If you're Catholic and reading this, it could be food for thought. If you're a Protestant, and reading this, it could explain something about our Theological differences. I'm talking about Faith and Works here. I'm not going into apologetics about the differences in interpretation of Scripture here, or the role of Tradition. I'm just going to put my reflections on this matter out there, from the point of view of the Faith as I have learned it. As always, if I deviate from he teachings of the Church, it's on me, and I am not an authorized or authoritative teacher. I'm just a redneck Catholic.
We've all read the passage in the James, about faith with out works is dead, and and how if he is asked to show his faith he shows his works. And there is the passage in Revelations about appearing with all our works. So as Catholics we realize that works are important to our salvation. But we cannot be saved by works alone: We are saved by Christ Jesus, who restores us to fellowship with the Father, and makes us a new creation.
There has been, and always will be a tension between Faith and Works in our religion. And this tension is one of our greatest strengths. When this tension is approached as a product of faith, as opposed to a choice in faith, it becomes one of our greatest assets, and a hallmark of the Body of Christ. It's no coincidence that the Church was about the only effective source of social services in the Classical Era, and continued this through the Medieval Period well into the Modern Era. It has also been a hall mark of the Church that we have cared for those who are abandoned by society all along. (Did you know that a study of Christian epitaphs and funerary inscriptions in the Roman period contain a high proportion of names that indicate that the person in the grave was exposed or abandoned as an infant, and kept a name indicating that to give witness to the Christian practice of picking up and caring for exposed infants?)
Many of our most shining moments have been because people understood that works must proceed from faith. Think of the achievements of Dom Bosco, Damian the Leper, Charles Borromeo, Francis deSales. Look to our own borders and see the fruits of people like Mother Cabrini, even our contemporaries like the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Works that proceed from Faith are fruitful in both the alleviation of suffering and the evangelizing of peoples.
At the same time, Faith does not proceed from works. Period. Have no doubt that the best test of our works is how they conform to the traditional Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. And have no doubt that an atheist can easily, and with compassion engange in the Corporal works of Mercy, and attempt in compassion to engage in the Spiritual Works of Mercy. In fact, if you look more deeply into Twentieth Century history, you will easily find examples of murderously fascistic regimes engaging quite effectivly in Corporal Works of Mercy, when it suited their purposes.
Faith with out works may be dead, but works without faith are vain--they do not avail in the process of salvation.
The church understands this, and it wasn't an issue until the mid twentieth century, when the heresy of Modernism--which had been described, very accurately, and condemned at the end of the nineteenth century in the encyclical Pascendi Gregis--came out of the woodwork. As this heresy, the "compendium of all heresies", asserted it's influence a peculiar inversion occurred in Catechises. The idea arose that works would give rise to faith. And that ended up, at this time, with a large number of Catholics who don't even go to Mass, but believe that voting for "social justice" candidates is their duty, not worship or personal involvement. Another sizable group of Catholics feel that morality, faith, acceptance of the articles of the Creed and the Deposit of Faith are not accessory, but that works are. Even definitions in theology textbooks and in instructional materials for the faithful changed. I clearly remember reading the definition of "orthopraxis" in an 80s edition of a theological dictionary that stated that it was solely concerned with works of social justice and "activities to promote justice and reform"; this book went so far as to stipulate that this form of "orthopraxis" was the text of faith, not belief, prayer or Sacramental Worship.
What happened was this: The tension between Faith and Works was lost. Instead of feeling the pull of both, we began to be taught that works were supreme, that we were called to works, not holiness. I the end, holiness was redefined as the product of external works of a corporal nature. In short, it seemed that we were reviving Pelegianism, recasting it as a form Activism in which God was not the ground of belief and being, but the conceptual hook for a politicised faith. If the tension were to be illustrated as an eleastic band between two hooks that held the framework of faith, one hook was simply undone.
I assume that this was done with the best of intentions, but then again, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Essentially, I see this state of affairs through the lens of spiritual warfare: Satan was able to use peoples concern for the well being of their brothers as a wedge to separate it, gradually, from genuine Charity. Hence we see the tragic spectacle of "pro-choice catholics", or catholics who through out parts of our Faiths social teachings to embrace activism or activities that merely treat the symptoms of injustice, and not the cause.
Unfortunately, the reaction that grows in the Church against this sometimes--often in fact--leads to an atmosphere of confrontational ideation, and a loss of Charity in the name of Orthodoxy.
The only solution I can think of is prayer and Eucharistic adoration, coupled with fasting.
TRIUMPHALIST--YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Shirley Sherrod Was Unjustly Fired
This may well make some of the people reading my blog angry. But I have to say it. Mostly, because I'm a Catholic first, and a conservative second. And my faith teaches me somethings that don't play well in politics. Like the fact that people can change. Like the fact that we are to forgive if we want to be forgiven. And most of all, that we are not to stood to calumny. And Ms. Sherrod has been the victim of calumny and distortion.
The snippet of speech that was waved like a smoking gun to prove "racism" in government service directed against whites was taken out of context so severely that I can only think it was a deliberate smear attempt, foolishly engaged in, with no desire for the truth. It was wrong.
After I heard the rest of the paragraph that Ms. Sherrod was speaking, I found myself filled with admiration for her. For she not only acknowledged that her action was racist, she spoke of how the incident made her confront her own racism, and to redefine her duties in terms of service to all those who were in difficulties, not some sort of race based activism for her "own people". That' what we Catholics call "repentance" and a "firm purpose of amendment".
I will say this bluntly: If your conservative politics override your commitment to Catholicism and Catholic Morality, you are no more Catholic that Catholics for a Free Choice, or Catholics for Obama. If this fits you, wear it. And consider emulating Ms. Sherrod, and repenting of politics over morality!
This was a miscarriage of justice, and a disservice to the public. Brietbart should be ashamed.
The snippet of speech that was waved like a smoking gun to prove "racism" in government service directed against whites was taken out of context so severely that I can only think it was a deliberate smear attempt, foolishly engaged in, with no desire for the truth. It was wrong.
After I heard the rest of the paragraph that Ms. Sherrod was speaking, I found myself filled with admiration for her. For she not only acknowledged that her action was racist, she spoke of how the incident made her confront her own racism, and to redefine her duties in terms of service to all those who were in difficulties, not some sort of race based activism for her "own people". That' what we Catholics call "repentance" and a "firm purpose of amendment".
I will say this bluntly: If your conservative politics override your commitment to Catholicism and Catholic Morality, you are no more Catholic that Catholics for a Free Choice, or Catholics for Obama. If this fits you, wear it. And consider emulating Ms. Sherrod, and repenting of politics over morality!
This was a miscarriage of justice, and a disservice to the public. Brietbart should be ashamed.
When Conservatives Speak of Media Bias...
...progressives tend to make fun of them or accuse them of over sensitivity. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Nor is it the case that there is no liberal agenda amongst the men and women of the fifth estate.
And, it's become clearly demonstrated by the existence of an invitation only web sight called "JournOlist". (I emphasised the "O").
If you go to http://townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2010/07/23/open_conspiracy_is_no_longer_merely_ajar/page/2
Go read it. It's about time that we started looking at things, instead of thinking about what we wish they were. And it's time we took a proactive view of outing liars who are in the profession of "reporting facts without bias".
And, it's become clearly demonstrated by the existence of an invitation only web sight called "JournOlist". (I emphasised the "O").
If you go to http://townhall.com/columnists/JonahGoldberg/2010/07/23/open_conspiracy_is_no_longer_merely_ajar/page/2
Go read it. It's about time that we started looking at things, instead of thinking about what we wish they were. And it's time we took a proactive view of outing liars who are in the profession of "reporting facts without bias".
Well, It's Not Hard To Find Examples
It seems that Augusta State University is the latest academic institution to tell counseling students that their Christian beliefs are unethical and will prevent them from completing degrees in counseling.
Jennifer Keeton has been ordered to undergo a re-education plan consisting of "sensitivity training", aditional and remedial reading, and writing papers to explain how the plan has affected her beliefs. She has also been told that if she doesn't alter he r beliefs she will be expelled from the program. She is pursueing a masters degree.
The Alliance Defense Fund is providing Legal representation to her.
Currently the ADF has litigation in a similar case concerning couseling students pending in Eastern Michigan, and has sucessfully resolved a case at Missouri State. It is also currently representing a couselor who was fired from the CDC for her christian Moral beliefs.
So if you think thtat persecution of Christians is not sliming it's way into American life, then you are really not paying attention.
Jennifer Keeton has been ordered to undergo a re-education plan consisting of "sensitivity training", aditional and remedial reading, and writing papers to explain how the plan has affected her beliefs. She has also been told that if she doesn't alter he r beliefs she will be expelled from the program. She is pursueing a masters degree.
The Alliance Defense Fund is providing Legal representation to her.
Currently the ADF has litigation in a similar case concerning couseling students pending in Eastern Michigan, and has sucessfully resolved a case at Missouri State. It is also currently representing a couselor who was fired from the CDC for her christian Moral beliefs.
So if you think thtat persecution of Christians is not sliming it's way into American life, then you are really not paying attention.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
More indications of impending persecution.
Memphis Tennessee has a "hate speech ordinance up for vote, that is being criticised by local Churches. This is just more of the same thing that happens over and over again, but the Churches here are objecting to the language of the ordinance, which seems to put their religious freedom at risk.
The problem is in the rhetoric of the proponents of the ordinance, who claim that the Churches have no moral standing in the matter, because they arent' inclusive of GLBT people in activities. What really seem ominous though is the comment of one of the ordinances supporters: Jonathan Cole of the Tennessee Equality Project said that "We're willing to start somewhere by giving them an exemption, at least for now." (emphasis mine). Mr. Cole was one of those who said that the Churches had no moral standing because they "can't even share a softball field with a lesbian coach!", referring to the fact that a Church sponsored softball league wouldn't allow a lesbian as coach to one of it's teams.
In Providence, Rhode Island, the National Organization for Marriage held a rally, that was disrupted by Gay activists, who got on the stage and opened rainbow umbrellas to block the speakers. When they were asked to leave, and informed that the NOM had paid for the venue and had permits, they got off the stage. The Gay activists told the police that they were going to stage a peaceful counter rally. But instead they surrounded the NOM rally and attempted to shout over the speakers. They moved into the NOM pgathering and began shouting and screaming at the people who had come to the rally. One speaker was surrounded by the Gay Activists and they attempted to shout over his remarks into the microphone. The Providence police were caught off guard by these actions--which were obviously not what the Gay activists had said they had planned, and had to call State Troopers to restore order.
In New York, when a mother at a NOM rally took her infant to the rear of the venue to breast feed, the Gay Activists surrounded her and blocker her view of the proceedings--and the view of those in the proceedings of their actions--with those rainbow umbrellas.
Gee, don't you think it's time to stop the H8?
The problem is in the rhetoric of the proponents of the ordinance, who claim that the Churches have no moral standing in the matter, because they arent' inclusive of GLBT people in activities. What really seem ominous though is the comment of one of the ordinances supporters: Jonathan Cole of the Tennessee Equality Project said that "We're willing to start somewhere by giving them an exemption, at least for now." (emphasis mine). Mr. Cole was one of those who said that the Churches had no moral standing because they "can't even share a softball field with a lesbian coach!", referring to the fact that a Church sponsored softball league wouldn't allow a lesbian as coach to one of it's teams.
In Providence, Rhode Island, the National Organization for Marriage held a rally, that was disrupted by Gay activists, who got on the stage and opened rainbow umbrellas to block the speakers. When they were asked to leave, and informed that the NOM had paid for the venue and had permits, they got off the stage. The Gay activists told the police that they were going to stage a peaceful counter rally. But instead they surrounded the NOM rally and attempted to shout over the speakers. They moved into the NOM pgathering and began shouting and screaming at the people who had come to the rally. One speaker was surrounded by the Gay Activists and they attempted to shout over his remarks into the microphone. The Providence police were caught off guard by these actions--which were obviously not what the Gay activists had said they had planned, and had to call State Troopers to restore order.
In New York, when a mother at a NOM rally took her infant to the rear of the venue to breast feed, the Gay Activists surrounded her and blocker her view of the proceedings--and the view of those in the proceedings of their actions--with those rainbow umbrellas.
Gee, don't you think it's time to stop the H8?
Catholic Rot
Well, here are a couple of examples of the Rot that has infected the Catholic Church--the Rot that facilitated the loss of our traditional morality, which in turn facilitated the tolerance of ephebophilic predators, faithless nuns and a laity that seldom goes to confession.
It seems that Georgetown University Hospital has redesigned it's chapel. It now includes prayer rugs for Muslims, and the Stations of the Cross on the Eastern wall have been removed! Georgetown is a supposedly Catholic University run by the Jesuits (of course!). It therefore has, supposedly the mission of educating in accordance with the Faith, and it's outreaches are supposed to be a means of spreading the faith. But they'd rather turn their chapel into a kind on non-denominational mediation space. I've seen the photos--it looks like a Minbari gathering space!
In another example, Catholics United is spending some $500K trying to keep those who voted for the Health care Bill--which in fact does fund abortion, and does in fact ration Health care and promote euthanasia through withdrawal of care--in office. I know that he Bishops have said Catholic United isn't a Catholic Group, but those who are members actually think that they are Catholics. The rot has gone so far that people can no longer tell when they have left the Church.
It's very sad.
It seems that Georgetown University Hospital has redesigned it's chapel. It now includes prayer rugs for Muslims, and the Stations of the Cross on the Eastern wall have been removed! Georgetown is a supposedly Catholic University run by the Jesuits (of course!). It therefore has, supposedly the mission of educating in accordance with the Faith, and it's outreaches are supposed to be a means of spreading the faith. But they'd rather turn their chapel into a kind on non-denominational mediation space. I've seen the photos--it looks like a Minbari gathering space!
In another example, Catholics United is spending some $500K trying to keep those who voted for the Health care Bill--which in fact does fund abortion, and does in fact ration Health care and promote euthanasia through withdrawal of care--in office. I know that he Bishops have said Catholic United isn't a Catholic Group, but those who are members actually think that they are Catholics. The rot has gone so far that people can no longer tell when they have left the Church.
It's very sad.
An Example of Catholic rot in Louisville
Paul VI said that it was important that we prevent the Church from becoming an organization devoted to social activism and social work, that we preserve it's sacred character as the church founded By Christ, and not lose sight of the fact that it exists to promote the salvation of souls.
Well, that's not the main thing that many of the "Catholics" in Louisville see as its mission. And many of these "Catholics" have found their way into positions of influence in the apparatus of the Archdiocese. Here's an example of this sort of thing, from the pages of the Archdiocesan new weekly, The Record. (I guess I ought to expand--The Record itself is an example of this, as shown by it's glowing reporting on St. Agnes parish, after the parish council and pastor circulated a letter calling on the other parishes of the Archdiocese to embrace contumacy over the new translation of the Missal.)
So on the front page of last weeks issue there was an article entitled "Freedom School program accents reading, enrichment" (sic). Now those are actually laudable efforts, but when one reads the article one finds something else: it's not a Catholic program at all. It's Secular. The program in Louisville is called the "Camp Africa Freedom School". It's following a curriculum implemented by and integrated with the Children's Defense Fund's Freedom School Program. This program emphasises five areas. They are Academic Achievement, Parent and Family Involvement, Social Action and Civil Engagement, Leadership Development, and Nutrition and Health. It's run, in Louisville's by the Office of Multicultural Ministry.
Thee day starts with "harambee" a kind of get together that means joining together, where the kids sing songs that frankly remind me of the indoctrination songs used by third world guerrilla movements.
After carefully reading the article several times, I began to wonder about something: where were the at risk white kids? There were none mentioned or photographed. And I noticed that the article mentioned activities ranging from arts and crafts, through Chinese language, African dance and drumming and karate, with no mention of prayer, moral instruction or evangelization. I also noticed that there were no Caucasian leaders pictured.
This is an example of catholic rot: Resources diverted into an agenda that neither promotes nor defends the faith, and that has absolutely no intention of saving souls, run by an office that is not interested in evangelization, sacramental ministry or the proclamation of the gospel. This at a time when His Holiness is trying to reignite the drive to evangelize that has characterized our Church since it's inception in 33 AD.
And as far as the Hierarchy's attempts to stamp out new age type teaching from infiltrating the Church? Well one of the books the kids were being read to from is entitled Earth Magic.
So here is what I see. In this Archdiocese, the Faithful Citizenship program is run by a group from Catholic Charities who invite speaker who are "pro choice" and who support immorality as a civil right that we must accept as valid. And the Office of Multicultural Ministry sets up a segregated program to help at risk children that excludes at risk children of poor Caucasian families, and attempts to imbue in them a political ethic, while not bothering to teach them the Christian Ethics that will help them overcome poverty.
But it's very stylish, in a PC sort of way.
Of course, trying to make a Visit to the blessed sacrament means that you have to find one of the few parish churches in the area that allow that sort of thing, if you have a car. If you don't there's always an Internet camera on some church somewhere. And BTW, don't knock on the door of a parish office and ask to make a Eucharistic Visit--they won't know what you're talking about. (Yes, this has happened to me. I was told after I explained it to the lady that I could go into the Church to photograph their renovations, but not to pray. I complained, and the pastor of that Church--St. James Parish--explained that the woman was a convert and didn't know about Eucharistic Adoration and visits. I asked him why his RCIA program didn't explain that and he didn't have an answer.)
Well, that's not the main thing that many of the "Catholics" in Louisville see as its mission. And many of these "Catholics" have found their way into positions of influence in the apparatus of the Archdiocese. Here's an example of this sort of thing, from the pages of the Archdiocesan new weekly, The Record. (I guess I ought to expand--The Record itself is an example of this, as shown by it's glowing reporting on St. Agnes parish, after the parish council and pastor circulated a letter calling on the other parishes of the Archdiocese to embrace contumacy over the new translation of the Missal.)
So on the front page of last weeks issue there was an article entitled "Freedom School program accents reading, enrichment" (sic). Now those are actually laudable efforts, but when one reads the article one finds something else: it's not a Catholic program at all. It's Secular. The program in Louisville is called the "Camp Africa Freedom School". It's following a curriculum implemented by and integrated with the Children's Defense Fund's Freedom School Program. This program emphasises five areas. They are Academic Achievement, Parent and Family Involvement, Social Action and Civil Engagement, Leadership Development, and Nutrition and Health. It's run, in Louisville's by the Office of Multicultural Ministry.
Thee day starts with "harambee" a kind of get together that means joining together, where the kids sing songs that frankly remind me of the indoctrination songs used by third world guerrilla movements.
After carefully reading the article several times, I began to wonder about something: where were the at risk white kids? There were none mentioned or photographed. And I noticed that the article mentioned activities ranging from arts and crafts, through Chinese language, African dance and drumming and karate, with no mention of prayer, moral instruction or evangelization. I also noticed that there were no Caucasian leaders pictured.
This is an example of catholic rot: Resources diverted into an agenda that neither promotes nor defends the faith, and that has absolutely no intention of saving souls, run by an office that is not interested in evangelization, sacramental ministry or the proclamation of the gospel. This at a time when His Holiness is trying to reignite the drive to evangelize that has characterized our Church since it's inception in 33 AD.
And as far as the Hierarchy's attempts to stamp out new age type teaching from infiltrating the Church? Well one of the books the kids were being read to from is entitled Earth Magic.
So here is what I see. In this Archdiocese, the Faithful Citizenship program is run by a group from Catholic Charities who invite speaker who are "pro choice" and who support immorality as a civil right that we must accept as valid. And the Office of Multicultural Ministry sets up a segregated program to help at risk children that excludes at risk children of poor Caucasian families, and attempts to imbue in them a political ethic, while not bothering to teach them the Christian Ethics that will help them overcome poverty.
But it's very stylish, in a PC sort of way.
Of course, trying to make a Visit to the blessed sacrament means that you have to find one of the few parish churches in the area that allow that sort of thing, if you have a car. If you don't there's always an Internet camera on some church somewhere. And BTW, don't knock on the door of a parish office and ask to make a Eucharistic Visit--they won't know what you're talking about. (Yes, this has happened to me. I was told after I explained it to the lady that I could go into the Church to photograph their renovations, but not to pray. I complained, and the pastor of that Church--St. James Parish--explained that the woman was a convert and didn't know about Eucharistic Adoration and visits. I asked him why his RCIA program didn't explain that and he didn't have an answer.)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Reason for Sexually Dioceous Species
A sexual reproduction is efficient. It's efficient enough that the majority of organisms existing on Earth at any given moment are the products of asexual reproduction. given this datum, one must ask why there is such a system as sexual reproduction, why we, and the Animal Kingdom, and the Plant Kingdom are sexually dioceous.
This form of reproduction forces us, willy nilly, into relationship. We must, on some level, interact with another in order to reproduce. (It's worth it, to me, to look again at the word another. An other. It's a compound word: An + Other) We must acknowledge the other and the otherness to reproduce.
I'm not saying that this relationship is always moral or satisfactory. I know that these relationships, among people, can be hellish, or consist of single acts of violence. But what I am saying is that these relationships must to lead to what some translations of Scripture call increase.
I can't help but notice as well that most visible species are sexually dioceous as well. (The fungi are not, and people thought well into modern times that they were often of supernatural origin!) U think this is of a purpose.
We see and experience increase as a consequence, by and large, of relationship.
Increase is not necessarily fruitful in and off itself. It becomes fruitful only in context of further relationships. Fruitfulness is possible only in a context of multiple, interconnecting relationships. An easy, and earthy. example of this is found in pastoralism.
One breeds herds, trying to increase the number of animals one has. But if one is indiscriminate about which animals are bred, the quality of the herd does not improve and can be ruined. Likewise, if one breeds one's herd without considering grazing, fodder and water, one courts calamity. The relationship between qualities and resources--those interactions necessary to the natural order of the animals being raised--are also of consideration.
In human terms, the increase must occur in a context of relationship between parents. And for this relationship to be fruitful, conjugal love must embrace multiple relationships and qualities. Between parents there must not only exist physical love-eros-but friendship and charity, a love based in the desire for the good of the other. And this relationship must occur in a context of complex intertwined relationships. Relationships with the in laws, with neighbors, with offspring with occupation.
When we look at peoples lives who were raised in a milieu deficient in these relationships, or marked by dysfunctional relationships, we can see damage as a result.
These observations lead me to the conclusion that dioceous sexuality is a gift from our creator, God the Father. It has been given us as a great sign. For without a relationship with an other, there is no increase. And without a complex of relationships any increase isn't fruitful. Moreover where ever we look we see evidence of this--with out relationship there is no increase, no fruitfulness.
Yet the relationships must be with an appropriate others to be be fruitful. Acts of homosexuality, masturbation, zoophilia, phytopphilia do not result in increase. They can never be fruitful The other that is interacted with must be an appropriate other.
This expands on my opinion that dioceous sexuality is a gift and sign from God, for it sets a limit to our other centered relationships. It indicates that there is an appropriate other.
These signs were set into the natural order so that we could see the necessity of relationship, yet be aware that the other should be "like" as well as "unlike" to ourselves. The widespread evidence nature of this evidence, rather than simply reproducing asexually, shows us that this principle --which seems to be nearly universal to the unaided eye--is deeply embedded in the natural law.
This whole part of creation shows, and I think is meant to show, that we are fruitful only in the context of another, and that this metaphor can be extended to a principle that all forms of human fruitfulness are relational. But that the relationship must be with an other that is appropriate, both like and unlike our selves.
It is to lure us, to teach us and to lead us into the idea that we are to be in relationship with God, who is wholly other, and wholly unlike us, yet in whose image and likeness we are created.
More and more, I find myself drawn to the Book of Canticles, and to find more to see in John Paul IIs writings on nuptial language in Scripture.
This form of reproduction forces us, willy nilly, into relationship. We must, on some level, interact with another in order to reproduce. (It's worth it, to me, to look again at the word another. An other. It's a compound word: An + Other) We must acknowledge the other and the otherness to reproduce.
I'm not saying that this relationship is always moral or satisfactory. I know that these relationships, among people, can be hellish, or consist of single acts of violence. But what I am saying is that these relationships must to lead to what some translations of Scripture call increase.
I can't help but notice as well that most visible species are sexually dioceous as well. (The fungi are not, and people thought well into modern times that they were often of supernatural origin!) U think this is of a purpose.
We see and experience increase as a consequence, by and large, of relationship.
Increase is not necessarily fruitful in and off itself. It becomes fruitful only in context of further relationships. Fruitfulness is possible only in a context of multiple, interconnecting relationships. An easy, and earthy. example of this is found in pastoralism.
One breeds herds, trying to increase the number of animals one has. But if one is indiscriminate about which animals are bred, the quality of the herd does not improve and can be ruined. Likewise, if one breeds one's herd without considering grazing, fodder and water, one courts calamity. The relationship between qualities and resources--those interactions necessary to the natural order of the animals being raised--are also of consideration.
In human terms, the increase must occur in a context of relationship between parents. And for this relationship to be fruitful, conjugal love must embrace multiple relationships and qualities. Between parents there must not only exist physical love-eros-but friendship and charity, a love based in the desire for the good of the other. And this relationship must occur in a context of complex intertwined relationships. Relationships with the in laws, with neighbors, with offspring with occupation.
When we look at peoples lives who were raised in a milieu deficient in these relationships, or marked by dysfunctional relationships, we can see damage as a result.
These observations lead me to the conclusion that dioceous sexuality is a gift from our creator, God the Father. It has been given us as a great sign. For without a relationship with an other, there is no increase. And without a complex of relationships any increase isn't fruitful. Moreover where ever we look we see evidence of this--with out relationship there is no increase, no fruitfulness.
Yet the relationships must be with an appropriate others to be be fruitful. Acts of homosexuality, masturbation, zoophilia, phytopphilia do not result in increase. They can never be fruitful The other that is interacted with must be an appropriate other.
This expands on my opinion that dioceous sexuality is a gift and sign from God, for it sets a limit to our other centered relationships. It indicates that there is an appropriate other.
These signs were set into the natural order so that we could see the necessity of relationship, yet be aware that the other should be "like" as well as "unlike" to ourselves. The widespread evidence nature of this evidence, rather than simply reproducing asexually, shows us that this principle --which seems to be nearly universal to the unaided eye--is deeply embedded in the natural law.
This whole part of creation shows, and I think is meant to show, that we are fruitful only in the context of another, and that this metaphor can be extended to a principle that all forms of human fruitfulness are relational. But that the relationship must be with an other that is appropriate, both like and unlike our selves.
It is to lure us, to teach us and to lead us into the idea that we are to be in relationship with God, who is wholly other, and wholly unlike us, yet in whose image and likeness we are created.
More and more, I find myself drawn to the Book of Canticles, and to find more to see in John Paul IIs writings on nuptial language in Scripture.
Wherin I Return to My Progressive Roots and Address Homophobia
I denounce and refuse the labels "Homophobe" "Homophobic"and "Homophobia" as pejorative categories erected to marginalize and trivialize those who embrace alternative moral structures countervailing the predominant secularprivilege of American culture, thus inherently reducing the potential diversity of the embraceable variants of human experience and opinion in our emergent society.
There, that's got enough buzz words to satisfy even those who attended Antioch College!
There, that's got enough buzz words to satisfy even those who attended Antioch College!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
What Happened to the Conventual Franciscan Friars?
The Conventual Franciscans, the OFM Conv., are historically the original Franciscans. The so called "Observants", started as a reform of the Conventuals, and the Capuccins broke from the Observants. This is actually reflected in the Habits that the friars wear.
The Conventuals gave the Church several popes. St. Bonaventure was a Conventual, as were many teacher and theologians. In fact, at one point the Conventual Franciscans dominated the Faculty at oxford to an even greater extent than the Dominicans did Paris!
St. Maximillian Kolbe, a martyr of Auschwitz, was the person who first used modern communications technology to promote Catholic Evangelism--in fact, the Nazis carried him and aroud a thousand other Conventuals to the Camps because of this influance, and the fact that they used it to condem the Nazi regime.
So we then are confronted with the spectacle of the Basilica of St. Francis (Under the administration of the Conventuals) loosing its Liturgical Autonomy for letting a Voodoo priest be at the altar with a chicken. And we can go on and on. In fact, the post I recently put up about the abysmal Liturgy I attended in Terre Haute was in a Conventual Parish.
So Imigain my delight when I read Sundays paper, and find that there is a new "Catholic" oratory in New Albany. It's called the Oratory of the Holy Cross. The "pastor" their is a guy named David Kocka. He used to be a Conventual Franciscan, and in fact was serving as the Guardian of Mt. St. Francis Friary--the Provincial Motherhouse, when he took up with a woman, and was out. It's unclear to me whether he was ever released from his vows, or just deserted. He is now a "Bishop" in something called the Ecumenical Catholic Church-USA. This is a group that ordains women and is "inclusive". Kocka was one of the people infvolved in the founding of this group.
This guy is 60 years old. And looking at what he has done, and how he uses language, I can't help but wonder what the heck they were teaching Friars in the Novitiate and Seminaries then.
It's sad, and it's one of the reasons I don't like the Order of Friars Minor any more. I haven't been to a Liturgy celebrated by a Minorite Friar that wasn't filled with Liturgical Abuses since--and I mean this literally--1976.
What ever happened to the Order that gave us men like Max Kolbe, that it gives us these guys instead?
The Conventuals gave the Church several popes. St. Bonaventure was a Conventual, as were many teacher and theologians. In fact, at one point the Conventual Franciscans dominated the Faculty at oxford to an even greater extent than the Dominicans did Paris!
St. Maximillian Kolbe, a martyr of Auschwitz, was the person who first used modern communications technology to promote Catholic Evangelism--in fact, the Nazis carried him and aroud a thousand other Conventuals to the Camps because of this influance, and the fact that they used it to condem the Nazi regime.
So we then are confronted with the spectacle of the Basilica of St. Francis (Under the administration of the Conventuals) loosing its Liturgical Autonomy for letting a Voodoo priest be at the altar with a chicken. And we can go on and on. In fact, the post I recently put up about the abysmal Liturgy I attended in Terre Haute was in a Conventual Parish.
So Imigain my delight when I read Sundays paper, and find that there is a new "Catholic" oratory in New Albany. It's called the Oratory of the Holy Cross. The "pastor" their is a guy named David Kocka. He used to be a Conventual Franciscan, and in fact was serving as the Guardian of Mt. St. Francis Friary--the Provincial Motherhouse, when he took up with a woman, and was out. It's unclear to me whether he was ever released from his vows, or just deserted. He is now a "Bishop" in something called the Ecumenical Catholic Church-USA. This is a group that ordains women and is "inclusive". Kocka was one of the people infvolved in the founding of this group.
This guy is 60 years old. And looking at what he has done, and how he uses language, I can't help but wonder what the heck they were teaching Friars in the Novitiate and Seminaries then.
It's sad, and it's one of the reasons I don't like the Order of Friars Minor any more. I haven't been to a Liturgy celebrated by a Minorite Friar that wasn't filled with Liturgical Abuses since--and I mean this literally--1976.
What ever happened to the Order that gave us men like Max Kolbe, that it gives us these guys instead?
A Good Article
If you go to MercatorNet, you canread a very good article about sexual abuse, that has relevance to the Church.
It's at www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/a_strange_silence/ .
Go read it, it's worth while.
It's at www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/a_strange_silence/ .
Go read it, it's worth while.
Well, They've been caught on tape again, and I see no sign of prosecution
Planned Parenthood in Indiana have been once again caught violating State Law, and once again I see no prosecution of this corrupt group.
Indiana has informed consent laws that require that people be given accurate information about medical procedures they are about considering recieving. And PP was caught on tape giving out false, as in flatly lying about, information concerning abortion.
Why. when PP does these things are they not prosecuted? I think it's because there is a spirit of evil that protects them.
Indiana has informed consent laws that require that people be given accurate information about medical procedures they are about considering recieving. And PP was caught on tape giving out false, as in flatly lying about, information concerning abortion.
Why. when PP does these things are they not prosecuted? I think it's because there is a spirit of evil that protects them.
Monday, July 19, 2010
And Also.Busted Out
I have a couple of pet language peeves. Not to hear in daily usage by those of us ignoramuses on the block, but in documents written by people with degrees, for whom language is a professional function, and on the airwaves in news, and informational programming, local or national.
Here are two of them:
And also: No. No. NO! Try this sentence: "Myra had devoured all the chocolate, and also the peanuts and the puppy." Wrong. It could be written "Myra had devoured all the chocolate, and the peanuts and the puppy" Or it could be "Myra had devoured all the chocolate, and the peanuts. She ate the puppy as well".
And also is like a double negative, but apparently harder to eradicate.
Busted Out: Nope. Try "broken out". But I hear "busted out" from more than folks on the street--it crops up in the news reports too. I'll hear a story about a burglary, and the reporter will say something like "The perpetrator busted out the back window". This from someone with a college degree and a job in communications and journalism. I even heard a nationally syndicated program talking about how some lady had her teeth "busted".
Now I know that I'm spelling and grammer impaired, but I don't pretend to be an educated person. And I don't get paid for what I write or say.
Geeshh! Sr.Mary Magdalene Wilhelm, my senior english teacher, is spinning in her grave
Here are two of them:
And also: No. No. NO! Try this sentence: "Myra had devoured all the chocolate, and also the peanuts and the puppy." Wrong. It could be written "Myra had devoured all the chocolate, and the peanuts and the puppy" Or it could be "Myra had devoured all the chocolate, and the peanuts. She ate the puppy as well".
And also is like a double negative, but apparently harder to eradicate.
Busted Out: Nope. Try "broken out". But I hear "busted out" from more than folks on the street--it crops up in the news reports too. I'll hear a story about a burglary, and the reporter will say something like "The perpetrator busted out the back window". This from someone with a college degree and a job in communications and journalism. I even heard a nationally syndicated program talking about how some lady had her teeth "busted".
Now I know that I'm spelling and grammer impaired, but I don't pretend to be an educated person. And I don't get paid for what I write or say.
Geeshh! Sr.Mary Magdalene Wilhelm, my senior english teacher, is spinning in her grave
I Hear Voices...
...Courageous, spirit filled voices, speaking truth to power! voices like:
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer
Fr. John Corapi
Benedict XVI
Mother Angelica
Fr. Benedict Groschel
Fr. Wade Menenzes
Bp. Fabian Bruskewitz
Michael Voris
Thomas Peters
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
And many many others.
Pray for them. Pray for more like them. Emulate them.
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer
Fr. John Corapi
Benedict XVI
Mother Angelica
Fr. Benedict Groschel
Fr. Wade Menenzes
Bp. Fabian Bruskewitz
Michael Voris
Thomas Peters
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf
And many many others.
Pray for them. Pray for more like them. Emulate them.
"You are the salt of the Earth...
...but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men" Matt 5:13, RSV 2d Catholic Edition.
And that's a scary quote. Think about it, then think about us. Us Catholics. How do you tell a Catholic--someone who is in communion with the Church, whose Bishop has not said they are in impaired communion or separated from it--from anyone else?
We get divorced at about the same rate. We use contraceptives at about the same rate. We look at porn at about the same rate. We don't think about the whole of the Churches Social and Moral Teachings when we vote. We practice conspicuous consumption. We are, as a community not very distinguishable from everyone else.
We don't taste very salty.
And it's time we faced that and looked around, for we are beginning to get "trodden down by men". If you don't think so, look at the news in just the last year or so. Legislation introduced into a state legislature to take control of the Church and her property from the Successors of the Apostles. San Francisco trying very hard to tax Church property in an attempt to cripple the Church in that city, as well as their legally defining the Church as a hate organization. Even in recent news, things jump out. Like Spain fining a Christian media group 100,000 Euros for airing a an ad featuring video footage of a Gay Pride parade, and asking people if this was what they wanted their society to be like. Or the firing of Dr. Kenneth Howell by the University of Illinois. (He had the audacity to teach catholic thought, in a class on catholic thought. when he explained the role of natural law in the Catholic conception of sexual morality, he was accused of hate speech). Or Dearborn Michigan, which arrested Christians for witnessing and distributing literature at an Arab Festival. (And one must remember that are Arab Christians, mostly Catholic and Orthodox. And that they constitute a very large percentage of the Arab community in Michigan!) These folks even called the chief of police to see if it was legal first and got the go ahead.
(BTW--the mayor of Dearborn said that they hadn't been arrested, just pretended to be arrested. When the video of the arrests hit the 'net, he changed his tune and said they had "invaded" the City of Dearborn.)
There are all sorts of examples we can see. My parish church had someone try to burn it down in the 1990s. A church in Bloomington had hateful graffiti spray painted on it. So on and so forth.
And the reason we are begging to see the boot of secularity, is that we have lost our saltiness--we have, as a group, embraced the world and its values.
We can't say we weren't warned.
And that's a scary quote. Think about it, then think about us. Us Catholics. How do you tell a Catholic--someone who is in communion with the Church, whose Bishop has not said they are in impaired communion or separated from it--from anyone else?
We get divorced at about the same rate. We use contraceptives at about the same rate. We look at porn at about the same rate. We don't think about the whole of the Churches Social and Moral Teachings when we vote. We practice conspicuous consumption. We are, as a community not very distinguishable from everyone else.
We don't taste very salty.
And it's time we faced that and looked around, for we are beginning to get "trodden down by men". If you don't think so, look at the news in just the last year or so. Legislation introduced into a state legislature to take control of the Church and her property from the Successors of the Apostles. San Francisco trying very hard to tax Church property in an attempt to cripple the Church in that city, as well as their legally defining the Church as a hate organization. Even in recent news, things jump out. Like Spain fining a Christian media group 100,000 Euros for airing a an ad featuring video footage of a Gay Pride parade, and asking people if this was what they wanted their society to be like. Or the firing of Dr. Kenneth Howell by the University of Illinois. (He had the audacity to teach catholic thought, in a class on catholic thought. when he explained the role of natural law in the Catholic conception of sexual morality, he was accused of hate speech). Or Dearborn Michigan, which arrested Christians for witnessing and distributing literature at an Arab Festival. (And one must remember that are Arab Christians, mostly Catholic and Orthodox. And that they constitute a very large percentage of the Arab community in Michigan!) These folks even called the chief of police to see if it was legal first and got the go ahead.
(BTW--the mayor of Dearborn said that they hadn't been arrested, just pretended to be arrested. When the video of the arrests hit the 'net, he changed his tune and said they had "invaded" the City of Dearborn.)
There are all sorts of examples we can see. My parish church had someone try to burn it down in the 1990s. A church in Bloomington had hateful graffiti spray painted on it. So on and so forth.
And the reason we are begging to see the boot of secularity, is that we have lost our saltiness--we have, as a group, embraced the world and its values.
We can't say we weren't warned.
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