Latest from Deal Hudson at Crisis

Dear Friend,

Over the past week, we've been following up on several recent stories. Right now, I want to get you up to speed on two of them...there have been some fascinating developments...

First off, let me tell you what more we've learned about the secret meeting between Catholic dissidents and bishops. As you recall, about 2 weeks ago, the Boston Globe uncovered a meeting between several bishops and a group of left-wing Catholics (held, unbelievably enough, at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center here in Washington, D.C.). Discussions at the meeting wandered from the current crisis in the Church to the various liberal "solutions"...women's ordination, married priesthood, etc. (These last two points came out in the break-out sessions.)

Many Catholics -- myself included -- were outraged that such a meeting would be organized for bishops to hear from "prominent Catholic laity," and then stacked with left-wing dissidents. There wasn't a conservative to be seen.

Add to that the fact that the get-together was secret, and you've got a real mess. (Incidentally, some people have complained about my describing the meeting as "secret." Let's review: Information about the meeting was confined to the invitees, the discussions were confidential, and no-one would talk about it on the record. Guess what? I call that secret.)

By the way, in case you're wondering which bishops attended, there were four: Wilton Gregory, President of the USCCB; William Friend of Shreveport, LA; Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, FL; and Theodore Cardinal McCarrick of Washington, DC.

Especially shocking to some of us was the fact that Cardinal McCarrick not only attended, but was described in the Globe article as the host of the meeting. This seemed out of character for the normally careful McCarrick.

What gives?

Susan Gibbs, the director of communications for the archdiocese, recently told CRISIS that McCarrick was NOT the host of the meeting, as the Boston Globe article had claimed. (Apparently, the Globe reporter described him as such because McCarrick is the ordinary of Washington, DC...the site of the meeting.)

According to Gibbs, McCarrick had been contacted by a businessman interested in calling together a meeting of Catholic business leaders to speak "informally and confidentially" about the current situation in the Church. This businessman (presumably Geoffrey Boisi, a former vice-chairman of JP Morgan Chase, and the man responsible for organizing the event) then put together the guest list and program on his own, with no input from McCarrick.

Two additional sources -- both highly reliable -- confirmed to CRISIS the accuracy of Gibb's statement. In fact, they added a bit more...

Apparently, McCarrick got hoodwinked. They claim he wasn't made aware of the list until days before the meeting, when nothing could be done about it. Furthermore, the cardinal was none too happy about the guest list...and perhaps even less pleased with the way the conference proceeded (it devolved into a tiresome liberal Catholic whine-session, our sources say).

We've tried unsuccessfully to contact Boisi for his comment. And others who have reached him haven't been able to get him to talk on the record. Nevertheless, we're still trying, and would be happy to report his side of things.

So that's the latest on the meeting.

I also wanted to give you a quick update on last week's e-letter (talking about the ridiculous charges of anti-Semitism being launched against Mel Gibson's new movie). In it, I mentioned a group of Catholic college and seminary professors who had somehow managed to get an early script, and were attacking Gibson for it. As I mentioned in my email to you, having seen the movie and read their criticisms, it was clear they had no idea what they were talking about.

The professors involved were Philip Cunningham of Boston College (surprise!), Lawrence E. Frizzell of Seton Hall University, John Pawlikowski of the Catholic Theological Union, and Mary Boys of Union Theological Seminary.

As you may also have seen, the current issue of The New Republic has a tiresome article by Paula Fredriksen of Boston University (what is it about Boston?) charmingly titled, "Mad Mel." She too charges the film with anti-Semitism.

I really don't think all the liberal caterwauling is going to hurt the movie. For some people, the Gospels themselves are anti-Semitic. There's nothing we can say to convince them otherwise, no matter how hard we try.

That's it for today. But before I go, I do want to mention that we're finally releasing the tape set of the bombshell talks Fr. Benedict Groeschel gave to a CRISIS group earlier this year. Fr. Benedict pulled no punches in exposing the true cause of the sex abuse scandal in the Church. What he said surprised us all -- it wasn't what we were expecting. In fact, it wasn't even anything I was thinking.

But I must say, he convinced me. And I've been considering his words ever since. Anyway, we've been flooded with requests for the tapes. Now we've got them available. If you're at all interested, have a look at the link below.

Alright, I'm done with the plug.

I'll talk to you early next week,

Deal

I Wish This Guy Were Pope

...just so he could begin an encyclical with the words, "Now listen up, Pilgrim Church!"

I'd also love to see him in an ad limina visit with, Bp. McCormack or Cardinal Mahony, saying, "*I* won't hit ya. *I* won't hit ya.... The *hell* I won't!" *Biff*.

Kudos to the phenomenal Fr. Bryce Sibley for finding stuff like this.

Who Knew David Horowitz was an anti-semite?

Since we already know as an disputable fact that The Passion is anti-semitic, the only reasonable explanation for people like Michael Medved and David Horowitz is that they must be anti-semitic Jews. It's unthinkable that hyperventilating critics of the Passion are simply bound and determined to destroy the film sight unseen because of blind prejudice.

Honest Lesbian Confirms My Prediction

When it becomes obvious that so much of the sexual abuse of children is homosexual, the only way to preserve the "gay lifestyle's" demand for unlimited sexual license is to teach people to say, "What's so bad about sex with children? We must move beyond these irrational taboos, blah blah, etc. ad nauseam." The day comes closer when the Church will be villified, not for permitting sex with children, but for opposing it.

This is evil

The relationship of husband and wife and the bond of the familial unit is of fundamentally greater importance than that of the state. Thats' from Genesis. Caesar exists to facilitate the family, not the family at the whim of Caesar. To destroy the family for no other reason than the ethnicity of one of the spouses is repugnant to Christian revelation. The excuse that some Palestinians are terrorists, therefore all Palestinians can have their marriages to Israelis destroyed or trampled by Caesar as a precaution is absurd.

Cool!

You can pre-order the extended edition Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at Amazon now and get a nice price break as well as a nifty little "making of" documentary in streaming video. Go ahead. Click the link and order. You know you want these movies and it will get me the little "Amazon associate" cut while you're ordering it. Won't cost you any more and it will help me get the film too! :)

Pretty Scarce Tomorrow

Much to write. Argue amongst yourselves. Thesis: The Evolution of Man has led to Just War Theory and Pedophilia Among Democratic Priests Who like to Take Iraqi Women Hostage and read Catholic Poetry to Them While Celebrating Meetings at Assisi and Watching Previews of the Passion and Wearing Stars of David.

Agree? Disagree?

There. I expect find a hundred furious entries in the comments by Friday.

A reader writes

I got back on Friday night from a pilgrimage to Canada, including a trip to the Shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre. St. Anne, of course, was Mary's mother. She was Jewish. There were several prominent Stars of David in the basilica. We can't have that, now, can we?

Damn Jews are infiltrating everything! Even the family tree of our Lord! The conspiracy is greater than we ever imagined.

A reader asks

I'd be curious to know who people's favorite Catholic poets are. I know Pavel Chichikov, whose work is on my list to read, is frequently mentioned on your site and sometimes comments on things. Who else? Francis Thompson? Gerard Manley Hopkins? Joyce Kilmer? Frederico Garcia Lorca? Living ones? Dead ones? Any thoughts on speculation that Shakespeare was Catholic? I know you're a lit guy, too.

I'm fond of Hopkins. As far as I know he doesn't comment on my site. Shakespeare doesn't either, though I'm among those who think that Shakespeare sounds a lot more like a Catholic than a Protestant to me. Maybe he's too busy to check in and see what's happening here now that he's hanging around with Gwyneth Paltrow.

Hey! This is my hometown!

Born and raised in Everett. Live about a half hour away now. Been by this courthouse a zillion times. Never knew the Ten Commandments thing was a gift of C.B. DeMille. Of course, now some human toothache in need of insensitivity training just can't help but notice the half-obscured old tablets and feel "offended."

Thanks to Relapsed Catholic for the link.

New blog!

A reader sends along this little laundry list of nettlesome problems with the absolute assurances of WMDs we got

Some of them (f'rinstance #15) seem rather petty and dumb to me. But a lot of more them are at least troubling. I'm still willing to believe we were playing connect the dots. But how long can you do that before one person's evidence of "connect the dots" becomes another person's statement that "they lied when they said they knew for certain that x, y, and z was true"? How does one persuasively respond to such arguements with my charitable "connect the dots" scenario when face with arguments like this?

Anyone? Anyone? And please, if you have an urge to accuse me of "agendas" and all that crap just stow it. Deal with the arguments, not with trying to read my mind. How does one make a plausible case that Caesar was not lying but was playing connect the dots and (so far) has lost the game?

A reader sez

While visiting Acres of Books in Long Beach today, I was happy to find a copy of GK Chesterton's "St. Francis of Assisi" from the series Doran's Modern Readers' Bookshelf, published in 1924. (Acres of Books is a marvelous used bookstore, which you probably guessed but I wanted to make clear.)

On page 33, while introducing a short description of the world that St. Francis was born into, I found this (I quote):

To write history and hate Rome, both pagan and papal, is practically to hate nearly everything that has happened. It comes very near to hating humanity on purely humanitarian grounds. To dislike both the priest and the soldier, both the laurels of the warrior and the lilies of the saint, is to suffer a division from the mass of mankind for which not all the desterities of the finest and most flexible of modern intelligences can compensate.

It seems to me that modern Leftists do indeed 'dislike both the priest and the soldier' and are indeed 'divi[ded] from the mass of mankind' and most especially cannot find a flexible enough intelligence to wrap around the position they find themselves in.

Secret Agent Man on the Burbling Church

Former Pagan John Gibson is Now On the Air

Abp. O'Malley's Installation Homily

I always feel weird speaking of a bishop being "installed". Sounds like a dishwasher.

Shea's Rule: Cocksureness is directly proportional to stupidity

The hard thing is that somebody who knows what they are talking about might say, "Documentation please?" as this splendid little display demonstrates. Then you have the choice to become less stupid or more cowardly.

Numerous Anglicans Struggling to Bring About Reign of Antichrist

At least, it looks that way to me when I read this piece called "Another Liberal Movement Slowly But Surely Gains Supporters Among Episcopal, Other Anglican Bishops" at the Christian Challenge.

Meanwhile, Catholic teaching on efforts to obliterate all distinctions between God and Satan, true and false revelation remains unchanged:

675 Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.574 The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth575 will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.576

676 The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism,577 especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism.578

677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.579 The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven.580 God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.581

One nice antidote for the claim that the Pope's gathering at Assisi was contrary to the Tradition is to compare it to efforts like this, which are *really* contrary to the Tradition. No prayer in common with the unbaptized. No pretense that "we're all really saying the same thing." No hope to "immanentize the eschaton" by creating heaven on earth through political might. Simply an appeal to people of good will to do what can be done in common for a very limited aim: to fight war and promote peace. You might as well say that cooperative efforts with Muslims to stop abortion at the Cairo conference were a threat to the Church's historic teaching on the dignity of human life.

RadTrads Hostile to Jews?

Perish the thought. Gotta love it when Enlightnment Deist Ben Franklin is hailed as though he is a Church Father as long as he provides a handy Jewish conspiracy quote. Strange bedfellows and all that.

Wonder what these guys make of Israel-supporting and Mel Gibson-supporting Orthodox Jew Michael Medved? No doubt he part of the conspiracy too in ways that Gentile minds can scarcely grasp. An especially tricky people, those Jews.

Sin Makes You Stupid

It even makes you politically stupid, as the Dems are increasingly demonstrating as their commitment to the Sacrament of Abortion makes them stupidly alienate a huge block of Catholic Dems who are finding it harder and harder to take the ignorant insults of fellow Dems and the contempt of the party leadership.

The Excitable People Over at Novus Ordo Watch Find this Horribly Offensive



Somebody really needs to alert these people to the fact that our God became man in Jewish flesh. You know, the Jewish flesh that is now glorified and present in that monstrance there? Acknowledging our Jewish roots is hardly "Zionism".

Somebody also needs to tell them to stop using the phrase "jaw drop" every other time they find something to bitch about.

Cameron on Fredriksen on Gibson

Prayers for the New Archbish

Go, O'Malley, go! In Jesus' name, Amen.

Bush Does Right Thing

Andrew Sullivan will have a predictable hissy fit.

Amy's Been Busy

She just put up a piece on the stupid yet relentless preached exegesis of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes that says "The twue miwacwe was that Jesus inspiwed cawing and shawing". Here's a little bit on John version of the story (the only miracle recorded in all four gospel--besides the resurrection, of course) from Catholic Exchange's study of John (by Scott Hahn and me):

A Tedious Misreading of John 6 Debunked

Sooner or later, if you are a typical modern Catholic, you'll hear this "interpretation" of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes:

"The true miracle of the loaves and fishes is not some supposed "multiplication" of a few barley loaves and a couple of fish into the hundreds of pounds of food required to feed a crowd of five thousand men, plus women and children. No, that's just superstition. The true miracle was that, inspired by the gentle preaching of the Nazarene, selfish members of the crowd, who were carrying more than enough food for themselves, opened their shut-up hearts to one another in a beautiful moment of Caring and Sharing. As they offered portions of their food to each other, they found they had more than enough. All because the gentle love of Jesus touched their cold hard hearts with warm words of niceness!"

This homily and a thousand variations on it have been preached countless times in Catholic and liberal Protestant pulpits in the past two decades. But is there any actual biblical basis for it?

No. Not a molecular particle. It is an example of pure eisegesis: reading into the text rather than reading out of the text. It is founded ultimately on an irrational prejudice against miracles and on a view of the gospel as being essentially about a humanistic message of "caring and sharing" and not about God's miraculous intervention in our world.

How do we respond charitably? The best way is by pointing to the text itself. For we find in vv. 11 and 13 that the explanation favored by the Caring and Sharing Homilist is flatly denied: it is Jesus who distributes the loaves and fish among the crowd, not the members of the crowd among themselves. It is he who gives to them from the five loaves he had, not they who, from their secret store of sandwiches, give to each other. Likewise, they filled twelve baskets, says John, (v 13) "with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over" not with pieces of a lot of picnic lunches. In short, John means us to understand that a miracle of multiplication of loaves and fishes took place, not a naturalistic moment of caring and sharing. That is really what John is saying. Serious torque has to be put on the text in order to make him not say that. And the reason for that torque, and the source of its energy, is that the reader simply rejects the possibility of a real supernatural miracle here, not that John gives him any license to do so.

The supernatural and miraculous character of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes is confirmed by the reaction of the crowd, who do not say "Awww, what a nice guy! He inspired me to share my lunch!" On the contrary, they acclaim him as "the Prophet" foretold by Moses (Dt. 18:18), seek to crown him king (a risk to life and limb in Roman-occupied Judea since it courted a charge of insurrection) and follow after him in the hope that he will continue to dole out free food to them, not in the hope that he will inspire them to dole out free food to others.

If I never hear the "caring and sharing" homily again it will be too soon.

Fascinating Attempts at Justifications for Lying and/or Hostage Taking

in the comments here.

You can read them yourself. My apologies for losing my temper at what I regard as some extremely tortured attempts to justify evil. Mea culpa. The argument took a while to find its feet but has now settled into making the case that a) the family "probably knew something" and so it was okay to detain and question them. And, b) while we were doing that, we were therefore justified in employing a "ruse of war" to give the Iraqi guy we were after the *impression* that his family were being held hostage (by leaving a note that said, "If you want your family released, turn yourself in.") Much dismissive "Stop hyperventilating, Shea. The cops do that all the time in this country" talk.

Me: I find it hard to believe the cops leave ransom notes behind in this country all the time. I have the funny notion that's still hostage-taking.

"Well, okay. Maybe they don't take hostages," comes the reply. "But cunning deception is part of warfare. What if the Nazis came to your door and asked if you were hiding Jews, etc...."

Yes. Fine. Still, I find it a bit hard to draw a moral equivalence between protecting innocent non-combatant Jews from murderers and taking innocent non-combatants hostage. Call me crazy.

And beyond all this is the peculiar sight of Catholics strenuously arguing that directly lying is A-OK if the ends (catching the bad guy) justify the means.

The catechism says the following about lying:

2482 "A lie consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving."[280] The Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil: "You are of your father the devil, . . . there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."[281]

2483 Lying is the most direct offense against the truth. To lie is to speak or act against the truth in order to lead into error someone who has the right to know the truth. By injuring man's relation to truth and to his neighbor, a lie offends against the fundamental relation of man and of his word to the Lord.

2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.

2485 By its very nature, lying is to be condemned. It is a profanation of speech, whereas the purpose of speech is to communicate known truth to others. The deliberate intention of leading a neighbor into error by saying things contrary to the truth constitutes a failure in justice and charity. The culpability is greater when the intention of deceiving entails the risk of deadly consequences for those who are led astray.

2486 Since it violates the virtue of truthfulness, a lie does real violence to another. It affects his ability to know, which is a condition of every judgment and decision. It contains the seed of discord and all consequent evils. Lying is destructive of society; it undermines trust among men and tears apart the fabric of social relationships.

2487 Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation, even if its author has been forgiven. When it is impossible publicly to make reparation for a wrong, it must be made secretly. If someone who has suffered harm cannot be directly compensated, he must be given moral satisfaction in the name of charity. This duty of reparation also concerns offenses against another's reputation. This reparation, moral and sometimes material, must be evaluated in terms of the extent of the damage inflicted. It obliges in conscience.

IV. RESPECT FOR THE TRUTH
2488 The right to the communication of the truth is not unconditional. Everyone must conform his life to the Gospel precept of fraternal love. This requires us in concrete situations to judge whether or not it is appropriate to reveal the truth to someone who asks for it.

2489 Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to every request for information or communication. The good and safety of others, respect for privacy, and the common good are sufficient reasons for being silent about what ought not be known or for making use of a discreet language. The duty to avoid scandal often commands strict discretion. No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it.[282]

2490 The secret of the sacrament of reconciliation is sacred, and cannot be violated under any pretext. "The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore, it is a crime for a confessor in any way to betray a penitent by word or in any other manner or for any reason."[283]

2491 Professional secrets - for example, those of political office holders, soldiers, physicians, and lawyers - or confidential information given under the seal of secrecy must be kept, save in exceptional cases where keeping the secret is bound to cause very grave harm to the one who confided it, to the one who received it or to a third party, and where the very grave harm can be avoided only by divulging the truth. Even if not confided under the seal of secrecy, private information prejudicial to another is not to be divulged without a grave and proportionate reason.

2492 Everyone should observe an appropriate reserve concerning persons' private lives. Those in charge of communications should maintain a fair balance between the requirements of the common good and respect for individual rights. Interference by the media in the private lives of persons engaged in political or public activity is to be condemned to the extent that it infringes upon their privacy and freedom.

I'm hearing from lots of hard-headed practical people that it's ducky to lie and say the guy's family is being taken hostage (when really it's all just a normal intel exam) in order to achieve the greater good of catching the bad guy. So why is it not also okay to lie and say it's just a normal intel exam when really they're being taken hostage? If the ends justify the means, why not? And if they do, then why bother with Catholic morality at all? It seems to me we're really saying "Catholic morality is a pleasant thought, but we are, of course, dispensed from it when it interferes with real world American policy needs." It also seems to me we're being asked to believe, "Americans will lie to Iraqi bad guys and tell them their family is being held hostage (when really they are just in for routine questioning) in pursuit of the greater good, but they would never lie to the press or us and say the family would have been released 'in due course'." That's a leap of faith unjustified by broad experience with the species homo sapiens. I'm odd this way, but I find "ends justify the means" thinking corrupt and corrupting, even when Americans (who are, of course, exempt from original sin) do it. I tend to think that when you get used to lying to bad guys, you will also find it rather easy to lie to anybody else once you've decided that the greater good demands it.

My Latest on Catholic Exchange

Eve Tushnet writes:

Not sure if you've seen this already, but Maggie Gallagher has started a really awesome project at http://www.marriagedebate.com/blog/blog.htm --basically a site where foes and backers of same-sex marriage can have an up-front and intellectually rigorous discussion. Right now the content is about 50/50 pro-con; Maggie posts pro-SSM emails and replies to them. She's getting responses from the most cogent defenders of SSM. I may be doing some writing for the site as well. She's definitely pulling together the best arguments I've seen on either side, starting from the stance that marriage is crucial to sustaining society. So far there are no accusations of bigotry and no citing of Leviticus, which suggests to me that this site could reshape the debate. (So much of politics is image--"I don't like abortion, but I don't want to be like those people shouting outside the clinics.")

Anyway, I am at least 90% sure you will really like this site, and would of course greatly appreciate if you could add it to your blogroll. Maggie's an original thinker and a dynamo, so I expect this site will be bursting with fun stuff.

The Battle to be Blurbed

I have both blurbed and been blurbed. I seem to have an infallible knack for having something in my blurbs go wrong. When I blurbed one of Karl Keating's books, Ignatius somehow managed to spell my name "Mark P. She" even though I sent them an electronic file. More recently and ironically, I blurbed Greg Popcak's new book and, again, even though I sent an electronic file the publisher managed to turn "Making Senses Out of Scripture" into "Making Sense Out of Scripture". However, since Greg's book is called "Life Shouldn't Look Like This: Dealing with Disappointment in the Light of Faith" I was equipped to cope with yet another shattering blow to my ego.

I can't tell you how many people write me each day and say, "Your blurb changed my life, mister."

Anglicans in Homosexual Commotion

Jesuits. Again.

Don't limit stem-cell debate to status of embryo, says professor

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The ethical concerns regarding human embryonic stem-cell research should go beyond whether or not the embryo is a human person, said Paul Lauritzen, religious studies professor at Jesuit-run John Carroll University. "This either/or tends to drive people to the extremes," he said in a paper presented July 24 to the President's Council on Bioethics, an advisory body to President Bush. Lauritzen said his own view was that embryonic stem-cell research was ethical. "I do not think the early embryo is a person and I believe that both embryonic and adult stem-cell research should go forward under a system of strict regulation," said Lauritzen, also director of the applied ethics program at the university in the Cleveland suburb of University Heights. Church officials repeatedly have opposed embryonic stem-cell research both because it destroys human life and because they say the use of adult stem cells can have the same benefits.

Strange times we're living in

Open a Catholic magazine and half the time you'll find some brain-dead Catholic like James Carroll going on and on about the Catholic Church's "guilt" for slavery. Open an Evangelical magazine like Christianity Today and you'll find non-Catholic Rodney Stark giving a much more serious analysis of the data.

Chaput on Know Nothing Dems and the Sacrament of Abortion

A reader asks that my reader unleash the power of the blog!

I was listening to the radio on the net a few minutes ago and heard the program host urge his listeners to call Florica Governor Jeb Bush and ask him to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, who is in increasing danger of being starved to death legally.

Here's the current news page from her web site.

Other pages on the site give the background for those unfamiliar with the case. The current news page includes a link to a petition and Gov. Bush's e-mail address and office telephone number and fax number.

Gov. Bush is a Catholic convert. Let's see if we can motivate him to live it.

Rome leads Charge Against Gay Marriage

Some signs it might make a dent.

Sherry Weddell of the St. Catherine of Siena Institute replies...

to this question:

Great question!

The short answer is: this is no "one book/program fits all" available.

This is not failure but reality since the formation of adults encompasses several different critical developmental stages:

Seeker (which includes basic evangelism),

Disciple, (the foundations of the Christian life) and

Apostle (discernment and answering of one's call).

For more on the subject: see my little booklet: Making Disciples, Equipping Apostles: the Parish as a House of Formation for Adult Catholics (www.siena.org)

One of my major projects this year is to put together the first comprehensive guide to English language, parish-based adult formation resources geared to this simple developmental schema. It will draw upon CA/UK/AU/NZ resources as well as US.

We hope to have this in place for our first week-long adult formators training which will be offered in summer, 2004 in Oakland and Colorado Springs.

If you are aware of great resources designed to form lay apostles at the parish level, send em my way!

Sherry Weddell

Catholic Exchange is Hot Stuff

Catholic Exchange, the web site for which I am Senior Content Editor, just passed the USCCB in the Alexa.com rankings and is now the #8 most heavily trafficked Catholic website in the world, according to NewAdvent.org.

Bear in mind, though, that there are no daily Web PORTALS ahead of us. Catholic Online is multi-functional, but they do not have any secular news or columnists, and they do not have daily changing content. The other ones ahead of us is a Catholic dating services, Spanish-language sites, the Vatican, EWTN and New Advent itself.

So that makes us the biggest Catholic Portal in the world -- and we're not even in multiple languages ... yet.

Thanks, youse guys!

On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in."

There are two parts of Just War theory: ius ad bellum (which asks whether the war should be fought at all) and ius in bello (which asks whether the war, now determined to be just, is being fought justly). One clear violation of ius in bello is the practice of hostage-taking of non-combatants. It is, in fact, one of the things we have consistently deplored about the foaming Bronze Age Fanatics who make war upon our civilians (most notably on 9/11, but also in endless bombing and attacks on Israelis).

However, now that we are doing it, the WaPo calls it not "a clear violation of the rules of warfare" but "aggressive tactics".

One of the corrupting things about war is that it tends to make the side with the just cause imitate the tactics of the enemy. We began WWII protesting indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets by the Nazis. We then outdid the Nazis at Dresden (one of the wickedest acts of the war). I tingle with anticipation for the justifications that will be offered in the blogosphere for hostage-taking.

Not All Episcopalians Are Taking the Self-Immolation of Their Communion Lying Down

I managed to have just about everybody misunderstand my "Another Sad Day for Death Penalty Enthusiasts" blog

To be clear, I meant exactly what I said. There are people who are not merely death penalty supporters (a position I respect though disagree with), but death penalty *enthusiasts*. People who *love* the death penalty, who long to see as many people put to death as possible, who wave frying pans at the execution of Ted Bundy or Timothy McVeigh as they cheer and laugh, who see the death penalty, not as a negative restraint on evil, but as a positive good and who, at the end of the day, look for all the world like they are disappointed and angry when somebody escapes the noose. Such people tend not to have a respectful disagreeement with Evangelium Vitae (which is, we should recall, the teaching of Holy Church) but a violent, hateful, spite toward the Holy Father personally and an embittered rage at his desire that the death penalty be employed as rarely as possible. They seem to be unable to grasp the fact that the death penalty has *always* been employed within the bounds of prudential judgment and that there was never a time, even under the Old Testament, that the death penalty was employed every single time the law allowed. Moses and David were both spared it. Jesus spared the adulterous woman. The Church has periodically sought to spare the capital offender (while always recognizing that Caesar has and retains the right to the sword). Today is no different. Evangelium Vitae nowhere says that the death penalty is intrinsically immoral (as, for example, abortion is). It recognizes that Caesar still has the right to the sword. But it prefers mercy wherever possible and says that where the condemned no longer poses a threat to the community, his life should be spared. I agree with this. Others respectfully disagree because of various things. But some disagree not respectfully, but with rage and malice, and not because they are interested in justice per se but because, at bottom, they simply love the idea of putting somebody to death. They are death penalty enthusiasts, not mere supporters. And death penalty supporters should be the first, not the last, to repudiate such people lest their sincere interest in justice be tarnished by association with those whose real interest is in the prideful lust for vengeance and the godlike power to destroy human life.

New York, New York! It's a helluva town!

The West, You See, is Immensely Superior to the Islamosphere Because We Do our Killing in Private

As everybody knows, it much less sinful for an entire population to participate in privatized murder of the innocent of their own free will than for a small oligarchy of murderers to hold a population hostage. That's why we're so much better. Our murder is freely chosen, like breakfast cereal, not imposed against our will by a terror state.

No, the author is no relation

I only skimmed the piece. It looked like a fairly stupid bit of agitprop against Jenkins, but I didn't read it carefully.

A reader asks

Do you (or maybe any of your blog readers) happen to know if there is a solid (orthodox) adult education program written for Parish use - something perhaps based on the Catechism with liberal usage of Scripture references, Church history, etc...including the lives and wisdom of the Saints.

If there isn't, there oughta be! Our Parish has a book committee with which we buy books for our parish adoration chapel/library...as we have gone along we are becoming more of an evangelization/education committee due to our desire to reach more people, hence the interest in Adult education programs.

In the words of Ben Stein, "Anyone? Anyone?"

Laity making life difficult for Fr. Biondi

A reader sends along the following followup to his earlier correspondence

Dear Father Biondi:

Thank you for your prompt reply to my e-mail sent yesterday. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from you and read your statement of pro-life beliefs and support for the Catholic Church's teaching on "the sanctity of human life from birth to death." I spend a good bit of time in pro-life work, and therefore was pleased to see you say, "I believe in and advocate pro-life initiatives." I must warn you that an article I wrote on our efforts to stop abortions at the local Tenet hospital went to the printers a few days ago and will appear in a pro-life newsletter. Based on my experience over the past 18 months, I had predicted that you would continue to ignore those protesting Tenet hospital abortions. I will be glad to issue an appropriate correction based on yesterday's e-mail.

I am less than enthusiastic about your belief that your presence on the Tenet Board "is more valuable to advocate these Judeo-Christian values, than not being on the Board, for the sake of all patients and healthcare workers in the Tenet hospital and healthcare system." Unfortunately, a baby living in his mother's womb who is brought to a Tenet hospital to be butchered, would qualify as a category of patient who receives no benefit from your advocacy of Judeo-Christian values. I learned in a telephone call last month to Tenet's shareholder relations representative, Priscilla Finch, why this matter may be outside of your control. She told me that the Tenet Board did not participate in deciding sensitive matters, such as whether to allow abortions, as it was felt best to leave such questions to local decision! As I understood it from Ms. Finch, Tenet does not even track which of its hospitals allows abortions and how many are done at each. I suspect that you had nothing to do with devising this policy, as it seems both cynical and disingenuous, and formulated with Machiavellian, rather than Judeo-Christian, values.

I was glad to hear that you are doing your best "to promote social justice, the sanctity of life, and ethical behavior among all Tenet employees..." Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, no evidence of your good work in these areas has come to public notice. What is seen, rather, is a high profile Jesuit priest enjoying a well-compensated and prestigious relationship with Tenet, a for-profit hospital chain. Because Tenet's business includes killing innocent babies, your relationship with the organization becomes a source of scandal. An additional difficulty is that your presence on the Tenet Board provides cover for those Tenet employees who may wavering on whether or not to participate in abortions at Tenet hospitals.

Unless there is a real prospect that your work on the Tenet Board might lead to the reduction or elimination of abortions in the Tenet hospital chain, I repeat my recommendation that you withdraw your name from consideration for reelection to the Board at its July 23 meeting. Should you remain as a Board member, I would hope that you would find frequent occasion to remind us that your pro-life beliefs are applicable both inside and outside the Tenet organization.


This afternoon a small group of us assembled at the Tenet's Framingham hospital where abortions routinely are performed. We said the rosary, as we do every Tuesday, to end abortions both in that hospital and throughout the Tenet organization. Be assured that, as an additional intention, we prayed that you will make right decisions regarding your relationship with Tenet.

Sincerely,

Reader's name

Copy to:

Very Rev. Frank Reale,S.J.
Rev. Timothy M. McMahon, S. J.
Deal Hudson, Crisis Magazine
Jim Rygelski, St. Louis Review
Molly Corcoran Kertz, St. Louis Archdiocese Pro-life Committee
Most Rev. Richard G. Lennon (via Father Robert Kickham)
Mark Shea, "Catholic and Enjoy It"
John Hearn

Why Do I Write the Stuff in the Previous Blog?

Fr. Michael Sweeney of the much-raved-about-on-my-blog St. Catherine of Siena Institute will be giving a talk to the Puget Sound chapter of Voice of the Faithful. What is your reaction? Do you assume he is defiled and no longer trustworthy because he dines with VOTF or do you believe the power of the Spirit to bring light to the fuddled will be made manifest?

God has not called faithful Catholics to live in a bunker. He calls us to be the light of the world. I am delighted to hear that the Puget Sound VOTF people are going to be educated by somebody who *really* understands the Church's theology of the laity. Thanks be to God. I hope they invite the Siena Institute to educate their national leadership. There may be hope for that organization yet.

Phariseeism vs. Conquering Defilement

Matthew practices a very subtle form of catechesis. He presents Jesus as the New Moses not by saying, "Hey! Listen up! Jesus is the New Moses!" but by showing him going up on a mountain and delivering the New Law of the New Israel (known to most of us as the Sermon on the Mount). Then, immediately after this he shows Jesus coming down from the mountain and doing a bunch of extraordinary things. If you don't know much about the cultural backdrop to those extraordinary things you might just take these little vignettes as random incidents scooped out of a big grab bag labeled "miracle stories" and just wedged into the gospel because they had to go somewhere. However, if you *do* have some cultural background you discover that there is nothing random about these stories at all.

Matthew is divided into five books (like the five books of Moses) bracketed on either end by a prologue consisting of the infancy narrative and by an epilogue consisting of the passion narrative. As you also may recall, each book within Matthew is divided into a narrative and a discourse section. The Sermon on the Mount is the discourse section of Book I. It lays out for us the new law of the new covenant, just as Moses went up on the mountain and laid out the old law of the old covenant. In a word, Jesus, the son of King David, promulgates the new law of the new kingdom. Now, with the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew opens the narrative section of book II in order to show us the power of that kingdom. For it is one thing to give us the law, but it's another thing to give us the power we are going to need to keep that law (which is, until the coming of Christ, one thing that has been withheld from God's people).

Therefore, the narrative section of Book II (Matthew chapters 8 and 9) assembles ten miracle stories from Jesus' Galilean ministry. These miracle stories showcase Jesus' power. He displays power over sickness (8:1-17). But the stories remind us that sickness is part and parcel of a much wider disorder and damage to the natural order. So Matthew also shows Jesus displaying power over disordered and chaotic nature by calming the storm (8:23-27; 9:27-31). Further, there is a root power behind sickness and damage to the natural order: the devil. Therefore Jesus' power over demons is also described (8:28-32; 9:32-34). And finally, Matthew shows Jesus in the ultimate act of conquest over sickness, disordered nature, and demonic: his defeat of death itself. For, Jesus not only heals, he raises the dead (9:18-26). In short, Jesus' authority is demonstrated not merely because he speaks with authority, but because he acts with divine power—a power he means to share with his Church.

It is notable that the very first miracle of healing recorded by Matthew is that of a leper. What is even more notable is the method Jesus chose to perform this miracle. He could have said, "Be healed!" and that would have been enough (as he showed when he healed the centurion's servant (8:5-13). But instead Jesus does something very deliberate and significant: he touches the leper (8:3).

Now under the old covenant, such an action was regarded as defiling. Touching a leper meant you were ritually defiled and could not go up to the Temple to worship. It meant you had to go through a whole week of purification. Uncleanness, sin, and defilement were understood to be more powerful influences than cleanness, sanctity, and purity. In the old covenant, sin was the superior power. When someone afflicted with some ritual uncleanness that symbolizes sin touched someone who was clean, the "flow" of power went in one direction only: the clean person was defiled but the unclean person was not sanctified.

However, when Jesus touched the leper something astounding happened: the leper became clean and Jesus was not defiled. The flow of power was, for the first time, reversed.

But not everyone can see this. For the Pharisees have learned the right lesson but drawn the wrong conclusion from the law of Moses. Under the old law, ritual defilement was intended as a kind of sign or shadow. It was meant to show us in our pride that we could not, by our own strength and power, keep ourselves clean from sin. The power of sin is greater than our power of sanctity. So the Pharisees understand sanctity in only one way: separation. Indeed, the word "Pharisee" comes from the Hebrew term meaning "separate". They reasoned that if the power of sin is greater than our power of sanctity then the solution was to separate themselves from all that was unclean and even all that had touched what was unclean. In short, they apply to their personal lives a ritual code that was originally intended only for the Temple. They attempt to keep themselves as pure as the priests serving in the Temple. And so they separate themselves from the Gentiles, from touching the dead and dying, from lepers, and from menstruating women. They are right to see in these ritual prohibitions an image or sign of lifelessness. But they are wrong to conclude that by separating themselves they can avoid the sin which ritual uncleanness signifies. And so in an ironic way, they take the mirror of ritual uncleanness that God has given them in the Mosaic Law, and instead of seeing in it an image of their own uncleanness and defilement by sin, the turn it around and say to those around them, "See how unclean you are!"

Naturally then, when Jesus appears on the scene, they simply do not know what to do with him and are motivated by their pride to misunderstand him. Jesus, in Matthew 8, turns the Pharisaic understanding of the law on its head. He touches lepers and they are healed (8:1 4), receives Gentiles and they receive faith (8:5-13), consorts with demon-possessed people in a cemetery and they are restored (8:28-31), and, in the next chapter, permits the touch of a menstruating woman and she's healed (9:18-22), touches the dead and she is raised (9:25), and eats with tax collectors and sinners and makes them saints (9:9-13). Yet, in all this, they see only the ritual defilement, not the revolutionary reversal in the flow of power. For, as Jesus points out elsewhere, pride has blinded them (John 9:35-41). They are so certain they are clean they cannot say, "Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean." And so they miss the crucial lesson that the time for separation is past. In Israel's childhood, separation from uncleanness and sin was necessary just as it is necessary for us to keep our children from "bad influences" lest they become imitators. But with the dawn of the power of the Kingdom of Heaven, it is the bad influences that are to be conquered with good ones, sin that is to be conquered with virtue, and death that is to be conquered with life.

Fr. Michael Sweeney of the St. Catherine of Siena Institute on Catholic Answers Live

Requires Real Audio. Fr. Sweeney is one of my favorite priests in the world and the guy to whom I dedicated By What Authority?.

Ask our cultural elites a simple question...

and you get the stupidest answers.

...and black people should not teach European history and healthy doctors shouldn't be allowed to operate on conditions they've never suffered from and Rush Limbaugh should not be allowed to talk about sports since he's not an athlete and reporters should not be allowed to talk about politics if they've never held office and women shouldn't be allowed to discuss men...

When I was about five...

I got into a fight with a kid, hit him once and then ran into the house and declared I'd won. The kid was still outside screaming for a fight. My dad asked why I said the fight was over when the kid still wanted to fight.

I think of that when I read that the war is "over" in Iraq. Apparently not everybody has gotten that message since our body count is now higher than GWI. How, exactly, do we determine that the war is over when they are still shooting at us?

Another Sad Day for Death Penalty Enthusiasts

Question from a reader

Was the Catholic magazine publsihed for primary grade children in the '50s MY LITTLE MESSENGER or OUR LITTLE MESSENGER? A friend remembers it one way, I another.

Since I was busy being a randomly distributed group of disassociated atoms through most of the 50s, I ask my older readers to help out here.

Negative Sacramentality

Interesting conversation with a friend recently who was noting that some Evangelical missionaries are beginning to appreciate the reality of sacramentality, but in an entirely negative sense. That is, they take seriously that some material things can be vehicles of demonic power (ouija boards, haunted places, things cursed by shamans or in occultic rituals, etc.), but they still retain the curious idea that God, the author of matter, won't use matter to convey grace and that this is somehow "magical" and unbiblical. Very odd.

I wrote about that once in a piece called "HellCo's Corporate Propaganda".

These laity don't seem particularly powerless. My money is on them getting what they want--AmChurch tapioca--fairly soon.

How come it's only orthodox laity who are supposed to be powerless?

By the way, Amy has some rather sensible remarks on the pastoral ineptitude that appears to be on display here. Why is it orthodox Catholics so often seem to treat the Faith as a math formula and to regard the real live people in the Church as annoyances who are screwing up the equation? Yes, the people are out of line. But, y'know, when you steamroll them they do tend to overlook theological correctness and get snippy.

Your tax dollars at work

Reason #234098230948345030984532984723987 for home schooling.

I'm highly suspicous of the "recovered memory" cottage industry

I know of people who have been used like marionettes by shrinks who were working out their own private agendas and grudges by "helping" people remember stuff that never happened.

More Gorgeous Images from Pavel Chichikov

The horror!

Australian bishop tries to make Catholic Church teach Catholic stuff and do Catholic things. Whiners react as though they are being marched into the ovens.

From our "The Bishops Reflect the Culture" File

Diogenes notes the weird ambiguities of the Massachusetts AG report on the Situation. It's a report full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It gives not a single new fact, manages to completely overlook the fact that this is all about homosexual abuse of boys, boys, boys, boys, and boys, and gives the inattentive reader the impression that Tom Reilly would make a helluva crusading governor while carefully excusing him from the task of doing one damn thing to prosecute anybody involved.

Why? Because, as Fr. Richard John Neuhaus has pointed out, the unique problem faced by the cultural elites in the US is that this is a Scandal where the elites love the sin but hate the sinner. So they must sound outraged while carefully working to leave the gay power structure undamaged. A neat trick.

Forget the Uranium thing

Bush, I think, made a bad judgement call. He decided to trust British over US intelligence on a dubious matter--but in the context of a lot of other info that suggesting Hussein very probably had WMDs. In short, he gambled. It was a reasonable gamble, I think, and, as I've said before, I'm willing to wait for the WMD search to finish. I wish he had not stated without equivocation that we *know* there are WMDs when we knew no such thing and I think it has opened the way for Bush's enemies to charge the Administration with "lying", though I think the charge unfair. I think they were playing connect the dots.

What irritates me more, and endangers the Administration's whole policy toward states that sponsor terrorism is the huge fat glaring hole in the policy with regard to the swine running Saudi Arabia.

My readers are smart

Somebody sends along the following in response to my blog on Rod Serling:

A quick web search reveals that Serling, in the 1950s, wrote material for "The Catholic Hour". He also wrote the script for a 1954 national television broadcast on NBC of the life of Bishop James Augustine Healy, the first African-American bishop of the Catholic Church.

In fact, Healy was the first Black bishop of any predominantly white Christian denomination in the United States), serving from 1875 through 1900 as bishop of Portland, Maine (a diocese actually consisting of all of Maine and New Hampshire).

I bet that was a pretty interesting drama, considering Serling's script-writing ability.

I wonder if the video of that old show is sitting in some dusty vault at NBC?

Thrownback has misgivings about what we are going to accomplish in Iraq

here and here.

Our rationale for going into Liberia is that "failed states" are breeding grounds for terrorist. Okey dokey. I agree. So I sincerely hope that Iraq becomes a successful state. My worry is that Iraq will follow so many Islamic countries in using its new freedom to impose upon itself a more draconian form of Bronze Age Fanaticism. I'd appreciate an exit strategy. But I expect that has to evolve on the ground. Think NATO. We'll be there when my grandkids are in college.

A reader writes:

Could you blog something to request that readers email their bishops to get them to issue a statement on behalf of Bush's nomination of William Pryor to the 11th US Circuit? Pryor strictly supports Church doctrine on abortion and is getting lynched by the likes of self-proclaimed "pro-choice practicing Catholics" like Dick Durbin of Illinois who apparently feels he's speaking on behalf of the Church. Witness this recent exchange on the floor of the Senate as reported today in the Washington Times

Durbin misstates Catholic doctrine on both abortion and the death penalty, yet still publicly proclaims himself a "practicing Catholic". The hierarchy must not let functional heretics like Durbin define the Church as a schismatic Democratic political entity, and they must publicly stand up for faithful Catholics like Pryor. I've started emailing bishops and hope others will do the same.

Discover the story behind the holy whapping

The Catholic Church is for saints and sinners alone. For respectable people, the Anglican Church will do. - Oscar Wilde

Alas, as Midwest Conservative Journal is lamenting, that no longer seems to be the case. There's a lot to disrespect in Anglicanism now.

Bork on his conversion

At last, a scam I can believe in

Dear Sir,

I am an Uruk of Mordor, charged with the discovery of a number of valuable treasures within Moria. It has come to my notice that the mithril hoard previously owned by Ori of the land of Moria has been found by one of our cave-trolls. Under our laws, the hoard will be shared between our lord Sauron and the local Balrog, but so far neither knows the extent of the treasure.

Sir, I come to you as a respectful businessperson in order that we may derive some profit ourselves from this venture, I would wish that I could arrange for the transfer of half of the find to yourself, costing roughly 20,000 silver pennies. From this amount, I will then arrange for a further such that 25% remains your own, 5% goes for sundry costs (including hire of strong Rohan horses for use in transportation), 5% is given in bribe to the cave troll to ensure the quantity reported to our respective Lords is adjusted, 65% belongs to myself and my fellow Orcs.

In order that this be accomplished, I ask only that you provide details of:

Your willingness to participate in this venture,

Confirmation that you will not speak of this venture to anyone else, or wear any magic rings,

Your race and land of residence,

The location of your local Palantir or identity of your preferred message-carrying bird or beast,

Your given name, and any name you are known by in the Western lands,

The number of ponies you possess.

I look forward to your returning correspondence, which can be whispered to any passing magpie. I trust that you will ensure that no other dark feathered birds come to hear of this transaction.

Terry Mattingly on Harry Potter

The fun think about this piece is the Wicca chicka who insists that Harry had nothing to do with real magic and witchcraft. Some of the damnedifhedoesdamnedifhedon't type out there will undoubted see in this denial a clever ruse by those ingenious Wiccans to delude us, just as they see the insistence by other Wiccan idiots that Harry Potter is all about Wicca as open confessions of the truth. That's because (usually without having read HP), they have already tried, convicted, sentenced and executed Rowling.

A couple people asked me what I thought of HP5. A good summer read. I'm pleased with the continuing trajectory of the story. I remarked that Rowling surprised me again and some were puzzled by that. My answer is that she surprised me by not surprising me. The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher has always Not Been What He Seemed. This time, what you see is what you get. I was also surprised by who got rubbed out. I continue to think the books are good reading for kids with a reasonably healthy moral imagination. I look forward to 6 and 7.

Uh, somebody needs to talk to the PR guys

So there's this company called "Powergen" and they have an Italian office. What do they call the website?

Something for all you millions of Polish readers of C&EI

More coming soon. The Polish press is starting to publish more Sheavings in translation.

John Betts is back on the air.

"I literally felt crucified"

Public pervert whines and has self-glorifying hysterics. O the humanity! Amerika is one step away from the Holocaust if gays can't do their thing in Time Square and force children to watch.

Recta Ratio was in town and visited my beloved Blessed Sacrament parish

Meanwhile, we were at Holy Apostles in Colorado Springs that weekend. A lovely place with a priest who has a heart for evangelization.

Speaking of which...

here's a lovely defense of Protestants (which I agree with entirely) from an unlikely source: Joe Sobran. The US is largely a work of Protestant genius and Catholics should be grateful for it.

More on C. Peter Wagner's Position on Us Demonically Covenanted RCs

Oh, well. At least the guy cares what happens to us. I prefer that over postmodern "Whatever is true for you is true" tapioca.

I've been hearing a lot about this story

It's really hard to tell from the press what actually happened. It sounds like the priest was, shall we say, particularly pastorally inept, but without knowing *all* of what he said it's difficult to tell if upset relatives are simply keying in on a portion of what the priest said ("If it weren't for Jesus, ol' Ben here would be going straight to hell") and blowing it out of proportion or if the priest was really such a chucklehead as to declare the deceased damned. At the very least, he appears to be a member of the Less than Socially Attuned Club. There is a time for the discussion of such matters. Funerals aren't that time.

The Hermit of Hudson disagrees with me about the stupidity of the stupid Texas sodomy law

Jeremy Lott on Christopher Hitchens

The Measure of Comedic Genius is Simple

If it makes you laugh, it's comedy. If it still makes you laugh 60 years later, it's genius. Bob Hope was a comedic genius. I mourn his passing.

Ever Wonder Why Titanic Layered on the Stupid Heavy-Handed Class Warfare Agitprop and Was Still Acclaimed as Brilliant by Brie-Eating Filmoids?

I'll acknowledge there was more to the film than that. In an era of Self Magazine and the most Narcissistic President Ever to Wriggle Out of a Highly Credible Rape Charge, I think people were moved by a story in which somebody lays down his life for another. I think the film had enough violence in it to keep teenage boys happy and enough (dumb and flibbertygibbet) romance to keep teenage girls happy, and it had enough grrrrl power low watt feminist liberation stuff in it to keep various ideologues happy.

But most of all, the story of the ship itself is simply a very powerful one. That last element is not to be dismissed lightly. In his An Experiment in Criticism, C.S. Lewis remarks of myth that it is a kind of story with a satisfying shape, like a vase or a tulip. It is a story that satisfies us independently of the way in which it is told. Some stories are entirely dependent on the way in which the teller writes. But some stories exist almost independent of the teller and can still move us even if the telling is bad. I think the story of Titanic fits the bill for Lewis' description of a "mythic" story. It retains power no matter how much Marxist agitprop, James Cameron Big Think and so forth is larded on top of it. Retain the basic shape of the myth and you move people.

Very good post on the Church's duty to Hope and the distinction between Hope and Knowledge

Keep your eye on Disputations. A really fine blog.

Fox will distribute Passion

Any movie that can reduce Rush Limbaugh to silence for several minutes has to be an impressive piece of work. I look forward to it with increasing anticipation.

Finished Harry Potter 5

A fine piece of work, though it could have profited from an editor. I am more mystified than ever by people who hate and fear these books. I look forward to the next two. I won't give any spoilers for those who haven't read them, but I will say Rowling surprised me again.

Yesterday...

We took it easy on the El Tourista way of life and simply went to Glen Eyrie, the castle built by Gen. Palmer, the Quaker Civil War general. A splendid place built by a guy who appears to have been a sort of 19th Century Bill Gates. He was an engineer with tons of creativity and the money to realize his ideas. The place was state of the art for 1871 and is still wonderful to wander through today. It's owned by the Navigators now and is a sort of conference center and think tank for global evangelization. If Focus on the Family is the Vatican of Evangelicalism, this is its St. John Lateran. Lovely people everywhere. After that, it was home for naps (the heat is pushing 100) and then off for dinner to the Macaroni Grille and a little birthday celebration for Sherry Weddell. (Oh, speaking of Sherry, Fr. Michael Sweeney, also of the Siena Institute was interviewed on Catholic Answers Live yesterday. When they put a link to the broadcast on their archives, I'll let you know). Anyway, yesterday was another lovely evening. Watched another "Jeeves and Wooster" to round things off and went to bed. Today we're off to the Renaissance Festival.

Prayer for sinners as a zero sum game

I simply do not understand the logic of people who say, "To pray for a grave sinner is to rob the innocent of prayers and support." Amazingly, global and versatile man that I am, I find it possible to pray both for the mugger and his victim, that God would give them each what they most need. I have this strange notion that most people are capable of the same thing and tend to think that people who clamor for blood and vengeance for the grave sinner are simply making a particularly transparent excuse for their desire for vengeance in trying to portray it as "care for the victims." As somebody who has been victimized in the past (and who hasn't?) I have never found that that I was helped by clinging to the memory of the wrong done me nor by chewing the cud of bitterness and savoring the thought of some exquisite punishment being meted out to them. Such things have always served only to make me a worse and unhappy person. But, as Uncle Corkscrew discusses here, there is a peculiar temptation which we can give in to, where we can indulge all our passions of hatred while congratulating ourselves that we are heroic figures speaking out for the downtrodden. I think the rhetoric which condemns people for praying for grave sinners as "insulting" their victims is basically an exercise in that. It doesn't really care about the victims: it cares about stamping out anybody whose example of charity poses a challenge to our desire to hate sinners and indulge the sin of anger.

Crime is the result of poverty. It has nothing to do with human choices.

Peter Steinfels needs to spend more time in cyberspace

He naively writes:

"Catholic teaching affirms the existence of hell as a place of eternal punishment and separation from God but has never stated that any particular individuals are damned or that humans could know that."

A quick visit to cyberspace would introduce him to all sorts of people who are absolutely positive they know who is and is not in hell. Like Buzz Lightyear, they're always sure.

Isn't it odd...

...that one of the most beloved old TV shows (arguably the greatest of its time and certain one of the greatest ever) is the Twilight Zone? It is, after all, a show that, more often than not, told tales of characters, both good and bad, who have visited upon them eternal, irrevocable judgments--just the sort of thing we don't like to think about today. Most of the reason for western fascination with eastern religions is the notion that karma and reincarnation will provide us with an escape hatch from "It is appointed to man once to die, after that, the judgment." Rod Serling *loved* to write stories about people who are confronted with realio-trulio *eternal* judgments for their actions. Not all of them go to hell, in Serling's universe, but many of them do. And something in us still loves these stories. I think that's interesting.

The Day Before Yesterday...

We went to the Rock Ledge Living History Museum. My son Sean was particularly impressed at the Native American portion, though he was confused because our guide, though a Cherokee, looked and sounded like any ordinary modern American young woman. His confusion only deepened when I explained that she didn't live in the teepee there at the site but instead lived in a regular house like everybody else. The kidlets got to help the kid at the pioneer house make chinking (the mud and straw mixture that's squished between the logs of the cabin to keep the wind out. There's also a working farm, a blacksmith's shop, and a state of the art turn of the century house built by General Palmer for a relative. Palmer was the Quaker Civil War general who founded Colorado Springs. Today we will visit his house in Glen Eyrie.

Yesterday we went to the Cave of the Winds. Way cool. As a kid, I was always a big fan of Journey to the Center of the Earth and this is the closest I've ever gotten. Plus, when the temperature is 100 degrees, a place where it's always 54 degrees is nice. Oh, and to be sure of our food supply in the event of a cave-in, we were sure to bring a friend along named Timothy.

After the caves, most of the adults went to the Crags. My friend Sherry assured us it was a flat hike and only 1.5 miles. What she failed to explain was that, in Coloradan, "flat" mean "a 700 foot gain in elevation from trail head to summit." One of my math competent readers can work out the angle of ascent from there. Anyway, as an official wheezing, one-lunged fat guy, I'm here to tell you it was... a challenge, especially at 10,000 foot oxygen levels. (The most ominous thing a hiker can hear from people coming back down the trail is, "The view is worth it.") But we made it, had a spectacular view indeed of the Rockies, a fine little lunch and then a considerably easier hike back down.

Last evening, like every evening so far, was warm and pleasant, spent in good company and reading or, in last night's case, watching bat flit about for a while and then enjoying a Jeeves and Wooster DVD. For some reason, bed sounded particularly appealing and I found it relatively early.

Bork Becomes a Catholic

Whaddaya know! Seems like Fr. McCloskey's connected with a lot of these high profile conversions.
Anyway, good news.

As I've said, I think Bush was Gambling, not Lying, About his Intelligence Data

And given that The Worst President We've Ever Had didn't even bother to gamble or care, I find that rather easy to forgive, especially given the legacy that Clinton left 3000 families on 9/11.

Y'know, I'm Just Not Worried About This

You reach a point where the doomsday predictions of experts kind of bounce off.

O My Jesus forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven especially those most in need of thy mercy.

Steve Riddle contends that this prayer has meaning, particularly in the case of world historical monsters like Hussein's sons. I tend to agree with him. Disputations doesn't. I think it's an interesting discussion. I'm rather dubious the prayer will do Hussein's sons any good. But on the off chance that it might, and on the more hopeful chance that it will do good for those whose hearts are filled with hatred and bitterness toward them, freeing them from spiritual prisons that they would be in long after the deaths of their victimizers, I think it should be prayed. Be sure to check out the interesting comments thread. Riddle is the soul of Christian courtesy and charity. Tom is the soul of Thomistic clarity, despite his love of beer. Caveat: Read him and Tom only in the comments box. Skip the spewings from another contributor about how prayers for God to grant mercy to sinners are an "insult". They'll just make you stupider.

It's the Era of Good Feelings!

Iran regime suddenly notices Al-Quaeda in their midst.

Sorry. I'm still not buying this

I think they settled to make a kook go away. The merits of this case have not impressed me, from what I've seen of it in the news. I could be wrong, of course. But so far, I'm not convinced.

A reader writes on the thread concerning C Peter Wagner

Penties seem to hate Catholicism more intensely than do Prots, even Calvinists. I suspect the reason may be projection -- there's only room for one Anointed Mouthpiece Of God On Earth at a time.

While that may (though I doubt it) explain the enmity of some Pentecostals and charismatics, it doesn't come close to beginning to comprehend the Catholic understanding of how revelation proceeds in the Church. Yes, there are some leaders in charismatic circles who get the star treatment enough that they begin to think they are the Only Chosen Vessel. However, most charismatics of my acquaintance have tended to be rather pleasant people who wish everybody else was among the prophets, not that everybody would shut up and listen to them alone. Indeed, it seems to me that one of the place where the barrier between Catholics and Protestants is thinnest and most permeable is in charismatic circles.

However, the biggest misreading, it seems to me, is the notion that the Pope is the one "Anointed Mouthpiece Of God On Earth". This is simply false to the Catholic Tradition, which is overwhelmingly insistent that "Truth is Symphonic", not monotone, and which sees the Pope, not as "inspired" but as sharing in the Church's charism against screwing up what has been entrusted to the Church (not exactly a compliment, when you think about it). Further, the Pope is completely hemmed in by the Tradition and can only articulate and elaborate on what has already been defined by previous Popes and councils. He can voice no "new revelation". He can only talk about old revelation, which is emphatically symphonic. I suggest a careful reading of von Balthasar.

Yesterday....

All my troubles seemed so far away. As a matter of fact, they still seem far away today! Spent the afternoon yesterday in Old Colorado Springs at the library, where they did a presentation on hawks, falcons, and kestrels with real birds. Peter and Sean ate it up. My friend Sherry found a DVD of the entire first season of Jeeves and Wooster, so we were able to introduce the pleasures of P.G. Wodehouse to my friend Dave that evening. Coming home, Peter felt a bit woozy with the heat, so we dropped him home and Jan continued the trek for various supplies for our evening feast. It was a bit cooler last night (a welcome relief). My son Luke, meanwhile, took it in hand to go with a friend to claim one of the "Fourteeners" (there are 53 mountains in Colorado that are over 14,000 feet. He got up at 2:00 yesterday morning, drove for three hours, and commenced the hike at dawn, reaching the summit at 9:40 or so. Picked one flower for his girlfriend (the incurable romantic) and headed down after a few photos and signing the guest registry. Saw critters like marmots and foxes on the way up and down. Finally got home at about 5:30, ravenous as a wolf. What a wonderful kid!

Today we're off to the Cave of the Winds and the Living History Museum.

Oh, and Harry Potter 5 is fun. So is having the leisure time to just read a book uninterrupted. I realized yesterday that this is the longest vacation (1 and 1/2 weeks that I have had since my marriage 20 years ago. No wonder I feel tired so much. Anyway, a glorious time is being had by all. Sean even got to go to the dollar store and spend his little wad of 49 cents on plastic soldiers and Legos (with some parental augmentation).

My Latest on Catholic Exchange

Ever wonder what you were chosen for? Now you know.

People We Can Do Without, Who Never Will Be Missed

The Taming of the Dude

Nice piece by Rod Dreher. Marriage, in addition to being the safeguard for children, is one of the principal engines for turning male barbarians into relatively normal people. The big winners of the sexual revolution were abandoning males, lawyers and abortionists. The big losers were (duh) the most vulnerable: women and children.

"Speaking as a Jew, I thought it was a magical film"

More trouble for the Passion haters. Moral: See the movie before setting off thermonuclear press campaigns against it.

Andrew Sullivan thought this was a parody

Update: and apparently he's right. Though this site is a much better than average hoax.

This still cracks me up:

2nd Place: "Women Were Designed For Homemaking"
Jonathan Goode (grade 7) applied findings from many fields of science to support his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets; biology shows that women were designed to carry un-born babies in their wombs and to feed born babies milk, making them the natural choice for child rearing; social sciences show that the wages for women workers are lower than for normal workers, meaning that they are unable to work as well and thus earn equal pay; and exegetics shows that God created Eve as a companion for Adam, not as a co-worker.

Though I was also delighted by:

"Thermodynamics Of Hell Fire" - Tom Williamson (grade 12)

and

"Pokemon Prove Evolutionism Is False" - Paul Sanborn (grade 4)

Another Witness to the Passion

Zoe Romanowsky saw it. Loved it. It's starting to sound like the only people who hate are people who know nothing about it.

Converts!

Just nice to know you're not alone. Besides, who knew Kit Carson and Joel Chandler Harris were converts?

Abortion: The Only Thing the Democratic Party Believes in

From our bulging "We Have the Clergy We Want" file

C. Peter Wagner Has Decided (Hold on to Your Hats) That Catholicism is a Demonic Covenant

Wagner has been a pretty big noise among charismatics and Pentecostals. The reason this is interesting is that he has such strong ties in Evangelical missions and is one of the big wheels of something called the "New Apostolic Reformation", the latest incarnation of the Bullwinkle Syndrome (Motto: "This time for sure!"). He is trying to lead a resistance to the general warming trend of many non-denoms toward the Catholic Church, publishing such fine tomes as Freedom from Catholicism and sponsoring stuff like the "Cleansing Stream" movement (which has featured apostolic practices like barfing up evil spirits). I know. It sound ridiculous and it is. But many anti-Catholic movements have been silly--and dangerous.

The interesting thing is that Wagner seems to be being treated with polite silence by his fellow non-denoms, like a batty uncle shunted to the attic when the guests come over. Catholics should be grateful for this. Here's hoping that he comes to his senses.

Oh, by the way, one amusing sidelight to the various agitations in non-denom world is that some of Wagner's enemies accuse him of being too close to... Catholicism!

It will be interesting to see how Wagner's latest "revelations" are received by mainstream Evangelicalism.

C&EI is a blog of evil!

Don't quite know what that means.

Went to Pike's Peak Yesterday

19 miles from gate to summit through beautiful woods that faded away at the timberline to land that reminded me of photos of the Scottish moors and finally to a barren windswept summit of Pike's Peak granite (reddish, not gray) that had a commanding view of the Whole Wide World. Oxygen, already available in limited quanities in Colorado Springs (about 2/3 of Seattle's supply) is even more parsimoniously distributed up there (14,110 ft above sea level). Strenuous exercise such as "walking around" or "getting out of the car", combined with a gunky lung infection (for which I covet your prayers), left me pretty light headed for a bit, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. This, by the way, is the place that Katherine Lee Bates went for a picnic on July 22, 1893 (exactly 110 years ago today) and was moved to write the song that *should* be our national anthem, "America".

The Dallas Morning News Catches up with Postmodern Journalism

Sex and Evolution

Why is it that issues surrounding our origins fascinate us so much? Discuss, class.

Medved Again Defends Mel

A lovely, intelligent and fair-minded man, Medved is. I continue to suggest that everybody cool their jets until they actually know what they are talking about. The two people I know who have actually *seen* the film (Barbara Nicolosi and Scott Hahn) say it is very good and is not anti-semitic. I don't understand why some people seem to be *hoping* that it is anti-semitic. I think Mel's rather kooky in his ecclesiology. But an artist can sometimes transcend his personal quirks to make great art. I'm hoping for the film but reserving judgment till I've seen it.

Africa: Land of the Peculiar

I'm touched

One of my readers prays for me: "Merciful Father, send Mark not the cross he wishes to have, but the one that would make us laugh hardest."

Matrix Ping Pong courtesy of Fr. Bryce

Needs Windows Media Player.

The Shrine of the Holy Whapping

Most interesting new blog name of the month.

Something else for Special Creationists and others to argue about

Clever how I give you something argue about while I'm frolicking on the mountain, ain't it?

Today we're off to Pike's Peak

Our grueling trek through the hellish depths of rest and relaxation continues. I don't know how much more of God's beautiful world, sufficient sleep, leisure to chat with old friends, and time to just read a book I can stand. Pray for me.

I'm happy to report I could be wrong

Looks like the Hunting for Bambi thing is an urban legend.

I like being wrong about stuff like this.

It takes a white leader to stand up and explain to my people about why our culture is superior.

Now, if you are normal, you probably would detect just the teensiest whiff of racism in that statement. But if you are a Lefty and Howard Dean says, "It takes a white leader to stand up and explain to my people about why racism is wrong" you may well regard that as groundbreaking political courage. That is one of the many reasons the Left is destroying itself.

Uh oh

Not a good sign when the White House engages in this kind of stuff. I hope this was some lower level functionary's Big Idea and am skeptical that Bush would resort to such a tactic.

Red Meat for the Black Helicopter Crowd

Sat out and watched a spectacular display of heat lightning while the warm wind roared in the treetops

We don't get things like that in Seattle. Magnificent.

Today we're off to the Farmer's Market and Manitoo (sp?) Springs.

Remember what I said about Gladiator games on pay per view?

Consider this sort of stuff a dress rehearsal. Now, remember, all you champions of American culture as infinitely superior to the Catholic-Church-that-oppresses-women-and-holds-backward-views-of-the-place-of-woman-in-society: your TV is your god, your TV is your god, your TV is your god. It tells you what to think. It tells you what is normal. It tells you what is good. Trust your TV.

Look at the bright side: de-Christianized Western culture is finding its points of commonality with Foaming Bronze Age Fanatics. Soon we'll all discover we're saying the same thing. Except for that damn Pope and his pseudo-intellectual chatter about the dignity of the human person.

What to do?

Pike's Peak? Fossils? Cowboy Museum? Multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision. Yesterday, went to Uncle Wilbur Fountain where kids can run around and get soaked. Every hour or so, Uncle Wilbur rises out of the fountain playing a tuba solo and squirting water from the tuba. True odd Americana. Half the party eventually decided to go home (including the little ones) while the other half decided to hang around for a live blues band concert. While waiting for that, I wandered around downtown, went to the Cathedral. I was carrying my copy of Harry Potter 5 and rejoiced in the knowledge that nobody at a Catholic Church would cluck their tongue at me if they saw it on the pew during Mass. However, the cathedral (which looks like a miniature version of my own beloved Blessed Sacrament ) was closed for Voskofication.

So I wandered away, ran across a steak house and, this being vacation and all, went in and had a lovely dinner with lots of ice water while I quietly read my fun little book in a nice air-conditioned restaurant. Then it was back to Acacia Park where I met up with Thor and Cow (my two oldest boys with penchants for nicknames) laid around on the grass and listened to a blues band open air performance featuring a sax play who looked like Dumbledore. Eventually, the guys wandered off to play shuffleboard (a game I associate with old guys who yell, "You kids get off my lawn!", not teenagers). Cow won--barely.

Then it was off home for a lovely long evening of conversation with friends (note to reader Kathie--Dave and Sherry say "Hello!" as do the guiding lights of St. Catherine of Siena). Tall glasses of cool water. Evening breeze. Soft lights. Finally, to bed. Life is good.

Hark! Now it's time to take the kidlets to frolic in a fountain in the warm dry Colorado heat!

Back to livin' the good life. More later. Hope your cubicle is air-conditioned!

Speaking of Ecumenism...

Islam continues to be a force that brings people together in warm bonds of fellowship.

Of course, all of the geology in the previous blog is something that only a blinded faux Catholic like me or Fr. Stanley Jaki could believe

Real Catholics know the earth is as old as an Anglican bishop said it was in the 17th Century. Ecumenism can be found in the strangest places.

Today we got up at 5 AM...

Which my chest cold wracked body thought was waaaaaay too early, and went to the Garden of the Gods. This is a spectacyoolar red sandstone rock formation made of rocks which were formed by river deposits laid down about 275 million years ago, pressed into sandstone, and then broken up and uplifted over 90 degrees. Result: large sections of layered sandstone river bed sticking straight up in the sky and weathering since the end of the Cretaceous or so (about 65 million years). You go there at dawn because the sight of the first morning's rays on that sandstone, with a near full moon behind it in the blue blue sky is worthy of a psalm of praise to the Blessed Trinity.

Moral: It's better to let my chest take orders from my head. Unbelievable beauty.

Came home. Ate yummy breakfast, took long luxurious nap. Drifted off to bed amused by the thought that the international Navigators headquarters (another colossal Evangelical enterprise) is located hard by the Garden of the Gods and this will afford future paranoid Christians the same ammo they need to prove the Navs were "really" pagan that the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva affords present paranoid Christians who wish to prove Catholics pagan.

Actually the real story of the place's name is funnier. Two pioneers apparently saw the place and the first observed that it would make a terrific beer garden. The latter waxed lyrical about it being a place suitable for the Indians to worship their gods. The name stuck. Apparently it was a sacred place for the Utes who used to winter here (perfectly understandable). Anyhow, I think it's damn suspicious that the Navs chose this place for their sinister crypto-pagan gospel. Coincidence? I think NOT! According to the Hislop Rule of Historical Interpretation, any time a Christian is within a mile of something pagan, that proves whatever the Christian is saying or doing is EVIL! QED.

Colson on Gibson

It is a happy side effect of the Culture War that an Evangelical can spring to the defense of a hard-core Catholic (perhaps more hardcore than the Pope) versus the bigots who manufacture American culture. Everybody who's actually seen the movie (including gung-ho, pro-Israeli Evangelicals) loves it and says the charge of anti-semitism is hogwash. Perhaps those who hate it should take a little time to find out what they are condemning.

By the way, talked to Scott Hahn yesterday and he got to have a screening of the rough cut. Two thumbs waaaaaay up.

Mark Sullivan (not exactly a fevered liberal) says what I'm trying to say about Newman better than I do

I'm well aware of who Halsall is and the often crack-brained advocacy "scholarship" he does when he's trying to ram through his agendas. His tendency to eroticise every same sex friendship is often preposterous. But even a stopped clock is right twice a day and, as Sullivan notes, there's something a bit other than chumminess about Newman's relationship with his friend. That is not, however, to say there was anything unchristian, unchaste, or subversive to the Faith.

Which is my point.

Correction, Dave

I'm not doing any speaking. I'm on vacation!

Today we went to the Vatican of American Evangelicalism. Goofed around at Whit's End. Ate ice cream. Slid on slides. Took a picture of the little bell that rings whenever customers open the door at Whit's End (it's in the little museum). Lots of lovely, well-mannered, kind, open, thoughtful, polite Evangelicals as far as the eye could see. My native tribe: bless them forever.

Lose these guys and we lose

Someone needs to make it clearer that we are going to be in Iraq for years and years and years. And not just Iraq.

More Problems for Those who Insist that a Faithful Chaste Man with SSA Cannot be a Valid Priest

My Big Profound Spiritual Revelation

My latest, a bit of whimsy for a summer day.

(Humorous footnote: I first published this in a little Catholic charismatic newsletter. The editor added a careful footnote explaining that this was fiction and had not really occurred. I just love that.)

Somebody Get Kathy Shaidle a Green Card

As soon as she learns to speak our language and stop adding unnecessary "u's" to words, I'm sure she will blend right in. Kathy, the freedom-loving peoples of the United States stand here with open arms awaiting the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

We made it!

We proved some very important things yesterday.

1. You can drive through downtown Seattle at speeds in excess of 75 MPH and not be ticketed.

2. That whole "90 minutes before departure" rule for domestic flights is bunk. We got there 5 minutes before boarding commenced and, with the help of a very kind Filipino skycap whose name shall be inscribed in heavenlies, managed to check all our luggage, park the car, blast through security and board the plane with seconds to spare.

Note to self: be sure the alarm clock is functioning properly before departing on Big Vacations by air.

We are now comfortably ensconced at the St. Catherine of Siena Institute Waldorf-Astoria Plaza, having just had a reasonable night's sleep (please pray that I lose this horrible chest rattle that keeps me up coughing), and a pleasant breakfast.

I will regale you with more purple mountain majesty Colorado stuff later. For the nonce though, I leave you with this thought. As a Seattleite used to living at 500 feet above sea level (if that) this 6600 hundred foot altitude with one third less oxygen is a dizzying experience!

I'm outta here!

We're off to sunny Colorado courtesy of a lot of air miles racked up over several years on the Visa and in the air and courtesy of the kindness of some friends. We'll be back on the 27th. I will try to blog now and then from the Big Square State in the Rockies, but mostly we'll be goofing off. If you write me or order books or tapes, be aware that I won't see it till I return, at which time I shall attempt to promptly reply. Please do me a favor and don't send me links to stories while I'm gone, cuz by the time I return they will be old news and have been talked to death in the blogosphere.

"Some people think our state is square
They're wrong, just wait and seeeeee!
I'd walk a mile hiiiigh!
Colorado's right for meeeeee!" - Five Iron Frenzy

A reader sends along a letter

The letter below was inspired by the amazingly contemptuous and snotty reply Fr. Biondi made to C&EI reader John Hearn, (you can see it in the comments boxes on that blog). I wonder if he will be equally snotty when he knows that several Catholic media will probably get a copy of whatever he writes back to this reader:

Dear Father Biondi:

I have written you four times in the past 18 months and have telephoned your office a number of times where I usually have spoken with an individual who only will identify himself as "Jay." I have tried to reach you in your capacity as a director of the Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Tenet owns our local hospital complex, MetroWest Medical Center, where babies are killed deliberately for profit. When I first tried to reach you I assumed that, because you are a Roman Catholic priest, and because the Catholic Church is unequivocally opposed to abortion, I would easily procure your cooperation in helping curtailing this aspects of the hospital' s business.

So far my expectations have not been met and, indeed, you have not even acknowledged my communications. Therefore I was surprised to see that you did take the time to reply to a rather cheeky comment placed by John Hearn recently on a website called, "Catholic And Enjoying It." You appear to have been attempting to diminish the sting of Mr. Hearn's criticism with hyperbole and ridicule. You refer to the three persons of the Blessed Trinity and sarcastically ask, "Since when is there a 4th, God John Hearn, who is all knowing of all things that are ethical, religious and moral?"

In November 2002 I wrote you as follows:

"You must be aware that your continued presence on the board of directors of an abortion-providing organization appears to be a grave scandal and, in any event, is enormously demoralizing to Roman Catholics in general, but particularly those who are engaged in pro-life work....If you are unable to do anything from your position on the Tenet board to stop abortions at Tenet facilities, you would be doing all Catholics, but particularly pro-lifers, an enormous favor by resigning from the board."

You are coming up for reelection to the Tenet board on July 23, 2003. I am writing now to ask that you withdraw from the election. This could, in a small way, help mitigate the grave scandal to your Church and the Jesuit Order which has resulted from your complicity with an organization which provides abortions for profit. I realize that this would mean foregoing the $100,000 plus in fees and benefits you receive from Tenet, but this certainly is a small price to pay to diminish the scandal you now are causing.

In my letter to you of May 24, 2002, I quoted Evangelium Vitae and the Catholic Catechism (2272) on canonical penalties attached to participation in abortion. I suggest you review and ponder this teaching between now and the July 23 elections. I would also point out that the St. Louis Province of the Jesuit order has a serious stake in the matter if, indeed, you are relinquishing your Tenet compensation to the Order, as this would make the Provincial leaders who accept this money also complicit in the crime of abortion.

I am including a number of Catholic leaders on the distribution of this message in the hope that that some of them may be able to add weight to my arguments regarding the untenability of your current relationship with the Tenet organization.

Sincerely,

Reader's name

Copy to:

Very Rev. Frank Reale,S.J.
Rev. Timothy M. McMahon
Deal Hudson, Crisis Magazine
Jim Rygelski, St. Louis Review
Molly Corcoran Kertz, St. Louis Archdiocese Pro-life Committee
Most Rev. Richard G. Lennon (via Father Robert Kickham)
Mark Shea, "Catholic And Enjoy It"
John Hearn

The cool and interesting thing about Evangelicalism is...

...because, at its best, it is both devoted to Scripture *and* to paying close attention to "what works", it tends to recapitulate Catholic faith. So, for example, these folks are now discovering the idea of canon law and Church tribunals.

Catholic faith isn't just some human idea. It's a map of reality. Because of that, people who pay close attention to reality keep accidently verifying the map. It's like when a friend's Bible Church found the Spirit leading them to study and profit from the lives of Christians who lived after the time of the Bible. As long as we didn't say "cult of the saints" we knew we could have a long and fruitful conversation about this.

Deal Hudson correct his note about the Bishop's confab with the Usual Suspects

One quick and important correction, though: In Friday's e-letter, I mistakenly imply that Peggy Steinfels is pro-choice. She is not. I actually caught the error and corrected it in the draft, but unfortunately, the uncorrected version was sent out. All of us here apologize to Peggy for the error.

There are three types of Catholics

1. Those who will look at this lady and say, "Good enough! She's as Christian as everybody else. Any attempt to educate her further is spiritual imperialist triumphalism!"

2. Those who will look at this lady and say, "She is a liar and a deceiver! A vendor of New Age drivel! Cast her out!"

3. Those who will look at this lady and say, "Here is Apollos. Lord Jesus, help me be like Priscilla and Aquila." (Acts 18:24-26).

For all those hotheads inclined to panic and say, "Schism? Bring it on!" because of one lousy meeting by a couple of bishops with the Usual Suspects

A reader writes about this article:

It has some helpful information, in particular:

The gathering, billed as a dialogue concerning ''The Church in America: The Way Forward in the 21st Century,'' was organized by Geoffrey T. Boisi, a former chairman of the Boston College board of trustees who was vice chairman of JPMorganChase and co-CEO of JP Morgan....

None of the bishops returned calls seeking comment, but a spokesman for the bishops' conference, Monsignor Francis J. Maniscalco, said by e-mail, ''The meeting was described by those who suggested it as an informal and confidential session for the sharing of some concerns. It was not an organizing or planning meeting. The bishops in attendance were not representing the conference but attended as individuals without any expectation that the meeting would lead to anything beyond the sharing that occurred during its course.''

So it doesn't sound like the bishops decided to consult this particular group, or chose who would be invited, but rather, some organizers put together the meeting, selected the participants, and invited the bishops to it. In fact, it's not a bad idea: other groups of Catholics might well consider doing the same.

As for meeting with "a group of dissenters", Jesus met (and ate with) with pharisees, prostitutes, extortionists (e.g. 1st century Roman tax collectors), and other unsavory characters, so even if the participants are dissenters, we cannot really fault the bishops over that, can we?

And I daresay that before irresponsibly panicking, throwing in the towel, and abandoning the Church to leftist dissent, it might behoove people to, oh, suggest that perhaps a meeting should be organized between bishops and those who actually respect the Church's teaching.

The Left has learned an important lesson. Endless persistence. So many orthodox Catholics talk as though a single setback means it's time to throw in the towel.

Our bishops don't reflect us in the slightest

The problem is all with them. It has nothing to do with us.

Australians Live Dramatic Lives



The mad beast with one of his helpless victims.

Santificarnos

An interesting new blog for Catholics struggling with divorce.

Plump ungrateful Hollywood swine resume old habits of spitting on people whose boots they are not fit to lick

Tommy Atkins

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!
- Rudyard Kipling

God speaks!

Says, Read Genesis 3:9-11.

The unanimous opinion of our staff and two consulting canonists is that it would be very difficult to argue that a chaste homosexual who accepted the teaching of the Church and led a virtuous life would incur the irregularity as defined by c. 1041, 1°. Only the Pope could change the law so that it would say that such a person would be irregular for receiving orders.

I appear to be right. Always gratifying.

Thanks to Pat Sweeney for finding this.

Where would you find sites like this if it weren't for me?

There's a website for everything.

I await the ingenious ways in which JPII haters will find a way to simultaneously find this act and the gesture of honoring the Quran equal proof of his pure evilness

Once you know somebody is pure evil, it's a foregone conclusion that everything they do is pure evil too. Malice believeth all evil things. It always fears. Always condemns. Always finds fault. Malice never lets up.

Thought for the Day

Ebay is the modern world's unwitting testament to the Catholic theology of relics.

Any other unwitting testimonies to normal healthy Catholic instinct you can think of? For instance, what is the psychiatrist's office but a testimony to our need for the sacrament of confession? What is Oprah but a sort of video testament of the need of the human soul for a Blessed Mother? What have all the tyrants of the 20th Century been but great signs pointing to the demand of the human soul for a savior?

Mark you, none of these fill the hole. But the fact that they don't doesn't mean the hole does not exist. It mean the hole is so ferociously devouring that it will swallow *anything* in the desperate hope that it can be filled.

Can you think of any other signs that point to the hole?

Sean Gallagher writes:

Dear friends and loved ones,

I would like to ask you and all of you to pray for my son Michael. He has a severe case of pneumonia and was admitted to Columbus Regional Hospital last Thursday. On Friday he was transferred to Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.

He was on a ventilator for about 36 hours and had a chest tube inserted to relieve fluid around his left lung. It is still in place. Although his condition is improving, his recovery will take a long time and still has many potential dangers. Any and all prayers for him will be appreciated.

If you would like to pass this prayer request on to others, feel free to do so.

Some of you live in or near Indianapolis where Michael is hospitalized. If you would like to visit, I would recommend that your first give Cindy and I a call at our home. We will most likely not be there, so leave a message. We'll be checking on it regularly.

Thank you for your love, friendship, and any prayer that you can offer the recovery of little Michael and, indeed, of all of the children at Riley.


In the peace of Christ,
Sean Gallagher

Unleash the prayers of St. Blogs!

Father, please remember your child Michael and grant him swift healing through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Grant also that Sean and his family may have peace in this time and that, when Michael is restored to them, they will make your praises known. Grant that all things work together for your glory through Jesus Christ, Father.

St. Luke, pray for Michael.

Like I say, I think Bush was gambling, not lying

As the push for war was on, it appears Bush gambled that dubious intelligence would be verified after war's end.

A reader writes about the trailer for "The Passion"

I believe this film could truly succeed on it's own visually. I understand the economics of selling this movie to the general audience, but I doubt most faithful Christians would have a hard time following the material. But from what I've read, Mr. Gibson also wants this to be his own evangelical statement of his faith