Whoa! Just Whoa!

I haven't been writing as much lately, because of time and other limitations.  That means I can build up a huge backlog of stuff that I've been thinking about.  Here's the thing though--when I get time to write, there's so much stuff that I can't possibly get to it all.  So I have been deleting things from my book mark page and just not writing about it.  After all, a person can only get s certain amount done, and I'm not going to try and do more.  But here are things that are happening around the world that I noticed.

Egypt:  Everybody was so delirious on the Evening News about the "outbreak of freedom" in Egypt.  They seem to have skimmed over some of it, like a Military Government that dissolved parliament, the acknowledgment that Egypt was going to be an Islamic Republic, the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the uprising.  Now we have something a little more chilling:  A military assault on a Coptic Monastery.  Actually, against two.  With live ammunition and RPGs.  The assault produced 19 civilian casualties.  When the cloister was breached, the Egyptian Army was shocked to see the monks not running away, but chanting the Kyrie.  It infuriated the soldiers, who were chanting Allah Akbar.  The army arrested three monks and a layman who was visiting the monastery.  It also prevented the Copts from taking the wounded to receive medical care.

Goodby Rodger:  Rodger "the Dodger' Mahony will step down Sunday, on his 75th Birthday.  It's normal and required for a Bishop to submit a resignation when they turn 75, and it's normal for them to remain in place while. But Mahony, who is infamous for his cult of personality and promotion of heterodox theology was given a coadjutor--which means his successor is in place.  I'm betting that he received this not because he needed the help, but because the Pope was fed up, and wanted no delay in being rid of him.    I'm sure his successor will be better, but I don't know by how much!  The guy has said in public that Jesus was an illegal immigrant.  I don't know where he got that--it's not in the Gospel and it's an ahistorical interpretation.  We'll see.

"Good Christian B#tches":  Apparently, ABC has cast a pilot for a program of the same name about a divorced woman who returns to her Dallas home to be victimized by gossiping Church Ladies.  It's supposedly taken from a book of the same name.  And people say that TV and Media are not hostile to Christianity.  Well, until they get a show with a comparable name about Jewish and Islamic women, I think it's plain that it is bigotry.  For that matter, based on my own life, I can say itwould be interesting to make a sitcom about neo pagan and Wiccan Guys.

"Catholic" Boston College, again:  Boston College has decided to honor the late Robert Drinan, SJ.  This priest was instrumental in convincing the Kennedy Poltical clan to support abortion, and served in congress despite calls from his superiors and bishops for him to withdraw.  He was an active pro abortion worker, who originated the bankrupt and hypocritical dodge "I am personally opposed to abortion but...".   he said that abortion was "virtual infanticide"but should be legal.  Go figure.  So now Boston College is honoring him.  Despite the 2004 directive that catholic schools not honor those who publicly oppose and undermine Catholic teaching, which is what Drinan made a career of doing.

And Speaking of Catholic Schools:  Chestnut Hill College fired Rev James St. George, for being gay.  Rev. St. George isn't a Catholic, he's an Old Catholic, belonging to the Old Catholic Church of the Americas.  he is upset that he was fired, and the school has made an error in firing him because he is actively gay.  The problem is, that he is an Old Catholic, who was teaching theology in a Catholic School.  he should not have been hired in the first place for that job.  If the ordinary of this school had the organs required by canon law, he should be investigating--very closely--the religious education there, with a finger on the button to declare them non-catholic.  I do not understand how he even got hired.

TSA:  The American Gestapo TSA did their thing of intrusively searching people again.  They did it on a group of train travelers, to include a nine year old boy traveling with his mother!  What's really weird is the did it AFTER the train trip was over, when the got off!  What's weirder is, it was filmed and reported in the British press, and only picked up by US bloggers.

Apostacy Watching...

...it's a lot like bird watching, except you don't need to get up at O-Dark:30, binoculars or an anorak.  You see a lot of the same things over and over with an occasional rarity tossed in, cameras can be helpful and taking notes is a good idea.  And sometimes, it gets to be boring and you think of giving it up, then you see something that catches your attention.

I am not excessively disturbed by the "fringe elements" like the "woman priest" movement--I find them often to be more laughable than a threat.  Likewise the "American Catholic" group that has had it's meetings doesn't disturb me.  In fifteen years or so they'll all be gone--no one showed up who has less gray hair than me, and many of them had less hair all together!  But those who separate themselves from the church but "remain physically present" do disturb me.  These wolves in sheep's clothing do untold harm to The Body, like malignant cells or some infective pathogen.

Recently Bishop Gerald Gettlefinger of Evansville, IN has announced that he is personally withdrawing from Right to Life.  His excuse is that it has become too political, and that the question of right to life is a question of politics not justice.  He's full of sh*t.  The Supreme Court of the United States has assured that this is a political question.  Moreover, Gettlefinger isn't shy about getting involved in other political questions, such as immigration, in the name of justice.  Bishop Gettlefinger's main problem is that  Indiana Right to Life has said it will no longer endorse any Democrat for public office.  It hasn't said that it will endorse a Republican.

Indiana Right to Life isn't engaging in knee jerk conservatism here.  The Democratic Party has proven itself hostile to the right to life, blocking virtually every attempt to assert any restrictions on abortion, or any cuts to public funding for Planned Parenthood.  it has marginalized the pro-life elements in the party to the point of excluding them from caucusing on party platform issues.  It has done nothing, since 1973, to protect human life.  Indiana Right to Life is simply saying that they have given up on the Democratic party to listen to them, or work with them in any way.

Bishop Gettlefinger has sent a very clear signal to the faithful entrusted to his care:  It's more important to be a Democrat than to protect the unborn from murder, women from medical malpractice, and minors from sexual predators.  He has put allegiance to a political party above his mandate to teach, sanctify and rule the faithful, and tried to deliver a blow against those who are working for life, in the name of being "apolitical", when in reality, his stance reeks of a misplaced political partisanship.  He objects to a Pro Life organization's decision to withhold endorsement from those who have betrayed it at every turn.  Because to him, to be a good Catholic means never criticizing the Democratic Party.  Not, you will notice, in preaching the gospel by his actions.

Abortion, Truth and Fascistic Tactics.

The complexion of the Abortion War has changed.  In recent years progress in the struggle to protect the unborn has been made.  This comes from a change in the front--by moving into the venue of state laws and the states authority to regulate medical practices.  In this War, like any other, success often stems from mistakes by the enemy.  The Horror House in PA has had some effect, as have the constant exposure of the nations largest provider of abortions repeatedly covering up cases of child molestation and statutory rape.

Another item that has been pointed out, and is starting to have an effect, is how often pro-abortion forces lie.  The current one that has come to light is the argument that cutting Federal Funding fro Planned Parenthood will interfere with "access" to mammograms.  When this argument began to be tossed out, it was found that no Planned Parenthood facility offers mammograms. The lose of credibility is telling.

The argument that PP wants abortion to be safe, legal and rare has been punctured to the point that they seldom use it anymore.  With Abby Johnson admitting that PP promotes abortions to bolster their cash flow (3% of procedures vs. 37% of their cash flow...) it just doesn't wash anymore.  And PP and other abortion providers struggle against regulation of clinics for sanitation and safety is starting to look bad as well.

The debate in Florida in 89-90 ripped the pro-choice coalition, when the hardliners prevented any effective inspection or oversight of clinic--even for reasons of sanitation--after four clinics in the Miami/Dade county area were found to spreading infections through their clients.  This uneasiness has spread.

Virginia has passed a bill that will put most of the states 21 abortion clinics out of business.  The bill is simple in essence, merely requiring abortion providers to meet the same regulations as any other provider of surgical procedures or services.  It proved to be very difficult for the hard line abortion lobby to oppose, especially in the light of the recent instances of poor standards in abortion clinics, and the National Abortion Federations failure to report the clinics that didn't meet it's very minimal standards.

Progress is being made.  Abortion advocates are having to support restriction on the practice that in the past were anathema to the movement, simply to maintain credibility.  Since the rate of infections and complications are very high in the abortion industry, they cant find a firm ground to stand on and maintain the position that they care about the health and well being of women.  They are aware that now they will have to accept restrictions of their favorite thing, to avoid even greater restrictions. 


The War continues though, in the realm of speech, with abortion advocates doing everything they can to silence the speech of others.  The now famous bill board in New York City is a case in point.  Abortion kills 50% of African Americans before they are born.  It is, in it's own way, a form of genocide.  That's in keeping with the thought of the founder of Margaret Sanger, who reffered to Black people as "human weeds".  A bill board was erected with the picture of a black child, and the caption "The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb."  It was decried as racist,  hostile you name it.  It has been taken down.  The manner of it's removal shows the stakes, in terms of liberty and peace, of this war.  New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio called for it's removal--an official of government stifling  free speech.  People who worked in the restaurant it was attached to were harassed and threatened--even though they had nothing to do with the sign.  Finally, the board was removed by the sign company.  The company said they were neutral on the subject matter--they were in the business of putting up signs--but that they were afraid of violence.

I've written before, recently, about people who erased pro-life signs and messages and scrawled calls for the death of the authors on them--at universities.  There are so many accounts of pro-life groups being silenced on campus and in public it's not a problem finding examples, but of writing them all down.  There are even documented cases of pro-life people being arrested and charged with "crimes" that don't exist--the police simply made them up.  Look for these things to become more frequent, as state laws increase regulation and oversight of clinics and abortion providers.  Demons do not "go quietly into that good night"

Joy Behar...

says pro-lifers are "evil and immoral and unethical and stupid".

Perhaps. However, we at least know how to use conjunctions properly.

I Am a Coward

I found a graphic photo of an aborted fetus, in an odd place, and was going to post it to my Facebook page.  Then I thought of my facebook friends who had had abortions, or who had used "emergency contraception".  I didn't post it, because of the emotional distress it could cause them.

That makes me feel like a coward, and someone unwilling to make a hard choice in defense of life.

Posting it would make me feel horrible as well--it would inflict suffering on people who already suffer, and sow rancor where it isn't necessary.  I would be acting uncharitably, perhaps.

I can only look and admit that I am a really poor warrior, a bad servant, and a coward, no matter which way I view it.  I can find no course of action now that isn't in one way or another unchristian. 

I wish that photo had never cropped up.

The Age of Insidious Lies

There is a tendency to divide history into various ages. We speak of the Stone Ages, the Copper Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Classical Age, the Middle ages, the Age of Faith, the Modern Age, the Space Age, the Electronic Age, the Digital Age.  I suppose it's useful, and even though it must be a gross simplification it does serve to point up some dominant feature of a given time frame. 

But I think that if we were to pick put a dominant feature of our Age, it would be the insidious lie.  Our time is marked less by our technology, and more by our discourse, which is dominated by lies and propaganda of every stripe.  I n my own thinking, the line of demarcation would start with the 1890s, when propaganda became less of an art, with a few gifted practitioners, and more a science, used wholesale for personal or collective ends.  I would say that the Age of Insidious Lies began with  William Randolph Hearst and his contribution to the art of "yellow journalism".  Yellow journalism was a term describing the dubious and sensationalistic stories ran in tabloid papers, so called because of the the cheap yellow paper they were printed on.  (An interesting aside--the laws against cannabis in the US date to a campaign by Hearst's papers, based not on perceived or measured harm, but on the fact that he invested heavily in wood pulp paper mills to save money on his papers.  The venture was not a success, as competition from paper based on hemp waste made it uneconomical.  By getting hemp cultivation banned, his paper became the next economically viable product--and a major contributor to water pollution because of dioxins released in the manufacturing
process!)  I guess this is the place to be fair--Hearst was the first person in media to publish accounts of the Nazi atrocities, starting with the Kristal Nacht, and virtually the only publisher to call for Jewish homeland or to treat the stories coming out of Europe about the final solution as important, during the World War II.

The science of propaganda picked up during the Great War, and through out the period of political upheaval and violence that culminated in WWII, and became almost perfected during that conflict.  Propaganda also became more subtle, in many ways, after the Wars.  And somewhere along the line, an attitude grew that dissimulation  was OK--an acceptable adjunct to policy.  It went from there to being an entrenched practice, with misdirection, fabrication and other techniques of obfuscation becoming the order of the day in virtually every form of discourse.  This fueled the rise of hypocrisy from an unfortunate side effect of power to a prerequisite of power.  Until now, when truth has become rarer than platinum, in every institution and endeavor.

Just a few examples--current examples--can be sobering.

In government, the President called on the people to "cut back", to do things like eating out less or skipping vacations, even as his own family took a vacation to Colorado, where the First Lady, a public crusader for healthy foods and low fat diets for children, chowed down on Ribs & Trimmings, and fed them to her children.  At the same time, this administration is famous for calling for transparency in government and a reduction of the role of Lobbyists--all the while meeting with lobbyists in locations away from the White house, where the meetings re not subject to the 24-7 scrutiny of the press, or to being logged into the Secret Service security logs. That's the first insidious lie concerning lobbyists.  The second is the White House insists there is nothing wrong with this--that the Jackson Place Townhouses are the home of the white house conference center and are actually meeting rooms.  Yet the lobbyists themselves have acknowledged, on record, that it is a way to circumvent observation of who is meeting with the administration.  Generally, a meeting or two is OK at the White House, but when it gets more involved, the venue is changed.  And now that Jackson Place is on the Radar,  many meetings are moved elsewhere--Caribou Coffee is an often used venue, and the New York Times has documented hundreds of meetings between lobbyists and administration staffers and officials.  So transparency is seen to be no more than a buzz word, while the actions prove it to be a lie.

I'm well known for not having a high opinion of the Obama Administration.  So lets get a few other examples, closer to home, and institutions and people I am a supporter of.  Let's take the Church.

Let's start at the Vatican.  A couple of years ago, the African Bishops formally complained to His Holiness that while they could get funding for virtually any social program, they were stymied when it came to getting help with evangelization.  His Holiness began to fix the problem, trying to work across the board to improve evangelization.  Fast forward to now, and you see that. Lesley-Anne Knight hasn't received a Nihil Obstat for renomination to head Caritas International, an umbrella group for Catholic charitable outreach uniting many agencies.  This is a statement that nothing obstructs her renomination.  The reason she didn't get it is simply this--although she was appointed to the position in 2007--after the African bishops made their concerns known, she hasn't done anything to institute a sense of Catholic Identity in what her organization does, or to work with efforts to evangelize peoples. The mission of the Church is the Salvation of Souls--social works are an outgrowth of that.  Ms. Knight took the job, as an official within the Church, yet worked in such a way as to undermine it's primary mission.  This is an insidious lie, that leads to confusion about the Church's mission, and even it's basic nature.  The obfuscation doesn't stop there though.  There is a lot of commentary from 'unnamed sources.  Some of it claims she was not allowed to stand for a second term because she is critical of the Vatican.  If that's true, how the heck did we get Benedict as Pope?  He's been been critical of the Vatican as well!  Perhaps worse is the official explanation--that she has done a very good job but that we face new challenges and so need a new person.  No mention whatsoever of what is really going on!

In Philadelphia, more insidious lies are being exposed.  In the harshest way.  As a result of a Grand jury report, Monsignor William Lynn has been placed on leave while he awaits trial on charges of child endangerment.  Lynn was the Secretary of the Clergy their from 1992 to 2004, and has been charged because he reassigned priest who were known sexual predators of minors to positions where they had access to minors.  He covered up their conduct and kept it secret--at the very least a lie of omission.  This same report has repercussions even further than that:  Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh NC was and Auxiliary Bishop of Philadelphia, and was found to have signed off on the paper work retaining and reassigning a priest who had multiple accusations, with corroboration from staff members where he was assigned and who had a polygraph test concerning the matter that returned a finding of deception.  Lies are the accessory and enabler of every crime.

In the Church, it's not just at Chancery level, or about sex.  Take for instance the goings on at St. Edwards Church in Bloomington, Mn.  The pastor their, Rev. Mike Tegeder, has been allowing a laywoman to preach.  Homilies are never to be delivered by laypeople.  Only by Bishops, Priests or Deacons.  Tegeder, even though he has been spoken to about this matter by the Vicar General of the Archdiocese, stands by his decision.  What he is doing is quite public--but the lies is insidious, and contained in the action.  He states that the woman in question has the same training as a priest, because she has a masters degree in theology.  She doesn't have the same training at all.  Moreover, the unspoken lie is that congregations can ignore the bishops, and that authority rests in the local congregation and their pastor--a very Presbyterian way of looking at it.  In this way, with out ever speaking a word of heresy, and with only a small amount of mendacity concerning priestly formation, Tegeder is able to undermine tow millennia of Church teaching.  A very effective way of being mendacious.

In a similar vein, the parish of St. Francis Cabrini in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St-Paul MN has circulated a flier for a fund raising dinner for a Gay and Lesbian "ministry' that is unapproved by the Church or their Ordinary.  The flier contains the sentence "This is being held on the property of St. Francis Cabrini Parish in Minneapolis, so this Lesbian Gay Ministry Fundraiser has the approval of the Archdiocese."  Not so, and when the Chancery of the Archdiocese heard of it, they put the kibosh on it forthwith.  But by putting this in a flier that was not part of the Parish bulletin, the blatant lie was compounded by a bit of slight of hand designed to simply let the Archdiocese find out too late to do anything?  The subtle lie, that this is an acceptable stratagem would work on the people of the parish quietly.

The insidious lie can be based on a partial truth, as well as fabricated from the whole cloth.  And example of this would be the position of Edward Peters, a canon lawyer of great repute--who is a consultant to the Apostolic Rota,the highest court of Canon Law--that Governor Andrew Coumo of New York should not be allowed to take communion because he is living in open concubinage.  The Bishop of Albany, New York, Howard J. Hubbard has said that it is the responsibility of the Bishop to determine who can receive communion.  However, he fails to mention that his judgments are to be in accordance with Canon Law, and confuses the issue with references to pastoral sensibility.  This lie of omission, and and the mendacity of citing a concern fallaciously are insidious.  By doing so he does two things--enables the fiction that someone who is pro-abortion and living in sin is a Catholic in good standing, and provides an argument and precedent for those who are living in concubinage.  In short, by using a half truth, and twisting the meaning of pastoral concern, he gets out of a potentially controversial action, to the detriment of of the soul of Gov. Coumo and the scandal--in the technical sense of leading others to sin--of the faithful.

In the way we govern ourselves too, the insidious lie has proven to be ubiquitous.  Take the case of Phill Klein.  Mr. Klein is the former state attorney of Kansas.  He was investigating Planned Parenthood and the operation of the late Dr. Tiller for covering up instances of rape among girls 14 and under.  Now he is defending his law license.  he has been accused of "conflict of interest" because he is a person of pro-life persuasion investigating abortion operations.  yet the investigation shows a couple of things that perhaps it's instigators would rather it had not.  One is that the Disciplinary Administrator of Kansas, a pro-abortion politician named Stanton Hazlett had had Klein investigated and his own investigators found nor reason at all to sanction Klein--he had found 166 cases of felonious concealment by Tiller and Planned Parenthood of the rape of girls 14 and under.  It also showed that the report of Klein's investigation had been concealed by Hazlett for 20 months.  It also pointed up that Gov. Kathleen Sibelius--now Secretary of health and Human Services and Attorney General Paul Morrison, both "pro-choice" Democrats had actively worked to block and undermine the investigation.  Here we have politicians covering up 166 felonies, because it was an election year and they were committed by their supporters.  They did so quietly, on the sly, and then resorted to a public smear of a man who was just doing his job.  This smear, done on the QT and by concealing investigative results might result in a man being destroyed, and the continued exposure of girls to rape without any chance of catching the predators who rape pubescent girls.  And if everything had gone according to plan, the lie would never have become public. 

We got here, in the Age of the Insidious Lie, by a convoluted route.  it had many, many authors and enablers.  It persists because of the convenience it provides for those who wish to fulfill their personal ambitions, or to promote an agenda, without the problem of truth raising it's ugly head.  I will leave with two quotes.  One, from Harry Turtledove goes "Facts?  Facts are ugly things.  They pierce the most well constructed theories, and deflate the best arguments."  The other is from T.R. Fehrenbach: "A free press is equally free to print the truth or ignore it, as it chooses."

Church Architecture

I have been wondering about something.  After the document Environment and Art in Catholic Worship came out there was a wholesale devaluing of traditional art and architecture in Catholic Churches.  This document, which had no authority contradicted the letter and spirit of the Second Vatican Councils pronouncements on liturgy and worship, and in fact was written from an erroneous theological standpoint. ( It has in fact been replaced by the document Built of Living Stones, which is till not an authoritative document).  Yet it has had, and still has, profound influence.

If this wholesale move to make all our churches look like waiting rooms is so good, and so conducive to worship, why do I take an average of one call every two days I volunteer at our parish asking if someone can have their wedding at our church, instead of their own?

Simple--our parish never gutted the Church, but kept the art and architecture intact.

If the new look is so good, then why are people always trying to get important things done in the older churches that have maintained their art and architecture?    Because the wreckage of Catholic art is unsatisfying to the spirit, the eye the mind and the soul.  These empty boxes do not lift the heart and mind to God.

I am convinced that much of the falling away that we have experienced is due to this factor.

This is personal, so you can skip it with profit to your mind and spirit.

The novelist S.M. Sterling called this time of year, "The Black Months" because they were so cold and dreary.  And certainly it's true.  I hate winter!  I am never comfortable, I'm always tired and on the edge of being depressed.  And this winter is worse than usual.

It's not just been the weather.  Politics has been inescapable, with it's concurrent twisting of fact and attempts atconverting everyone to believ the same thing, by every side.  We have North Africa and the Near and Middle East in disarray, and I doubt very much if anyone in the west really has a handle on what's happening, or what to do about it.  Labor unrest, especially among public employees is getting out of hand in the US as well, with Wisconsin brought to a virtual halt by demonstrations and absenteeism. 

I'm tired of it.

Lent is coming, I and I hope to walk in the desert of Lent this year.  I hope to take solace and find some knowledge and Grace in the season of penance.  It's needed this year more than ever.  I look around the Church, and see the fissures which have been lying quietly beginning to open, and the latent tendency towards schism among our priests and bishops opening wider.  The issue always being pride and a feeling or insubordination--whether they hang it on the Liturgy, celibacy, dogma or their own pet peeve.

I no longer trust my own government--not its motives, agenda, methods or even the truth of what it says.  i have become profoundly alienated from my own nations government.  I don't trust the bishops either.  i don't trust their agenda, the things they say, what they do. 

We need two things, and we need them badly:  An ecumenical council, so that the Holy Spirit may guide our bishops and make his will for th church known, after a half century of obfuscation by various factions, and a revolution to straighten out the governments of the several states, and the US. 

What we're going to get is Bureaucracy from the Church, and  bull shit with lies from the government.

Just For Fun!

Let's play an imagination game.  Here's the situation:  It's the sudden and mysterious downfall of civilization. You however, through a combination of wisdom, integrity, foresight, wealth and practicality have provided yourself and your loved ones with a snug retreat in a pleasant place, stocked with everything from Artichokes to zymurgy supplies.  With enough to last until things calm down, and support you in reasonable comfort and plenty.  you even have room enough, and supplies enough to take in one more person.

On the road leading to the secret entrance of your haven, there is a van which has broken down due to the sudden and mysterious downfall of civilization.  In it are two celebrities.  I shall not name them, because you will.  What i want to know is, which celebrity do you embrace in the bosom of your stouthearted  little community, and which one will you run off forthwith?  And, why?

Random Church News From All Over

Well, it's always a mixed bag, when look around the Church World.  Here are some things that stood out to me lately.

Nun Leaves Convent:  Sr. Maria Jesus Galan has been a contemplative nun for 35 years.  her convent got a computer and an internet hookup to enable them to do things like banking and business transactions without leaving the cloister.  Sr. Galan, however, began digitizing the convents archives--it was founded in the 14th century--then somehow other got involved in Facebook.  She made a hobby of acquiring Facebook friends, and now has about 6000.  The community felt that this was not in keeping with the vocation of a cloistered nun, and so there was apparently some talk.  The upshot is that Sr. Galan has left the convent to continue  to Facebook, and wants now to go to London and New York.

Priest Defrocked Due to Gay Scandal:  The Reverend Clifford Felix has been defrocked by the Anglican Church in South Africa, for bringing scandal upon the Church.  it seems that he blew the whistle on homosexual abuse of teenage boys and young men by the priests of the Anglican Church of South Africa.  One of the men he named was on the tribunal that voted to remove him from the ministry.  The South African Anglican Province has had a problem with scandal--their last Primate left his wife of 22 years with no support, forcing her to sue.  He was a champion of social justice. (I wonder though, how any Roman Rite priests wish they could toss those who blow the whistle on gay sex?  Oh wait!  it happened in the UK this year.)

Speaking of Anglicans:  The Anglican Diocese of Peru--that's the country in South America, not the town in Indiana--has set up what it calls an "Ordinariate of Postulants" for Catholic Priests who wish to join the Anglican Church.  It claims 10 priests are members and that it has inquiries from Uruguay, Ecuador and Argentina.  About half the priests are pastors of churches that have "broken away" from rome when they got married.  The Rt. Rev. William Godfrey, Bishop of Peru says that "...the Anglican Church in Latin America would not exist if wasn't for ex-Roman Catholics...".

And in the good old C of E:  There is friction between the C of E and the Cabinet.  It seems that the Cabinet, which had previously decreed that Gay Civil Unions could not have a religious element in the "service" have changed their minds, and now wish Churches to give the Unions religious services.  The C of E has said no way.  Unexpected, but still, I guess not everything is up for grabs there.

In a Rather Disgusting Local Story:  A church in Louisville has allowed a laicized priest to serve on a volunteer board.  This is, of course, a violation of the Churches policy that ex-priests cannot serve in ministries or leadership positions.  It also violates the policies of the Archdiocese--and the Archdiocese didn't know about it until it got sued over it.  It seems that Bruce Ewing left the priesthood to get married in the 70s.  He also didn't bother to go through channels, and it wasn't until 2004 that the Church caught up with him.  To make matters worse, he was convicted of Statutory Rape in 2007, over an incident in the 70s, when he was a priest.  The law suit that brought this matter up is also a bit sleazy--it started as an employment matter, when a Church secretary got downsized an moved to a part time job in another parish, and keeps getting modified, the latest modification being that  her husband is suffering mental anguish over Mr. Ewing.  Sleaze enough for weeks, all around.

Nadine Brown and the Intercessors of the Lamb:  The Intercessors of the Lamb were suppressed last year, and the largest part--a vast majority, if I can use that overworked phrase--immediately submitted to Ecclesiastic authority.  Nadine Brown kept saying she was, but didn't.  Now she has relaunched the group, with a core of members as a non-denominational ministry.  I guess that proves the accusations that she was not under control, had a cult of personality, and was playing free and easy with finances, as if it were her own kingdom.

And the Housecleaning Continues:  Lesley-Anne Knight has been denied a Nihil Obstat in the matter of being a candidate for the post of director of Caritas Internationalis.  That is a parent group for various charital programs world wide.  She has been serving in the post for one term and is widely criticized for opposing the Pope and several of his initiatives, and for blocking evangelization  programs in favor of politically oriented 'social justice' programs.  It looks like the Church is finally listening to the Bishops in Africa, Asia and South America who have complained to His Holiness that they can get funds for all sorts of relief and social programs, but cannot get any help for evangelizing people. 

California--Give it Back to the Condors?:  A priest in the Diocese of Orange has "concelebrated  Mass" with a Presbyterian minister. This is a very serious offense against the sacraments, one that is reserved to the Congregaton for Divine Worship for resolution, and one for which he may be laicized without trial.  The priest in question, Fr. Agustin Escobar is a devotee of eastern mysticism and meditation, and "concelebrated" with the Rev. Steve Whitney of the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Sacramento. (There's some irony there!.)  he allowed Whitney to receive and distribute 'communion'  This became public when approximately half of the parishioners reported the abuse.  This was not a popular move with the faithful. (I look for the unfaithful to rally around him.)  Bishop Todd Brown of Orange has placed Fr. Escobar on leave while the situation is investigated.  interestingly enough--when I looked the report in the Orange County Register up to verify that Escobar had been put on leave, they had in fact found a parishioner defending Escobar as a good priest.  And they were soft pedaling the seriousness of the offense, as is the Diocese of Orange.  Todd Brown is an understanding man, unless you try to receive communion kneeling.

A Climate of Hostility? What Climate of Hostility?

According to one report I have read, around 120 Christians are victimized every day for their faith, by physical violence.  If you watch the major networks, you'd never know it. 

This fall and winter have seen a campaign of violence directed against Christians with bombings of Churches, rape, murder, judicial murder and intimidation being the order of the day in many places.  But really, it doesn't matter.  After all, in the words of  media analyst T.J. Walker 'Christians get massive media coverage way out of proportion to their importance."  Gee--there are over 1.1 billion Catholic Christians, 593 million  protestants, and 240 million Orthodox Christians.  Hmmmmmm---that makes about 1.937 Billion Christians.  But we aren't' all that important.  OK, whatever.

The October 31st bombing of a Church in Iraq elicited a halfhearted  expression of condolence from Obama, in which he extended his regrets to the Iraqi people, somehow managing not to mention that it was an act of violence against Christians, or a Church, or motivated by hatred of Christians.  Listening to him you might get the impression it was shopping mall or theater that got bombed. You know, Katie Couric was spouting off about the protests of the "Ground Zero Mosque" and expressing outrage against the "seething hatred of Muslims" while at the same time the homes of 11 Christians in Baghdad were bombed, a story she didn't see fit to cover.  Just like the problems in Sudan were misrepresented as 'sectarian strife' when in actuality they were slave raids by Islamic militias--unhindered and in many cases abetted by the Government of Sudan--that targeted Christians by preference.  After all, Christians aren't important enough to report violence against them.

And there has been little coverage of the problems faced by orthodox Christians in New York City.  St. Nicholas Church was destroyed on 9-11.  It still hasn't been rebuilt.  It hasn't been rebuilt because of the obstructionism of the port Authority of New York.  The Church, and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has filed suit, claiming bad faith and fraud on the part of the authority.  It seems that at first they were told they couldn't build there, but would have to use another site close by.  Then they were told they could build there--in 2013.  Then both sites were excavated and put to alternative uses by the Port Authority, which will raise the cost of building greatly, because the sites will have to be rectified.  It's been nearly ten years since this Church was destroyed--and the Port Authority is still obstructing the construction, on property the Church stood on for generations.

The progressives, wherever they get a firm grip on political power, are hostile to religion in general, and Christianity--especially Catholicism--in particular.  A case in point is San Francisco.  In 2006 they passed a resolution describing the Catholic Church as a hate group, and calling the teachings of the Church "discriminatory", "callous", "defamatory", and an "insult to all San Franciscans".  Worse still, the resolution called on the people, priests and Archbishop of San Francisco to disobey the teachings of the Church and the Pope.  In short, the city called for a schism.  This was found to be constitutional by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.  (Granted, that is the court that has the most Supreme Court reversals in the US, and has recently received a very public Jap Slapping from the Supreme Court.)  But now the case is bound for the Supreme Court, at great expense to the Church in an attempt to defend it's rights.  Oddly the City described the Vatican as a foreign country interfering with the affairs of the City of San Francisco.  The country is titled The Holy See--the Vatican is a term used to refer to the highest level of the Catholic Church--they are not synonyms, and the City is either governed by ignoramuses (doubtful--poltroons, yes; ignoramuses, no) or they are trying to pull a fast one.  And it is clearly the City trying to interfere in the affairs of the Church.

There is a concerted effort underway to remove positive references to Christianity from the public square.  It's not even subtle, and some people are quite frank about it.  others are just sort of doing it.  Like in the upcoming movie Soul Surfer.  This movie is about Bethany Hamilton, a teenage surfer who's arm was bitten off by a shark in 2003.  She and her family are Christians, but the producers of the movie didn't like that very much.  They edited the movie to do things like remove the words "Holy Bible" from the bible her father read to her from in the hospital.  The words were restored after the family complained. Miss Hamilton recovered from her injury and several months later won a championship, with the help of her faith.  I guess the story of overcoming a shark attack is good, unless your faith helps you.

But these are simply instances of fact.  I guess if I do much more research, and list many, many more factual instances of a hostility toward Christians and Christianity in the Western World, it will only prove that I'm a whiner.  After all, there is no climate of hostility.