Msgr. Eric R. Barr has a blog which includes a book review of The Children of Hurin (which I am currently reading).
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Gregorian Chant, also because of the fact that the cantors are not the centre of attention, is in keeping with the spirit of the Roman Liturgy, as Icons are for Byzantine Liturgy.
…Gregorian Chant which achieves harmony of body and soul was composed by contemplatives rather than great artists; so it inspired Palestrina and can inspire religious music of the future. Certainly Gregorian Chant, John Paul II wrote in the Breve Iubilari feliciter dated 1980, remains the unifying musical bond for Catholics helping them to experience, as Pope Benedict XVI said, the unity of the Church.
The Liturgical Celebration must have a homogenous phonic balance and therefore in chant and prayer a soft voice is best, it is consonant to the attitude of humility and discretion which we should have before God. Hence the need to avoid tones which are «shouted» and to use instead quieter tones proper to prayer in ‘secret’ (cfr. Mt 6,5). In this sense Benedictine Liturgical prayer can be considered a model for our inspiration. Therefore, beginning with the priest who leads the people of God, it would be good, especially on solemnities, to return to the use of Gregorian Chant for the Ordinary, by now familiar in the local language, and perhaps even parts of the Proper of Mass.
From an interesting article on Gregorian Chant, silence and … the Altar Bell
Dawn Eden has a story about during Roe vs. Wade Week at Yale they showed students – not just medical students – how to perform vacuum aspirations for surgical abortions which must be read to be believed.
One part that stuck out for me.
“The reason I wanted to include other people is that it is such a simple procedure, but the media attention around it … makes this an emotionally traumatic and a complicated thing,” Evans said. “It’s just to be like, ‘Here is what actually happens, here is what the medical procedure is like, this is what an aborted yolk sac looks like.’ It looks like a piece of cotton.”
Abortion is a simple procedure. Darn I wish I would have known that. This totally changes everything. I mean how can I be against something that is a "simple procedure." Of course a simple procedure would totally remove the moral weight of anything. Joking aside – that is an idiotic defense of abortion. Shooting someone in the head is a simple procedure. Pushing someone in front of a train is a simple procedure. Execution by chemical injection another simple procedure.
There is a new site that wants to be the home of Catholic bloggers – StBlogs.com (not to be confused with StBlogs.org home of Catholic Light and others). This is a free service that allows you to either start a new blog, or if you currently have one to import your old data and your current template into their system. They also currently include 50 megs of data storage.
So if you are considering starting a blog or are sick of blogger or another system check out stblogs.com. They are currently in beta and there system is based on WordPress which is an excellent publishing system.
In somewhat related news. Joshua LeBlanc who runs cybercatholics.com (which provides good Catholic webhosting) has announced the 2007 Catholic Blog awards.
The Catholic Blog Awards will begin taking nominations on Feb 4 and will end at noon on Feb 9.
Voting will then begin on on Feb 12 and end Feb 16th at noon.
This year we have had a programmer volunteer his time and he will be building a system for us that will require registration and a valid email address to register. Assuming that everything goes as it should, it will all be automated and no results will be displayed until the winners are announced. This will prevent people seeing who is ahead and attempting to rally people to go and vote for them. I think doing this will make things fairer and a true representation of which blogs truly represent.
If you have any suggestions please email them to cba@catholicblogawards.com. Every year Joshua spends much time and effort into making the Catholic Blog Awards work and with a new programmer volunteer this year should have the best system ever. There has been some controversy in past years
Catholic Social Services has recommended that its 60 member bodies not participate in the Government’s new welfare-to-work program for people whose welfare payments have been cut off, saying the program is contrary Catholic social teaching.
"We think it’s an unduly harsh system and we don’t want to be confused as administrators and policemen of the program," Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) Director Mr Frank Quinlan told the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday.
The newspaper reports that it has obtained a confidential paper distributed to the 60 Centacare organisations, made the recommendation because "Catholic social teaching specifically calls for those who are outside the paid workforce to be guaranteed a subsistence level of income."
The new system "undermines the right to life and subsistence because a high proportion of those who have had their payments suspended for eight weeks are unable to meet basic needs," the paper said.
Other church organisations, including the Salvation Army and the St Vincent de Paul Society, have also rejected the program.
The spokesman for the St Vincent de Paul Society, Dr John Falzon, told the ABC this morning that instead of offering dignity to vulnerable people, the welfare-to-work program would actually take away hope.
Not knowing the details of the Australian program I don’t know how it really differs from the welfare reform program that happened here in the States. Though I don’t think welfare reform here exactly got a wealth of support from the bishops. There were many prophets of doom foretello of families starving because they would have to find jobs. I especially doubt the statement "those who are outside the paid workforce to be guaranteed a subsistence level of income" appears anywhere in documents related to Catholic social teaching, especially that it is the government that is to supply it. I would think that St. Paul’s statement "If any one will not work, let him not eat." might somehow be part of Catholic social teaching. This idea in Christian circles that it is the job of government only to provide for the poor is pernicious and robs us of our own responsibilities towards the poor. The saint who tore his own jacket in half to give to a poor man did not subsequently demand that there be a government coat giving program instead.
Too often the idea of a safety net is turned into an all embracing cocoon which is not to the advantage of the dignity of a person. The horror stories that were foretold here just did not happen and instead we had stories of hope. Of course there can be an immoral welfare-to-work program but there can also be immoral welfare programs that turn people into state supported drones living on government life support.
One thing I love about St. Blogs is how questions can get answered. A few days ago American Papist linked to an USA Today article that stated:
Roman Catholicism:
The popes have taught that abortion is always forbidden, and the church hierarchy has held to a doctrine that strongly opposes it. Even so, grounds for permitting abortion exist in the Catholic tradition, and many Catholic theological authorities permit abortion in a variety of situations. There is even a pro-choice Catholic saint, the 15th century archbishop of Florence, St. Antoninus. He approved of early abortions when needed to save the life of the mother, a huge category in his day. There is thus no one Catholic view."
Not surprisinglyimmoral theologian Daniel C. "Let Terri Schiavo starve" Maguire is a proponent of this view on St. Antoninus. Today with the help of her readers Amy Welborn posts what the real views of St. Antoninus were. It will be no surprise to my readers that USA Today and Mr. Maguire totally misrepresented the facts of the case and in fact the Saint was a rigorist on this issue.
One of the first to discuss this case was Antoninus of Florence. He declared that it was neither legitimate to kill the woman to save the child (by Caesarean section) nor to kill the infant to save the woman (by abortion). If the only way to save someone is by killing someone else, it is better to do nothing. However, he made one exception to this rule. Citing fellow Dominican John of Naples, he argued that before the soul was infused into the embryo (which, following Thomas Aquinas, he regarded as occurring at 40 days for males and 80 days for females) it was legitimate to abort the embryo to save the mother’s life. This was not homicide, strictly speaking. However, an act that destroyed the early embryo and so prevented a child from coming to be was very close to homicide, therefore it could only be justified to save the mother’s life. Furthermore, it it were doubtful whether or not the embryo possessed a human soul then it was not to be harmed. Antoninus only permitted abortion of the pre-ensouled embryo to save the mother’s life. Nevertheless, it was very significant in explicitly allowing an exception to the traditional prohibition. Antoninus had great authority and was followed by several theologians such as Sylvester Prierias (d. 1523) and Martin Aspilcueta (1493-1586), more commonly known as Doctor Navarrus. [pp. 178-179; emphasis added]
What I find ironic about the whole thing is that theologians in the Church changed their views on when conception occurred because of later scientific progress on the subject. Even funnier it is the modern day pro-choicer’s that are really rallying to the idea of ensoulement in that the fetus does not become human until a certain point. So who is really choosing philosophy over science in the first place. Once again was is common knowledge is a common mistake.
President Bush and other Americans who oppose embryonic stem cell research say they believe that the destruction of a human embryo, even in the process of research to reduce human suffering, is immoral. It is immoral, they say, because human life begins at conception, therefore destruction of a human embryo equals the taking of life.
Curiously, opponents of embryonic stem cell research raise no serious objection to fertility clinics, the source of the embryos used in embryonic stem cell research. At fertility clinics, many human eggs are routinely removed from women and fertilized in the hope that one of the resulting embryos can be implanted in the uterus and produce a baby. Some of the unused embryos are frozen for possible use later, but most are discarded.
If scientists performing research on cells derived from the early cell division of human embryos are taking life, the fertility clinics are guilty of repeated massacres. However, no one has introduced legislation to ban the technique used by fertility clinics because the clinics’ services appeal to the many couples who have difficulty having children.
So exactly what alternate reality was this editorial written in. The Bearded Spock universe perhaps? Surely one that does not include the existence of the Catholic Church. One in which the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith did not write in Donum Vitae 1987 by some little known Cardinal named Ratzinger:
It has already been recalled that, in the circumstances in which it is regularly practised, IVF and ET involves the destruction of human beings, which is something contrary to the doctrine on the illicitness of abortion previously mentioned.(49) But even in a situation in which every precaution were taken to avoid the death of human embryos, homologous IVF and ET dissociates from the conjugal act the actions which are directed to human fertilization. For this reason the very nature of homologous IVF and ET also must be taken into account, even abstracting from the link with procured abortion. Homologous IVF and ET is brought about outside the bodies of the couple through actions of third parties whose competence and technical activity determine the success of the procedure. Such fertilization entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children.
Though in truth it is easy to understand the editorialist’s ignorance. This like many other Church teachings have not exactly been shouted from the pulpit or in fact even whispered. This is not something the Bishop’s conference has made the subject of a campaign as far as I know. Even in the pro-life community fertility clinics have not gotten the attention they deserve. This is partially understandable because opposition to IVF comes mostly from the Catholic Church, but their is a growing awareness of this within the Protestant community.
The editorialist must have also missed out on Focus on the Family Founder Dr. James Dobson calling for an immediate worldwide halt to all in vitro fertilization procedures back in 2005. Because of the ESCR debate many are more aware of just how problematic IVF is and that it almost always results in the death of human embryos. The freezing of "leftover" embryo’s has lead to the temptation for scientist to use them "because they are just going to be wasted anyway." Just how many times have we heard this excuse in justifying ESCR? This argument is just so disingenuous since if any cures ever came out of ESCR it would instantly create a demand that could not be met by the existing number embryos in cold storage. The effects of this argument is easily foreseen and is just another example how how the culture of death has not problems with distorting the truth.
Many pro-lifers have adopted an abortion clinic in that they might pray for the conversion of those who work there and that it is closed down. I spiritually adopted a local clinic that does IVF procedures a few years back and I recommend this practice to the pro-life community as a whole.
A homily attributed to Saint Ephrem (around 306 – 373), Deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church.
Lectionary
“Lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself” (Jn 12:32)
Today the cross is advancing, creation exults. The cross, path for those who have gone astray, hope of Christians, the apostles’ preaching, security of the universe, foundation of the Church, fountain for those who are thirsty… In great gentleness, Jesus is led to the passion: he is brought to Pilate’s judgment seat; at the sixth hour, people mock him; until the ninth hour, he bears the pain of the nails, then his death ends his passion. At the twelfth hour, he is taken down from the cross. You could say he is a sleeping lion…
While he is judged, Wisdom remains silent and the Word says nothing. His enemies despise and crucify him… Those to whom yesterday he gave his body as food, watch from a distance as he dies. Peter, the first of the apostles, is the first to flee. Andrew also took flight, and John, who rested at his side, did not prevent the soldier from piercing that side with a lance. The Twelve fled; they did not say one word in his favor, they for whom he is giving his life. Lazarus is not there, he whom he called back to life. The blind man did not weep for him who opened his eyes to the light, and the crippled man, who could walk thanks to him, did not run to him.
Only a bandit who was crucified next to him confessed him and called him his king. O thief, precocious blossom from the tree of the cross, first fruit of the wood from Golgotha…! The Lord reigns; creation rejoices. The cross triumphs, and all nations, tribes, languages and peoples (Rev 7:9) come to adore him… The cross gives light to the whole universe, it chases away the darkness and gathers the nations… into one single Church, one single faith, one single baptism in charity. It stands at the center of the world and is made firm on Calvary.
