This is going to be quite a week with lots of meaning. Today we start off celebrating Martin Luther King and the mostly successful civil rights movement. We then move to Obama’s Inaugural and then two days after that the anniversary of the murderous Roe v. Wade decision. These three days and the events associated are tied together and it is quite symbolic that Obama’s Inaugural is juxstaposed between them.

Moving first to MLK. I was ten years old when is was assassinated. The elementary school I went to took a day off in the aftermath and this was long before the national holiday. I was told he was a civil rights leaders, though had no idea what that meant. It was not until High School that I started to get an idea about MLK and the civil rights movement when I first started to see pictures and videos of the marches and treatments of blacks in the South. Seeing pictures of segregated water fountains and stores was like seeing a whole different world that you could never have imagined possible. Though growing up in Portland we had our own injustices to blacks that showed itself in a a sort of segregation and poor public schools in those areas. It wasn’t till High Schools that I ever even seen a black person at school. At one point PBS came to my High School to do a documentary because we were the only school in the city where integration of blacks into the school via busing did not result in violence. I don’t know what factors set the school apart other than that we were a rather poor school. I do know that I never heard a racist comment from any of my friends or from others that I knew. No doubt there were problems I was unaware of, but on the whole the school was a positive example of unity.

I wasn’t until I got into the Navy that I really ran into somebody who was actually a racist. I was really shocked to hear what came out of the mouth of this recruit from Georgia. I later ran into him at A school in Memphis, but he was flunking out and being sent to the fleet with no training. Years later I worked with a guy who tried to tell me Robin Trower played the guitar on all of Jimi Hendrix record since Hendrix being black could not be that talented. I laughed in his face at this, but I was dumbfounded somebody could believe this. He also a Neanderthal opinion of women. Everybody in the shop I worked in mocked him and his opinions. Though he worked quite well with the black E-5 in the shop and others and his racist opinions seemed to be more theoretical then on the practical level. Certainly if it had been otherwise he would have been kicked out. But my limited experience has shown me that racists are not the sharpest tools in the box. Racism requires a certain level of stupidity and not thinking things through. It is quite a good thing in that progress that has been made over the year in regards to racism.

With the recent death of Fr. Neuhaus who marched with MLK and at one time was pastor of a predominantly black church in New York we are reminded that he always considered the pro-life movement to be the natural evolution of the civil rights movement. In the start of the post I labeled it the “mostly successful civil rights movement” because of the fact that the civil rights of children in the womb are violated over a millions times a year in the U.S. alone. We have made some progress in getting people to not judge others based on the color of their skin, but have gone backwards in considering a person based on their size. Horton said “A person is a person no matter how small” and their is great wisdom in this Dr. Seuss character. The right to life is the fundamental right and you can not go onto to enjoy other civil rights if you have been slaughtered in the womb beforehand. As long a human persons are discriminated against for factors they have no control over such as skin color or being in the womb at the time the civil rights movement will have a long way to go. With original sin we will always have those who treat others not as persons, but something inferior. But we don’t have to have a government or set of laws that do so and these injustices have to be repaired.

While Fr. Neuhaus correctly saw the linkage of the civil rights and pro-life movement and how they are both based on the dignity of the human person, unfortunately others have not done so. The niece of MLK, Alveda King certainly has talked about this connection. Unfortunately a large number of those who saw the righteousness of the civil rights movement are against the civil rights of those in the womb. It was OK for a Reverend like MLK to lead the civil rights movement, but a religious person being involved with the pro-life movement gets met with cries of theocracy. It was OK for religious persons to be involved in the slavery abolition movement, but they are forcing moral down your throat if part of the pro-life movement. The pro-life movement has made incremental gains, but there is still a long way to go before the need for the March for Life is not longer required.

Which brings us to the inaugural of President Obama between these two events. Some would think that his election represents the answer to the promise of the civil rights movement. There is some truth in this, though I do not think he fulfills the goal of MLK where people are based on the content of their character and not their skin color. I can’t say I am impressed with the content of his character as he called a pro-life group liars for telling the honest truth about his record. That he palled around with a domestic terrorist, listened for years to the sermons of Rev. Wright, and got a cozy house deal with a friend now in prison. But we were to look past all of that for the promise of a post-racial age. That by electing him we would be seeking healing and repairing the evils of the past. Yet they never seem to tell us how electing someone because of their racial heritage is much different from rejecting someone because of their racial heritage. Both attitudes make race the criteria. Plus somehow our post racial society required that a black person must replace Obama’s Senate seat. Sen Burris initially not being seated was described as being similar to dogs being set upon him – sound really post-racial.

As a pessimistic-optimist I will wait and see what the Obama presidency will mean for the unborn. For the man who touted hope I do not have much hope that he will give the unborn hope. An administration filled with pro-abortion supporters in every corner from the top down reminds me that the culture of death will be predominant in the celebratory parades. I trust in God totally to bring good out of evil and that even when the culture of death marches on I know that ultimately it will never triumph. In God there is neither Jew or Greek, black or white, unborn or born; we are all ultimately united in Christ as God’s creation. Though some will separate themselves from him via their own will. Soon to be President Obama needs our prayers as does everybody in his administration.

I saw these silly headlines in the last couple of days about the Apostolic Penitentiary such as “Vatican reveals secrets of worst sins”, “Vatican Secret Confession Tribunal Opens up”, and even “Vatican body: Minnesota professor’s sin worse than genocide” in reference to P.Z. Myers. When it come to headlines and articles about the Church it seems that reporters are always in Dan Brown mode.

Fr. Z looks at one of the articles and replies.

A reader sent me this from the eulogy fort Robert Graham who made the controversial statue of Our Lady above the great bronze doors. He is known for his bronze nudes.

“It is very difficult to describe in our human words the beauty and grandeur of that lady. I remember when Robert had pretty well decided on how he wanted her to look, he invited us over to his studio; and he a small plaster image of what he had in mind and he had it covered. So before he took the cover off I closed my eyes. And he took the cover off and I opened one eye carefully, then opened both widely. And I said, Robert, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” And he said, “It isn’t finished yet. Don’t thank me. I said, “No, Robert, I’m thanking you because Mary is wearing clothes.” [laughter] [article]

I guess that would make her the Dressed Virgin Mary in this case.

I still think that statue is quite horrid. One of my commenters on first seeing it called it St. Sarek, Androgynous Vulcan Moon Goddess. I think he got it right.

Washington DC, Jan 13, 2009 / 11:53 am (CNA).- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers” of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama. [article]

To be honest I was going to engage in character assassination of Prof Kmiec but I found his character too small of a target to be able to assassinate.

Okay cheap shot, but then again we are talking about Doug “It’s all about me” Kmiec. Recently Jay Anderson demonstrated how Prof Kmiec managed to turn a Fr. Neuhaus eulogy into a vehicle all about himself. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the Vatican poisoning Kmiec is concerned with was his chances of becoming Vatican Ambassador since the “right wing” Catholic blogosphere frequently fisked his Obamagetics (Oboma Apologetics). Here we are just a couple days away from President Obama putting pen to paper and eliminating the Mexico City Policy and poor Doug is all up in arms about us bloggers.

Now where can I get my “Member of the Vast Right Wing Catholic Blogosphere Conspiracy” bumper sticker? Surely I deserve one after my Stephen Douglas 1860 Kmiec satirical piece.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, do you have a church here in Washington?

OBAMA: Not yet. And so, one of the things that Michelle and I will be doing is probably visiting some churches and seeing what’s comfortable. It is tougher as president. You know, this is not just an issue of going to church, it’s an issue of going anywhere. You don’t want to subject your fellow church members, the rest of the congregation, to being mugged every time you go to church. And so, we’re going to try to be balancing, not being disruptive to the city, but also saying we want to be part of Washington D.C.
But one of the things that I don’t like historically about Washington is the way that you’ve got one part of Washington, which is a company town, all about government, and is generally pretty prosperous. And then, you’ve got another half of D.C. that is going through enormous challenges. I want to see if we can bring those two Washington D.C.s together. [article]

Translation: I haven’t yet found a predominantly black church where the pastor is not likely to get me into trouble.

On the other hand he seems to think that just by picking a church he can bring these two Washington D.C.’s together. Rather interesting is that his criteria is trying out churches to find which one is “comfy.” Yes the theological distinction of comfiness. Church shopping is of course a normal American pastime. To find a church where you can check off going to church on Sunday without actually being challenged in any serious way and if they have a Starbucks that’s a bonus.

Presidents not going to church services is nothing new. President Reagan said that he did not go “as regularly as I should. I suppose it’s true that a man can be religious without going to church.” His attendance before becoming president was spotty and as president very infrequent.

I bring this aspect up because I find it interesting the difference between the Catholic and Protestant view in this regards. While church going is mostly emphasized in Protestantism, missing one of the services for any reason is not seen as any problem. There is no service like Mass Times for Protestants so that they can make sure they go to a service when on vacation or traveling. Though of course when speaking of Protestantism it is always hard to speak of it as a block and possibly High Anglicans or some Lutherans, etc might take the Sunday obligation more seriously. But for the most part Protestants consider it no big deal if you miss church services. For the most part you can receive all of the benefits of a Protestant service by watching a comparable one on TV. The sermon is the main focus for most Protestants since there is no sacramental component that actually requires personal attendance. So why not just listen to the best sermon on a podcast or from your favorite TV preacher?

The virtue of religion is the duty whose purpose is to render God the worship due to Him. Here is a problem that Catholics and Protestants share is that we go on Sunday often with the primary attitude of wanting something for ourselves. We want good liturgy/homily/fellowship, etc or to be entertained and actual worship of God takes a back pew. While the desire of liturgy/homily/fellowship are goods they are not the primary reason for the Sunday obligation which has it roots in third commandment. Too often we become passive in wanting to receive something instead of uniting ourselves together in worship of God. To quote Kurt Cobain “Here we are now, Entertain us” can be used to describe what many people want out of Mass/service. The key to good liturgy/homily/fellowship, etc is that it helps us to worship God.