Les Provences Rouge & Bleu

The final vote in France's referendum was %57-43, actually. A blow-out. RC2 is fascinated by the county-by-county breakdown (Curtsy to Ninme). Notice the sea of red? Could the majority of France actually be Gesu-land, too --just like Nebraska?

For his part, Mssr. Chirac has responded to his humiliating defeat the way any sensible politician would: by elevating Dominique de Villepin to the position of Prime Minister. Yes, that de Villepin. The original and chief weasel from the Axis of Weasels. Mdme. Chirac reportedly calls him Nero. Draw your own conclusions.

Project Snowflake

Did you catch the wonderful photo-op the President did a few days ago at the White House? Explaining why he would veto the bill permitting creation of embryos for experimentation, the President stood with some 20 kids who were once frozen embryos and had been adopted through Operation Snowflake. The W. Post has an article this morning about a potential rift between Evangelicals and Catholics over frozen embryo adoption. They aren't wrong about there being no definitive word from the Vatican over the practice, but do you sense the Post is just a little too eager to find a rift among pro-lifers? Or is RC2 too cynical?

It's above her pay-grade to decide the question, but just for the record, it is far from clear that Benedict will rule against embryo adoption, contrary to the expectation of the story. Worthy and trusted theologians have taken both sides of the question. (Here's a good article on the matters at stake. RC2 is of a mind to support such adoption, but not so foolish as to try to jump authoritatively into a matter on which Bill May & Msgr. Smith disagree!)

Fruitful Collaboration Between Parishes & New Movements

RC2 suggests guidelines for happy collaboration between movements & parishes:

1). Vocations are not a zero sum game. No diocese is threatened by vocations to religious orders or vice versa. First, vocations are not interchangeable, but spirituality-specific. The closer one gets to religious orders (at least faithful ones), the more one sees the profound difference in calling between religious priesthood and diocesan priesthood. Second, a rising tide lifts all boats --the witness of a young person sacrificing himself or herself to persue any authentic vocation will spur generosity in others by example. Third, the Holy Spirit often uses attraction to one kind of a vocation as a means of discerning another --as witness the fact that orders such as the Legion of Christ, Missionaries of Charity, etc., send far more men to diocesan seminaries after "come and see" opportunities than they do to their own seminaries. It is small-minded and probably un-Christian to consider any legitimate work of the Holy Spirit a threat to one's own ecclesial or parish community.

1a.) Nevertheless, a little friendly rivalry is healthy because competition spurs all concerned to heights of achievement (in this case, more holiness, good works and vocations).

2). It takes all kinds to make a heaven. Remember the advice of Gamaliel in Acts 5? Not everything that you do not understand or find not to your taste is therefore malicious, suspicious, unorthodox, unfaithful, heretical or dangerous. Try to collaborate with others when you can. If differing styles or perspectives make that impossible, leave it at that. Unless he is openly preaching against the faith, leave another person his good name and let him work without comments from you, or as Gamaliel said, "You may find yourself working against God." Presumably the Spirit has raised all these different realities for a reason, no? Let others cultivate their own fields.

3). Respect the pastor's grace of state. Not every worthwhile project is the right worthwhile project for that parish at that time, and a praying pastor is likely to know better than anyone else what God's priority is for the parish he has been given to lead. Take the time to find out his priorities and see if you can help him accomplish them in some way --rather than hounding him to support the work you feel called to do.

4). If you find the member of a new movement to be overbearing, a good question to ask is, "How long have you been a member?" Generally the most obvious missteps movements make come from the newest, most excitable, and least mature members. A little patience and forgiveness, please.

5). Real Christians don't repeat hearsay. Not about pastors, not about institutions, not about movements, not about anyone. Let your yay mean yay and your nay mean nay. Your "I know someone whose cousin said x" is better kept to yourself. And if something bothers you, have a constructive chat with someone in a position to make changes. Pastors, this includes you. Usually movement members don't mean to push your buttons and a friendly heads-up would be far more productive than speaking ill of people behind their backs.

Perhaps more later.

Movements & Parishes: Great Together?

Happy Feast of the Visitation. RC2 notes with interest that yesterday B16 encouraged the Italian bishops to make their parishes forces of evangelization and missionary zeal, making use of every means at their disposal. To that end, he recommended, "It is very important . . . that communion be reinforced between the parish structures and the various charismatic realities that have arisen in the last decades, amply present in Italy, so that the mission reaches all realms of life."

That parishes and the new movements are not antithetical realities RC2 takes as a given, but it remains the case nevertheless that exactly how the two can work together has yet to be worked out. In close to 20 years observing this relationship (from the perspective of membership in a new movement), she has witnessed instances of fruitful collaboration, but also plenty of occasion for grievance on both sides.

On the one hand she has seen on the part of pastors and DRE's plenty of undue suspicion and clericalism. (RC2 knows of a case, for example, in which a pastor became outraged when he discovered a parishioner --a movement member-- was hosting a Bible study in her own home without his permission! Excuse me, Fr., but do other parishioners need to clear their private activities with you, too --or only the ones who wish to grow in their faith? Is it ok if my husband & I see a movie Friday night? The example is extreme, but the attitude is prevalent).

On the other hand, it must be annoying in the extreme to be giving yourself without measure and with little thanks to a parish for years, only to have a family move into the parish and introduce themselves with the offer, "We're x members, and we'd love to help get this parish in shape." Rare is the pastor or DRE who wouldn't think, "What am I, chopped liver?" when so confronted. And for every movement member who comes on too strong, there are others who make the pastor wonder what they're up to. "Are you a member of X?" he asks. And there's a moment of hesitation. It may indicate nothing more sinister than a desire not to be pigeonholed before one is even known, but in that moment's silence is the death of the pastor's trust.

A little charity and the shared goal of evangelization can overcome these missteps, surely.


Perhaps more interesting is the question of how the parishes will or should evolve. They are designed to meet the spiritual needs of a geographical community, but how well do they work in urban areas where increasingly people (who bother to go to Church) are willing to drive to the parish that has a favorite pastor, a favored rite, a favored style of music, or an activity or community where they feel more at home? It seems to RC2 that this is one area in which B16's caution that structures mustn't outlive their usefulness and JPG's call in Ecclesia in America for "a commitment not to a re-evangelization but to a new evangelization — new in ardor, methods and expression” could fruitfully be born in mind. She is not calling for the abolition of parishes, but for a willingness to think beyond what has always been done.

It's not her idea, by the way. It comes from the aforementioned post-synodal exhortation on the Church in the Americas. In the section on renewing parish life, JPG pointed out (and an exhortation summarizes the consensus of the synod) that especially in urban areas it is impossible for the parish to adequately attend to all the members of a parish in such a way that they feel themselves to be part of a Christian community. The Pope suggests:

"One way of renewing parishes, especially urgent for parishes in large cities, might be to consider the parish as a community of communities and movements. (141) It seems timely therefore to form ecclesial communities and groups of a size that allows for true human relationships. This will make it possible to live communion more intensely, ensuring that it is fostered not only “ad intra”, but also with the parish communities to which such groups belong, and with the entire diocesan and universal Church. In such a human context, it will be easier to gather to hear the word of God, to reflect on the range of human problems in the light of this word, and gradually to make responsible decisions inspired by the all-embracing love of Christ. (142) The institution of the parish, thus renewed, “can be the source of great hope. It can gather people in community, assist family life, overcome the sense of anonymity, welcome people and help them to be involved in their neighborhood and in society”. (143) In this way, every parish, and especially city parishes, can promote nowadays a more person-centered evangelization and better cooperate with other social, educational and community work. (144)"

This is running long, so RC2 will break here with a recommendation that we read or re-read Ecclesia in America. Next post, a few modest suggestions about implementation.

Good Book on Family Life

Probably once a week RC2 is asked to recommend a good book on Catholic family life. Woe to those who ask, because they get her verbal manifesto about all the good books out there --and how they all lead parents astray in some respects. (Note to the Catholic Right: children are not little balls of depravity who must be kept down. Let our Protestant brethren think that; we have infant Baptism instead. Note to the Catholic Left: offering parents a one-size-fits-all formula for "bonding" is not what John Paul II meant by "personalism.")

Reviewing Lit. for the book rack at her parish, RC2 came across Rev. Lawrence Lovasik's 1962 The Catholic Family Handbook, re-issued by Sophia Press. Have not yet read every word, but I like what I have read so far. Realistic, practical, balanced, sensible and un-formulaic, although written pre-Vatican II, you'll be amazed how contemporary it sounds.

Well, Duh & Other Pope News

Remember how the formerly Gray Lady professed not to know Benedict's position on when life began? He clarified it for them today.

Also, the formal cause of canonization for JPG opened yesterday --and they need your help gathering evidence!

Lest We Forget

Click here for the Memorial Day cartoon from The Artist Formally Known As Sam. (Beside it are a couple of filibuster deal cartoons to boot --in case you wonder RC2's opinion).

Memorial Day

"At the grave of a hero we end, not with sorrow at the inevitable loss, but with the contagion of his courage; and with a kind of desperate joy we go back to the fight.''

That's an Oliver Wendell Holmes line, but RC2 learned it from Ronald Reagan. Here's the text where he used it --Memorial Day, 1986, after a wreath-laying at Arlington. Try this link. (Type "Memorial Day" into the search engine & scroll down.)

Here's a Mark Steyn column from last year that in a way makes the same point as the Gipper --but for our times.

Curtsy to the men who fell.

NYT Doesn't Know What Benedict Thinks About When Life Begins

Probably shouldn't be so hard on them when this is actually a good story on the Pope's visit to Bari for a huge open-air mass today. (He re-committed himself to getting the Church to breathe with both lungs as JPG used to say.) But still. What a ridiculous comment.

How Do You Say Nyah-Nyah in French?

By the way, RC2 can't resist noting that she watched the BBC news this evening , and the Beeb newsreaders were positively disconsolate over the vote. Devoted minute upon minute of precious newscast time trying to devise processes to save the Constitution. Wait til the Dutch reject it too in a few days. They will be besotted. More news here.

It's Non! (Oui!)

Is George W's freedom wave going to sweep through Europe, too? Showing there's life in the French yet, no thanks to Mssrs. Chirac and Mitterand, they resoundingly defeated the EU Constitution (55%-45%). They just fear honest competition will lengthen their 6 week work year, you say? Now, now. A blow against post-Christian elitism is still a good thing.

In a democratic process, the French "non" would scuttle the whole Constitution, but the Rotating President has already insisted the other countries must vote anyway and Mark Steyn predicts the elites will have their Constitution, no matter what. We shall see, but for tonight you have permission to drink French wine just for once.

And elections in Lebanon! Another debacle, Al Franken?

For Corpus Christi

Just back from procession at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (adoration 'til 4:00 --how cool!). After outdoor Benediction, the carillon chimed Christus Vincit, Christus Regnat, Christus Imperat. A version I'd never heard before --very solemn and lovely. Had told the Weedlets that a procession is our version of a Triumph, so the bells got 'em in the right mood. Now, in honor of the day, courtesy of George Herbert:

Love Bade Me Welcome
Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back, guiltie of dust and sinne.
But quick-eyed Love observing me grow slack from my first entrance in,
drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning, if I lacked anything.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here: Love said, you shall be he.
I, the unkinde, ungrateful? Ah my deare, I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand and smiling did reply, Who made the eyes but I?

Truth, Lord but I have marr'd them: let my shame go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, sayes Love, who bore the blame? My deare, then I will serve.
You must sit down, sayes Love, and taste my meat: so I did sit and eat.

Eeew.

Remember a few days ago when they told us "It's been a year since we brought same-sex marriage to Massachussetts and nothing bad has happened?" RC2 begs to differ. Here is a link to a post w/ which she heartily agrees. Within the post is a link to a document handed out in Boston to students middle-school aged and above. You are sincerely cautioned not to open said link with kids in the room or at all on the feast of Corpus Christi. It is vile. You have been warned. But if you need further convincing that the "tolerance" the Left has in mind goes way beyond being civil and staying out of other people's bedrooms, here it is.

Eyewitness Account

In a previous post there was a link to Zadok the Roman's pictures of B16s Corpus Christi celebration. Here's his eyewitness account, with several interesting details.

Preparing for Corpus Christi (Pictures!)

Here's more B16 coverage (from when the rest of the world celebrated). Zadok the Roman has pictures of B16 leading the procession. Then there's the full homily (only in Italian, though) and a more complete news story. Her Italian is 1st grade level, but the thrust of the first part of the homily seems to RC2 to be that the Corpus Christi procession is connected to, and a fulfillment of, the Holy Thursday procession. In the latter, the Church accompanies Christ through his night of sorrow, but the spirit of Corpus Christi is that of following the risen Lord who "proceeds us into Galilee."

RC2 likes this:
". . .gli angeli dicono: il Signore "vi precede in Galilea; là lo vedrete" (Mt 28,7). Considerando ciò più da vicino, possiamo dire che questo "precedere" di Gesù implica una duplice direzione. La prima è – come abbiamo sentito – la Galilea. In Israele, la Galilea era considerata come la porta verso il mondo dei pagani. Ed in realtà proprio in Galilea, sul monte, i discepoli vedono Gesù, il Signore, che dice loro: "Andate.. e ammaestrate tutte le nazioni" (Mt 28, 19). L’altra direzione del precedere, da parte del Risorto, appare nel Vangelo di San Giovanni, dalle parole di Gesù a Maddalena: "Non mi trattenere, perché non sono ancora salito al Padre.." (Gv 20, 17). Gesù ci precede presso il Padre, sale all’altezza di Dio e ci invita a seguirlo."

She thinks it means that the Lord is close to us, and "precedes" us in two directions: out into the world (Galilee was Israel's access point to all the pagan cities) when he tells us to "go out and make disciples of all nations;" and up to the Father. In both directions, he invites us to follow him.

It Begins

RC2 remembers two good lines from the last Indiana Jones flick. Escaping Nazi Germany in a blimp, Indiana & his father (Sean Connery) are having a drink. Indiana says something to the effect that his dad was never "there" for him (speaking of anachronistic behavior and dialogue). Which provokes the response, "Do I sense a rebuke?" (Maybe you have to hear Connery deliver it). Connery goes on to say to his adventuresome son, "You left just when you were beginning to get interesting."

Don't take what she is about to say wrong, but she has been wondering when her kids were going to get interesting. (See, you are taking it wrong. Stop.) They are cute and engaging and fascinating and fun and every bit as good as the kids you've read about in the Christmas letters you get every year, and she can hardly look at them without melting and giving 'em "muchos smoochos," as we say in the Weed household. And they've uttered their fair share of "out of the mouths of babes" wisdom.

What she means is that very little kids lack the capacity for wonder. They see sunsets and mountain vistas and respond, "Can I have some Goldfish now?" Today, something new. RC2 took the kids to pick strawberries at a farm this afternoon and her oldest (who just made his 1st communion 2 weeks ago) at one point lifted his eyes to the horizon, stretched and said, "It does make you feel like you live in a free country to look all around you and see nothing but fields, doesn't it?" He's beginning to get interesting!

Are You A Liberated Woman?

Danielle Crittenden asks in print a question RC2 has long asked herself: where are the women's rights groups cheering the liberation of women in Afghanistan & Iraq? Instead of cheering, some --like Erica Jong-- have actually suggested that women under sharia have it better than those in the US. Just for fun, take Crittenden's easy quiz to see how liberated you are. Curtsy to powerline for the link (They have stronger stomachs than RC2. She won't go NEAR the Huffington Post).

Happy Anniversary, B16

Pope Benedict celebrates the 28th anniversary of his episcopal ordination today (May 28th). RC2 used to see felt banners in Churches in the early 80s that read "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song." "Yuck," she thought, "typical hippie feel-good nonsense." Then she discovered this phrase is from St. Augustine. What does this have to do with B16, you ask? Well, he loves St. Augustine ("my companion for 40 years"). He was born & baptized on Easter vigil (a fact he has always considered significant), and his ordination 28 years ago fell on the vigil of Pentecost that year. And he was elevated to the papacy during the Easter season. So: an Easter Pope. Tanti Auguri et Ad Multos Annos, PapaRatzi!

Pope of the Arts

The JP the Great tribute issue of crisis arrived yesterday. Many worthwhile articles on a variety of topics, as they invited various thinkers to talk about JP's influence in their respective spheres of interest. Bishop Chaput (who brings us the memorable line that the MSM assessing him is "a report on the Giant by the dwarves"). Bob Reilly. Fr. Edward Oakes. Many of the articles are on-line, so go find your favorites.

But since we've been on the topic of "Art," RC2 particularly calls your attention to Terry Teachout's "The Voice of the Artist," which isn't posted, unfortunately.

First, a digression. Twice while living in Rome after college, RC2 had the grace of reading at Papal events. The first instance was during an outdoor prayer service for peace in Lebanon (Oct. 4, 1989). If you have been to a papal audience (at least when the Pope was healthy and trodding down aisles to shake hands), you know that those in the audience are often more preoccupied with jockeying for positions once the Pope comes than praying. Surveying the crowd in St. Peter's, RC2 remembers thinking, "I wonder if anyone here is actually praying?" Then she heard a low groan and saw the Pope in that classic stance of his --clutching his crozier, eyes closed, and all the while uttering that soft, deep purr of prayer that ever since has reminded her of St. Paul's "Spirit groaning within us." Yes, someone was praying.

What calls this to mind is Teachout's reflection on JPtG's 1999 "Letter to Artists." RC2 confesses she sometimes hasn't taken periodic "outreach" to this or that group very seriously. Partly because you can't follow everything; but also because it's easy to think that some gestures are merely bureaucratic or merely symbolic. Mistake. Or at least a mistake where JPG is concerned. Like the prayer service I read for, where others see a photo op, he sees an opportunity.

So here's the opening paragraph --and keep in mind the relation between art and creation from a few posts ago:

"None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when --like the artists of every age-- captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you."

Later he will go on to say: "Every genuine artistic intuition goes beyond what the senses perceive and, reaching beneath reality's surface, strives to interpret its hidden mystery."

And: ". . .art is by its nature a kind of appeal to the mystery. Even when they explore the darkest depths of the soul or the most unsettling aspects of evil, artists give voice in a way to the universal desire for redemption."

JPG repeated over and again to various groups the words of St. Catherine of Siena "If you are what you should be, you will set the world afire." One feature of his preaching RC2 loves is that he rarely finds it necessary to catalogue all the ways his audience is failing (for example, he doesn't state the obvious --that very little actual art is being created by the standard he himself presents). Instead, in the words of Maria Montessori, he "calls to the man within." "What you're doing is important, " he encourages (the "but you must do it much better" is implied). He raises our eyes to the hills from which come our help.

"JP II Drew the Crucifix to Himself & Embraced It"

You'll enjoy Archbishop Foley's homily at a mass for the Catholic Press Association. Take a careful look especially at his discussion with JP II about the meaning of symbolic gestures. Symbolic is the opposite of diabolical. Hmm. (See previous post). Courtesy of Zenit.org. Other good stuff at Zenit today, which RC2 may post once bathtime for Weedlets is over.

My brothers and sisters in Christ: One of my most vivid memories from the last days of our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II was during the Way of the Cross on Good Friday in which he participated by watching the service at the Coliseum in his chapel on television. The television camera in his chapel was behind him so that he would not be distracted from taking part in this ceremony in which he always took part personally. I was doing the television commentary in English, reading the very provocative meditations prepared by a certain Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.

At one point toward the end of the Way of the Cross, someone put a rather large crucifix on the knee of the Holy Father, and he was gazing lovingly at the figure of Jesus. At the words, "Jesus Dies on the Cross," Pope John Paul drew the crucifix to himself and embraced it. I thought to myself: What a beautiful homily without words! Like Jesus, Pope John Paul II has embraced the cross; in fact, he embraced the crucifix, the cross with Jesus. As you recall, for a number of years, there had been people suggesting that Pope John Paul II should resign. The Holy Father said: "Jesus did not come down from the cross." Pope John Paul II taught us that there is much more to the papacy than speaking, writing, greeting people and traveling -- although he certainly did enough of all of that. Pope John Paul II taught us how to live, how to suffer and how to die.

All of us, as Catholic communicators, have learned once again through all of this that we can communicate as much by who we are as by what we write or by what we say. Those whose passing from this life to eternal life we commemorate this day are now enjoying the company of one about whom they commented so often -- and I would ask, when the list of those to be remembered is read at this liturgy, that we begin with the name of Pope John Paul II, a superb communicator himself, one who had been a journalist, writing for Tygodnik Powschechny in Krakow, and one who became the most widely televised Pope in history.

One of the great advantages of my job in Rome was to receive invitations to lunch with the Holy Father. While I have many memories from those lunches, I would like to recall two of them, in particular. One was the last lunch I had with him -- about a year ago. He asked: "Would you like me to write a special document for the 40th anniversary of your office?" Naturally I said "yes." Like a good journalist, he asked -- in Italian, which I rather freely translate -- "What is your deadline?" I had the nerve to say: "We would like it no later than February of 2005 for the plenary meeting of our council." He said, "I'll try to have it for you." Would you believe that the Saturday before our plenary meeting, which began on Feb. 21, we received the document "Il Rapido Sviluppo" -- "The Rapid Development" -- personally signed by him and delivered to us just days before his final hospitalization?

While Pope John Paul II did leave behind a type of spiritual testament which was read to the cardinals and indeed shared with the world, his last major formal document was an apostolic letter to us, to communicators. The other lunch I would like to recall is the one at which I said to him, "You know, Holy Father, that sometimes your symbolic actions can be more eloquent than some of your discourses" -- probably a very "nervy" thing to say to the Pope!

He replied, however, "I know that -- and I don't plan most of those actions; they are spontaneous, but you know that our word 'symbol' comes from the Greek word 'symbolein' -- 'to bring together'; it's the opposite of the Greek word 'diabolein,' 'to break apart, to divide' -- the origin of our word 'diabolical.'" "Symbolic actions," he said, "help to bring people together in peace and in love."

Up to the moment of his death -- and even after, Pope John Paul II was bringing people together in peace and in love. May what we communicate in word and in action in some small way do the same thing -- and may the memory of those whom we recall today bring all of us together in peace and in love, with renewed commitment to remind people of the purpose of life, the dignity of death and our eternal destiny with those we love through Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ZE05052729

Rhetoric At Odds With Lifestyle

It's Friday, so --yay! another VDH treat. This time he's after the Vice-President of Pepsi, among others (you may have followed the story over at Powerline). And the British Cricket star who incited anti-American riots by calling everyone's attention to the false Newsweek/Koran story.

The master rhetorician strikes again.

Reading VDH reminds RC2 of something Karol Wojtyla said while he was a student (RC2 is reading Kalendarium: The Making of the Pope of the Millennium). After hearing Cardinal Sapieha speak once, Karol turned to a friend and said, "I would like to be able to speak like that. But how?" RC2 wants to write like VDH. She already knows how he would answer the question, "How?" Thucydides, Thucydides, Thucydides.

Art As Creation

RC2 curtsies to the friend who recommended this Gregory Wolfe reflection on the purpose of "art." One key line is this: "But in making — or Art, if you will — the end is not the good of the artist as a person but the good of the made thing. The moment that art is made subservient to some ethical or political purpose, it ceases to be art and becomes propaganda."

This is a point said friend has done a fair amount of reflection on, and RC2 eagerly awaits the magnum opus he's writing on the topic. Friend bemoans the fact that while "the Right" often complains about the bilge produced by "the art community," it fails to recognize the same rule applies to itself. Namely, just because the art you produce is about God (or, in the case of family movies, lacks nudity and profanity), it ain't necessarily any good. In fact, it probably isn't any good --unless the religious element serves the story rather than being the story.

Read the whole thing. Then ponder the question my friend says he's asking himself: is it a coincidence that the same era obsessed with making up its own morality/amorality (the Left) is also the same era that can't seem to make up new worthwhile artistic expressions (the Right)?

Hmmm.

Catholics Have More Fun

This evidence from Don Jim at Dappled Things:

". . .One of our deacons tells non-Catholic best men at wedding rehearsals: 'When I sprinkle the rings with holy water, make sure not to get any on you, otherwise you automatically become a Catholic.' Then he makes sure to get the horrified Protestant wet during the wedding ceremony. "

Click the link to get to another charming story. And send more proof that Catholics have more fun to me: wheatandweeds@familink.com .

On "Dialogue"

Let's take a ride in the way-back machine to 1997 and this goodie from Fr. Schall. He reviews then-Cardinal Ratzinger's bemused evaluation of the extremes of modern intellectual thought and its roots. This is a deeper treatment of the themes Bishop Chaput treated in his prayer breakfast address, and a further insight into how B16 thinks about relativism. Curtsy to Ignatius Insight.

Just for starters, savor this:
"The notion of dialogue also has a new meaning, not the honest and open accounting for what one believes or holds (“We hold these truths”), rather it means “to put one’s own position, i.e., one’s faith, on the same level as the convictions of others, without recognizing in principle more truth in it than that which is attributed to the opinion of others.” To take this view of dialogue, of course, means that one must already, in principle, doubt one’s faith before entering into dialogue."

In RC2's view, this is precisely why we have a new culture of ignorance. Ask yourself if you would have anything to learn from a Math tutor who wasn't certain his way of doing Math was correct. Or you would let a surgeon who wasn't certain he knew the best techniques take out your appendix. If the first principle of "dialogue" is not knowing anything, this can have only two effects. Either it renders dialogue pointless, or --as has happened in the Academy-- it elevates every idiot opinion or feeling to the same place at the table as a well-researched and knowledgable position. It's no longer necessary to know anything; knowledge is in effect undesirable.

Unified Theory of Family Tax Incentives

As soon as time permits, RC2 has a manifesto about the role of the laity, the role of bishops and the social teaching of the Church. (Note to all: Catholic social teaching is not reducible to the economic program of the Democratic party).

From Steve Sailer, via Galley Slaves, via Mickey Kaus, comes this on affordable family formation and politics. Click my link to find a link to the original post --the original site is blocked on RC2's server.

"Sailer notes four categories making up this idea:

* "The Dirt Gap"--land supply around cities which drives the cost of housing.
* "The Mortgage Gap"--"Bush carred the 20 states with the cheapest housing costs, while Kerry won the 9 states with the most expensive."
* "The Marriage Gap"--"Bush carried the top 25 states ranked on 'years married'."
* "The Baby Gap"--"Bush carried 25 of the top 26 states in white total fertility . . . while Kerry was victorious in the bottom 16."

"None of these "gaps" is new, but Sailer's the first person I've seen to combine them into a unified field theory of financial family incentives. Thought provoking stuff. "

Opening Salvo in the Battle for Europe?

The moment B16 walked onto the Loggia, RC2 emailed her spy in Europe exulting, "The battle for Europe is enjoined!" This daring proposal for a synod among Catholic, Orthodox, and Luthan bishops is the most inspiring sign yet of the coming springtime of faith, precisely for Europe. We need to pray for this, I believe, in some special and specific way.

==================================================
ZENIT News Agency, The World Seen from Rome ==================================================
Cardinal Kasper Proposes a Synod With OrthodoxAnd an Alliance With Protestants to Defend Europe's Christian Roots

BARI, Italy, MAY 26, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican representative for ecumenism proposed a synod of reconciliation to the Orthodox and an alliance with the offspring of the Protestant Reformation to rediscover the Christian roots of Europe.Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, made the proposals Wednesday when addressing the Italian National Eucharistic Congress.

The cardinal was joined in the ceremony by Orthodox Archbishop Kirill of Yaroslavl and Rostov of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Lutheran Bishop Eero Huovinen of Helsinki, Finland.Cardinal Kasper began his address by recalling that in Bari a synod of Greek and Latin bishops took place in 1098."Why not hope that here, in Bari, 1,000 years after the synod of 1098, in 2098 -- and why not before? We might again celebrate a synod of Greek and Latin bishops, a synod of reconciliation," he said."

I am profoundly convinced that, after the great efforts and important steps taken by John Paul II, the new Pope Benedict XVI will smooth and open the way for such a prospect," the cardinal added.Threatened by secularism, Cardinal Kasper acknowledged that Orthodox and Catholics are "heirs of a common European culture and we have the same ethical values, which are essentially for the good of our societies and their people."

"But those values are seriously threatened, both by the secularism in Western Europe as well as the profound lacerations caused in Eastern Europe by 40 or 70 years of propaganda and atheistic education," he observed."What can be more obvious or urgent than, as the next step in the long road toward full communion, we form an alliance to rediscover the Christian roots of Europe?" the Vatican official asked.

He described such an alliance as designed "to help one another mutually in favor of common values, of a culture of life, of the dignity of the person, of solidarity and social justice, of peace and the safeguarding of creation."Cardinal Kasper also presented this "alliance" to Protestant brothers who face this same challenge.

In addition, he addressed the question of the Petrine ministry, of the Bishop of Rome, which is one of the difficulties for progress toward full unity. In this connection, the cardinal echoed John Paul II's proposal in the 1995 encyclical "Ut Unum Sint" "to find a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation."

"What is impeding us from starting today, here in Bari, to discuss this proposal?" the cardinal asked those present. "Why not reflect together on an osmosis between the principle of synodality and collegiality and the Petrine principle, which, precisely in past weeks, has shown its spiritual strength?"ZE05052602

Rekindling the 40 Hours

RC2 enjoys Elizabeth Lev's articles on Catholic traditions over at Zenit.org. Here's her latest on the preparation for Corpus Christi known as the 40 hours devotion. RC2 did not know that it was connected with St. Philip Neri (feast May 26), who is one of her favorite saints. Mostly because he told a lot of jokes.

By Elizabeth Lev ROME, MAY 26, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Santa Maria Maggiore proudly crowns the Esquiline Hill. It is Rome's most important church dedicated to the Blessed Mother as well as a patriarchal basilica. This week it also led Romans and pilgrims alike toward a greater experience of the Year of the Eucharist. From May 19 to 21, Rome saw the Forty Hours devotion offered for the first time in decades.

The basilica stayed open all day and all night allowing residents and pilgrims to stop by for a few moments with the Blessed Sacrament. The Host was in a monstrance on the high altar, above the crypt containing the relic of the Christ Child's crib. Under the splendid canopy of porphyry columns entwined with gilt bronze candles, the altar was beautifully decorated with flowers and candles to create a glorious setting for the Eucharist.

The event even piqued interest among the more jet-setting crowd. Santa Maria Maggiore is located near a train station, but over the last few years, the area has been developed with trendy restaurants and nightclubs. Elegant revelers heading home from fancy watering holes were astonished to see a staid, old church staying up later than they were. Entering, they were even more taken aback at the sight of people praying while they had been partying.

Over the two days, the complete Liturgy of the Hours was prayed publicly, another rarity in modern-day Rome. The Forty Hours devotion recalls the time span during which the body of Christ lay in the tomb. The practice of this solemn exposition began in Milan, somewhere between 1527 and 1537. It seems to have been first proposed by the founder of the Barnabites, St. Anthony Zaccaria, although accounts vary. The first recorded Forty Hours took place in the cathedral in Milan at the altar in the left transept dedicated to the Madonna dell'Albero. In a climate of terrible plagues as well as fear of the Turkish fleet pressing hard against Christendom, the devotion was introduced in this cathedral and then spread to all the Milanese churches. It devolved rapidly and soon the practice received the concession of an indulgence.

Eventually the 40 hours became part of preparations for important feasts. This year Forty Hours adoration precedes two feasts which will coincide on the same day, Corpus Christi and the feast of St. Philip Neri. Corpus Christi is one of the very few days one can still see a grand papal procession in Rome. The Pope carries the Host from St. John Lateran to St. Mary Major as thousands turn out to participate. St. Mary Major could not have chosen a better way to prepare herself for Benedict XVI's first Corpus Christi procession. But for Rome and the Forty Hours, St. Philip Neri was the matchmaker that bought the two together. Among the many things this great saint did to revitalize the spiritual life of the city, he introduced the Forty Hours to Rome around 1550. With the support of St. Ignatius and the Jesuits, the devotion spread to all the churches in Rome and out into the world. The Body of Christ was adored every day, all day, all over the world in a truly Christian definition of globalization. We can pray that St. Mary Major's initiative might reignite that same fire throughout the world.

Role of the Laity Redux

A point worth pondering from over at Mere Comments. It's not directly about the role of the laity (since it's a reflection on the example given by an order of nuns) but strikes RC2 as related to our earlier discussion of the role of the laity:

"What impresses me most is that these good sisters, who have given their lives to the church, do not consider the church to be the arena for the use of their prodigious talents. They have not made the church into a career, or a hobby."

and later, this:

"It’s a fine distinction to make, but necessary. The Lord wants us to use our gifts, but He does not need our gifts, and He certainly does not want us to fool ourselves into thinking that we are doing Him a favor, “helping” Him. Yes, He will use us as instruments, but that is His mercy, not His need. When Simon helped Jesus carry the cross, he became the emblem of every true Christian. But the divine Son of God did not need Simon; in fact Jesus never said to any of His apostles, "Follow me—I need you, I need your help.” Simon was allowed to “help” Jesus carry the cross, and I believe that in that help he was saved: he thought he was helping Jesus ascend the mount of Calvary, but Jesus was at that moment raising Simon up from a valley far deeper and darker than any in the environs of Jerusalem."

Bingo. The Church is not a hobby or a place where we do God favors --and yet, all these years after Vatican II, whenever a discussion of the role of the laity comes up, it is usually in the context of contests of supposed "rights." (Not at all unlike the Weedlets' preoccupation with having exactly as many cookies as the other siblings.) It would be a blessed thing for the Church if everyone in it reflected more deeply on the role of the laity --a term which, again, is bandied about often, but not at all understood.

Evangelicals On B16

Here's a lovely article from the Christianity Today website on why all Christians should love B16. Curtsy to Roman Catholic Blog.

Church Not Killing Anyone

RC2 noticed in the aftermath of John Paul II's death that John Paul II's critics on the tube had crystallized their complaint against Church teaching into a solitary objection. Sure, they still want women's ordination and same-sex marriage and the whole litany we know too well, but RC2 almost got the impression from their comments that the agents of dissent recognize these are lost causes for them. So after their obligatory wind-up of stuff they didn't like, the libs would invariably let fly with, "but what I really object to is the Church's refusal to lift a finger to help HIV-torn Africa because it won't permit condoms even to prevent the spread of AIDS." If I heard this once, I heard it 30 times between John Paul the Great's death and the conclave. It was the great trump card, intending to prove that the Church not only holds positions with which these people disagree, but that it is an immoral entity in itself because it "kills people." RC2 heard this from Andrew Sullivan, Christopher Hitchens, Arianna Huffington and their ilk, to say nothing of the McBriens and Currans of the world. So, just for the record, here is a quick resumé of Church teaching on the subject from Janet Smith. Short, sweet, not deadly.

Yeah, Baby, Takin' It to the Streets

RC2 almost forgot until she saw this that in some parts of the world Catholics aren't so delicate that they can't have a Holy Day fall on a day other than a Sunday. In Rome it was Corpus Christi today. Here's the Zenit account:

VATICAN CITY, MAY 26, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Before taking part in the Corpus Christi procession through a section of Rome, Benedict XVI said that with this gesture believers hope that "our streets will be Jesus' streets." The Pope celebrated Mass on a warm evening today in St. John Lateran Square, in the atrium of the Bishop of Rome's cathedral.

As night fell, the celebration ended with the procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, thus continuing with a tradition cherished by Pope John Paul II.

In his homily, Benedict XVI made a comparison between the Holy Thursday procession, in which the Church "accompanies Jesus in his solitude, toward the way of the cross," and the Corpus Christi procession, which "responds symbolically to the Risen One's mandate" to evangelize. "We take Christ, present in the figure of bread, through the streets of our city," the Holy Father said.

"We entrust these streets, these homes, our daily life, to his goodness," he added. "May our streets be Jesus' streets! May our homes be homes for him and with him! May his presence penetrate our daily life. "With this gesture, we place before his eyes the sufferings of the sick, the loneliness of young people and the elderly, temptations, fears, our whole life." The Pope added: "The procession is intended to be a great and public blessing for our city: Christ is, in person, the divine blessing for the world."

Don't forget the Pope wants Catholics everywhere to participate in Eucharistic processions on Corpus Christi. If your parish doesn't have one, find one by Sunday.

Kingdom of Heaven

Curtsy to newly-discovered (to her) Galley Slaves for pointing out Mark Steyn's review of Kingdom of Heaven (use this link and scroll down to it). RC2 particularly likes this line, about which more in a moment:

"Thus does Sir Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven proceed, from one birdbrained ahistorical cliché to another, until at last Balian of Ibelin (the impeccably dishevelled Orlando Bloom) comes face to face with Saladin and threatens to destroy Jerusalem’s holy sites, all of them, mosque and sepulchre alike — ‘Your holy places, ours, everything that drives men mad.’ Hold that thought, because certainly nobody held it in 1187 — and in the false tinkle of that line you hear everything that’s wrong with this movie."

Doesn't that capture the problem w/ Hollywood period movies exactly? (See RC2's ironclad rule of acting when the director cares about spectacle.) Directors will spend millions of dollars researching and re-creating historical conditions down to the lint in the pockets, but invest nothing whatsoever in researching the manners and behavior of people in those times. Hollywood period pieces usually seem more like science fiction to RC2 --in that it always seems that an utterly contemporary hero and heroine are simply beamed somehow into another place and time. At least Ridley Scott is trying to make a point, however tiresome it is to be lectured by such people. Often enough, however, these cultural anachronisms make serious movies unintentionally funny.

Two examples.

1. Remember Sex in a Boat, --I mean, Titanic? Loved the scientifically done iceberg and sinking scenes. But the whole easy sex out of wedlock plot was ridiculous and untrue to the time period. Particularly improbable was one scene when fleeing lovers Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio are making their escape from the evil fiance, and lovely well-bred Kate turns to give fiance the finger. Lovely. No, James, that's a post-1968 gesture, my friend.

2. A bad movie that haunts RC2's adolescence was Tarzan:The Legend of Greystoke. I remember it being lush and beautiful during the discover-the-wild-man in Africa scenes. Then they bring this man who has been socialized as an ape into a fine Victorian household to be both studied and civilized. At a pivotal moment, Tarzan, in full monkey mode, hops --swinging his arms and barking-- onto the heroine's bed as her maid dresses her hair, and begins grooming her, monkey -style (no, this is not a euphemism. I mean he was searching for lice).

What would a true Victorian maiden have done under the circumstances? Fainted or shrieked or both --and brought the men of the household to her rescue against this indignity, right? She would have thought the behavior vulgar and the proposed match disgusting, right? Wrong, just as any Victorian virgin would, she ordered the maid out of the room (with a breathless, "Leave us please now, Marguerite") and allowed herself to be debauched. RC2 supposes that's what happened, because at that point her father stood up and said aloud, "This movie is a piece of ______!" and marched the whole family out of the theater, to the amusement and applause of other patrons.

A Win-Win Situation

Regarding the Bolton filibuster. If RC2 were Prez, she would inform the people that when Harry Reid wishes America to once again have relations with the UN, he can dang well allow an up or down vote on our Ambassador. Until that time, well, I guess we just can't have relations with the UN, darn it all.

An Heroic Bishop. . .

Offered himself in place of hostages to gunmen in the Philippines. And lived to tell the tale.

One Last Thing on Schiavo

Here is the absolute best thing I have seen in the MSM in a long time. Joan Didion's honest and fair-minded piece in this weekend's NYT Review of Books. If only the Times had published a story like this while Terri were still alive. . . .

Saddam & al-Qaeda

You know how dumb Americans are for thinking there was a link, right? Curtsy to Powerline for this story. This is not definitively proven yet, but as the Powerline guys point out, each day brings out more of the truth of Saddam's secret doings, and the suggestion that there was no connection is beginning to look more and more foolish.

Sith Theology

Orson Scott Card has a worthwhile essay on the new Star Wars and its meaning. (RC2 has read too many interpretations, including a Straussian reading which was a little too much for her, but take a look at this one). He writes:

"When the evil Palpatine says, “Good is a point of view--the Sith and the Jedi are almost the same,” we can dismiss this moral relativism as part of the deception of the dark side.
But in a pivotal scene, Obi-Wan says what amounts to the same thing: “Only a Sith deals in absolutes.”
Isn’t that odd? The only thing both sides agree on is that people who believe in absolute good and evil are bad!
I suspect that Lucas realized, after writing "Good is a point of view," that all his friends actually believed that. So he had to make it clear that moral relativism was the right way after all—so he had Obi-Wan say that absolutism was a Sith thing, even though in the actual story, the best of the Jedis show an unbending commitment to absolute Good." Curtsy to Ignatius Insight --and check them out today for other good stuff.

Archbishop Pell on Conscience

Here's the link to the article I blogged about earlier. Must-read.

A Horse In There Somewhere: What To Do About "The Deal"

In the words of the old Ronald Reagan joke, there's gotta be a horse somewhere in the stinky deal of the new axis of weasels that is the moderate wing of the Republican Senate. The Spousal Unit advises thus:

Although the compromise looks like a setback for the President, he can and must seize it and use it for his advantage. Here is how:

A. The “compromise” will in effect allow Owen, Brown, and Pryor to be confirmed.
B. The “compromise” still permits filibusters against “extraordinary” [i.e., out of the mainstream, conservative] nominees.
C. Thus, Owen, Brown, and Pryor, though very committed conservative nominees, are by the terms of the compromise admitted to be “non-extraordinary.” Any other conservative nominees the President sends up who get through without a filibuster will also fall within bounds.
D. The real prize here is the Supreme Court. Probably by June the Chief Justice will leave. All the Senate jockeying has the Supreme Court’s future in mind. The Dems. and “compromise” Republicans are really trying to prevent the President from naming a strongly committed conservative to the high court.
E. Therefore as soon as a Supreme Court seat opens up, the President should confine his list of potential nominees to Owen, Brown, and Pryor!
F. The point is that the compromisers who hold the balance of power cannot resort to a filibuster against any of these appointees because they will already have agreed that they are not “extraordinary.” The “compromise” Republicans – McCain et al. – will end up voting for Owen, Brown, and Pryor for appeals court seats. Therefore they will be virtually compelled to oppose a filibuster if any of them are soon promoted.
G. Moreover, the President should quickly send the Senate as many uncompromising conservative nominations to other open seats as possible. The Senate has placed itself with this “compromise” in a position that will make it difficult to unreasonably delay the whole confirmation process for the next group of nominees. The potential Supreme Court nominee list should be drawn from this growing list.
H. If the Democrats break their “compromise” commitment, the President of course will have a very powerful political weapon against them in the election cycle next year.

Leaving the Left

Maybe you heard this on Limbaugh today, but it's so good, it's worth reading. Another "Ron Silver" Leftist defects.

Also worth reading is this Weekly Standard hit piece on George Galloway. He's the British MP massively implicated in the UN oil-for-food scandal. RC2 guiltily admits she thoroughly enjoyed his testimony before Congress last week. Cheeky monkey (Galloway, not herself)! Not one word he uttered was true, but he lied so elegantly! The Brits do have a way with language. In keeping with that observation, RC2 offers this bit of evidence that although Christopher Hitchens is a hateful person in many respects, he is still one of the English language's best polemicists. Curtsy to ninme for the link --the Weeds' local post office takes the term "periodical" literally, and delivers her copy of the Standard only periodically.

Women's Ordination & the Role of the Laity

An exchange this morning on the subject of women's ordination with a friend in Catholic publishing focused on the contrast between the job/"position of power" conception of the priesthood versus the vocation/"washing of the feet" concept. In the former, the priest is fundamentally the parish power-broker, and women cannot be seen to have equal dignity with men so long as there is a "glass ceiling" on their ambitions.

This, by way of free-association, reminded RC2 of her contention that for all we have heard in the post-Conciliar period about "the role of the laity," this fundamental idea of the Council is still not even remotely understood. To wit: a few years ago, RC2 had the opportunity to lead a small Gospel reflection group with some prominent Catholic women. It wouldn't be right to name them, but as the Symms like to say, they are "names you must know." One of them --a prominent lawyer who has unquestionably made a tremendous contribution to the culture of life, sometimes as a lone voice-- made a telling comment in private conversation. "Over the years whenever I have tried to get involved in my parish, " she said, "my pastors have always had the same response. They want me to quit my own apostolic work and dedicate myself to doing pro-bono work for the parish. Your group is the only one I have found that doesn't want to co-opt me, but wants to help me form myself so I can do what I am called to do better."

It's great that we have moved beyond 1950s-style clericalism in which (accepting the stereotype for the moment) holiness and missionary work were only for priests and religious, and the faithful just did what Fr. told them. But is it an improvement that most of us --lay and priest alike-- now think the "role of the laity" means "compelling" the priest to delegate his responsibilities and duties to others? This attitude still fundamentally means that the only "job" worth having in the Church is that of priest. And Fr., if he's nice or humble or obedient enough, will let you have a piece.

Pardon me, but this is why JPII kept and Benedict keeps shouting at us to go back and read the documents of Vatican II. In the "Decree on the Laity," we find that the fundamental mission of the laity is to "endeavor to have the Gospel spirit permeate and improve the temporal order." Not to demean parish service in the least, but is it really that demanding to serve as a lector or eucharistic minister? You're at mass anyway (or should be).

The real role of the laity is to penetrate those areas of society that a priest or religious can't go --and in our de-Christianized age, that is almost everyplace, isn't it? Years ago my spiritual director pointed out to me that most of us fundamentally misread Christ's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church. We think: "Circle the wagons, hold on tight and eventually Christ will come and save us." SD asked, "Have you ever seen gates attack anyone?" Whoa. Mind-blowing thought. No, they are defensive weapons. It is the gates of hell that can't withstand the onslaught of the Church --not vice versa. In other words, there is no human reality that cannot be uplifted by the light of Christ and no human heart so hardened it can't be penetrated by the light of Christ. The role of the laity is to take Christ to those realities --into the laboratory, into the classroom, into Hollywood, into Congress-- not so much by preaching, but by the presence of witnesses in those fields who are both good at what they do and personally holy. People who show by their very lives what the true destiny and dignity of the human person is.

The priest is there to give us the sacraments that make this life possible for us, and the priesthood --especially in the Confessional-- is a beautiful adventure for those called to it. But for us lay-people, why is there so much focus on who gets to serve on the umpteenth parish advisory council? That's not where the action is.

More Proof of the Truth of the Bible

"Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine." Look here.

Saturday Catch-Up: James Watt

The Washington Post ran this excellent op-ed from James Watt on Saturday. The story is old --people seeing belief in the second coming of Christ as an environmental threat based on something Watt is alleged to have said that was made up out of the whole cloth.

What strikes RC2 most in the piece is the way his critics use "some people" to mean "one person, allegedly" --they build a whole movement out of one weird comment that turns out never to have been uttered. A priest friend once gave RC2 sage advice about running apostolic works within the Church. Beware when people give you feedback that "people" are saying or doing x,y,z. It may be so, but pin them down on who they mean, he advised. Usually "everyone" means "I" and "people" means "one person whom I don't much like." Good advice.

Something Good About Eleanor Holmes Norton

Curtsy to Amy Welborn for pointing out this article about Eleanor Holmes Norton and her relationship with her oldest daughter, who has Downs Syndrome.

Although she would later refer to Katherine's condition as "the most unexpected thing" that ever happened to her, she insisted she never cried about her little daughter.
"Why would I cry? I was absorbed in how beautiful this child was. Here was a baby who smiled incessantly. I was completely taken with her. . . .
"And I never for a moment said, 'Why me?' In fact, the exact opposite occurred to me, that as chances go around, it made some sense in the cosmic sense of how the world works, that it would be our turn to have this child."

Nice. There is always more to people than you might think.

Forgot to link to VDH on Friday. The Marvelous One does it again.

"For a suicide bomber like Mohammed Atta, the more he bumped into the West and used its bounties, the more he despised us for his own hypocrisy of enjoying what his culture could not make or allow. There was no law forcing Mr. Atta to go study in Germany or visit the United States or to wear Western clothes and use our technology; he did so on his own free volition — and later despised himself for doing so."

Not sure RC2 agrees that we have nothing to apologize for. A friendly acquaintance, Prof. Grace Cadell, wrote a book about her time in Iran. She has a lovely passage in which she teaches a local mullah the Our Father, which he pronounces "beautiful." She had a quite positive experience in the town where she worked, and found no inherent hatred of Westerners or Christians there. What turned the people in her village were the numerous prissy Western aid-workers who wouldn't embrace friendly children, but turned up their noses and sent them home to wash, and whose solution to every medical problem was pushing birth control on the women. Grace's friends in the village came to hate these rich white women who so obviously looked down their noses at them.

In a little excerpt from the W. Times recently, someone wrote that 20 years ago, people in third world countries watched Little House on the Prairie and thought, "America is successful because her people are good, honest and work hard." Wish I could recall who wrote the article, but the point was that obviously the culture we export tells a very different story now. Even if most Americans are nothing like "Friends," how is anyone supposed to know that?

Still, VDH's larger point is correct --the leaders of the terrorists are not poor people who must be better understood. Like Osama bin Laden, many of them are western-educated and have adopted Western habits (W. Times reported an interesting incident early in the war in Afghanistan. American soldiers came upon a cave that had recently been evacuated--water still warm-- and they knew they were close on Osama's trail. Among the abandoned belongings of Osama's wives were birth control pills. So much for his pure Islamic attitudes.

Same-Sex Marriage Not in Kids' Interest --Tell the APA

Need help articulating this idea to your skeptical friends and family members? Zenit (again) has a good summary article. A great summary of the various studies that have been done is available at the NARTH (National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality)website in pdf form.

Although she famously thinks in centuries, the Church sometimes manages perfect timing. A Vatican statement (and thus the Zenit article) were released Saturday. Sunday, meeting in Georgia, an APA working group once again voted to assert that same-sex marriage should be accepted, as it would benefit same-sex couples and their families. Can't find a link at present, but heard this reported on NPR earlier.

New Movements in the News

Yes, RC2 knows that Opus Dei is a personal prelature and not technically a movement. But she can't bring herself to say, "new movements and ecclesial realities" each time the subject comes up. Both stories from Zenit & worth reading.

• Opus Dei ordained 42 priests today --including 28 from Europe! What splendid news. The prelate of The Work, Bishop Echevarría, said in his homily, "The priest is for the Eucharist in the Church and at the service of the Church." Also: "Without full communion with the Roman Pontiff and one's ordinary, the priest cannot carry out a true ecclesial service." Hmm. Do we notice any themes in the words of the pope and the heads of the NM&ERs?
• Not "The Work," but "The Work of the Church." RC2 had never heard of this new movement, but the Pope greeted them and told them to be faithful to their charism today. Says Zenit, "its principal charism, based on a theological mystical experience, is the spreading of love in the Church."

"We Cannot Live Without Sunday"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 22, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today before praying the Angelus with the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square. * * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Today the liturgy celebrates the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, to emphasize that in the light of the paschal mystery the center of the cosmos and of history is fully revealed: God himself, eternal and infinite Love. This is the word that summarizes the whole of revelation: "God is love" (1 John 4:8,16). And love is always a mystery, a reality that surpasses reason without contradicting it; what is more, it exalts its potentialities.

Jesus has revealed to us the mystery of God. He, the Son, has made us know the Father who is in heaven, and has given us the Holy Spirit, the Love of the Father and of the Son. Christian theology summarizes the truth about God with this expression: only one substance in three persons. God is not solitude but perfect communion. For this reason, the human person, image of God, is fulfilled in love, which is the sincere gift of oneself.

We contemplate the mystery of God's love by participating in a sublime way in the most holy Eucharist, sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, representation of his redemptive sacrifice. Because of this, I greet with joy today, feast of the Most Holy Trinity, the participants in the Eucharistic congress of the Italian Church, which opened yesterday in Bari. At the heart of this year dedicated to the Eucharist, the Christian people gather around Christ, present in the Most Holy Sacrament, source and summit of their life and mission. In particular, each parish is called to rediscover the beauty of Sunday, day of the Lord, in which Christ's disciples renew, in the Eucharist, communion with the One who gives meaning to their joys and exhaustions of each day. "We cannot live without Sunday," professed the first Christians, even if it cost their lives, and this is what we are called to repeat today.

In the hope of going personally to Bari next Sunday for the Eucharistic celebration, I now already unite myself spiritually to this important ecclesial event. Together we invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary so that these days of such intense prayer and adoration of the Eucharistic Christ will kindle in the Italian Church a renewed ardor of faith, hope and charity.

I would also like to entrust to Mary all the children, adolescents and young people who at this time are making their first Communion or receiving the sacrament of confirmation. With this intention, we now pray the Angelus, reliving with Mary the mystery of the Annunciation. [Translation by ZENIT]

Reporters As Latter-Day Monks?

Listening to NPR (On the Media? Don't know) while slaving over a hot stove to prepare Sunday dinner (Chicken & Dumplings, if you care), RC2 listens to a discussion of media bias. This is a subject NPR returns to over and again, always with the same script:

Us biased? None of the lefty commentators we talked to think so.

Then they play actualities from two or more Lefty commentators who have different takes on the question.

Lefty #1: Of course, sophisticated people realize it's impossible to be neutral. So the real problem is the rube listeners who expect us to be fair. They may have a point about our pretense to be neutral. The honest thing to do would be for each reporter to simply state his biases up front.

Lefty #2: I think most reporters are studiously neutral. How could we be biased when all reputable press organs have neutrality policies that prevent reporters from becoming political activists. And many of us do not even vote!

Leave aside the fact that RC2 thinks the not-voting thing is precisely part of the problem. Many reporters can indulge eutopian Lefty fantasies precisely because their efforts to be neutral lead them to have nothing whatever at stake in the success of the country they live in. Tonight RC2 actually heard this week's Lefty #2 say (paraphrasing, but this is basically correct) that reporters are latter-day monks because they make great sacrifices (not voting, not engaging issues) in order to bring people the full truth.

Is it more surprising that someone actually thinks this --or that he thinks anyone else is buying?

For her part, RC2 wouldn't mind bias so much if the typical news story had more actual news in it. Typically "balance" entails reporting what two sides say --with little effort expended to investigate the claims of each side. So much of what shows up in our papers these days is opinion --the reporter's and those of all the people he interviewed. Good journalism is supposed to be more like detective work: "Just the facts, Ma'am."

She Feels Like A Natural Woman

RC2 joined some friends at St. Rita's in Arlington last night for a concert by the Palestrina Choir. They presented William Byrd's Mass for Four Voices. Absolutely gorgeous early Renaissance music polyphany. Fr. Paul Scalia says St. Rita's is the most beautiful parish in the Arlington Diocese, and he may be right --even if he is stationed there at present.

However, prior to the concert, a bunch of us had dinner together, where RC2 heard this non-verifiable, but in her opinion credible, piece of gossip. One of the guests had been working on the Terri Schiavo case since 2003 and walked us through many details of the case. We got to talking about how odd it was that we assembled Conservatives found ourselves on the same side as Jesse Jackson. A Hill staffer present said her boss understood that it was Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. who got his dad involved. He reportedly told his dad, "You've got to get involved. If you doubt it, talk to Aretha and ask her what she thinks."

Apparently Aretha Franklin took care of her ailing father for the last year of his life and considers it the most important thing she has ever done. And apparently she is the one who persuaded Jesse Jackson to help the Schindlers.

More Benedict

Here are the links to the Pentecost homily and Regina Caeli address last week. RC2 is particularly struck by this line in the RC address:

"Without the Holy Spirit, the Church would be reduced to merely a human organization, weighed down by its own structures."

This is an idea that comes up frequently in Cardinal Ratzinger's interviews. RC2 does not recall seeing in print any high Church official more willing to speak candidly about what we might call the bureaucratic necessities of the Church --and how what are meant to be life-giving structures become hinderances that sink under their own weight when the people who work within those structures pay more attention to perpetuating the structure than to the holiness of the Church. In his recent book on the Church, Cardinal Ratzinger showed a great willingness to re-think the structure of, for example, the Roman Curia. He didn't make any specific criticism; he just pointed out that the structures that work in one age may be less satisfactory in another age, and the Church must never be merely a bureaucracy.

Of course, the Pope is not anti-structure --in part because they too are the way God has chosen to work. He continues, "... In the plans of God, the Spirit habitually makes use of human mediations to act in history. Precisely for this, Christ, who established the Church on the foundation of the Apostles closely around Peter, has also given it the gift of his Spirit, so that throughout the centuries he would be the comfort (cf. Jn 14: 16) and the guide to the entire truth (cf. Jn 16: 13). May the Ecclesial Community remain always open and docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, to be among men and women a credible sign and efficacious instrument of God's action!"

"We Do Harm to No One If We Show Them Christ" --Benedict XVI Speaks To Priests

Zenit has two goodies this evening from Pope Benedict's address to the Priests and Deacons of Rome. One of the most interesting things he told them was that because of Rome's closeness to the Vatican, the Diocese of Rome has an obligation to be exemplary. He thanked them for their hard work and apostolate, said that the time of loss of confidence seemed to be past, and then urged them to keep in mind that in order to be exemplary, a priest has to make prayer his first priority --before apostolate or anything else. Especially prayer before the Eucharist.

It's a very lovely address, but RC2 is even more intrigued by his spontaneous comments. Evidently this took place in the same event, but after some representatives of the group offered some testimonies and questions. Read the whole thing to get a sense of the depth of thought that just springs spontaneously to his lips, but RC2 especially appreciated this:

"Romano Guardini correctly said 70 years ago that the essence of Christianity is not an idea but a Person. Great theologians have tried to describe the essential ideas that make up Christianity. But in the end, the Christianity that they constructed was not convincing, because Christianity is in the first place an Event, a Person. And thus in the Person we discover the richness of what is contained. This is important.

And here I think we also find an answer to a difficulty often voiced today regarding the missionary nature of the Church. From many comes the temptation to think this way regarding others: "But why do we not leave them in peace? They have their authenticity, their truth. We have ours. And so, let us live together in harmony, leaving all persons as they are, so that they search out their authenticity in the best way." But how can one's personal authenticity be discovered if in reality, in the depth of our hearts, there is the expectation of Jesus, and the genuine authenticity of each person is found exactly in communion with Christ and not without Christ? Said in another way: If we have found the Lord and if he is the light and joy of our lives, are we sure that for someone else who has not found Christ he is not lacking something essential and that it is our duty to offer him this essential reality?

We then leave what will transpire to the direction of the Holy Spirit and the freedom of each person. But if we are convinced and we have experienced the fact that without Christ life is incomplete, is missing a reality, the fundamental reality, we must also be convinced that we do harm to no one if we show them Christ and we offer them in this way too the possibility to discover their true authenticity, the joy of having discovered life."

I See London, I See France, I See the Mother of All Underpants

The usual suspects are up in arms about the violation of Saddam Hussein's rights because someone snuck his photo while he was in his underpants. Over at Powerline, they're not taking it too seriously:

"Whatever. Saddam used to have his minions make videos when they would torture, rape and murder his political opponents (or anyone else who happened to run afoul of the ruling gang of criminals). Saddam and his cohorts would watch these videos for fun. (Hitler did the same thing, by the way--one of the rare Hitler analogies that is actually justified.) So do I have a lot of sympathy because Saddam got photographed in his underwear, folding a pair of slacks in what looks, not like a jail cell, but like a hotel room? Um, no. I don't. "

Neither is the President, methinks. RC2 heard the Prez comment (paraphrasing, but the key words are correct): "I trust we will get to the bottom of this. In a transparent way."

Money Quote from Chaput the Great

Just to further encourage you to read his whole address (see link in previous post), chew on this:

"Democracy and pluralism depend on people of conviction fighting for what they believe through public debate --peacefully, legally, charitably and justly; but also vigorously and without excuses. Divorcing our personal convictions from our public choices and actions is not "good manners." On the contrary, it can be a very serious kind of theft from the moral treasury of the nation, because the most precious thing anyone can bring to any political conversation is an honest witness to what he or she really believes."

How can the best ideas rise to the fore if only those least likely to challenge are permitted to be spoken?

Bush & Chaput at Catholic Prayer Breakfast

The Wheatandweeds attended the Catholic Prayer Breakfast bright and early this morning --thanks to the indulgence of a neighbor willing to take in the little Weedlets at 0-dark-hundred. 1600 people enjoyed this address from President Bush and this one (pdf format) from Bishop Chaput. Both must-reads. Bishop Chaput's address is entitled "Hope and its Daughters." It comes from an idea of St. Augustine. Hope has two daughters --anger and courage. Don't miss!

Here are a few other observations, in random order:

• It was a little bit funny to have the President tell us of the importance of faith and Bishop Chaput lecture us on how to be good citizens!
• The Prez. entered to a hero's welcome. In person he seems to be a man utterly at ease with himself. He and Bishop Chaput indulged in some sub-rosa amusing exchange before he was introduced, so I got the impression they know each other fairly well.
• Chaput also received a hero's welcome.
• One priest friend thought it was significant that Bush referred to us as Catholic Americans rather than American Catholics.
• Bush also referred to George Washington as "the first George W.," and invoked with approval Benedict's wonderful phrase, "the dictatorship of relativism." May he quote it often! He also paid moving tribute to a Catholic chaplain wounded in Iraq last year and still recovering.
• In his MC capacity, C-Fam president Austin Ruse thanked many people, including --by name-- a table full of evangelical guests. He thanked them for their support and said, "We put them up front so that everyone could see they are not praying to Mary. If your presence here gets you in trouble with any of your pastors, I don't know if there's anything we can do for you. . .except welcome you into the Church." Way to get the plugs in, Mr. Ruse.

The Little Heads of Rome

Zenit.org has a nice historical piece on the traditional papal procession through Rome to take possession of the cathedrals. Now it is very simple --the Pope arrives through a side entrance and celebrates Mass. But it used to be an elaborate thing --and many of the streets of Rome were altered or designed to accomodate the procession. I like this detail:

"When the dome of St. Peter's was completed according to Michelangelo's plan in 1590, St. Peter's had very different appearance from the basilica we know today. With the immense, tiara-shaped dome standing loftily above rounded apses, it stood as the "head and shoulders" of the Catholic Church. All the churches built along the processional route, from San Giovanni dei Fiorentini on the Tiber, to Santa Maria in Campitelli by the Forum, were crowned with similar domes to show allegiance to the Pope. The effect, as seen from an aerial view, is one of smaller heads following their leader through the city."

EU Will Lack Substance, Says Benedict,

. . .if it is reduced to merely geographic and economic dimensions." Rather, "the union must consist above all in an agreement about values which find expression in its law and in its life."

"This rightly demands of each state a proper ordering of society that creatively reclaims the soul of Europe, acquired through the decisive contribution of Christianity, affirming the transcendent dignity of the human person and the values of reason, freedom, democracy and the constitutional state."

Interestingly, Benedict listed Edith Stein (under the name St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) as one of the great patrons of Europe, together w/ Cyril & Methodius, Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila.

This in an address to the new Macedonian ambassador the Holy See. The Pope called for Balkan entrance into the EU, saying "Europe needs the Balkan nations, and they need Europe." Source: Zenit.org, May 19th daily dispatch. Read the whole thing at the Zenit site.

Natan Sharansky

was here in Washington yesterday, and RC2 had a spy at one meeting with him. RC2 has been reading his The Case for Democracy. It's a wonderful read --especially his account of the effect Western (especially American) efforts to defend human rights had on him and other dissidents behind the Iron Curtain. She is not finally convinced that the link between freedom and peace and tyanny and terror is quite as direct as the book makes out. Nonetheless, he makes an eloquent case that it is good foreign policy for free nations to boldly defend human rights and democratic principles. (See Gerard Alexander's excellent review in the Claremont Review of Books for a view RC2 more or less agrees with, pending reading the conclusion of the book!)

Sharansky in person is impressive apparently--"a very bright guy" said the jaded spy. Spy also reports that Sharansky was asked to explain the fall of the Shah of Iran. Wasn't the US following his prescription by encouraging democratic reforms then? (This question in the context of Saudia Arabia --what would replace the House of Saud in the event of elections?) Spy felt his answer was more nuanced than the book. He didn't address Iran, but did address current situations. Democracy can't be put in place overnight in some places, he said, but you can start to support structures that will make it possible down the line. Egypt, he thinks, is ready for democracy now; Saudi Arabia has a longer road to travel.

Manly Dominion

In college, one of RC2's good friends was a bright, engaging and handsome fellow --very devout, who was getting his M.A. He was also one of several fellows in his circle who were perpetually agonizing over their "vocations" (marriage or priesthood?). To answer this profound question, they neither asked any girls out nor visited any seminaries. 7 years later, when RC2 went to her younger sister's graduation from the same school, that same guy was hoist on the horns of the same dilemma. This post over at Mere Comments brought him to mind. RC2 can't vouch for the book being discussed, but she recognizes the Catholic version of the phenomenon. She also likes the line about men being called to have dominion and "You guys don't even have dominion over your hair."

Anglican Pastor Converts!

Last week RC2 plugged Pontifications, lamenting that its author is Anglican and not RC. This week he announced his conversion. Keep him and his wife in your prayers, and read his announcement here.

Orthodoxy the Key to Growth. . .

So says David Mills over at Touchstone's blog, MereComments. Read all of his response to a WSJ editor who thinks ordaining women would solve the vocations crisis.

Washington Is Not Like the Rest of Us

RC2 tunes in for news while putting up the lunch dishes. "BIG changes at Reagan National" teases the newsreader. She's thinking onerous new security measures, closing or re-designing part of the airport, it's being closed to the public, something "BIG."

The change is Congress is considering cutting the amount of time you have to sit in your seat upon leaving or approaching the airport from 30 minutes down to 15.

Even better, the Congressman who is proposing this BIG change is doing it on the ground that he is against foolish and meddlesome rules. With 2 air marshals on each flight, he reasons, the 30 minute rule is unnecesary.

No comment.

When They Tell You It's Not About Religion

remember this ad, now removed from the MoveOn.Org website. Curtsy to The Corner for preserving the evidence.

Judges Would Never Interfere With State Marriage Law, They Said

Over at Bench Memos, Kathryn Jean Lopez links to a Maggie Gallagher column about the Nebraska ruling. She describes the way Democratic Senators responded to her testimony about defending marriage way back in 2003:

"Democratic senators in the room assumed a pose of powerful skepticism about the motives of those like us who supported a Marriage Protection Amendment. They pooh-poohed the idea there was any judicial threat to marriage. No court had then ruled in favor of gay marriage, they noted. Our fears of judicial re-invention were unwarranted, if not hysterical then basely political."

W on JP

The President was given an award by the International Republican Institute last night. Another recipient was John Paul II, about whom the President said this:

"I understand a little later on you're going to give an award to a true champion of freedom and that is Pope John Paul II. Everywhere he went, Pope John Paul preached that the call of freedom is for every member of the human family -- because the Author of Life wrote it into our common human nature. And in the end, even the Berlin Wall could not withstand the force of this humble Polish priest, who became the Bishop of Rome -- and a true hero for the ages. Thank you for honoring this good man. (Applause.) "

Here's the text of his speech, which says nothing more about JP II but is worth reading. For more of W. on JPII, check out the press conference he gave aboard Air Force One on the way home from JP's funeral. Great stuff if you missed it --has any U.S. President ever spoken so openly about his faith? (Read the whole thing --his comments on his experience in Rome are peppered throughout).

Schall On Ratzinger & the Europe Problem

Head over to Ignatius Insight for comment on this article from Fr. Schall and then-Cardinal Ratzinger's analysis of the roots of Europe's crisis. RC2 will probably comment once she's read it, but she can't keep the cool articles to herself.

Also from I I is this roundup of blogs the Catholic bloggers are reading.

Devastating Korangate Cartoon

over at the Ryskind Sketchbook. Click on "Friendly Fire."

Then, just for fun look to the right and left of it to see how a professional cartoonist adapts to changing political realities.

Yes, She Is A Shameless Pope Groupie

Another goodie from Catholic Online. This time a wonderful interview with one of B16's good friends, with more tidbits about what he's like. My favorite bit is how bringing then-Cardinal Ratzinger an Advent wreath from Bavaria to make him feel more at home in Rome became practically a cottage business:

Kuehnel was still flying to Rome when he began taking Bavarian Advent wreaths. "It started with two wreaths," he said, "one for his office, the other for his living quarters. I was traveling by plane then, and when they opened my suitcase at customs, they grew very solemn and started offering me their condolences. They thought I was going to a funeral, bringing wreaths for the grave."

Pope John Paul II saw Cardinal Ratzinger's wreaths and asked for some, too. The following year, Kuehnel transported more wreaths in his car, with an especially big one for the pope. The news of the wreaths spread throughout the Vatican, then beyond its walls. "Last year, I had 52 wreaths in the back of my car," said Kuehnel, smiling.

Christmas trees are also in high demand. "Last year, I transported eight Bavarian trees on the roof of my car," said Kuehnel. "I carry too much to get everything into a plane. ... My best driving record was eight hours (to Rome); now it takes me 10."

The Pope Is An Expert on Luther

I ran into this article a couple of weeks ago and meant to comment. Thought of it again while working on my B16 presentation. One of the world's foremost Lutheran theologians says that no one understands Luther better than B16. Not a bad man for the job of ecumenical outreach and Christian unification, eh? Curtsy to Catholic Online for the link.

Mild About Harry

Powerline reminds us that the whole debate over judges comes down to one thing only. You know what it is, and its proponents are the reason Harry Reid can't back down.

RC2 almost feels sorry for him. From her perch on the political spectrum he's never been her hero, but he wasn't NARAL's either. She believes he's a lot more conservative than the party that he's leading. Have you noticed that when "moderate" Republicans are put in the position of having to be conservative, they don't know how? They can read the political winds and "throw some red meat" to the base, but, lacking conviction, they can't come up with anything substantive --they just resort to insulting the other side. Think of the 1984 Republican convention. There was Jeanne Kirkpatrick's "they always blame America first" speech, which was a home run, but there was also Gerry Ford and a handful of others who thought "going right" meant being mildly insulting. Back to Reid: RC2 believes he's in the same pickle with his party. He hasn't fully drunk the Kool-Aid himself, but he knows he must throw red meat (or spiced tofurkey perhaps) to his base. Lacking ideological commitment, he resorts to insults: The President is a loser, etc. RC2 thinks an adept political leader could have prevented the "nuclear" option by turning some more RINOs. Mr. RC2 predicts a "dump Harry" movement from w/n the Dems when the fallout clears.

Chaput the Great on "Kingdom of Heaven"

It's not a review, since this column appeared before the movie was released. Instead it's a good reminder why the movie's historical accuracy matters, and how it presents an opportunity for Christians if they're willing to take up the challenge and learn their history.

"Honor is the social witness given to human dignity"

That line from the Catechism of the Catholic Church (see previous post) is telling, no? Not to flog the deceased equine being, but this is how the introduction of contraception and abortion lead inexhorably to the coarsening of society. A sense of honor and decorum is intimately linked to the concept of human dignity. Damage the sense of the person's dignity, and you will have Presidents who feel bound to answer impertinent teen questions about their skivvies, the sudden-acceptability of the word "butt" (RC2 recalls fondly when everyone was at pains to say something more genteel) and we can all insert other pet indignities. To say nothing of our quickness to believe the lowest behavior of our fellow creatures (RC2 has a psychotherapist friend who notes that a man can lead a life of exemplary kindness and service in every way. If it happens that he has a low moment one day and yells at someone, everyone will remark, "Now he reveals his true self!").

Nastiness, too, is part of the culture of death -- so let's not have anymore cant about how people's "private choices" have no effect on those of us who choose differently.

Newsweek & the 8th Commandment

Maybe we should extradite Newsweek editors to this town in Colombia --where gossip that causes death is punishable by jail. Curtsy to The Daily Eudemon for this story.

"Fed up with people targeted by false rumors turning up dead or wrongfully arrested, the mayor of a small Colombian town has made gossip a crime punishable by up to four years in prison.
"Human beings must be aware and recognize that having a tongue and using it to do bad is the same as having dynamite in their mouths," says an official municipal decree issued last year in Icononzo, 40 miles southwest of the capital, Bogota."

RC2 is reminded of the wisdom of the Catechism of the Catholic Church #2477. In the section on offenses against truth, it reads:

"Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty:

• of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor.
• of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them.
• of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them.

#2479 reveals the pro-life reason these things are wrong: "Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one's neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity."

And for the "Entertainment" pages of the papers, we have this from "#2480: "Every word or attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation or complaisance encourages and confirms another in malicious acts and perverse conduct."

What does justice require in Korangate? Again, the CCC: "Every offense committed against justice and truth entails the duty of reparation. . . .This reparation, moral and sometimes material, must be evaluated in terms of the extent of the damage inflicted. It obliges in conscience."