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Alien-human romantic relationships

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

That DC Comics went down the road of political correctness announcing the Green Lantern was actually same-sex attracted is no surprise.  Though I wonder if homosexual activists will be offended they got only a B-list superhero?  When will we get the Lesbian, Transgendered, and Questioning superheroes?

Though this slippery slope actually occurred quite awhile ago when we started allowing aliens to date our women. Yet there was no outrage at this when DC Comics first did this and made aliens dating our women mainstream.  I am of course referring to Superman who certainly was an alien and even if humanoid had no business dating our women.

Putting on my speculative theology thinking cap it seems to me that since Superman obviously had non-human DNA he would not be able to successfully reproduce and thus would be incapable of marriage. Thus by nature he was incapable of marriage and had no business dating human women.  Same-sex marriage has the same defect of alien-human marriage in that it not marriage at all.  Though some might think it fine to compromise with alien-human unions as long as they don’t call it marriage, though I would not.  There was another slippery slope when DC Comics also created a metahuman clone of Superman named Superboy. Though I shouldn’t just pick on Superman since Supergirl also dated humans.  So should we be surprised that DC Comics who gave us cloning and human-alien romantic attraction would give us also the same-sex attracted Green Lantern?

Now of course this post is mostly tongue-in-cheek but of course our acceptance of Superman gave us Captain Kirk and his lusts for green-tinged women in bikinis.

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Other

Requiescat in Pace Ray Bradbury

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Totally concur with what Julie at Happy Catholic wrote on his passing. I reread a couple of his books last year to come to realize they were even better than I remembered and that I had grown in being able to appreciate them better. He is certainly one of the authors that elevated Science Fiction by his talent. The genre did not limit his writing ability and he expanded the genre instead.

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Punditry

The misunderstood totally orthodox LCWR

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

This happened less than a week ago and I am just getting around to it.

[Washington, DC] The national board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) held a special meeting in Washington, DC from May 29-31 to review, and plan a response to, the report issued to LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The board members raised concerns about both the content of the doctrinal assessment and the process by which it was prepared. Board members concluded that the assessment was based on unsubstantiated accusations and the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency. Moreover, the sanctions imposed were disproportionate to the concerns raised and could compromise their ability to fulfill their mission. The report has furthermore caused scandal and pain throughout the church community, and created greater polarization.

Hey this is great to know since there is actually no problem they will have no problems complying with CDF oversight since it was all just a big misunderstanding in the first place. Really the LCWR has been getting a bum rap since after all they are quite orthodox in their beliefs.

This picture was from the latest LCWR sponsored Papal Pride meeting where they got together to discuss the theology of Pope Benedict XVI along with his writing from when he was a Cardinal. Heated debates often breakout at LCWR meetings as to as which of his books are the greatest contribution to the Church. They also pray for the reform of the reform and the liturgical vision as outlined in then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s “Sprit of the Liturgy”. Blessed John Paul II is not left out in admiration as they discuss the merits of the Theology of the Body and it significance in regard to the false views of human sexuality as espoused by the culture. In fact this year the biggest selling button was “I ♥ Magisterium”.

I just don’t have any idea why the CDF would persecute the LCWR since they are such a bastion of orthodoxy and supporters of the hierarchy.

Now just what were some of these “unsubstantiated accusations”?

  • For one it was just a misunderstanding when the LCWR appointed a liaison to the Women’s Ordination Conference and more misunderstanding when they refused a request from the Vatican to not get involved. That many of their members have made public statements supporting women’s ordination just shows we don’t understand the nuance of what they were saying. Just because it appears a first blush that rejected that they rejected this teaching that requires definitive assent is just unsubstantiated just as long as you ignore the public record. In fact it is really quite surprising that the women’s ordination conference fully supports the LCWR when LCWR’s support of them is just a misunderstanding.

  • After the Vatican intervened with New Ways Ministry and ordered the founders to have nothing to do with this organization which promotes a view of homosexual acts contrary to the truth, again it was all misunderstanding when the LCWR national board agreed in 2002 to write letters in support of New Ways Ministry. You just have to wonder how the CDF can see this negatively?

  • When Blessed Pope John Paul II approved a document of guidelines titled “Essential Elements in Church Teaching on Religious Life”, it is hard to understand how the LCWR’s repudiating this document could reflect on their obedience. This repudiation was actually a sign of their love for the Pope.

  • When the LCWR assembly had as a speaker a pro-abortion nun and refused to withdraw the invitation at the behest of the US bishop’s conference, again you have to wonder why the CDF does not see just how fully faithful the LCWR is.

  • In 1993 the national board of the LCWR issued a statement, “Concerning the Rights of Gay and Lesbian Persons.”, you just have to wonder how that was misunderstood. Obviously the CDF is out for blood for no discernible reason.

  • Surely the CDF is just cherry-picking when they pulled statements like from Sister Laurie Brink, OP who said “Who’s to say that the movement beyond Christ is not, in reality, a movement into the very heart of God?” So what if this was a keynote speech. Another keynote speaker Sister Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, complained about “patriarchal values that, by any objective measure, relegate women to second-class status governed by male-dominated structures, law, and ritual.” Later this year wacky new age teacher Barbara Marx Hubbard will be the keynote speaker. There just is no pattern here and the CDF makes too big a deal of it.

  • The National Catholic Register notes that The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith today published a “Notification Regarding the Book ‘Just Love. A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics’ by Sister Margaret A. Farley R.S.M”. They wrote that the CDF was targeting her just because she is a member of the LCWR. This is obviously true and has nothing to do with the book supporting masturbation, homosexual acts, divorce an remarriage, etc. Why is the CDF getting on her case just for rejecting dogmatic teachings?

No doubt what is really going on is that somebody at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had his knuckles rapped on too many times by an American ruler-wielding nun and is just acting in revenge. After all everything detailed here is just “unsubstantiated accusations” and the result of the lack of transparency. The reality is that the members of the LCWR are totally orthodox and just misunderstood.

When these sisters aren't escorting women for abortions, they sit around reading "Dominus Iesus" and do things totally orthodox sisters do.

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eBook

St. John of Avila Free eBook

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Recently Pope Benedict XVI formally announced the selection of two new Doctors of the Church.

The Spirit, who “has spoken through the prophets”, with the gifts of wisdom and knowledge continues to inspire women and men who engage in the pursuit of truth, offering original ways of understanding and of delving into the mystery of God, of man and of the world. In this context, I am delighted to announce that on 7 October, at the start of the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, I will proclaim St John of Avila and St Hildegard of Bingen Doctors of the universal Church. These two great witnesses of the faith lived in two very different historical periods and cultural environments. Hildegard was a Benedictine nun in the heart of medieval Germany, an authentic teacher of theology and a profound scholar of natural science and music. John, a diocesan priest in the years of the Spanish Renaissance, shared in the travail of the cultural and religious renewal of the Church and of all society at the dawn of modern times. But the sanctity of their life and the profundity of their doctrine render them perennially relevant: the grace of the Holy Spirit, in fact, projected them into the experience of penetrating understanding of divine revelation and intelligent dialogue with that world which constitutes the eternal horizon of the life and action of the Church.

When I originally found out about this announcement in regards to St. John of Avila some months back it sparked my interest in this saint and I wondered if any of his writing were online? One book containing many of his letters was available on archive.org, but like many public domain scanned-in books the formatting was messed up. So I have cleaned it up and am making available as an ebook. This book of letters of spiritual direction are quite good, not exactly surprising for someone picked out as a Doctor of the Church.

ePub Version – Most e-readers
Kindle Version

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Prayer

Outward piety

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

I get quite annoyed by people who wear their scapulars on the outside of their clothing.

Though the real reason I get annoyed is that I would like to show how pious I am by wearing mine on the outside also. But I am too prideful to want show how prideful I am of my piety. I wonder if I am blogging about this to mention that I wear the Brown Scapular? Or am I simply blogging my struggles with prideful piety? I don’t know, but darn my prayer life seems too much like the movie Inception at times in how convoluted my motivations are.

I really should be quite humble considering just how many opportunities God provides to humble me. For example some talk about the “gift of tears”, I seem to have that at times when at Mass or praying alone tears will come to my eyes. This is really quite annoying since I am usually quite distracted with my thoughts anywhere but deep in worship and prayer. I seem to have the “ironical gift of tears” that do not synchronize with the inner self. As a sign it only sharpens how distracted I usually am and I find it embarrassing to be providing a false sign of my inner self. Maybe this “gift” is just another reminder to get my house in order.

I guess wanting any outward piety to match the inward disposition is a good thing and recognizing how unmatched they usually are is a step towards unity of the two.

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The Weekly Benedict

The Weekly Benedict eBook – Volume 20

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Weekly Benedict

This is the 20th 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 material released during the last week for 23 May – 3 June, 2012.

The ebook contains a table of contents and the material is arranged in sections such as Angelus, Speeches, etc in date order. The full index is listed on Jimmy’s site.

The Weekly Benedict – Volume 20 – ePub (supports most readers)

The Weekly Benedict – Volume 20 – Kindle

There is an archive for all of The Weekly Benedict eBook volumes.  This page is available via the header of this blog or from [here][weeklybenedict].

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Punditry

Pope-Attractor

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Vatican City, 3 June 2012 (VIS) – At midday today, after having celebrated Mass in the presence of almost one million faithful at Bresso Park in Milan and before praying the Angelus, the Holy Father announced that the eighth World Meeting of Families will be held in Philadelphia, U.S.A. in the year 2015. “I send my warm greetings to Archbishop Charles Chaput”, he said, “and to the Catholics of that great city, and look forward to meeting them there along with numerous families from all around the world”. (source)

I really need to move to wherever Archbishop Chaput is at the time. When he was in Denver they had World Youth Day there and not that he is in Philadelphia they are going to have the “World Meeting of Families” there.

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Other

Captive Dreams

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

One of my favorite SF authors is Michael Flynn and I have read his whole catalog. The fact that he is a faithful Catholic certainly adds to my esteem of the author – but foremost he is a great SF author. I write this because his new book of short stories “Captive Dreams” which is coming out in August is available now on the publishers site for $7.99 and it will be $9.99 when it is released.

“Prometheus Award–winner Flynn (In the Lion’s Mouth) assembles six tales delving into deep melancholy and moral ambiguity. Each story builds from scientific what-ifs to a reality of human fragility and despair. In “Melodies of the Heart,” genetic conditions have a young girl aging too quickly and an old woman too slowly. In the title story, ideological differences hinder a young boy’s ability to make sense of afterimages and echoes floating in his brain. “Hopeful Monsters” pulls back the curtain on the world of designing babies. In “Places Where the Roads Don’t Go,” a lifelong friendship is strained when a heated debate over the nature of mind becomes more than talk. “Remember’d Kisses” explores science that offers to absolve emotional pain. In “Buried Hopes,” buried objects keep hope alive. While great writing, vivid scenarios, and thoughtful commentary outshine the scientific concepts, the stories will linger after the last page is turned.”—Publishers Weekly

Phoenix Pick is a publisher I have been aware of for awhile. For one each month they offer a free book if you signup. While not every book they had free was of interest to me, many were. So if you like SF and Fantasy it is quite worthwhile to signup. What is also nice is that they offer all their books in multiple formats with no Digital Rights Management (DRM) so you can easily read them on any device.

The only problem with Phoenix Pick is that there site seems to have been created in the 90’s and never updated format-wise. Thus making it look rather amateurish and wonky, but it is a real publishers site.

Mr. Flynn blogs at Mike Flynn’s Journal and The TOF Spot.

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Pro-lifePunditry

Murdering your child based on gender is a very personal and private decision.

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House on Thursday fell short in an effort to ban abortions based on the sex of the fetus as Republicans and Democrats made an election-year appeal for women’s votes.
The legislation would have made it a federal crime to perform or force a woman to undergo a sex-based abortion, a practice most common in some Asian countries where families wanting sons abort female fetuses.

It was a rare social issue to reach the House floor in a year when the economy has dominated the political conversation, and Republicans, besieged by Democratic claims that they are waging a war on women, struck back by trying to depict the vote as a women’s rights issue.

“It is violence against women,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., of abortions of female fetuses. “This is the real war on women.”

The White House, most Democrats, abortion rights groups and some Asian-American organizations opposed the bill, saying it could lead to racial profiling of Asian-American women and subject doctors who do not report suspected sex-selection abortions to criminal charges.

Because there is no worse sin than racial-profiling. Killing a child because they are the wrong sex is acceptable just as long as there is no possibility of racial-profiling. Good thing our culture has its head screwed on right and all the priorities correct.

“The administration opposes gender discrimination in all forms, but the end result of this legislation would be to subject doctors to criminal prosecution if they fail to determine the motivations behind a very personal and private decision,” White House spokeswoman Jamie Smith said in a statement. “The government should not intrude in medical decisions or private family matters in this way.”

Ah, so they have seen the light in regards to hate crime laws now also. Oh wait you can prosecute people on motive in regards to race, but not in regards to gender-based abortion. Yeah totally consistent. Though on a practical level such a law would have been difficult to enforce.

Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the House’s No. 2 Democrat, said he thought the bill was introduced because “somebody decided politically that this was a difficult place to put people in.”

No doubt this is certainly true to some extent, but that is because if you have an inconsistent opinion it is really annoying to have the inconsistencies shown to light.

This is an area where even abortion supporters become uncomfortable. Then Sen. Clinton who ironically called the Partial Birth Abortion Ban a “slippery slope” has spoken out against Gender-based abortion before.

Clinton: “…Obviously, there’s work to be done in both India and China, because the infanticide rate of girl babies is still overwhelmingly high, and unfortunately with technology, parents are able to use sonograms to determine the sex of a baby, and to abort girl children simply because they’d rather have a boy.” (Hat tip: Thomas Peters)

Well it is not just India and China since it happens here also (but to a much lesser degree). The designer family is more and more of a mindset where ideally you have one of each – a kind of matched set. Two of the same kind spoil it and having three children or more is of course destructive to the environment.

The inconsistencies of the abortion supporters queasiness with this form of abortion selection is partly a real moral queasiness and the discomfiture of knowing that they can’t justify it based on their pro-abortion viewpoint.

  • If’s it only tissue mass, a result of conception, or any of the other obscuring phrases. Then it does not matter if the chromosomes are XX or XY.
  • If the women has total autonomy over her body, than she also has total autonomy to make a decision regardless of the reasons or motivations.
  • If it really is not a human being until born, than the gender of the fetus is also a non-issue. It is not like it is a “real” human female or male.
  • If viability is the determination to accept abortion, chromosomes don’t affect this viability.
  • If the ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to civil rights, than gender-based abortion is also a civil right.
  • If personhood begins at birth as abortion-advocates proclaim, then once again what is the big deal?
  • Some have argues that abortion reduces crime. So aborting male-children helps the crime rate since males commit most of the crimes.
  • If women can choose an abortion for financial reasons such as financial inconvenience than if it is true girls cost more to raise than boys – choosing to kill a girl is perfectly acceptable.

Now you can almost admire the President for his evil consistency. I only wish we could have a President as pro-life as President Obama is pro-abortion. That might be difficult to do for even a very pro-life candidate. When it comes to abortion the President will let nothing get in his way including the First Amendment.

(article)

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