Punditry

American Papist has the text of a column by Archbishop George H. "Mr. Magoo" Niederauer, to be published Oct. 19th in the Catholic San Francisco. His column is an apology for his action of giving Communion to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in that they were there as a provocative gesture. He says that he did not recognize them and we will leave it at that.

I would have been happier to see him explain why this was wrong in terms other than that this group should be denied Communion because of the "manner of dress" and that this is offensive to women’s religious. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence by his column are guilty only of "abuse of sacred things." No mention is made of the homosexual agenda of these mock sisters or that they promote "goddess worship, transcendental meditation, radical fairy-ism." Shouldn’t the priority be the worry about the souls of those in objectively grave sin receiving Communion? Instead this column is only about the scandal caused.

Though my real question is what is worse 1) A Catholic politician who is ardently pro-abortion and always votes that way or 2) A group with an offensive "manner of dress." If you are the Archbishop it is #2.

A reader sent me a link to something rather odd.

Why in the world is the John Jay College of Criminal Justice doing a survey among VOTF member on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests? Sure VOTF goes on and on about this as a way to further their agenda, but what exactly is there competence?

Though maybe they want an opinion on what not to do.

A reader sent me the following article.

Prominent Muslim scholars are warning that the “survival of the world” is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other.

In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders “to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and Pope Benedict are believed to have been sent copies of the document which calls for greater understanding between the two faiths.

The letter also spells out the similarities between passages of the Bible and the Koran.

The Muslim scholars state: “As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them – so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes.”

The letter itself has much positive to recommend it [PDF]. It is just that my main reaction is – you first. Besides I don’t really see Christianity at being at war with Islam in the first place. Where exactly is the Christian intolerance of Muslims in the world? What Muslims are being sentenced to death for converting from Christianity to Islam. What Christian countries ban passing out of the Koran? If anything Christian countries have gone out of their way be supportive of Muslims in areas where they are not even that supportive of Christian belief.

The Catholic Church is of course open to inter-religious dialogue and will always continue with men of good will. The Holy See has found common cause in the past with Muslims to help defeat anti-life measures in the U.N.

I just think these scholars should first clean up the mess in their own backyards. How about letters to those governments where Christians (and especially converts from Islam) are not free to practice their faith.

I am so glad there is a good explanation for giving Communion to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

"At Most Holy Redeemer Church Oct. 7, I noticed no protest, no demonstration, no disruption of the Sunday Eucharist," said Archbishop Nierderauer. "The congregation was devout and the liturgy was celebrated with reverence. Toward the end of the Communion line two strangely dressed persons came to receive Communion. I did not see any mock religious garb. As I recall, one of them wore a large flowered hat or garland."

Who knew Mr. Magoo became a Bishop?

This picture could be used as a eye test for prospective Bishops.

Doctor: Tell me what you see?

Prospective bishop: I see a flowered hat.

Doctor: Nothing else.

Prospective bishop: Nothing out of the ordinary.

Doctor: Next applicant.

Accepting his explanation the real question is what would he have done if he did know they were part of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence? Though I guess we already know that since he had no problem giving Communion to Nancy Pelosi.

Though I guess the primary question is what does he think the spiritual effects are for a person receiving Communion who have committed objectively grave sins? I know St. Paul’s answer, I just wonder if his would match? The scandal this causes is quite secondary to the concerns for the souls of these people.

Update: American Papist has his own commentary on this that is quite excellent.

Archbishop Niederauer recently said Mass at the infamous Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in San Francisco. There was some chatter about him going to the parish that recently had sex toys bingo, but I thought "Hey a Bishop needs to get out to his parishes."

Though somehow I don’t think it was a good idea to give Communion to homosexual activists dresses up in their "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" habits. Bishops throughout the country have refused Communion to activists wearing a rainbow sash – so I would think a nuns outfit with clown like makeup might be a clue that the person rejects the Church’s teaching on homosexual acts – but maybe that is just me.

Pictures at Roman Catholic blog.

The parish site has 144 pictures of the event, but as Thomistic noted none included pictures of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence or the other oddly dressed characters being present or receiving Communion.

Please remember to pray for Archbishop Niederauer. Surely teaching the truth on homosexual acts in San Francisco is an uphill battle, but to do it you have to keep from going backwards. Exactly how is anybody going to come to learn the truth of Church teaching if we just go along to get along?

There have been more and more stories of Al Gore being urged to run if he wins the Nobel Peace prize. You might be surprised to learn that I really hope that he does win the Nobel Peace prize and I think this will help to end global warming.

He keeps picking up award after award and my hope is that his head will get big enough to slightly block the sun and thus end global warming.

I have not posted on the latest Catholic-bashing The View episode since it is hardly news. The View once again having their hosts display their stupidity when talking about the Catholic Church is nothing new and is to be expected.

But I do love Jimmy Akin’s phrase "this pack of intellectual mendicants" when he discusses this and posts the transcript. "Intellectual mendicants" – Ha, now that is funny.

I had previously covered this story last week, but pulled it down when Matt. C. Abbot pulled his to do further investigation.

St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary recently sent out two vocation-recruiting catalogs to prospective seminarians. One version � which contained only articles and no advertisements � targeted straight men. The other version � which did contain advertisements, including the one pictured below, with two bare-chested men standing next to each other in a hot tub � targeted homosexual men.

I have, in my possession, a copy of the latter. (This is addressed to those who might cast doubt on the authenticity of the “gay-friendly” version, as certain individuals did with regard to the photos in my June 19, 2007 column.)

The catalogs were also sent to Miami pastors, at least one of whom was infuriated by the advertisements included in the “gay-friendly” version. Incidentally, said version has reportedly been “recalled” � whatever that may mean.

In addition to the hot tub ad, you’ll notice the first paragraph of an ad for a South Florida restaurant, where “you’re given the ultimate excuse to party,” and where there are “lovers bathed in a captivating sanctuary of controlled unrestraint.”

Pictures from the catalogs are here.

In a USA Today article on the investigation of Fr. Peter Phan.

The process of debating theology can be messy, but better to endure the messiness than stifle thought, said Reese, who was forced to resign as editor of America magazine after it published articles challenging church teaching.

That is true up to a point, but when you start denying or diminishing Christ as the unique and universal savior of the world you can cause real damage and lead people to indifferentism – then something needs to be done.

"If you knew a company where the executive leadership was not on speaking terms with the research division, would you invest in that company?" Reese said. "That’s what we have in the Catholic church today. The hierarchy is very suspicious of the theologians and the theologians are very suspicious of the hierarchy. And that’s a very unhealthy situation."

This is just not true that there exists a hierarchy against theologians mindset. Though there might be a progressive theologians against the magisterium mindset. Fr. Reese seems to think all theologians are in the same camp which is funny since previously in this article he complains about an echo chamber mentality in the Vatican. Just because the theologians he surrounds himself with all align together for the most part he seems to think this is the case with all of them.

If you look at the cases the CDF has taken on over the last 30 years you only find a handful of theologians that were investigated and in many cases problems were rectified without disciplinary action. Besides using Fr. Reese’s example if you had a company with a research department that was saying that the products of other companies were superior or equal to their own – which is what Fr. Phan and some others are doing – would you invest in that company? Fr. Reese is talented with the sound bite and so it is no wonder he frequently shows up in the media.

Notice though how Fr. Reese does not take up any aspects of Fr. Phan’s theology and to defend them. This is understandable since so far Fr. Phan has also not defended himself by answering the questions posed by both the CDF and the Bishop’s conference. But I guess asking theologians to explain themselves is unhealthy.

The Rev. Joseph Fessio, a former doctoral student of Pope Benedict whose publishing house is the primary publisher of the pope’s writings in English, said the Vatican is neither heavy-handed nor close-minded in weighing questionable theology. What often fails to be disclosed, he said, is the long process allowing all sides to be heard.

"It’s important for theologians to talk to each other, reflect and try to reformulate and understand more deeply what the church’s belief is," Fessio said. "But if they move outside the realm of the church as soundly defined, then it’s a sign that they have gone beyond their competence as a theologian."

"You can boil it down pretty simply," Fessio said. "Who has the final say in on what Catholics must believe? The answer is, ‘not the theologians.’"

Paragraphs liked that make me admire Fr. Fessio all the more. This is a very succinct and a nicely put explanation of the situation.

(CNSNews.com) – The Miller Brewing Company, a sponsor of this weekend’s homosexual “leather” street fair in San Francisco, has asked to have its logo removed from an advertising poster that has offended some Christians.

The advertisement portrays Christ and his disciples as half-naked sado-masochists.

“While Miller has supported the Folsom Street Fair for several years, we take exception to the poster the organizing committee developed this year. We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive and we have asked the organizers to remove our logo from the poster effective immediately,” the company told Cybercast News Service on Tuesday.

The group behind the ad said it was not intended to be either “pro-religion or anti-religion,” but the poster — a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Last Supper” — continued to draw fire from Christian organizations on Tuesday.

Of course the response of the Folsom Street Fair was not "to be particularly pro-religion or anti-religion with this poster; the image is intended only to be reminiscent of the ‘Last Supper’ painting." I wonder if somebody printed images throughout San Francisco using the half-naked sado-masochists displayed as the The Damned in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment if they would not think that this was an attack?

Brian Saint-Paul at Inside Catholic had commented on this story.

Maybe I’m jaded, but these artists are running out of ideas. As far as I can tell, all they do is take some recognizable pose or staging from a famous work, and then replace the figures with a bunch of trussed-up gay guys. I mean, that’s the formula here, right?

Well that’s original.

I’m not overly offended, though. This is the kind of tired “provocative” art you’ll find every week, in every City Paper in the country.

He is quite right. Using Jesus in images in a blaspamous way is all to common and about as surprising as seeing commercials while watching TV.

BRUSSELS Compiled from (AFP) and BBC � Catholic bishops in Belgium have protested a TV ad depicting a pot-bellied, hippy Jesus performing miracles and picking up scantily-clad girls up in a nightclub, a church spokesman said Friday.

The ad shows a long-haired hippy Jesus grooving along as he tries to get into a nightclub and is refused entry by the bouncers. Jesus makes the sign of the cross and sweeps aside the bouncers, shrinking them so they are left in his wake as dwarves. This Plug TV version of Jesus then drinks whisky at the bar and magically turns two brown haired frumpy women into blonde babes wearing bikini tops and red horns. The Jesus character then disappears into a huge limousine with the women but his attention is distracted by an advertisement for Plug TV before he is recalled by God who is standing on a cloud, wearing a T shirt with “Number one dad” written on it.

Boooor-ing. The reason that Christians don’t get really realy riled up about this is that there attemps at blasphemy are all so boring. Though once again it is a left-handed compliment towards Christianity. As G.K. Chesterton noted in Heretics.

Blasphemy is an artistic effect, because blasphemy depends upon a philosophic conviction. Blasphemy depends upon belief and is fading with it. If any one doubts this, let him sit down seriously and try to think blasphemous thoughts about Thor. I think his family will find him at the end of the day in a state of some exhaustion.