Author: SDG

Bad Word! Naughty!

If you’re considering a Christmas present for Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, a former Master General of the Dominican order, might I suggest a case of Ivory soap? He undoubtedly needs it for all of the mouths he apparently would like to scrub clean:

"Dogma is a bad word! But beauty has its own authority, an authority to which every human being responds, and an authority that in no way threatens. We need to find ways of disclosing God’s beauty to our contemporaries."

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Of all the many quotes that could have been pulled from Vatican correspondent John L. Allen’s "The Word From Rome" column this week, which one do you suppose the National Catholic Reporter‘s webmaster chose to pull for highlighting? Fr. Radcliffe’s or this one from Pope Benedict XVI:

"[W]ithout the light of truth, sooner or later every person is in fact condemned to doubt the goodness of his or her own life and the relations that make it up, as well as the validity of his or her commitment to construct something in common with others."

No fair peeking at the story before guessing.

Thou Shalt Sing!

Dale Price of Dyspeptic Mutterings waxes indignant on the expectations of the Choir-Robed Masters in the Church Loft that thou shalt sing:

CRM: "Many Catholics still find singing in church a problem, probably because of the rather individualistic piety that they inherited. Yet singing has been a tradition of both the Old and the New Testament. It is an excellent way of expressing and creating a community spirit of unity as well as joy. Ephrem’s hymns, an ancient historian testifies, ‘lent luster to the Christian assemblies.’ We need some modern Ephrems — and cooperating singers — to do the same for our Christian assemblies today."

DP: "Ah, yes — one of the great evils of our time — individualistic piety! I suppose I should be thankful that the commenter didn’t mention fish on Fridays, too. The Borg Collective approach to liturgical reform is bent on stamping that out. You see it in the diktats from the liturgy offices demanding that the faithful Keep Standing and Singing, Dammit! after receiving the Eucharist. Resistance is futile — you will experience renewal. Thou shalt not engage in private prayer in the liturgy.

"Nope — no can do. I need time alone with God, and I’ll take that time, thank you. After that, you can hit the spinner and try to tell me where my hands and feet go next (red dot, blue dot) in the remarkably creative interpretation of the rubrics, thanks."

Personally, I rather like singing — whether pew mates like to hear me sing is another question — but I can completely understand why not many join me from the congregation in doing so. The melodies are difficult to learn within the first verse or so, and sometimes the lyrics are downright embarrassing. For example, I absolutely refuse to sing about consubstantiation (e.g., "Supper of the Lord"). However, the upside to knowing well the lyrics to popular contemporary hymns is the ability to play the Catholic version of annoying your friends with rounds of "It’s A Small World." One round of "Table of Plenty" is plentiful enough to stick in a friend’s head for the rest of the day. So, if you get a banal hymn stuck in your head, share the misery:

"Come to the feast of heaven and earth,
Come to the table of plenty!
God will provide for all that we need,
Here at the table of pleeeennteeeee!"

You’re welcome.

Searching For SuperPope

In the media’s perennial case of Not Getting It, pundits are speculating that Benedict XVI’s papacy is tilting more to the left than to the right, something not expected from someone they presumed to be the spiritual incarnation of Torquemada.

"[Pope Benedict XVI’s] crowds are far larger than those of Pope John Paul II at the same time last year. Sunday addresses from his apartment window have drawn up to 100,000 people. And so far, to the surprise of many, the new pope’s words and deeds have drawn sharper criticism from the Catholic far right than from the left.

"John Allen, Vatican analyst of the liberal National Catholic Reporter, analyzed nearly 45,000 words that Benedict spoke in his first 45 days. They proved mostly positive, not the attacks on secularism and heresy many expected from Ratzinger, Allen said.

"’There is an obvious sense of alarm from the right that this pontificate will not deliver the strong conservative agenda that that wing of the church was expecting,’ said Allen, who just completed his second biography of Ratzinger/Benedict."

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While it is true that so far I have seen far sharper attacks on Pope Benedict since his election coming from Rad Trads than from Rad Progs®, this is once more a case of pitting pastoral care against doctrinal clarity.

What many on both sides seem to be missing is that Joseph Ratzinger has a different job now as Pope Benedict than he had as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. It’s not that he can be expected to neglect doctrinal clarity; only that he will approach it in a different manner as pope than he did as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. And, in addition, he has far greater opportunity and visibility as pope to show pastoral sensitivity than he did as head of the CDF.

The truly Rad Trad Catholics, with a few exceptions, never expected much from Pope Benedict XVI because they more or less dismissed him as a "Novus Ordo Pope." The Rad Progs have not expected much from him either, and are a bit surprised that he has not yet put anyone in a Jedi death grip. (Even in the case of Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J., former editor of America, the article notes that his story is mainly considered to be the last act of Cardinal Ratzinger rather than the first of Pope Benedict.)

Those truly in danger of disappointment are those orthodox Catholics who expected Pope Benedict to be SuperPope. And, not only SuperPope, but a SuperPope made in their own image and likeness of what they believe a SuperPope should be and do.

Is The Pope Christian?

Those seeking to ask a rhetorical question that begs a no-brainer "Yes!" response sometimes say, "Is the Pope Catholic?" Well, not only is he Catholic, but he’s Christian, too:

"The war conducted by revisionist Catholics, they understand full well, is not simply against reactionary old men in the Vatican, but Baptists in Virginia, Anglicans in Nigeria, Pentecostals in Brazil, and against the heart of [o]rthodox doctrinal and moral teaching. It is not only against the beliefs of old-fashioned Catholics, but has been unmistakably revealed in the last generation, as revisionism marches steadily from the controversial to the abominable, to be against all Christians, everywhere, and at all times.

"A revisionist victory in a papal election would not be a small thing, but neither would it be as large as many of the liberal Catholics and their friends in the secular media seem to think it would. The Church — and by this I mean the Church as C. S. Lewis’s spirits could see it, spread down through the ages, as terrible as an army with banners — will survive it, and become stronger and more unified with the disciplines it imposes."

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"The Church — and by this I mean the Church as C. S. Lewis’s spirits could see it, spread down through the ages, as terrible as an army with banners — will survive it, and become stronger and more unified with the disciplines it imposes."

And the Pope will be leading and directing the charge.

Diff’rent Folks

Who would you think of if asked for a name of Greatest Child Star Ever? Wouldn’t you automatically think of those child stars who have made something of their lives, transitioning from the difficulties of child fame to make their mark as adults? Apparently, becoming a well-adjusted adult is not a requirement for being considered Greatest Child Star Ever:

"VH1 has named Gary Coleman No. 1 on its list of the top 100 child stars ever. Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin was second, and the Olsen twins were third.

"Coleman, now 37, was the precocious star of the hit sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, which ran from 1978-86. Coleman played Arnold, who along with his older brother Willis (Todd Bridges) moves from Harlem to live with an affluent white family in Manhattan.

"In 2003 Coleman joined 134 other candidates to run for governor of California. Arnold Schwarzenegger successfully replaced the recalled Gov. Gray Davis, but Coleman got a few more minutes in the spotlight.

"’This is really interesting and cool and I’ve been enjoying the heck out of it because I get to be intelligent, which is something I don’t get to do very often,’ the 4-foot-8 actor said then."

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Coleman doesn’t get to be intelligent very often? Poor man.

Director-actors Ron Howard and Jodie Foster did manage to hit the top ten. But the article didn’t even mention Shirley Temple Black, possibly the iconic child movie star and a woman who made her mark not only in acting but also in the U.S. Foreign Service as an ambassador to Ghana and to Czechoslovakia.

‘Course, that’s small potatoes compared to running for governor of California in a come-one, come-all special election open to anyone with $3,500 and 65 signatures.

Call Of The Grizzly

Bearvisitor_2

A Virginia family found themselves the unwitting host of a mama bear who burst into their home while defending her cub:

"Karla Irving was walking her dog, Rosie, around 9:45 p.m., and she apparently got between a mother bear and her cub, which was in her backyard.

"’The dog alerted me,’ Irving tells The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen. ‘She began barking at something that was near a tree in my backyard. I looked up, and something was going up the tree. I thought it was a raccoon but it was way too black and way too large to be a raccoon.’

"Irving believes Rosie noticed the other bear on the opposite side of the fence before she did, because Rosie quickly started running toward the house and went in.

"’When she ran, I ran, too,’ she says. ‘About that time, the mother bear came over the fence, took about three steps and was pushing on the door, as I was trying to shut the door.’

"The bear brought the door down and followed Rosie all the way to the basement, while Karla Irving managed to sneak out to the back yard, shutting the door behind her and alerting the family."

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Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, but the bear will not be invited back for tea and crumpets anytime soon.

Celebrity Cell Block

Do you ever wonder what happens to the widely-publicized incarcerated criminals, the ones you figure would make a tempting target to fellow inmates? California has a special prison housing unit especially for them.

"If Michael Jackson is acquitted of child molestation and related charges, he’ll probably return home to his whimsical Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara County.

"But if he is convicted of any of the 10 felony counts against him, he will probably land in the most secure prison unit in California, designed to protect famous convicts from attack by other inmates, prison officials say.

"Corcoran State Prison is set in the middle of America’s richest cotton fields, about 50 miles south of Fresno.

"Its Protective Housing Unit is considered the safest place for an inmate in the California prison system, and therefore the home for mass murderers such as Charles Manson and Juan Corona — and any inmate whose notoriety would make him a trophy for other inmates, Corrections Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said."

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For a true-crime buff like me, the article is an intriguing look at what happens to celebrity inmates after the cameras and public interest are gone.

Going To Pot

Once again Our Robed Masters are seeking to save you from the laws of your state, which cannot be trusted to pass laws that differ from the will of The All-Powerful Few:

"Federal authorities may prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state laws don’t protect users from a federal ban on the drug.

"The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug’s use to treat various illnesses.

"Justice John Paul Stevens, writing the 6-3 decision, said that Congress could change the law to allow medical use of marijuana.

"The closely watched case was an appeal by the Bush administration in a case involving two seriously ill California women who use marijuana. The court said the prosecution of pot users under the federal Controlled Substances Act was constitutional.

"’I’m going to have to be prepared to be arrested,’ said Diane Monson, one of the women involved in the case."

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Now, I am not a doctor, and so cannot comment on the possible legitimate medicinal usages for marijuana. What outrages me is that the United States Supreme Court can overturn any and all state laws with which it disagrees with virtual impunity, and has been able to do so for generations now. Ms. Monson, for example, should have been able, under our system of government, to be protected by her state. Now she stands alone and vulnerable, at a time when she is also seriously ill, before the unchecked might of the Men (and Women) In Black.

Our Founding Fathers would have been appalled.