Cool news for Catholic Science Geeks – Hubble-Lemaître Law
News

Cool news for Catholic Science Geeks – Hubble-Lemaître Law

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Cool news for Catholic science geeks. From an article in ars technica:

Astronomers are engaged in a lively debate over plans to rename one of the laws of physics.

It emerged overnight at the 30th Meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), in Vienna, where members of the general assembly considered a resolution on amending the name of the Hubble Law to the Hubble-Lemaître Law.

The resolution aims to credit the work of the Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître and his contribution—along with the American astronomer Edwin Hubble—to our understanding of the expansion of the universe.

While most (but not all) members at the meeting were in favor of the resolution, a decision allowed all members of the International Astronomical Union a chance to vote. Subsequently, voting was downgraded to a straw vote and the resolution will formally be voted on by an electronic vote at a later date.

For those unaware of Georges Lemaître, he was a Belgian Catholic Priest and Physicist. He is most famous for putting forth the “Primordial Atom Theory”, which is better known as the “Big Bang Theory.” The Big Bang Theory was a mocking slur against the theory by Astronomer Fred Hoyle.

So it is interesting to find out that:

… In 1927, Georges Lemaître had already published an article on the expansion of the universe. His article was written in French and published in a Belgian journal.

Lemaître presented a theoretical foundation for the expansion of the universe and used the astronomical data (the very same data that Hubble used in his 1929 article) to infer the rate at which the universe is expanding.

This was published a year before American Astronomer Edward Hubble published his results using the same dataset. Since Fr. Georges Lemaître was published in a more obscure journal which at the time had not been translated, most were unaware of his original discovery.

Lemaître was apparently not concerned with with establishing priority for his original discovery. Consequently, the formula that describes the present-day expansion rate bears the name of Hubble.

Today, the resolution of the executive committee of the IAU wants to change the name to the Hubble-Lemaître Law, to honor Lemaître and acknowledge his part in the discovery.

It is often the case that discoveries like this often occur almost simultaneously. So renaming the law is a good compromise.

  • Photo credit of statue: Wikimedia/EmDee, CC BY-SA

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Book Review: An Actor Bows
Book Review

Book Review: An Actor Bows

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

So when I was at the American Chesterton Society Conference, I picked up Kevin O’Brien’s book An Actor Bows: Show Biz, God and the Meaning of Life which was officially released that same day.

I quickly read through it and enjoyed it immensely. It is one of those improbable biographies that can only be true. Life is often incredible. Kevin starts off his story regarding his childhood, and I believe at the age of nine already considered himself an atheist. Most of the book relates the lows and highs of his acting career and his coming into faith. I love conversion stories since they are each unique. His is very different.

This book is often hilarious as he talks about his career. Starting with him doing singing telegrams and all the detours his career takes after that. So many great stories involving how “The show must go on.” The insanity of dealing with other actors, venues, etc. All the false starts and the ebbs and flows of pursuing his career as an actor. The times he just wanted to chuck it and do something “respectable.” For just this aspect and the related stories, I would have enjoyed this book. Even just for the stories related to his traveling mystery dinner theater.

This book goes beyond his day to day career into the moral dimensions of these challenges. Do you deal with some misgivings and quandaries and accept them as part of doing business and making a buck? What if you are just barely scraping by as it is. He brings these obstacles into view as he deals with figuratively selling his soul doing what is not comfortable form him. Just like the rest of us, he does not always succeed. The way he details these stories puts it all into context and brings you into the situation.

Mixed in this is his grappling with his atheism and moving beyond it. Like many people, he and his wife ran through a series of churches. Having to move on again when the squishiness of doctrine once more became unacceptable to endure. Still lots of great stories involved in dealing with this. Especially as he tried to teach other doctrines without stepping on all the restrictions placed on him as to what he could say.

After a murderous attack after one of his performances in his recovery time, he discovered first C.S. Lewis, which then led him to G.K. Chesterton. Ultimately this led him into the Catholic Church. You should read the book to get the details. Just loved so much of what he had to say on the subject of art at a deeper level. Kevin O’Brien later went on to work with EWTN and Dale Ahlquist of the American Chesterton Society. I so love his range of playing multiple roles of zany characters and being also being able to play it straight.

So this is probably too much of a summary, it is just that I enjoyed it so much. Partly it was from the points of contact I experienced through Kevin’s story. Through my formative years, I grew up in the theater. My father was an actor in an improvisational children’s theater. He was involved in pretty much every aspect. Actor, a puppeteer, set designer and builder, costume design and creation, writing, painting, etc. So I always spent my summers in this atmosphere with the adult actors. In High School, I was involved in every play onstage and offstage. Loved performing along with building sets and the other aspects of the theater. Considered a career in some part of the theater. Probably for the better that I didn’t pursue this since I am somewhat doubtful of my skills as an actor. I was probably best at imitation such as playing W.C. Fields and doing comedy. So much of what this book talked about I could relate to, especially seeing things through my Father’s eyes and his career in theater and the just making do aspects. The other point was that I was also the young atheist declaring his atheism around the same age as he.

Just so many things I loved about this book because it is not merely about one thing, or maybe that it is about the one thing that matters. If you have never seen Kevin O’Brien perform check out his YouTube Channel for plays, skits, lectures, etc. His skill extends to writing as I testified in this post regarding a Tolkien/C.S. Lewis play he wrote and performed.

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“If you find yourself in a rabbit hole, stop digging”
AbusePunditry

“If you find yourself in a rabbit hole, stop digging”

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

On Monday there was a lot of negative reaction to Cardinal Cupich of Chicago and his interview regarding Archbishop Viganò’s testimony. In the video clip that was going around there was some choice buffoonery in what he had to say. The memes quickly flowed from this.

Cardinal Blase Cupich said today that his Monday interview was edited unfairly.

“An NBC Chicago TV report that aired Monday night was edited in such a way that gave the false impression that Pope Francis and I consider the protection of children to be less important than other issues, such as the environment or immigration. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Cardinal Blase Cupich wrote in an Aug. 29 press release.

Well that is always a possibility when it comes to the media.

So today the Catholic News Agency provided a transcript of the full interview done by NBC. Reading through this full interview the edited interview did not provide a false impression regarding some of the stupidity of what he had said.

So here he is directly talking about the accusations:

“But for the Holy Father, I think to get into each and every one of those aspects, in some way is inappropriate and secondly, the pope has a bigger agenda. He’s gotta get on with other things of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the Church. We’re not going to go down a rabbit hole on this.”

Rabbit hole comment ☑

“They don’t like the fact that he’s calling for more lay involvement. They don’t like the fact that he is calling for a synodal Church, where we get the advice of people. They don’t like that he’s talking about the environment or the poor or the migrants or that the death penalty is something that we should outlaw. They don’t like the fact that he is saying that economies kill. There are people who don’t like that message. And so there’s an insurgency of people who don’t like that. And, quite frankly, they also don’t like him because he’s a Latino and that he is bringing Latino culture into the life of the Church, which we have been enriched by and I think that that’s part of all of this too.”

Good to know that since both of the Pope’s parents were Italian immigrants that it makes him Latino. Will have to remember that if I go to Italy.

Race card ☑

As to his other points. Yes of course there are people that don’t like some of the Pope’s focuses. But Cardinal Cupich’s laundry list here is woefully ignorant. I can’t recall a single instance of critics of the Pope worried about lay involvement and getting advice from the people. The laity for some odd reason don’t have a problem with being involved or giving advice. He seems to think the critics want more clericalism.

Let’s not overlook that. Let’s not let this letter take us away from the fact that there was something flawed in the way that the Charter, which should have been followed from 2002 on, was implemented. We have done it here in Chicago, and we’re proud of it. I’m deeply disappointed and somewhat angry that there were people in another state, in another jurisdiction, that were not doing the things that we promised to do. We should hold each other accountable and we need an independent review of that too.

Here he is talking about the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report. The problem with his summary is that most of the reported abuse was from a period before 2002. Pretty much following the same trend as is evident elsewhere. If the Chicago Attorney General looks at the same period of time there, it is more than likely that they will find the same trend. So his “we’re proud” is a bit of apples and oranges when it comes to a comparison.

Now he does make some valid points in this interview and when talking about their Attorney General investigating the Archdiocese records, he points out that “Let’s look at all the agencies and institutions that deal with children on a day-to-day basis” since as he notes we see the same problems there. Especially since this did not just peak in the past, but seems to be an ongoing problem. This point has to be made even when it seems to be deflecting.

When asked about McCarrick and what he knew about him. His defense is that surely he wouldn’t have done certain things if he had known. This might even be true in his personal case. Still it is a bad defense since there were many people in the know about McCarrick that turned a blind eye and let him advance over and over. People do bad stuff all the time when they don’t want to rock the boat or have their career curtailed. Self-interest can make you purposely blind to many things.

In summary though, the stupid things he said were not changed by editing.

The other day I quipped that he was the “Hold my beer” Cardinal. There were a lot of reactions to his comments way outside of the Catholic corridor.

Photo attribution (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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The Weekly Francis – Volume 240 – 29 August 2018
The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 240 – 29 August 2018

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 23 August 2018 to 29 August 2018.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

Homilies

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “The #Family is the cradle of life and the school of love and acceptance. It is a window thrown open to the mystery of God.” @Pontifex 23 August 2018
  • “The #Family is an icon of God: the bond between a man and a woman generates life and communion.” @Pontifex 24 August 2018
  • “Our world needs a revolution of love! Let that revolution begin with you and your families!” @Pontifex 25 August 2018
  • “Is there anything precious that endures at all? Even love itself? Love is God’s dream for us and for the whole human family. Please, never forget this!” @Pontifex 25 August 2018
  • “I ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for the healing of the survivors of abuse and to confirm every member of our Christian family in the resolve never again to permit these situations to occur.” @Pontifex 26 August 2018
  • “May God’s blessing come down upon all your families, so that they may be places of love and forgiveness.” @Pontifex 26 August 2018
  • “Dear Mothers, be like Saint Monica and never give up. Pray unceasingly for your children.” @Pontifex 27 August 2018
  • “If the Lord has gifted you with riches, it is in order to do lots of good things for others in His name.” @Pontifex 28 August 2018
  • “To pray is the first missionary task of every Christian. It is also the most effective.” @Pontifex 29 August 2018

Papal Instagram

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Thoughts on Archbishop Viganò testimony
AbusePope

Thoughts on Archbishop Viganò testimony

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

So ever since I read Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò testimony on Saturday night my mind has been abuzz concerning implications. Spent way too much time reading reactions and commentary regarding this. Pouring through social media to find the latest updates.

Yesterday I realized hitting refresh on my browser to make sure I was getting the latest and greatest wasn’t doing any good for me. Strange how reality doesn’t bend to my F5 button.

So this post will start with a short bottom line and then become more indulgent since you really need another opinion by a guy with a blog.

One thing I thought about was what if what the testimony implies is totally accurate in regards to Pope Francis? What if this is true and he still doesn’t resign? Just exactly how would that effect my daily life?

My conclusion is that it doesn’t affect the basics.

☑ Still need to grow in holiness.
☑ Still need to pray for the Pope and the Church.
☑ Still need to pray for my family and those in Purgatory.
☑ Sill need to evangelize.
☑ Still need to reach out and help the poor.

I did recognize areas where I could focus more attention. That I should be praying specifically for those who have been abused by clergy. For those rightly scandalized by the news. I started incorporating these into my daily Divine Mercy. I probably will add the The Chaplet of Adoration and Reparation. Katrina Fernadez has an article up on this chaplet The Chaplet of Adoration and Reparation is a Timely Salve for Our Souls.

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

– St. Teresa of Avila

So that was my bottomline.

Still I can’t help but think of implications. You can probably skip these indulgent ponderings.

I know God does bring good out of evil and I trust that will happen even if on my human-viewed timeline I am at a loss. Still that is the thing about trust. Sometimes I feel we are like people shoveling coal into a massive furnace. “Hey God, here is some more evil for you to make good out of.”

I was rather disappointed in Pope Francis’ reply on the flight back from Ireland. It was like a challenge to reporters “Come at me bro”, judge for yourself. He said he would not say one thing about Archbishop Viganò’s testimony. Maybe in the back of my mind I was hoping for two words, “I resign”. Really though I wanted an explanation and either a defense regarding why the charges were wrong or some humility in admitting some aspect of them were accurate.

When I was homeported in Japan we were told that if Japanese asked us about nuclear weapons aboard the carrier we were to reply “I can neither confirm or deny” … their existence. This is what I thought of reading the Holy Father’s reply. I just don’t see how this reply is for the good of the Church. Still I know I can be shortsighted. One problem I see with his challenge to reporters is that there was no offer of cooperation. There are documents that Archbishop Viganò referred to that could be made available to the press to help verify or deny his claims. To actually investigate the Archbishop’s claims you need open access to people working in the Vatican along with the materials.

Archbishop Viganò’s did himself no favors in the scattershot approach in his testimony. There were some things that were very specific in time and place and related conversations. Other aspects that were much more extrapolations and more opinion driven. He made it easy for others to dismiss specifics by easily dismissing the speculations.

His strongest case, it seems to me, was in regard to Cardinal Wuerl. There certainly seems to be enough evidence that Pope Benedict XVI did place some restrictions on McCarrick and that Cardinal Wuerl was aware of at least that. The Cardinal’s denial does not ring true to me and the barrage of “no comment” from the Archdiocese is not the commitment to transparency he has talked about.

As for the case against Pope Francis that he knew McCarrick abused seminarians, that Pope Benedict had placed restrictions on him,and that he lifted the restrictions knowing this. That despite this knowledge he allowed him a role in choosing bishops/Cardinals. There is much less evidence to support this fully. I am somewhat inclined to Archbishop Viganò’s testimony regarding this concerning conversations they had. Still I am weary of my opinion as falling to close to confirmation bias. I have neither been a “Francis” hater or lover. Have had plenty of caveats concerning him, but also looked for and appreciated the good. Mostly I had quibbles with his clarity and just how off-the-cuff his off-the-cuff statements were. Still I know that having an exceptional theologian for philosopher as Pope has been the rare event in the life of the Church. I try hard to not see things through a left/right divide (not always successfully).

Ross Douthat in his NYT editorial asks What Did Pope Francis Know?. I found this to be a very good column. Douthat has been critical of Pope Francis in the past, but usually in a thoughtful manner. This column was no exception as he looks at the charges made against the Pope and takes a much more charitable approach to it than I have seen from many others. He neither is asking for the Pope to resign or to just left him off the hook as far as culpability goes. Things are often much more complicated when it comes to motivations than we usually want. We prefer sticking that square peg in the perfectly square hole.

There have been many calls for a thorough investigation into the events surrounding McCarrick’s career “Uncle Ted’s Excellent Adventures”. The narcissist who abused his position, sexually abused seminarians, and sexually abused at least one teenager. His propensities apparently were an open secret that they would not open. That apparently people joked about this. It seems everybody around him was saying the Seinfeld line “Not that there is anything wrong with that.” That there were enablers galore, though I am not talking about any of his victims in any way. I am amazed at how his using his position to have sex with seminarians is seen as something mutual and not an abuse of power. There is so much packed into that very attitude that helped lead us to this stage.

An actual forensic investigation into McCarrick’s enablers would require access to various dioceses and the Vatican. To people working there along with applicable documents. Only the Holy Father has authority in such a massive endeavor for good reasons. There has to be something similar to a visitation with the authority to match. Yet so far all we have had is denials and wagon-circling from the Cardinal’s seemingly involved. The caveat is that we should not see a rush to see this setup and that to do it right will take time. Call me skeptical. A real investigation will lead to a seeming 24/7 news cycle regarding the Church. I don’t relish that, but please turn on the bright lights and let the roaches scurry.

So while I have plenty of trepidations in the years ahead, still we can’t allow the status quo to continue. The salvation of souls is in jeopardy and we have let PR take the lead instead of allowing the necessary cleansing.

As for me I will be trying to stay with the checklist above and trying to stay away from the F5 button.

Attribution: [Casa Rosada](http://www.casarosada.gov.ar/)

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From the “I’m such a jerk” files
Other

From the “I’m such a jerk” files

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

So today at Mass my pastor gave an impassioned biography on St. Augustine. Being in the Diocese of St. Augustine quite appropriate. Really quite a good short biography with some spiritual depth.

Yet while he was delivering it I was thinking “Ok, I know all of this – speed it up I wan’t to get home to eat”. Even while admiring his delivery, I kept thinking this.

Then realization hit me with the “It’s not all about you” and that more than likely others were gaining good information thoughtfully delivered with spiritual insights. It is quite annoying how often these “I’m such a jerk” epiphanies hit me.

 

photo credit: wayneandwax BOSTON JERK FESTIVAL via photopin (license)

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“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”
Prayer

“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Now would be a good time for the U.S. Bishops to restore the holy obligation to abstain from meat every Friday — “a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the Passion of Jesus Christ.” C.C Pecknold @ccpecknold

Certainly when I think about the sex abuse crisis I finally come around to think of “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29)

Two years ago, Deacon Steven Greydanus wrote a piece for the National Catholic Register titled Are Meatless Fridays Still a Thing? Does it Matter?. I really loved this piece of writing since it makes necessary caveats while calling us to enter in more fully with the Friday’s penance.

Over the years since becoming Catholic I have become quite annoyed that in the United States that abstinence from meat on Friday’s was replaced by a “do your own thing” penance. Later I realized it was stupid of me to complain about this and not just taking up the practice myself. So originally I started just with having only one meal on Fridays. I found this practice to be conducive to marking Friday as something special and a memorial to our Lord’s death on the cross. Just doing something different on Friday’s specialized the day and occasionally brought to mind the significance of this.

When I started doing intentional fasting and eating just one meal a day for health reasons I found that this made Friday’s lose that significance. So I decided that abstinence from meat on Friday’s is what I needed to do. A more penitential aspect since I much prefer meat to fish. So this restored marking Friday as a special day for me. An additional penitential aspect I found was that since I go out to lunch with my co-workers on Friday’s, this limited where we could go. I was almost embarrassed to admit I was a vegetarian on Fridays as if I was some super uber holy Catholic. I hate doing things that make me stand out – so hey even more penitential. Penitential especially when admiring my co-worker’s meat dishes. Although I was pretty pleased with my co-worker’s acceptance of this.

So I have found the practice of Friday penance something quite useful and a guide towards appreciation of our Lord’s sacrifice. Not that every Friday I reflect on this, just that I am more likely to reflect on this.

Now I can understand the reasons why the Bishop’s decided that a corporate prescribed penance on Friday’s might not be the way to go. For some eating fish on Friday is no penance at all and the same goes for vegetarians of various stripes. So there are certainly some prudential questions regarding why they did this. I would certainly bemoan the fact that this corporate act of penance that stood Catholics apart from others had many good benefits. There are community building aspects to this that build up our identities as Catholics. A practice that caused fast food chains to offer fish sandwiches on Fridays.

There are many pros and cons concerning Friday penance and whether there should be a prescribed penance. What I don’t understand is why the fact that there is a Friday penance is never publicized? It is indeed still a requirement.

In 1966 the USCCB released the statement Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence.

  1. For these and related reasons, the Catholic bishops of the United States, far from downgrading the traditional penitential observance of Friday, and motivated precisely by the desire to give the spirit of penance greater vitality, especially on Fridays, the day that Jesus died,urge our Catholic people henceforth to be guided by the following norms.
  2. Friday itself remains a special day of penitential observance throughout the year, a time when those who seek perfection will be mindful of their personal sins and the sins of mankind which they are called upon to help expiate in union with Christ Crucified.
  3. Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year. For this reason we urge all to prepare for that weekly Easter that comes with each Sunday by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ.

I can pretty much guarantee if I went around asking Catholics what their act of “self-denial and mortification” was on Friday’s I am sure I would get the deer in the headlights stare back at me. I am in no way mocking their ignorance of this. They simply were never told in the majority of cases. They might know that abstinence from meat was once required, but that’s it. Mostly I would point my fingers at Bishop’s and others who have never made this any sort of catechetical priority. The statement said they were far from downgrading this requirement, but if you never tell anybody about it – this is much worse.

The whole idea of doing penance for our sins has fallen on hard times as is the very idea of sin and our culpability. The idea of Friday penance and going to confession went hand-in-hand as something seemingly outdated. It would be much better for us if we had a firmer grasp of our sinfulness, our need for our Redeemer, and how penance was a way forward for us.

Now I don’t pretend for a single instance to be any model. My thoughts when fasting think more about a positive effect when weighing myself on a scale than reducing or doing reparations for my many sins. Still I would not bail on this for the simple fact that from time-to-time I am reminded why I fast and feel a thankfulness to Jesus regarding this. During Lent I also add Wednesday as a day of fasting which again helps me. Just the annoyance of an intentional penance is felt at some level. Plus there is pure delight when a Solemnity falls on a fast day!

Another point regarding fasting as reparation in regards to the sexual abuse crisis. There are aspect to this that repel me. I want to go full-Pharisee and say “Thank you Lord that I am not like this other person”. And then I remember the following quote:

“But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

It would be an awful ingratitude to God who has forgiven my many and terrible sins that I would be unwilling to offer some form of reparation for others. Too easy to play the starring role in the The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. So I really need to take my days of fast to a deeper and more intentional level.

  • Image courtesy of Pixels – no attribution required.
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Book Review: One Beautiful Dream
Book Review

Book Review: One Beautiful Dream

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Jennifer Fulwiler’s first book Something Other Than God detailed her conversion from atheism to Catholicism. As a follower of her blog while she was still in the searching phase, I great enjoyed the fuller story of this, which I reviewed here.

I finally got around to reading her second book One Beautiful Dream: The Rollicking Tale of Family Chaos, Personal Passions, and Saying Yes to Them Both.

Now I wish I had read it as soon as it came out. I have always enjoyed her writing style and this books starts out strong and stays there. She details the aftermath of her and her family embracing the Catholic faith and the subsequent decisions they made as a family to live out the faith.

She came from a family where she was a surprise baby, one that was not initially open to having children. Her own thoughts fell along these same lines when she got married. She details how she and her husband came to decide to have a large family and the decisions they would make to prioritize this. The decisions both of them made to focus on their budding family over career aspirations.

This book is warm, funny, full of insights, and struggles. There is much wisdom in it to learn from. Experiential wisdom gained from the joys and trials of everyday family life. She really opens you into her life as she struggled with a growing family and a desire to write a book amidst this. She writes with such immediacy that you feel this situation intensely every step of the way.

One of the things I really loved about this story was the steps along the way that brought others into her life. Her tendencies as a introvert made her hesitant to ask for help or to accept it when offered. Yet this story goes past this into a growing sense of family and community. How her own relatives really stepped up, along with her parish, and others. There was so much I could identify with as a former atheist and still introvert. Especially when she talks about the difficulty taking a faith you intellectually totally accept, and then to move it beyond that.

One thread of this book expounds the backstory behind writing her first book. Not an easy process and one full of frustrations, blocks, doubts, and interruptions. Again her writing style really brings you into the picture and I wanted to stand up and cheer when she relates finally receiving a box full of her first book. Since I am currently at the start of a book writing process myself, there was much that I took in advice wise. Actually more learned wisdom that she gained from others in achieving this goal. The advice she got from one priest was very insightful, putting the context within family life. I was also very impressed with the decisions her husband made and his own wisdom.

There was so much going on in her family life that it was like a cliffhanger – what will happen next? Having followed a number of Catholic families via their blogs, podcasts, books, etc. Sometimes it seems God gives them a lot of drama so they have something to write or talk about. Although the common thread I have seen in watching this is that their trust in God grows in adversity. There is always this amazing thread of God working through others.

So I found this a totally enjoyable read. Thank you Jennifer Fulwiler for inviting us into your family life.

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The Weekly Francis – Volume 239 – 22 August 2018
The Weekly Francis

The Weekly Francis – Volume 239 – 22 August 2018

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

This version of The Weekly Francis covers material released in the last week from 22 July 2018 to 22 August 2018.

The Weekly Francis is a compilation of the Holy Father’s writings, speeches, etc which I also post at Jimmy Akin’s blog.

Angelus

General Audiences

Letters

Messages

Speeches

Papal Tweets

  • “When we place ourselves at the service of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters we experience the joy of unconditional love.” @Pontifex 10 August 2018
  • “In silence we learn to contemplate God’s works, which surpass all our imagination.” @Pontifex 11 August 2018
  • “Thanks to the gift of the Eucharist, our lives too become “bread broken” for our brothers and sisters.” @Pontifex 12 August 2018
  • “Still today there are so many martyrs, so many who are persecuted for the love of Christ. They are the real strength of the Church!” @Pontifex 14 August 2018
  • “Mary, Mother of tenderness who is always near, teach us how to live and have faith.” @Pontifex 15 August 2018
  • “Faith is nourished by memory: how many wonderful things God has done for us! How generous is our heavenly Father!” @Pontifex 16 August 2018
  • “By embracing God’s love, we change the world and transform history.” @Pontifex 17 August 2018
  • “Love overcomes all difficulties. Love gives us the strength to carry on.” @Pontifex 18 August 2018
  • “The Eucharist, Jesus the Bread of Life, is the beating heart of the Church and renews in us the impulse to love.” @Pontifex 19 August 2018
  • “May the Holy Spirit grant us the grace of conversion and the interior anointing needed to express before crimes of abuse our compunction and our resolve courageously to combat them. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2018/documents/papa-francesco_20180820_lettera-popolo-didio.html …” @Pontifex 20 August 2018
  • “Today the World Meeting of #Families begins in Dublin. Let us join in prayer with all the families of the world, especially those in difficulty. @WMOF2018 @LaityFamilyLife” @Pontifex 21 August 2018
  • “The #Family is where hope is forged.” @Pontifex 21 August 2018
  • “We must protect the #Family. Our future depends on it.” @Pontifex 22 August 2018

Papal Instagram

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I really hate writing on this topic
Abuse

I really hate writing on this topic

by Jeffrey Miller
written by Jeffrey Miller

Writing about the abuse scandal within the Church is probably the topic I would least like to write on. Still the recent stories regarding McCarrick (now Archbishop and left off intentionally) and the investigative grand jury report in Pennsylvania make is necessary.

I started blogging in 2002, so this crisis has been with me the whole time to some extent. I am rather annoyed at myself when I analyze my own reactions to this continuous news cycle. Annoyed that I often feel more about the black eye it gives the Church than the horrific stories of lives severely damaged by abuse and coverup. Maybe partially this is fatigue from the sheer number of stories and how this has replicated itself across the world. Still I know I should be more affected by these tragic stories. This total betrayal of Christ. The bad news that has been preached by the examples of clerical abusers and those who helped to keep this in the dark. These sins that cry out to Heaven for relief.

It amazes me when I hear stories of such abuse, and yet that person remained faithful to the Church. It is easy for me to intellectualize my faith and that I believe the Catholic Church is the one holy and apostolic church, not having been through such a trial. Yet the coverups and business-as-usual attitudes that have repeated themselves world-wide is what scandalizes me the most. Treated either with bureaucratic-indifference or active attempts to conceal crimes.

This is like a perfect storm for Satan. The world needs what the Catholic Church teaches. So many sins and errors of our time could find comfort in the truth of what the Church teaches. Yet the world will shout HYPOCRISY! when people within the Church who don’t practice what the Church teaches and do otherwise. I think it was author Neal Stephenson who referenced that hypocrisy is the last remaining sin in a world of moral relativism.

It is a cold comfort to know that much of this abuse happened over a specific period of time and that it seems to have trailed off. Although I am skeptical as to whether this is indeed the case. Reporting of abuse is often long delayed and so only time will tell if this is actually the case.

This story, like most stories, is going through a narrative filter. Hobbyhorses are mounted with solutions fitting the horse’s mouth. Some try to make it a conservative/liberal bishop divide even though there is much shame to be shared across this divide. Or increased calls for a married priesthood.

This is not one of those “The Church should do X” posts. Mainly because I can not fully grasp what specifically are the steps forward. Exactly how do you reform diocese to eliminate the attitudes that made the happen? New rules, programs, workshops, training, etc are unlikely to diminish a diocesan culture that enabled this. They may only be steps in the right direction.

My own hobbyhorse would be what I perceive as a loss of mission focus at every level. Never seen a mission statement at a parish that talked about salvation of souls. A plethora of buzzword initiatives with little mention of Jesus’ salvific mission to save us from our sins. A diocesan culture that is more concerned about PR than actual scandal and the damage done to those who trip over that stumbling block. Sure this very pattern has been reflected across all human activity, yet shouldn’t we be more spiritually aware of this hubris? Still I know that my hobbyhorse is too narrow and not a “if only the Church did this” action plan.

Really there are no easy fixes and reform is a never ending process. It requires eternal vigilance since even when you take positive steps to irradiate one problem, the whack-a-mole of human sinfulness keeps popping up. This does not mean that I am hopeless in regards to this. There is a lot of anger right now and I do pray that some of this heat will also emit as light. That platitudes and corporate-speak from the USCCB and individual bishops just isn’t going to cut it.

One thing that really needs to be addresses is how McCarrick not only rose, but was a power player in selecting new American Cardinals. There had to be a lot of enablers along the way that looked away from his not-so-private life. I still remember this story from 2005 on the now-disgraced archbishop. Two years ago the recently deceased investigator Richard Sipe Tried to Warn Us – But No One Was Listening when he tried to work with the current bishop of San Diego. I expect white washed tombs in regard to this. Please prove me wrong.

Some patience is of course required. This is not a problem to solve overnight and their are serious difficulties in regards to investigating various diocese – canonical and otherwise. Any actual investigative efforts must come from the Pope and the Vatican. The skeptic in me sees a punt on this like the LCWR investigation. Again please prove me wrong.

As a pessimistic/optimist I straddle the fence emotionally. Not that happy to say “told you so” and not disappointed to be wrong (once again). Besides whenever my focus turns towards negativity I try to evaluate “what can I do” besides blowing off steam on a blog post. I can pat myself on the back for praying for the Pope and the Bishops, but no doubt can also slap my forehead for when I fail to advance in holiness. I know conversion starts with myself.

Picture: Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks at an Aug. 14 press conference following the release of a grand jury report on clerical sexual abuse in six of Pennsylvania’s Catholic dioceses. (NBC Philadelphia)

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