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Lifeboat drill in longbeach

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Where The Abortions Are

Earlier I wanted to see where abortions are legal and illegal in the world, so I Googled up the following map:

Worldabortionmap

What do these colors mean?

Key:
Green Abortion never legal, or legal only when necessary to save the life of the mother or protect her physical health
Yellow Abortion legal in "hard cases", such as rape, incest, and/or deformed child.
Red    Abortion legal for social reasons (e.g. mother says she can’t afford a child), or to protect the mother’s "mental health" (definitions and requirements vary).
Purple Abortion legal at any time during pregnancy for any reason.

As you can see, some place in the world are really hurting, while others are suprisingly pro-life.

Much more info

AT THE SOURCE.

 

Propositions 21-25

HERE ARE THE NEXT FIVE PROPOSITIONS FROM THE SYNOD ON THE EUCHARIST.

At this point we’re out of the theological reflection stage and are into the practical stuff, so that’s more to my liking. Some of the proposals here are quite striking.

Proposition 21 states: "The Eucharistic Prayers could be enriched with acclamations, not only after the consecration but in other moments, as provided in the Eucharistic Prayers for celebrations with children and as is done in several countries." I’ll have to look up what they have in mind here.

This is a very striking proposal because we’re still in the process of getting translated the third edition of the Roman Missal (released 2000) and now they’re talking about adding elements to the Eucharistic prayer, which would necessitate a fourth edition (presumably identical to the third except for the minor adjustments they indicate).

Proposition 22 states: "The Synod hopes that the link between the epiclesis and the account of the institution will be shown with greater clarity. In this way, it would be more evident that the whole life of the faithful is, in the Holy Spirit and in the sacrifice of Christ, a spiritual offering pleasing to the Father.
"

I’m not sure (on the heels of the previous proposal) whether they’re talking again about changing the text of the Eucharistic prayers to bring out the connection between the Epiclesis (invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the gifts) and the Words of Institution (regarded as the moment of consecration in Latin theology) or if they’re just suggesting that B16 dwell on this in his apostolic exhortation. Could be either.

Proposition 23 says that the sign of peace sometimes "assumes a dimension that could be problematic, when it is too prolonged
or even when it causes confusion, just before receiving Communion. Perhaps it would be useful to assess if the sign of peace should
take place at another moment of the celebration, taking into account
ancient and venerable customs."

The ancient and venerable customs they’re referring to may be the way the sign of peace is exchanged in some of the Eastern rites, where it is not a handshake or hug but a more solemn exchange of peace that we really don’t have the vocabulary to describe succinctly in English. Basically: The priest puts his hands together palm to palm and then the ministers brush the outsides of his hands with their palms so as to receive the peace from him. Then they put their palms together and let someone else receive the peace from them, passing down the aisles to allow the peace to be passed in this fashion from person to person in the pews.

I don’t know if that’s going to be the way we do it in the Latin rite in the future, but they may well move the sign of peace so that it isn’t just before Communion.

Proposition 24 also deals with a change that would necessitate an alteration in the Roman Missal: "To make more explicit the relationship between Eucharist and mission,
which belongs to the heart of this Synod, it is suggested that new
dismissal formulas be prepared (solemn blessings, prayers over the
people or others), which underline the mission in the world of the
faithful who have participated in the Eucharist."

Proposition 25 is devoted to correcting liturgical abuses. Among other things, it states: "The value, importance and necessity of the observance of the liturgical
norms must be underlined. The Eucharistic celebration must respect the
sobriety and fidelity of the rite desired by the Church, with a sense
of the sacred that helps to live the encounter with God and also with
sensible forms that favor it."

Unfortunately, there is nothing more here than a general exhortation to greater fidelity. No specific program is suggested to promote greater fidelity.

This may be because they’ve already done the major obvious things they can on this one (e.g., releasing a new GIRM, a new Missal, a new and improved set of translations that are in the works, and the document on liturgical abuses that came out recently–i.e., Redemptionis sacramentum). Shy of esatablishing a liturgical secret police, there’s not many more obvious ways to crack down on liturgical abuses at the moment. They may want to let the effect of the recent efforts continue to work their way through the Church before undertaking a major new anti-abuse initiative.

“Catholic” Universities Face Identity Crisis

Benedictxvi_3Wow, I was just saying in one of the comboxes how I hoped that His Holiness B16 would put the smackdown on secularized American Catholic universities by yanking their "Catholic" designation.
Now it looks like that may happen sooner than later.

OO-RAH! I for one want to encourage the Pontiff to confiscate these school’s fake I.D.s as soon as possible.

Maybe this will help people to know who to believe when it comes to Catholic doctrine.

The article quotes Archbishop Michael Miller, the Vatican’s #2 education official (from a talk given at Notre Dame, no less);

The Pope has
argued "that it might be better for the Church not to expend its
resources trying to preserve institutions if their Catholic identity
has been seriously compromised," Miller said.

The Archbishop indicates that B16 may be doing some "evangelical pruning" in the coming months.
GET THE STORY.

Bork’s Two Points

Robert Bork has two really good points in a recent article he wrote on the Alito nomination.

Point #1:

Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito will hear a lot about stability in the law, the virtues of stare decisis,
and the reliance many women have placed on that decision. The obtrusive
fact is that constitutional law has never been stable. Precedent counts
for less in constitutional law than elsewhere for the very good reason
that the legislature can correct the Court’s mistake in interpreting a
statute, but the Court is final when it invokes the Constitution and
only the Court can correct its own mistakes. For that reason, many
justices have made the point that what controls is the Constitution
itself, not what the Court has said about it in the past.

In other words: Stare decisis is fo’ suckas! (At least in Constitutional law.)

Point #2:

If judgments about the prudence of overruling are invoked, the justices should take note of the fact that Roe
lies at the center of the bitter polarization of much of American
society. In countries where the issue is decided democratically, no
such intense animus exists. Compromises are worked out and each side
knows that it is free to continue the public debate in hope of doing
better next time. That was, and would be again, the case in America if
the subject of abortion were returned to state legislatures and
electorates. Overruling Roe would not, as some Democrats will
claim, make abortion illegal, but merely the subject of democratic
regulation. We have paid a high price for a ruling that rests upon
nothing in the Constitution and was arrived at in an opinion of just
over 51 pages that contains not a line of legal reasoning.

This is a very interesting point. It’s true that in countries where the courts have not seized control of the abortion issue that there is less polarization. Unfortunatley, in many of those countries (at least the ones in Europe) that have functional majorities that are pro-abort. In other countries, though (like ones in South America and many parts of Africa), they have functional pro-life majorities.

Once we get Roe overturned (however near or far in the future that may be), we need to get a functional pro-life majority here and then strengthen it to the point that we can get a constitutional amendment protecting innocent human life.

The process of getting such an amendment will involve changing numerous "hearts and minds" (to use a MUCH overworked cliche), but the process needs to start with getting just FIVE hearts and minds where they need to be.

Top 10 Changes To Court If Alito Is Confirmed

. . . thus giving it a 5-Catholic majority:

10) Meat-less Fridays all year round in the Supreme Court cafeteria;

9) Oral arguments in Latin;

8)
The bones of [first] Chief Justice [John Jay] Marshall will be disinterred and placed in a
glass coffin in the center of the Supreme Court bench;

7) Collections between each session of oral argument;

6) Supreme Court windows replaced with stained glass;

5)
On close votes, the Justices will consult a statue of St. Thomas More.
If the statue weeps, they affirm; if no tears, then they reverse.

4) Incense at the start of each session;

3) Supreme Court opinions will be deemed infallible and unreviewable by any earthly authority [Ed. – Sorry – that does not appear to be a change at all]

2) Catechism of the Catholic Church will now be "persuasive authority";

And, the number one change which a Catholic majority would make to the Supreme Court . . .

1) Wednesday night bingo!

SOURCE.

CHT: Southern Appeal.

Propositions 16-20

HERE’S THE NEXT FIVE PROPOSITIONS FROM THE SYNOD ON THE EUCHARIST.

Proposition 16 continues the discussion of how to catechize the faithful properly, particularly children receiving the sacraments. This is pretty standard stuff.

Proposition 17 is much more interesting. It proposes that either the Vatican or the episcopal conferences write

a Eucharistic Compendium project, or an instrument of pastoral aid that
brings together, at the same time, liturgical, doctrinal, catechetical
and devotional elements on the Eucharist, to help develop faith and
Eucharistic piety.

This compendium could propose the best of patristic teaching, the
experience of the Latin Church and of the Eastern Churches, and
devotional prayers. It should include an appropriate catechesis on the
nature and structure of Eucharistic prayers.

This sounds like a really good idea, but (1) I’d want the Vatican to do it and (2) they need to KEEP IT SIMPLE AND PRACTICAL. They’ll hamper its effectiveness if they get too flowerly and high flown in it.

Proposition 18 deals with the role of the Liturgy of the Word in Mass. Much of it is pretty standard, but it does say some interesting things. Among these, it praises "the impulse of parish groups that prepare the Sunday Mass with a
prayerful study of the Readings themselves, and liturgical practices
such as silence or a few introductory words that help for greater
understanding."

It also praises lectio divina, Bible study groups, and small parish groups.

It also say, mysteriously:

An expression must be found for the prayer of the faithful that is
related better with the Word of God, with the needs of the assembly and
more broadly with those of the whole of humanity.

I’m not sure what they mean by this, but it could be that they have in mind a kind of fleshed-out guide for how to relate the prayer of the faithful at Mass to the Scripture readings.

I’d welcome any help in that area that could serve to depress the relentless liberal politicization of the intentions of the faithful that I hear at Sunday Masses in my parish.

Proposition 19 deals with the problem of BAD HOMILIES. The news here is that the fathers propose:

taking recourse —
stemming from the triennial lectionary — to "thematic" homilies that,
in the course of the liturgical year, could address the great topics of
the Christian faith: the Creed, the Our Father, the parts of the Mass,
the Ten Commandments and other arguments.

These thematic homilies should correspond to what has again been
authoritatively proposed by the Magisterium of the Church in the four
"pillars" of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and in the recent
Compendium. With this objective, the elaboration of pastoral material
was proposed, based on the triennial lectionary, which puts the
proclamation of the Scriptures in relationship with the doctrines of
the faith that spring from the same.

YEE-HAW! This would be great!

The fact is that many priests you encounter today have been so badly formed in seminary that they aren’t capable of preaching a good, content-rich homily without help, and official Church help oriented toward getting more of the content of the faith into homilies is an outstanding idea.

They’ve been taught to put too much emphasis on style over substance (and their style is often more polished than Protestant preachers), but they’ve really got to get substance back into their homilies.

Proposition 20 is another theological reflection that doesn’t say much except that human work is related to the Eucharist because everything is related to the Eucharist.

The Deer Departed

FsdeerI almost passed right over this story in a list of today’s headlines, but I thought I would check it out.
After all, "Man Bites Dog" is one thing, but "Man Kills Deer in House with Bare Hands" is another.

So I followed the link to ABC News and was interested to read that it was an Arkansas man… dateline Bentonville! This was a hometown boy!

Apparently, the deer (a buck) crashed through a window into a bedroom of the man’s house, where it proceeded to freak out, kick alot and bleed all over.
Until the man, Wayne Goldsberry, broke it’s neck.
Ugghh.

Of course, he had the right to handle it however he thought best, but I do wish he could have just shooed the animal out the back door. I’m thinking I also might have just closed the bedroom door and called animal control.

In fact, I KNOW that’s what I would do.

I wasn’t there, however, and if the deer was going nuts and doing alot of damage… well, a man might hafta crack some vertebrae. I’m just glad it wasn’t me in there with the beast. They do have antlers, and those bucks can be murderous during mating season. One of the deputies at the scene observed of Mr. Goldsberry,

"He got kicked several times. He was walking bowlegged for awhile.".

According to the article, bucks will sometimes charge at their own reflection, which is probably what happened in this case.  It’s too bad the deer had to die, though.

To make us all feel better, I have posted a Far Side cartoon of deer who are just playing dead.

GET THE STEREOTYPE-REINFORCING STORY!

An Angel’s Perspective

Recently I had the chance to view things from an angel’s perspective.

No, I haven’t received any divine visions. This was the viewpoint of an entirely earthly angel.

Lemme ‘splain:

I go square dancing.

At least, I do sometimes, though it’s been a while. I decided to brush up my skills, though, by re-taking a class.

This involves more than you might think, because Modern Western Square Dancing is THE MOST SOPHISTICATED form of folkdance on planet Earth. It’s a ton of fun, but it also takes a good while to learn.

To help beginners along, square dance clubs typically include experienced members in the dances for beginning classes. It makes it MUCH, MUCH easier for the beginners to figure out what to do if they’re dancing with folks who already know what’s going on.

These more experienced dancers, in square dancing lingo, are called "angels."

And that’s what I’m currently serving as.

I’ve already been through a typical square dance program, so even though I’m a bit rusty, I can still be a help to beginners.

When I went this week, I was very pleasantly suprised at how reflexive it all still was for me.

Square dancing is a skill that is stored in a different part of the brain than where you keep propositional knowledge. Thus, as you learn how to do it, it becomes reflexive. You KNOW what to do instinctively, even if it would require you to think a bit to figure out how to put it into words.

After you’ve started to internalize it, it’s amazing to simply hear the caller name a particular move and you INSTICTIVELY start to do it, even if you’re not sure what the next part of the move is.

The closest analog I can think of is saying a prayer out loud as part of a group. Once you’ve internalized the prayer, you know how to say it even if you can’t (for the moment) remember what’s coming up in the prayer and even if you couldn’t say the prayer by yourself, only as part of a group.

That’s what square dancing is like.

If the caller says "Star through!" or "California twirl!" or "Send her back, Dixie style!" or "Sides face. . . . Grand square!" your body feels pulled to make the appropriate moves even if you could never articulate what those are and even don’t remember the later ones as you’re beginning the move.

It’s really surprising.

At least, that’s the way it works if you’re at angel-level. If you’re a beginner, you still have to think through the moves that the caller has just taught you. As you get more "floor time," the moves become reflexive–just as with any other skill.

It’s kind of like C. S. Lewis’s remark about how you at first have to learn your fixed prayers by rote memorization and it’s after you’ve done that that you’re truly liberated in prayer to think about the meaning instead of just the words.

If I remember correctly, Lewis may even have made an analogy to dancing and moving from the watching your feet stage to the experienced, graceful stage.