SDG – Page 24 – Jimmy Akin

One Woman’s Choice [To Commit Murder]

Over at her weblog, Open Book, Amy Welborn and her commenters are discussing an article written by a woman who chose to abort her child when prenatal tests indicated that the child had Downs Syndrome. The conversation there is well worth reading. But what struck me most forcefully about this article was how it opens.

"’So when do you go for the abortion?’ my friend asked, her voice sympathetic.

"’Wednesday,’ I replied, and then hurriedly got off the phone. I called Mike, my boyfriend, in tears, complaining about how inconsiderate people are, how no one thinks before they speak. The truth was, until I heard the word ‘abortion,’ it hadn’t occurred to me that I was actually having one.

"I was, of course. But we’d been using euphemisms for days, ever since my doctor called to say my amniocentesis results ‘weren’t good.’ We’d say ‘when we go to the hospital’ or ‘the appointment’ or ‘after the procedure, we can try again.’"

GET THE STORY.

And this one of the ways in which abortion has gotten so embedded into our society. A woman doesn’t choose to kill her child, she simply "chooses," as if all choices were created equal and a choice for abortion were no more consequential than a choice to have her hair trimmed. An abortion isn’t an abortion, except to "inconsiderate" people who don’t think before speaking. No, an abortion is an "appointment" or a "procedure." Just get through this nasty little "procedure" and you’re free to "try again" for a "perfect" child.

The first step toward an abortion-free society may be educating people what an abortion is and stubbornly refusing to let it be redefined to mean anything that allows its practitioners to keep a clear conscience.

Confessions Of A Different Girl

You might think that a commitment to home and hearth and the comforts of spirituality might make the one-time Material Girl (aka Madonna, aka Esther) more retiring about her personal life. Au contraire, but now it seems that home, hearth, and spirituality are just part of the pop-idol schtick.

"’I’m a totally different person now,’ says Madonna. ‘It’s the natural progression — most people just grow up (after) having children, being in a grown-up relationship, having so many years of life in the spotlight … having fame and fortune (and) realizing it’s not what everyone thinks it is, and what it’s all cracked up to be.’"

Mind passing me some Kleenex so that I might finish the article with dry eyes? Thanks.

"She says her children get much of the credit for the kindler, gentler Madonna that’s emerged in recent years (the former Sex author has even penned children’s books).

"But her devotion to Kabbalah, the Jewish mysticism that has gained popularity in recent years, also has been a factor.

"Her ties to it have drawn skepticism, and some people have even labeled it a cult — which makes Madonna bristle.

"’I think that people are bothered by it because it’s unfamilar to them,’ she says. ‘If you’re someone that people look up to, and you’re doing something that doesn’t fit into the expected behavior of a pop star, some people are going to be suspicious about that. But, you know, it’s not like I’ve joined the Nazi party!’"

GET THE STORY.

Such trivialization of one of the worst evils of the twentieth century is one reason why we don’t turn to Reformed, Really!-popstars for social analysis, much less for spiritual guidance.

(Nod to My Urban Kvetch for the link.)

Cornwell’s Pope?

British journalist and author John Cornwell — whose book Hitler’s Pope could be said to be the felix culpa that launched such fine defenses of Pope Pius XII as Hitler, the War, and the Pope by Ronald J. Rychlak and The Myth of Hitler’s Pope by Rabbi David G. Dalin, and who blasted John Paul II in his last days with the book The Pontiff in Winter — has now turned his spotlights on Pope Benedict XVI.

Although he cannot resist a mean swipe by speculating unfairly on the possible hidden portents of a child frightened at the prospect of meeting the Holy Father, Cornwell seems astonished that Pope Benedict is not the metal-ball-rolling, hard-eyed Grim Rottweiler that Everyone Who Knew Anything about Pre-16 predicted him to be.

"First indications were ominous. Within a week of the papal election, Tom Reece [sic, Reese], editor of America, the leading US national Catholic journal, was sacked (for alleged unorthodoxy); Sister Lavinia Byrne, a former Catholic nun known for her espousal of women priests, was disinvited from a Catholic speaking engagement in Australia; and a senior Jesuit professor withdrew a theological work from his publisher fearing it was too critical for the new regime.

"As it happened, these were precipitate acts of self-policing rather than sweeps of a hard new papal broom. Seven months on there is still no sign of the purge. In the view of William Rees-Mogg, writing in The Times last week, Benedict is even happy to endorse the validity of Darwinian evolution (provided, of course, God is seen as its ultimate architect), thus distancing himself from the rabid creationist Christian right. As Pope, Benedict XVI is indeed looking complex if not exactly progressive."

GET THE STORY.

Qualify This!

Michelle here.

If you read carefully through the questions-and-answers by staff apologists on the Catholic Answers Forums, you’ll notice that we use a lot of qualifiers. Especially when dealing with issues of moral culpability, we try very hard not to use absolutes. While it is possible to state definitively whether or not a particular action is grave matter, it is not possible for the apologists to discern any inquirer’s personal culpability because culpability for grave matter depends on knowledge and consent, two things I am not remotely qualified to discern. So we use qualifiers. We use may, could, perhaps, possible, might, etc. It becomes habitual. So habitual that I find it leaks into other forms of writing I do, such as this blog.

In what was supposed to be a "throwaway" post that turned into a major brouhaha over Martin Luther, I wrote:

"If you’re trying to think of the perfect gift for Luther, might I suggest obtaining a partial or plenary indulgence for his soul? Wherever Luther is now, I’m sure he now knows the value of an indulgence."

GET THE POST.

You may be horrified to learn that this innocuous bit of humor has brought me to the attention of the Universal Inquisition. Well, the Sacred Weblog of the Universal Inquisition at any rate, where I am exposed as a neo-Catholic (gasp!). The Inquisitor General, who describes his blog (one hopes with tongue in cheek) as "the weblog for the office of the Inquisitor General, scourge of heretics, archenemy of modernity, and protector of all things traditional" writes:

"Jimmy Akin’s blog has mentioned Luther’s birthday and given us this mildly humorous comment:

‘If you’re trying to think of the perfect gift for Luther, might I suggest obtaining a partial or plenary indulgence for his soul? Wherever Luther is now, I’m sure he now knows the value of an indulgence.’

"Of course, our only quibble is with the ‘wherever’ part. Luther is almost certainly in Hell*, and we have no qualms about saying it, unlike our neo-Catholic fellow bloggers.

"* Note the words ‘almost certainly.’"

GET THE POST.

While I did not intend to write with qualifiers in a humor bit, I note with amusement that it has become a bit of a modus operandi. And, frankly, that’s fine with me. (It’s primarily artistic writing, such as fiction, where qualifiers may be a problem.) In the case now being scrutinized, my qualifier wherever is an acknowledgement that it is not given to us to know where Luther is right now or whether an indulgence may help him, but that we can know that he does now know the value of an indulgence. Even if the indulgence cannot be used for his sake because he is in heaven or hell, God can use the indulgence for the sake of a suffering soul who can benefit. If Luther’s in purgatory, God can use the indulgence for his sake. In any case, the indulgence is of benefit and value to someone.

But, in the spirit of the Universal Inquisition, let’s look at the Inquisitor General’s use of qualification. Apparently, he desperately wants to say flat-out that Luther is in hell and thus separate himself from those Awful Neo-Catholics who refuse to make such a judgment. Despite assertions to the contrary, he does have qualms about saying it flat-out and so he highlights and explains his qualification so that he cannot be accused of casting Luther into hell. I submit to the Universal Inquisition that this isn’t a case of acknowledging that judgment belongs only to God but a case of Cover Your Tracks.

Note: The Wikipedia article on neo-Catholicism was down when I tried to check it. I can’t wait to try again later and find out all about neo-Catholicism.

Update: Link to the Inquisitor General’s post added. Apologies for the oversight.

Veterans Day

Armistice Day, which honors the official end of World War I on November 11, 1918, falls on the feast of St. Martin of Tours, a pagan soldier who gave up his military career upon becoming a Christian. (Martin Luther, whose birthday was November 10, was baptized on November 11 and given the name of the saint whose feast fell on his baptismal day.) After World War II, the name of Armistice Day was changed to Veterans Day in the United States.

In honor of Veterans Day, I recommend checking out The Legacy Project, a project that seeks to preserve the wartime letters of America’s service personnel. You can listen to readings of a few of the letters, which are on display at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City.

One of my favorite letters in the collection (Warning: evil .pdf format) was written in July 1969 by a soldier named Dean Allen, a first lieutenant, to his wife Joyce. The letter ended this way:

"Some letter, huh! I don’t know if I have one sentence in the whole thing. I just started writing. Don’t worry about what I have said[,] these are just things I think about sometimes. I am so healthy I can’t get a day out of the field and you know I’m to [sic] damn mean to die. Now I better close for now & try to catch a few z’s. It will be another long night. Sorry I haven’t written more but the weather is against me. You can’t write out here when it rains hour after hour. I love you with all my heart. All my love always, Dean."

SEE THE DOCUMENT.

The museum reports that four days after writing this letter, Lt. Allen stepped on a land mine. Three days after that, Lt. Dean Allen, a multiply-decorated soldier, died.

Eternal rest grant to all our deceased veterans and may perpetual light shine upon them through Christ our Lord.

Happy Birthday, Martin Luther!

In case you forgot to circle the date on your calendar, today is the 522nd birthday of Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant Reformation — or the Protestant Revolt, depending on your point of view — and author of 95 theses that he nailed to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Had he been contemplating how best to disseminate his theses today, perhaps he would have blogged them, a la the Internet Monk.

If you’re trying to think of the perfect gift for Luther, might I suggest obtaining a partial or plenary indulgence for his soul? Wherever Luther is now, I’m sure he now knows the value of an indulgence.

MYTHS ABOUT INDULGENCES.

PRIMER ON INDULGENCES.

Vatican And The iGod Generation

Available now for an iPod near you: Vatican documents, which can be downloaded to your very own portable MP3 player.

"In the beginning there was… Madonna. Now you can also download Pope Benedict XVI into your iPod.

"Inspired by Vatican documents that called on Church officials to exploit the full potentials of the computer age, the Holy See’s official broadcaster, Vatican Radio, is ‘podcasting’ audio content to any of the world’s one billion plus Catholics who own a portable MP3 player.

"The service, launched with little fanfare during the summer, has proved unexpectedly popular.

"’It has been a success right from the start,’ says Jean-Charles Putzolu of the Vatican Radio’s web team."

GET THE STORY.

I’m no techno-geek but I did a bit of Internet fishing to try to find the Vatican’s podcast service. If you are a techno-geek and if you want to start listening to Vatican podcasts, I think you need to go to the site of Vatican Radio.

Growing Protestant Devotion To Mary

Catholic News Agency reports a surge in Marian devotion among British Protestants:

"Walsingham is home to two Marian shrines — one Catholic and the other Anglican — located at opposite sides of the town.

[…]

"According to the New York Times, the number of Protestant pilgrims visiting the Marian shrine and staying overnight has risen since 1999, from 10,000 to 12,000.

"Protestant worshipers in Walsingham often belong to the Anglo-Catholic tradition, which accords greater reverence to the Virgin Mary than other Protestant sects, and uses the bells and incense like in the Roman Catholic liturgy.

"The shrines also appeal to other Christians, and the Orthodox and Methodist churches in the town are indicative of this."

GET THE STORY.

This Rock ran an article a few years back on how one Catholic teacher presented the reasonableness of Marian devotion to Protestant students.

GET THE ARTICLE.

Christian Guilt

A reader writes [with slight edits to preserve anonymity]:

"I’ve found my way back to the Church after being away since high school … and I absolutely love my faith now. I want to share it and am thinking about apologetics.

"Problem is, I did some really awful things back in high school and, even though I’ve gone to confession and received absolution, I still can’t get over the guilt. I’m really struggling with trying to be the person I want to be and trying to leave behind the person that I was.

"Any suggestions?"

First of all, welcome home! I hope you are able to make a go of apologetics. The Lord’s field is always in need of new harvesters.

As to your question, there is a difference between the will and the feelings. One cannot help what one feels. One can only choose what one wills. If you feel guilt for forgiven sins, even though you know on an intellectual level that your sins are forgiven, pray for the grace that your feelings will be ordered to what you know is objectively true. Recognize that being haunted by forgiven sins is, in reality, temptation to despair and will to reject such temptations. Offer up the pain that such temptations cause you to Jesus on the cross. Although Jesus himself never sinned, he knows what it feels like to be tempted (cf. Matt. 4:1-11, Heb. 4:15).

A helpful book for further reading might be Understanding Scrupulosity by Fr. Thomas M. Santa, C.Ss.R.

God bless, and I hope this helps!

Rule 20.

Get Out Of Purgatory Free!

While surfing through some Evangelical Christian blogs, I noticed a curious award given to Phil Johnson’s PyroManiac. He had been awarded a "Get out of Purgatorio free!"-card, created in the image of Monopoly’s "Get out of jail free!"-cards. Since Evangelicals do not believe in purgatory, and since neither the person who awarded the card or the person who received it believe in purgatory, I assume that the donor of the card was awarding Johnson a free pass out of his own weblog that is named Purgatorio.

If anyone knows of a source of free passes out of Actual Purgatory, let me know. I know of some suffering souls who would be greatly appreciative of the donation.