Jimmy Akin – Page 652

How To Be A Canon Lawyer

Canonist Edward Peters explains it all.

Half A Mil

Last April, a year ago this month, I moved the blog to TypePad.

As of today, we’ve had half a million hits in the new TypePad location.

YEE-HAW!

These hits are page calls and include people going into the comboxes, but they do not include image or other file calls.

Our rate of hits has really picked up since those early days, and if things stay on track we should be at the million hit mark long before another year is up.

Thanks, everybody, for all your participation, which made this possible!

Continue reading “Half A Mil”

Force-Feeding Dolphins

In case you ever wondered whether our society treats animals better than it does human beings, wonder no more:

You see, "force-feeding" humans via feeding tubes who never legally directed that they be deprived of food and water is a Bad Thing. In some cases, even when written directives are left that allow for "force-feeding," it is a Good Thing to deprive humans of feeding tubes anyway. But what happens if Flipper cannot swallow? Do we do the "humane" thing and deprive him of nutrition? Of course not! Dolphins require much better treatment than what we currently consider to be good enough for humans:

"In early March an estimated 80 rough-toothed dolphins stranded themselves in the shallows off Marathon in the Florida Keys.

"Rescue workers and volunteers worked nonstop to help as many as they could to return to deep water. Some dolphins made it. About two dozen died.

"For 26 that clung to life there was only one chance for survival — transfer to the Marine Mammal Conservancy rehabilitation facility on Key Largo, farther up the Keys from Marathon.

[…]

"In the pool [where the recuperating dolphins were kept], volunteers hold the dolphins and keep their blowholes out of the water so they can breathe.

"A veterinarian injects the mammals with vitamin E to help with muscle cramping. Unable to eat on their own, they are fitted with a feeding tube to get them the needed nutrition."

And so, roughly around the same period that Terri Schiavo was being dehydrated and starved to death by a Florida state judge’s fiat, the great state of Florida was inserting feeding tubes into dolphins.

God have pity on us.

GET THE STORY.

(Nod to Meira Online for the link.)

If At First You Don't Succeed…

Being the inveterate royal-watcher I am, when I stumbled across a recap of Prince Charles’ wedding to Mrs. Andrew Parker Bowles on "BBC America" I watched … with clenched teeth and appropriately timed snorts of disbelief. Apparently even CNN couldn’t help but notice the supreme irony of the occasion:

"A solemn ceremony has blessed the wedding of the heir to the British throne Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, at which the couple each pledged to be faithful to each other.

[…]

"The blessing ceremony, which had the feel of a wedding and was aired across the globe, conjured memories of the 1981 day when millions of television viewers watched Prince Charles marry Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in what has become part of royal lore as a ‘fairy-tale’ wedding. "That storybook Charles-Diana wedding ceremony, which captivated the world, contrasted in sad irony with what followed — a tempestuous marriage and separation of Charles and the now-late Diana, Princess of Wales, that shocked and appalled all of England and royal-watchers everywhere.

[…]

"The [Anglican] archbishop’s [Rowan Williams of Canterbury] talk of ‘love and faithfulness’ contrasted with the adultery the pair, as well as the late Diana herself, displayed over the years.

"In the wedding blessing, the couple recited a line of repentance from the Book of Common Prayer, the inclusion of which is seen as an acknowledgment of their prior adultery."

Or a continuing state of adultery, unless the new Duchess of Cornwall has obtained an annulment of her first marriage to the Roman Catholic Andrew Parker Bowles. (If she has, then this marriage to Prince Charles means that there would be no ongoing state of adultery and the marriage would be presumably sacramental.)

GET THE STORY.

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

"A solemn ceremony has blessed the wedding of the heir to the British throne Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, at which the couple each pledged to be faithful to each other.

[…]

"The blessing ceremony, which had the feel of a wedding and was aired across the globe, conjured memories of the 1981 day when millions of television viewers watched Prince Charles marry Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in what has become part of royal lore as a ‘fairy-tale’ wedding. "That storybook Charles-Diana wedding ceremony, which captivated the world, contrasted in sad irony with what followed — a tempestuous marriage and separation of Charles and the now-late Diana, Princess of Wales, that shocked and appalled all of England and royal-watchers everywhere.

[…]

"The [Anglican] archbishop’s [Rowan Williams of Canterbury] talk of ‘love and faithfulness’ contrasted with the adultery the pair, as well as the late Diana herself, displayed over the years.

"In the wedding blessing, the couple recited a line of repentance from the Book of Common Prayer, the inclusion of which is seen as an acknowledgment of their prior adultery."

GET THE STORY.

The Oath

You may also be wondering what the oath is that the folks involved in the conclave have to swear.

Here ’tis:

I, N.N., promise and swear that, unless I should receive a special faculty given expressly by the newly-elected Pontiff or by his successors, I will observe absolute and perpetual secrecy with all who are not part of the College of Cardinal electors concerning all matters directly or indirectly related to the ballots cast and their scrutiny for the election of the Supreme Pontiff.

I likewise promise and swear to refrain from using any audio or video equipment capable of recording anything which takes place during the period of the election within Vatican City, and in particular anything which in any way, directly or indirectly, is related to the process of the election itself. I declare that I take this oath fully aware that an infraction thereof will make me subject to the spiritual and canonical penalties which the future Supreme Pontiff will see fit to adopt, in accordance with Canon 1399 of the Code of Canon Law.

So help me God and these Holy Gospels which I touch with my hand [UDG 48].

It seems to me that this oath leaves something to be desired in two respects:

It contains no provision against the use or planting of electronic equiptment that may transmit or allow the monitoring of things going on in the conclave. (Bugs are not recording devices, typically, as far as I know.)
At least some of the spiritual and canonical penalties ought to be determined up front and included in the oath. At least some of them ought to be automatic (latae sententiae) lest folks get the idea that they only run the risk of being slapped with them if they get caught.

Who's Involved?

A lot of folks have been wondering who precisely is involved in the upcoming conclave–apart from the cardinal electors themselves, that is.

Well, a good test of that is who will be required to swear the oath of secrecy concerning the conclave. The Vatican Information Service recently released a list of the folks who’ll be required to do that. Here ’tis:

The Secretary of the College of Cardinals.
The master of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
The masters of pontifical ceremonies.
The religious who supervise the pontifical sacristy.
The ecclesiastic chosen by the cardinal dean to help him in his duties.
The religious charged with hearing confessions in the various languages.
Doctors and nurses.
The personnel for preparing meals and cleaning.
Technical service personnel (Universi Dominici gregis, paras. 5 and 51).
Personnel responsible for transporting the cardinal electors from the ‘Domus Sanctae Marthae’ to the Apostolic Palace.
Elevator attendants at the Apostolic Palace.
Priests admitted as assistants to some of the Cardinals.

So there you have it! Those are the folks who’ll be involved!

Who’s Involved?

A lot of folks have been wondering who precisely is involved in the upcoming conclave–apart from the cardinal electors themselves, that is.

The Secretary of the College of Cardinals.
The master of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
The masters of pontifical ceremonies.
The religious who supervise the pontifical sacristy.
The ecclesiastic chosen by the cardinal dean to help him in his duties.
The religious charged with hearing confessions in the various languages.
Doctors and nurses.
The personnel for preparing meals and cleaning.
Technical service personnel (Universi Dominici gregis, paras. 5 and 51).
Personnel responsible for transporting the cardinal electors from the ‘Domus Sanctae Marthae’ to the Apostolic Palace.
Elevator attendants at the Apostolic Palace.
Priests admitted as assistants to some of the Cardinals.

So there you have it! Those are the folks who’ll be involved!

Clothes Make The Man?

After the new pope is elected among the first things they will do (not the first thing) is get him suited up in papal clothing and then usher him out on the balcony of the Vatican Basilica so he can appear to the waiting people and give the apostolic blessing Urbi et Orbi.