Jeffrey Miller

You often hear criticism of the Church’s position on the sanctity of marriage and the indissolubility of the marriage bond as being cruel. Compassion is also often invoked as a response for those who want to remarry. The repeated suggestion is that for someone whose marriage has ended in civil divorce that it totally unfair to the person that they not be allowed to get remarried. Once again the Catholic Church is the cast as the sour old bad guy keeping people from living and enjoying their lives as they please. I have even heard a homily in a Catholic Church by a priest who was upset with the cruelty of the Church in not allowing remarriage.

With the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist occurring just a couple of days ago I wonder what kind of media attention John would have gotten in modern times. I can easily imagine headlines such as "Marriage activist looses his head" or "Intolerant nutcase wilderness preacher slams Herod’s marriage." It is quite obvious that the Church’s teaching on marriage has never been popular and St. Thomas More also was beheaded for defending marriage.

Today at Mass a reading from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 was used to mention something that Jesus had said regarding divorce. This reminding me of society’s current attitude which is exactly opposite of what Jesus said. Jesus said that it was the hardness of heart of the people that caused Moses to allow divorce, while critics say it is hardness of heart that doesn’t allow divorce. Jesus used "You have heard it said" to lead off to how the truth was quite the opposite of what he had heard said and this is just another example.The cruelty is suppose to be all on the Church’s part while the cruelty to children as the result of divorce is roundly ignored. As a child of divorced parents when I was a teenager I know of this cruelty that had put me in a downward spiral without realizing it. But there is also cruelty when spouses don’t reconcile and with divorce now seen as a quick fix and where the idea of not getting your way at all times has lead to massive selfishness.

Instead of reconciling problems and performing necessary compromises the horrible idea of irreconcilable differences has emerged. Love as emotional gooeyness has triumphed and as soon as you don’t feel love this is suppose to be evidence that love is gone. The idea that love is a willed act is little known and instead people say silly things like "I have fallen out of love with you" when the reality is that they have willed not to love that person anymore. Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies is now even more scandalous in our times than it was in his since we now attach love as purely an emotional feeling. The heresies of the seventies included such nonsense as "Love means never having to say you’re sorry." A statement like that makes you understand why they once burned heretics. Many now think that sacrificial love is an oxymoron and it is any wonder considering that sacrifice itself has come on such hard times? Not only do we want cheap grace, we want it on a revolving credit plan.

A culture of selfishness certainly does not prepare one for marriage especially since in every case they are a couple who both suffer from the effects of original sin. As Father Pacwa would say they don’t make the other model anymore. All the focus is on Cupid not concupiscence. Though as depressing the modern culture’s view on marriage is it does make me reflect on how strong the role of grace is. Looking at the cultural indicators I think it is much more amazing that the divorce rate isn’t much higher, but Jesus did promise that where sin abounds that grace abounds even more. The grace bandwidth is measured by Laud rate since we should certainly give praise and glorify God for it. Grace is what keeps me from being a pessimistic cynic since I know from experience He can touch even the most hardheaded individual. After 27 years of marriage my wife can also testify to that fact.

So while I doubt that society will anytime soon learn that it is their hardness of heart and not the Church’s in regard to marriage, we also know that grace is more powerful than propaganda.

Forgotten to recycle any newspapers or tin cans recently? Feeling guilty because you neglected to carbon offset your flight to somewhere, anywhere, outside England this summer?

The Roman Catholic Church is at hand with a new line in “green confessions” to help eco-sinners to find forgiveness.

Dom Anthony Sutch, the Benedictine monk who resigned as head of Downside School to become a parish priest in Suffolk, will be at the county’s Waveney Greenpeace festival this weekend to hear eco-confessions in what is thought to be the first dedicated confessional booth of its kind.

Vested in a green chasuble-style garment made from recycled curtains, and in a booth constructed of recycled doors, he will hear the sins of of those who have not recycled the things they ought to have done and who have consumed the things they ought not to have done.

…“I’ve had one or two comments about abuse of the confessional. One or two people have said, ‘Father, is this quite right?’ Luckily, more people see it as an excellent idea.

Some days a parodist can get quite depressed. If I had wrote a parody that had included "Vested in a green chasuble-style garment made from recycled curtains, and in a booth constructed of recycled doors" people might have had a quick laugh but it wouldn’t seem all that plausible. Good parody makes you wonder if something might be a real story. The problem is too many real stories make you wonder if it might be a parody.

Only one or two people have questioned this as an abuse?

Canon 964
+1. The proper place to hear sacramental confessions is a church or
an oratory. +2. The conference of bishops is to issue norms
concerning the confessional, seeing to it that confessionals with a
fixed grille between penitent and the faithful who wish to make use of
them may do so freely. +3. Confessions are not to be heard outside
the confessional without (nisi) a just cause.

You also have to wonder what kind of penances he would give? Say three Hail Al Gore’s? Though you could admit to clubbing a seal and he couldn’t tell anybody because of the seal of confession. Much is always made of what is called Catholic guilt (use to be called a conscience), but this seems like something tailor made for liberal guilt. Though this is not surprising that they would apply confession in the matter since they already have indulgences for your carbon footprint called a carbon offset.

I think though that this is a serious abuse of the sacrament to have a theme to confess on. As important as true stewardship is of what God has given us the solutions given by so many environmentalists are often junk science or just plain ineffective.

The Blake Prize entry titled "Bearded Orientals: Making the Empire Cross" by artist Priscilla Bracks is exhibited in Sydney August 30, 2007. The "double vision" print, which depicts both Jesus Christ and Osama bin Laden, in a Christ-like pose, depending on which side.

I saw this story this morning and then some more information at Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex where the articles explains her motive.

When you observe these two people, Osama Bin Ladin and Jesus, their ethics could not be more different. But they were both pursued by two of the world’s most powerful armies – the US and the Roman armies. Jesus is clearly defined by history, but I am interested in how history will treat the image of Osama.

This work has quite an open text so people are likely to read the image in many different ways. Some have mentioned they see it as a juxtaposition of good and evil, whilst others are interested in its comment on how iconic figures are created.

Well I think it would be more correct to say that Jesus pursued the Roman army (as he pursues all of us) and not that he was pursued by them. Though members of the Roman army did pursue Jesus at times such as the Centurion with great faith who requested that his slave be healed or the other Centurion that at Jesus’ death said "Surely He was the Son of God." This artist though has totally missed the fact that the Roman army as a whole had little to do with Jesus nor any other army.

One thing about this painting though is that it does show a truth despite the artist’s intention. We should see Christ in everybody, especially our enemies when it is the hardest and most difficult to discern. Bin Laden’s actions in no real way reflect Jesus and any parallels are of the reverse type. But Bin Laden like all of us is is created in the image of God. Unfortunately for Bin Laden his message is "Spread the Koran always and if necessary use bombs." It is quite difficult to pray for our enemies and is almost impossible in the case of this terrorist if we can’t discern Christ’s image in him by at least recognizing that Jesus actively wants him to be saved.

Australian artist, Priscilla Bracks, insisted that her Jesus- bin Laden “art”, was not meant to offend but a medium in which to promote discussions and to ask questions about how we think about our world and what is accepted and what is not accepted.

Well you just know that the "promote discussion" excuse would be offered and shelray says it well.

As children, how many of us didn’t enjoy any opportunity to provoke or take a jab those who we did not agree with nor like? I wonder how the crowd who supports her “art”work would be just as supportive if, in the name of promoting discussion and questions, she morphed Margarett Sanger/Planned Parenthood with Hitler or Stalin?

Paul Cat at Alive and Young is a resident of New Orleans and writes about how much still needs to be done and the swarms of politicians now swarming there with empty promises. As usual we only get the news that fits a narrative and since the lack of progress can’t be blamed on FEMA and the Federal government as much anymore we will not see stories on New Orleans and the rest of the areas severely damaged by New Orleans. I heard Raymond Arroyo, a former resident of New Orleans, the other day on the Laura Ingraham show talk about the current condition and how despite massive amounts of money little is being done towards a future hurricane.