Category: +Religion

I really, really do not like Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter. I mean REALLY. (Did I say "really"?)

But in THIS CASE he may have been Arlen the Semi-Friendly Specter.

The issue at hand was whether a constitutional amendment banning homosexual "marriage" in the United States should receive a floor vote in the Senate.

Specter–and the majority–voted that it should, though he seems opposed to the amendment himself.

He was–at least–willing to let the measure be considered by the broader senate.

Which is what prompted a shouting match between him and Democratic Senator Russ Feingold.

After shouting with Specter, Feingold left the meeting in a huff and Specter pronounced "Good riddance!" on him.

By signalling his opposition to true (i.e., heterosexual) marriage, I can only conclude that Feingold doesn’t want to be president of the United States in 2008.

Despite rumors of his current plans to run.

There is no way in hades that the nation will be willing to elect a president who is openly pro-homosexual "marriage" in 2008.

In fact, the nation will say "Good riddance!" to any such candidate.

It’s nice to have these things pointed out early.

Some time ago, an apologist in This Rock mused about the secular world’s penchant for tossing out Catholicism and adopting paler images of what had been tossed:

"G. K. Chesterton famously observed that when you stop believing in God, you don’t believe in nothing; you believe in anything. Similarly, in the absence of the Catholic Church, you get (before Christ) things that anticipate it or (after Christ) things that are a cheap imitation of it. For instance, Ebay is the modern world’s unwitting testament to the Catholic theology of relics. People who laugh over ‘primitive’ medievals and their interest in the true cross will lay down big bucks to own a pair of John Lennon’s shoelaces. Likewise, what is Oprah but a sort of video testament of the need of the human soul for a mother?"

GET THE STORY.  (Scroll to Item 6.)

Lest you think the apologist was exaggerating, take a look at this: In an article titled "The Divine Miss Winfrey?" La Oprah is hailed as "a spiritual leader for the new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation."

"She’s no longer just a successful talk-show host worth $1.4 billion, according to Forbes’ most recent estimate. Over the past year, Winfrey, 52, has emerged as a spiritual leader for the new millennium, a moral voice of authority for the nation.

"With her television pulpit and the sheer power of her persona, she has encouraged and steered audiences (mostly women) in all matters, from genocide in Rwanda to suburban spouse swapping to finding the absolute best T-shirt and oatmeal cookie.

"’She’s a really hip and materialistic Mother Teresa,’ says Kathryn Lofton, a professor at Reed College in Portland, Ore., who has written two papers analyzing the religious aspects of Winfrey. ‘Oprah has emerged as a symbolic figurehead of spirituality.’"

GET THE STORY.

Catholics have the Blessed Virgin Mother; hip materialists have Mother Oprah. The comparison by Professor Lofton between Mother Teresa and Mother Oprah was especially interesting. Mother Teresa once said "I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness."  For what do the disciples of Mother Oprah pray?

That rumbling you hear is the grave-spinning of all of Spain’s Catholic kings and queens. Or should they now be called Spain’s Progenitor As and Progenitor Bs?

"Spain has taken another step in its journey from conservative to liberal bastion by creating new birth certificates to avoid discrimination against same-sex couples.

"According to an announcement in the Official Bulletin of State ‘The expression "father" will be replaced with "Progenitor A," and "mother" will be replaced with "Progenitor B."’

"The head of the national Civil Register, Pilar Blanco-Morales, told the newspaper ABC that the change took account of a new law on same-sex marriages passed by the socialist government in July."

GET THE STORY.

No matter what Spain decides to call fathers and mothers, even legislative fiat won’t change the biological fact that two Progenitor As and two Progenitor Bs cannot create a child without the biological material of the opposite Progenitor.  In other words, there still must be a Progenitor A and a Progenitor B to make a Baby C.

Truces are good things. Right?

I mean, "Blessed are the peacemakers" and all that.

Well, while peace is desirable and to be worked toward–as the Church has pointed out so often in recent times–a mere absence of conflict is not sufficient for the kind of peace that is worth having.

Said another way: Some truces are wrong.

Like "the Truce of 1968," in which Pope Paul VI attempted to settle things down after numerous theologians rebelled against the teaching of Humanae Vitae. Rather than disciplining the malefactors, he let them get away with their dissent, and we have been suffering from the effects of that ever since.

Who know? He may have signed Europe’s death warrant by confirming it in its downward population growth death spiral.

Now Fr. Richard John Neuhaus worries that we may be facing a new, equally disastrous truce–the "Truce of 2005."

He sees this truce as potentially as decisive for Benedict XVI’s papacy as the Truce of 1968 was for Paul VI’s papacy.

He writes:

And so it is that we are faced with what may be a defining test of the pontificate of Benedict XVI. As all who know him can attest, he is in personal relations a gentle man and averse to unpleasantness. He cannot relish the prospect of a direct confrontation with major institutions such as the Society of Jesus. Early on in his pontificate, John Paul II made an effort to bring the Jesuits into closer alignment with church teaching and authority, and ended up with little to show for it. As is his custom, the father general of the society, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, remains publicly aloof.

With this pope, as with all popes, there is the fear of schism. That was a great fear in 1968. . . .

In 1968, an effort was made to hold accountable those who are solemnly vowed to the service of the Church. And then Rome caved. We are still living with the unhappy consequences of the Truce of 1968. Of course the Church will survive. We have Our Lord’s promise on that. But no one who cares about this pontificate and the integrity of the Church’s ministry can contemplate with equanimity the consequences of a Truce of 2005.

What is this prospective, fearful Truce of 2005?

GET THE STORY.

Have you ever seen cars with Christian outreach bumper stickers that say things like "Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven"? (Here’s one site that sells such stickers.) I’ve often thought I should keep some copies of Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth handy in my car to tuck under the windshield wiper of cars that sport such stickers. I’ve also thought there’d be a good market among Catholics for Catholic riffs on the standard Christian evangelism stickers. If anyone decides to print some up, here are my contributions to get them started:

• "No Mary, no peace. Know Mary, know peace!"
• "Christians aren’t perfect. Yet."
• "If you died today, would you be in purgatory tomorrow?"
• "Real men love Mary."
• "’Why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ –Luke 1:43"
• "Your life may be the only church your friends ever attend."

Please add your contributions to the combox.

There is a fine line between the expectation of respect for the sensitivities of religious people and a none-too-subtle attempt to stifle religious expression.

When I went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the group visited the Western Wall, believed to be the remnant of ancient Israel’s Temple and Judaism’s holiest site. While there I had no problem with the suggestion by the priest leading the group to remove our crosses, crucifixes, and other Christian emblems before visiting the Wall. I tucked mine under my shirt and the priest, who was wearing a baseball cap with a Jerusalem cross, opted not to go down to the Wall.

That is the kind of accommodation for the sensitivity of others that is reasonable. What I find unreasonable is the report that follows:

"A British airline banned its staff from taking Bibles and wearing crucifixes or St. Christopher medals on flights to Saudi Arabia to avoid offending the country’s Muslims.

"British Midland International also has told female flight attendants they must walk two paces behind male colleagues and cover themselves from head to foot in a headscarf and robe known as an abaya, the Mirror newspaper of London reported. […]

"Airline officials, who have sparked outrage, the paper says, explain the Islamic kingdom’s strict laws — enforced by religious police — prohibit public practice of Christianity….

"BMI spokesman Phil Shepherd said: ‘In providing air services people want, demand and use, we have an obligation to respect the customs of the destination country.’

"An airline employee who asked not to be named told the Mirror: ‘It’s outrageous that we must respect their beliefs but they’re not prepared to respect ours.’"

GET THE STORY.

Forcing employees to abandon their own religion’s emblems and spiritual comforts while traveling on business for the company is bad enough and outrageous in and of itself. But going beyond that to force employees to take on the customs of another religion (e.g., the abaya), one which they do not profess, is even worse.

In past centuries, the jihadists within Islam attempted to conquer the world through armed conquest. To the extent they succeed in this day and age, it will likely be through the collaboration of the PC Police.

… or are rumors of his death greatly exaggerated? An American visitor to Europe has written an intriguing editorial on the state of religion in Europe:

"’Common wisdom has it that alcoholics outnumber practicing Christians and that more Czechs believe in UFOs than believe in God — and common wisdom may be correct,’ wrote Nate and Leah Seppanen Anderson in a Prague Post commentary; he’s a freelance writer, and she’s a political science professor at Wheaton College in Illinois and a specialist in Czech politics and society. Surveys show a sharp decline in church attendance and religious practice in most European countries. A series of Eurobarometer surveys since 1970 in five key countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy) shows that regular church attendance fell from about 40% of the population to about half that figure. Declines were sharpest in predominantly Catholic nations.

"Even so, how do we account for the extraordinary outpouring of grief at Pope John Paul II’s death in April and the enthusiasm that his successor seems to evoke? Are these mere public spectacles, signifying nothing about Europe’s drift from its religious roots, or are they signs of yearning for something more than peace, prosperity and la dolce vita?"

GET THE STORY.

The National Catholic Reporter Distorter has sent a note of condolence to homosexual clergy on the occasion of the Vatican instruction about the ordination of homosexuals.

"To all those in positions of leadership in the Roman Catholic church [sic] who also happen to be homosexual, we offer our commiseration and sorrow that once again you have been forced to hear your sexuality, an element intrinsic to your humanity, described as an objective disorder.

"This time the phrase appears in the document with the ridiculously unwieldy title: ‘Instruction concerning the criteria of vocational discernment regarding persons with homosexual tendencies, considering their admission to seminary and to Holy Orders.’ In other words, the document on gays and seminaries.

"The description is repugnant, of course, to all those in the church [sic], gay and straight, who understand that homosexuality is, in the overwhelming number of cases, not a chosen orientation but as essential a part of one’s nature as heterosexuality is for others."

GET THE STORY.

(Nod to Envoy Encore for the link.)

Christmas is stealthily making its way back into the hurly-burly of the "Winter Holiday" shopping frenzy as canny merchants are catering to the desire of Christian customers to see the word Christmas alongside Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.

"The word ‘Christmas,’ nearly absent in marketing by major retailers in recent years, has been quietly revived by some stores. Retail expert Jim Lucas says they are responding to consumers’ desire to make the holidays more personal – whether they observe Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.

"’They are saying this has become very commercial and they want to reclaim the holiday season and make it relevant,’ says Lucas, head of strategic planning at ad agency Draft Worldwide.

[…]

"’If you are going to make your earnings on the year because of Christmas, why should you be ashamed to call it Christmas?’ asks AFA [American Family Association] President Tim Wildmon."

GET THE STORY.

Steve Kellmeyer recently made the point that Christians themselves are largely responsible for the death throes of Christmas in Western culture.

"For nearly half of the last millennium, Christians have slowly been chipping away at Christmas. Now, in imitation of Alexander the Great who wept because he had no more worlds to conquer, they caterwaul because they have nearly completed their task. Are they upset because it took so long or because it’s almost gone?

"America’s Christians have fought long and hard for this day. Why aren’t they celebrating?"

GET THE POST.

Perhaps Christmas will finally be reborn as a religious holiday, rather than a secular tug-of-war, when both Christ and the Mass are put back into Christmas.

Did you know that you could ring up Jesus? Well, it’s not a direct pipeline to heaven but it is possible to hear a few words from on high each day.

"If you knew Jesus’ phone number, would you call him? And by the way, that number is (631) 667-5569.

"A lot of people would, according to Msgr. Frank Gaeta, pastor of Ss. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Deer Park and creator of a 24-hour-a-day recorded phone message system called ‘Dial a Moment With Jesus.’

"Callers, of course, do not actually have a telephone conversation with the Son of God, but they do hear a three-minute spiritual message recorded by Msgr. Gaeta each day.

"This service has been offered for approximately eight years, first at St. Brigid’s Church in Westbury when Msgr. Gaeta was pastor there and now at Ss. Cyril and Methodius; so far there have been 75,000 calls. ‘I think people enjoy hearing another voice,’ he said."

GET THE STORY.

Now if I could just find the Blessed Mother’s phone number….