March 2009 Archives

Caveat: New readers should understand that my interest in religion is broad. Look at the sidebar. I have an MA in Church History from an historically Protestant university. My thesis was on the uses of Scripture in the discussions about greater roles for women in 19th century American Protestantism. I blog on what interests me, and generally try to explain why it interests me. Sometimes that interest bounces up against Catholicism, sometimes not.

I am so very intrigued by this latest from Saddleback, Rick Warren's church.

Short version: Warren wants to bring 3,000 new members into Saddleback on Saturday:

Citing the Bible, Warren challenges prospective believers to match the 3,000 who were baptized 2,000 years ago on the day of Pentecost. "If you'll join us this weekend, history could be repeated at Saddleback," he said.
 
"I was asked, 'Rick, if you could wish for anything to celebrate your 30 years of service at Saddleback, what would you dream of?' I said, to experience a repeat of Pentecost - and see 3,000 people affirm their faith and join our church family on a single day.' "

Screenshot from Pastor Warren's page announcing the why and how on the post extension. Go here for the details.

Over in Rome there's a meeting going on of a commission on the Church in China:

The commission that meets today in the Vatican till Thursday includes some 30 people, superiors and members of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples as well as representatives of the Chinese episcopate like Card Joseph Zen of Hong Kong, his coadjutor Mgr John Tong Hon, Mgr Jose Lai Hung-seng of Macao, Mgr John Hung Shan-chuan of Taipei and Mgr Bosco Lin Chi-nan of Tainan (Taiwan).

The meeting, which was announced in the Osservatore Romano, will also include discussions "on important and current religious questions."

Asia News reports on increased harassment:

The Commission for the Catholic Church in China began its second meeting today in the Vatican. In the meantime in China believers and members of the underground Church are subjected to ever more repression with several bishops and priests under arrest and tighter controls on state-controlled Churches

Sources told AsiaNews that the squeeze is on underground communities in Hebei province near Beijing (home to the highest concentration of Catholics in the country), including on people who meet just to celebrate Mass.

In fact a few days ago, 55-year-old Fr Paul Ma, a priest in Dung Lü, was arrested for celebrating the Eucharist with a few underground parishioners.

Members of his congregation are concerned about his fate because he has heart condition and is not likely to get treatment whilst in detention.

Controls and arrests are up because of the coming anniversary of the death of Mgr Joseph Fan Xueyan, bishop of Baoding, who was killed by police in 1992. The faithful traditionally visit his grave and organise prayers in memory of the martyr.

After decades in concentration camps, Bishop Fan was seized by police in early 1992. On 13 April of that year police reported him dead, his body showing torture marks, left at night stuffed in a plastic bag on the front door of relatives.

Sources told AsiaNews that two other bishops from the underground Church have been missing for a number of years lost somewhere in police custody with nothing known about their fate.

Thanks to Clayton Emmer in the comments (Clayton blogs here at "Weight of Glory") who alerts us to the CNS article noting that the Holy Cross superior general has written to President Obama:

The head of the Holy Cross religious order that founded the University of Notre Dame has written to U.S. President Barack Obama and asked him to rethink his positions on abortion and other life issues.

U.S. Father Hugh W. Cleary, Holy Cross superior general in Rome, said that when Obama receives an honorary degree from the Indiana university and delivers the commencement address in May, he should take to heart the objections of Catholics who have been scandalized by the invitation.

Father Cleary asked the president to use the occasion to "give your conscience a fresh opportunity to be formed anew in a holy awe and reverence before human life in every form at every stage -- from conception to natural death."

The 13-page letter, dated March 22, was made available to Catholic News Service in Rome. Father Cleary also prepared an abridged version of the text as an "open letter" to the president, which was expected to be published on the Web site of America magazine.

Well, back to President Obama and Notre Dame for a moment.

The Catholic Channel on Sirius/XM or whatever it is now, features the radio stylings of Greg and Jennnifer WillIts - the "Catholics Next Door" - midday. Greg and Jennifer are a story in themselves, having put themselves, their time and their resources in the Lord's hands via several apostolates - beginning (I think) with the Rosary Army ("Make them - pray them - give them away"),  then with their podcasts with SQPN - which is a rich place to find a variety of Catholiic-themed new media efforts that reflect the diversity and energy of Catholicism and then to their short but very good series of DVDs called "That Catholic Show" in which they explain certain basics of Catholic teaching and practice - very good resources for faith formation of teens and adults.

....and now they're on the Catholic Channel!

The reason I mention it is because last week Greg and Jennifer interviewed Dr. Scott Appleby, professor of history at Notre Dame,  The podcast of the interview - which runs about 30 minutes - is available here.

There are few moments in which the exchange gets a bit heated - but not too much. Dr. Appleby concedes a couple of points, graciously, but does spend time articulating what seems to becoming the central talking point of defenders of the decision.

The Boar's Head Tavern is an interesting place, and one that makes me a little crazy at times.

It's a group blog, peopled by ...all sorts of people, including, God bless him, even a Catholic at this point.

It makes me crazy because much of the conversation is reliably anti-Papist, sometimes in an pseudo- informed way, and sometimes in just a JerkFace way -although some parties here and there try to moderate that tone - but the conversations are stimulating nonetheless..even though it's hard to tell the players apart at times, even if you concentrate.

Over the past few days, the conversation has been dominated by the matter of miracles, inspired by TommyMertonHead's posting of a link from a fellow who has tried Orthodoxy for a bit, but was finally turned off by the miracles:

Overindulging this kind of skepticism really does push me toward atheism. What happened to me while sitting in the service is that the skeptical part of my brain was blazing ahead at full steam. I'm just thinking, "Yeah, she doesn't have the power to do that for you, no, that picture doesn't give you a portal to another dimension, no, that story is pure fiction, no, that stuff doesn't have any magic powers," and so on. As a result, I walked out of the service feeling malcontent with Christianity in general (since this sort of thing is endemic in Christian history) and wondering if the entire faith isn't just a bunch of myth and superstition. I just need to not be in that kind of environment.

I don't believe that fiction is good for faith. I've heard, "Oh, sure, the Shroud of Guadalupe is no more than a nice painting, and Juan Diego never existed, but it enhances people's devotion, so there's no need to do anything about it." That seems really dishonest to me. First of all, if your devotion is based on something fake, you're better off un-devoted. Second of all, there are lots of people who are inclined to dispense with the faith entirely when they discover that 90% of what you've been feeding them is a lie. I know I feel that way. When I hear someone acknowledge that this story or that miracle was totally bogus, but say it's fine for us to pretend it happened and build our faith on it, I just want to join the ranks of the godless.

The Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge has unanimously elected a new dean, Dr. Katherine Ragsdale. Chris Johnson at the Midwest Conservative Journal posts:How radically pro-abortion is Katie Rags?  This radically pro-abortion:And when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive,...

Inside Catholic reports on the latest regarding Kansas Governor Sebelius:The bishops of Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, confirmed publicly they would uphold the declaration of her ordinary, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, stating that Governor Sebelius should not present...

Well, people...here we are on the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Or Passion Sunday. The beginning of Passiontide.What did you see and hear?Veiled statuary?(In case you are wondering about that tradition, Fr. John Zuehlsdorf has a nice explanation here.  What I...

I made my way to Mass on Sunday morning, my way was blocked by runners. At every turn. The route was confusing enough because of massive, radical road destruction and construction, and now added to the mix were blue and...

The big news coming out of England and the Anglican world today is the early resignation of BIshop Michael Al-Azir or Rochester. Ruth Gledhill reports. The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church's only Asian bishop, who is just...

I am on the road, and writing on a strange computer with annoying monitor resolution that I can't seem to fix, so I'll just gather up a few links here. I hope tonight, I'll be able to pull some coherent...

One of the things I want to do - once the thank you notes are done - and there are a ton - both for those who have written to me via snail mail with notes and Mass cards, those...

I have to do a bit of traveling today, so the normal Friday book discussion  - of the Spirit of Catholicism, chapter 2 - will have to wait until tomorrow. I didn't plan ahead. Sorry. But you can read the...

The USCCB Committee on doctrine has issued a statement on Reiki - a not uncommon offering at various Catholic retreat centers and other places. It's a pdf document, but if you're interested, go to the trouble of opening it up...

Tom Peters at American Papist has posted the text of a letter that Bishop Olmsted of Phoenix sent to Fr. Jenkins of Notre Dame. Strong stuff....

Or whoever.Michael's death has certainly prompted a great deal of theological and spiritual pondering on my part. In fact, I find secular grief-related materials of little help to me - as much as I appreciate people sending them to me....

I want to pull a comment from below and use it to focus discussion:Although Kevin Jones's argument was a devil advocate's argument, I think it holds up. Barak Obama is OUR president. He is my president, he is your president....

The Vatican has posted the Pope's itinerary for his visit to the Holy Land in May. It's in Italian at this moment (I'll post an English link later when the VIS notice comes out) - but here it is. Update: ...

A commenter below asked about the best-selling book The Shack. I've been asked about it before, but have to declare, "No comment" because I haven't read it. Another commenter - who's a perfesser of something religious - answered the query:in my...

I keep asking for a reasoned, principled defense of President Obama's role as commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient at Notre Dame, but it's just not happening yet. Unless I've missed it, which is thoroughly possible.The best I can find...

Target sees a lot of me these days. It's just down the road a mile or so. It's a Super Target. It's big and clean and bright and very Targety. You know. Crisp and uncluttered, bright red flashing in your...

Here you go:(I am on the run - not able to comment right now.)March 24, 2009 On Friday, March 21, Father John Jenkins, CSC, phoned to inform me that President Obama had accepted his invitation to speak to the graduating...

I appreciate all of the Liturgy of the Hours and don't know where I would be spiritually right now without it - perhaps deep in a dark well of solipsism and unfocused sadness, I would think. The Office of Readings...

Well, actually there is no book. And guess there's no "letter" either. Or is there? I got pretty confused about that, but I gather that it was a fake - that Roman had been generating this documents for years and...

A wrap-up of sorts. I was trying to wait to see if Bishop D'Arcy had a statement today, but nothing yet, so here goes.(Update: John Norton at OSV reports that D'Arcy's statement will come Tuesday morning.)I didn't do a massive...

If anyone viewing this page spots the contraceptive ad banner, go ahead and grab a screenshot and the page source if you can, and send it to me. We're going to try to do something about it.Many thanks....

On Saturday around noon, I went downtown to the Cathedral to Mass.I'm not kidding when I tell you that I'm pretty sure that I was one of two women in the congregation of about 150-175.Whoever she was, I was glad...

As I noted below, Dr. Mary Ann Glendon will be the very deserving recipient of this year's Laetare Medal, presented by the University of Notre Dame:Established at Notre Dame in 1883, the Laetare Medal was conceived as an American counterpart...

A new Bishop of Oakland has been named - it is Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, Auxiliary of San Diego, moving from southern to northern California. ...

(Note to self: Movable Type's auto-save is not functional unless you have actually saved the post first. Let's try this again. And not accidentally close the browser this time.)So today was Laetare Sunday. How did your parish celebrate? And what...

One of Beliefnet's other Catholic bloggers - David Gibson - posts on the Pope's homily in Africa, taking on the issue of supersition:As I pull together some thoughts on this theme, I am wondering if there is an easy definition...

Give it to me.(Update: And while I really do appreciate the discussion so far...I was serious. Supporters of the choice...tell me why it's a good choice.)Here's an arguments against, from the comments box:My heart is breaking at this invitation and...

I feel as if I am living in (at least) five levels of reality. Or if not "reality" - then...existence? Time?I'm not sure.First is the far past, the past before Michael died. That is both vivid and dreamlike. It is...

I pulled this from Michael's files today. It was an article he wrote for New Covenant magazine, and was published in the February 1995 issue. I scanned it, so blame typos on glitches I missed in the transferring.When I was...

Pope Benedict XVI's homily today at Mass with religious in Angola:(That single sentence, bolded below, struck me. It is the opposite of making idols of what is not God. Making God subject to us.) As we have just heard, the...

No, it's not a sexy choice, but when I read this book last year for the first time, I was struck by Adam's unique vision, the clear impact his thought had on Ratzinger, and the contemporary resonance. I'm not going...

President Obama will be Notre Dame's commencement speaker.President Bush was the commencement speaker in 2001.Should either have been invited?Neither?One or the other?...

On the feast day of St. Joseph, our little crew gathered in the backyard of an empty house, looking out on a soggy, brown, still dormant yard.St. Joseph had been important to us, to Michael. He always saw St....

This is a thought problem, not a theological or canonical statement.A thought problem. Thinking through things in light of theology, ecclesiology and history.The Catholic Church's process and grounds for excommunication comes up with regularity, mostly in relation to ordinations and...

One of the things most of us should have learned a long time ago is that it is not exactly wise to comment too quickly on any story the minute it comes across the Interweb wires, especially if that story...

As we continue to be bored with the bleating of the ideological and misinformed (because it's one thing to disagree with another person, including the Pope, but it's another thing altogether to just be silly about it), the Pope just...

On Friday, we'll begin the discussion of Karl Adam's The Spirit of Catholicism.Check out the original post here. I have so many books waiting to be read...I think I am almost to a point where I can do so. I...

Yesterday, Pope Benedict began his journey to Africa, for a visit to two countries: Cameroon and Angola. The visit continues until Monday. The journey is going to be busy but a relatively quiet one - that it, not marked by...

Although I won't be as coy as she is......

I have only the slightest bit of Irish blood in me - part of that Scotch-Irish mix that emerges, I think, somewhere in the 18th century over here. The maternal French-Canadian half courses a little stronger, which should probably put...

A week ago today, President Obama reversed the Bush policy on embryo-destructive stem cell research. Predictably, and no surprise.(By the way, I was not a fan of the Bush decision. I somehow couldn't find it as awesomely Solomonic as some...

Third Sunday of Lent Edition(Reminder: this thread isn't just for liturgical churches or even just Christians. If you attended a religious service this weekend...what happened?Update:  Thank you for the responses - they are lovely. We have heard from Latin Rite...

...After which we will stop TVBlogging for a week, since I have completely lost track of Lost and there is nothing else I watch.Well, well - they showed the Endowment ceremony, and I have to say, concerns about some sort...

I first heard about this show - miniseries? - a while back, but it had flown off my radar until today when my daughter said, "Hey that Kings show starts tonight." The concept is intriguing, as is the cast. Well,...

Much has been made, since the remission of the SSPX episcopal excommunications, of the Vatican's communications issues.In fact I have made much of it myself. (Check this post, in which I run down some problems from the past as well.)There's...

"Well," I thought as Lent approached. "I am pretty sure all of this does not apply to me, this year, at least. After all, haven't I given up enough already?"When I pondered it further, my reaction reminded me a bit...

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's Saturday, genius.You might remember how a few days back I declared that this would be the week I rolled out my daily features. What happened with that, anyway?What happened was that my friend Dorothy...

Or at least before I attempt lengthy posts on Benedict XVI and Vatican II.Because I'd discover that Edward T.  Oakes, SJ had done the heavy lifting over there: I sincerely hope that Benedict's frank examination will lead to a similar...

It's a question I get quite a bit,understandably. And it is something I am a little unsure aboutJoseph is a few weeks away from being 8, Michael is 4.It was, of course, what I dreaded the most - telling Joseph.I...

All right, let's get back to Pope Benedict. Back to the letter he penned to the world's bishops about this SSPX business, reminding them that no, he's not turning back Vatican II, and everyone needs to just calm down, forget...

James Hitchcock has a thought-provoking piece over at Inside Catholic taking on the ChesterBelloc apologetics heritage:It is the Catholic view that heretics seize a truth and enlarge and distort it to the point where it becomes an error, rather as...

What's going to be dramatized on this weekend's Big Love is still not completely known - the basic plot is that Barb, who was raised traditional LDS, is brought up for excommunication. The image from the episode that was published...

I'm just going to go through the letter and offer some reflections.Even though many Bishops and members of the faithful were disposed in principle to take a positive view of the Pope's concern for reconciliation, the question remained whether such...

Today, the Vatican released a text of a letter written by the Pope to the world's bishops - the text was leaked yesterday, but here's the official text from the Vatican website.  Why did the Pope write a letter? Simply...

My apologies for slow blogging - apologies to Beliefnet, especially! It has been a busy week, but I hope after today my days will clear up a bit and I can blog on Obama, Scientism, Abortion...and the letter responding to...

There's been a lot of virtual ink spilled over the latest results from the American Religious Identification Survey, released yesterday.The results, summarized by Cathy Lynn Grossman at USAToday: • So many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from...

This past week's episode of Big Love didn't rock the way the previous two eps did, but it was still very good, with several great moments - the creepiness of the funeral with the deceased Kathy's twin in attendance, Wanda...

Just a couple of reminders:First, if you want to catch up and begin to understand recent events, go to the February archives and read the entries. There are not that many.Secondly, I have moved the very-popular blogroll page from Charlotte...

I try - and indeed have always tried - not to engage in too much imaginative thinking on this score. There have been times in the past in which I have been asked to review books purporting to explain what...

This Second Sunday of Lent - Putting Abraham to the test, If God is for us, who can be against...the Transfiguration...At the Mass I attended, the homily focused on the Transfiguration, and the importance of listening to Jesus, as God...

I am rather impressed with the irony. That our parish for the last few months, since moving here, is Our Lady of Sorrows, and that when I go to Mass now, the enormous pieta on the wall behind the altar...

 I hesitate to write a post like this because more often than not it prompts a concerned phone call from my dad.Don't worry!But these are just a couple of things I understand now that were in a foreign language to...

Pope Benedict has been on retreat over the past week, a retreat led by Cardinal Arinze - it ended today. Because of that, there was no General Audience talk on Wednesday, and not a lot of papal news.One piece of...

(At some point I will start thinking of nifty titles. In order to garner a lot of hits through searches, I imagine many will need to include "Britany Spears" or "Brangelina" or perhaps even.."Obama!")So, Big Love has been terrific this...

One of the most popular pages on my other blog was the blogroll page. On a daily basis, it had more hits than anything else.Well......

I want to tell you what happened on February 3.I can already hear Michael. "Why do you write about my stuff?" He would say. "Write about your own stuff. You've got enough."So I will....

Well, this gig is turning out to a bit more challenging than I thought.Oh, I'm sure in a few more days, I'll be fully in the swing  of it, but right now, I'm stuck.Why?Let's see.....

Beliefnet has moved a lot of my archives over now - they're available over there on the right.If you are new to me and recent events, just go to February, scroll down to February 3 and work your way up....

A couple of weeks ago, a memorial Mass for Michael was held here in Birmingham at the Cathedral. The bishop presided and offered a very nice, even charming homily in which he first focused on the Scripture readings of the...

Why am I the only person I know..or even "know" in the Internet sense of "knowing"  - who didn't hate it? I didn't love it, either. There was a lot wrong with it. Weak characterization. Miscasting. Anvil-wielding mentally ill prophets.But...

No, I'm not going to ask you about your Lenten reading lists...although I might.Not today, though. This post is about giving books to others. For Lent, and a long time after that....

How about....because I'm lame and hate thinking up titles to things? No?Okay...how about...St. Benedict?...

I don't know about you, but one of effects of childbirth on me was a compulsion to spill the details. All of them.The whole thing was fascinating to me, so of course I assumed everyone else should be fascinated as...

Many thanks for the kind comments so far. I am a little shaky on my feet here, which surprises me. I am not sure why. I am conscious of trying to strike the right balance. And, in other news that...

I'm changing blogging gears. Patience please, people. Life changes, right? Here you go - visit early and often, and bring your smart, insightful and sensible comments along...please!...

Well, here we go again. Again.I should probably give a prize to those who have been reading my blogs since 2001 - you certainly deserve it.Yes, that's "blogs." In Between Naps, Open Book, Charlotte Was Both and now, in selling...

...apparently not. March 1 in Birmingham... Yes, it snowed here last night and well into this morning. Was it predicted? I have no idea- I'd spent Thursday and Friday watching rain storms coming and arriving, and then slacked off...