Feminist outrage & the banality of abortion (UPDATED)

NB. I have edited this posted to eliminate my inflammatory language. A commenter correctly pointed out that my description of the author is less than charitable (not in those words but close enough). My apologies to the author. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't intend to offend. That's exactly what I intended to do, and by doing so, I distracted from the real issues. Having been a pro-abortion proponent for years, including a stint as a NOW escort at one of the south's largest abortion clinics, and having worked for a rape crisis center, a battered women's shelter, and a hospital for sexually abused children, I have seen the emotional and spiritual devastation that abortion causes women who have been encouraged to kill their children because not doing so would be taken as a sign that they have capitulated somehow to male dominance. My opposition to the radical feminist agenda is not simply a knee-jerk Catholic reaction to an ideology that rejects the Church. I was a radical feminist and Marxist for years. Up-close and personal, I've seen their agenda destroy lives. The obstinate refusal to recognize what abortion does to women is not only a political blindness, it is a willed evil as well. From the inside, I know that the "pro-choice" movement is anything but supportive of a woman's right to choose to have children. The pressure to abort unwanted preganancies is overwhelming. And the rhetoric of the pro-aborts is designed to de-humanize the child using medical terminology so that the woman is numbed to the reality of what she is choosing to do. In my experience, women who have been raped and choose to carry the child to term are characterized as "gender traitors" and seen by the feminist community as enablers of male dominance. They would rather see a child murdered than see their ideology challenged by a traitor who refuses to sacrifice her child for the good of the cause. A note on comments: I simply don't have time to respond to everyone's objections. But please continue commenting. . .just sign a name!

I've been asked in one of the com-boxes to comment on the following anti-Catholic polemic from a pro-abortionist:
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In Brazil, there is a horrific story of a 9-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated. It’s believed that the rape was committed by her step-father. The girl was not only pregnant at that young age, but also pregnant with twins. And so, as makes perfect sense, she had an abortion [Of course! It makes perfect sense to add double homicide to this horror]. Because she was raped, because she was much to young to have a child, and because the stress of having twins would of course have been far too much for a 9-year-old’s body to handle. And she could have died.

Now, the Catholic Church has excommunicated both the girl’s mother and the doctors who performed the abortion, which likely saved the girl’s life [and killed two other people in the process].

[NB. Notice that the author of piece never once acknowledges the humanity of the children much less their personhood. The children are simply disposal by-products of a violent rape. Also note that there is never a peep about the possible mental trauma a forced abortion might cause a pregnant nine-year old.]

Well then. At least they didn’t excommunicate the girl, right? Maybe they decided that she was much too young to have made the decision to have the abortion on her own, or to understand what was happening [and yet Planned Parenthood and other pro-aborts ruthlessly oppose any and all attempts to require parental notification for underage girls, and they illegally encourage the statutory rape of underage girls by telling them to lie about the father's age when the girls seek abortions]. But not too young, apparently, to be forced to give birth to the twins caused by her rapist. Not too young to quite possibly die in the process [and apparently not too young to be forced to get a double abortion].

In defending the decision, the Church’s lawyer has said:

“It’s the law of God: Do not kill. We consider this murder,” Miranda said in comments reported by O Globo.

But rape, apparently, is a-okay [yes, exactly. . .b/c the Church opposes murder, it must necessarily follow that the Church supports rape]. After all, I don’t see the step-father, who allegedly admitted to having raped the girl since the age of 6, being excommunicated [raping a child is beyond horrible, but does it rise to the level of killing her?]. Killing a fetus is apparently worthy of such censure and shunning. Horrifically violating a small child, though? Well, we all make mistakes [in so far as the father has committed rape he is in effect excommunicated. . .he may not "worthily receive" the sacraments until he has repented and received absolution]. And this stance is of course nothing new.

The lawyer also argued that the girl just should have carried to term and had a cesarean section. Because obviously a lawyer knows the girl’s condition better than her own doctor. And obviously the girl’s mental well-being doesn’t count for a damn thing [because avoiding even the possibility that the girl might suffer mentally from giving birth is worth the lives of two children. What about the damage a forced abortion will cause this girl?].

Who knows what a cesarean section would have done for the girl [precisely, who knows? On the other hand, we know exactly what abortion does to children], since the doctors didn’t present the issue of her giving vaginal birth as being the main health concern here. But oh well. God says. Clearly, if this child died in the course of fulfilling “God’s wishes,” it would have been a lesser tragedy than the cold-blooded murder of those innocent little fetuses [no, it would have compounded this tragedy even more. . .]. After all, in other extremist Catholic doctrine, a woman is better off dead than raped anyway [yup, got us again. . .this interpretation of Catholic doctrine seems to square quite well with paragraph 2356, of the Catechism, which reads: "Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them." Did you catch that: like abortion, rape is always an "intrinsically evil act."

RH Reality Check asks: Is this what religious objection to abortion looks like [No. But this woman's post is what anti-Catholic bigotry looks like]? Seeing as how the point of the entire anti-choice movement is indeed to erase any and all concern for the woman in question, in fact to erase her very existence if at all possible [again, right on! And the fact that the Catholic Church is the single largest non-governmental donor of charitable funds to social service organizations in the world is entirely besides the point. . .also ignored in this piece is the fact that the Catholic Church in the U.S. provides free pre-natal care, free adoption services, and even free recovery services to any pregnant woman who wants them. . .let's see, I think Planned Parenthood charges $350 per abortion] . . . clearly, yes. In an extreme nutshell, this is exactly what it looks like.
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Folks, this is what the Church is up against. The sheer irrationality and venom of this post is incredible. The author sees no moral dilemma here, no horror in aborting the girl's children. She takes no stand against forcing a nine-year old, already traumatized by rape, to undergo an abortion. Abortion, after all, is the Feminist Sacrament. The real kicker is that she directs her outrage at the Church for announcing the excommunications of the mother and doctor. . .excommunications that happened long before the Church even knew the abortions had taken place. The Church did not excommunicate these people. They excommunicated themselves by committing a double-murder. And, AND! These excommunications are really quite simple to lift. Those babies are still dead. And always will be.

I don't know the all the circumstances of this case. I don't need to know the circumstances to call an abortion murder. If it became apparent later in the pregnancy that carrying and giving birth to the twins would kill the girl, then an extraordinarily difficult decision would have to be made. And even if the girl's mother and doctor opted to abort the children, we could never call it good. It would be an evil regardless of circumstance or intent. The only thing that we might say is that culpability for the murders would be somewhat mitigated by circumstances and intent. The object of abortion. . .the ONLY object of abortion. . .is the death of an innocent human person. When can we say that this is a Good Thing? Never.

NOTE: Sign a name to your comments or they will be deleted. HancAquam does not tolerate anonymous hit and run cowards in its com-box!

Coffee Bowl browsing. . .

And yet even more eco-hypocrisy. . .

Lots of Top Ten Lists

Bishop Blair and friend of the CDF Theological Assessment team confront the LCWR

And don't forget to vote for HancAquam in the 2009 Cannonball Blog Awards. . .make ACORN proud and vote as many times as you like.

Big "C" Catholic

Click over to Big "C" Catholic and welcome them to the Papist Blogosphere. . .

They are re-posting installments of my piece, "Put Down the Missalette!"

This was one of my first non-homily postings on HancAquam. . .it caused quite a stir in the comment boxes.

Come on, Jesus! Just tell us!

4th Week of Easter (T): Acts 11.19-26; John 10.22-30
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
Convento SS Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Those among the Jews who flock around Jesus at the Portico of Solomon sound very much like my literature students when we begin reading modern poetry: “Just tell us plainly what all this means!” Growing increasingly impatient with the ambiguity of his metaphors and parables, those following Jesus around town want a straight-forward, plain-spoken declaration that can either be rejected as false or accepted as true. No more vague hints. No more esoteric gibberish. No more stories within stories that excite imagination so that the heart might believe. Like my poetry students, Jesus’ followers want The Answer because they know it’s going to be on The Test. Truly, who can blame them? Unlike my students, however, those among the Jews who have been captivated by our Lord’s preaching and miraculous works are risking their places in heaven by listening to this Nazarean upstart. He is leading them away from the surety and comfort of the temple and the into the potentially deadly desert of faith alone. So, they clamor after him, crying out in frustration: "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." As simply and as plainly as he can, Jesus answers: “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify to me […] The Father and I are one.”

As the philosopher in the crowd, I would be the one to ask those pestering Jesus for clarity: “Um, he says he and the Father are one. But why would you believe that? You are asking the would-be King to declare himself King so that you might know who is King.” One would hope that there is at least one soul in the crowd who would point out, “He says he and the Father are one. He also acts in a way that shows he and the Father are one.” Even the most hard-headed, cold-hearted philosopher would have to admit that an empirically verifiable demonstration of divinity is worth consideration! But demanding such a demonstration misses the point entirely.

Those demanding clarity from Jesus have witnessed his miracles. They have much more than his allegedly flighty stories on which to base their faith. Jesus tells them that it is not a lack of empirical evidence or verbal clarity that impedes their acceptance of his claim to be the Messiah. What’s preventing them from coming into the fullness of his revelation is their lack of belief. They cannot see his works for what they are because do not believe in their Father’s promises. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

First, we must hear the Lord’s voice, then we come to believe. Once we believe, empirical evidence supporting the truth of our belief is irrelevant to our relationship with God. We do not base our love for friends and family on verifiable evidence. Jesus did not perform his miracles as evidence for us to witness, evaluate, and then either accept or reject as proof of his divinity. He cured the sick, fed the hungry, and raised the dead out of compassion, out of love for those who suffer. The question that Jesus’ entire life and ministry—from his virgin birth to his sacrificial death and resurrection—the question he poses to us is this: will you follow me to the cross and suffer for the love of your neighbor? That, brothers and sisters, is an unambiguous question. Now, how do you answer?

Angels, Demons, Liars & Thieves

Excellent review of the movie adaptation of Angels and Demons. . .this is the latest piece of hateful flotsam to be produced by anti-Catholic bigot and Know-Nothing harpie, Dan Brown. Tom Hanks' participation in this farce is disappointing. Note the liberal cowardice of the movie's producers who change the distinctly Muslim/middle eastern name of the assassin in the book to something less potentially offensive to our fatwa-prone friends. Obviously, the producers aren't all that worried that the violent minions of the Evil Catholic Church will kidnap them and make a Youtube video of their beheading.

During the fracas over The DaVinci Code, I was asked many times if Catholics should go see the movie or read the book. My advice then remains the same for Brown's latest excretion: if you want to give your hard-earned money to someone who is willing to lie about the Church to make a profit, do so.

One could argue that Brown's books and their movie adaptations are immoral in themselves. I won't argue this point. I will say, however, that giving Brown your cash is not unlike an Israeli citizen giving a sweet donation to Hamas. To what degree would you be culpable in any anti-Catholic violence that might result from the hatred puked up by Brown's twisted imagination? Your moral cooperation would be remote at best, but why put yourself in the position of even having to ask the question?

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed an incredibly dangerous "hate crimes" bill. Federal prosecutors will be allowed to investigate and prosecute as "thought criminals" anyone who is suspected of inducing by means of "hate speech" a violent act against a member of an enumerated, protected class of citizens, This bill is modeled on similar laws in Canada that have already been used to arrest and charge clergy who preach against same-sex marriage.

Setting aside the obvious First Amendment objections, this bill violates the Fourteenth Amendment by giving selected citizens more protection under the law than others. Anyone remember this: "Some animals are more equal than others?" Violence against someone due to animus toward their religious beliefs is one of the enumerated crimes.

My question: when some whacko vandalizes a Catholic Church, will the Feds go after Brown for his obvious anti-Catholic "hate speech"?

Yea. I'll sit here and hold my breath.

Vote for Me!

Bring Hope and Change to sinners!

Vote for HancAquam in The Crescat's 2009 Blog Awards!

HancAquam has been nominated in the following categories:

Best Blog By a Religious Who Is Not Fr. Z.
Best Political Blog (not the American Papist)
Best Church Militant Blog

HancAquam promises not to raise your taxes. . .
Not to torture anyone. . .well, maybe the occasional Moonbat. . .
Not to disclose national secrets to terrorists. . .
Not to nominate pro-abortionists to the judiciary. . .
And not to drool on its followers!*

A book on every shelf. . .a Coffee Bowl in every pantry!

*Campaign promises are subject to revision once HancAquam actually reads the memos and knows what it is talking about.

A prayer for The Won's Supreme Court appt.

This prayer won't be in my book, but it is too good not to pass on:

O Dark Gods of Politics, Thou who Dwell under Rocks, please visit upon them that which Thou so cruelly visited upon Bush the Elder, when he who was called Sununu pronounced the appointment of a stay-at-home momma’s boy sheep farmer a “home run,” and Thou made of him a Flaming Lib.

I know this is asking a lot, O Vile Lords of Contrariness, Stupidity, Corruption, Vice, Narrow Self-Interest and Betrayal, Wretched be Thy Names, for Thou hath ordained of late that door shall swing mainly in the other direction. Find for him, Thy Anointed Won, a lefty handwringer who legislates most stridently from the bench, a champion of absurdity, let us see this scoundrel exalted, and then dispatch the Winged Monkey of Thy Perversity to throw his Righteous Wrench into those works!

This is my earnest prayer, O Frightful Ones, who have so capriciously visited wide stances, no WMD, and the likes of Specter and Powell upon us, lo, these many years!

I almost (almost!) dropped The Coffee Bowl at "Winged Monkey of Thy Perversity"! Hilarious.

Mille grazie! Grazie mille!

Though some of my more skeptical brothers seriously doubt this, this blog would exist if no one ever even looked at the WISH LIST.

That readers not only look at the list but also purchase books and send them to me is Pure Gravy. I am consistently amazed at the generosity of the God's People! There is almost nothing more useful to a Dominican preacher/student/professor than a good book. . .especially when EU book prices are sometimes double what they are in the U.S. Factor in the exchange rate. . .well, you can do the math.

I've also received offers of financial help and technical assistance with a new laptop when my trusty DELL needs replacing. . .offers of assistance in getting back to the U.S. in this summer. . .offers for home-cooked meals and an evening's visit. . .even an offer to help me with my luggage and a ride home when I make it back!

So, once again, I am granted the opportunity to express my thanks to God and His people for His generosity and the resulting generosity of those who find something useful in my little blog-ministry.

Daily, I receive assurances of prayer and fasting for my personal intentions and the health of my family back in the boonies of Mississippi. There's no expressing my gratitude for this. I can only admit to being awed by the movement our Lord's Spirit among His people.

Despite my all-too-frequent lapses into crankiness, I live in hope, trusting fully in the promises of God that Christ's victory over darkness and despair is complete. As we move inexorably into more and deeper conflicts with the powers of this world, we must keep squarely in front of us the sure knowledge that the battle is won. The race is over. Laying claim to this victory and then behaving accordingly is not only the key to our survival but our baptismal duty. . .and I daresay, our privilege.

So, a thousand Thank You's to HancAquam readers, Book Benefactors, commenters, fellow-cranks, and lurkers. We got nothing to lose b/c the battle is won!

God bless, Fr. Philip, OP

A few titles from the upcoming prayer book

The book manuscript is slowly approaching its First Draft Form. . .almost ready to be sent to my lovely editor, Deb, at Liguori!

I thought I would share a few titles from the table of contents:

Three Mystical Novenas (Via Negativa, Via Positiva, Via Sophia)
Litany to Mary, Co-redemptrix
Novena of the Lord's Prayer
Litany to the Unsayable God
Novena Sacramentum caritatis (as in Pope Benedict's post-synodal exhortation)
Litany on the Way
Psalm Novena for Growing in Holiness
Novena for the Discernment of a Priestly Vocation

How's that sound?

Coffee Bowl Browsing...

Home security tips for that summer vacation

Coup at the U.N.!

For all you science-geeks and science-geeks-wanna-be's (like me!)

Isn't "skeptical Christian" an oxymoron?

Links to canonical and non-canonical writings of the early Church

Basic answers to basic questions about the Catholic faith

Why do we put-up with Catholic-bashing?

Manly athletes behaving manly (or, "Spirit of Vatican 2 theologians react to papal encyclical")

For when you are too busy for the hot tub

I need a new desk chair!

For the smart-mouths among us (hilarious)

The coming zombie apocalypse: biblical proof!

Red State rebellion based on the 10th Amendment

How Obama got elected: media malpractice

Great media site for commentary on the Obamanation

Motivational poster for philosophers!

Goofing off...

Toldjah it was a religion. . .His Immenseness Pope Gore I must be so proud.

Why does this sort of thing drive me nuts?

OK. . .my day doesn't seem quite so bad now.

After I get a new laptop, I'm gonna get one of these.

I have enough trouble with the alphabet we use now!

Back to work!

$328,825 for a photo

Drudge is reporting that the Air Force One joyride over Manhattan--the one that Obama knew N.O.T.H.I.N.G. about--costs us $328, 825.

I suppose we should be thankful. The Abortionist-in-Chief could have sent those taxpayer dollars to Mexico and paid for 1,096 abortions (assuming that Moloch charges the going rate in the US south of the border: $300 each).

So, the "publicity stunt" over Lady Liberty quite possibly saved the lives of almost 1,200 kids.

Ah, Hope and Change. . .Change and Hope.

Painting Obama as the crucified Christ not intentional

Update on the painting of the Obamessiah:

from Michael D'Antuono, the painter of the piece:

"The idea of the piece, or the reaction that I'd hoped for, was to highlight our nation's deep partisan divide and how our interpretation of the truth is really prejudiced by our political perspective and I think that to a large degree we are being manipulated by the media. I miss the old day when we just have the facts. Now we have pundits and spin and strategists.

I just thought that through that painting people would see different things. The right and the left would have different interpretations of it based on their political lens. But I have to admit I was very surprised that instead of that I got thousands of email complaining on the religious front. And that was not my intent at all. I wanted to create a dialog politically but not religiously. I didn't mean to make fun of anybody's religion; maybe I did so naively but I didn't mean it that way. In the bible Jesus is The Truth and comparing Obama that way isn't something I meant to do at all.

Apparently, I've upset a lot of people. And I've decided that's not what I wanted to do and I'm not going to display it in the park on Wednesday ... art is meant to be somewhat provocative but the religious element went way farther than I had anticipated."

OK. . .first, I'm very glad that people let this guy know what they thought about his painting. Second, though I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, I find it extraordinarily difficult to believe that he didn't know what he was doing when he chose the crucifixion as his model. Third, I am amazed at his thoughtful response to the public's criticism. Normally, artists long for the sort of public ridicule that this sort of painting receives. Great for publicity. Great for the artist's self-delusion that they are "cutting-edge." Great for raising one's creds in the art world as a self-anointed martyr.

Question: should he have withdrawn the painting from exhibition?

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but. . .

Now. . .if I were one of those tinfoil-hat-wearing-New World Order-ruled-by-alien-reptiles conspiracy types, I would be foaming at the mouth right now. . .

Test run for the next 9/11: just making sure!

Scaring up some pretext for martial law?

Run it up the flagpole and see who genuflects. . .or doesn't.

Laying the groundwork for an anti-Church?

The Unblinking Eye watches you watching It

The gospel of Global Peril frightens children, pets, and old ladies

The fastest way to a man's tinfoil hat is through his stomach

Taliban peace-lovers going nuclear?

The battle plan in three parts: American EU, The One's Deception, the Grand Strategy

Christian teaching becoming thought-crimes

No worries! He's coming. . .to take care of us all.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Nor do I believe that This is the End of the World as We Know It. What I do find fascinating is the sharp uptick in stories and commentaries that use apocalyptic language and images to convey basic political disagreements. Both the Left and the Right indulge in this sort of hyperbolic rhetoric. Perhaps this is a remnant of our evangelical Protestant history. Perhaps it just makes good reading on the internet.

Or perhaps I'm an unwilling dupe of our Reptilian Overlords and vehement denial by seemingly rational, well-educated people is all part of the conspiracy!

Back to work. . .

Glendon declines N.D. award

That bacon you smell frying is Fr. Jenkins of Notre Dame fame. . .

Just announced: Mary Ann Glendon has declined the Laetare Medal awarded to her by the university and has said that she will not attend this year's graduation honoring our Abortionist-in-Chief, the Obamessiah.

The letter is posted at First Things. Demand on the site is causing a slow download, so be patient.

The most telling element of this letter is Prof. Glendon's assertion that she is declining the medal and the invitation b/c Jenkins used her attendance in his "talking points" to cloud the issue of The One's invitation with a thin veneer of "balance." She also spanks him for ignoring the USCCB's guidelines on not inviting and honoring pro-abortion speakers on Catholic campuses.

Good for her!

Obama is not the Anti-Christ. . .he's Christ himself

"The Truth"

Nah. Not scary at all. Not even a little bit. What's the big deal?

Oh, and here's the Obamessiah's Mary Magdalen

Books I've read about. . .(UPDATE)

As I scurried around my room looking for a prayer book this morning, it occurred to me that I haven't begged for books in a while. . .not very mendicant of me.

So, I got out my "Books I've Read About But Not Yet Read and Need To List" and updated the WISH LIST! I've focused on books that will I will use when I start teaching here in the fall (God willing. . .).

(UPDATE: Wow! Thanks for the quick response to my begging. . .I guess it doesn't hurt to ask, uh?)

I recently rec'd two books (authors Pannenberg & Staniloae) that will be acknowledged with a Thank You card tomorrow morning.

Please keep up the prayers as I finish the manuscript for my own prayer book (linked to the right). So far, everything is right on schedule.

As alway, mille grazie. . .grazie mille!

P.S. And yes, I will be getting back to weekly homilies once the manuscript is done.

A Dominican bear in Rome!

This will be me if I don't cut my hair and trim my beard very, very soon!

H/T: The American Papist

Coffee Bowl Browsing

Yet another reason to think that Super Nanny States are a bad idea

Protestant sect lays illegit claim to apostolic succession (Ugly Vestment Alert!)

Bishop D'Arcy spanks Fr. Jenkins for consulting with everyone but his own bishop

Faith on the Edge: GodSpy

The Civic Vices

My latest addiction

Book reviews, book reviews, book reviews

And even more book reviews

A George Weigel on-line archive

26 philosophical lectures on life, death, the soul, immortality

Eccentric words of wisdom

Funny philosophical one-liners (prepare to groan)

Jane Austen zombified

The Crescat: Cannonball Blog Awards 2009

Truly, I am honored!

HancAquam has been nominated for recognition by the 2009 Cannonball Blog Awards, "a blog award not dominated by the usual suspects," in the category: "Best Blog by a Religious Who's Not Fr. Z."

These awards are meant to recognize "minor bloggers," those of us who don't get Mark Shea's and Fr. Z.'s level of traffic (e.g., HancAquam is averaging about 360 hits daily).

Head over and suggest a couple of more categories. . .my fav so far: "Best Bat Sh*t Crazy Blog"!

I'll keep you posted when voting starts. . .

Laptop of my future?

If and when (God forbid!) I need to get a new laptop, I've decided that it will be this one:

Toshiba Satellite P305-S8904 (link)

I've configured it for the max bang for my mini bucks. . .this configuration is $870.00:

Processor: Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T6400 (2.00GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB) Operating System: Windows Vista® Home Premium (SP1, 32-Bit version), Microsoft® Office Software: Microsoft® Office Ready w/Microsoft Office Pro 2007, 60-day Trial Memory: 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz SDRAM (2048MBx1) Display: 17.0" Diagonal Widescreen WXGA+ TruBrite® display (1440x900) Graphics Controller: Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD Hard Disk Drive: 60GB HDD (5400rpm, Serial-ATA) Optical Drive: DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive Wireless: Wi-Fi®Intel® WiFi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n) Battery: Lithium Ion battery (6-Cell, 4000mAh) Standard Warranty: 1 Year Standard Limited Warranty

Since most of this is complete gibberish to me, I would appreciate comments!

By comparison, what do we think of this one? (Satellite L355)

more Coffee Bowl Browsing. . .

Planned Parenthood: killing babies and abetting child rape since 1921 (video embedded)

Church of Global Warming extremists scaring kids into obedience

This would never happen to me. . .I barely fit in the in-flight outhouse

It worked! Doesn't matter. . .it's still wrong

Left-lib journalist calls The One's stand against charter schools a sin

A lesson in republican (not GOP) values

The (very) positive side of the long-awaited "biological solution"

Martyred on the gallows of Tolerant Leftist Harpies

Pultizer Prizes announced! One of my fav poets won: W.S. Merwin

The Myth/Reality of "green jobs". . .hint: H.U.G.E. failure in Spain

The nation's most liberal court upholds the Second Amendment

Chunky Monkeys Skunking Climate, or Al Gore Wants You on a Diet!

OK. . .the Church of Global Warming is getting even more hysterical since recent polls show that their alarmist propaganda isn't working on the American public.

Case in point: Fatties are causing global warming. Apparently, idiocy in the service of ideology has no shame.

H/T: Drudge

The weight of convincing truth

Look! A homily! Remember those. . .?

2nd Week of Easter (T): Acts 4.32-37; John 3.7-15
Fr. Philip N. Powell, OP
Convento SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

If I were to tell you that I witnessed the student protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, while teaching English in China, you might want to know how I felt and what I was thinking. If I were to tell you that I witnessed the end of WWII, the surrender of the Axis Powers to the Allies in 1945, you might begin to wonder a bit about my age. If I were to tell you that I witnessed Pontus Pilate abandon Christ to the brutal mercies of the crowd in first-century Jerusalem, you would smile sympathetically, pat me on the shoulder, and then tell your friends, “That Fr. Philip is a really nice guy, but sometimes he lies.” If then, I were to bear witness to Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection from the dead, would you believe me? What is it that gives our witness the convincing weight of truth?

Nicodemus, Jewish political and religious leader, wealthy, upright citizen, approaches Jesus at night and poses several questions about the nature and necessity of being “born again.” In the dark of his night, Nicodemus seeks Christ’s light. Unfortunately, Jesus’ answers lead to more questions. Eventually, Jesus chastises Nicodemus, saying, “[…] we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” Jesus is putting the burden of belief on Nicodemus, chastising him for not accepting his witness to the truth of earthly things. But let’s look at it from Nicodemus’ view. What reason has Jesus given him to believe his testimony? What gives Jesus’ witness the convincing weight of truth?

Let’s bring this question home: why should anyone who does not believe the Church’s witness to Christ take our testimony about Christ as evidence for the truth of the gospel? Why should the non-believer believe you when you say, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!”? We have a hint in Acts: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind […] With great power the Apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus[…].” How did they bear this witness: “[…] no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common […] There was no needy person among them […].” In other words, the apostles and those with them lived the death and resurrection of Christ with one heart and mind, dying to selfish want and rising to a new life in the Body. Did this public witness prove the truth of the faith? Not to everyone. But living the witness we proclaim, and not merely proclaiming it, tilts the scale of credibility heavily in our favor.

If our witness is to one faith, one baptism, one Lord, and we live as if there were many faiths, lots of baptisms, and multiple lords—a limitless diversity of opinion and unlimited options—then no one should believe us. If we proclaim a gospel of one heart and one mind in Christ, and then live as if there are countless hearts and numerous minds in many different Christs, no one should believe us. And no one will. We must lift up the Son of Man, Christ Jesus, not only with our tongues but with our hands as well. No other way will give our witness the weight of convincing truth.

New Laptop. . .but which one? (UPDATED)

OK. . .spoke with The Boss recently and there's general agreement that if a new laptop becomes necessary. . .well, it's necessary.

So, here's the question: in the event that a new laptop is needed, which one do I get?

Keep in mind the following requirements:

1). $800-$900

2). 17" screen (my eyes can't see anything smaller w/o ramping up the font-size to 16pt!)

3). I use my laptop for writing papers, blogging, general web browsing, and the occasional DVD.

4). No heavy graphics, music, chatting, gaming, web design, or anything much beyond basic academic work and blogging.

5). Nothing ugly. (OK--not really a requirement, but if it can be nice, why not?)

6). Right now I have a 4.5 year old Dell Inspiron 9300. Meets all of my requirements just fine. I have had no problems with this model until just recently. Foxfire has been crashing a lot lately, but that's not DELL's fault.

So. . .Geeks of the Catholic blogosphere: what say YOU!?

UPDATE: I'm reading every comment and taking notes! Keep 'em comin'. . .

Cover and link to my Prayer Book!

Here's my book from Liguori Publications. . .Due out on Sept 15, 2009

Treasures Old and New: Traditional Prayers for Today's Catholic


Please link and spread the good news!

More Catholic stuff!

Here's some Good News! Orthodox Catholics are hopeful about the Church's future. "Progressive" Catholics are not. (This is not to be taken to mean that Progressive Catholics cannot also be Orthodox--they can.)

The Vatican fights back. . .calls Belgian parliamentary condemnation of the Holy Father's statement on condom use "an attempt at intimidation."

Virgin Mary, Ark of the Covenant?

Mater et Magistra. . .Archbishop Charles Chaput on the Church as Mother and Teacher (link fixed)

Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP on "Reading Genesis with Cardinal Ratzinger"

The 1962 Sancta Missa with text and audio!

Traditional Catholic books from Sophia Institute Press: $2.00!

Jimmy Akin's Internet Question Box: answers to all your Catholic questions

The MP3 Library: Gregorian Chant

Catholic radio, TV, and podcasts at Catholic Tuner

LCWR: prophets of futility & New Age gnosticism

Again, waiting for my bowl of coffee to kick in, I did a little browsing on the website of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). They have posted information about their annual assemblies, including the texts of the presidential addresses and keynote speeches.

I read through several of the keynote speeches, and I noticed a couple of themes (that's what we Old Lit Teachers do--look for themes). Here's just a few in no particular order:

1. "Mission": all of the addresses I read (four of them) exhort the sisters to mission. But never the mission of the Church that we would recognize as evangelization, that is, the preaching and teaching of the gospel that Christ gave to the apostles. The mission the sisters are exhorted to take up is always, always some form of left-liberal social engineering disguised as caring for Earth or insuring access to adequate health for women.

2). Insularity: despite the exhortations to "mission," all of the addresses I read include broad descriptions of the history of women religious as a way of "situating" the experience of these women within their own "mission," in other words, they spend a lot of page space on talking to one another about one another's grand innovations after the VC2 and how these innovations are radically different from anything that's come before. There's quite a bit of self-congratulation here, along with laundry lists of excuses why their missions have failed to produce global results. The villian in their failures, by the way, is always the hierarchy. Big surprise.

3). "Prophetic": as a corollary to their mission and insularity, the addresses harp on how "prophetic" women religious are in these innovations. As far as I can tell, "prophetic" means whatever they want it to mean. It clearly does not mean what the Church means by the term. If the examples used are typical, "prophetic" means something like "doing what we please and then accusing the Church of being too traditional, oppressive, and isolated from the world for not following our lead." Beware self-anointed prophets!

4). "We missed out": probably the most interesting theme is what I will call the We Missed Out theme. This theme arises in several discussions of the scientific and technological revolutions of the 20th century. Apparently, this theme is meant to demonstrate the superiority of a modernist worldview over and against a wholly Christian worldview. But what arises is a kind of lament that these women have somehow missed out on the revolutions and long to stir one of their own so as to feel somehow prophetic. I've found a similar theme in recent court opinions allowing same-sex "marriage"--judges too young to have participated in the heady days of near absolute judicial power during the civil rights era of the 60's invent a place for themselves in legal history by making what laws they can from the bench. We want to shine. . .but a light we ourselves generate.

5). Futility: without exception the addresses I read painted depressing portraits of women religious as a tiny rebel band fighting the Sheriff of Rome. As part of the insularity painted by these addresses is a tragic sense of loss and the futility of their "mission" in the face of overwhelming authoritarian oppression by men. Apparently, we are to believe that women religious in the U.S. are guerrilla-fighters engaged in a war of attrition against the Church. Unfortunately for them, the attrition is all on their side. Rhetorically, these portraits serve an important purpose: by painting themselves as righteous rebels fighting a losing battle agaist the Man, the sisters are able to both continue their rebellion and justify their material failures all the while claiming moral victory. Neat, uh?

6). Jesus ain't the Way: also without exception the addresses forthrightly deny Jesus' own claim that he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As a way of undermining the Church's legitimate mission of evangelization, Jesus becomes just another good guy with a really cool message of pacificism, egalitarian communal life, and a feminist concern for eco-politics. In one address, delivered by Joan Chittister, the arrival of mosques in historically Christian lands is celebrated as a great advance for liberty and the pursuit of religious diversity. She argues that worrying about the decline in numbers of women religious is a "capitalist question" and holds that the the decimation of covents and monasteries after VC2 is a good sign for the Church! Apparently, the complete loss of a discernible Christian identity among some women religious is to be celebrated as a movement of the Holy Spirit and a great advance in human-spiritual evolution.

7). Monotonality: the addresses are uniformly written and delivered by women religious who tell the gathered sisters only what they wanted to hear. There were no addresses that seriously challenged any of the preconceived notions held dear by these women. Without exception. the meme's of "We Are the Future and Our Agenda is of God" is heard in terms of ecclesial revolution and theological dissent. Not one address challenged the sisters to rethink their assumptions along orthodox lines. Not one address asserted a theme, idea, theology, or political notion that would upset or stir the secular feminist pot these women are stewing in. Despite the constant harping on the need for a variety of voices to be heard in the Church and the desperate need for new ideas among God's people, these addresses repeated in predictable loops one stale feminist cliche after another. Ironically, the obstinate refusal to listen to different voices is routinely described as a failing characteristic of the male-dominated Church hierarchy!

8). New Stories: as a result of the We Missed Out theme, the addresses pull on recent developments in cosmology to construct "new stories" about creation, space-time, human evolution, and the role of consciousness in our pursuit of holiness. Of course, none of these new stories read like anything found in scripture, tradition, science, or Church teaching. In fact, the purpose of the new stories is to lay a narrative foundation for a particularly gnostic-feminist view of the human person that "frees" us from the confines of patriarchal thinking by re-situating the human race as just another evolved species living and dying in a vast cosmos. Routinely, the addresses privilege "new cosmologies" over and against our biblical narratives of creation and the end of space-time, and undermine God's Self-revelation in scripture. Rhetorically, the new cosmologies give the sisters a means of defying our Judeo-Christian tradition with the authority of modernist science. Unfortunately, their grasp of the scientific details of cosmology is woefully inadequate, leaving them to play with a pathetic parody of actual cosmological theories.

Let me point out here that the LCWR is a leadership conference. By no means am I attributing these themes or attitudes to all women religious in the congregations that participate in the LCWR. I know sisters in LCWR congregations who fret about the feminist turn of their communities and lament the loss of their Christian identity to trendy New Age gnosticism. Younger women religious aren't buy this anti-Church junk food, choosing instead to nourish themselves on the vast variety of legit Catholic traditions well within the generous range of orthodoxy. My fisking here is directed at the addresses themselves and what they tell us about what the LCWR is hearing and/or wants to hear. As anyone who's a member of a large organization knows: leadership is often way, way out in front of those they lead. . .sometimes too far out. I think this is certainly the case with the LCWR.

I could go on. . .but it's time for another bowl of coffee!

Notre Dame prez will not "dialogue" with his own students

Apparently, Fr. Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, is prepared to "dialogue" with our Abortionist-in-Chief but not with his own students. Fr. Jenkins is prepared to subject this year's graduating class to a monologue from The One and call it dialogue, but he is not prepared to sit down with those he is charged with educating and assure them that N.D. is essentially Catholic.

. . .thus putting to death the excuse that The One's invitation to Notre Dame is all about "dialogue."

Feminism + New Cosmology = Jesus Doesn't Save

This is why the Vatican is performing a "theological assessment" of women's religious congregations in the U.S. . .

In the keynote address to the Leadership Conference of Religious Women, Sr. Laurie Brink, OP lays out four options for the future of religious women in the U.S. In one of these options, she reports (in part):

The dynamic option for Religious Life, which I am calling, Sojourning, is much more difficult to discuss, since it involves moving beyond the Church, even beyond Jesus. A sojourning congregation is no longer ecclesiastical. It has grown beyond the bounds of institutional religion. Its search for the Holy may have begun rooted in Jesus as the Christ, but deep reflection, study and prayer have opened it up to the spirit of the Holy in all of creation. Religious titles, institutional limitations, ecclesiastical authorities no longer fit this congregation, which in most respects is Post-Christian.

When religious communities embraced the spirit of renewal in the 1970s, they took seriously that the world was no longer the enemy, that a sense of ecumenism required encountering the holy “other,” and that the God of Jesus might well be the God of Moses and the God of Mohammed. The works of Thomas Merton encouraged an exploration of the nexus between Eastern and Western religious practices. The emergence of the women’s movement with is concomitant critique of religion invited women everywhere to use a hermeneutical lens of suspicion when reading the androcentric Scriptures and the texts of the Tradition. With a new lens, women also began to see the divine within nature, the value and importance of the cosmos, and that the emerging new cosmology encouraged their spirituality and fed their souls.

As one sister described it, “I was rooted in the story of Jesus, and it remains at my core, but I’ve also moved beyond Jesus.” The Jesus narrative is not the only or the most important narrative for these women. They still hold up and reverence the values of the Gospel, but they also recognize that these same values are not solely the property of Christianity. Buddhism, Native American spirituality, Judaism, Islam and others hold similar tenets for right behavior within the community, right relationship with the earth and right relationship with the Divine. With these insights come a shattering or freeing realization—depending on where you stand. Jesus is not the only son of God. Salvation is not limited to Christians. Wisdom is found in the traditions of the Church as well as beyond it.

[. . .]

There you have it, brothers and sisters, the rotted core of "Post-Christian" theology among the detritus of religious feminism in the U.S.

It's not entirely clear from the address which of the four options Sr. Laurie prefers. The address is difficult to read b/c of its overall tone and protest-rally placard sloganeering. Sr. Laurie can't seem to decide if the Church spends most of its time and energy oppressing women or ignoring them. Or perhaps the Church is oppressing them by ignoring them? This indecision is revealed, for the most part, in the pervasive rhetoric of victimization and her choice to the repeat anti-Catholic stereotypes most often found on the pages of the NYT.

Sad.

UPDATE: For those wondering why the so-called "Sojourning Sisters" refuse to do the obvious and honest thing and just leave the Church that has allegedly made their spiritual lives so unbearable, here's my semi-professional diagnosis: "Rebels Without a Clue."

H/T to Mark Shea

Obama's torture loophole

For those who (mistakenly) believe that The One has ended or intents to end the Bush policy of using torture on enemy combatants:

Obama ready to ban harsh interrogations
Jan 16, 2009

[...]

However, Obama's changes [to the Bush policy] may not be absolute. His advisers are considering adding a classified loophole to the rules that could allow the CIA to use some interrogation methods not specifically authorized by the Pentagon, the officials said. They said the intent is not to use that as an opening for possible use of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

[...]

For Obama, who repeatedly insisted during the 2008 presidential campaign and the transition period that "America doesn't torture," a classified loophole would allow him to follow through on his promise to end harsh interrogations while retaining a full range of presidential options in conducting the war against terrorism.

The proposed loophole, which could come in the form of a classified annex to the manual, is designed to satisfy intelligence experts who fear that an outright ban of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques would limit the government in obtaining threat information that could save American lives. It would also preserve Obama's flexibility to authorize any interrogation tactics he might deem necessary for national security.

However, such a move would frustrate Senate Democrats and human rights, retired military and religious groups that have pressed for a government-wide prohibition on methods they describe as torture. . .

[...]

Of course, The Loophole has to be classified.

Unsigned comments will be deleted. Permission is given to re-post or reprint with attribution for non-commercial use only.

Obama does some good

Probably the only good thing to come out of The One's election. . .

Update: Lord! Even the French think B.O. is a wimp. Next thing you know The One will be getting spanked by Luxembourg!

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The Devil is after my DELL!

AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!

Another yellow line has appeared on my monitor. . .

I think the Devil is trying to prevent me from finishing this manuscript!

Pray H.A.R.D.!

Progress on the Book

The novenas are more or less done. . .

Just seven more litanies, and I'll be finished with the first draft of the book!

(oh, and all the editing, repagination, and revising. . .sigh. . .)

Keep those prayer coming, please!

More info than you can shake a rosary at...

While waiting for my first bowl of coffee to kick in, I compiled these links to useful info for Catholics. Enjoy!

Basic overview of Catholic teaching for Catholics, new Catholics, and returning Catholics

Church documents on the liturgy

Bible translations, original biblical language dictionaries, canon law texts

Tons of Catholic info regularly undated (recent papal appts., documents, liturgical calendar)

HUGE site linking all things Catholic

Info on Eastern Rite Churches in communion with the Holy Father

Articles about the "Latin Mass," i.e. the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite

What's wrong about liberalism

Huge list of novenas. . .if you pray one of these, don't forget your fav Dominican!

And let's not forget my favorite Dominican website. . .

Benedict XVI on the Resurrection

Excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI's Easter Vigil homily:

In the resurrection, we see the most sublime fulfilment of what this text describes as the beginning of all things. God says once again: “Let there be light!” The resurrection of Jesus is an eruption of light. Death is conquered, the tomb is thrown open. The Risen One himself is Light, the Light of the world. With the resurrection, the Lord’s day enters the nights of history. Beginning with the resurrection, God’s light spreads throughout the world and throughout history. Day dawns. This Light alone – Jesus Christ – is the true light, something more than the physical phenomenon of light. He is pure Light: God himself, who causes a new creation to be born in the midst of the old, transforming chaos into cosmos.

Leo the Great on the Resurrection

Sermon LXXII: On the Lord's Resurrection, II (Leo the Great, ca. 440-461)

III. The presence of the risen and ascended Lord is still with us.

And so, dearly-beloved, if we unhesitatingly believe with the heart what we profess with the mouth, in Christ we are crucified, we are dead, we are buried; on the very third day, too, we are raised. Hence the Apostle says, "If ye have risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting on God's right hand: set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. For when Christ, your life, shall have appeared, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." But that the hearts of the faithful may know that they have that whereby to spurn the lusts of the world and be lifted to the wisdom that is above, the Lord promises us His presence, saying, "Lo! I am with you all the days, even till the end of the age." For not in vain had the Holy Ghost said by Isaiah: "Behold! a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God wire us." Jesus, therefore, fulfils the proper meaning of His name, and in ascending into the heavens does not forsake His adopted brethren, though "He sitteth at the right hand of the Father," yet dwells in the whole body, and Himself from above strengthens them for patient waiting while He summons them upwards to His glory.

Justin Martyr on the Resurrection

Fragments of the Lost Work of Justin Martyr on the Resurrection (Before 165 A.D.)

Chapter Nine—The Resurrection of Christ Proves that the Body Rises

If [God] had no need of the flesh, why did He heal it? And what is most forcible of all, He raised the dead. Why? Was it not to show what the resurrection should be? How then did He raise the dead? Their souls or their bodies? Manifestly both. If the resurrection were only spiritual, it was requisite that He, in raising the dead, should show the body lying apart by itself, and the soul living apart by itself. But now He did not do so, but raised the body, confirming in it the promise of life. Why did He rise in the flesh in which He suffered, unless to show the resurrection of the flesh? And wishing to confirm this, when His disciples did not know whether to believe He had truly risen in the body, and were looking upon Him and doubting, He said to them, "Ye have not yet faith, see that it is I;" and He let them handle Him, and showed them the prints of the nails in His hands. And when they were by every kind of proof persuaded that it was Himself, and in the body, they asked Him to eat with them, that they might thus still more accurately ascertain that He had in verity risen bodily; and He did eat honey-comb and fish. And when He had thus shown them that there is truly a resurrection of the flesh, wishing to show them this also, that it is not impossible for flesh to ascend into heaven (as He had said that our dwelling-place is in heaven), "He was taken up into heaven while they beheld," as He was in the flesh. If, therefore, after all that has been said, any one demand demonstration of the resurrection, he is in no respect different from the Sadducees, since the resurrection of the flesh is the power of God, and, being above all reasoning, is established by faith, and seen in works.

Words of Wisdom from the 2nd Century

On the Resurrection of the Dead, Athenagoras of Athens (ca. 190)

Chapter One—Defense of the Truth Should Precede Discussions Regarding It

BY the side of every opinion and doctrine which agrees with the truth of things, there springs up some falsehood; and it does so, not because it takes its rise naturally from some fundamental principle, or from some cause peculiar to the matter in hand, but because it is invented on purpose by men who set a value on the spurious seed, for its tendency to corrupt the truth. This is apparent, in the first place, from those who in former times addicted themselves to such inquiries, and their want of agreement with their predecessors and contemporaries, and then, not least, from the very confusion which marks the discussions that are now going on. For such men have left no truth free from their calumnious attacks—not the being of God, not His knowledge, not His operations, not those books which follow by a regular and strict sequence from these, and delineate for us the doctrines of piety. On the contrary, some of them utterly, and once for all, give up in despair the truth concerning these things, and some distort it to suit their own views, and some of set purpose doubt even of things which are palpably evident. Hence I think that those who bestow attention on such subjects should adopt two lines of argument, one in defence of the truth, another concerning the truth: that in defence of the truth, for disbelievers and doubters; that concerning the truth, for such as are candid and receive the truth with readiness. Accordingly it behoves those who wish to investigate these matters, to keep in view that which the necessity of the case in each instance requires, and to regulate their discussion by this; to accommodate the order of their treatment of these subjects to what is suitable to the occasion, and not for the sake of appearing always to preserve the same method, to disregard fitness and the place which properly belongs to each topic. For, so far as proof and the natural order are concerned, dissertations concerning the truth always take precedence of those in defence of it; but, for the purpose of greater utility, the order must be reversed, and arguments in defence of it precede those concerning it. For the farmer could not properly cast the seed into the ground, unless he first extirpated the wild wood, and whatever would be hurtful to the good seed; nor the physician introduce any wholesome medicines into the body that needed his care, if he did not previously remove the disease within, or stay that which was approaching. Neither surely can he who wishes to teach the truth persuade any one by speaking about it, so long as there is a false opinion lurking in the mind of his hearers, and barring the entrance of his arguments. And, therefore, from regard to greater utility, I myself sometimes place arguments in defence of the truth before those concerning the truth; and on the present occasion it appears to me, looking at the requirements of the case, not without advantage to follow the same method in treating of the resurrection. For in regard to this subject also we find some utterly disbelieving, and some others doubting, and even among those who have accepted the first principles some who are as much at a loss what to believe as those who doubt; the most unaccountable thing of all being, that they are in this state of mind without having any ground whatsoever in the matters themselves for their disbelief, or finding it possible to assign any reasonable cause why they disbelieve or experience any perplexity.

Good Friday homilies: 2006 & 2007

Feverishly working on the book manuscript!

Here are my Good Friday posts from the last two years. . .please, forgive my re-posting.

Rejoice! He is dead! (2006)

Today death dies (2007)

2008? I was on a mission-trip with U.D. students during Holy Week.

Just Say NO to P.C. foot-washings!

Q: Any opinion on the yearly controversy over the rubrics regarding the Holy Thursday liturgy for foot washing?

A: I always dread this question! My iron-clad rule is: Say the black, do the red. In other words, read the prayers as they are written in the liturgical books and follow the rules as they are. Following this rule, the priest will wash the feet of twelve men from his parish.

Now, the controversy revolves around two elements of this liturgy: 1) who washes? and 2) who gets washed? Some say: everyone washes; everyone gets washed! Others follow the rubric requiring the priest to do the washing, but they usually try to mix and match the washee's to accommodate some weird need to use this liturgy to express the "diversity" of the parish (as if just looking around in the pews doesn't demonstrate this well enough).

The B.I.G. issue, of course, is whether or not women can be included as washee's. The rubrics clearly require that the washee's be men, males (vir). In the U.S., bishops are allowed to grant pastors an exception to include women. Most do, I would bet. Fine.

What this debate about rubrics usually misses is the whole point of the rite itself. Jesus washes the feet of his disciples in order to show them that he is not only their Master and friend but their servant as well. He will go to the cross as a servant for them (and for us all). The priest, acting in the person of Christ, washes the feet of twelve men in order to liturgically enact this revelatory moment.

This liturgy is not about diversity or tolerance or discipleship or community-building. This is the moment when Christ--fully God, fully man--begins to empty himself in preparation for his passion and for the cross. In one very important way, this liturgy is about who the priest is for his parish--since he is and acts in the person of Christ as head of the Church, the priest is symbolizing his servant-leadership of the community. To use foot-washing on Holy Thursday for any other purpose is simply perverse.

Some will argue that since Jesus tells his disciples "to go and do likewise" that this is reason enough to turn the liturgy in a podiatrical free-for-all. If this is the case, then let's follow the example of scripture precisely. Celebrate the liturgy as it is written and then "do likewise." In other words, the priest will wash the feet of twelve men and then another part of the liturgy can be devoted to the "doing likewise." Or maybe a foot-washing free-for-all liturgy can be planned for another time of the year, or even regularly scheduled during Lent. Not perfect solutions by any stretch, I know.

What is tiresome about this yearly debate is the constant refrain of prog liturgists that this event needs to "express diversity." No, it doesn't. There is no good reason for this liturgy to do any such thing. Why this liturgy should yield to the demands of liturgical political correctness is beyond me. There's no demand that baptisms reflect the parish's diversity. Diversity in confessions? Will every Latino couple getting married in the parish need to find an Asian couple to get married with in order to celebrate diversity? Can three black guys get ordained to the priesthood at the same time, or do they need to wait until at least one white guy is ready for ordination?

Of course, the other possibility is to simply skip it. It's optional.

Condoms (and the West) fail Africa

A bleak story about the failure of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa. . .

Bleak Stories Behind Failed Condom Campaigns
by Chinwuba Iyizoba

Sub-Saharan Africa has two-thirds of the world’s HIV/AIDS cases. So you would think that Western journalists and politicians might condescend to ask us what we think about how to fight AIDS. But they haven’t. A pity, because they would have found that many of us support Pope Benedict XVI’s scepticism about the effectiveness of distributing condoms.

A few days ago, The Lancet, a leading British medical journal which regularly pontificates about public health, slammed the Pope for making “a false scientific statement that could be devastating to the health of millions of people”. I wonder if the editor of The Lancet has ever visited rural areas of Nigeria or South Africa. If he did, he would begin to see why fighting AIDS with condoms is like extinguishing a fire with petrol.

[. . .]

Read the whole piece.

"an incredible audacity under a mock semblance of humility"

Sent to me by an up and coming young Dominican. . .

Pius X, Pascendi Dominici gregis:

With all this in mind, one understands how it is that the Modernists express astonishment when they are reprimanded or punished. What is imputed to them as a fault they regard as a sacred duty. They understand the needs of consciences better than anyone else, since they come into closer touch with them than does the ecclesiastical authority. Nay, they embody them, so to speak, in themselves. Hence, for them to speak and to write publicly is a bounden duty. Let authority rebuke them if it pleases -- they have their own conscience on their side and an intimate experience which tells them with certainty that what they deserve is not blame but praise.

Then they reflect that, after all, there is no progress without a battle and no battle without its victims; and victims they are willing to be like the prophets and Christ Himself. They have no bitterness in their hearts against the authority which uses them roughly, for after all they readily admit that it is only doing its duty as authority. Their sole grief is that it remains deaf to their warnings, for in this way it impedes the progress of souls, but the hour will most surely come when further delay will be impossible, for if the laws of evolution may be checked for a while they cannot be finally evaded. And thus they go their way, reprimands and condemnations not withstanding, masking an incredible audacity under a mock semblance of humility.

While they make a pretense of bowing their heads, their minds and hands are more boldly intent than ever on carrying out their purposes. And this policy they follow willingly and wittingly, both because it is part of their system that authority is to be stimulated but not dethroned, and because it is necessary for them to remain within the ranks of the Church in order that they may gradually transform the collective conscience. And in saying this, they fail to perceive that they are avowing that the collective conscience is not with them, and that they have no right to claim to be its interpreters.

Postings around. . .

A quick round up of excellent blog posts. . .

US gives Italian earthquake victims $50,000. Maybe someone should tell The One that an abortion clinic was destroyed.

Mark Shea untangles the mess some make of papal infallibility.

Diogenes spanks the NCR on their story about why Bishop Morlino fired the feminist "pastor."

He also clears up the confusion over why The One was invited to Notre Dame.

Patrick N. Allit at Inside Catholic recounts the history of Catholic anti-communism.

As Americans we are not only free to speak but free to listen: Freedom to Listen.

Reiki goofiness banned at Catholic wellness center. Someone was listening!

"Misanthropic ecofascism" and The Revenge of Gaia (a book review)

Anna Arco tells us how the tolerant, diversity-loving Austrian "We Are Church" Catholics defied the Pope.

And a funny one from Jeff Miller. . .technology comes to Holy Week!

Bishops spank Notre Dame

Catherine Harmon of Catholic World Report has a round-up of bishops who have spoken out against Notre Dame's shameful invitation of The One to speak at commencement.

If you don't see your bishop listed, you might consider asking him what he thinks about this mess!

H/T: Tom Peters of American Papist

More abortionist folly. . .

The lengths pro-aborts will go to in order to protect their "right" to kill children:

Why A Botched Abortion Case Should, and Does, Inspire Outrage

Sherry F. Colb

For both pro-choice and pro-life advocates, the facts of this case are unsettling and even shocking.

An important feature of the facts that distinguishes what occurred here from abortion more generally is that if the narrative alleged by the prosecution and by Sycloria Williams is accurate, then Belkis Gonzalez – the woman who is said to have placed a live fetus into a biohazard bag – did something that goes well beyond what can be called "terminating a pregnancy."

Indeed, Gonzalez apparently had nothing to do with the termination itself: She did not dilate Williams's cervix or induce labor or otherwise play any role in removing the fetus from Williams's body. It was only after Williams had given birth to her fetus that Gonzalez cut the umbilical cord and deposited the allegedly live, writhing, breathing infant into a biohazard bag, along with gauze and other garbage.

One might argue, as some pro-life advocates have, that there is no meaningful difference between what Gonzalez did and what an abortion provider does, because in both cases, a fetus is killed. This argument, however, ignores one of the main premises of the right to abortion – the bodily-integrity interest of the pregnant woman. Particularly at the later stages of pregnancy, the right to abortion does not protect an interest in killing a fetus as such. What it protects instead is the woman's interest in not being physically, internally occupied by another creature against her will, the same interest that explains the right to use deadly force, if necessary, to stop a rapist. Though the fetus is innocent of any intentional wrongdoing and the rapist is not, the woman's interest in repelling an unwanted physical intrusion is quite similar.

Once the fetus is no longer inside the woman's body, though, killing it is not necessary to preserving the woman's bodily integrity. If Gonzalez had, instead of suffocating the infant in a garbage bag, placed it into an incubator with a respirator, for example, Williams would not have been any more pregnant than she was in the circumstances that actually unfolded. And once Williams was no longer pregnant, and thus no longer occupied by an unwelcome intruder, she had no more right to procure the death of her fetus than did anyone else, including Belkis Gonzalez [. . .]

Commenting on his own post, Chris Johnson notes: "The metaphor proposed is the stupidest ever offered about any subject. To equate an unborn baby with a rapist doesn’t even begin to work. A rapist has a choice of whom he rapes. A fertilized egg cannot declare, 'Oh, hey, I think I’ll park myself in that woman over there whether she wants me to or not.'"

H/T: Chris Johnson, MCJ

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Yes, Rebecca, confessions are allowed during the Triduum!

Is your pastor telling the parish that there will be no confessions after Wednesday this week?

Is he claiming that this is stipulated by the Church?

I've heard this all my Catholic life! (Though I've known that it's not true.)

Fr. Z. says, "Nay! Nay!"

The Church does NOT forbid confessions after Wednesday.

The Book

The book contract with Liguori Press arrived in the mail this morning!

Back to work. . .

Quaking in Rome! (UPDATE 3)

credit: TIMES Online

Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Hits Central Italy (Breibart)

ROME (AP) - A strong earthquake struck central Italy early Monday, killing [150+] people including four children, and causing buildings to collapse, officials and news reports said.

Several people were also reported missing in the area where the quake struck. The quake was felt in much of central Italy, including Rome.

The quake struck about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northeast of Rome at about 3:32 a.m. local time (0132 GMT, 8:32 p.m. EDT), officials said. The Civil Protection Department said the epicenter was near the city of L'Aquila, in the mountainous Abruzzo region.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude was 6.3, though Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put the magnitude at 5.8.

Four children died in L'Aquila after their houses collapsed, the ANSA news agency said.

Massimo Cialente, mayor of L'Aquila, told private Sky TG24 that two people were reported dead in the nearby small town of Fossa. He confirmed reports that another eight were missing in another small town.

The ANSA news agency said the dome of a church in l'Aquila collapsed, while the city's cathedral also suffered damages.

People were woken by the quake and ran into the streets, ANSA said.

The quake was the latest in a series of jolts that struck the area over the past two days.

UPDATE: Video from the BCC

UPDATE 2: Slideshow from the BCC

UPDATE 3: More pics from TIMES Online

Real Men for Christ!

To be a Real Man for Christ!

Drawing God's people to God Himself. . .

Obama Bowing and Scraping to Saudi King

I know quite a few of you really hate it when I post on overtly political subjects. If you are one of these, you will want to skip this post.

President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia (00:55):

Some will claim that this is simply diplomatic protocol. If so, why is Obama the only head of state bowing to the king? If so, why didn't he bow like this to Queen Elizabeth II? Heads of State do not bow to one another.

AND before someone writes it in the combox. . .yes, I know that Bush bowed to the Pope. . .more of a profound nod, really. . .but he should not have done so.