Buddhist, Jew, Jesus-Freak

I thought I was used to the Gospel According to the Celebrity-Du-Jour mishmash of incompatible spiritualities until I stumbled across an interview with actress Goldie Hawn, in which she describes her spiritual practice as a Buddhist-Jew-Jesus-Freak:

"The interesting part of my spiritual life is studying as much as you can. Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism and Shamanism and Judaism, Christianity — you try to learn what the precepts are, what the religion is, and ultimately, it’s based in the same thought, it’s based in the same outcome, you know.

"(Whispers) It just has a different façade.

"We go into religion in order to feel warmer in our hearts, more connected to others, more connected to something greater and to have a sense of peace. I think all religions try to do that, but they corrupt themselves. I like Buddhist thought because it breaks that down; it teaches you how to view your thoughts rather than be your thoughts. We live in this crazy world, full of jobs, and we have to be there, be-be-be — it’s a very demanding, taxing world. The result of meditating is watching your thoughts, detachment from your own precepts of what is right and wrong, things that frustrate you, that you can’t grasp and want to grasp onto.

[…]

"[Domestic partner and fellow actor Kurt Russell] respects [Hawn’s religious beliefs] and I respect his — but there again, that’s not important because you realize it’s all a subjective belief system. I don’t think ‘Well, I can’ be with somebody who doesn’t believe what I do, or I can’t share my spirituality.’ Your spirituality is shared by your actions and your interconnectedness with your family and everybody else. It’s not conceptual. What’s going to make you whole is your self-reflection and examination of yourself."

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Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have thought Ms. Hawn’s spiritual reflections bloggable. It’s the fuzzy-warm trump of feelings that Hollywood spiritualists specialize in. Same-old, same-old. But this quote caught my attention:

"So I would say that for the rest of my life, everything I do has to be with a mode of ethics, good intentions, for a better result for the people closest to me and to the world around me."

The editors at Beliefnet.com found this pearl important enough to use as a pull-quote and compressed it into the line "For the rest of my life, everything I do has to be with good intentions." Not "everything I do must be good," but the suggestion that it doesn’t matter what you do so long as you have good intentions.

No wonder that the old saw says that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

This Is Still Just Rumor But . . .

Catholic World News is reporting that B16 has approved the document from the Congregation for Catholic Education barring the ordination of homosexuals.

EXCERPTS:

The new document– which was prepared by the Congregation for Catholic Education, in response to a request made by the late Pope John Paul II in 1994– will be published soon. It will take the form of an "Instruction," signed by the prefect and secretary of the Congregation: Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski and Archbishop Michael Miller.

The text, which was approved by Pope Benedict at the end of August, says that homosexual men should not be admitted to seminaries even if they are celibate, because their condition suggests a serious personality disorder which detracts from their ability to serve as ministers.

Priests who have already been ordained, if they suffer from homosexual impulses, are strongly urged to renew their dedication to chastity, and a manner of life appropriate to the priesthood.

Informed sources in Rome indicate that the Instruction probably will be made public after the Synod of Bishops, which meets in Rome from October 2 through 23.

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(CHT to the reader who e-mailed.)

One thing I’d be careful about with the story: It says that John XXIII approved a policy to the same effect and that it remains in force. This appears to be inaccurate. There was such a policy approved for religious priests (as opposed to diocesan ones) during John XXIII’s reign, but (a) it was  not a policy for all priests and (b) it may well not be in effect at this point due to changes in Church law, which has been extensively renovated since that time.

This is a minor point, though, and should not detract from the heartening newsrumor that B16 has given his approval to the document.

We May Have Just Dodged A Bullet

EXCERPTS:

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A university student from Egypt was ordered held without bond after prosecutors said they found a pilot’s uniform, chart of Memphis International Airport and a DVD titled "How an Airline Captain Should Look and Act" in his apartment.

Maawad, who is in the United States illegally, told the judge during a hearing Thursday that he is studying science and economics at the University of Memphis.

"My school is everything. I stay in this country for seven years; I stay for the school," he said.

Maawad had ordered $3,000 in aviation materials, including DVDs titled "Ups and Downs of Takeoffs and Landings," "Airplane Talk," "Mental Math for Pilots" and "Mastering GPS Flying," FBI agent Thad Gulczynski testified.

The company reported Maawad to authorities when he didn’t pay for $2,500 of merchandise it had delivered, Gulczynski said.

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Two Ceremonies?

A reader writes:

A friend of mine is getting married and his fiance wants very much to have a protestant marriage ceremony (she herself is mildly protestant and her father is a minister in a protestant denomination). Can my friend and his fiance have a Catholic wedding ceremony IN ADDITION TO the protestant one?

No, canon law specifically prohibits this:

Canon 1127 §3.

It is forbidden to have another religious
celebration of the same marriage to give or renew matrimonial consent before or
after the canonical celebration according to the norm of §1 [i.e., the Catholic wedding]. Likewise, there is
not to be a religious celebration in which the Catholic who is assisting and a
non-Catholic minister together, using their own rites, ask for the consent of
the parties.

The parties therefore need to decide whether they want to have a Catholic wedding OR obtain a dispensation from form so that they can have a Protestant wedding. They can’t do both.

This is not to say that ministers from both religious communities can’t play a role in the wedding. If they have a Catholic wedding the then Protstant minister can be invited to participate and visa versa. The Norms for Ecumenism provide:

157. With the previous authorisation of the local Ordinary, and if invited to do so, a Catholic priest or deacon may attend or participate in some way in the celebration of mixed marriages, in situations where the dispensation from canonical form has been granted. In these cases, there may be only one ceremony in which the presiding person receives the marriage vows. At the invitation of this celebrant, the Catholic priest or deacon may offer other appropriate prayers, read from the Scriptures, give a brief exhortation and bless the couple.

158. Upon request of the couple, the local Ordinary may permit the Catholic priest to invite the minister of the party of the other Church or ecclesial Community to participate in the celebration of the marriage, to read from the Scriptures, give a brief exhortation and bless the couple.

Dressed To Kill

EXCERPTS:

An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.

When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.

"It sounded almost like a firecracker," Clewer told Australian radio Friday.

"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt."

"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.

"I’ve been firefighting for over 35 years and I’ve never come across anything like this," he said.

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Don’t Smile!

German authorities have decided to wipe the grins off the faces of passport applicants:

"Germans were ordered Thursday to stay serious when having their photographs taken for new passports, wiping away any grins, smirks or smiles so that biometric scanners can pick up their facial features.

"Interior Minister Otto Schily ordered passport authorities to only accept pictures taken from the front showing the ‘most neutral facial expression possible,’ starting Nov. 1.

"Facial recognition systems match key features on the holder’s face and work best when the face has a neutral expression with the mouth closed.

"’A broad smile, however nice it may be, is therefore unacceptable,’ the Interior Ministry said in a statement."

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English-speaking photographers have long ordered their subjects to say "Cheese!" before snapping the shot, presumably because saying that word widens the mouth and thus encourages a grin. I wonder what the command to German passport applicants now should be when having their mug shots taken.