Punditry

With so many Catholic institutions giving honors to people who support abortion and dissidents something needs to be done. The latest examples being Cabrini College giving pro-abortion pro-women preist Catholic Cokie Roberts an award and the Diocese of Miami having an eco-theology nun speak.

The USCCB previously decided

“The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

This of course is not enforced in any way and so dissident business as usual occurs. What the USCCB needs to do is to set up fines that work like what the FCC does. For each occurrence a certain fine is leveled depending on how many intrinsic evils the person being honored supports. Think of the money the USCCB could make and maybe they could even provide scripture without charging for a copyright (even considering how much as I dislike the NAB). Though certainly some bishops/cardinals would go bankrupt paying these fines. Hitting these Catholic institutions in the pocket seems to be the only way to get through to them since supporting intrinsic evils is no big deal to them. If they didn’t pay the fine then they would be taken off the list of Catholic institutions. For some reason they like saying they are a Catholic institution in the tradition of .

Meet the movement that wasn’t afraid to challenge assumptions, question authority — and change the world. See how Marquette interprets the discipline of a Jesuit education amid the chaos of modern life.

So goes Marquette Universities latest ad campaign. I hope this Jesuit 2.0 release is just in Alpha testing because it has a long way to go to get to beta and be better than Jesuit 1.0. Jesuit 2.0 looks more like the Microsoft Vista of Jesuits.

“St. Ignatius revolutionary countercultural Jesuit” is not exactly the tagline that I think he would choose. Especially odd since Marquette University is about as countercultural as the latest fad. Exactly what part of the culture does Marquette resist? Going with the flow is a more accurate description. Though certainly following the Gospel is certainly countercultural in any culture and no one is more countercultural than a saint. The term revolutionary has way too many political connotations to be a good term to use, but certainly repentance and growing in holiness is a complete and dramatic change and thus revolutionary in only that context.

Meet the movement that wasn’t afraid to challenge assumptions, question authority — and change the world.

Question authority – yes that is what the fourth vow is all about don’t you know. I always hated the stupid “Question Authority” bumper sticker. To question authority you have to become the authority to be able to do it. So you then have to question your authority to question authority and on and on Ad infinitum. Now certainly there is a prudence involved in determining who has authority. But to just blindly question authority is a bumper sticker mentality. But to put St. Ignatius and the Jesuits as a movement that questioned authority is silly. St. Ignatius was humble and obedient and such a concept certainly never made it in his teaching. Maybe “Questioning Authority” is in the lost fifth week of the Spiritual Exercises. Jesus told the Apostles “Whoever listens to you listens to me” unless of course you question authority then you can just make it up as you go.

The video than goes on to list the things a Jesuit education helps you to do. Oddly following Christ was not one of the options. Now I take no pleasure in Jesuit bashing since I am quite an admirer of the Jesuit order historically and those Jesuits who weren’t tainted by modernism, but a video and ad campaign such as this drives me crazy.

The commotion over the lifting of the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops goes on and on. It seems that no one is able to make distinctions anymore or make any investigation more than reading a headline or the top lines of a story. Once again any stick will do when it comes to beating the Catholic Church and of course some within the Church are also willing to also pick up that stick and join in.

The lifting of the excommunications does not regularize the SSPX and there are quite a few hurdles to overcome before they can be brought back into the fullness of the Church. A roadblock has been lifted to show good will in the dialog that will occur.

Yet here we are being lectured by the same people that often say “Jesus ate with sinners” or “don’t judge.” The same people that are always talking about inclusion in this case don’t want nothing of the kind when it comes to the SSPX. That because of the nutty and actually offensive beliefs of some of the members of the SSPX, prominently Bishop Williamson, that the whole reconciliation effort must be scrubbed. Commonweal decries the lifting of the excommunications while at the same time crying over Fr. Haight who denies the divinity of Jesus.

From calls for the Pope to step down to a letter from Catholic Congressman it all seems to come down to the same bit of convenient fiction. To believe this you have to accept that the Pope lifted the excommunications because he accepted holocaust denying idiots like Bishop Wiliamson. They have to totally ignore everything he has written and spoke in regards to the Jewish people both as a Cardinal and Pope. Their arguments are so faulty that it is hard to ascribe anything but ill will to those who make them. They at least have not done any due diligence in doing any basic research (hello Google) before opening their mouths or putting pen to paper.

It seems like so often that somebody sees a story and then they figure out how they can use it to advance their own agenda. The service of the truth is not a requirement. Women priests are whining that the SSPX’s excommunications were lifted and theirs were not. Their arguments which include the priest-pedophile argument is a red herring. Many members of the SSPX really do want to end the schism and move into full unity. The women priest movement will not give up their heresy. Reconciliation requires repentance. I want both the members of the SSPX and the women priest movement back fully in communion with the Church, but they both make the same error of holding themselves above the Church by thinking they know better. They both think they are saving the Church.

The letter from the 50 Catholic Democratic Congressmen starts out with the same error mentioned above.

‘we are writing to express our deep concerns with your decision to reinstate Bishop Richard Williamson to communion with the Catholic Church

Obviously there are no IQ tests for congressmen. The first thing you might want to do before signing a letter addressed to the Holy Father is to make sure you are factually correct or perhaps even in the ballpark. I guess I must have missed the announcement that Bishop Williamson was reinstated – what diocese was he assigned? It is also of course true that the majority of these same Catholic Congressman have 100 percent NARAL records. I guess they are also all holocaust deniers. They deny the holocaust of abortion that has killed 50 million children while at the same time voting to support abortion. There have more than a log in their eye when condemning the Pope, I think the Amazon was deforested to provide enough logs for their eyes.

The ignorance or dishonesty of the media is nothing new, just too bad that Catholics join into this.

Yesterday we were not giving money to organizations overseas that provided abortions, today we are – Change.

Yesterday before noon the official White House site did not promote abortion, now it does – Change.

Yesterday we had a President that did not consider that the question of human life was above his paygrade, now we do – Change

Yesterday we had a President who signed the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, today we have a President who voted for infanticide – Change

This is all true so that makes it “Change we can believe in”.

Yesterday I did not blog about President Obama and the inaugural. At that point some of the things he had promised to do were not actualized. For politicians you don’t take them at their word. Certainly I had little if not zero hope that he would not get rid of the Mexico City policy by executive order, but once again a Democratic President makes this a priority with 24 hours.

Cardinal George had written to Obama saying in part:

The Mexico City Policy, first established in 1984, has wrongly been attacked as a restriction on foreign aid for family planning. In fact, it has not reduced such aid at all, but has ensured that family planning funds are not diverted to organizations dedicated to performing and promoting abortions instead of reducing them. Once the clear line between family planning and abortion is erased, the idea of using family planning to reduce abortions becomes meaningless, and abortion tends to replace contraception as the means for reducing family size. A shift toward promoting abortion in developing nations would also increase distrust of the United States in these nations, whose values and culture often reject abortion, at a time when we need their trust and respect.

So much for a “humble” foreign policy. Cardinal George is exactly right about this where often organizations offering aid have strings attached by saying the poor need abortion most. In disaster relief often you will finds containers of condoms and abortion equipment and no basic medicine. This type of imperialistic “family planning” will be back in force with government funding.

From whitehouse.gov.

* Supporting Stem Cell Research: President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that we owe it to the American public to explore the potential of stem cells to treat the millions of people suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases. Obama is a co-sponsor of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, which will allow research of human embryonic stem cells derived from embryos donated (with consent) from in vitro fertilization clinics. These embryos must be deemed in excess and created based solely for the purpose of fertility treatment.

Well in this evil they were one with Sen. McCain. No mention of human cloning though, but he did vote for clone and kill research before.

* Supports a Woman’s Right to Choose: President Obama understands that abortion is a divisive issue, and respects those who disagree with him. However, he has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade a priority in his Adminstration. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in that case.

First I guess they need to raise taxes to afford a spellchecker. Once again we get “abortion is a divisive issue” however we are going to shove it down your throat anyway. Robbery is a divisive issue, now hand over your wallet.

* Preventing Unintended Pregnancy: President Obama was an original co-sponsor of legislation to expand access to contraception, health information, and preventive services to help reduce unintended pregnancies. Introduced in January 2007, the Prevention First Act will increase funding for family planning and comprehensive sex education that teaches both abstinence and safe sex methods. The Act will also end insurance discrimination against contraception, improve awareness about emergency contraception, and provide compassionate assistance to rape victims.

As if people don’t have enough access to contraception here. I guess they consider having to pay for it yourself is a lack of access. Of course compassionate assistance to rape victims does not mean checking to see if they are pregnant first before using an abortafacient like Plan B. The rapist does not get the death penalty, but the innocent person who might be the result of the evil of rape must die.

Some have likened Obama’s presidency as Carter II. More likely Herod II. I would love to be wrong on this and we will just have to see what the Democratic run house passes and President Obama signs.

Some critics of President Obama wish for his presidency to fail. My wish for President Obama is the same that I wish for everyone. That they grow in holiness and one day enjoy the beatific vision. I wish President Obama and his family well and will them the same good as I will for all. As for his presidency then everywhere where he and his administration promotes evil I hope that it fails miserably and is totally defeated. Where he and his administration promotes actual goods I support him totally and wish success.

Update: I just thought of this “Abortion – Change we can bereave in.”

This is going to be quite a week with lots of meaning. Today we start off celebrating Martin Luther King and the mostly successful civil rights movement. We then move to Obama’s Inaugural and then two days after that the anniversary of the murderous Roe v. Wade decision. These three days and the events associated are tied together and it is quite symbolic that Obama’s Inaugural is juxstaposed between them.

Moving first to MLK. I was ten years old when is was assassinated. The elementary school I went to took a day off in the aftermath and this was long before the national holiday. I was told he was a civil rights leaders, though had no idea what that meant. It was not until High School that I started to get an idea about MLK and the civil rights movement when I first started to see pictures and videos of the marches and treatments of blacks in the South. Seeing pictures of segregated water fountains and stores was like seeing a whole different world that you could never have imagined possible. Though growing up in Portland we had our own injustices to blacks that showed itself in a a sort of segregation and poor public schools in those areas. It wasn’t till High Schools that I ever even seen a black person at school. At one point PBS came to my High School to do a documentary because we were the only school in the city where integration of blacks into the school via busing did not result in violence. I don’t know what factors set the school apart other than that we were a rather poor school. I do know that I never heard a racist comment from any of my friends or from others that I knew. No doubt there were problems I was unaware of, but on the whole the school was a positive example of unity.

I wasn’t until I got into the Navy that I really ran into somebody who was actually a racist. I was really shocked to hear what came out of the mouth of this recruit from Georgia. I later ran into him at A school in Memphis, but he was flunking out and being sent to the fleet with no training. Years later I worked with a guy who tried to tell me Robin Trower played the guitar on all of Jimi Hendrix record since Hendrix being black could not be that talented. I laughed in his face at this, but I was dumbfounded somebody could believe this. He also a Neanderthal opinion of women. Everybody in the shop I worked in mocked him and his opinions. Though he worked quite well with the black E-5 in the shop and others and his racist opinions seemed to be more theoretical then on the practical level. Certainly if it had been otherwise he would have been kicked out. But my limited experience has shown me that racists are not the sharpest tools in the box. Racism requires a certain level of stupidity and not thinking things through. It is quite a good thing in that progress that has been made over the year in regards to racism.

With the recent death of Fr. Neuhaus who marched with MLK and at one time was pastor of a predominantly black church in New York we are reminded that he always considered the pro-life movement to be the natural evolution of the civil rights movement. In the start of the post I labeled it the “mostly successful civil rights movement” because of the fact that the civil rights of children in the womb are violated over a millions times a year in the U.S. alone. We have made some progress in getting people to not judge others based on the color of their skin, but have gone backwards in considering a person based on their size. Horton said “A person is a person no matter how small” and their is great wisdom in this Dr. Seuss character. The right to life is the fundamental right and you can not go onto to enjoy other civil rights if you have been slaughtered in the womb beforehand. As long a human persons are discriminated against for factors they have no control over such as skin color or being in the womb at the time the civil rights movement will have a long way to go. With original sin we will always have those who treat others not as persons, but something inferior. But we don’t have to have a government or set of laws that do so and these injustices have to be repaired.

While Fr. Neuhaus correctly saw the linkage of the civil rights and pro-life movement and how they are both based on the dignity of the human person, unfortunately others have not done so. The niece of MLK, Alveda King certainly has talked about this connection. Unfortunately a large number of those who saw the righteousness of the civil rights movement are against the civil rights of those in the womb. It was OK for a Reverend like MLK to lead the civil rights movement, but a religious person being involved with the pro-life movement gets met with cries of theocracy. It was OK for religious persons to be involved in the slavery abolition movement, but they are forcing moral down your throat if part of the pro-life movement. The pro-life movement has made incremental gains, but there is still a long way to go before the need for the March for Life is not longer required.

Which brings us to the inaugural of President Obama between these two events. Some would think that his election represents the answer to the promise of the civil rights movement. There is some truth in this, though I do not think he fulfills the goal of MLK where people are based on the content of their character and not their skin color. I can’t say I am impressed with the content of his character as he called a pro-life group liars for telling the honest truth about his record. That he palled around with a domestic terrorist, listened for years to the sermons of Rev. Wright, and got a cozy house deal with a friend now in prison. But we were to look past all of that for the promise of a post-racial age. That by electing him we would be seeking healing and repairing the evils of the past. Yet they never seem to tell us how electing someone because of their racial heritage is much different from rejecting someone because of their racial heritage. Both attitudes make race the criteria. Plus somehow our post racial society required that a black person must replace Obama’s Senate seat. Sen Burris initially not being seated was described as being similar to dogs being set upon him – sound really post-racial.

As a pessimistic-optimist I will wait and see what the Obama presidency will mean for the unborn. For the man who touted hope I do not have much hope that he will give the unborn hope. An administration filled with pro-abortion supporters in every corner from the top down reminds me that the culture of death will be predominant in the celebratory parades. I trust in God totally to bring good out of evil and that even when the culture of death marches on I know that ultimately it will never triumph. In God there is neither Jew or Greek, black or white, unborn or born; we are all ultimately united in Christ as God’s creation. Though some will separate themselves from him via their own will. Soon to be President Obama needs our prayers as does everybody in his administration.

I saw these silly headlines in the last couple of days about the Apostolic Penitentiary such as “Vatican reveals secrets of worst sins”, “Vatican Secret Confession Tribunal Opens up”, and even “Vatican body: Minnesota professor’s sin worse than genocide” in reference to P.Z. Myers. When it come to headlines and articles about the Church it seems that reporters are always in Dan Brown mode.

Fr. Z looks at one of the articles and replies.

A reader sent me this from the eulogy fort Robert Graham who made the controversial statue of Our Lady above the great bronze doors. He is known for his bronze nudes.

“It is very difficult to describe in our human words the beauty and grandeur of that lady. I remember when Robert had pretty well decided on how he wanted her to look, he invited us over to his studio; and he a small plaster image of what he had in mind and he had it covered. So before he took the cover off I closed my eyes. And he took the cover off and I opened one eye carefully, then opened both widely. And I said, Robert, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” And he said, “It isn’t finished yet. Don’t thank me. I said, “No, Robert, I’m thanking you because Mary is wearing clothes.” [laughter] [article]

I guess that would make her the Dressed Virgin Mary in this case.

I still think that statue is quite horrid. One of my commenters on first seeing it called it St. Sarek, Androgynous Vulcan Moon Goddess. I think he got it right.

Washington DC, Jan 13, 2009 / 11:53 am (CNA).- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers” of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama. [article]

To be honest I was going to engage in character assassination of Prof Kmiec but I found his character too small of a target to be able to assassinate.

Okay cheap shot, but then again we are talking about Doug “It’s all about me” Kmiec. Recently Jay Anderson demonstrated how Prof Kmiec managed to turn a Fr. Neuhaus eulogy into a vehicle all about himself. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the Vatican poisoning Kmiec is concerned with was his chances of becoming Vatican Ambassador since the “right wing” Catholic blogosphere frequently fisked his Obamagetics (Oboma Apologetics). Here we are just a couple days away from President Obama putting pen to paper and eliminating the Mexico City Policy and poor Doug is all up in arms about us bloggers.

Now where can I get my “Member of the Vast Right Wing Catholic Blogosphere Conspiracy” bumper sticker? Surely I deserve one after my Stephen Douglas 1860 Kmiec satirical piece.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, do you have a church here in Washington?

OBAMA: Not yet. And so, one of the things that Michelle and I will be doing is probably visiting some churches and seeing what’s comfortable. It is tougher as president. You know, this is not just an issue of going to church, it’s an issue of going anywhere. You don’t want to subject your fellow church members, the rest of the congregation, to being mugged every time you go to church. And so, we’re going to try to be balancing, not being disruptive to the city, but also saying we want to be part of Washington D.C.
But one of the things that I don’t like historically about Washington is the way that you’ve got one part of Washington, which is a company town, all about government, and is generally pretty prosperous. And then, you’ve got another half of D.C. that is going through enormous challenges. I want to see if we can bring those two Washington D.C.s together. [article]

Translation: I haven’t yet found a predominantly black church where the pastor is not likely to get me into trouble.

On the other hand he seems to think that just by picking a church he can bring these two Washington D.C.’s together. Rather interesting is that his criteria is trying out churches to find which one is “comfy.” Yes the theological distinction of comfiness. Church shopping is of course a normal American pastime. To find a church where you can check off going to church on Sunday without actually being challenged in any serious way and if they have a Starbucks that’s a bonus.

Presidents not going to church services is nothing new. President Reagan said that he did not go “as regularly as I should. I suppose it’s true that a man can be religious without going to church.” His attendance before becoming president was spotty and as president very infrequent.

I bring this aspect up because I find it interesting the difference between the Catholic and Protestant view in this regards. While church going is mostly emphasized in Protestantism, missing one of the services for any reason is not seen as any problem. There is no service like Mass Times for Protestants so that they can make sure they go to a service when on vacation or traveling. Though of course when speaking of Protestantism it is always hard to speak of it as a block and possibly High Anglicans or some Lutherans, etc might take the Sunday obligation more seriously. But for the most part Protestants consider it no big deal if you miss church services. For the most part you can receive all of the benefits of a Protestant service by watching a comparable one on TV. The sermon is the main focus for most Protestants since there is no sacramental component that actually requires personal attendance. So why not just listen to the best sermon on a podcast or from your favorite TV preacher?

The virtue of religion is the duty whose purpose is to render God the worship due to Him. Here is a problem that Catholics and Protestants share is that we go on Sunday often with the primary attitude of wanting something for ourselves. We want good liturgy/homily/fellowship, etc or to be entertained and actual worship of God takes a back pew. While the desire of liturgy/homily/fellowship are goods they are not the primary reason for the Sunday obligation which has it roots in third commandment. Too often we become passive in wanting to receive something instead of uniting ourselves together in worship of God. To quote Kurt Cobain “Here we are now, Entertain us” can be used to describe what many people want out of Mass/service. The key to good liturgy/homily/fellowship, etc is that it helps us to worship God.

As atheist ads hit London’s buses on Tuesday, one faith-based think tank says they will only get people thinking more about God.

The ads by the British Humanist Association carry the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” They are to appear on 30 of London’s bendy buses.

The keyword here is “probably” which makes this rather a weak argument. If a theist tells an atheist there is probably a God this certainly would be rather an unconvincing argument. Atheists often pride themselves on relying only on reason and so I am a bit surprised they picked suck a weak slogan.

If you were told there is “probably” a bridge over the canyon you might not exactly stop worrying. If you were told there is “probably” no poison in your soup by the waitress it would certainly give you pause. If you have an eternal soul and can face eternal judgment, “probably” just does not cut it. Though there is no certainty for either atheists or theists.

…both the believer and the unbeliever share, each in his own way, doubt and belief, if they do not hide from themselves and from the truth of their being. Neither can quite escape either doubt or belief; for the one, faith is present against doubt; for the other, through doubt and in the form of doubt. It is the basic pattern of man’s destiny only to be allowed to find the finality of his existence in this unceasing rivalry between doubt and belief, temptation and certainty. Perhaps in precisely this way doubt, which saves both sides from being shut up in their own worlds, could become the avenue of communication. It prevents both sides from enjoying complete self-satisfaction; it opens up the believer to the doubter and the doubter to the believer; for one, it is this share in the fate of the unbeliever; for the other, the form in which belief remains nevertheless a challenge to him. – then-Cardinal Josef Ratzinger “Introduction to Christianity”

The other aspect of the slogan I found interesting was “stop worrying and enjoy your life.” I suspect many atheists think that Christians and others spend a lot of time worrying about judgment and that it cripples them in some way, especially in regards to judgment. This is kind of the Stephen King view of religious followers where religion always distorts them in some neurotic way like the mother in Carrie. There are certainly those who suffer from scrupulosity and worry too much about judgment. If anything too many Christians live their life without thinking about the last things enough.

What the atheists can not understand or explain is the saints who give themselves totally to God and are the most joyful of us. Though they would explain the saints away as deluded. It is joy not fear that marks the true believer.

Atheists like the secularists (which include many believers that often act like atheism is true) often want to cure the symptoms and not the deeper problems. They would eliminate worrying and guilt if they could and forget that the person who has successfully done so is amoral and often a monster. The message on the bus is really about not worrying, but about not feeling guilty. Their focus is not those who worry about the economy and such, but those who feel guilt for what they do and think about judgment. To stop feeling guilt is to perform a consciencectomy. But it flows out of the atheist naturally since if there is no God, there is no sin and certainly no judgment. They can also not tell Stalin why to not act as he did. With no eternal consequences for actions what Stalin did worked for him.

It is not though that atheists can’t be good people, very often they are. Ironically it is despite their atheism when they are good and because of the light they are given by God and the natural virtues. There have been plenty of attempts by atheists to construct a morality without God that mostly amounts to getting along and prudent ways to go about it. It was Friedrich Nietzsche who truly followed the path of atheism and saw such an attempt as folly. But I guess “Beyond good and evil” just does not work as a bus slogan.