Punditry

Rap music.

A “Ferris wheel of faith.”

A shaggy-haired DJ wearing a “Got God?” T-shirt – a spoof of the popular milk ads – while introducing a group of stomp dancers.

This was not your traditional Catholic Church.

Nor was it supposed to be.

Youth Day at Navy Pier, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago, was planned specifically to appeal to teens – a group with waning interest Catholic leaders acknowledge they are trying to court.
[Full Story]

The rest of the article goes on with some interviewed teens (from Catholic High Schools) who whine about the Mass not being more contemporary and that the church is too traditional and needs to do something to infuse enthusiasm.

This is an approach that has been done by many Protestant Churches. Driving around town I see signs that advertise “Contemporary Worship Services” on the front lawns of churches. Normally they might initially draw interest and start to grow, but judging just by parking lots the attendance eventually fades. Making a church and it’s services not really any different from the society around it leads to question, if the church and the society are the same then, why go to church? Using gimmicks to draw people to the Christian life I believe will result in what happens in the parable of the sower; that soon these people will be choked on weeds and fall away.

After Pentecost the miracle that occurred was that each person hearing the Apostles preach, heard it in their own language. The miracle was not that each person heard the worship music that they preferred. I have been know also to whine from time to time about the music during Mass, but it has absolutely no effect on my going to Mass on Sundays.

When Catholic High Schools students complain about needing something to give them enthusiasm, I would offer one word “Eucharist.” Jesus is sacramentally present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity whether there is Gregorian Chant or a OCP/GIA special. Whether everyone sang along, or no one did. Whether the homily taught the faith or just droned on. Whether the church was in a traditional style or it’s interior looked like wall-to-wall white refrigerators with nary a magnet to decorate it.

Voice of the faithful represents themselves this way:

Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) a worldwide organization of over 30,000
mainstream practicing Catholics from more than 40 U.S. states and 21 countries.

Yet they continue to have people at their meeting and conventions
like Eugene Kennedy and Fr. Richard McBrien as their keynote speakers.
They say they are mainstream yet they look more like a board meeting at the
National Catholic Reporter. They say they are faithful
Catholics in communion with the universal Catholic Church who I guess just
accidentally represent themselves with people who dissent significantly from
Church teachings. Maybe they just don’t have enough money to get a speaker
who actually believes in the Catholic faith. Catholic Answers has a speaker’s
bureau and offers seminars on various topics by Marcellino D’Ambrosio,
Rosalind Moss,
Mark Shea,
Jimmy Akin and others for an honorarium of $1200 for the first talk and $800
for each additional talk. I would like to give them a hand
to help them get back on track and raise some money for them to get some
good keynote speakers. Every organization has it’s strengths and if you look
closely at VOTF you can tell that they have an abundance of items for making
money.

First VOTF has a surplus of fruitcakes so why not sell them off
for a profit.

VOTF Fruitcake more fruits and nuts per square inch then any other commercially available cake. It is even shaped like a small C for Catholic. (An O was just too close to orthodox).

They could get into the aircraft spare parts business.

Plenty of wings to sell. So if your are looking for left wings, here you go.

Holiday baskets and gifts just in time for the Christmas season.

Chock full of nuts of every kind. They even have plenty of specially designed nut cases.

Roman Collars and Religious Clothing

Fr. Richard McBrien and Joan Chittister,OSB have everything from Roman collars to religious habits in stock and in pristine condition (never worn).

They rank No. 1 in Oregon – one of only four states where “no religion” was the most common answer in a religious identification survey commissioned by City University of New York in 2001. The other states were Washington, Idaho and Wyoming.

Other recent studies draw similar conclusions, including a 2002 survey commissioned by the Glenmary Research Center in Tennessee that identifies several cities in Southern Oregon and Northern California – including Corvallis, Eugene, Medford and Redding – as those where Americans are least likely to have a religious affiliation.
[Full Story][Link Via Relasped Catholic]

Yesterday on EWTN radio I heard Mark Shea mention that Seattle was the least churched city in the least churched state. Being originally from Portland, Or I wanted to argue back that “Hey, Oregon is the least churched” and now I got the facts to back it up. I then realized how stupid is was to want to have bragging rights for the least churched state. While in the Navy I lived in both Whidbey Island, Wa and Pullayup, Wa. I was a recruiter for a bit with our station being in Bellevue. I found that Oregon and Washington were very similar in attitudes. When I went back to Portland earlier this year I would say that it is even more permeated with new age religions then it was before. The majority of signs and bumper stickers reflected a spirituality based around nature worship. I felt totally out of place and like a intruder there. Spiritually and politically the place was like antimatter to me and I felt like at any moment while walking down the street that people would point at me and scream like the aliens did in the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” The most common mantra I heard was “I don’t go to any church, but I am spiritual.” Mark also mentioned on the radio yesterday G.K. Chesterton’s quote “When people cease to believe in God, they don’t believe in nothing; they’ll believe anything.” Growing up in Portland I didn’t know the difference between Catholic, Protestants, etc; but I knew about Hari Krishnas, EST, reincarnation, auras, ESP, Transcendental Meditation, and others. But if you had asked me about the Incarnation or the Trinity I would have replied with a blank stare. I had no idea that Christians believed in the Trinity or what it was suppose to be and I would have thought incarnation was a type of flower.

What factors lead to these states being like this I don’t now. The weather is depressingly similar in both states, which is one reason that when I retired from the military I moved to Florida. The weather is nicer here and I only have to be concerned about killer hurricanes and killer judges.

From an article on HIV/AIDS in Uganda.

…Proud of his country’s achievement, Museveni rejects the Western priority on condom distribution–as if “only a thin piece of rubber stands between us and the death of our continent.” Rather, he says, “we made it our highest priority to convince our people to return to their traditional values of chastity and faithfulness or, failing that, to use condoms.” Ugandans have a colorful term for their goal of fidelity to a single partner: “zero grazing.”

Research confirming the effectiveness of Uganda’s behavior-based model comes from an unlikely quarter: the very health organizations that champion “safe sex” and condom distribution. The list includes the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Most researchers now agree that 9 out of 10 Ugandan adults changed their behavior to avoid the disease.

Abstinence and marital fidelity were the most important changes, according to a recent study by Daniel Low-Beer and Rand L. Stoneburner in the African Journal of AIDS Research. Even teenagers, in large numbers, delayed having sex. Condom use among high-risk groups, such as those involved in commercial sex, apparently played a much smaller role. “Many of us in the AIDS and public health communities didn’t believe that abstinence and faithfulness were realistic goals,” says Edward Green, a medical anthropologist at Harvard with 30 years’ experience in Africa and Latin America. “It now seems we were wrong. The Ugandan model has the most to teach the rest of the world.”

The question still outstanding is whether the rest of the world is willing to listen.

Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit magazine America and one of the media’s go to men says:

�Someone who shows concern for women’s issues. “If we lose women in the 21st century, we might as well close up shop,” Reese says.
[Full Story]

The gates of hell will not prevail against the church (unless of course it doesn’t address women’s issues).

Scotland’s Senior Roman Catholic tonight strongly denied reports that he had called for the church to debate its teachings on celibacy, contraception and homosexuality just days after being appointed a Cardinal.

Speaking on the eve of his elevation to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Keith O’Brien said he had been hurt by the allegations.

He told a press conference in central Rome: “I would strongly object to the wrong reports that have been circulated about me round the World.

“I did not say anything against the Church’s teachings at that mass (at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh three days after he was named a Cardinal).”
[Full Story]

The original reports did misrepresent what he said about homosexuality in that they made it appear that the Bishop supported homosexual acts, but what he had actually said about homosexual priests. “If they are leading a celibate life, God bless the men.” This would be a prudential decision as part of the church and would have nothing to do with doctrine and the same goes for married priests. Contraception is another matter all together and it appears he did call for discussion of this topic. Back on September 30th he was quoted as saying.

“So there is no problem about that. What I would ask for in the Church at every level, including the cardinal’s level and the Pope’s level, is to be able to have a full and open discussion about these issues to see where we stand and what the need is and what the implications are.”

In this article it also said:

He later said that the issue of artificial contraception was one that should also be open for discussion.

Now if he is claming that the original stories misquoted him, then is is surprising that he would wait for three weeks to deny those reports. And if those reports were false why on Oct 13th did he add the following after saying the Nicene Creed?

“I further state that I accept and intend to defend the law on ecclesiastical celibacy as it is proposed by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church; I accept and promise to defend the ecclesiastical teaching about the immorality of the homosexual act; I accept and promise to promulgate always and everywhere what the Church’s Magisterium teaches on contraception.”

I would certainly like to give the Cardinal-elect the benefit of the doubt, but the apparent facts get in the way.

Sometimes I would desire that conservatives would have the audacity of Democrats. You know that if there was a woman in Florida being denied access to an abortion via a court order that Democrats would send in shock troops faster than Elian Gonzalez was surrounded by troops and whisked back to Cuba. That if there was any legal pretext for them to act they would. In the beginning days of Terri’s forced starvation I figured at any moment I would see a headline where Governor Jeb Bush had forcefully acted. I am no Lawyer, but there appeared to be many possible avenues where the Governor could act in this situation. It has been reported that Governor Bush has received roughly ten e-mails a second begging him to act. I have no doubt that Governor Bush does desire to intervene in this situation, but it appears that he will not take a bold step to do so.

[Gov. Bush’s actions] undermine and threaten the public’s confidence in the independence and objectivity of the judiciary, the rule of law, and the State of Florida’s ability to impartially administer justice through its state court system. –Clearwater Bar Association, resolution rebuking Gov. Bush for sending a letter to Judge Greer

That is a pretty funny line here in Florida “independence and objectivity of the judiciary.” Does it truly take objectivity to grant guardianship to someone living with another woman with whom he already has one child and is expecting another? Does it truly take objectivity to ignore video taped evidence of Terri’s true condition and to ignore the conflict of interest and award guardianship to someone who might have been the cause of Terri’s injuries and has already ordered that she be cremated as soon as she dies?

Soon we will see special Florida Vacation and Euthanasia packages. Come down to sunny Florida home of the Superbowl Champion Buccaneers and World Series contender Marlins. Bring your incapacitated spouse with you and no matter what the circumstances our courts will give you guardianship and help you to pull the proverbial plug. Sound too good to be true? Well are judicial system is really that blind and will gleefully ignore any evidence and will wash there hands while blaming you for their decisions. There are many “Choose Life” license plates and a pro-life governor, but don’t let that distract you – it really doesn’t matter.

This is from an interview of Gary Wills.

What are the specific issues? Married priests? Women priests? Birth control? Abortion rights? Gay marriage?

All of them.

Wells at least that answer is succinct.

What about the issues of the papacy and your criticism of it?

Catholics make up a huge part of the world. I don’t criticize Catholicism or the church, but I do criticize certain leaders.

That’s not a non-Catholic thing to do because the leaders have often been wrong. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, popes were put in hell by the poet Dante and by certain painters. The pope is not the church and never has been.

You just say you want abortion, birth control, and gay marriage and then say I don’t criticize Catholicism or the church? I guess we need to drop the Bible and Apostolic Tradition to create a church to his liking. The Fathers of the Church will also need to be demoted and Doctors of the Church knocked back to interns.

In the face of all your criticisms, what keeps you a practicing Catholic?

I believe in the creed and the redemptive power of Jesus. I want to be united in my brothers and sisters in Christ. People say to me “You’re no better than a Protestant” and I’d like to unite with the Protestants. But I’m a Catholic, and I’m not going to say your church is wrong and my church is right.
[Full Story]

Relativism at it’s finest.

Don’t forget that today is the national holiday where we curse a Dead White European Male. If you live in the alternate universe know as Berkeley than today is Indigenous Peoples Day. In some places they have a Columbus Day parade where they celebrate Italian-American heritage, which is PC just as long as they don’t mention old Chris.

A Dutch priest has quit the church because he’s allergic to the wafers used during Holy Communion.

Father Stefan van Dierendonck of Nijmegen said he was always feeling sick during services and tests revealed he was allergic to gluten.

But when the Catholic Church said it didn’t allow gluten-free wafers, the priest threw in the towel because, “I didn’t want to choose between faith and health.”
[Full Story]

There might be something else going on here. The Church does allow use in some occasions of low-gluten wafers. Since Christ is present fully in the Eucharist in every particle of the host then it seems to me that a smaller piece could be consumed to avoid problems from gluten allergies, but I don’t know what the regulations might exist pertaining to the priest in particular. But the statement at the end about choosing between faith and health, the cynic in means thinks losing this priest might not be too much of a loss.