Patrick Deneen,Associate Professor of Government at Georgetown University,  had some stinging criticism of the Jesuit university, saying that Georgetown “increasingly and inevitably remakes itself in the image of its secular peers, ones that have no internal standard of what a university is for other than the aspiration of prestige for the sake of prestige, its ranking rather than its commitment to Truth.”

He has been hired by Notre Dame to teach there. I guess he is working his way up to a fully Catholic university.

Deneen said he’s not going to Notre Dame with blinders on. ”I don’t doubt that there will be many battles at Our Lady’s University,” he wrote. ”But, there are at least some comrades-in-arms to share in the effort.”

Ah good to see he is going there with no false assumptions and the right attitude and he will certainly find comrades-in-arms there. Though it is too bad that there will be one less authentically Catholic voice at Georgetown.

Deneen said Notre Dame hired him because they regard him as “someone who can be a significant contributor to its mission and identity, particularly the Catholic identity of the institution.” He said such considerations are not typically a criterion for hiring at Georgetown.

Now that is an understatement.

[Source]

Not exactly Martin Luther King, but President Obama says:

“And as we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.”

Well I guess some dreams are nightmares.

Surely it must be a nightmare since the President in his infamous Notre Dame speech said abortion “this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.”    How many Constitutional rights came you named with “heart-wrenching” decisions in the moral and spiritual sphere?

This is the seventh volume of The Weekly Benedict ebook which is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I pull from Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Benedict.

This volume covers the last week with material from Jan 11th to Jan 19th.

The Weekly Benedict – Volume 7 – ePub (supports most readers)

The Weekly Benedict – Volume 7 – Kindle

Last year I read Fr. Jordan Aumann’s theology which I absolutely loved.  I recently finished another book he wrote Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition which is sort of a companion book to Spiritual Theology.  While Spiritual Theology provided an excellent guide to the Church’s ascetical and mystical teaching on prayer this book looks at the history of Christian spirituality from the start of the Church to more modern times.

A quite fascinating and detailed book as it looks at the various movements of Catholic spirituality and how they developed and led to other movements.  I was aware of bits and pieces and various sections of this spiritual history, but Fr. Aumann really puts them all in contexts and pins down the developments.  The book also introduced me to many saints and others I was hardly aware of.  It is also quite interesting in how this history of spirituality shows that the more things change that they remain the same.  This history shows all the ebb and flow of Christianity and how each age much repent and reform.  While they have and will continue to be movements of reform, there are also many false starts and dead ends into false spiritualities.  Fr Aumann as a theologian and capable historian of the spiritual life puts it all together into a book well worth reading.

This book is available online at DomCentral.org or retailers such as Amazon.

A month or so ago it was reported how some pro-abortion groups were concerned that the Obama administration might “go wobbly” concerning forcing even religious institutions to cover contraception for their employees. They actually felt he might bow to pressure. Oh ye of little faith in the most pro abortion administration in history. The administration that provides a hermeneutic of “does it reduce abortion” in any way to all they do.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said today that aside from houses of worship, all other religious agencies and organizations will be required to provide sterilization and contraceptive services, including abortifacients, in their employee healthcare plans; none will be allowed to charge co-pays or deductibles. The policy goes into effect in August 2013 for these entities; all others will be required to provide these services in August 2012.

Sebelius explained how her directive applies to non-church religious entities such as Catholic hospitals and universities: “Employers wishing to take advantage of the additional year must certify that they qualify for the delayed implementation. This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to this new rule.” She also said, “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”

Though this “additional year” exemption hardly applies to anybody because of the rigidly narrow interpretation of what a religious entity is. By this rule Jesus could not apply because of his support of the good samaritan and not confining his ministry to just the Jewish people.

As Richard Doerflinger notes:

One small cavil: The contraceptive mandate policy will not be deferred a year. It will apply this year, as originally planned, to the vast majority of individuals and organizations (except for the very narrow group of “religious employers” who hire and serve chiefly only people of their own faith, etc.). But specifically religious organizations that do not qualify for this narrow exemption may apply for deferred compliance for a year, only if they do not cover such services now. (Some of these organizations have recently discovered, to their chagrin, that their insurance does include these things, having investigated this because of the current controversy. They are out in the cold now, even if they had begun taking steps to exclude the coverage.) Since the mandate will be fully enforced on everyone else in the meantime, the question is whether even the religious groups with the one-year deferral will actually find any health insurer willing to write them a policy.

Good thing we have a Catholic as head of the HHS – oh wait.

The administration had just gotten slapped down by the Supreme Court 9-0 over their rigid interpretation of the ministerial exception. But arrogance knows no humility and they have further doubled-down with this decision.

This is more than an attack on religious freedom, but really an attack on every American in principle. When the government forces an individual to go out into the marketplace to buy a product they object to on the grounds of conscience, this ruling is just a start on the tyranny against individual conscience. This is an effort at group-conscience by the elites where they will tell you what you should object to. You are not allowed to be a conscientious objector on the war on life.

CatholicVote.org President Brian Burch wrote in part:

“It’s hard to believe that on this date, exactly one year from next year’s inauguration, President Obama would hand the Republican Party a golden opportunity to focus on religious liberty and win back the Catholic vote it lost in 2008. The only question is: Will the Republican presidential nominee seize the opportunity?”

I think this is wishful thinking. Catholics in regard to the Church’s teaching of what is the natural law regarding contraception has been mostly ignored. Unfortunately I think too many Catholics will like the idea of coverage for something they are already using. The negative reaction to this ruling has largely been only by faithful Catholics and has not been the outrage it should be generally by non-Catholics. I wish to be wrong here.

Pope Benedict XVI in a very recent address to American bishops is certainly aware of this negative trend in the United States regarding religious freedom. Besides the Dictatorship of Relativism, we also have a President of Relativism.

In the light of these considerations, it is imperative that the entire Catholic community in the United States come to realize the grave threats to the Church’s public moral witness presented by a radical secularism which finds increasing expression in the political and cultural spheres. The seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life. Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience.

Earlier today I read a quite excellent post by John C. Wright who was responding to a readers question on why he as an atheist had come to oppose contraception. He writes a lengthy post on the chain of reason that brought him to this opinion presently a quite cogent natural law argument. I especially enjoyed the section on teleology and that final causes exist in nature.

When I was an atheist the sanctity of marriage was something I came to believe even if I would not have truly understood sanctity. Many other things flowed out of this in my philosophy, but it was in no way as reasoned as Mr. Wright thought process.

In this busy workaday world with so many distractions and noise trying to have an active prayer life is difficult at best. We fill every moment of our lives with outside stimulus with our phones, computers, television, and all our time saving appliances that leave us with no time left.

And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. –Revised Standard Version. (1 Ki 19:11–13)

The prayer-to-distraction ratio in our prayer lives is very small and outside stimulus drowns out the still small voice not even allowing it to be a voice crying out from the wilderness.

It is easy to represent this as a mathematical relationship of of prayer power to the noise power.

Yet how do we know what is an acceptable ratio for our lives and maintain the proper perspective from using consumer products or being consumed by products?

Well if you want to hear that still small voice than the new SSV-33 full spectrum distraction analyzer is the product for you!

The SSV-33 measures the prayer signal-to-noise ratio in units of Distraction Babels (dB)  or distrabels.  The distrabel is a logarithmic unit in that it can also take into account the log in you own eye. The distrabel is also a factor of 10 Commandments.

Simply turn on the SSV-33 and point it around you to get a reading of the amount of distraction pollution around you. A high distrabel reading means you need to start turning off devices around you and/or shutting down activities that have become unbalanced in prudential use of time.  While use of goods and involving yourself in activities is morally neutral, the greater good is taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us as St. Teresa of Avila would say.

The  SSV-33 full spectrum distraction analyzer will not measure seeming sources of distractions like spouses and other people.  Contrary to popular opinion people are not distractions but  persons to be loved and even their quirks and annoyances provides us channels to respond to grace.  Hell is not other people, Hell is selfishness brought to its final end.

The sooner you start the better since studies have shown that prolonged exposure to distractions can cause you to become spiritually deaf. Though if this happens we also offer the St. Peter Spiritual Hearing Aid. The St. Peter Hearing Aid harnesses Apostolic power to let you hear Jesus since Jesus himself said to the Apostles “He who hears you, hears me.”

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things pass away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
And the  SSV-33 full spectrum distraction analyzer will get you there! 

This is the sixth volume of The Weekly Benedict ebook which is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I pull from Jimmy Akin’s The Weekly Benedict.

Since Jimmy did not post a list last week this volume covers the last two weeks along with material from Nov 20th to Jan 9th.

The Weekly Benedict – Volume 6 – ePub

The Weekly Benedict – Volume 6 – Kindle

One of the arguments for the existence of God is the teleological argument, or argument from design.

With this weekends NFL playoff games there is apparently a new argument for the existence of God, the Tebowlogical argument, or argument by completed passes by touchdown in the final moments of a game.

Being that Tim Tebow is from the same town I live in and went to a Baptist church blocks from my own parish I have some prejudice to like him.  Even if I am annoyed that his church has it’s own parking garage, while parking at my parish is quite limited.

That he annoys so many people because of his open discussion of his faith is also a point in his favor.  The irrational reaction is quite interesting and apparently you can wear any advocacy on you sleeve just as long as it is not Christianity.  Though his families involvement in the Philippines with statements like “Of the 86 million Filipinos, we estimate that over 65 million have never once heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ” does not exactly warm my heart, especially considering my wife is Filipino.  All those Catholic Filipino’s will be surprised that when the Gospel is read at Mass they didn’t hear it.

Regardless the Tebowlogical argument seems to go both ways as both a proof for the existence of God and for his nonexistence.  Especially as both wins and losses are tied to his Christianity.

Apparently some seem to think that God closely watches the stats of a game to help them reference scriptural verses.  His last weeks win ending in 316 passing yards is tied to the 3:16 he use to display in his eye black.  Now imagine if he loses this weekend’s game and passes for 330?  John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  Of course Patriot fans would think that it was Tom Brady who must increase.  Though exactly how does the passing yards to scriptural passage connection work?  Is it just the Gospel of John or can other books be referenced.  If so how do you infer which book?  Hard to decide unless the receivers name is Mark, Matthew, Luke, or John.

Plus how does the physics of a God-influenced football game work?  Are arm and leg muscles divinely inspired or is the flight of the football affected on the way to the receiver? Or is air resistance changed in route?

Regardless I would like to see Mr. Tebow become a Catholic, just as I want the same for all.  After all all if he thinks he is hated and disparaged now he might as well get the full treatment of hate and disparagement.

I do hope LarryD updates his The Catholic’s Examination Of Conscience Guide To The NFL Playoffs so I can get my bets in.

One of the trends in recent years is more and more bishops speaking out.  Bishops have intervened regarding Catholic universities and Catholic hospitals, but unfortunately this is been met with very little obedience.  For example Bishop John M. D’Arcy criticism of the President’s invite to Notre Dame and Bishop Thomas Olmstead in regards to St. Joseph’s Hospital.

The latest case involves the University of Scranton inviting former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies as a key speaker.  She was once a director of a PAC committed to electing women pro-abortion supporters she co-sponsored the Abortion Clinic Access Bill.  After the Cardinal Newman Society posted about this Bishop Joseph Bambera specifically requested the Jesuit university to withdraw the invitation, which they’ve refused.

In response to the University of Scranton’s decision to refuse his personal request, Bishop Bambera expressed his disappointment and concern by offering the following:

“The gravity of this issue speaks to the heart and substance of who we are as Christians. Because of the incarnation of Christ, every human life has value and worth. As Christians, we must be committed to defending human life at every age and every stage from conception to natural death.”

“Although a forum such as this, designed to support and encourage women to engage in public service, is by its nature good and noble, for a Catholic institution in the Diocese of Scranton to invite a pro-abortion advocate to speak at a University sponsored event is dismaying and personally disheartening to me. And to do so within days of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., is particularly demoralizing.”

The University’s unwillingness to work with Bishop Bambera in an effort to reach an acceptable resolution to this unfortunate situation is an unsettling turn in the relationship that the Bishop has been pleased to maintain with University officials during his tenure as Bishop of Scranton. In Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the apostolic constitution issued by Blessed Pope John Paul II regarding Catholic colleges and universities, it is noted that: “Bishops have a particular responsibility to promote Catholic Universities, and especially to promote and assist in the preservation and strengthening of their Catholic identity. A Catholic University, as Catholic, informs and carries out its research, teaching and all other activities with Catholic ideals, principles and attitudes.”

The university of course tries the “We are personally opposed to her view on abortion, but” dodge. Everyone knows a racist with expert views in another field is instantly disqualified, but you can support the murder of a child in the womb and that is not serious enough.

A Statement Regarding Ready to Run By
Kevin P. Quinn, S.J.,
President of the University

The University of Scranton is part of a national network of institutions offering the Ready to Run program. Our workshop on January 28 is open to men and women throughout the region. This non-partisan and non-ideological program gives women the tools they need to run for political office.

In recent days, questions have surfaced about the pro-abortion views of one of the speakers, Marjorie Margolies. Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, asked the University to withdraw its invitation to Ms. Margolies. The University has decided to move forward with the program as planned. Speakers for this University event are experts chosen to provide women with information about the challenges of politics; they are not chosen to engage in a discussion of abortion. By inviting these speakers to campus, the University is not endorsing their personal views.

As Catholic and Jesuit, the University treasures its relationship with the Diocese of Scranton and with Bishop Bambera. We are saddened that any action on our part might in some way compromise this relationship. This is especially true given that we, like Bishop Bambera, strongly oppose the pro-abortion views of Ms. Margolies.

Though even citing Ms. Margolies as an expert on helping women to run for political office is rather odd considering her failed run for Lieutenant Governor and Senator. I guess from her PAC experience she can advise on helping pro-abortion supporters run.

Just another example of Catholic Identity Theft.

Via the Cardinal Newman Society

A reader pointed me to an article on the Huffington Post on the new English translation of the Mass.  As you would expect from this source it is unintentionally funny in being so mind-dumbing stupid.

Supposedly this was all done in the name of authenticity. If that were true, why not embrace the Jesus Seminar, a group of over one hundred of the world’s foremost biblical scholars who have identified inaccuracies in the liturgy?

If we took our cues from the Jesus Seminar there would be no Mass at all. John Dominic Crossan a co-founder of the Jesus Seminar and an “ex” Catholic priest said that dogs ate Jesus’ body. The Jesus Seminar’s criteria was self-selecting in that Jesus only said what they wanted him to say an anything tied to the incarnation and his being the Messiah was obviously false. He also goes on to reference an article by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Yes he is really batting 500 in references to authentic Catholic sources.

Why not go back to the original language of the Bible — Hebrew and Greek? Why not reconcile with the Eastern Orthodox Church which also has a legitimate claim as the original denomination? Some Jesuit scholars are now questioning if this new translation is indeed more accurate, but no matter, they are usually ignored and frequently excommunicated for their clever use of facts and their crazy powers of reason.

Excommunicated Jesuits? Frequently excommunicated? I guess his idea of frequent is much wider scope than my own. Of hand I can think of but one in the last 20 years – Fr, Leonard Feeney S.J. who was excommunicated for his rigorist view on “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” He was later reconciled with the Church. Somehow I don’t think the author of the article was referring to Fr. Feeney. Or maybe he thinks that Fr. Reese being supposedly forced out as editor of America Magazine is within his definition of excommunication. I guess the author of this article will not be accused of the “clever use of facts and their crazy powers of reason”.

The main thrust of the article is “Yes, that’s it — the New Mass as New Coke.” One of the dumbest analogies ever. Though from it I can think of a way that the analogy could be more correctly applied.

I would contend that the first translation of the Liturgy into English did indeed have some comparisons to new Coke. There are even some comparisons with the new order of Mass.

For one it was much more saccharine tasting than the product it replaced. It was not an organic development of Coke, but a flavor of Coke much closer to the competition – Pepsi.

It came out as a total replacement of classic Coke and upon its introduction the number of Coke drinkers was greatly reduced. Classic Coke was abrogated. Only later was Classic Coke reintroduced.

Now I could equally be guilty of a dumb analogy, but being a blogger I don’t usually refrain from making dumb analogies. All analogies break down at some level and I don’t want to infer I have the same distaste of New Coke with the Ordinary Form of the Mass. The analogy works better with the flawed implementation and experimentation that occurred. I do not use the term Novus Ordo with a sneer. So here goes:

Like New Coke the newer Mass and English translation resulted not in a greater appreciation, but a decline in reception. Mass attendance is way down, though of course there are many cultural components that also had their influences. New Coke was crafted to appeal to a wider audience and could have been called Contemporary Coke. The attempts by implementers of the Ordinary Form had the same though process – and a similar failure.

The Novus Ordo totally replaced the TLM, it was only later that the TLM was reintroduced.

New Coke continued to do quite well in Los Angeles. Hmm, I wonder if they had an annual Coke Education Conference with dancing girls?

The implementation of the Novus Ordo was much closer to the “P” competition. For New Coke it was Pepsi for “New Mass” it was Protestantism.

Okay I won’t torture this analogy any farther, but go ahead with you own analogies in the comments.