Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, who President Barack Obama tapped Tuesday to be the next transportation secretary, just declared Thursday “A Day of Reason” in his home city, and asked Charlotte’s citizens to observe the day.

May 2 is traditionally the National Day of Prayer, a government-designated religious event intended to encourage people to “turn to God in prayer and meditation.” Foxx separately issued a “National Day of Prayer” proclamation for the city of Charlotte.

Foxx said in his proclamation that May 2 should be A Day of Reason because “the application of reason, more than any other means, has proven to offer hope for human survival on Earth.” (source)

Well this type of idiocy gives me another reason to pray.

Besides as Blessed John Paul II wrote so wonderfully in Fides et Ratio

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves

As for the new transportation secretary, President Obama sure can pick them. The Constitution might have a “No Religious Test Clause”, but Obama is smarter than that since his nominees always seem to match an “irreligious test.”

Not from the Onion.

An anarchist group has targeted prominent Roman Catholics in Spain using bombs hidden in boxes of sex toys.

Two devices were sent by the anti-clerical Pro Sex Toys group, according to Spain’s EFE News One agency, concealed amidst vibrators.

They targeted the archbishop of Pamplona, Francisco Perez, and the headteacher of a private school belonging to the ultra-conservative Legionnaires of Christ movement in Madrid.

One bomb exploded in a postal sorting office, leaving a member of staff with slight injuries.

“Please accept our apologies,” the group said in an email sent to an anarchist website at the beginning of last month. “Next time we won’t fail.”

The archbishop told EFE that he vaguely recalled receiving a package that contained powder that police removed. “We didn’t give it much importance, but later it was said to be a bomb,” he said.

The same group is believed to be behind a number of other attempted bombings.

Recently a bomb inside a pressure cooker left outside a public prosecutor’s office was detonated by bomb squad officers.

Another bomb containing a gas canister, shrapnel and explosive powder planted in Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral also failed to explode.

The anarchists, who use other names such as the Artisans Club for New Uses for Coffee, claimed to have made a bomb out of an espresso coffee machine packed with gunpowder and shrapnel that was planted at a bank branch, though they did not reveal where.

Police in Spain believe the group probably only has five members, but authorities have expressed concern that extremist groups could take advantage of widespread disillusionment as unemployment in the country hits 26 percent. (source)

Thankfully they are rather inept bombing anarchists.

Another story from last week.

BRUSSELS, April 23, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an astonshing display of gentleness in the face of a vile attack, the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, remained calmly seated with eyes closed in prayer Tuesday as four topless women attacked him with shouts and curses and doused him with water.

It’s not the first time the bishop has been attacked for standing up for the Church’s teachings on homosexuality and expressing his concern for those who live the homosexual lifestyle.

The incident took place at the ULB University in Brussels where the archbishop was participating in a debate on blasphemy laws.

The four women, representing the pro-abortion and homosexual group FEMEN, took to the stage where they disrobed to reveal black-painted slogans on their bare chests and backs, such as ‘my body my rules,’ and ‘anus dei is coming.’ They also held signs reading ‘stop homophobia’. The women doused the archbishop with water from bottles formed in the image of the Virgin Mary.

For most of the attack, which lasted a number of minutes before the women could be forced off s>tage, Archbishop Leonard sat drenched with water with eyes closed in prayer. After the ordeal, the archbishop kissed the image of the Virgin Mary on one of the water bottles that was used in the attack. Le Soir reports that one of the interveners said of the archbishop: “He was very calm and maintained a position of prayer. I have to believe he was praying for us.” Story and censored photos

And to round out the other stories, one from today.

A female student at Carnegie Mellon dressed up as the Pope from the waist up and naked from the waist down passed out condoms to other students at an annual art school parade.

To make it even slightly more offensive, she shaved her hair down there in the shape of a cross. Now clearly, this was meant to be offensive and in your face.

The Diocese has asked CMU to take action against this kind of hateful behavior but CMU said they’re unsure if their community standards were violated.

Excuse me?

Bishop David Zubik said he understands that “when we’re growing up we do stupid things” but he added that the behavior of this young woman crossed the line.

CMU issued a statement saying they’ll continue to review the incident. This is purely hate-filled. There’s no other explanation. Can you think of what the college would do if this type of speech were aimed at Jews, Muslims, or any other group for that matter.

If this doesn’t fall beneath their “community standards” it’s because they perhaps don’t have any. Creative Minority Report

Wow I am going to have to dig more into St. Thomas Aquinas to learn how to refute screaming water-dousing topless lesbians and a half-naked condom-dispensing women dressed as the pope. Or remember “Eight feminists flashed their breasts in the heart of Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday to celebrate Pope Benedict XVI’s shock resignation announcement.”

There has been some various reactions to the Diocese of Brooklyn’s ad campaign calling Jesus “The Original Hipster. I totally agree with Hector Molina from Catholic Answers post on the subject.

With all due respect, I find the ad to be tacky. What’s more, I believe it misses the mark and risks sending a mixed message.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the intention here. The diocese wants to reach out to a younger demographic with a creative and engaging marketing campaign, one which portrays the Church as welcoming and relevant. I get that.

However, I believe that something like this must be done very carefully.

When you look at this ad, how do you interpret it? What message does it convey?

Announcing Jesus Christ as “The Original Hipster” is to me a lame attempt at making Jesus more cool and relevant by watering down his image. In other words, it reduces him into a silly caricature, something which has been en vogue for quite some time now.

What is a hipster after all?

Mirriam-Webster defines hipster as:

a person who is unusually aware of and interested in new and unconventional patterns (as in jazz or fashion).

UrbanDictionary.com defines hipsters as:

a subculture of men and women typically in their 20’s and 30’s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter.

Monsignor Harrington’s defines a hipster as, “someone who stands against the (mainstream) culture. Jesus stood against the culture.”

Yes, one could make the argument that Jesus was counter-cultural. He stood in sharp contrast to the elements of culture that were in opposition to the gospel he came to announce.

But do most people understand the term hipster this way? I know I don’t. And I assume that the diocese did not intend to portray our Blessed Lord as a cool, artsy, indie music lover.

I think we can do better. What do you think?

Like most attempts to be relevant I think it is doomed to failure. When Saturday Night Live parodies your ad campaign it is not because they think it is genius. Using the word hipster in this manner evokes The Princess Bride’s “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

“For God so loved the world he sent his hipster son” – Well not really. It was not indie rock on which he built his Church.

Still it is rather difficult to distill the Church down to a diocesan-based poster ad campaign. Catholics Come Home has been very successful because it doesn’t dumb down the Church or try to be relevant. But God can bring goood even out of tack diocesan ad campaigns.

Phil Lawyer posts at CatholicCulture.org.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Jennifer Graham tells me something that I hadn’t heard about Boston Marathon bombing. As dozens of victims were sprawled across Boylston Street, many of them in danger of death, Catholic priests came running to the scene—and were turned away.

Doctors and nurses were welcome at the bombing scene. Firefighters and police officers were welcome. But Catholic priests, who might have offered the solace of the sacraments, were not.

”Catholics need not apply.” That slogan was familiar in Boston years ago, before Irish and Italian immigrants took over control of the city. Now, after decades of decline in Catholic influence , the attitude has returned. One priest who was barred from Boylston Street remarked that in the past a priest was admitted anywhere. “That’s changed,” he said. “Priests are no longer considered to be emergency responders.”

Unless police officers in Boston are uniquely hostile to priests (a distinct possibility), the tide has turned very quickly on this question. On September 11, 2001, there were Catholic priests at the staging areas near the World Trade Center, giving absolution to firefighters before they rushed into the doomed building: mass-producing saints!

Unable to provide spiritual help to those whose lives were endangered, the priests in Boston retreated to a nearby church, were they “set up a table with water and oranges and bananas to serve people.” Doesn’t that nicely capture what a once-Catholic, now-secular culture expects from the Church? It’s not essential for priests to administer the sacraments; in fact it’s unwelcome. But if they could just stay out of the way, and give people something to eat, that would be fine.

If true this is extremely sad but not surprising. Just another move into the “bodies without souls” direction. First responders now can not be last rite responders. I wonder how other clergy were treated? I remember that wonderful scene at the start of The Apostle with Robert Duvall involving this.

Jennifer Graham captures the problem well:

But it is a poignant irony that Martin Richard, the 8-year-old boy who died on Boylston Street, was a Catholic who had received his first Communion just last year. As Martin lay dying, priests were only yards away, beyond the police tape, unable to reach him to administer last rites…

On a related note I would wonder about the “Catholics need not apply”, there is the semi-famous “No Irish Need Apply” that might well be a historical myth in America imported from experience abroad.

The fact that Irish vividly “remember” NINA signs is a curious historical puzzle. There are no contemporary or retrospective accounts of a specific sign at a specific location. No particular business enterprise is named as a culprit. No historian, archivist, or museum curator has ever located one; no photograph or drawing exists.

Still you don’t need physical signs to harbor that attitude as the Obama administration has shown.