Punditry

AMDG has more of the Archbishop Burke/Sheryl Crow coverage including video links. Once again the mainstream press manages to downgrade the view of the Catholic Church to just the opinion of one person. The MSM loves to have it both ways sometimes for something they don’t like they accuse a bishop of being a ventriloquist’s dummy for the Vatican and other times they make a Church teaching personal opinion.

Canonist Ed Peters also weighs in

What astounds me is that the directors of a fund-raiser for a venerable institution for children could have been so clueless as to invite Sheryl Crow, a notorious abortion advocate to headline their event; worse, the directors were so willful as to reject what were obviously many private entreaties by their chairman Abp. Burke to drop the mad idea before it all blew up in their face.

So now, it’s blown. How sad. All the sadder for having been so easily avoidable.

But you know, I’ve seen this happen before: Catholic movers and shakers, flush with their own funds or with easy access to others’, too often measure success in philanthropic undertakings in terms of media splash, dollars donated, and the number of glitteratti chatting around banquet tables, while they completely forget the fundamental religious, and even the human, values that make their efforts worthwhile in the first place. This time, even the clear words of a very thoughtful archbishop could not pierce the commotion which the organizers of this event confused for progress.

As does Carl Olson.

What?! A Catholic archbishop is upset that a Catholic institution is giving implicit (if not explicit) support to an abortion supporter—who does Archbishop Burke think he is? A Mexican archbishop? Why, it makes complete sense to have someone who supports abortion comes to a Catholic children’s hospital and sing her little ditties (which have become increasingly tired and tendencious since her excellent debut album). Perhaps Sheryl can even croon and crow the song that refers to abortion as a woman’s way to "take care of her own body."

Anyhow, kudos to Archbishop Burke for taking a stand. He will likely be portrayed in the MSM as an ignorant, backwards, over-reacting hyper-traditionalist. I prefer to think of him for what he is: A Catholic bishop standing up for Catholic moral teaching, no matter how out of tune it sounds to those who are tone deaf when it comes to truth.

Via Creative Minority Report is this YouTube version of the Archbishop’s remarks.

My own comments were in this post.

ST. LOUIS: St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke denounced a Catholic charity Wednesday for scheduling singer Sheryl Crow to perform at a benefit concert because of the singer’s support for abortion rights.

Burke submitted his resignation as chairman of the board for the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation, saying the decision to let Crow sing on Saturday left him no other choice.

"It’s very painful for me," Burke said during a news conference Wednesday. "But I have to answer to God for the responsibility I have as archbishop.

"A Catholic institution featuring a performer who promotes moral evil gives the impression that the church is somehow inconsistent in its teaching," Burke said.

Burke said it was a "scandal" to let Crow sing at the event and amounted to an act that could lead others to evil. He cited Crow’s support for stem cell research and "procured abortion."

…Burke said he became aware of Crow’s participation in the cancer benefit in February and asked other board members to cancel her appearance.

"They didn’t accept my concerns," Burke said.

…Crow appeared in television ads throughout Missouri last year asking voters to approve an initiative that enshrined the right to conduct stem cell research in the state constitution.

Of course the event organizer said ‘"We do not apply an ideological litmus test" in choosing performers.’ I’m surprised he didn’t say "we are doing it for the children." It seems in many Catholic Charity fund raiser it is the prospect of the amount of money a specific celebrity can raise and not the amount of scandal their appearance causes. If only Catholic Charities would raise money for the moral cancer that seems to have infected many of their organizations across the county.

Though you do have to wonder if their is linkage between this and Crow’s call last week for the use of one sheet of toilet paper for the cause of climate change. I suggest we save the earth and the liturgy in one act. Lets start using one sheet from Gather hymnals instead.

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I fisked an article the other day by Phyllis Zagano that was an exceptionally silly exercise in wishful thinking that Pope Benedict was moving towards ordaining women as priest that appeared in The Kansas City Star. Quintero at L.A. Catholic reports that the same article appeared in the print edition of The Tidings. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the Archdiocese of L.A. would print such garbage.

So much for "I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful." I guess definitely held means something different in L. A.

Pope revises limbo, says there is hope for babies who are not baptized

CHURCH LIMBO ROCKED

Vatican panel condemns limbo to eternal dustbin

All this begs the question "can unbaptized MSM headlines writers be saved?"

The New York magazine has an article titled The Convert. Of course you knew it would not be a normal conversion story but one of a former Jewish leader of a Synagogue who became Catholic and later accused of being a greedy corporate looter.

Even adoring former law partners couldn’t help but wonder if Belnick was suffering a very high-end breakdown. Opus Dei! They’d been to his kids’ bar mitzvahs. A Utah ski house! Belnick doesn’t ski. Just look at him—a shape like Alfred Hitchcock. If Belnick had really become a ski-loving Catholic—and none of his former partners had been informed—then who knew what other kind of kookiness was possible?

… Soon, though, Belnick found companionship in an intensely bound new community, and in particular with the figure at its center: C. John McCloskey, a former Merrill Lynch stockbroker who’d become an Opus Dei priest. The sect, which believes that holiness is possible in the workplace—even for lawyers—has sometimes been accused of secretiveness. But McCloskey is an open book. He’s cheerful, thoughtful in conversation, ending sentences with an upturned hmm. Then there’s his Website. There, anyone can learn that he’s an unusual combination of Ivy League–ness (Columbia grad, strong interest in squash), religious conservative, and aggressive evangelist. “Priests,” he says, “are the Navy seals of the Catholic Church.”

Well the "even for lawyers" line is pretty funny. I also like the “Priests are the Navy seals of the Catholic Church.” Be all that you can be – be a priest sounds like a great motto to me and hey Seals are male only also. In bootcamp I once had aspirations of being a Seal which is funny since even rocks call me static.

His admirers at the Harrison JCC were equally befuddled. “Opus Dei caused us more shock than anything else,” says the treasurer. “It shook us.”

The article on the whole is rather odd since it focuses mainly on his conversion and not the trail itself and his acquittal. Though there is the obvious connection we are suppose to make that they are related.

TS relates his experience of Catholic school during the seventies.

…How well could I have been spiritually formed given that we’re dealing primarily with the years 1975-1981? This is sort of like being eighteen years old in 1941 isn’t it? You’re pretty much doomed. By 1975 I think even Ohio (where everything other than puberty is delayed ten years) was infected by the whole “spirit of Vatican II” thing, where "spirit" is defined by "whatever the hell I want the document to say".

He also talks about the books used and the "infamous “Christ Among Us”" and is tempted to read it just to be able to judge it. I picked up that book in a used book store early in my conversion. I am not sure why I read the whole book and even as I was reading it I knew there was something wrong with it. I hardly ever quit a book and heck I even finished reading Fr. O’Brien’s Catholicism which should have been called "My Catholicism."

Not surprisingly the book relatives the Eucharist and even talks about the real presence in terms of non-Catholic celebrations. This was of course the trend at the time to downplay the Sacrament of the Eucharist in favor of Christ present in the congregation. Though with the increase of Eucharistic celebration thankfully that trend is fading .Anthony Wilhelm, the author, even makes the mistake of equivocating the reality of Christ’s presence with the fervor of the people.

Wilhelm even goes on to write that premarital sex is okay for the engaged, so I guess you can commit a retroactive sin if the engagement breaks off. Of course as you would expect contraception and women’s ordination is also endorsed. Even though my understanding of Catholicism was definitely at its infancy this book sounded klaxons of alarm to me throughout.

Unfortunately this book is still used in RCIAs throughout the country. Sean Roberts who was RCIA blogger, a former atheist, and is now a monk detailed how the book was used in his RCIA class. The book also had an imprimatur at one time though then-Cardinal Ratzinger later ordered that it be removed. Also unfortunately since over 2 million copies of the book have been printed it will continue to have a negative impact.

I have wondered at times if it might be good for the bishops conference to set the curriculum for RCIA, but at the minimum it should be set by the local bishop. I was quite fortunate in the RCIA that I went to was filled with people faithful to the Church and who didn’t play fast and loose with the doctrines of the Church. Though I have heard and read plenty of horror stories of what have been taught in these classes. Right now RCIA classes vary from parish to parish. I have read that there have been recidivism rates in RCIA in the area of 70% to 80% throughout the country. While of course there can be plenty of factors leading to this – watered down Catholicism is not exactly the elixir to help Catholics maintain their faith.

The Bishop’s conference as it currently stands could probably even produce a fairly good curriculum based on the CCC or the new Adult Catechism. This ability might have been in question 10 or 20 years ago, though it would probably been better then those relying heavily on Christ among us. Though I am quite open to ideas why the USCCB doing this might not be a good thing. But each parish doing there own thing will certainly insure varied results depending on the parish. The fact is also that regardless of how good a curriculum is it can be subverted

I would be interested to hear others experience in RCIA.

Jay Anderson has been maintaining a roundup of people making the link between the support of the legality of the PBA ban and that those same five justices were Catholics. A real doozy is the cartoon that appeared in a major daily newspaper.

Anyone who has ventured into the Catholic blogosphere recently is aware that speculation about the motu proprio has been at a fever pitch for months. One wag has even posted a list of the Top Ten signs that someone is in the grip of "motu-mania," including: "You have a calendar with all the likely feast days that the motu proprio might be issued marked," and, "You have written 500 blog posts, and 480 of them have been about the motu proprio."

Wow I have been elevated to "wag" in a John Allen Jr. column! I am so excited and this is a lifelong dream to be described as a wag. Wagdom has long evaded me. I was actually once a wog – that is someone who had not yet crossed the equator aboard a Navy ship. But I am now a trusty Shellback six times over and now to be a wag in addition makes me quite happy.

Doubtless Mr. Allen came across my list previously when Amy Welborn linked to it. Interestingly Amy today in a post said:

Secondly, the citation of the "wag" who provided the top-10 list. Well, the"wag" was the Curt Jester and it is a shame that in this piece he can’t be credited by name and a link, especially since the Catholic blogosphere, despite its general bias against NCR(eporter) has played a role in whatever presence NCR(eporter)’s website has, primarily through its links and discussions of Allen’s reporting. Fair is fair.

She makes a good point and I have reviewed two of John Allen Jr’s book positively and the Catholic blogosphere has been quite favorable to his consistently fair reporting. Our grudge against the NCReporter is that he is pretty much the exception.

I also designate Maureen an honorary wag since my list took off from her original one and she coined the term “Motu-Mania”.