Punditry

CVSTOS FIDEI tipped me off that my blog was mentioned in a New York Daily News article by Charles W. Bell called St. Blog’s cyberpews packed. The article is actually more about both religious and non-religious blogging than concentrating on Catholic blogs. For those who don’t know St. Blogs was coined by the first Catholic blogger Kathy Shaidle.

…There is an online fan club for Pope Benedict and diaries of seminarians. There are sites for lapsed Catholics, converts, overlooked saints, and priests offering their homilies to the whole wide world. Some are gimmicky – The Curt Jester promises "punditry, parody, polemics, politics and puns from a papist perspective."

Well gimmickry or not no publicity is bad publicity.

…One underrepresented category is Muslim blogs.

"We’re working on it," a center worker said this week. "We’ve got a page listing a whole lot of sites that provide information about Islam and Muslims, including one for gays. But blogs? That’s not up to us."

Blogging, he said, has not yet caught on among Muslims.

I heard that the jihadists are working on a javascript to blow up the computers of infidels first.

Poland’s Roman Catholics expressed outrage on Thursday after a magazine published a picture of the much-revered icon of the Black Madonna with pop icon Madonna’s face transposed on to it.

"We are shocked to see, yet again, the miraculous icon of the mother of God used in a [profane] way for advertising and business purposes," said Paulinian monks at Jasna Gora monastery in the southern city of Czestochowa, who are custodians of the icon that Poles believe was painted by St Luke the Evangelist.

Pop magazine Machina published a photograph of the sacred icon, with pop idol Madonna’s face transposed over the face of the Virgin and one of the singer’s children in the place of the baby Jesus, on the cover of the issue that hit the newsstands on Thursday after a three-year publishing hiatus.

"The icon, along with the crucifix and the Bible, are key symbols of faith for all Christians," the monks said in a statement published on their website.

"Current events have shown us where abuse of religious images and symbols can lead," the statement said, referring indirectly to the wave of protests that have hit the Muslim world since the publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in several European newspapers.

Ultra-Catholic daily newspaper Nasz Dziennik slammed Machina’s cover photo as "another act of profanation of sacred symbols", and Poland’s Tolerancja.pl website has received scores of messages of protest.

Machina’s publisher, Piotr Metz, said he was "surprised" by the outrage sparked by the magazine’s cover and issued a statement saying the magazine did "not intend to offend anyone’s religious feelings". [Source]

"Current events have shown us where abuse of religious images and symbols can lead," – well that statement is rather odd considering that there won’t be any type of similar reaction. No Catholic youths killing imams or priests with portfolio of false images looking to incite violence. Though there might be some Rosaries raised in anger.

On a funnier note Maureen Martin strikes again with Tanzanian Paper Publishes Cartoons Mocking Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Genealogy Service – Latter Day Saints React With ‘Pouting’, Coffee Drinking

In the post below some of the commenters have discussed the Catholics who say "I’m Catholic, but I can also think for myself." The ones that proudly proclaim they are independent. The one thing about thinking with the mind of the Church is that it is like a massively parallel computer processing. Instead of a single mind determining what is truth we are linked to what Christ taught and was passed down from the Apostles both orally and written. This data has flowed through the Church fathers and others and has been enriched and expanded on by the magisterium. The data has not experienced packet loss or corruption and is only richer through development of this doctrinal data.

Those that make the claim above are like those who take their computer off the massively parallel network and then claim they are better off. At one time in our space program they use to employ three computers to run the same information. Only information that two of three computers agreed upon was considered valid. The same goes with doctrine. The name of those black boxes in this case are Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. They get to out vote you every time. It doesn’t matter if you agree with those two outputs, your output will be just seen as error to be ignored. Everything is functioning properly if your output is the same as theirs. Disagreeing doesn’t make you independent, it makes you wrong.

(Yes I’m a geek, though I bet Dr. Thursday could do a lot better with this analogy.)

Fr. Powell had an interesting post last week called On the Habits and Spirit of Dissent. He mentions:

Habitually, dissent looks like…

…anger: a consuming frustration, disappointment, rage toward the Truth
… hatred: a self-defining loathing for the apostolic faith
… willful ignorance: a refusal to learn, a refusal to be disciplined (to be a student)
… pride: an utter failure to be humble in the face 2,000 years of teaching
… arrogance: an expression of pride that manifests as dismissiveness of authority
… entitlement: an obsessive assertion of prerogative/privilege over service
… idolatry: the raising up of Novelty and Trendiness as final ends
… rebelliousness: revolting against legitimate authority in favor of private choice

And then:

4. Failure of humility, triumph of pride. The Habit and Spirit of Dissent is fundamentally about the failure to understand and accept the necessity of authority in defining and teaching the faith. Pride tells us that we are basically independent creatures, freed from any and all obligation, beholding to none (including and especially God!). Humility in teaching the faith means that we begin my assuming the authenticity of the witness we’ve received. In other words, we start this whole project by trusting the Holy Spirit to do what He said He would do: to guide His church, to keep Her free from error though the apostolic tradition. The Habit and Spirit of Dissent begins by assuming that the apostolic tradition as received is deeply flawed, in desperate need of repair, and that he/she is the One to accomplish this healing through radical reformation and revolution. The model for this reformation/revolution is almost always secular in origin: ecclesial democracy, spiritualized psychotherapy, fetishization of various secular or non-Christian philosophies (Marxism, feminism, Eastern thought), ad. nau. Typical prideful statement about an authoritative text: “Most Catholic theologians disagree with Dogma X. The latest research indicates that Dogma X is an outdated assertion of ___________ [insert Current Dissenter Object of Derision, e.g. papal authority, institutional identity, gender domination, etc.].”

Teaching the faith means teaching with the mind of the Church. On this subject, the constitutions of the Order of Preachers reads: “In all things the brethren should think with the Church and exhibit allegiance to the varied exercise of the Magisterium to which is entrusted the authentic interpretation of the word of God. Furthermore, faithful to the Order’s mission, they should always be prepared to provide with special dedication cooperative service to the Magisterium in fulfilling their doctrinal obligations” (LCO III.1.80).

One of my favorite stories is of Dietrich von Hildebrand when he was seeking instruction to come into the faith. This was before RCIA and he was receiving private instruction from a priest. He wanted to go ahead and enter the Church but he did not understand the Church’s teaching on contraception and just couldn’t accept the arguments against it. The priest told him he would not bring him into the Church unless he fully accepted all that the Church teaches. He immediately replied that he believed the Church was true and thus would accept the teaching on contraception. Of course later on he became a great champion of the defense of this teaching. He both realized that the Church was true and had the humility to accept its teaching.

Humility is not looking in the face of two millennia of consistent Church teaching and then saying excuse me, I have something to teach you. Now no one comes into the Church understanding all of what the Church teaches, unless they have been given infused knowledge. The question though is whether you feel yourself in the role of student or teacher when it comes to the Church. It seems to me that the reason to become Catholic is not because you agree with doctrines A, B, C thru Z; but that you believe that what the Church teaches is true and has the authority to teach that these doctrines as true. As St. Augustine said, "I would not believe the Gospels if it were not for the Church." Too many have this inverted or they try to project societal understanding especially in regards to sexual morality as the gospel that the Church must accept.

This is the part of dissenting ecclesiology that I just can’t understand since it in effect says that the Church guided by the Holy Spirit has been teaching error in significant ways since the beginning. If we can’t accept the teachings on for example contraception and homosexuality, how can we accept what books even belong in the Bible without doubt. Flannery O’Connor famously said ‘If It’s a Symbol, the Hell with It’ The same goes for the Church. If the Church can teach error when it comes to faith and morals then it isn’t guided by the Holy Spirit. If you truly believe that this is the case you should look for one that is or start your own.

Thinking with the mind of the Church is not something easily conducive in our culture where individualism reigns supreme. Too often we want to be a ventriloquist and throw our voices to make it seem that it is the Church speaking when it is only ourselves. St. Peter when it came to understanding the Eucharist replied to Jesus when asked if he would leave also "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." If we start from the proposition that what Jesus teaches through his Church is true we can then stand with St. Peter in his confusion and humbly struggle to the best of our abilities to understand what is taught.

I find it interesting that the burning of 9 Baptist churches in Alabama within the last week has received so little coverage. Earlier this week within one day five churches were set afire and now the same has happened to four more rural Baptist churches. One headline though made me laugh "Alabama church fires called suspicious" – ya think? Maybe the fact that this fires are not along racial lines is the reason for the lack of reportage. Whoever the culprit is is an equal opportunity arsonist.

One of my readers hoped that the following might be one of my parodies – unfortunately not.

SECRET discussions between the Roman Catholic Church and Michael Jackson to put the prayers of Pope John Paul II to music appeared to be in disarray last night after the singer fled members of the press who had got wind of the project.

Pope John Paul, who died last April, wrote 24 religious prayers and chants and Church officials now want to set them to music.

Jackson, recently cleared of child sex abuse charges in California, is seen as a prime candidate because of his worldwide celebrity status.

Yesterday, Father Giuseppe Moscati, of the Millennium Music Society, which specialises in church music and organises musical events at the Vatican, reluctantly confirmed the details.

Fr Moscati said: "We have the rights for the 24 prayers written by Pope John Paul.

"We had hoped the fact that we have been in contact with Michael Jackson would remain a secret. But sadly it has leaked out ahead of time. We are in discussions and trying to sort it out."

Fr Moscati dismissed Jackson’s controversial past and insisted it was no barrier to him working with the Catholic Church. The priest said: "He was cleared and found not guilty by a jury.

"Michael Jackson is very interested in this project – we shall see what happens."

Well if true (and a extremely robust skepticism applies here) talk about a really bad decision. Even discounting the charges of pedophilia this is an association that is just plain weird. In fact this decision is just plain Bad and the Vatican should tell him to Beat it since he is Dangerous.

I remember towards the beginning of my Navy career that the Navy actually commissioned the Village People to do their song "In the Navy" as a recruitment related commercial. I remember seeing onboard ship and was dumfounded that in the days of do ask and do tell that anybody thought this association was a good idea.

Diogenes posts:

The Rockville Center (Long Island) diocese has made some changes in its religious-education programs. The nature of these changes is somewhat obscure, at least as the New York Times records them. Bishop William Murphy says that the changes "would not mean a major change in the content of what we offer, which is the teaching of the Church." But the Times discovers several unhappy instructors, including one who fears "a paradigm shift toward the absolute."

While you consider whether religious worship itself might not be considered "a paradigm shift toward the absolute," here’s an entirely different question: Do newspapers like the Times keep a file of disgruntled Catholics who are always ready to make a statement?

Think how world history could have been enriched by the same journalistic approach:

* Moses received ten commandments yesterday on Mount Sinai. A group at the foot of the Mount regretted that they had not been consulted.

* President Lincoln spoke yesterday at Gettysburg. One member of the audience regretted that he said nothing about “dialogue, self-exploration, and the full-fledged participation of women in society.

* Jesus of Nazareth declared yesterday in Galilee that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Caiaphas, the High Priest, regretted what he called “a paradigm shift toward the absolute.”

One thing about good parody is the truth it exposes and in this case I think he is bulls eye accurate. Though at least Moses knew how to deal with dissenters. Not that I wish the earth to swallow dissidents like in Korah’s Rebellion, I do have some ecological sympathies. Well kidding aside here are some other possible reactions.

• At the transfiguration a group shows up demanding equal representation and that Jesus dialogue with some women also "Moses and Elijah only! How about calling up Judith?"
• "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." A blatant case of nepotism!
• "I assure you that unless a man is born from water and from spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." A spokesman complained about the use of inclusive language that oppresses women. We are also worried about his asking at women at a well to get him a drink instead of getting it for himself.

An Italian Roman Catholic priest was shot and killed in the courtyard of his church in the Black Sea port city of Trabzon in Turkey.

A witness said she heard the culprit shout "God is great" as he escaped, a priest said.

Officers were searching for a teenage boy who witnesses said carried out the attack, according to a police official.

The police official would not say if the attack might have been linked to the printing in European newspapers of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, which has caused anger in Muslim countries. Earlier, hundreds of Turks protested in Istanbul against the printing of the cartoons.

"Whether the killing is linked to the caricatures will emerge when the culprit has been caught," said Trabzon’s Governor Huseyin Yavuzdemir said. [Source]

Well if there is a connection it looks like these protests have taken an even worse turn then the burning down of conciliates and threatening violence. Gerald Augustinus has a post of some funny Photoshopped images of the pictures of the protest signs much displayed in the blogosphere. The whole episode just seems so surreal and if somebody had written this storyline in a novel it would have been laughed at. From Danish cartoons, to arson, and now possibly murder.

My own take on the whole thing is closer to Hugh Hewitt’s, The Anchoress, and Catholic Outsider. The Catholic Outsider specifically said:

I still believe Catholics should not show fear to Islamic fanaticism, but neither enthusiasm on any kind of religion bashing.

It seems to me that some have gone so far into saying that bashing of Moslems is a God given right. Telling the truth with charity is what we are called to do. Prudence is a major component in telling the truth. This does not mean that we have to deny that Islam is a heresy or that both historically and currently that it has mainly relied on the sword and not reason and apologetics to gain followers. Whether the Danish newspaper should have published the editorial cartoons is a matter of prudence, though the government should not be involved in their decision at all.

Now I have to admit that some of the cartoons made me laugh and I think there is an element of truth in some of them, and that bit of truth is probably what irks some more than the fact that they used a caricatured picture of Mohammed. Though I still don’t get the prohibition of his image because of the danger of idolatry.

On the other hand many Muslims need a wake up call and a real good P.R. firm to advise them. I don’t exactly see the logic in responding to cartoons stereotyping Muslims as violent by threatening beheadings, holocausts, extermination, annihilation, burning down buildings, etc. Don’t say we are violent or we will kill you. Yeah that will really change hearts and minds. Just too bad that cartoons are denounced so forcefully but mosques or kids getting blown up while receiving candy from soldiers gets hardly any outrage.

Rockville Centre Bishop William Murphy announced a major shakeup of religious education yesterday that reconfigures the program that produced a generation of lay Catholic leaders, as well as many members of Voice of the Faithful, an activist group that has demanded the bishop’s resignation.

Murphy said the restructuring would "not mean a major change in the content of what we offer, which is the teaching of the Church," in a column in this week’s diocesan newspaper.

But critics said they feared the changes – coming two weeks after he named a new seminary rector known for strict orthodoxy – signal a retreat from what they describe as the progressive, post-Vatican II model that had flourished under the late Bishop John McGann, to a more top-down setup.

Funny thing is I think that Christ actually intended the Church to be a top-down setup with. Jesus as head of the Church. Maybe this exactly describes so much of the progressive model which is a down-top setup. Whatever you want theology to be is suppose to be passed up through the hierarch and accepted by Christ himself.

Yesterday’s announcement offered few details on how programs for adults, as well as those for children, may change. But sources said the bishop had been critical of the Pastoral Formation Institute, a two-year adult program that taught Catholic theology with an emphasis on spiritual and personal development. Although the institute produced almost 1,600 graduates, many of whom are present-day parish leaders, it also incubated many of the members of Voice of the Faithful, a group formed in response to the sex abuse scandals which has been highly critical of the bishop.

"He wants everyone to be on the same page theologically," said one educator who was briefed on the changes and asked not to be named. "So if you’re doing marriage preparation, for instance, everyone will focus on the church’s teachings on natural family planning. Accountability is a big piece of this." [Source]

This is a novel concept – the universal Church teaching a universal theology. To get an idea just what kind of VOTF leaders this program produced take a look at this inside look at the VOTF chapter in Long Island.

Richard John Neuhaus at the First Things blog relates the following:

[Senator Sam]Brownback tells a story about a chaplain who challenged a group of senators to reconsider their conception of democracy. “How many constituents do you have?” the chaplain asked. The senators answered: 4 million, 9 million, 12 million. “May I suggest,” the chaplain replied, “that you have only one constituent?”

Brownback pauses. That moment, he declares, changed his life. “This”—being senator, running for president, waving the flag of a Christian nation—”is about serving one constituent.” He raises a hand and points above him.

Mr. Sullivan comments: “And so conservatism slowly dies in America, replaced by religious fanaticism.”

I can easily imagine Andrew Sullivan if he was blogging during the Reformation saying the same thing to St. Thomas More’s "The King’s good servant, but God’s first." Of course I am sure Mr. Sullivan would have had other arguments with St.Thomas More anyway. Thomas More was willing to submit his body rather than deny Catholic truths, while Mr. Sullivan is willing to submit to his body and deny Catholic truths.

Besides what is the point of holding any philosophy that does not keep God in mind? If you think your idea of a conservatism doesn’t serve the ultimate truth which is God, then it would be good if your conservatism dies.

As a side note Fr. Neuhaus’ constant reminder to subscribe to First Things finally induced me to subscribe. I have been lurking on free back issues for years instead of subscribing.