Wards of the French Nanny State throw violent temper tantrums. Poor things are being told that they have to work until they are 62! Evil, evil Nanny State. And now, they don't even get all those tourist dollars/euros/pounds/sheckels. That should help the economy.
Speaking of tantrums. . .Pelosi's flying monkeys in the House are dousing any fantasy she may have had about being Speaker again.
The Anchoress on "The Credentialed Gentry and the Unpersuaded Yahoo." This puts me in a terrible bind. I'm a member of both the credentialed gentry AND an unpersuaded yahoo. Oops. I'm pretty sure the other members of the CredGen would kick me out if they could.
Excellent article on how materialists fundamentally misunderstand the notion of free will. Take time to read the whole thing.
Damien Thompson wonders: "Is this the start of a civil war in the Church of England?"
Now we're talkin'! Catholic pub opens in Rome
WaPo and the AP completely rewrite their O'Donnell Church and State story w/o issuing a correcction. Predictably, the lefties wanted to hear her deny that there is a "wall between church and state," so when she asked her opponent if such a thing is found in the 1st Amendment, they jumped on her like a pack of rabid Credentialed Gentry hunting a wounded Yahoo.
Prof. Jacobson fisks the original story for all he's worth. Also, how did that wall btw church and state get there in the first place? Interesting back story that includes the KKK!
More race-hustling from the NAACP. BTW, the link has a list of links to all the black GOP and Tea Party backed candidates running for office in the mid-term elections. For a bunch of racists they should do have a lot of black folks on their side.
Explaining what happened to Vatican Two btw 1965-85. Good article. In seminary we were told over and over again that the published documents were products of a liberal majority that (mistakenly) felt the need to compromise with reactionary factions. Therefore, any "traditional language" could be dismissed b/c it was in the document only as a way of appeasing the ecclesial neanderthals. Fortunately, none of us bought this ruse. . .but we kept our mouths shut just in case speaking up against the prof turned into a "formation issue."
Two kinds of human beings. . .which one are you?
Find a genie in a bottle? Be careful what you wish for. . .
Follow HancAquam ------------>
Heh. I was wondering if someone was going to write a news entry titled, "French protest reality."
ReplyDeleteHa! "Formation issues!" i'm married now, but when I was in seminary, they used the same tactics on us. A friend of mine was thrown out because they said he was anti-social. He was very social...he was just also very orthodox and discussed it in social contexts. I was repremanded by our dean of men once for a "formation issue" because, in his words, I was "too black-and-white" and needed to be more "gray." This because I asked permission for an exemption from a rule requiring me to be on campus because I wanted to see my grandmother, who was very feeble, at my parents' invitation. He told me, "well, Mr. Murphy, you're a very black-and-white person and what you're asking me to do is something gray, to bend the rules. I shouldn't let you go, but if I'm going to let you go because I hope it will show you the importance of being more gray." I wanted to tell him, "Fr. _______, if I were gray, I would have just skipped class and assumed I could bend the rules on my own. Going through the proper channels for an exemption is a very black-and-white thing to do. Perhaps you'd have had me just leave campus." I wanted to tell him that, but I kept my mouth shut.
ReplyDeleteYep, he's the rector of that seminary now. *roll eyes*
The spiritual danger our seminarians are in to this day. It's a cryin' shame. That wasn't half as bad as our moral theology teacher who told us our consciences could veto the Magisterium (some students circulated a letter against him for signatures and turned it in to the rector; I wisely chose not to sign). Then there were the stories from the year before I arrived...an ecumenical service hosted by the monastery that ran the seminary...led by a female episcopalian "priest" sitting in the main celebrant's chair (in which the pope would sit if he visited the basilica). When students tried to walk out of that one, they were told, "one more step and you're expelled." Then there was the abbot telling students not to kneel during the Consecration. He couldn't convince my Vietnamese brother seminarians, though, who said they would rather be expelled than not kneel before God.
Tobias, oh yes. . .conscience can defy the Magisterium but not the ideology of the professoriate!
ReplyDeletejust to be clear: the retirement age in France being disputed is for EARLY retirement. moreover, they have paid tremendous sums in taxes because they [literally] do not buy into the U.S. work ethic. in my opinion, that is another way to live and they have paid the price for it and should be able to enjoy it.
ReplyDeletelast time i went to paris, anywhere i stood i saw nothing but bookstores. maybe they need time to read. instead of watch big screen tvs. just a thought.
Father,
ReplyDeleteCould you elaborate more on the manner in which one can approach the "conscience versus Magisterium" issue. This is uncanny. It had just come up in conversation.
Many thanks,
Luke
Anon., still no sympathy from me about the French retirement age. The voters allowed the gov't to tax them heavily for promise of a twenty-year vacation on the gov't dole. I'm sure that the actual costs of their retirement is barely covered by the taxes they have paid.
ReplyDeleteBookshops. . .well, buying books is not the same as reading them.
Luke, I will post more on conscience soon.
Sorry, Father.
ReplyDeleteI, alas, feel the same about America versus France in the reading department.
Here is a link:
http://mleddy.blogspot.com/2006/07/american-reading-habits.html
I'm not going to jump the pond but I DO think the French read voraciously compared to Americans. I wish it were not so....
Marianne
Marianne, I don't have any problem believing that the French read more than Americans do. They probably read better stuff too!
ReplyDeleteMy point is that lots of bookshops doesn't translate into lots of reading. I buy all of my books online.
Er, Father, many French still do not have internet access in their homes to buy books online.
ReplyDeleteI find this refreshing.
Maybe, they are home... reading. So if your point is about reading, that's one thing. If it's about brick and mortar versus "Amazon" that's quite another.
Bookshops. . .well, buying books is not the same as reading them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Americans don't even buy them. AND if they don't buy them, chances are they are NOT reading them.
So the French merely use them as decor?
That is laughable.
Anon., you are inferring way too much from my observation.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a book on logic is in order?
Getting back to the formation discussion, I despaired a few years ago as a member of a formation team, when the "60s Prophets" were still in charge of the seminary. If a seminarian showed any concern for orthodoxy or church law, the cry of "Rigid!" would arise (probably most often from Sister professors on the faculty). I have always mindeds this reasoning. When the 60s unfolded, those of us who balked at some or many of the changes were told "Step into the world of FLEXIBILITY. Let us remake the Church as we wish. You have your way and we'll have ours. Choice and flexibility are the names for this new era. You don't have to join us in our change-making, but let us make our own choices. Be flexible." These, of course, were the early words of the feminazis and their male counterparts, who today are hysterical over the fact that some of our seminatians 9and some of us) would want to CHOOSE the traditional form of the Mass or canonically legal rubrics. I know of one situation where several seminarians were held up from promotion because Sisters on the faculty felt they were rigid. The rigidity? Opining in a class discussion that the Church's decision not to ordain women was correct and final. Where's the choice? Where's the flexibility?
ReplyDelete