Even though this
story was covered by other preeminent blogs already, it is just too funny to
pass up. Will 2002 be known in Anglican history as the great Elvis Schism? If he
does go into schism and start his own church I would love to see the Elvis
missal; readings such as “You shall hunk a hunk a burning love your neighbor as
yourself” and “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the laces of whose
blue-suede shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”. On Corpus Christi as
the Eucharist is processed outside the building the announcer could say “Jesus
has left the building”.
Yesterday Mark Shea blogged
“One weird phenomenon I’ve noticed on Catholic boards…
is the strange compulsion so many ex-Catholics (especially Fundamentalists) have
to linger around the Catholic Church saying “I’m so glad I’m not Catholic
anymore.”
This indeed is interesting since there are many things that the Church has in
common with individual Protestant denominations and there is not a equal vigor
to attack them. For example infant baptism is done by some Anglicans, Lutherans,
Methodists, and Orthodox churches; Orthodox and High-Church Anglicans have
Iconography and statues of saints. Almost every Catholic practice is practiced
in one form or another in Protestant and Orthodox churches. The only exception
of course is the papacy and I don’t understand how this could bring about such
anger. I couldn’t find a anti-Orthodox site that met the same hatred as the
multiple anti-Catholic sites available. In fact the only anti-Orthodox hatred I
found was for Orthodox Jews, just more of the same idiotic anti-Semitism. It is
a great sadness that these people were so ineptly catechized that they now hate
something that truly exists only in their imaginations. Why do Chick Tracks
present Alberto Rivera as an ex-priest when they know he was never a priest? Why do these groups
publish sensational stories that any amount of investigation would prove false?
No answer here, I don’t understand the motivation. I would be curious to see Gregory Popcak, St.
Blog’s resident shrink and sociologist, tackle this phenomenon.
There has recently been quasi-official statements coming from the Vatican on
seeking UN approval for a just war. I don’t quite understand how UN approval
could make a unjust war just or their disapproval making a just war unjust. The
member nations of the UN are not going to come to a decision based on a Catholic
understanding of the just war theory but will make a decision based on:
1. Political factors – whether they have any alliances with the country in
question and how their population sees it or just about anything else they
consider important.
2. Economic factors – whether they have economic ties
with the country in question or they think that there will be economic
consequences for themselves.
3. Condit factor – What I call the Condit factor
is after Congressman Gary Condit who was the only representative to not vote
censure for Rep. Traficant. Sometimes a country might vote against something if
they think that they could be next.
The UN is not the place to seek a moral determination of anything. Normally
the Vatican fights some UN groups tooth-and-nail to prevent more excursions into
the culture of death. If the UN had been around in WWII they probably would have
issued some joint resolutions against Germany when they invaded Poland but the
thinking of most countries at the time was either appeasement or signing a
nonaggression pact with Germany. When there is starvation and famine UN groups
send condoms and abortion equipment, again not exactly moral leadership. I
understand that Catholic groups and the Vatican try to work within existing
structures to bring good and to that end work with the UN but this influence
wouldn’t affect member countries voting on a resolution. Besides anytime you
combine the UN with a just war you end up with a UNjust war (sorry couldn’t
resist that).
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in a
‘Inappropriate Personal Relationship’
Another example of how our
society changes words to soften or excuse an action. The word adultery has been
changed to extramarital relationship or affair and now ‘Inappropriate Personal
Relationship’. I am not going to throw rocks at this
governor, since last I checked I’m not without sin.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The federal government resumed its
bid to ban Oregon doctors from helping terminally ill patients commit suicide,
filing papers Monday with an appeals court in an effort to strike down the only
such law in the nation.
Attorney General John Ashcroft is seeking to sanction and
perhaps hold Oregon doctors criminally liable if they prescribe lethal doses of
medication, as the voter-approved Death With Dignity Act allows.
“The attorney general has permissibly concluded that
suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose,” Justice Department attorney
Jonathan H. Levy wrote in the appeal filed at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. Full
article
Why is it that the word dignity seems to always pop-up in
undignified groups and laws? Dignitas assists people with suicide in
Switzerland, Dignity discourages people with same-sex attraction from being
chaste, and Oregon’s Death with Dignity act. None of these examples of the use
of dignity makes a human life more respectful, worthy or honored.
…Moves to reduce the age
at which people can watch hardcore pornography from 18 to 16 are to be backed by
Charles Kennedy, the leader of the Liberal Democrats.
In a radical move
which Kennedy argues revealed that the party was truly libertarian on social
issues, the Liberal Democrat leader said he had no problem with proposals
backing the change, to be discussed at this week’s party conference. Full
article
More evidence that England is being torn apart and drawn into
a moral black hole. If 16 is such a good idea, why not 15, 14, etc. If they
wanted to be truly libertarian their government would place no laws on viewing
pornography. Maybe they should change their name to the “Libertine Democrats”
party.
I must confess that when I see neatly laid out text in the form of a poem I
am tempted to immediately skip down past it. I became an avid reader in my high
schools years but mainly read science fiction especially what was considered
“hard” science fiction where the science itself played an integral part of the
storyline. C.S. Lewis once said something to the effect that to be an atheist
you had to be a careful reader. I was very careful it seems and never really
read anything that challenged my world view. But God does work in mysterious
ways and even reading pretty much only in the genres of science fiction and
fantasy I noticed that the characters and heroes I admired most were those that
were virtuous and had the highest moral standards.. I contrasted that with
myself and and saw how much I was lacking in either.
Coming back to the
main point of this post, Steven Riddle of Flos Carmeli roped me in to starting
to try to read poetry. I started reading his blog because of his insights into
the writing of St. John of the Cross and then he started sneaking poetry in.
Other blogs that I admire also would regularly post poetry and I started to
wonder if maybe their enjoyment of poetry also gave them insights into the
spiritual life and the reading of scripture. If the Holy Spirit could inspire
someone to write the Song of Songs and inspire King David to write the Psalms
then there must be something in this poetry thing. Anyway, thanks for those
bloggers out there posting poetry and helping me to get over being a
stanzaphobic; even though I have a long way to go.
My guestmap looks like what would happen if the liberal churches,
radical-feminists and animal-rights activists achieved their goals. There is
only one person in the guestmap world, and the guy in Canada came with the
guestmap. If no one else adds to it I will have to start populating it with my
invisible friends and multiple personalities.
…For more than a year, the Bush administration has
sought ways to illustrate its commitment to multilateralism. Rejoining UNESCO is
the most tangible manifestation of this effort so far.
…In a Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute
(C-FAM) memo requested by the White House and the State Department a year
ago, it was pointed out that social conservatives would object to UNESCO’s
collaboration with the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) and its main NGO partner,
the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). In line with these
groups, UNESCO now advocates for reproductive health services for children. In
U.N. parlance, reproductive health services includes abortion. For instance, one
UNESCO document praises Thailand’s provision of abortion-causing “emergency
contraceptives” to children as an “innovative strategy.”
…UNESCO is also a proponent of the International
Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, a document written by UNAIDS and the
U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights. The document calls on governments to
ensure a “right to safe and legal abortion,” to legalize “same-sex marriages,”
to legalize prostitution, and to provide graphic sexual and homosexual education
to children. The document also seeks the establishment of “criminal penalties”
for people engaged in speech construed to be a “vilification” of homosexuality.
…In the name of AIDS-reduction, UNESCO has fully
embraced reproductive and sex education. In concert with UNAIDS and UNFPA,
UNESCO has created curricula that many social conservatives would believe
undermine parental authority, show disdain for traditional cultures and
religious worldviews, and introduce dishonesty into education. Full
story