BXVI on St Dominic

At yesterday's general audience, BXVI spoke about Saint Dominic Guzmán, the founder of the Order of Preachers:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today I wish to speak of the great contribution made by Saint Dominic to the renewal of the Church in the Middle Ages. As a priest of the Spanish diocese of Osma, he was sent on missions throughout Europe, which drew his attention to the need for sound and zealous preachers to bring the Gospel to the people. He was entrusted with the task of refuting the heresy of the Albigensians, who denied the incarnation of Christ, the resurrection of the body and the value of marriage and the sacraments. Embracing a life of poverty, Dominic dedicated himself to the task of preaching the Gospel, and with a band of followers he established the Order of Preachers, also known as Dominican Friars. Adapting the rule of Saint Augustine to the needs of the apostolic life, Dominic placed emphasis on theological study, prayer and community life for his friars. Thus fortified, they would be sent out on missions as itinerant, mendicant preachers. Hence the Dominican motto, contemplata aliis tradere – to hand on to others the fruits of contemplation. One important way in which the Dominicans did this was by promoting the prayer of the rosary, a beautiful means of contemplating, through the eyes of Mary, the truth revealed in the mysteries of the life, death and Resurrection of her son. 

Some interesting facts about the OP's. . .

The Holy Father's household theologian is always a Dominican (there were a few Franciscans thrown in there Way Back When).  The current household theologian is from Poland, fra.Wojciech Giertych, O.P.  Fr. Giertych is also a professor of moral theology here at the Angelicum.

The Holy Father's distinctive white cassock is an adapted Dominican habit.  Pope Pius V, an O.P., wore his habit while pope and his successors adapted it for daily use.  It is traditional for O.P. friars to wear the full habit--including black cape and hood--while out in the city of Rome as a sign of respect for the Holy Father's distinctive garb.  Papal protocol does not allow those in private audience with the Pope to wear white.  Only heads of state are exempted.

The leaders of the friars--from the Master right on down to the priory's lector--are elected for limited terms.  There are no "until death" offices in the Order.  There is evidence that Thomas Jefferson was familiar with the Order's constitution and used some of its principles in drafting our nation's founding documents. 

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Thomas Sowell discusses the role of intellectuals in American society.  As the last year has conclusively demonstrated being intellectually gifted doesn't necessarily indicate a gift for leadership.

If you like a good mystery and ancient Roman history fascinates you, you really can't do better than the novels of Steven Saylor. 

The murder of peer-review in the ClimateGate scandals. . .an autopsy.

Promising to keep lobbyists out of the White House:  grammatical nuance.  The surest way to become an object of suspicion is to rely on word games to defend outright lies.

Tea Partiers battling it out over a winnable political platform.  Gotta love American politics!

The Dept of Defense is rewriting the rules for Congressional use of military aircraft for personal travel.  We can dub these new rules:  "No to Nancy and Her Kids Rules."

B.O.'s DoubleTalk/DoubleThink:  Orwellian rhetoric done by a Master. 

Stuart Schwartz on K. Olbermann:  And so the venom drips, and the ratings sink. Olbermann is cruel to all who, as a class, have rejected him, such as joyful people and women...or people of faith and women...or people with traditional marriages and women...and those with well-adjusted relationships and women. Did I mention women?  OUCH!  Remind me not to get on Mr. Schwartz's bad side.

Dems support campaign finance reform b/c their corporate contributions skyrocketed after McCain-Feingold was enacted.   

The GOP is made up of Stalinists, right-wing fascists, Khmer Rouge communists, Talibanists, southern segregationists, and Nazis.  Wow.  And here I thought the GOP had such a small tent.  

The U.K.'s House of Lords stalls a government bill that would force the Church to ordain women and people in SSM's.  The bill isn't dead.  Let's call this one:  "Liberal Fascist Zombies Attack the Church."  

First I learn that the GOP is run by Talibanists and Communists and now I learn that it's not gypsies who are stealing babies but BAPTISTS!  My world is coming apart. . . 

The USCCB's point man for the Campaign for Human Development served on the board of a pro-abortion, pro-SSM political group.  Ah, now I understand how so much Catholic money got funneled to groups like ACORN.

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Love hurts

4th Sunday OT: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

Jesus, once again, riles people up! He's good at that. Like prophets before him, he tells people what they don't want to hear. By proclaiming that Isaiah's prophecy of the coming of the Messiah has been fulfilled in their hearing, Jesus challenges those gathered in the temple to step up and believe that he embodies God's promise of salvation. Instead, assuming that the authority of a majority is sufficient to determine truth, the crowd runs him out of town and tries to lynch him. He walks unharmed through the riot and leaves town. Why do the temple-goers reject Jesus' claim to be the fulfillment of God's promise to send a Messiah? Two reasons: 1) Jesus is a local boy, and we all know that “no prophet is accepted in his native place;” and 2) Jesus' use of proverb, “Physician, cure yourself,” indicates his refusal to perform a showy miracle to confirm his identity. What does he do instead? He does exactly what pastors and preachers are taught in seminary not to do when parishioners get twitchy. He throws down a challenge and a rebuke. In essence, he says, “God's own people have always rejected His prophets, and look at the results. He graces Gentiles before Jews and you people never learn.” Ouch. If Jesus had had a bishop, His Excellency's phone would be ringing off the hook! Remember how often we are told that Jesus is a uniter not a divider, a peace-bringer not a controversialist. He's all about harmony and consensus and living within the tensions of difference. Well, tell that to the screaming lynch mob. They might disagree. Obviously, Jesus lacked the cultured pastoral touch of a postmodern bishop. So, should we look to him and his prophetic style as a model for preaching his gospel?

Confrontation has its place in preaching. The prophets of the Old Testament were known and feared for their unwavering commitment to speaking God's message even in the face of torture and execution. Kings dodged them when possible, summoning them to court to answer for their traitorous speech only when necessary. Prophets were notoriously stubborn, self-righteous, and usually disreputably attired. Any one of these three characteristics was enough to warrant royal and public dismissal. Add to the scene the fact that prophets tended to be well-known local boys and you have the makings of a courtly farce. Is it any wonder then that the prophets of old resorted to confrontation when dealing with the cold-hearts and closed-minds of a nation's rulers? Sometimes you have to smash through a wall when the door is barred. Sometimes the shock of hearing the truth spoken aloud is enough to cure the deafness of the worst sinner. And sometimes it isn't. On these occasions, it's wise to get as far away from the condemned nation as possible. Why? Because quite possibly the scariest thing a prophet can say is: “Behold, you will suffer the consequences of your hard heart!” It's time to run.

Unfortunately, these days, it seems that every corner, every cable channel, every church/mosque/temple has its own prophet proclaiming the coming apocalypse. Like a flock of squawking crows, these folks fly around the world squeaking and squealing warning us of imminent local destruction and the inevitability of global disaster if we don't change our ways. They have adopted the confrontational rhetoric of the wildest biblical prophet. Do we listen? Some certainly do. Most don't. Confrontation oft repeated quickly devolves into annoying harassment. Those ominous crows start to look and sound like Chicken Little's. What's missing from their squealy prophesying is Godly love, a sincere concern for the good of the whole beyond the immediate personal benefits of power and prestige. What's missing is the divine authority that Jesus himself uses in the temple to announce his arrival as the Messiah. His authority is the power and glory of the most excellent way, the way of sacrificial love.

This leads us to the big question of the day: can sacrificial love be confrontational? Anyone who has ever marched in a pro-life demonstration or prayed outside an abortion clinic will tell you that the counter-protesters and the escorts are demonically vicious. For them this isn't just about freedom of choice and left/right politics. They hate us. Passionately hate us. You can expect that groups on opposite ends of the political spectrum to get feisty, maybe even a little rowdy, in the midst of a march. But the bile and venom spewed by pro-abortion activists at pro-life folks goes well beyond the kind of anger that normal politics generates. Why? The choice to have an abortion is intensely personal; it goes to the very core what most Americans think of us their untouchable autonomy in deciding what's best for them. An unwanted pregnancy attaches unwanted responsibilities and necessarily limits a woman's choice of options. But even more than this, pregnancy places a woman in the natural mode of motherhood and all that that implies. At the very core of motherhood is sacrificial love, giving oneself wholly to another. When pro-life marchers remind abortion advocates that the fetus is a person, a being deserving of love, those who would call the killing of this person a moral good react with unadulterated rage. They know the Church is right. And they must cultivate a self-righteous wrath in order to drown out their guilt. The gospel message of love used by the pro-life movement to stubbornly resist compromising with the culture of death shames them into hatred. Denied a convenient salve for their seared consciences, the venom flows and they fall more securely into demonic hands.

It should be shockingly clear to the Church by now that our best witness to the culture of death is sacrificial love. Paul writes, “Love is patient, love is kind. . .it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” With some we can reason. With others we can demonstrate. But some we must simply love. Bearing up under the burden of hatred, believing solely in the power of mercy, hoping in the promises of the Father, and enduring insult, persecution, and trial, the Church must not be satisfied with merely presenting the truth of the gospel, flashing cue cards and murmuring sound bites. What will heal a seared conscience cannot be logically deduced and crammed onto a bumper sticker. Slogans on placards are easily refuted by other slogans on placards. What cannot be refuted is an act of love done in sacrifice, a willing act of surrender done so that another might be see the truth. Paul reminds us what we know by faith, “Love never fails.” Even as the prophet feels the sword cut into his flesh, he knows that he has succeeded in touching a conscience burned by hatred and malice. His persistence in telling the truth is not ended by death but rather vindicated by it, shown to be the undeniably divine power it truly is.

When he proclaims to the people in the temple that Isaiah's messanic prophecy has been fulfilled in their hearing and subsequently chastises the crowd for their unbelief, Jesus causes a riot. He holds up before the people their dishonesty, their faithlessness, their charred consciences. He shows them that they know he is telling the truth and yet still refuse to hear it spoken. For them to believe such a proclamation changes everything-- uproots centuries of tradition and belief, revolutionizes everyday life, forces them to make a choice and live by it. Rather than surrender, they riot and pour out the hatred and malice of those who have seen the corrupted state of their souls. How does Jesus respond? He dies on the cross for them. If we will be his Church, we must be prepared to do nothing less. The march for life is a march to the cross. . .not for ourselves but for those who will not see, will not hear.

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Notes on the Book Depository Wish List Experiment

Two generous HancAquam readers have used the BDWL to sent me two books.  

First, books do not disappear from the Wish List once purchased as they do on the Amazon Wish List.  I only discovered this today when a book arrived as a very pleasant surprise.  So, please, let me know if you buy a book so I can delete it from the list.

Second, also unlike the Amazon list, the BD list does not automatically include my shipping address when you add a book to the shopping cart.  I tried to include it in the notes that accompany each listing, but these notes only appear when I sign into the account.  My shipping address is at the bottom of this site on the right. 

I've contact BD about both of these issues, but they have not been able to help me out. . .yet.

Thanks again!

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Virtue & Vice: what's yours?

Virtues are good habits.  Vices are bad habits.

Virtues help us to become the best version of ourselves that we can be.  Vices prevent us from doing so.

What do you consider to be your single best virtue and your worst vice?

Remember:  keep it clean!

My Best Virtue:  I am an unrepentant idealist when it comes to doing the right thing.

My Worst Vice:  I am stubborn beyond reason.

Yes, the two are directly related.


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Coffee Bowl Browsing

This is not the Science we are looking for:  Climate data "tampered with," "useless for determining accurate trends," "skewed the data," "gravely compromised," "contamination by urbanization," "cherry-picking of observing sites," "data are missing and uncertainties are substantial."

B.O. bows to the Mayor of Tampa, FL.  In fairness to The One. . .a psychologist friend of mine once observed that I tend to give everyone I meet a little bow upon introduction.  I notice it now every time it happens.  Maybe I was a Chinese peasant in a past life?

Medieval justice:  trial by ordeal may have been just what the Judge ordered.

Dividing the shepherd from his flock:  lay folks don't always agree with the Church's political positions.  Fortunately, bishops are under no obligation to poll the pews when teaching the faith.  

Will Protestant clerical converts to the RCC be the answer to our vocations problem?  No, they won't.  They will certainly be a welcomed help, but the numbers aren't there.  The answer to the Church's vocation problem is for young called to priesthood to find the courage to say Yes to their call. 

A father's application for young men to date his daughter.  I should send this to my poor nieces.  Their father's version begins with threats of torture and death rather than promising them for later on.

Dihydrogen monoxide:  sign the petition to ban this dangerous substance!

Computer technology assist the morally weak in making those tough decisions.

Formal Apology template. . .I printed out 500 of these.  It's been a tough month.

A philosopher vs. a genie:  who wins?

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (Over-caffeinated Edition)

Need a sign that the Pro-life movement is winning the culture war?  Pro-abortion feminists don't want Super Bowl fans to know that Tebow's mom CHOSE to give him birth.  Now, why in the world would a group of self-identified pro-choice abortion advocates try to prevent CBS from running this ad?   Hmmmmmm. . .maybe b/c they are afraid that it might cut into their child-killing profits?  Bad for business, ya know.  Just maybe.

The gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving:  Climate Gate.  Glacier extinction predictions were lifted from a grad student's master's thesis.  Where did he get the numbers?  A perfectly scientific and impeccably reliable source:  ski instructors.  So, the U.N. spent millions on a conference whose single-minded goal was the extortion of billions from first world nations in a wealth redistribution scheme based largely on the guesses of snow bunnies.  Wow.  Settled science, indeed.

While back on the farm. . .record cold temps and snow in the south.

Everyone knows the Dominican's unofficial motto:  "To Praise! To Bless! To Preach!"  Here's another one:  "Never trust a skinny Dominican."  Apparently, the voting public is getting the message about skinny politicians?  Of note here is OP laymen, Tom K's own version of the unofficial OP motto:  "To Praise!  To Dine!  To Preach!" 

Are we getting tired of Olberman's televised fits of faux outrage?  I am. . .and I've never watched him.

Laws banning cell phone use while driving seem to be having little effect on road accidents.  Who cares?  Drivers talking on cell phones annoy me, so punish them!

Oops. . .the Bush/Cheny War Criminals meme is going up in flames. 

B.O. 'fesses up on health care options. . ."Ummmmm, well, no you can't keep your current health insurance."  We knew that, Mr. President.  How?  Because you said we could.

Free-thinking atheists mime concern for freedom of religion by protesting against a postage stamp:  "Mother Teresa is principally known as a religious figure who ran a religious institution. You can't really separate her being a nun and being a Roman Catholic from everything she did," [atheist] Gaylor told FoxNews.com.  And, of course, that's the real reason for the objection.  Can't have people thinking that the Catholic Church is a force for good.

Global Warming hoax science?  $1,000,000,000,000,000.  Proven Moon Mission science:  $0.  B.O.'s promise to honor science over ideology:  cheap.

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Grammar Nazis Unite!

For all the Grammar Nazis out there. . .

Is "snuck" the past-tense of "sneak"?

Yes and no.  Yes, it has become one of those words that has gained some legitimacy through repeated use.  So, when the word is used in common American English, it communicates.  No, it is non-standard English usage.  The proper past-tense of "sneak" is "sneaked." 

I have been on a one-man crusade to save the subjunctive mood from extinction.  I'm losing. 

Also, "hopefully" is an adverb not an adjective.  "Hopefully, I will see the Pope" translates into the nonsensical sentence, "I will see full of hope the Pope."  The original sentence communicates the idea that I hope I will get to see the Pope.  Correctly written, this would be, "I am hopeful that I will see the Pope."

What's on your Grammar Nazi agenda?

Sieg Heil.  Carry on.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

The hits keep on comin'!  IPCC chair knew that the so called "glacier meltdown" was false before Copenhagen.  I do believe that that is a bus headed his way.

B.O. and the Dems are outraged--OUTRAGED, I say--at the Supreme Court's decision gutting campaign finance laws.  In the SOTU speech, B.O. falsely accused the S.C. of legalizing foreign contributions to political campaigns.  Good.  We look forward to the day when B.O. returns all the money he got from foreign sources during his campaign for the White House.  Oh, and all the corporate campaign money, including union money, he and the Dems received.

Has B.O. grown bored?  Hmmmm. . .maybe he'll take an early retirement?

Can we talk to Muslims?  Of course we can.  But there can be no negotiation on the principles of democracy and religious freedom.

Killer of abortion doctor convicted of murder.  We may never do evil in the cause of good.

Ralph McInerny has died.  A giant among American Thomists, McInerny was probably best known as the author of the Father Dowling Mysteries novels.

Perhaps the only good thing about the possibility of the U.S. joining the International Criminal Court is the long history of the ineffectiveness and incompetence of most international bodies.  We can join.  Look like good neighbors.  And go about our business.

The Ultimate Fr. Philip Movie:  Redneck Zombies.  Now, this movie can only be exceeded in my view by a potential sequel:  Catholic Redneck Zombies from Outer Space.  I'm working on the script.

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The coming Nunja smack-down

Hilarious!

In the face of Sisterly defiance of the Apostolic Visitation, the Vatican authorizes the use of its secret weapon:  the Nunjas! 

Make no mistake, these are not your ordinary nuns. They don’t correct the wayward with rulers. When NUNJAS correct you, you stay corrected. They are NUNJAS! These Nunjas mock albino monk assassins…to their pasty white faces.

Read the whole thing.

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T0rture: Right and Wrong

Tom K. at Disputations does what I do not have the patience to do:  round-up the Church teachings on the immorality of torture.

Noted many times by others but worth repeating here is all too common habit of Catholic dissenters to place their local politics over and above the authority of the magisterium.  Among Catholics on the left, the Church is wrong on all issues that involve the libertine use of one's pelvic area.  Among Catholics on the right, it seems that the Church is wrong on all issues having to do with the just use of violence (there is such a thing!) and the imperative of the Christian to pursue peace.

It is striking--though completely predictable--that Catholics who defend the moral use of torture use the argumentative templates of those who defend abortion, SSM, etc.  These arguments are always utilitarian and consequentialist; that is, what determines the rightness or wrongness of a human act is the amount of good or evil that results from the act.  This is not Catholic moral theology. 

There is Right and there is Wrong.  The physical and/or moral torture of another human being is always wrong.  Nothing can change this, most especially appeals to consequentialist/utilitarian considerations.

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Your generic news report

. . .the only thing missing is the "Blame Bush" meme and a gratuitous slap at Tea Partiers.  NB.  The "f-bomb" is dropped once.  Brits use this word more freely and with less negative reaction than we do.

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What is fulfilled in your hearing?

Finally!  Better late than never, I guess. . .

3rd Sunday OT: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

History is prophecy fulfilled. While history looks back at events, prophecy looks forward to well-ordered possibilities. When possibility becomes reality, we see prophecy most clearly. Pushed by our history and pulled by prophecy, our lives unfold in the tidal forces of what has been and what what will be. (No doubt this is why we often feel dragged under and swirled to dizziness!) With the unchangeable past under us and the vast expanse of what could be above us, is it any wonder that we turn to prophecy for both hope and direction? And that is the purpose of prophecy: to give us a living sense that our existence is not futile, to provide our wandering hearts with a path to follow. What's revealed by God's prophets is not a detailed road map or a spiritual GPS, but rather a broadly drawn outline of His providential care for us. Acting with (or against) this plan, we help to unfold (or wrinkle) His plan, and in doing so, we benefit (or suffer) accordingly. Even the most cursory glance at our history reveals that blessing and prosperity follow obedience. And sin is its own punishment. When Jesus reads aloud the messianic prophecy from Isaiah and proclaims to his listeners that the prophecy is fulfilled in their hearing, he changes history. Not just the possibilities for the future but the hard-set events of the past as well. From the word of creation spoken over the void, the promise of the coming Messiah sweeps human history, informing, shaping, pushing, and pulling. What was fulfilled in their hearing? Everything that has gone before and everything to come: the arrival of the Word made flesh among us.

The arrival of the Word as Man is both prophecy and history. Foretold and remembered, Christ is delivered to God's people as the fulfillment of a promise made long ago. Looking back, as Jesus does in the temple that day, we can read the signs of his coming—the long awaited King, the servant who suffers for us, the Anointed who serves and rules as a priest and prophet. Think of a triangle, pointing upward. Now, imagine another triangle turned upside-down so that the points of the two triangles touch—an hourglass figure. The bottom triangle is our salvation history, the record of God's promises to His people, the ancient narrative of His word and deed among us. The top triangle is prophecy, what's to come for the Church while we strive to live as one Body. Where the points meet is the arrival of the Word made flesh—that day on the calendar when prophecy became history. Now, scroll the bottom triangle up so that the history of the Church is transformed into the Church's future as it passes through the Christ. Neither triangle is emptied, neither triangle is exhausted. There is always more history, always more prophecy. . .until the coming the Kingdom.

Now, who sits at the transformative point between the historical past and the prophetic future? Christ, certainly. But in what form? The Son of God took on human flesh to become like one of us. He suffered, died, and was resurrected to sit at the Father's right hand. Yet, he is with us still. He is still with us in the Eucharist, Body and Blood. He is with us still as the Church, the Body and Blood, constituted by her individual members. In the eternity of heaven, Christ sits at the transformative point. Within the history of Man, his Church occupies that crucial spot. For us, here on earth, progressing in spiritual perfection, it is the Body of Christ, the Church, that mediates our salvation history into our prophetic future. As we draw in more and more of our past through the Church, we bring to completion more and more of our future. Today—right here, right now—prophecy is fulfilled in our hearing.

If the Church is to be who and what she was created to be, we, her members, must be who and what we were created and re-created to be. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.” Though distinct in our gifts and ministries, our purpose is singular. Though individuals talents, we collect our talents to produce a single work: to be the sacrament of Christ that shows the world his victory and makes that victory real. Each of us is a unique sign of Christ's love. And all of us together live as a Sign of his love. We contribute our treasures and take from the treasury what we lack. Without the Church our individual deficiencies remain deficiencies. Without our individual contributions, the Church is poorer and if the Church is poorer, so are we. And if we are poor, how can we contribute? Can you see the vicious circle? The cycle of vice that supplants the progress of virtue?

We can ask ourselves what prophecy was fulfilled in our hearing today? The better question is what prophetic word have we spoken today, what prophetic work have we done today that fulfills the Father's promise of eternal love? What have you contributed to the Church's treasury today that a brother or sister in Christ lacks? What talent are you hoarding? Are you withholding a gift that weakens the Church's ministry to shape a future in mercy and love? If we see ourselves as the collective mechanism whereby God's promises are made manifest in human history, what have we done, what are we doing, what have we vowed to do to be the healthiest, strongest, most vital Body that we can be? What is missing from the treasury that yourself lack? Do you wonder: who in the Church is clinging to the wealth I need to be who God made and re-made me to be? 

None of us can claim to possess the strength of the whole Church by ourselves. But we all share in her weaknesses. If you find this to be an occasion for despair, hear again Nehemiah's admonition to God's people: “Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!”

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On the Church & T0rture*

from the Catechism:

2297 [. . .] Torture which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity. Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.

2298 In times past, cruel practices were commonly used by legitimate governments to maintain law and order, often without protest from the Pastors of the Church, who themselves adopted in their own tribunals the prescriptions of Roman law concerning torture. Regrettable as these facts are, the Church always taught the duty of clemency and mercy. She forbade clerics to shed blood. In recent times it has become evident that these cruel practices were neither necessary for public order, nor in conformity with the legitimate rights of the human person. On the contrary, these practices led to ones even more degrading. It is necessary to work for their abolition. We must pray for the victims and their tormentors.

* I have to use the zero in torture b/c the ridiculous nanny filter software the Vatican server uses won't let me open this post again if I spell it correctly.  I couldn't even use the searchable Catechism using the word as a search term!  The university & priory uses the Vatican server, thus we are subject the filter.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

B.O. demagoguing over the recent Supreme Court decision to invalidate McCain-Feingold.  For a former constitutional law professor, B.O. seems woefully ignorant of the basics.   Also, the S.C.'s credibility with the American electorate is far, far higher than the Won's.  He might want to back off.

". . .a shocking lack of decorum. . ." and a really dumb political move.  The amateur hour continues a pace.

Anti-ACORN filmmaker wasn't out to wiretap.  There's more to this story. . .

The Diocese of Phoenix strengthens regs for marriage prep.  This is an excellent idea.  As our culture continues to trivialize marriage, the Church is called upon to sharpen its focus on the sacramental nature of the bond. 

More on the perils of demanding ironclad definitions in the pursuit of virtue.  Definitions function as semantic limits on how words are properly used in a language's grammar.   A definition will change as a word's usage changes.  Few people nowadays declare themselves "gay" when they mean "happy."  The demand that "torture" be given a fixed definition is dangerous precisely for this reason.  What counts as torture today may not count as torture tomorrow.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

Bishop Jose S. Vasquez appointed as ordinary for the Diocese of Austin.  Excellent choice.  I met the good bishop while serving as a deacon in Houston.  He came to the priory to visit a sick friar who had preceded him as pastor in a parish in San Angelo.  His respect for our elderly brother was exemplary.  Very impressive.

Activist behind the ACORN pimp/prostitute video stings has been arrested for trying to wiretap the office of a LA Senator.  If convicted, he and his friends will spend ten years in jail.  If this allegation is true:  dumb, just plain dumb.

Socialist experiment in Israel bends toward private property rights.  This happens in religious life as well.  Communitarianism (the model for religious life) is not socialism, but sometimes the drum beat of "community life" can drown out the fruitful contributions of the individual.  As always, there's a via media that balances both community and the individual.  It ain't easy.

On facing east at the altar.  I think this is going to catch on big time in the RCC.  There's no problem here really, but the people in the pews need to be properly and thoroughly catechized about the why's of doing it.  Ad hoc changes are always a bad idea.

Personhood Initiative in Kansas.  On the face of it, amending the Constitution to recognize the personhood of the fetus seems like a good idea.  But we need to be careful and think through the legal implications of doing so.  Yes, it would make abortion a crime.  But would it open mothers to lawsuits by grown children for failing to eat properly, for drinking/smoking while pregnant, for knowingly bringing a child into an abusive home, etc.?  Lawyers are very creative.  Caution. 

Paralyzed for want of a definition:  Tom K. busts the wafflers on "torture."  Just in case there's a question. . .the Church is against it. 

Apparently, if there's any doubt in your mind that your baby will grow up to be anything other than the Next Einstein, the Next Mozart or NFL quarterback, you should just kill it.  Do we really need anymore pedophile rapists?

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Poets to Read (two lists): UPDATED

Per a reader request:  Fr. Philip's Modern/Contemporary [American] Poetry Recommendations!

Modern (deceased)

Hart Crane
Robert Lowell
Amy Clampitt (formal)
Denise Levertov
Louise Bogan
Marianne Moore
Wallace Stevens (difficult)
Sylvia Plath
James Wright

Contemporary (living)

John Ashbury (difficult)
Louise Gluck
Charles Wright
Franz Wright (Catholic)
Eric Pankey (Anglican)
Robert Hass
Mark Jarman (Christian)
W. S. Merwin
Jack Gilbert
Jorie Graham (very difficult)
Edward Hirsch

Great Mod/Cont Poets Who Aren't from the U.S.

Eavan Boland (Irish)
Seamus Heaney (Irish)
Rainer Maria Rilke (German)
Charles Baudelaire (French)
Octavio Paz (Mexican)
Pablo Neruda (Chile)
Anna Akhmatova (Russian)

The Poetry Foundation has an excellent collection of poems searchable by author, subject, school, date, etc.  

NB.  The exclusion of a poet from these lists does not mean that I don't like their work.  These are all listed off the top of my head.  I don't have my poetry library with me.  Like wine and movies, poets tend to attract devout followers and detractors.  Some poets we can all agree are Worthies even if we don't care for their work (e.g., W. C. Williams).  Some poets are so absolutely basic to the American voice that they must be read in order to understand everything that follows:  Whitman & Dickinson.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing (Mini-edition)

Words and phrases that drive progressive Catholics crazy.  I nominate "Dominus Iesus."  Drove some of my seminary professors nuts!

Like, um, ya know. . .it's like I dunno, true?  An inarticulate generation. 

Are pro-abortion women at war with their biology?



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No spirit of cowardice among us

Timothy & Titus: Readings

Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP

SS. Domenico e Sisto, Roma

We are not born again of water so that we might wither and die in a spirit of cowardice. The spirit that binds us to one another in the Church and the Church to Christ is the spirit of power, love, and self-control—the Holy Spirit of God, the same Spirit that set the apostles on fire at Pentecost and gave birth to the Church. Hiding in the Upper Room, fearing for their lives, Christ's followers were spiritual refugees, dissidents and heretics, outcasts from their temple and rebels against the Empire. Their Teacher was dead, and though resurrected from the tomb, he had yet to fulfill his promise to send a spirit of consolation and guidance. They were weak, scared witless, desolate, and completely without a purpose. When the Holy Spirit descended upon them, they were transformed as bearers of the Word to the world, set aflame with a zeal for preaching and teaching, for witnessing and healing. And they knew—Christ has promised it—they knew that their ministry in the spirit would see them once again cast out and persecuted. But rather than gather again to complain about these injustices or plot a strategy for dominance, they went out and did what they were ordered to do: they lived lives of power, love, and self-control. In the presence of opposition to the gospel, even outright hostility or violence, do we bear witness to this spirit, or do we live cowardly lives of silence?

In a homily on Paul's second letter to Timothy, the great Patristic preacher, St. John Chrysostom, says, “. . .if we were soldiers of this world, and waged an earthly war, the chains that confine our hands would [serve to restrain us]. But now God has made us such that nothing can subdue us. For our hands are bound, but not our tongue, since nothing can bind the tongue but cowardice and unbelief alone.” Had we been charged by Christ to subdue the political powers of the world, it would be enough to throw us in jail as violent prisoners of war. Unable to kill our enemies from behind bars, the war for the Kingdom would have been quickly ended. Our courage, steadfastness, and determination would have been wasted and ultimately footnoted in history as just another zealous Judean uprising against Rome. Fortunately, as St John preaches, though our hands can be chained by the enemy, our tongue cannot. Only we can bind our witness; only we can silence the Word we have been given to speak.

If we are silent, suppressing the spirit of courage we have been given, are we silent b/c of cowardice or unbelief? What do we fear? Why would we not believe? There is a certain clarity to fear. Being afraid provides a straight path, a downhill run. For example, the discomfort we may feel in preaching the gospel is easily avoided, simply ignored. Just be quiet. Don't speak. No one is offended. No one is harmed. Everything remains as it always has been. And we can continue to enjoy the esteem of family and friends. Disbelieving is more difficult but no less effective in silencing the gospel. Love is really just being polite. Mercy is really just overlooking sin. Faith is really just a wild gamble against the inevitable, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best. Disbelieving is a cowardly way to pick and choose easy victories over our equally disbelieving enemy. It's fighting for the other side.

Paul writes to Timothy, “. . .bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.” What is this strength? Yes, it's the spirit of power, love, and self-control, the Holy Spirit given to the Church, the Body that Christ himself identifies when he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Are we brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers of the Son? If so, we will do the will of God, setting aside cowardice and stirring up the Spirit that gives us life and strength and, finally, even victory over death.

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Coffee Bowl Browsing

National Book Critics award nominees announced.  I'm only familiar with three of the poets (Louise Gluck is one of my top ten living American poets) and none of the rest.  Been out of the lit business too long.

Ed Driscoll has a great round-up of various "They Warned Us He Wasn't Ready" essays.

More on the difference btw men and women.  This time it's the difference btw husbands and wives.

On recruiting Islamic terrorists in the U.K.

A Brit visits the Platonic Form of All American Mega-Churches:  Saddleback Church.  Takeaway immpression?  ". . .the butt end of Christianity: stripped of history and icon­ography, wholly immersed in its secular surroundings. . ."  Ouch.  The writer notes that research indicates that communities like Saddleback are the future of American religion.  Wrong.  They are just the latest fad.  When a church polls its "market" and relies on "occasional attenders," things will not go well in the future.

Is voodoo the answer to Haiti's problems or the cause? 

BXVI to priests:  "Blog, Fathers!  Blog!"  Been there, doing that since 2005, Your Holiness.  :-)

Sister Mary and Sister Martha buy some beer. (via New Advent)

Death Wish:  on why we in the West are obsessed with apocalyptic scenarios.  Apparently, global warming and global jihad are the two dominant scenarios at the moment.  No mention of the Zombie Apocalypse. . .no doubt the Zombies are paying this guy off to keep quiet.

Apostolic Visitator asks sisters to cooperate with her mission.  NB.  don't read the comments if you are easily provoked by nonsense.

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