Cardinal O'Malley at Theology on Tap

h/t to the Cardinal.

Cardinal O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, gave an excellent talk this week at a Theology on Tap session. Here is a video of his talk.

Animator vs. Animation

This is too cool!

Who will win? The animator or the animation which refuses to be controlled.
Check it out here.

On Women’s Clothing and the Dignity of Woman

h/t to Melanie:

This is an excerpt from a great post from Aimee the "Historical Christian" blog. Aimee has brought up some very interesting points, and I must say that I think she is right.

Here is a snip:

I remember a couple of years ago watching the show Project Runway, a reality show about upcoming fashion designers competing to win on the runway. At one point the judges, all models and fashion industry executives, were gushing about a particular dress coming down the runway, “Now, any woman with any figure could wear that! It’s beautiful!”

Any woman? Excuse me? The dress was of thin white silky material, with a short, pencil-straight skirt, sleeveless and backless, neckline plunging down to the navel, and the sides of the (braless and hanging) breasts exposed. It had less material than a slip. How could anyone in their right mind believe for one moment that any woman could wear such a dress?

Then there was the episode where designers were asked to design things for other contestant's mothers – and how painfully clear it became that most of them had no clue about how to design for a woman under 6’ and over 120 lbs. One of the mothers was reduced to tears of humiliation by the ugly design her “designer” created. I could relate. I’ve worn those same tears.

In watching the show over a couple of seasons (I enjoyed the creativity of it, though not, for the most part, the designs), it occurred to me: many top fashion designers are gay men. Having been close to many gay men in my life, I know that they for the most part don’t, shall I say, find a woman’s body attractive. Among some I’ve known, quite the opposite. Some refer to women disdainfully as “breeders,” with clear contempt for our reproductive capacity.

It occurred to me, as I watched the tall, skinny models make their way down the runway, that they bear a certain resemblance to adolescent boys. Gay men do like adolescent boys. So perhaps gay fashion designers, who in many respects drive the fashion industry, are not really designing for women, but for boys, consciously or no – leaving real women in the lurch, feeling inadequate, deprived, ugly, because of our shapely, curvy, soft, unpredictable bodies, designed for giving life. And that does not even begin to address what contraception, abortion, promiscuity, and pornography have done to our view of a woman’s body, its meaning, purpose, and dignity as image and likeness of God. Feminism was supposed to free us from such degradation - but it has not. It is worse than ever.

Ancona Soccer Team Meets Pope Benedict

From ANSA:

An Italian soccer club vaunting a Catholic identity and commitment to good works if it sins on the field on Wednesday met Pope Benedict XVI.

AC Ancona players spoke to the pope after Wednesday's regular general audience, handing him a team jersey with his name on it and a red ball.

Red has always been the colour of the third-division side, which has a fan base who make no secret of their leftist sympathies.

Team captain Giovanni Langella told reporters: "It was a great thrill, a special meeting. The thing that joins all of us is faith".

Asked if he was ready to do social work if he got a red card, Langella replied: "I'll do it even if I'm not red-carded. You should always help others".

The club has embraced an ethics code launched by a Catholic sports organisation, the Italian Sporting Centre (CSI), aimed at promoting fair play on the field and funding charitable works in Italy and abroad.

It has been dubbed "the Vatican team" by the world's media but both the club's management and the Holy See has denied such a link.

Ancona was in Serie A as recently as 2004 but was double-demoted to the fourth division after bankruptcy. It has rallied, however, and is currently topping the third division.

The club's new owners, the Schiavoni family, hooked up with the CSI in a bid to make a contribution on and off the field.

The agreement with the CSI, an organisation of lay Catholics, includes a commitment by both club and players to do good works "in remission of sins on the field".

The world's media got hold of the story and dubbed Ancona a "Vatican team" aiming to "get an edge from the Almighty".

Film crews from the BBC and two German TV stations were on hand to record Ancona's Sunday win that kept it co-leader of Serie C-1. They filed reports highlighting that Ancona - from the historically Communist Marche port of the same name - had committed no fouls during the match on its ongoing "mission from God" .

But on Monday the Vatican denied having anything to do with the Ancona-CSI deal - although it looked "benevolently" on such charity and anti-hooligan moves.

Club CEO Giampiero Schiavoni admitted the club had no hotline to the Vatican but, acting through the CSI, would fund social work in Italy and Africa.

Meanwhile Ancona's famously left-wing fans, who regularly wave Che Guevara banners and campaign against neo-Fascists, said they welcomed any "worthwhile social initiatives" but did not expect to be "muzzled" by the club's new Catholic turn.

Italian Bishops Did NOT Buy Soccer Team

Despite reports the Italian Bishop's Conference has not bought a soccer team.

From this morning's VIS:

In a declaration released yesterday afternoon, Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. denied recent reports that the Vatican or the Italian Episcopal Conference have bought the Italian football team Ancona, which plays in the third division.

Ancona football club and the "Centro Sportivo Italiano" have recently signed an agreement involving the application of an ethical code in the administration of the team, alongside a new model of economic management, the promotion of a sporting culture among the fans, and support for social initiatives in the Third World. For its part, the "Centro Sportivo Italiano" has undertaken to seek sponsors for the club.

"The Vatican and the Italian Episcopal Conference have nothing to do with this project," declared Fr. Lombardi. "There are initiatives which have positive and commendable aims and, if the declared intentions can be effectively achieved, this is certainly a good thing," he said adding, however, that this does not mean that this is an initiative of the Vatican or of the Italian Episcopal Conference.

The Holy See Press Office Director went on: "The Church must not be attributed with responsibilities she does not have, although she may view positively the commitment of lay Catholics in various fields, including that of sports."

Members of the Ancona football club will participate in tomorrow's general audience in St. Peter's Square but this, Fr. Lombardi made clear, does not mean "that the Pope has sponsored or taken responsibility for the working of the team."

Catholic Carnival 140

Check it out here.

Golden Compass Points the Way to Hell

There is a new kids movie which will be released just in time for Christmas which aims to influence kids to embrace atheism. "The Golden Compass" is the first book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy to be made into a movie. Although the movie's star claims it has been "watered down" to make it non offensive, it is not a stretch that kids will want to read the vehemently anti-Catholic, anti-Christian, anti-faith series.

From Cinematical.com

Kidman Says Religious Content of 'The Golden Compass' Has Been "Watered Down" What, you expected something different? Nicole Kidman has spoken with Entertainment Weekly (and by extension The Sydney Herald), seemingly to quell a firestorm that I didn't even know was raging -- concerns that New Line's The Golden Compass will upset Catholics. Kidman strongly suggests to EW that the film adaption of Philip Pullman's blatantly anti-theistic His Dark Materials books will not retain material that would upset religious folks. She says the religious message put forth in the film version of The Golden Compass "has been watered down a little," and she goes on to say that "I was raised Catholic, the Catholic Church is part of my essence. I wouldn't be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic." So in other words, 'nothing interesting to see here -- move on.' This movie just continues to fall lower and lower on my 'to see' list.

First Things reviewed the series in 2001. Here are a few quotes from that review.

...The Amber Spyglass, just won the prestigious British Book Award for the Children’s Book of the Year (the first book won in 1996), and is currently just behind Rowling on the New York Times children’s bestseller list.
[...]
Pullman conceived of the series after writing down its first words, “Lyra and her daemon.” The idea of daemons (pronounced “demons”) has ante­ cedents in the daimon or spirit that Socrates claimed as an aid in his judgment, and in the tradition of guar­ dian angels. A daemon is a part of the human soul that takes the visible form of an animal, or many animals-the daemons of children change shape constantly, but settle down at puberty into just one shape as a person’s character becomes more definite. So the helmsman of a boat might have a seagull as his daemon, while Pantalaimon, Lyra Belacqua’s daemon, begins the series as a moth but shifts into a mouse, a dragon, an ermine, a mountain lion, a cat, and just about any animal shape you can think of. It is extraordinarily painful for daemons to go far from their people (it feels like your heart is being torn from your breast), and when Lyra sees at one stage a boy without a daemon, she is revolted:

"The little boy was huddled against the wood drying rack where hung row upon row of gutted fish, all stiff as boards. He was clutching a piece of fish to him as Lyra was clutching Pantalaimon, with her left hand, hard, against her heart; but that was all he had, a piece of dried fish; because he had no daemon at all. The Gobblers had cut it away. That was intercision, and this was a severed child. Her first impulse was to turn and run, or to be sick."

This device of the daemon, which is one of the great inventions of fantastic fiction, frames Pullman’s whole trilogy. The reader comes to love daemons, especially Lyra’s Pantalaimon, and one can easily imagine thousands of children (and not a few adults) wishing they had one.

The Golden Compass really begins when street urchins and servants’ children begin disappearing all over Europe (in the parallel world in which the action takes place). Word spreads on the streets that the Gobblers have stolen them, and are performing terrible experiments on them way up in the Arctic Circle. A mysterious substance called Dust seems to be involved, but the Church has forbidden any discussion of Dust, for it falls in the realm of philosophical speculation rather than theological research, and because it may have something to do with Original Sin. When Lyra’s best friend Roger and another boy are taken by the Gobblers, Lyra becomes determined to rescue them, and her adventures begin. There is a prophecy about Lyra that she will determine the fate of the universe, although she must do so without knowing what she is doing.

In The Subtle Knife, book two of the series, we meet Will Parry, a boy from Oxford in our world, who also is destined to play a major role in the history of the cosmos-he finds and bears a knife called God-killer that can cut a passage between worlds. He and Lyra meet in Cittigàzze, an Italianate city in yet a third world. Will is looking for his father, an explorer who Will thinks has travelled into a different world, and Lyra’s alethiometer (a truth-telling device, the golden compass of the first book) tells her she should help him. Lyra wants also to help her father, the mysterious Lord Asriel, who is preparing to overthrow the Authority (“God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty-those were all names he gave himself,” an angel tells Will). He can do this, he thinks, because what the Church calls God is really only the name for the first angel, who tried to trick all the other creatures into submitting to him. Some of the angels rebelled centuries ago, but lost, and now Lord Asriel is rallying the remnant of those who favor truth over the Authority’s lies to overthrow the Kingdom of Heaven and replace it with the Republic of Heaven.

The Amber Spyglass adds to the mix a fourth world, where the mulafeh, elephant-like people who roll around on wheels made from the giant seeds of giant trees, are starting to die off from the raids of giant swans and because the giant trees are dying as Dust leaves the world. So by the end of the series, Lyra and Will have to overthrow the Authority, rescue the dead (did I mention they make a trip to the realm of the dead à la Dante?), save the mulefah, heal the breach between the worlds, prevent the Gobblers from intercising children’s daemons, and establish the Republic of Heaven, all the while remaining in a state of innocence so that they can either relive or renounce Eve’s choice in the Garden of Eden.

Pullman has set himself an ambitious task, trying to tell a complex yet realistic tale about the death of God and the true nature and destiny of man. He has the talent to have pulled it off, but unfortunately, his atheism gets in the way. For unlike John Milton and his other hero William Blake, Pullman is a Richard Dawkins-type materialist, and his atheism fatally flaws The Amber Spyglass, and therefore, retroactively, the whole series. Pullman, who raised more than a few eyebrows with an article in the Guardian excoriating C. S. Lewis’ Narnia stories for their tendency to lapse into preaching, falls prey to that same bad habit himself. Indeed, to facilitate his preaching, he breaks many of the rules of fantasy-writing in this third volume, and although this probably makes his novel more appropriate for children, it seriously weakens it as art.

Atheists can write perfectly good and realistic fiction, because there is nothing about being an atheist that prohibits a person from understanding human motivation and the physical world. But being nonreligious does deprive you of the one thing an ambitious fantasy author needs: a plausible cosmology, a myth that tells us how things got to be the way they are. The great religions all provide this. One could even hold, as did Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, that a religion is just a story of the world, which in the case of Christianity (they held) happens to be true. A Christian fantasist in his act of subcreation can borrow heavily from the true mythic world created by the Christian God; the fantasist might change some of the names and other details, but the basic infinitely rich story has already been told.
[...]
The Christian myth has such a powerful hold over our narrative imagination that it is probably impossible to write a believable epic, especially one about the Last Things, without relying on it extensively. Pullman challenges the most fantastic and yet most persuasive parts of the Christian myth-Creation, the Fall, Sin, Death, Heaven, Hell-and one credits him for gumption. If his alternative were more compelling, I would recommend parents keep their children away. (Pullman has just signed to do a “reference work” called The Book of Dust which will lay out the creation myth in full, and thus probably won’t be appropriate-or interesting-for children.)

As is, I can fairly characterize His Dark Materials in this fashion: imagine if at the beginning of the world Satan’s rebellion had been successful, that he had reigned for two thousand years, and that a messiah was necessary to conquer lust and the spirit of domination with innocence, humility, and generous love at great personal cost. Such a story is not subversive of Christianity, it is almost Christian, even if only implicitly and imperfectly. But implicit and imperfect Christianity is often our lot in life, and Pullman has unintentionally created a marvelous depiction of many of the human ideals Christians hold dear.

I'm not sure if I agree with that last passage in the review. While it might be ok for adults who can read it in that context, children will not read it in that way. I have not read the books, but based on everything I have read from religious and secular sources it's very dangerous to the faith of our young people.

If you want more information on the movie and the series it is available from The Catholic League.

Update: The Golden Compass book is being promoted by NBC's today show. It's Al Roker's Children's Book for his book club!

Update 2: Tom Peters (American Papist) has a great post on the books.AmericanPapist: Not Your Average Catholic!: The Golden Compass is pointing towards anti-Catholicism

Also, I will be writing a term paper for my English course on the book. I will post it once I finish and submit it.

Father, Grandfather, Brother, Father

Huh?

A 72 year old British man is going to father his own grandchild thanks to IVF. His son and daughter-in-law are going to be the parents, so the child's brother is also going to be his father. Ummm, but his grandfather is also his father.

...and people think this is a good idea?

Read about it here.

Catholic Blogger Meme

I got this meme from Brian:

1. Do you attend the Traditional Latin Mass or the Novus Ordo?
I attended my first TLM this morning. I will post my comments about it later. My regular Mass is the Novus Ordo.

2. If you attend the TLM, how far do you drive to get there?
Half an hour

3. If you had to apply a Catholic label to yourself, what would it be?
Catholic Geek

4. Are you a comment junkie?
No

5. Do you go back to read the comments on the blogs you’ve commented on?
Sometimes.

6. Have you ever left an anonymous comment on another blog?
Yes, but not usually.

7. Which blogroll would you most like to be on?
Anyone who will have me.

8. Which blog is the first one you check?
Usually, The Cafeteria is Closed.

9. Have you met any other bloggers in person?
Yes. Brian, Fr. Ethan McCarthy, from the now defunct The Diary of a Suburban Priest, Cardinal Sean, Fr. Roger Landry, Rob, Fr. Thomas Kocik

10. What are you reading?
The Summa Theologiae, De Deo Uno, and De Deo Trino.

If you are reading, consider yourself tagged

Importance of Natural Moral Law

This morning the Pope received members of the International Theological Commission, who have just completed their annual plenary meeting, held in the Vatican from October 1 to 5 under the presidency of Cardinal William Joseph Levada.

In his remarks to them, the Holy Father recalled the recent publication of a commission document on the subject of "the hope of salvation for children who die without receiving Baptism," and expressed the wish that it may "continue to be a useful point of reference for pastors of the Church and for theologians," as well as providing "assistance and consolation for the faithful who have suffered the sudden death of a child before receiving" the Sacrament.

Turning to focus on "natural moral law," a question being examined by the commission, Benedict XVI indicated that the doctrine on natural law "achieves two essential aims: on the one hand, it makes it clear that the ethical content of Christian faith is not an imposition dictated from outside man's conscience, but a norm that has its basis in human nature itself; and on the other hand, by starting from the basis of natural law - which of itself is accessible to all rational creatures - it lays the foundations for dialogue with all men and women of good will, and with civil society more generally."

The Pope then highlighted the fact that nowadays "the original evidence for the foundations of human beings and of their ethical behavior has been lost, and the doctrine of natural moral law clashes with other concepts which run directly contrary to it. All this has enormous consequences on civil and social order."

What dominates today, he continued, "is a positivist conception of law" according to which "humanity, or society, or in effect the majority of citizens, become the ultimate source for civil legislation. The problem that arises is not, then, the search for good but the search for power, or rather the balance of power. At the root of this tendency is ethical relativism, in which some people even see one of the principal conditions for democracy because, they feel, relativism guarantees tolerance and mutual respect. ... But if this were true, the majority at any given moment would become the ultimate source for law, and history shows with great clarity that majorities can make mistakes."

"When," the Holy Father proceeded, "the fundamental essentials are at stake: human dignity, human life, the institution of the family and the equity of the social order (in other words the fundamental rights of man), no law made by men and women can subvert the norm written by the Creator in man's heart without society itself being dramatically struck ... at its very core. Thus natural law is a true guarantee for everyone to live freely and with respect for their dignity, protected from all ideological manipulation and from all arbitrary abuses of the powerful. No one can disregard this appeal.

"If," he added, "by reason of a tragic clouding of the collective conscience, skepticism and ethical relativism managed to annul the fundamental principles of natural moral law, the very democratic order itself would be profoundly undermined at its foundations. Against such clouding - which is a crisis for human, even more than for Christian, civilization - the consciences of all men and women of good will must be mobilized, both lay people and followers of religions other than Christianity, so that together they may make an effective commitment to creating ... the conditions necessary for a full awareness of the inalienable value of natural moral law."

Benedict XVI concluded by stressing that "the advance of individuals and of society along the path of true progress" depends upon respect for natural moral law, "in conformity with right reason, which is participation in the eternal Reason of God."
VIS

Rooting for "The Episcopate"?

Ok, so that's not really their name, but it could be.
The Italian Catholic bishops have bought an 80% stake in a soccer team.
It seems Bertone's dream is coming true

Read more about it here and here.

Update: as of October 9th Fr. Lombardi announced that the story is not true. The details can be found here.

The Nerd Test

H/T to the Orthometer who far outranks me in nerdiness.

Catholic Carnival

This weeks Catholic Carnival is up and running. I submitted my post on the wacky Time magazine article this week.

Check it out here. Also, I have added a permanent link to the carnival in my sidebar.

Finally...a break

I have nearly finished two essays on the Summa Theologiae. I only need to interpret a scripture passage according to two of the four senses of scripture and I will be finished.

It feels good to have it done and even better to realize that I think I may be climbing over the "Summa Wall", as my professor calls it.

St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for me.

Marini Replaces Marini

I had my doubts that it would actually happen, but it is now official.

This morning Pope Benedict XVI

- Appointed Archbishop Piero Marini, master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, as president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

- Appointed Fr. Guido Marini of the clergy of the archdiocese of Genoa, Italy, as master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations.

To get used to the new change, click on Piero's picture.

This may rile some in the blogosphere, but I am disappointed in Archbishop Marini's new assignment. I think he deserves something much better.

Photo credits: Piero Marini photo by Domini Sumus

Guido Marini Photo from Andrea Tornielli

Bad and Worse

There are two things I could be working on tonight. I could be writing my essay on Summa Theologiae 1 q.1 a.10, or working on lector and EMHC schedules.

The schedules are the part of my job that I hate the most. I chose to work on the schedules. What does that tell you.

For those who are wondering, the Aquinas course isn't going well.

The Truth of Pope John Paul's Death

In an article published in MicroMega, an Italian periodical, Dr. Lina Pavanelli claims that Pope John Paul II and his doctors disregarded Church teaching by using a form of euthanasia to accelerate the pontiff’s death. This shocking claim reached the mainstream American media though an article in Time magazine, under the sensational title “Was John Paul II Euthanized?”. These articles are inaccurate because of Dr. Pavanelli’s, method of diagnosis, dismissal of the reported cause of death, misunderstanding of the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding life support, and intentions.

Dr. Pavanelli, a professor of intensive care medicine, claims that Pope John Paul II should have received a feeding tube weeks before his death. She has published this claim even though she never had access to either Pope John Paul II or his medical records. She openly admits that her claims are based on information she gained though media reports, watching the pope on television, and from a book written by the Pope’s doctor. Although doctors are not allowed to diagnose through these methods, Dr. Pavanelli not only makes a diagnosis, she accuses the pope of suicide. According to the article in Time, Dr. Pavanelli believes that the pope’s doctors recommended a feeding tube, but he refused the procedure, which she claims amounts to suicide in the opinion of the Church. On May 30, 2005, a Vatican press release stated that the pope had been given a feeding tube, but she claims that it was inserted too late. It has been argued that if Pope John Paul II intended suicide, a feeding tube would not have been inserted at any point. Furthermore, in a press conference given on September 26, 2007, the Vatican announced that the feeding tube had been inserted much earlier, but it was not reported to the media until later. In response, Dr. Pavanelli revised her accusations and now claims that the feeding tube provided was the wrong type. Because she was not present and does not have access to the pope’s medical records, these claims do not have any basis in fact.

Nonetheless, Dr. Pavanelli also claims that Pope John Paul “died for reasons that were clearly not mentioned. […] the incapacity to swallow.” All official reports state that Pope John Paul II died from septic shock and cardiovascular collapse. This was not the result of either starvation or dehydration. The incapacity to swallow and the difficulty breathing which he suffered are both symptoms of his advanced Parkinson’s disease. Difficulty breathing creates a greater risk of infection and physically weakens the patient. A tracheotomy was performed to help the pontiff breathe easier. If suicide had been his intention, he would have refused the tracheotomy.

The most disturbing aspect of the articles are the misrepresentations of the teaching of the Catholic Church. The article in Time claims that “Catholics are enjoined to pursue all means to prolong life.” This statement is false and does not appear in any document of the Catholic Church. On the contrary, article 2278 of The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

“Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of "over-zealous" treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one's inability to impede it is merely accepted.”

Despite that, the dying can be allowed to suffer from starvation or dehydration. Just weeks before the publication of the MicroMega article, the Vatican released a document entitled Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration. The document states:

"The administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life. It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented."

While some may interpret that passage to mean that Catholics are obliged to provide feeding tubes at all costs, the Declaration on Euthanasia which was approved by Pope John Paul II in 1980 states:

“When inevitable death is imminent in spite of the means used, it is permitted in conscience to take the decision to refuse forms of treatment that would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life, so long as the normal care due to the sick person in similar cases is not interrupted”

The Catholic Church teaches that feeding tubes only need to be used when they are necessary and useful. In the case of a dying person, they are to be used to ensure the comfort of the patient. That seems to be exactly what the pope’s doctors did.

Despite appearances, the pope is not the real center of this controversy. He is simply the target which Dr. Pavanelli and MicroMega have chosen. This article is really about Piergiorgio Welby, an Italian man with muscular dystrophy who died after being taken off life support. Mr. Welby was not allowed to have a Catholic funeral because his death was seen by Church law as an act of suicide. The difference between Pope John Paul II and Piergiorgio Welby is that Pope John Paul II was actively dying. Earlier insertion of a feeding tube would not have prevented the pope’s death, but Mr. Welby could have lived for some time if his life support had not been removed. In that way, Mr. Welby’s death was directly caused by the removal of the life support system. Dr. Pavanelli and MicroMega have been vocal supporters of Mr. Welby’s decision. This is simply an attempt to promote their cause.

Through her unsubstantiated accusations and gross misinformation, Dr. Pavanelli has broken the physician’s credo of “First, do no harm”. She has harmed the integrity of the medical profession, the reputation of Pope John Paul II, and the knowledge of all those who do not have expertise in Catholic teaching on end of life issues. Her arguments are not cogent because they are not based on knowledge of the patient, they ignore many disclosed facts, and present an inaccurate view of Church teaching. Moreover, she does not openly disclose her true intentions. I am disappointed that Time has given Dr. Pavanelli a means to promote her message without questioning its factuality.

Read more on this topic here:
Fr. Jonathan Morris
LifeSite News

Boycott Miller

Source: Fox News

The Catholic League is upset over Miller's ties to a fair promoted in an ad that shows semi-nude men and women in bondage at a table with sex toys portraying Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" painting.
"Miller is sponsoring an incredibly outrageous and palpably anti-Christian event," said Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League.
The 2007 Folsom Street Fair, which organizers promote as "fairgrounds filled with people in their most outrageous leather/rubber/fetish attire" is planned for Sunday on Folsom Street in San Francisco.
The fair will benefit a group of local charities, including an organization called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, who call themselves "queer nuns."
"Want to put your cute leather outfit to good use and serve the community at the same time?" according to a promotion on the group's Web site.
Miller wants its logo removed from the poster, according to a statement in the New York Sun.
/**/

"While Miller has supported the Folsom Street Fair for several years, we take exception to the poster the organizing committee developed this year. We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive," said Julian Green, a Miller spokeswoman in a statement.
Click here to read a report in the New York Sun.
Donohue called Miller's response a "lame statement of regret."
"Miller leaves us with no options," Donohue said.
Father Jonathan Morris, a Roman Catholic priest based in Rome, said the group is not nuns and wants to promote gay rights.
"What they are doing is trying to make a mockery of religion," Morris, a FOX News analyst, said.
Morris called the ad "blasphemy."
"When you take something that is sacred to somebody, you turn it into the profane and you use it for your own good," Morris said. "That's bad for society."

Fellini's Roma Catholic Fashion Show

The whole thing is rather weird and very twisted, but I am waiting to see the neon vestments at Mass.

Living Biblically

Could you spend a year following every law in the Bible. One guy tried it. Read more here.

Are You Catholic 1

You know you are Catholic when you are reading posts on a message board, see another poster being referred to as OP and wonder who the Dominican is.

Btw: In this context OP means Other Poster.
To me it means Order of Preachers

The Seven Year Marriage

For better, for worse, in sickness and in health, for the next seven years. Doesn't quite sound right? Well, one Bavarian politician thinks that is how marriage should be.

From News 24:

Bavaria's most glamorous politician -- a flame-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber -- has shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last just 7 years.

Gabriele Pauli, who poses on her web site in motorcyle leathers, is standing for the leadership of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) -- sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) -- in a vote next week.

She told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto Wednesday she wanted marriage to expire after seven years and accused the CSU, which promotes traditional family values, of nurturing ideals of marriage which are wide of the mark.

"The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years."

After that time, couples should either agree to extend their marriage or it should be automatically dissolved, she said.

Fifty-year-old Pauli, twice divorced, is a maverick intent on shaking up her male-dominated and mainly Catholic party which has dominated Bavarian politics since World War Two.

"This is about bringing ideas into the CSU and starting a discussion," she told German television Thursday after she had unleashed a wave of criticism from other politicians.

Former foe Stoiber said she did not belong in the CSU and European lawmaker Ingo Freidrich dismissed her views.

"She is diametrically contradicting our Christian, ethical values," Freidrich said.

Peter Ramsauer, head of the CSU in Germany's parliament, compared Pauli's ideas to "the dirt under your fingernails."

Which Classical Composer Are You?

h/t to the Disciple of the Dumb Ox

You scored as Handel, It's hard to say where you got your talent--certainly not from your parents! But with grudging support from your parents and sporadic support from people in higher places, you have room to do things in your style. When you're low, keep being your hardworking self. Big breaks don't just happen! Handel 80% Haydn 60% Chopin 55% Beethoven 50% J.S. Bach 50% Tchaikovsky 45% Schubert 45% Brahms 45% Mozart 35% Hector Berlioz 35% Schumann 30% Liszt 30% Wagner 20% Which classical composer are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Banning the HPV Vaccine

Poor reporting strikes again. On first glance it seems that the Diocese of Hamilton is planning to expel students who recieve the HPV vaccine, but that is not the case. This actually isn't newsworthy since it only states that school nurses are not allowed to administer the vaccine in the school. Since when did kids get vaccinated at school anyway? Leave it to Canada to come up with weird ideas. See what free health care comes with.

Also, the HPV vaccine doesn't prevent cervical cancer because although HPV is the primary cause, it is not the only cause of cervical cancer.

From 680 News:

The Halton Catholic School Board could become the first in the province to ban female students from receiving the HPV vaccine.

Trustees with the board will vote tonight on whether public health nurses should be allowed to administer the vaccine in its schools, according to a report in the Hamilton Spectator.

The human papilloma virus vaccine is offered to Grade 8 girls in Ontario, as a way to prevent cervical cancer in their future.

The ban could also cover the public health unit from counselling or giving advice on the vaccine to any student on board property.

Why Not Just Homeschool

This article puzzles me. These people are obviously on to something, but they're going about it all wrong. I wonder if these small classes were intentional, or just happened. I can't help but think they were intentional based on the fact that these parents are willing to pay $25,000 a year for tuition. That is more than most people pay for a year of college.

Only in New York!

From WCBS:

When school is dismissed at the end of the day, there's nothing unusual about seeing a rush of children plow through the doors in a frenzy of excitement. But instead of the student body pouring out of the new Academy of St. Joseph, little Sebastian Reardon and Intonina Machniewska-Schlussman are the only students leaving to go play.

That's because at the Catholic school in Greenwich Village, Sebastian and Intonina are the student body.

"It's a great school and we're willing to experiment, just try it out," says Gosia Machniewska-Schlussman, Intonina's mother.

And it's an experiment that costs $25,000 a year in tuition to test. But because Sebastian and Intonina are the only students in their pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes, they are receiving individual hands on attention from their teachers, which suits their parents just fine.

"I wanted a small environment for him and Catholic education would be good for him," said Emily Reardon, Sebastian's mother.

Added Mrs. Machniewska-Schlussman: "It's a great school. We went to see last Friday what she has learned in a week and it was amazing."

Right now the school only offers pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, but the archdiocese plans to add a grade each year all the way up to 8th grade.

"We have a business plan and we are confident, based on the research that we have done, that the school will succeed," said Joseph Zwelling, of the New York Archdiocese.

The archdiocese, which runs the school, blames low enrollment on the fact that parents were not able to come to any open houses before it opened.

"We were expecting 4, 5 to start in pre-k and kindergarten, but we were hampered from getting to that point because the school was under construction," Zwelling said.

Machniewska-Schlussman says she's not worried about Intonina not being surrounded by other students and missing out on the ability to socialize. "We are going to the park. She will have plenty of interaction with plenty of classmates from previous school," she says.

The renovations are expected to be complete by the end of the month and open houses will begin in October. Each classroom will have Internet access for its students, who aside from the basics will learn French, Italian, Latin, architecture, and principles of character.

High Mass on EWTN

Ok, I watched the High Mass on EWTN. Well, I watched until the offertory then my son demanded my attention and I was unable to watch the rest. I should have taped it.

Now, I must admit that I didn't particularly like it. That surprised me. I expected to see it and fall in love. Maybe it was because it was on TV, maybe it was because I am not used to it. I don't know. I am planning to attend one in person in the beginning of October and I hope that one will be better.

Please don't take the following statement the wrong way, but I couldn't get used to all the bowing and biretta on...biretta off...biretta on again. Finally, with my mouth hanging open I said, "Did the deacon just kiss the biretta". I ended up very distracted and found myself focusing on the choreography.

I wish I had been able to watch the Canon and I plan on ordering the DVD from EWTN. I'll give you my report after I attend one in person.

Summorum Pontificum

h/t to Dominican Musings

Thou Must Feed

Made public today was a response from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to certain questions raised by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops concerning artificial nutrition and hydration. The replies were approved by the Holy Father during an audience granted to Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the congregation. The text of the responses has been published in its Latin original and in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish and Portuguese.

"First question: Is the administration of food and water (whether by natural or artificial means) to a patient in a 'vegetative state' morally obligatory except when they cannot be assimilated by the patient's body or cannot be administered to the patient without causing significant physical discomfort?

"Response: Yes. The administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life. It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented.

"Second question: When nutrition and hydration are being supplied by artificial means to a patient in a 'permanent vegetative state,' may they be discontinued when competent physicians judge with moral certainty that the patient will never recover consciousness?

"Response: No. A patient in a 'permanent vegetative state' is a person with fundamental human dignity and must, therefore, receive ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means."

An English-language note accompanying the responses indicates that: "When stating that the administration of food and water is morally obligatory 'in principle,' the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith does not exclude the possibility that, in very remote places or in situations of extreme poverty, the artificial provision of food and water may be physically impossible, and then 'ad impossibilia nemo tenetur.' However, the obligation to offer the minimal treatments that are available remains in place, as well as that of obtaining, if possible, the means necessary for an adequate support of life. Nor is the possibility excluded that, due to emerging complications, a patient may be unable to assimilate food and liquids, so that their provision becomes altogether useless. Finally, the possibility is not absolutely excluded that, in some rare cases, artificial nourishment and hydration may be excessively burdensome for the patient or may cause significant physical discomfort, for example resulting from complications in the use of the means employed.

"These exceptional cases, however, take nothing away from the general ethical criterion, according to which the provision of water and food, even by artificial means, always represents a 'natural means' for preserving life, and is not a 'therapeutic treatment.' Its use should therefore be considered 'ordinary and proportionate,' even when the 'vegetative state' is prolonged."

VIS

Read the document here and the commentary here.

I'm Betting on the Trash

From CNS:
My comments in red.

British musicians recorded the classic Irish hymn, "Sweet Heart of Jesus," in a calypso, disco style and sent it to Pope Benedict XVI on an iPod nano. (Just what he always wanted. @@)

Pope Benedict might like it, or he might become the first pontiff in history to throw an iPod into the trash. (I'm betting on the trash)

The musicians' intention, however, was to soften the pope's attitude toward modern church music. (Hmmm, might have the opposite effect)

The gift is from contemporary Catholic songwriters Jo Boyce and Mike Stanley, and it features a new album of classic hymns reworked in modern forms of music. The duo has used instruments such as pianos, saxophones, guitars, drums and synthesizers to recreate centuries-old works in laid-back gospel, folk, funk, soul and lounge-music styles.

The album, "Age to Age," was downloaded onto an iPod and sent to Pope Benedict in the hope of gaining a "papal seal of approval," said a Sept. 4 press release by the Catholic Communications Network of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. (I think there is a better chance that he will endorse the KFC fish sandwich)

The move is something of a gamble given that Pope Benedict, an aficionado of classical music, said in 1996 that rock music was not very uplifting for the soul and certainly did not belong in church. (Although I can enjoy the musical genre, I have to agree that it doesn't belong in church)

Last year, Pope Benedict said that "an authentic updating of sacred music cannot occur except in line with the great tradition of the past."

But the artists see the new album as a chance to demonstrate to Pope Benedict just how good modern church music can be.

"We wanted Pope Benedict to hear how some of the more traditional songs can be interpreted in a contemporary way without doing an injustice to the truth they contain," said Stanley.

Boyce added: "There is much talk in church circles at the moment about the inappropriateness of contemporary instruments like drums and guitars in favor of the more traditional sounds of organ and choir.

"However, our experience over the last 11 years suggests it need not be an either/or situation, but rather both/and -- what really matters is the standard of musicianship and the ageless truth it seeks to express," she said.

Stanley and Boyce, based in Birmingham, England, also have contacted Apple Inc., the manufacturer of iPods and the controller of a large percentage of the international digital music download market, in the hope that it may offer Pope Benedict some free downloads from its online iTunes store. (I think we all know what he would download)

Stanley said: "We'd be delighted to know that the pope enjoyed our versions of classic hymns. But it got us wondering what he listens to himself. My guess would be classical or choral music, but it would be fascinating to find out what other tunes he would add." (Uh-huh)

The album, which will be released Sept. 15, features "Soul of Savior," written by Pope John XXII some seven centuries ago, and "Make Me A Channel," based on the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, recreated as soul ballads.

"How Great Thou Art," written by a Swedish pastor after he was awestruck by a walk in a thunderstorm, is reproduced as a rousing folk duet, along with "Be Not Afraid," written by the Jesuit Father Robert Dufford and billed by Boyce and Stanley as one of the best-loved hymns in the United States.

The complete digital collection of Boyce and Stanley recordings on iPod nano have also been sent to Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor of Westminster, who, like Pope Benedict, is a classical pianist.

Pope Benedict is already the owner of an iPod; last year, a group of Vatican Radio employees gave him a device loaded with Vatican Radio programming and classical music. (See, they know what he wants)

It included musical compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and Igor Stravinsky. The stainless steel back was engraved with the words "To His Holiness, Benedict XVI" in Italian. (Yeah, that is more his style. I wonder what was engraved on the new iPod. Rock on popeman? Popeariffic? Post your ideas in the combox.)

Never Forget 9/11/07

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear? The Lord is my life's refuge; of whom am I afraid?

When evildoers come at me to devour my flesh, These my enemies and foes themselves stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart does not fear; Though war be waged against me, even then do I trust.

One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: To dwell in the Lord's house all the days of my life, To gaze on the Lord's beauty, to visit his temple.

For God will hide me in his shelter in time of trouble, Will conceal me in the cover of his tent; and set me high upon a rock.

Even now my head is held high above my enemies on every side! I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and chant praise to the Lord.

Hear my voice, Lord, when I call; have mercy on me and answer me.

"Come," says my heart, "seek God's face"; your face, Lord, do I seek!

Do not hide your face from me; do not repel your servant in anger. You are my help; do not cast me off; do not forsake me, God my savior!

Even if my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me in.

Lord, show me your way; lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

Do not abandon me to the will of my foes; malicious and lying witnesses have risen against me.

But I believe I shall enjoy the Lord's goodness in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the Lord!

Psalm 27

For my friend, Fr. Francis Grogan (Flight 175); all those who lost their lives in the attacks seven years ago; and those they left behind. May God embrace them and give them the comfort and peace He alone can provide.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let Your Perpetual Light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.

Tridentine Mass Training Sessions for Priests

The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, in collaboration with Una Voce America, in response to overwhelming popular demand is happy the announce two additional workshops for
training priests in the "Extraordinary Form" of the Roman Rite, to be conducted at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary during the Fall Semester of 2007. The first workshop will take place from Friday, October 5th through Tuesday, October 9th. The second will take place from Friday, November 2nd through Tuesday, November 6th. Available placements are limited so priests are urged to contact the seminary at their earliest convenience. The cost for each of these five day workshops is $300.00. All the fundamentals involved in learning the Traditional Latin Mass will be covered. Priests will receive a complete explanation with hands-on practice of the
rubrics of the 1962 Missale Romanum as well as an introduction to Latin, traditional
liturgical principles, and Sung Mass. A comprehensive materials packet will be
provided including translations of the rubrics, audio CD's with the recited texts of Low
Mass and Celebrant's chant for Sung Mass, and a demonstration DVD with examples of
both Low and Solemn Mass.

To receive more information or to make a reservation, interested priests should contact:
Fr. Goodwin at (402) 797-7700 or email: seminary@fsspolgs.org
or write to: Attn: Mass Workshops, O.L.G. Seminary, P.O. Box 147, Denton, NE. 68339.

Big Shock

Not really, but here is the shocking news.
I just wish I had more time to blog.

74%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

Young Catholics and the Pope

The secular media likes to portray Pope Benedict as a cold, heartless man who has not captured the love of Catholics.

To them I present this video from the Pope's visit with young people in Loreto.


I think the young Catholics who filmed this would argue otherwise.

Update on Desecration

This is an update on a post from this morning.

The mother of the teenager who desecrated the church and abused Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament has refused to bail out her daughter.

From MSNBC:

Bedard's mother, Amy Bedard, argued in court against releasing her daughter on personal recognizance. She said she can't control her daughter and that she would not post bail.

"She sneaks out at 2 o'clock in the morning &hellip [sic]; She sneaks out, and I have no way of confronting her. I cannot hold her down. She will not listen to me," Amy Bedard said.

Mallory Bedard was ordered held overnight, pending a hearing Wednesday.

"It hurts to know that she's my daughter. I'm ashamed, and I'm saddened," Amy Bedard told NBC 10 outside the courthouse.

Study and Fun

I am one of those weird people who loves school (except at the end of the semester when I can't wait for the course to be over). I am a bona-fide geek. I know that is hard to believe, but if I am ever lost, just look for me in the theology section of any local library (the library at school is probably you best bet).

One of the courses I am taking this semester is Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. I am looking forward to this class immensely. It should be excellent. Three months studying the Summa Theologiae sounds like theological heaven. Of course, in two months I may be saying otherwise. Our textbook, Knowing the Love of Christ, looks like an orthodox one. It is written by two professors from Ave Maria University, Michael Dauphinais & Matthew Levering. I don't know anything about them, but the notes on the back of the book are from well respected theologians. Plus, is got a positive review from First Things, so I expect it to be good.

Since I begin Thomistics on Thursday, here is a little Aquinas humor.



Summa Theologica, I.3.9

Ninth Article

Is God made of soap?

We proceed thus to the Ninth Article:

Objection 1: It would seem that God is made of soap. For whatever is highest in a genus must be predicated of God. But the highest in the genus of cleanliness, which the Philosopher says is next to godliness, is soap.

Objection 2: Moreover, Scripture says, "Wash me, and I shall be clean indeed." But it belongs to soap to wash.

Objection 3: Furthermore, Dionysius says in On the Divine Names, "For the being of the Most High, being beyond Being, which is what is, can only be denied, as of foamy lather that surpasses even the most excellent conception." But the principle of foamy lather is soap, and where the effect is found, there must the principle be posited.

On the contrary is the opinion of Saint Augustine, who says, "I did wander long among vain fancies, thinking that thou wert as the soap that cleanseth all things, and that evil was a grimy blot on thy purity."

I answer that, 'Soap' can be said in two ways. In one way, soap is the material principle of cleanliness as such. But we have already shown that there is no material principle in God. Therefore, God is not made of soap. But in another way, 'soap' is said of whatever is highest in the order of efficient causes directed towards cleanliness secundum quid by an order that is less than formal with respect to the finality of an end, simply as such, without respect of quiddity in potentiality to the sensitive appetite. And in this sense all men say that God is made of soap, and that in the highest degree, as is plain from the definition.

Reply Obj. 1: Soap is not the highest in the genus of cleanliness, as the Saponians heretically maintain, but only in the genus of material ablutions, which is related to cleanliness in the way that principles of natural reason are related to the eternal law, as the Psalmist says, "How shall a young man cleanse his way? By keeping to your law."

Reply Obj. 2: Scripture also says, "I will wipe away every tear from their eyes." But soap is an efficient cause of tears, and not of their remotion. Therefore, God is not made of soap.

Reply Obj. 3: In this place Dionysius understands 'foamy lather' in accordance with the way of remotion, so that it implies only the lack of such qualities as are inconsistent with foamy lather, as shortness of duration and irritation to the skin.

Teens Desecrate Church

This occured in a neighboring town at a parish I have filled in at. Not only was the church vandalized and sacred vessels stolen, but the Eucharist was violated. The sacrileges comitted here are horrible.

From the Herald News

Police arrested two town [Somerset MA] residents after they allegedly broke into St. Patrick’s Church, stole numerous items, including chalices and altar breads, and burned a section of carpeting.
Anthony Botelho, 19, of 197 Main St., and Mallory Bedard, 17, of 198 Vermont Ave., are each charged with breaking and entering a building in the nighttime, larceny more than $250 and vandalizing a church.
Chief Joseph Ferreira said Officer David Labreche responded to a break-in complaint at the South Street church Saturday afternoon and found a Massachusetts driver’s license in the sacristy, a room near the altar.
“The driver’s license was that of the defendant Botelho,” Ferreira said. “The church had been ransacked, and many items were reported stolen.”
Labreche called for detectives and Officer Todd Costa to assist him.
As Labreche was checking outside the church, he stopped the suspects as they were walking by, Ferreira said.
“Defendant Bedard immediately threw an object on the ground, which was later determined to be a bag of several altar breads,” the chief said.
Both suspects were arrested by Labreche and Costa.
Found in Bedard’s backpack were a porcelain chalice, purple chalice bag, baptism shroud for an infant, altar wine, camera, computer mouse, waterproof ink, markers and a lighter.
Bedard, who was found barefooted, asked officers for her shoes back, Ferreira said.
“A pair of Old Navy flip-flops was later found behind the altar. Someone wrote ‘I Love Anthony’ on the chalkboard of the parish center,” he said.
“Investigating officers found that someone had eaten some of the hosts and spit some out at the crime scene, leaving them stuck to the floor and walls,” Ferreira said. “A partially burned candle had ruined a piece of carpet. Priest robes were thrown around and many items, including many chalices and a computer, were stolen.”
During subsequent interviews of the suspects, Ferreira said, “They confessed to stealing the items, but had contradictory stories regarding who actually carried them out of the church. Botelho claims that Bedard broke into the tabernacle, began eating hosts [sic] and then robed herself with priest’s robes as (Botelho) was lighting a candle after he put a dollar in the candle money depository.”
Ferreira added that Botelho admitted he and Bedard entered the parish center and “claims he was trying to persuade her to leave.”
In a search of Botelho’s room at his residence, Ferreira said, Officer Jared Linhares recovered a green chalice, a purple chalice, and a trash bag containing four gold chalices, an Acer computer and a computer wire.
More than 30 items were recovered by police.
Botelho was held on $5,000 cash bail and Bedard was held on $1,000 for their arraignments today in Fall River District Court.

Litany in Reparation to Our Lord in the Eucharist

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.

Sacred Host, offered for the salvation of sinners, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, annihilated on the altar for us and by us, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, despised by lukewarm Christians, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, mark of contradiction, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, delivered over to infidels and heretics, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, insulted by blasphemers, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, Bread of angels, given to animals, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, flung into the mud and trampled underfoot, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, dishonored by unfaithful priests, Have mercy on us.
Sacred Host, forgotten and abandoned in Thy churches, Have mercy on us.

Be merciful unto us, Pardon us, O Lord.
Be merciful unto us, Hear us, O Lord.

For the outrageous contempt of this most wonderful Sacrament, We offer Thee our reparation.
For Thine extreme humiliation in Thine admirable Sacrament, We offer Thee our reparation.
For all unworthy Communions, We offer Thee our reparation.
For the irreverences of wicked Christians, We offer Thee our reparation.
For the profanation of Thy sanctuaries, We offer Thee our reparation.
For the holy ciboriums dishonored and carried away by force, We offer Thee our reparation.
For the continual blasphemies of impious men, We offer Thee our reparation.
For the obduracy and treachery of heretics, We offer Thee our reparation.
For the unworthy conversations carried on in Thy holy temples, We offer Thee our reparation.
For the profaners of Thy churches which they have desecrated by their sacrileges, We offer Thee our reparation.

That it may please Thee to increase in all Christians the reverence due to this adorable Mystery, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee to manifest the Sacrament of Thy Love to heretics, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee to grant us the grace to atone for their hatred by our burning love for Thee, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee that the insults of those who outrage Thee may rather be directed against ourselves, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee graciously to receive this our humble reparation, we beseech Thee, hear us.
That it may please Thee to make our adoration acceptable to Thee, we beseech Thee, hear us.

Pure Host, hear our prayer.
Holy Host, hear our prayer.
Immaculate Host, hear our prayer.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.

V. See, O Lord, our affliction,
R. And give glory to Thy Holy Name.

Let Us Pray:
O Lord Jesus Christ,
Who dost deign to remain with us in Thy wonderful Sacrament to the end of the world,
in order to give to Thy Father, by the memory of Thy Passion, eternal glory,
and to give to us the Bread of life everlasting:
Grant us the grace to mourn, with a heart full of sorrow,
over the injuries which Thou hast received in this adorable Mystery,
and over the many sacrileges which are committed by the impious, by heretics and by bad Catholics.

Inflame us with an ardent zeal to repair all these insults
to which, in Thine infinite mercy, Thou hast preferred to expose Thyself
rather than deprive us of Thy Presence on our altars,
Who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Shooting in Vatican City

VATICAN CITY, SEP 3, 2007 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. released the following declaration at midday today:

"At around 7.30 a.m. today Alessandro Benedetti, aged 26 and a member of the Corps of the Gendarmerie of Vatican City State, was found in a bathroom of the Gendarmerie's barracks in a very grave condition with a gunshot wound. The young man was taken immediately to Santo Spirito Hospital where he died at around 9 a.m.

"Initial evidence would seem to suggest that the young man committed suicide. A note found on the scene is currently being studied by Vatican magistrates who are following the case and who will examine the information that emerges from the autopsy which has been requested by the Italian coroner.

"Alessandro Benedetti was recruited into the Corps of the Gendarmerie last April as a 'gendarme cadet' following the usual psychological aptitude selection process, also concerning the handling of weapons

"His behavior had not, until now, given cause for concern.

"The Holy Father learnt the news with great sadness. He entrusts young Alessandro to the mercy of God, and remains spiritually close to the Benedetti family and to the members of the Gendarmerie."

Canon in Parenthood

A friend sent this link to me today and ironically, I have been up with a sick, crying child all night so it defiantely strikes a chord in my house tonight.

What Happens When a Church is Dedicated

Bishop Michael Burbidge from the Diocese of Raleigh has made an excellent video explaining the rituals used in the dedicating of a new church.

The Syndrome Syndrome

It seems that wherever I turn I meet someone with a child with a "syndrome". Aspergers, RAD, ADD, ADHD, ODD, CD and so many others.

Here is the description of Oppositional Defiant Disorder:

A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior lasting at least 6 months, during which four (or more) of the following are present:
often loses temper
often argues with adults
often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults' requests or rules
often deliberately annoys people
often blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior
is often touchy or easily annoyed by others
is often angry and resentful
is often spiteful or vindictive

Hmmm, that sounds like my child, but he doesn't have ODD. He is just almost three. Luckily for him, I realized that he needed me to be stricter with him. Let's face it, kids are tough. Kids push the line every chance they get. They have incredibly strong wills. Why? Because they want it to be their way.

Personally, I want my son to be strong willed because that means his will be independent. He won't be easily swayed by every passing fad. I don't want to break him of it, I want to show him the limits.

I am not saying that there are no kids who legitimately have these syndromes, but I can't help but think that many parents look for labels to put on their kids. Our children shouldn't be perfectly obedient, malleable little clay people. They are going to question and push the limits. They are going to act up when they are bored, tired, and over or under stimulated. They are kids! We have to be parents.

If we refuse to to be parents and enforce our strong wills on our children, we can expect "problem children".

Several years ago a school nurse diagnosed my friend's son as having ADD. My friend's wise response? He isn't ADD, he is BAD. Guess what? She modified her parenting techniques and he is fine now. His behavior actually worsened when he was given the label of ADD and when she tried to parent him properly, he would tell her, "It's not my fault. I have ADD, I can't help it."

While this may seem an odd topic for a blog about Catholicism, I think it is just one more side effect of the culture of death. We have created a false ideal of the normal child. We have created a stereotype of the average child: good-looking, obedient, brilliant, athletic. If our child doesn't fit that stereotype, there must be something wrong. So we put a label on the child and before long the child begins to fit the label. Why? Because we raise the child according to the label. It is easier to say there is a psychological problem rather than to admit that the problem is the result of poor parenting or a bad home situation.

So who really has the syndrome, the kids or the parents. I am now announcing the discovery of a new syndrome. I call it SS "Syndrome Syndrome". The symptoms are parental lazyness, the believe that normal children are perfectly obedient, and the need to attach a label on children.

I know this post will infurate many people, so I am putting my flame suit on now.

Another Anti-Catholic Play

"Confessions of a Catholic Child"

Tridentine Mass on EWTN

They aren't wasting any time with either the new bishop or Summorum Pontificum.

H/T Gerald who got it from Fr. Z.

EWTN to Televise Live Tridentine Mass Celebrated by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter

DENTON, Nebraska – AUGUST 17, 2007 – For the first time in its 26 year history, Mother Angelica’s Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) will be broadcasting a live Solemn High Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama on September 14, 2007 at 8:00AM EST. EWTN has asked for the assistance of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, an international Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right, to help celebrate this "extraordinary" form.

This past July 7th, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed the beauty and importance of the Tridentine Mass by issuing Summorum Pontificum, a papal document encouraging and confirming the right of all Latin Rite priests to use this more ancient use of the Mass starting September 14th. The Tridentine Mass was the normative liturgy experienced by Latin Rite Catholics prior to the Second Vatican Council.

"Most Catholics have not seen this heavenly celebration in over 40 years," said Father Calvin Goodwin, a professor at the Society’s international English-speaking seminary located in Denton, Nebraska. "We are very excited to help EWTN and to support the Holy Father’s call for a wider presence of this form of the Mass. This is a cause for great joy."

Priests and seminarians from Denton, Nebraska will travel to Alabama and provide the celebrant, deacon, subdeacon, preacher, master of ceremonies and altar servers.

About the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
Established in 1988 by Pope John Paul II, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter is an international society of Catholic priests entrusted with the preservation and administration of the Catholic Church’s ancient Latin liturgical traditions. Over 120 seminarians are preparing for the priesthood in the Fraternity’s two seminaries in Bavaria, Germany and Denton, Nebraska.

About EWTN
Founded by Mother Angelica, a Poor Clare nun, the Eternal Word Television Network has become the largest religious media network in the world, transmitting programming 24 hours a day to more than 123 million homes in 140 countries and territories on more than 4,800 cable systems, wireless cable, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), low power TV and individual satellite users.

Contact:
Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary
7880 West Denton Road
Denton, NE 68339 U.S.A.
(402) 797-7700

seminary@fsspolgs.org

What a Headline

This article is worth posting for the headline alone.

Cannibal tribe apologises for eating Methodists

Baker is New Bishop of Birmingham

I think I can hear the cheers from Hanceville already. After 27 long months, the Diocese of Birmingham finally has a bishop and he is a friend of EWTN. He even wrote a book with Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

Here is my rough translation of this morning's bolletino.
The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has named as bishop of Birmingham, His Excellency Robert Joseph Baker (U.S.A.), who until now was bishop of Charleston.

His excellency Robert J. Baker was born in Willard, in the diocese of Toledo (Ohio) on June 4, 1944. He attended the elementary school of the parish of Saint Gwendaline in his hometown. He then attended and graduated from the Josephinum High School in Columbus (Ohio), before entereing the Pontifical College Josephinum, also in Columbus. Later on, he earned a license in theology [STL] from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and was then sent to Rome and graduated from the Pontifical Gregorian Institute(1972-1975).

He was ordained to the priesthood on March 21, 1970 and incardinated into the diocse of Saint Augustine (Florida). He served in several positions: as Assiciate pastor of Saint Paul Parish e teacher at Bishop Kenny High School in Jacksonville Beach, director of the diocesean marriage preparation program(1970-1972); spiritual director of the Pontifical College Josephinum (1975-1976); Administrator of St. Augustine's in Gainesville, a parish attended by students from the University of Florida (1976-1981); Professor of theology at the regional seminary of Saint Vincent de Paul in Boynton Beach (1981-1984); rector of the Cathedral of Saint Augustine (1984-1997); Pastor of Christ the King Parish, the largest parish in the diocese (1997 - 1999).
He was named bishop of Charleston on July 13, 1999, and ordained a bishop on September 29 of the same year.

New Bishop today?

Hanging on for the Vatican Bulletin.

Fifteen Years

If there is any one person who is responsible for giving me my faith, it is my grandmother. I was baptized when I was 6 months old, mostly at the insistence of my grandmother. The priest was reluctant to baptize me, because he doubted that I would be raised Catholic. However, the curate and my grandmother pestered his enough and he relented. The pastor was right and I wasn't raised a Catholic.

I used to spent a lot of time with my grandmother, who brought me to daily Mass with her. One of my earliest memories of Vavo is watching Msgr. McFarland on the TV Mass and rosary from Boston. My grandmother taught me all the basic Catholic prayers and traditional Portuguese hymns.

When I was 7 years old, one of my friends mentioned that she was going to start CCD classes. I asked my mother why I wasn't going to CCD too. She wasn't too happy to hear me ask. I pestered her enough and we started going to the Episcopalian church. I attended their Sunday School for a few weeks, but it wasn't what I wanted. I kept telling my parents that I wanted to be Catholic. I wore them down and I started CCD classes. We also started attended Mass every weekend. I would go to daily Mass with my grandmother whenever I was able to.

I learned more about the faith at my grandmother's knee than I ever did in CCD. Her love of God and His Church instilled the same in me. I know that my love for the Church made her very happy and she did everything she could to encourage me.

Vavo passed away on this date, fifteen years ago. She was 89 years old and I was 13. She was thrilled about our new bishop and she was sure that he would do great things. I spoke with her the night before she died and she asked me to make sure I welcomed him to the diocese. The very last thing she said to me was, "Jesus and Mary are there in the corner. I'm not afraid because I'm not alone". No one had any idea that would be the last time we would talk with her, but I have no doubt that they were there in the corner.

The next morning, she was gone. One chapter in my life and faith was over and another was just beginning.

On that day my diocese installed a new bishop. He was a kind franciscan bishop with a beard and a warm smile. He virtually unheard of, at least as far as we were concerned, but he changed our diocese and my life forever. The time I spent with Bishop Sean took the faith which had been instilled in by my grandmother and helped it to grow. He introduced me to people and gave me opportunities I never dreamed possible. It's strange how things work sometimes.

Vavo, thanks for your love and for sharing your faith with me. You gave me many gifts through the years, but faith was by far the greatest.

Avé Maria, cheia de graça, o Senhor é convosco. Bendita sois vós entre as mulheres; bendito é o fruto do vosso ventre, Jesus. Santa Maria, mãe de Deus, rogai por nós, pecadores, agora e na hora da nossa morte. Amen

Vavo, eu amo te.

Can You Name All The States

H/T to Brian who blew me away.

3m 32s

Click here to try the quiz.

Fishers Of Men On EWTN

Fishers on Men is on EWTN right now. Looking for other air dates and times.

Benedict Breaks the Sterotype

It doesn't get much sweeter than this. So much those who think Pope Benedict is cold. Shy, reserved? Yes. Cold, no way.

H/T to Fr. Z. who translated this from Italian.

"Orgel-Ratz" and "Bücher-Ratz" (Organ-Ratz and Books-Ratz) amidst music, study and sweets

di Angela Ambrogetti

"Orgel-Ratz" and "Bücher-Ratz". That is what the fellow seminarians called the Ratzinger brothers. Georg was completely dedicated to music and Joseph was enamored of books. This is how the brothers are today, and when they spent a few days together the Bavarian kids of the past come back.

The news report about the Roman holidays of Monsignor Ratzinger seem to interest only the local German press. The newspaper of Regensburg reports, for example, about Pope Benedict’s birthday through the eyes of his brother. Joseph, to receive his big brother, who for years has had serious problems with his vision, put together a mountain of CD’s in his apartment, and in their free time read aloud to Georg the introduction of his Jesus of Nazareth and also every morning the breviary.

The birthday of Benedict XVI was celebrated with simiplicity and affection. Msgr. Gaenswein, the Pontiffs secretary, had in great secrecy rehearsed celebratory songs with the Memores Domini which look to the Pope’s well-being. The songs were sung after morning Mass. Then came birthday present time. Georg Ratzinger had already given his birthday trip: "I am stingy. My brother got only one present for Christmas, his name day, and this birthday together." There was the birthday breakfast: croissants with marmellade and an Italian "sacher". "Very good. We don’t have it on regular days." The day continued with the Pope’s official duties and, for Monsignor Georg, listening to music. After lunch was their appointment for a stroll, on the terrace of the Apostolic Palace. "A couple turns, about a quarter of an hour."

When the Pope’s brother can’t be in Rome in person, he sends some little gifts, like a dessert made by his housekeeper Agnes Heindl. Special delivery. This is what happened last April 12th, when it was entrusted to a pilgrimage lead by Monsignor Heinrich Wachter. The two tour busses were held up on the autostrada near Florence. So not to miss the Pope’s supper, Wacther took a taxi and, on his arrival at the Vatican, Benedict smiled and asked if he ought to reimburse his fare.

These are little glimpses of daily life which the newspaper of Regensburg dedicated to its illustrious former fellow citizen.

The Mittelbayerische Zeiutung is the daily which last year published a wonderful conversation with the Pope’s secretary and children from an elementary school, which has now become a book: Why does the Pope wear red shoes?

Defending the Faith

I want to applaud Megan Bailey Gerdes for the letter she wrote to the Kentucky Courier-Journal.

I want to thank you for continuing to print ignorant anti-Catholic letters in The Courier-Journal. It was letters and attitudes like these that set me on the road to conversion to the Catholic faith. Why? For starters, attacks on Catholicism come from many different directions, and are almost always contradictory. The contrasting descriptions of allegedly outrageous Catholic doctrines and practices forced me to seek the straight story in an obvious place: the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Bible and the writings of the early (pre-Nicaea) church fathers.

To my surprise and indignation, I found that just about everything I thought I "knew" about Catholicism was wrong, distorted or incomplete. I also noticed that the most incorrigible disseminators of false information about Catholicism are so-called "recovering Catholics." I'll leave it to the psychiatrists to explain that one.

Meanwhile, I'd like to encourage the more open-minded of your readers not to rely on Dan Brown, Loraine Boettner and the Associated Press for factual information on the Catholic Christian faith. Go to the original source.

MEGAN BAILEY GERDES

Robinson Risks Tax Status?

Remember when Bishop Tobin from Providence spoke out against Rudy Guiliani? Well, Bishop Gene Robinson, yes, the famous gay Episcopalian bishop, is endorsing Barack Obama.

From WMUR:

Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, announced Thursday that he is endorsing Barack Obama for president.

Robinson said that he chose Obama because of his faith and background in civil rights.

"Barack Obama sees beyond the partisanship and hopelessness that have dominated in recent years, and the movement he's building is bringing vital new energy and optimism into our democratic process," Robinson said.

We all know about the separation of Church and State outrage over Bishop Tobin's comments. What will happen now? Will the tax exempt status of his diocese be challenged? I doubt it. Hmmm...double standard anyone?

Stem Cells and ANTS

I have been absent from the blogosphere for a few days and expect me to be missing for a few more. The end of the summer term is here and I am in the world of stem cells. My term paper is on the ethicacy of Altered Nuclear Transfer (ANT) as a method of obtaining pluripotent stem cells.

Confused yet? Me too.
I will post my paper here when it is finished.

Until then, keep me in your prayers as I discern the complicated moral and ethical dillemas involved in this issue. Not to mention the science.