readings, courtesy of Catholic Content.com. Value add: Click on the "Reflection" button under the Mass readings for a mini catechesis on the day's Gospel.

Does This Pancake Look Like The Pope To You?

2005-10-11T23:59:00.000-06:00

Tip o' da hat to Spirit Daily.

Sign of Peace News

2005-10-11T18:07:00.000-06:00

Catholic News Service reports that some bishops are urging moving the sign of peace to before the offertory, and that one bishop has proposed that bear hugs should replace handshakes during the sign of peace.

Myself, I can do without the sign of peace altogether, not to mention the pre-Mass handshake greeting urged of us schlubs in the pews by the lector.

Taking Christ Out Of The Eucharist

2005-10-10T15:03:00.000-06:00

One of the bishops at the Synod warns that Catholics are becoming secularized in their outlook and that this is affecting how they view the Eucharist.

Voice of the Faithful: The Tiny Pebble Lodged In The Shoe Of The Body Of Christ

2005-10-10T10:03:00.000-06:00

This may say something perverse about me, but often the things that make me laugh are also very sad, such as the Voice of the Faithful's gathering in San Francisco last week to discuss the Church's selection of a new archbishop. According to VOTF's web site, "Voice of the Faithful –Northern California will host a Day of Discernment to pray, discuss, reflect and discern the future pastoral leadership of the Archdiocese of San Francisco."

A VOTF press release stated:"Voice of the Faithful points out that this gathering is in the best traditions of the ancient Church wherein the People of God selected their leaders and bishops."

This talking point was dutifully parroted twice in the inevitableSan Francisco Chronicle article although the reporter did work in the reality check that the pope picks the bishop, not delusional lay groups. Unfortunately, the reporter did not report this inconvenient fact until the very end of the article. Like, the last sentence.

The Chronicle should have known better but you can't blame the casual reader for getting the impression that VOTF wanted to make; that VOT's Day of Discernment will determine the selection of a new archbishop to replace William Levada(who is going to Rome to head the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith). And from there, it's not a huge leap to believe, as VOTF does, that this bitchfest is a critical development in VOTF evolving from the tiny pebble that could into ... something else!

From The Chronicle with funny/sad parts in bold:

"With their gray hair and their overwhelming preference for decaffeinated drinks, the nearly 100 members of the lay Catholic group Voice of the Faithful who gathered inside St. Matthew's Catholic Church gym in San Mateo on Sunday didn't look intimidating.

But theologian Sally Vance-Trembath of San Francisco said leaders of the Catholic Church see the group as a force to be reckoned with.

Fifty years from now, the Voice of the Faithful will be remembered as the tiny pebble that rolled down the hill and became the biggest thing to hit the church," Vance-Trembath, 51, said before delivering a keynote address to the group, which gathered to discuss its potential role in choosing the next archbishop to lead the San Francisco archdiocese."

No. Fifty years from now, the Voice of the Faithful will not be remembered at all because it is the tiny pebble that rolled down the hill and into a lake where it will remain forever buried in the muck.

The VOTF is serious. They really think they -- not the pope -- but THEY are going to pick the new Archbishop of San Francisco, and that Benedict XVI is quaking in his papal boots over this as history will inevitably prove.

Really.

How funny. How sad.

God's Revolution

2005-10-10T08:34:00.000-06:00

A 144-page book of speeches by Pope Benedict XVI in the days just before and during World Youth Day 2005 will be published Tuesday. The book is titled God's Revolution and the theme is that political ideologies that promise revolution without God are false.

Intercommunion and Ecumenism at the Synod

2005-10-10T07:52:00.000-06:00

Zenit has a fascinating round up of topics discussed at the Synod so far. (The Eucharist is the theme.) Note that the topic of ecumenism and intercommunion generated much interest among the fathers.

Prolife Movie

2005-10-09T13:26:00.000-06:00

Check out the trailer for A Distant Thunder, a 35-minute "pro-life" movie by one of the people at Disney. (But made independent of Disney). Hat tip to Lifesite, via Spirit Daily.

AsiaNews.it: Earthquake News Source

2005-10-09T12:18:00.000-06:00

The indispensable Amy Welborn notes an extremely helpful site for earthquake updates in AsiaNews.it, a Catholic news site for the faithful in Asia and abroad.

"We Don't View Assisted Suicide As A Benefit"

2005-10-07T18:04:00.000-06:00

The quote is from Not Dead Yet's president Diane Coleman. Not Dead Yet has the goods on what's happening with Gonzales vs. Oregon. It's eerie how the culture of death is disguising this case as states' rights. It's not. It is really about whether a sick/disabled person's life can be viewed as so lacking in value that the law allows for their lives to be terminated and assisted in such by the medical establishment via prescribing lethal drugs.

As Not Dead Yet sees it:

"People already have the right to refuse unwanted treatment, and suicide is not illegal. What we oppose is a public policy that singles out individuals for legalized killing based on their health status. This violates the Americans With Disabilities Act, and denies us the equal protection of the law. Some bioethicists have even started to argue that intellectually disabled people are not persons under the law. That hasn’t happened since slavery was legal.

Legalized medical killing is not a new human right, it's a new professional immunity. It would allow health professionals to decide which of us are "eligible" for this service, and exempt them from accountability for their decisions. Killing is not just another medical treatment option, and it must not be made any part of routine health care. In these days of cost cutting and managed care, we don't trust the health care system, and neither should you."

The Real Beginning of B16's Pontificate

2005-10-07T15:34:00.000-06:00

The synod taking place in Rome this month has been fascinating so far. Before this week, I had no idea that the Vatican holds these meetings every so often (Synod is latin for a council or an assembly)for invited bishops and laity (13 women this time around) to discuss topics around a theme. This year's theme is the Eucharist and the fathers have been talking about priest shortages and mandatory celibacy, rubrics, communion for pro-abortion politicians, and social justice. The Tablet calls this synod "the real beginning of Benedict XVI’s pontificate."

Mother of All Peoples

2005-10-07T13:49:00.000-06:00

Since today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and the day that its latest issue is published, now seems like a good time to give a special mention to Mother of All Peoples, a weekly e-'zine devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Our Lady of the Rosary

2005-10-06T20:47:00.000-06:00

Friday is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. As John Paul II wrote regarding Jesus in his Apostolic Letter of 2002, "It is not just a question of learning what he taught but of 'learning him.' In this regard could we have any better teacher than Mary? From the divine standpoint, the Spirit is the interior teacher who leads us to the full truth of Christ. But among creatures no one knows Christ better than Mary; no one can introduce us to a profound knowledge of his mystery better than his Mother."

Anybody interested in learning more about the rosary has lots of options. A friend of this site, Moneybags, maintains a rosary page. The world headquarters of the Rosary Confraternity has a site that describes how to pray the rosary. You can enroll in the confraternity here. And if you don't have a rosary of your own, this site will show you where to get one.

We Are Legion

2005-10-06T18:50:00.000-06:00

Waiter Rant is a, dare I say -- Christ-haunted seminarian turned waiter who blogs about his experiences as a server. Sometimes he mixes in a little reflection and theology such as with this lovely post on the story of Jesus healing the man who called himself Legion.

Not Dead Yet And Don't Wanna Be Made Dead Either

2005-10-05T15:48:00.000-06:00

Disability rights group Not Dead Yet cites a report from the Journal of Disability Policy Studies stating that, not surprisingly, people who are disabled have reservations about assisted suicide. This news comes as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the law in Oregon that allows physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to patients who are terminally ill and wish to die. Also on NDY's home page is a link to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer column by NDY's president, Diane Coleman, on why the argument of states' rights in this case is a red herring.

Why Amy Welborn Is A Must Read

2005-10-05T10:33:00.000-06:00

Over at Open Book, Amy Welborn lays a smackdown on "Bible fanfic" AKA The Da Vinci Code. In response to questions basically saying what's wrong with speculating about Jesus and what the Gospels say?, Amy gives several reasons and she puts it way better than I can here, having written a book on the subject and all.

A Catholic Blog

2005-10-05T09:17:00.000-06:00

Moneybags over at A Catholic Life has some really nice posts up today. The first deals with the story making the rounds about the people who smashed an altar after Communion at a Catholic church. In response, Moneybags has posted a series of catecheses on Catholic basics.

The second is about yesterday's Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assissi. Moneybags incorporates some reflections on St. Francis into a post commemorating the saint. I don't like lamb so I don't eat it, but if it were part of my diet, I'd give it up after reading what Moneybag has to say about it.

Near and Dear to Their Hearts?

2005-10-05T08:12:00.000-06:00

Today the Supreme Court hears oral arguments regarding Gonzales v. Oregon, the case challenging Oregon's assisted suicide law. This AP article departs from the typical new story by describing how the justices have been affected by serious or terminal illness:

"The case, the first major one to come before the new chief justice, John Roberts, will be heard by justices touched personally by illness. Three justices — Sandra Day O'Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens — have had cancer, and a fourth — Stephen Breyer — has a spouse who counsels young cancer patients who are dying.

Their longtime colleague, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who once wrote about the "earnest and profound debate" over doctor-assisted suicide, died a month ago after battling untreatable cancer for nearly a year."

I wonder how these brushes with mortality have affected their views too.

Synod Summary

2005-10-05T08:08:00.000-06:00

Catholic News Agency has a round up of some of the topics raised in Rome during the Synod so far.

A Marvelous Idea

2005-10-04T12:58:00.000-06:00

Michael Dubriel notes a proposal to the Synod by a Chilean bishop to mark a Year of the Sacrament of Penance focusing on the following:

"the meaning of the true and living God, and His eclipse in modern culture; the need of salvation and the announcement of Jesus Christ; ... the sense of sin, which is diminished or annulled, due to the loss of God and moral relativism; conversion and the virtue of penance; spiritual guidance or accompaniment; the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance as an encounter between the sinner, who converts from his misery, and God who, in His mercy in Christ, welcomes and forgives him; the conditions for receiving Holy Communion; new life in Christ, as His disciples and members of the Church"

Hat tip to the Curt Jester.

Sense and Sacramentality at the Synod

2005-10-04T12:20:00.000-06:00

Rocco Palmo eavesdrops on some of the discussions going on over in Rome this week and performs a nice service to his readers by excerpting a talk given by Fr. Joseph William Tobin, a Redemptorist at the Synod. Fr. Tobin spoke of a critical misunderstanding the sacraments.

This line from Fr. Tobin grabbed my attention:

"If the sacrament of Penance is de facto absent in many local Churches we must wonder whether the Church can be properly recognised as the Church willed by Jesus Christ..."

Amen. Amen. I can't tell you how often I've looked for Reconciliation times in churches around Denver only to find them limited to an hour and a half or less a week and even then at times that I can't attend.

The excuse given for this sorry state of affairs is lack of interest on the part of parishioners. Untrue if the lines of people waiting for confession are anything to go by.

Fr. Tobin further describes the misuse of the Eucharist to make personal statements and the use of Penance by those who see it as a means of cheap grace. Good stuff.

"What Was Formerly Bitter Changed to Sweetness"

2005-10-04T11:10:00.000-06:00

The first time I heard the Canticle of Brother Sun it was set to folk music. "Ugh," I said later. "That hymn sounded like something some hippie would write." Rightly or wrongly, St. Francis tends to be regarded as the first hippie saint due to his love for all of the Lord's creation. And then there is the peace prayer that goes: Lord make me a channel of your peace ... " It's usually attributed to St. Francis, though that is in doubt.

The title quote is taken from St. Francis' testament and describes the saint's conversion. The best definition of conversion I've heard to date.

Lots of good places online to learn more about St. Francis but here are a few to get you started:

Franciscan Friars

Patron Saint Index

Very Cool Flash Presentation of "Canticle of Brother Sun"

EWTN Stops By Denver

2005-10-03T14:46:00.000-06:00

It was a love fest this weekend here in Denver when some of the stars in the EWTN network paid a visit to Cowtown, the first city in the Catholic television netork's 25th anniversary tour.

As the Rocky Mountain News notes,hordes of EWTN fans lined up in front of the Colorado Convention Center to meet celebrities such as Raymond Arroyo and Mitch Pacwa. Even Archbishop Chaput, a member of the EWTN's Board of Directors, got caught up in the love. During Mass, broadcast live over EWTN, Chaput greeted Mother Angelica and wished her a happy anniversary.

Not Dead Yet

2005-10-03T14:24:00.000-06:00

Prolifers should get behind this group, Not Dead Yet. It's made up of disabled people, many of whom would normally support the progressive agenda but for the Left's embrace of "death with dignity" in Oregon. Not Dead Yet will be rallying in D.C. on October 5th -- the day the Supreme Court begins hearing oral arguments in the Gonzales v. Oregon case that deals with legality of Oregon's assisted suicide law.

This Should Please ProLifers

2005-10-03T14:21:00.000-06:00

Harriet Miers apparently lobbied the Texas Bar Association to not supportion abortion.

Update: For what it's worth (and I'm not sure that it's even worth mentioning), Marvin Olasky says Miers belongs to an conservative, evangelical church.

The Visitation Links

2005-10-03T10:37:00.000-06:00

Amy Welborn notes a links page at Catholic World News to various voices in the blogosphere -- some more rational than others -- opining on the Vatican visitation of the seminaries. Commentary provided at the bottom of the page as well.

Littleton Woman Objects to Life Teen

2005-10-01T14:09:00.000-06:00

Don't understand what the problem this woman has with Life Teen. Yeah the founder of it seems to be no good, but he is in another state and has nothing to do with the 19 or so parishes in Colorado that have been running the program without any problems.

The Day of the Little Flower

2005-10-01T09:08:00.000-06:00

Today's the Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux, who was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.

In her spiritual autobiography Story of A Soul St. Therese describes the path of holiness as being a path of love for the Lord, with humility guiding us.

"Jesus set the book of nature before me and I saw that all the flowers he has created are lovely. The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. I realized that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wildflowers to make the meadows gay.

It is just the same in the world of souls - which is the garden of Jesus. He has created the great saints who are like the lilies and the roses, but he has also created much lesser saints and they must be content to be the daisies or the violets which rejoice his eyes whenever he glances down. Perfection consists in doing his will, in being that which he wants us to be.

Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be - and becoming that person."

That prayer. Is there anybody alive right now who could not relate to it?

Links

2005-10-01T09:04:00.000-06:00

Links are working again. Sorry about the non-functionality.

Beyond Gay

2005-09-30T14:50:00.000-06:00

In a post yesterday about Get Religion's article on the ethics of using anonymous gay priests as sources for articles about the upcoming visitation, Amy Welborn plugs David Morrison's book Beyond Gay, which describes Morrison's conversion from being a gay man to a celibate, "same-sex attracted" man.

What a thrill it was to read the book's introduction, penned by my bishop, Charles Chaput.

Here's an excerpt from the Archbishop's intro:

"Suffering can bend and break us. But it can also break us open to become the persons God intended us to be. It depends on what we do with the pain. If we offer it back to God, He will use it to do great things in us and through us, because suffering is fertile. It can grow new life."

We sure are blessed here in Denver.

Standing By Their Men

2005-09-30T12:57:00.000-06:00

The New York Times reports today that leaders of men's religious orders in the U.S. are planning a trip to Rome to ask the Vatican not to issue a ban on gay men in the priesthood.

The article notes that about a third of U.S. priests belong to religious orders such as the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits, and that at least two Jesuit superiors have written to their priests and seminarians assuring them that as long as they are chaste and celibate that they will not be dismissed due to sexual orientation.

I'm of two minds on this issue. On the one hand, a gay priest who remains celibate and faithful to the Magisterium is a terrific example of heroic virtue that all of us can emulate. On the other, I've come across some flaming Jesuits, one of whom confessed to me that he doesn't follow everything Rome says. There's also the oft-cited problem of the so-called Lavender Mafia controlling entry into the seminaries, forming cliques, and turning off heterosexual seminarians -- that is when they are not turning them away from the priesthood. Not to mention the clergy abuse in the U.S., the majority of them being adolescent boys in their teens, not children, per se, and therefore more readily classified as homosexuality, not pedophilia.

I suspect the Vatican is not concerned with the holy priest who just happens to have a same-sex attraction so much as it is worried about fidelity. That would explain the other 55 questions on the seminary visitation questionnaire that the media have ignored in favor of the 1 mandatory question about homosexuality. These questions speak to spiritual, moral, and intellectual formation and fidelity for both the seminarians and formators.

For all the talk in the media of a "witch hunt", Pope Benedict XVI knows what he is doing, due in no small part to the "Friday penances" he performed during his years as Cardinal Ratzinger. As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger was the person to whom weekly clergy abuse reports were sent. There's probably nobody in the Church more informed than this pope and I have faith in his decisions.

I've Evolved!!!

2005-09-30T12:40:00.000-06:00

Or is it intelligent design? Either way, I'm back to flappy bird status thanks to you, my faithful readers!

Scales Falling From Eyes

2005-09-29T11:49:00.000-06:00

Remember the Atlanta hostage story from this past March? Ashley Smith now says that she shared some of her crystal meth stash with Brian Nichols after he took her hostage last Spring. She then read to him from Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life, convincing him to turn himself in to police for the shootings he committed at an Atlanta courthouse. Smith says the ordeal led to her realization that she is a drug addict and that she hasn't touched drugs since.

One Christian observer commented that Nichols' vision of Smith being an angel leading him to God could be attributed "to crank rather than conversion," implying that the outcome of this scenario is less of a miracle because of the illicit drug use.

To the contrary. That Nichols saw Smith as an angel rather than a demon is miraculous considering the death and suffering he had caused just hours ago. That he later peacefully turned himself in, presumably once the meth had worn off, is yet another miracle. Christians should need no reminding that God uses the greatest sinners, drug addicts, prostitutes, tax collectors, and murderers, to do his work.

Devolution

2005-09-29T11:42:00.000-06:00

As a result of being away from my blog for a week, I went from being a flappy bird to an insignificant microbe in The Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem.

Making Love Visible In The World: A Response to Susie Bright

2005-09-28T12:36:00.000-06:00

"I never thought sexual liberation was a set list, but rather the process of figuring out your own erotic philosophy and acceptance of your own body, temperament, aesthetic, desire. The other part would be having respect and compassion for others, whether that means privacy, boundaries, or tolerance" - Susie "Sexpert" Bright in response to my post On Our Backs: How Feminism Contributed to Raunch Culture.

The problem with Susie Bright's philosophy is that there are two bodies involved in the act of sex, and figuring out "your own erotic philosophy" is as helpful as trying to speak using a language only you understand.

Pope John Paul II spoke of the "language of the body". As Janet Smith writes at Catholic Education Resource Center, each act we perform with our body has a meaning beyond what we communicate verbally and we should not commit our bodies to acts that they do not mean.

As Smith writes: "Sexual union means `I find you attractive”; “I care for you”; “I will try to work for your happiness”; “I wish to have a deep bond with you.” Some who engage in sexual intercourse do not mean these things with their actions; they wish simply to use another for their own sexual pleasure. They have lied with their bodies in the same way as someone lies who says “I love you” to another simply for the purposes of obtaining some desired favor."

Susie advocates "acceptance of your own body, temperament, aesthetic, desire," but, when it comes to intentions, as Laura Garcia writes, "in practice the most noble tend to lose out to the most urgent."

The other part would be having respect and compassion for others, whether that means privacy, boundaries, or tolerance.

Susie Bright's theory of sexual revolution is focused solely on the self and leaves the other out of the equation except as an after thought. Even then Susie defines compassion as mainly leaving the other person alone, rather than being in union with them. Though she doesn't mean to, Susie espouses a sexuality that ultimately lacks in compassion because her emphasis is focused mainly on getting, not giving.

Garcia cites John Paul II's idea that God made the human body to be a body that expresses the person, as opposed to an animal's body, which cannot express anything.
If our bodies express personhood, then it would follow that our actions speak a language that is of divine origin. As Garcia writes, "The human body has a divine mission; it is meant to make love visible in the world." By sacrificing noble intentions for the urgent, we've traded in our divine inheritance for a sexuality that diminishes our humanity rather than expresses it in its fullness.

Catholic Megasite

2005-09-28T06:19:00.000-06:00

Another great Catholic link site at OSV. Hat tip to Open Book.

Who's Your Father?

2005-09-27T21:19:00.000-06:00

My Padre Saint Pio post seems to have attracted the attention of some evangelical Protestant types who want to argue me out of my cradle Catholicism by insisting that I may not admire any mortal men, or call them father. One commentor even went so far as to wonder whether this practice was idolatry. This, of course, is completely untrue: Idolatry is what we do with relics and statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, not mortal men.

(Had you going there didn't I? Just a little ecumenical humor there, folks. Don't get upset)

To clarify: No, there is nothing in the Scriptures that says we can not call humans who did not procreate with our mother "father". As Envoy, a top Catholic apologetics site, notes, Jesus, St. Paul, and St. James all referred to Abraham as "father". St. John twice refers to Church leaders in letters as "fathers", and St. Paul refers to himself as "father" in I Corinthians: " 'I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.'"

As for me, I'll continue regarding Padre Pio as my spiritual father, that is, when I am not busy snapping mackerel and worshipping the pope.

Padre Pio Feast Day

2005-09-22T21:45:00.000-06:00

September 23rd is the Feast Day of Saint Padre Pio. I suppose that technically you're supposed to call him Saint Pio, but I can't think of him without the "padre" in front of his name. Maybe it's because he is a spiritual father to me.

I'm reading Man of Hope by Renzo Allegri. It's a terrific read, and meticulously researched. Probably the best introduction to San Pio out there.

On Our Backs: How Feminism Contributed to Raunch Culture

2005-09-22T12:26:00.000-06:00

Holy Fool and Contemplating the Laundry link to Wendy Shalit's Wall Street Journal review of Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy, which examines feminism and its link to sexual promiscuity.

Ms. Shalit notes that Ms. Levy went to college in the 1990s. I too went to college during that period. It was a time of "safer sex" workshops, where students were counseled that sex with a person covered in latex was "hot".

One person symbolizes that period to me. Lesbian Susie Bright, aka,"Susie Sexpert" was a former clerk at Good Vibrations, a sex toy store. She hit the big time on the college lecture circuit during the '90s for her numerous books on the joys of (safer) sexual depravity. I learned that all of these, at least in theory, were okay: Pornography. Group sex. Sadism and Masochism. Gay rights. Abortion on demand. Why not? Sex was fun and if women were in control, where's the harm?

It wasn't until the late 90s, newly single (my long-term boyfriend broke up with me after I refused his offer of a polyamorous marriage.), that I realized something. In order to have sex, (i .e., to have approval, to be attractive, and not lonely) I would have to allow pornography, homosexuality, and polygamy into my life. Sexual openness didn't mean I was free to experiment sexually, it meant I no longer had the option not to.

I chose celibacy. At the time, it was just until a "real relationship" was on the horizon. Later, I reverted to Catholicism, and decided to remain celibate until marriage. I'm still unmarried. But I am not in pain. I am not confused and hurting and no knowing why I hurt as I was 10 years ago, when everybody around me told me that sex was just fun and games, and as long as I'm in control, there's no harm. Some other folks apparently learned the same lesson: The aformenentioned Susie Bright's star sunk pretty fast in the late 90s after she gave birth, and then married the child's father. Apparently, monogamous heterosexuality doesn't sell books or get you a lot of invites to lecture at colleges.

I've learned some things, thanks be to God. I've learned that sex is sacred. I've learned that it's a gift that God gave men and women to bond with each other and God in the creation of life. I learned that God means for us to unite body and soul through sex. In short, that everything that the Culture of Raunch has to offer is sad and degrading for both women and men and that the Culture of Raunch is really the Culture of Death in disguise.

Phil(th)adelphia-- The Grand Jury Clerical Abuse Report

2005-09-22T11:58:00.000-06:00

Rocco Palmo is all over the Philadelphia grand jury report on predator priests. My former parish priest's name is not there, much to my relief. (Pathetic isn't it? That it has come to this -- being relieved that the guy who gave you sacraments isn't a pervert.)

Rocco is very critical of the clericalism in Philadelphia. My impressions of Philadelphia Catholicism is that most folks were Christmas/Easter Catholics, going to church about twice a year and doing whatever they wanted the rest of the time. In my parish, Sunday Mass attracted at most about 2 dozen people, and even the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul was about half empty most Sundays. And still, I found a high degree of clericalism in the attitudes of even the self-proclaimed lapsed Catholics. Philly is hardly an exception when it comes to Mass attendance and you can be a cultural Catholic and clericalist, but I still think it's a strange combo.

Blogging will be light for the next day or so

2005-09-20T21:44:00.000-06:00

I'm having Internet access issues. Keep checking back though. I should be up and running in no time.

Blogs4God Is Back Online

2005-09-19T13:09:00.000-06:00

Plug your Christian blog or read up on the doings of the Christian blogosphere. Either way, get your spirit fed here!

If We Forget the Poor, We'll Go To Hell version 2.0

2005-09-19T10:14:00.000-06:00

Will the papal envoy's criticism of U.S. stinginess towards our own get more, or less, media scrutiny than the seminary visitations?

How Cool Is This? "Arrested Development" Star Is A Christian

2005-09-19T07:38:00.000-06:00

I've been with "Arrested Development" since the very beginning. It's a show that follows its own vision and does everything a little different. So it's no surprise that one of it's stars is also defying expectations. Tony Hale, who plays Buster, is openly Christian. In Hollywood, as Barbara Nicolosi can tell you, professing Christianity tends to not help your career. Hale talked about his faith to the Boulder Daily Camera. (Click on the title of this post to get to the article.Registration may be required.)

DC: You started a Christian group called The Haven in New York — tell us more about that.

TH: It was an artist fellowship that was really faith-based. A lot of times artists coming from the church don't feel supported by the church. It encouraged artists whose faith is really important to them to continue being artists.

DC: That's great — are you doing anything like that in L.A.?

TH: My wife and I just try to be careful — in this town where you have to promote yourself all the time, we try to remember to get your eyes off yourself sometimes. Actually, this Saturday the whole cast is doing Habitat for Humanity.