On the Other Hand...

The estimable Fr. Dwight Longnecker (an Episcopalian convert himself) writes, concerning the Anglican Ordinariate:

The establishment of the Ordinariate has clarified matters between the two churches. Benedict XVI has, if you like, called the bluff of all those Anglicans who kept on saying, "We are Catholics too you know...just not Roman Catholics." Then they would go on in pious phrases, "We do long to become Catholics and to achieve unity, but we do not want to give up our distinct patrimony."

OK. It's all possible now. Anglicans can come into full communion with Rome. They can keep their distinct patrimony. They have their own hierarchy. Their married men may be ordained. They can have their own religious orders, their own seminary and their own churches and their own form of church government. What else do they want? The numbers who take up the Pope's offer will be small, because they will have to launch out in faith.

There is no question there are those in the Catholic Church, some of them well placed, who want no part of the Anglican Ordinariate and will seemingly do whatever they can to derail it. Curious, that, since it is obvious the will of the Holy Father is this thing be done; how do they reconcile their behavior with Catholic obedience?

On the other hand, as Fr. Longnecker points out, the time has come for those Anglicans who profess and practice "Catholicity" to put up or shut up. The Holy Catholic Church has extended an unprecedented and generous offer to them to become one with the one true Church while maintaining their worship practices, which in the case of Anglo-Catholics, is not only pre-Vatican II but pre-Pius XII as well: essentially 19th century Catholic worship while using the Book of Common Prayer (and no doubt at the root of the angst and nay-saying among liberal Catholic bishops and priests).

Anglicans, particularly those calling themselves Anglo-Catholic, who decline the invitation from Rome are, in effect, declaring their lot with the Protestants (one commenter on Longnecker's post proclaims he will not budge until the Vatican allows use of the 1662 Prayer book and the 39 Articles!--good luck with that, fella). With the establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate, Anglicans who insists on defining themselves as "Catholic" will, over time, appear increasingly anomalous and, as the Anglican Church (and the Episcopal Church, especially) march further and further from orthodoxy, downright ridiculous. As Fr. George Rutler once wrote: "It must also be remembered that the continued existence of Catholic forms within Anglicanism does a disservice by confusing many." Indeed.

On the Other Hand...

The estimable Fr. Dwight Longnecker (an Episcopalian convert himself) writes, concerning the Anglican Ordinariate:

The establishment of the Ordinariate has clarified matters between the two churches. Benedict XVI has, if you like, called the bluff of all those Anglicans who kept on saying, "We are Catholics too you know...just not Roman Catholics." Then they would go on in pious phrases, "We do long to become Catholics and to achieve unity, but we do not want to give up our distinct patrimony."

OK. It's all possible now. Anglicans can come into full communion with Rome. They can keep their distinct patrimony. They have their own hierarchy. Their married men may be ordained. They can have their own religious orders, their own seminary and their own churches and their own form of church government. What else do they want? The numbers who take up the Pope's offer will be small, because they will have to launch out in faith.

There is no question there are those in the Catholic Church, some of them well placed, who want no part of the Anglican Ordinariate and will seemingly do whatever they can to derail it. Curious, that, since it is obvious the will of the Holy Father is this thing be done; how do they reconcile their behavior with Catholic obedience?

On the other hand, as Fr. Longnecker points out, the time has come for those Anglicans who profess and practice "Catholicity" to put up or shut up. The Holy Catholic Church has extended an unprecedented and generous offer to them to become one with the one true Church while maintaining their worship practices, which in the case of Anglo-Catholics, is not only pre-Vatican II but pre-Pius XII as well: essentially 19th century Catholic worship while using the Book of Common Prayer (and no doubt at the root of the angst and nay-saying among liberal Catholic bishops and priests).

Anglicans, particularly those calling themselves Anglo-Catholic, who decline the invitation from Rome are, in effect, declaring their lot with the Protestants (one commenter on Longnecker's post proclaims he will not budge until the Vatican allows use of the 1662 Prayer book and the 39 Articles!--good luck with that, fella). With the establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate, Anglicans who insists on defining themselves as "Catholic" will, over time, appear increasingly anomalous and, as the Anglican Church (and the Episcopal Church, especially) march further and further from orthodoxy, downright ridiculous. As Fr. George Rutler once wrote: "It must also be remembered that the continued existence of Catholic forms within Anglicanism does a disservice by confusing many." Indeed.

The road to hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts.--St. John Chrysostom

Among the many thoughtful comments (and thank you one and all) on my post concerning the soon-to-be announced ordinary of the American Anglican Ordinariate was this one from commenter Anthony:

One very telling comment which has stuck in my mind so clearly, was asked by a Catholic Bishop at the U.S. Bishops' Conference back in June. When speaking of future parish communities in the Ordinariate, he asked Cardinal Wuerl, "What if one of my people stumbles into one of these parishes, and likes it?" To which Cardinal Wuerl replied "It hasn't been a problem up until now." This sums up both the stupidity and non-pastoral nature of some of these characters with whom we have to do.

The establishment of the ordinariate will just be the beginning. Whoever the ordinary turns out to be, the estimable Fr. Steenson or one of the other worthy candidates, he will have his work cut out for him, as will all the brave souls planting Anglican Use churches within dioceses headed by the many deeply suspicious, sometimes downright hostile, bishops in the U.S.C.C.B. They might take at least some solace, however, knowing they will be having a better time of it than their counterparts in England.

The road to hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts.--St. John Chrysostom

Among the many thoughtful comments (and thank you one and all) on my post concerning the soon-to-be announced ordinary of the American Anglican Ordinariate was this one from commenter Anthony:

One very telling comment which has stuck in my mind so clearly, was asked by a Catholic Bishop at the U.S. Bishops' Conference back in June. When speaking of future parish communities in the Ordinariate, he asked Cardinal Wuerl, "What if one of my people stumbles into one of these parishes, and likes it?" To which Cardinal Wuerl replied "It hasn't been a problem up until now." This sums up both the stupidity and non-pastoral nature of some of these characters with whom we have to do.

The establishment of the ordinariate will just be the beginning. Whoever the ordinary turns out to be, the estimable Fr. Steenson or one of the other worthy candidates, he will have his work cut out for him, as will all the brave souls planting Anglican Use churches within dioceses headed by the many deeply suspicious, sometimes downright hostile, bishops in the U.S.C.C.B. They might take at least some solace, however, knowing they will be having a better time of it than their counterparts in England.

Ordinariate Buzz

It is being noised Jeffrey Steenson, the former Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande in the Episcopal Church, who was received into the Catholic Church in 2007 and is now a priest, will be named Ordinary of the American Anglican Ordinariate on January 1, 2012.

Should the buzzings be true, Fr. Steenson would make an excellent choice; his credentials are solid.

Ordinariate Buzz

It is being noised Jeffrey Steenson, the former Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande in the Episcopal Church, who was received into the Catholic Church in 2007 and is now a priest, will be named Ordinary of the American Anglican Ordinariate on January 1, 2012.

Should the buzzings be true, Fr. Steenson would make an excellent choice; his credentials are solid.

The Death of Another Leader

It's sad the death of the despotic Kim Jong-il generates headlines, think-pieces and thumbsuckers in media around the world while news of the contemporaneous death of a genuine hero, Vaclav Havel, is more or less buried. It was Havel (along with Lech Walesa and, of course, Pope John Paul II), who at considerable risk and cost to his own welfare, stood up to the lie that is communism and successfully urged his compatriots to do same, eventually leading to the collapse of the Soviet Bloc. I can't help wonder if many of those in today's media, upon hearing of Havel's death and Googling his name to learn about him, found those activities so disquieting they chose instead to lavish their attention on Kim, who though a murderous clown thug, was possessed at least of a more palatable ideology.

Vaclav Havel, 1936-2011.

The Death of Another Leader

It's sad the death of the despotic Kim Jong-il generates headlines, think-pieces and thumbsuckers in media around the world while news of the contemporaneous death of a genuine hero, Vaclav Havel, is more or less buried. It was Havel (along with Lech Walesa and, of course, Pope John Paul II), who at considerable risk and cost to his own welfare, stood up to the lie that is communism and successfully urged his compatriots to do same, eventually leading to the collapse of the Soviet Bloc. I can't help wonder if many of those in today's media, upon hearing of Havel's death and Googling his name to learn about him, found those activities so disquieting they chose instead to lavish their attention on Kim, who though a murderous clown thug, was possessed at least of a more palatable ideology.

Vaclav Havel, 1936-2011.

At Long Last

The Reverend Jason Catania, Rector of Mount Calvary Church (Episcopal) announced this morning at Mass that the parishioners of that church will be received into the Catholic Church and the U.S. Anglican Use Ordinariate on Sunday, January 22, 2012. This is most excellent news and a long time coming. Fr. Catania is a friend of your Bloviator going back nearly a decade, when he was stationed in another church. In fact it was he who virtually ordered me, after a period of slack attendance, to start attending Mass again regularly no matter what the state of the Episcopal Church. That was excellent counsel and the result of it was a few years later I up and left the Episcopal Church and embraced the full Catholic faith, waving to my priest friend from the opposite side of the Tiber. Now he will soon be joining me and the rest of us on this side of it and that is most pleasing indeed.

Welcome home, Father.

Thanks to Augustine.

At Long Last

The Reverend Jason Catania, Rector of Mount Calvary Church (Episcopal) announced this morning at Mass that the parishioners of that church will be received into the Catholic Church and the U.S. Anglican Use Ordinariate on Sunday, January 22, 2012. This is most excellent news and a long time coming. Fr. Catania is a friend of your Bloviator going back nearly a decade, when he was stationed in another church. In fact it was he who virtually ordered me, after a period of slack attendance, to start attending Mass again regularly no matter what the state of the Episcopal Church. That was excellent counsel and the result of it was a few years later I up and left the Episcopal Church and embraced the full Catholic faith, waving to my priest friend from the opposite side of the Tiber. Now he will soon be joining me and the rest of us on this side of it and that is most pleasing indeed.

Welcome home, Father.

Thanks to Augustine.

Putting Allah into Christmas

Earlier I bloviated the multi-cultis, in their efforts to ecumenize Christmas to death, had little to offer when it came to injecting Islam into the mix, i.e., "some sort of Islamic equivalent even though there is none..." Oh, how glibly wrong that was. Thanks are owed to a long-time blogging colleague of your Bloviator (one who has linked to this humble effort almost from its inception), Archbishop Cranmer, and his fairly astonishing report of an "inclusive" Lessons and Carols ceremony (one of the Anglican Church's great gifts to Christianity) celebrated recently at a chapel at the University of London, at which traditional scripture was dispensed with in favor of readings from the Qur'an, the part about Mary, as you might have expected. One of the celebrants was, not surprisingly, an Anglican priestess, the other a Catholic priest, also not surprisingly but sadly indicative of the state of Holy Church in England.

It behooves you to read His Grace's entire account of the debacle but this short excerpt from it will serve to close this posting.

When you compromise on the intellectual, political, and imaginative foundations of Western culture, you create a spiritual vacuum which needs to be filled. The people cry out for meat, and all they can get is the milk of dumbed-down Anglicanism followed by a mouthful of Islam.

Putting Allah into Christmas

Earlier I bloviated the multi-cultis, in their efforts to ecumenize Christmas to death, had little to offer when it came to injecting Islam into the mix, i.e., "some sort of Islamic equivalent even though there is none..." Oh, how glibly wrong that was. Thanks are owed to a long-time blogging colleague of your Bloviator (one who has linked to this humble effort almost from its inception), Archbishop Cranmer, and his fairly astonishing report of an "inclusive" Lessons and Carols ceremony (one of the Anglican Church's great gifts to Christianity) celebrated recently at a chapel at the University of London, at which traditional scripture was dispensed with in favor of readings from the Qur'an, the part about Mary, as you might have expected. One of the celebrants was, not surprisingly, an Anglican priestess, the other a Catholic priest, also not surprisingly but sadly indicative of the state of Holy Church in England.

It behooves you to read His Grace's entire account of the debacle but this short excerpt from it will serve to close this posting.

When you compromise on the intellectual, political, and imaginative foundations of Western culture, you create a spiritual vacuum which needs to be filled. The people cry out for meat, and all they can get is the milk of dumbed-down Anglicanism followed by a mouthful of Islam.

Job Well Done

I do believe the transformation is complete: so far this season I have not once heard the dreaded word "Christmas" in any radio or television commercial, nor seen it in any print ads. In fact, the only use of the word at all I have seen in media intended for mass distribution was this morning (and boy was I taken aback), in the monthly handout for commuters published by Metro North Railroad (a gummint institution, no less), wherein their Christmas Day schedule was announced (I guess there was no easy way to get around the word). Atheists will be relieved to know, however, Metro North atoned for that sin elsewhere in the bulletin where, in a list of suggested seasonal activities, a visit to the "Holiday Tree" in Rockefeller Center was recommended.

All in all, however, it's probably for the best this de-Christianization of Christmas, for in these times the moment anyone suggests some sort of public observance of the feast, self-appointed advocates of "fairness" will leap up and demand equal time for the other religions and so begins the trotting out of the menorahs (and since "Christmas" trees are no longer allowed shouldn't menorahs be called "Holiday candelabra" or some-such?), Kwanza decorations (how odd that a manufactured holiday celebrates the harvest at the onset of winter) and, of course, some sort of Islamic equivalent even though there is none (never mind that, we'll just put up a great big crescent, preferably right over the crèche the Catholics put up earlier, right next to the angels and Frosty the Snowman).

In a similar vein, your crabby old Bloviator vigorously eschews "ecumenism" of any sort, for in the end it is only a declaration of the tepidity of one's own faith. One will never find, and rightly so, any nod to or borrowings from Christianity in orthodox Jewish services, likewise for Islamic, Hindu, Zoroastrian and other faiths' observances. I will never forget a community service I attended years ago in the well-to-do Connecticut suburb in which I grew up, in an Episcopal church (naturally), that concluded with the soprano soloist, accompanied by large chorus and orchestra, recessing down the aisle bellowing Hava Nagila at the top of her lungs. In the audience was my childhood piano teacher and when I saw her later she was in high dudgeon: "They're apologizing for being Christian," she said angrily and loudly and she was absolutely right. This Christmas, don't apologize for being Christian. Atheists and non-believing members of other faiths are the only ones who might take offense and quite frankly, they need to be offended.

One non-Christian who never took offense at the celebration of Christmas was a former neighbor of mine, an observant orthodox Jew (he attended schul daily at 7:00 a.m.) and a Holocaust survivor. Every year, on Christmas day, he would bang on the door of my apartment, boom out a "Merry Christmas" and invite me over to his and his wife's apartment next door to sample some of his fine single-malt scotches. He was a godly man.

Job Well Done

I do believe the transformation is complete: so far this season I have not once heard the dreaded word "Christmas" in any radio or television commercial, nor seen it in any print ads. In fact, the only use of the word at all I have seen in media intended for mass distribution was this morning (and boy was I taken aback), in the monthly handout for commuters published by Metro North Railroad (a gummint institution, no less), wherein their Christmas Day schedule was announced (I guess there was no easy way to get around the word). Atheists will be relieved to know, however, Metro North atoned for that sin elsewhere in the bulletin where, in a list of suggested seasonal activities, a visit to the "Holiday Tree" in Rockefeller Center was recommended.

All in all, however, it's probably for the best this de-Christianization of Christmas, for in these times the moment anyone suggests some sort of public observance of the feast, self-appointed advocates of "fairness" will leap up and demand equal time for the other religions and so begins the trotting out of the menorahs (and since "Christmas" trees are no longer allowed shouldn't menorahs be called "Holiday candelabra" or some-such?), Kwanza decorations (how odd that a manufactured holiday celebrates the harvest at the onset of winter) and, of course, some sort of Islamic equivalent even though there is none (never mind that, we'll just put up a great big crescent, preferably right over the crèche the Catholics put up earlier, right next to the angels and Frosty the Snowman).

In a similar vein, your crabby old Bloviator vigorously eschews "ecumenism" of any sort, for in the end it is only a declaration of the tepidity of one's own faith. One will never find, and rightly so, any nod to or borrowings from Christianity in orthodox Jewish services, likewise for Islamic, Hindu, Zoroastrian and other faiths' observances. I will never forget a community service I attended years ago in the well-to-do Connecticut suburb in which I grew up, in an Episcopal church (naturally), that concluded with the soprano soloist, accompanied by large chorus and orchestra, recessing down the aisle bellowing Hava Nagila at the top of her lungs. In the audience was my childhood piano teacher and when I saw her later she was in high dudgeon: "They're apologizing for being Christian," she said angrily and loudly and she was absolutely right. This Christmas, don't apologize for being Christian. Atheists and non-believing members of other faiths are the only ones who might take offense and quite frankly, they need to be offended.

One non-Christian who never took offense at the celebration of Christmas was a former neighbor of mine, an observant orthodox Jew (he attended schul daily at 7:00 a.m.) and a Holocaust survivor. Every year, on Christmas day, he would bang on the door of my apartment, boom out a "Merry Christmas" and invite me over to his and his wife's apartment next door to sample some of his fine single-malt scotches. He was a godly man.

A Solution to a Common Nuisance

Sign in a coffee shop in Ojai, California.

Thanks to Mimi.

A Solution to a Common Nuisance

Sign in a coffee shop in Ojai, California.

Thanks to Mimi.

Heiliger Dankgesang

For reasons I have never been able to fathom I always associate Thanksgiving with the music of Beethoven. I was therefore most pleased to hear on the car radio, while driving to the family Thanksgiving gathering, that the program director at radio station WQXR, New York's only(!) full-time classical station, had felt likewise and scheduled an all-Beethoven play-list. Particularly appropriate, I thought, was the airing of String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132, which Beethoven composed after recovering from a a serious illness. The ethereal (like so much of late Beethoven) third movement is entitled: "Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart" ("A Convalescent's Holy Song of Thanksgiving to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode"). More transcendent and eerily beautiful music simply does not exist; the master was surely hearing the voice of God as he penned his thanks to Him in music.

Now home from a most splendid repast, I thought it appropriate to cap off the day by listening to the grandest Beethoven work of them all, the Ninth Symphony, via an historic recording (Furtwängler, Philharmonia Orchestra, Lucerne, 1954, for you enthusiasts out there). Sitting here, sipping from a small glass of decent scotch (with a splash), I feel particularly cognizant of the rich blessings bestowed upon me by an ever-loving God. Your Bloviator has had his share of adversity over the years (the early to mid-nineties were particularly brutal) but always managed to land on his feet, thanks be to God. And while my life can hardly be described as all bliss all the time, I nonetheless have much to be thankful for: a nice place to live, family and friends, a job I actually enjoy and, most of all, since 2008, the joy of having embraced the full Catholic faith.

Whatever your faith, or even if you have none at all, I wish every one of you a happy Thanksgiving.

Heiliger Dankgesang

For reasons I have never been able to fathom I always associate Thanksgiving with the music of Beethoven. I was therefore most pleased to hear on the car radio, while driving to the family Thanksgiving gathering, that the program director at radio station WQXR, New York's only(!) full-time classical station, had felt likewise and scheduled an all-Beethoven play-list. Particularly appropriate, I thought, was the airing of String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132, which Beethoven composed after recovering from a a serious illness. The ethereal (like so much of late Beethoven) third movement is entitled: "Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart" ("A Convalescent's Holy Song of Thanksgiving to the Divinity, in the Lydian Mode"). More transcendent and eerily beautiful music simply does not exist; the master was surely hearing the voice of God as he penned his thanks to Him in music.

Now home from a most splendid repast, I thought it appropriate to cap off the day by listening to the grandest Beethoven work of them all, the Ninth Symphony, via an historic recording (Furtwängler, Philharmonia Orchestra, Lucerne, 1954, for you enthusiasts out there). Sitting here, sipping from a small glass of decent scotch (with a splash), I feel particularly cognizant of the rich blessings bestowed upon me by an ever-loving God. Your Bloviator has had his share of adversity over the years (the early to mid-nineties were particularly brutal) but always managed to land on his feet, thanks be to God. And while my life can hardly be described as all bliss all the time, I nonetheless have much to be thankful for: a nice place to live, family and friends, a job I actually enjoy and, most of all, since 2008, the joy of having embraced the full Catholic faith.

Whatever your faith, or even if you have none at all, I wish every one of you a happy Thanksgiving.

Good Multi-Culti

From the Wall Street Journal:

An English Thanksgiving, 1942

American soldiers followed in the footsteps of 17th-century Pilgrims and sat in the pew of Miles Standish. 

...In those dark days, Americans took special pleasure in displaying their homegrown holiday to the Mother Country. The English were dubious at first but slowly realized they were being invited to share in something very special.

U.S. Army Cpl. Heinz Arnold warms up the pipes in London's Westminster Abbey. Getty Images

Read it all, truly inspiring.

Good Multi-Culti

From the Wall Street Journal:

An English Thanksgiving, 1942

American soldiers followed in the footsteps of 17th-century Pilgrims and sat in the pew of Miles Standish. 

...In those dark days, Americans took special pleasure in displaying their homegrown holiday to the Mother Country. The English were dubious at first but slowly realized they were being invited to share in something very special.

U.S. Army Cpl. Heinz Arnold warms up the pipes in London's Westminster Abbey. Getty Images

Read it all, truly inspiring.

This is the Last Straw...

Enough, I hope, to drive even the effete progressives from New York's credentialed class into the arms of the Libertarians. The New York Times (credit where credit is due!) reports on the latest outrage of the bloated public sector, directed at a venerable New York institution:

Inspector Visits Sardi’s. Free Cheese Ends.

By JAMES BARRON

Published: November 17, 2011

It was a tradition at bars like the ones in Sardi’s in the theater district: a communal cheese pot with a knife sticking out, and some crackers. First-nighters or late-nighters grabbed the knife and a cracker, spread the cheese — cheddar — and ate. Some called it dinner [all-too-true!--ed.].

Now, after a health department inspection that complained about “food not protected from potential source of contamination,” the communal pot is gone.

Other bar-food staples like peanuts and pretzels in little bowls? Sardi’s has taken them off the bar, too.

Anyone who wants cheese and crackers has to order them, and will be served his or her own pot of cheese and a couple of crackers wrapped in plastic. And now there is a price: Unlike the communal cheese pot, which was free, Sardi’s is charging $3 for a small pot of cheese and a couple of crackers and $5 for a large pot.

######

“It has to do with the health department,” said V. Max Klimavicius, the president of Sardi’s. “It’s gotten to the point that the way they’re applying the health code is so rigid, we can no longer have what we always had. The way it is now with the health department, as they say, a good inspector has to find violations. They come with flashlights and look in every corner.”

“It’s just mind-boggling,” he said. “Nobody’s happy.”

Of course nobody's happy, save for zealous and overpaid unionized government workers who relish the opportunity showing we-the-people who really is in charge. Those cheese pots were the perfect accompaniment to a gin martini (straight up with olives)...or two...or three; they really laid a nice base. The hope expressed above this egregious act might lessen New York elites' support of overwhelming and overweening government is, of course, in vain. What's more likely to occur is should they find themselves in Sardi's for a drink (one doesn't go there for the food, of course) and learn that the friendly earthenware pots stuffed with Wispride® have been banished by the germ police, they will shake their heads slightly, make a sad utterance how it must be for the best, followed by--more loudly so everyone will hear--a snarky comment how awful American cheese is, then flag down the waiter and order du fromage Selles-sur-cher (tres cher!) that is much more in keeping with people of their education and intellectual pretensions.

Really, this is so prole.

This is the Last Straw...

Enough, I hope, to drive even the effete progressives from New York's credentialed class into the arms of the Libertarians. The New York Times (credit where credit is due!) reports on the latest outrage of the bloated public sector, directed at a venerable New York institution:

Inspector Visits Sardi’s. Free Cheese Ends.

By JAMES BARRON

Published: November 17, 2011

It was a tradition at bars like the ones in Sardi’s in the theater district: a communal cheese pot with a knife sticking out, and some crackers. First-nighters or late-nighters grabbed the knife and a cracker, spread the cheese — cheddar — and ate. Some called it dinner [all-too-true!--ed.].

Now, after a health department inspection that complained about “food not protected from potential source of contamination,” the communal pot is gone.

Other bar-food staples like peanuts and pretzels in little bowls? Sardi’s has taken them off the bar, too.

Anyone who wants cheese and crackers has to order them, and will be served his or her own pot of cheese and a couple of crackers wrapped in plastic. And now there is a price: Unlike the communal cheese pot, which was free, Sardi’s is charging $3 for a small pot of cheese and a couple of crackers and $5 for a large pot.

######

“It has to do with the health department,” said V. Max Klimavicius, the president of Sardi’s. “It’s gotten to the point that the way they’re applying the health code is so rigid, we can no longer have what we always had. The way it is now with the health department, as they say, a good inspector has to find violations. They come with flashlights and look in every corner.”

“It’s just mind-boggling,” he said. “Nobody’s happy.”

Of course nobody's happy, save for zealous and overpaid unionized government workers who relish the opportunity showing we-the-people who really is in charge. Those cheese pots were the perfect accompaniment to a gin martini (straight up with olives)...or two...or three; they really laid a nice base. The hope expressed above this egregious act might lessen New York elites' support of overwhelming and overweening government is, of course, in vain. What's more likely to occur is should they find themselves in Sardi's for a drink (one doesn't go there for the food, of course) and learn that the friendly earthenware pots stuffed with Wispride® have been banished by the germ police, they will shake their heads slightly, make a sad utterance how it must be for the best, followed by--more loudly so everyone will hear--a snarky comment how awful American cheese is, then flag down the waiter and order du fromage Selles-sur-cher (tres cher!) that is much more in keeping with people of their education and intellectual pretensions.

Really, this is so prole.

Breaking News on the Ordinariate

Cardinal Wuerl: the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States will be established on New Year's Day, 2012; the Pope has approved.

Now that that has been settled, the next item up for speculation is who will be the ordinary? I received an interesting tip who that might be back in June but nothing has come of it, yet. We shall know soon enough now.

Also something to ponder here in New York City: which, if any, Episcopal parish here will join the ordinariate? I don't see any obvious candidates. It would be my and many others' fondest wish the parishioners of glorious St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue might embrace the full Catholic faith but the chances of that happy event occurring are just about nil (although there might be a small number of parishioners at St. Thomas who would be in favor). Friends have suggested a few smaller Anglo-Catholic parishes here as possibilities but their demographics (to put it as tactfully as possible) make it extremely unlikely they would elect to become Roman Catholics.

h/t Anglican Patrimony, by way of Augustine.

Breaking News on the Ordinariate

Cardinal Wuerl: the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States will be established on New Year's Day, 2012; the Pope has approved.

Now that that has been settled, the next item up for speculation is who will be the ordinary? I received an interesting tip who that might be back in June but nothing has come of it, yet. We shall know soon enough now.

Also something to ponder here in New York City: which, if any, Episcopal parish here will join the ordinariate? I don't see any obvious candidates. It would be my and many others' fondest wish the parishioners of glorious St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue might embrace the full Catholic faith but the chances of that happy event occurring are just about nil (although there might be a small number of parishioners at St. Thomas who would be in favor). Friends have suggested a few smaller Anglo-Catholic parishes here as possibilities but their demographics (to put it as tactfully as possible) make it extremely unlikely they would elect to become Roman Catholics.

h/t Anglican Patrimony, by way of Augustine.

Out They Go

The NYPD has cleared the protesters out of Zucotti Park, which is, sort of, the mecca of the "Occupiers." This will probably mean the end to this whole sorry business.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon! A judge has ordered the City to let 'em back in, tents and all, pending a hearing at 11:30 a.m.

UPDATE 2: The judge ordered they can go back but without their tents and stuff; rather like being told you can move into a house but not with no furniture. Also, this item:

After the camp in Zuccotti Park was cleared Tuesday, police and protesters again faced off across Lower Manhattan. Some demonstrators tried to set up a new campsite on land owned by an Episcopal church, but police ordered them to disperse and arrested those who didn't comply.

Goodness, that doesn't reflect well at all on the well-off liberals at Trinity Wall Street, which Episcopal church it surely must be; and since that parish owns a good portion of the real estate in the Financial District (courtesy a 19th century parishioner named John Jacob Astor), the Occupiers may have to roam a bit to find a new home. Perhaps the Methodists on nearby John Street will allow them to encamp on their stoop.

Out They Go

The NYPD has cleared the protesters out of Zucotti Park, which is, sort of, the mecca of the "Occupiers." This will probably mean the end to this whole sorry business.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon! A judge has ordered the City to let 'em back in, tents and all, pending a hearing at 11:30 a.m.

UPDATE 2: The judge ordered they can go back but without their tents and stuff; rather like being told you can move into a house but not with no furniture. Also, this item:

After the camp in Zuccotti Park was cleared Tuesday, police and protesters again faced off across Lower Manhattan. Some demonstrators tried to set up a new campsite on land owned by an Episcopal church, but police ordered them to disperse and arrested those who didn't comply.

Goodness, that doesn't reflect well at all on the well-off liberals at Trinity Wall Street, which Episcopal church it surely must be; and since that parish owns a good portion of the real estate in the Financial District (courtesy a 19th century parishioner named John Jacob Astor), the Occupiers may have to roam a bit to find a new home. Perhaps the Methodists on nearby John Street will allow them to encamp on their stoop.

Nobody Said This was Going to be Easy

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory:

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix has backed away from his ban on using consecrated wine for Communion at most Masses, a decision that was originally met with widespread outcry.

In an explanation of his decision in a letter to the priests of the diocese, Olmsted apologized for his own misunderstanding of church documents, including new guidelines and translations for the Catholic Mass, and for any confusion arising from his previous statement made at a priests' meeting in September.

Father Anthony Ruff, an expert on new translations for the Mass, who criticized the bishop's previous position as a "step backward," said he had never heard of a bishop "retracting so quickly."

"Anything I say could sound like gloating," Ruff said. "I think it's for local clergy and liturgical ministers to find the right way to express their goodwill and happiness with this. 

Actually, it is gloating. When Fr. Ruff states he has never heard of a bishop "retracting so quickly," the word "gloating" fairly springs to one's mind. More important, however, than triumphalism from a fan of bad liturgical English is that the reporter for the the Arizona Republic (whence this story comes) missed the lede. The underlying cause for temper tantrums thrown by the innovators has less to do with the limiting of communion sub utraque specie (under both kinds) than the limiting of civilians, otherwise known as Eucharistic ministers, the opportunity to do so (I'll wager the squawking would have been just as loud had the bishop ruled only clergy celebrants could administer the chalice). Post-Vatican II reformers were hellbent in reshaping Holy Church to resemble that of the groovier and far cooler (not to mention the higher-up-the-social ladder) Anglicans and greater involvement in the mass by the laity, whether they wanted it or not, was essential to that end (ironically, the Anglicans never went so far as to allow civilians to administer the elements, at least no Anglican church I ever attended did).

Bishop Olmsted deserves credit attempting to contain one of the more egregious liturgical reforms of post-Vatican II, one for which there was no crying need other than that the protestants did it, and one deplored by our present Pope. The bishop has shown spine in the past. What a pity he felt it necessary to cave following the inevitable shrill complaints from innovators concerning the chalice (it is uncanny how fiercely Eucharistic ministers guard their turf--like lionesses watching over their cubs). Holy Church will never recover from her Procrustean protestantization in the1970s with feckless actions like this one from the Bishop of Arizona.

h/t Angelqueen.org

Nobody Said This was Going to be Easy

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory:

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix has backed away from his ban on using consecrated wine for Communion at most Masses, a decision that was originally met with widespread outcry.

In an explanation of his decision in a letter to the priests of the diocese, Olmsted apologized for his own misunderstanding of church documents, including new guidelines and translations for the Catholic Mass, and for any confusion arising from his previous statement made at a priests' meeting in September.

Father Anthony Ruff, an expert on new translations for the Mass, who criticized the bishop's previous position as a "step backward," said he had never heard of a bishop "retracting so quickly."

"Anything I say could sound like gloating," Ruff said. "I think it's for local clergy and liturgical ministers to find the right way to express their goodwill and happiness with this. 

Actually, it is gloating. When Fr. Ruff states he has never heard of a bishop "retracting so quickly," the word "gloating" fairly springs to one's mind. More important, however, than triumphalism from a fan of bad liturgical English is that the reporter for the the Arizona Republic (whence this story comes) missed the lede. The underlying cause for temper tantrums thrown by the innovators has less to do with the limiting of communion sub utraque specie (under both kinds) than the limiting of civilians, otherwise known as Eucharistic ministers, the opportunity to do so (I'll wager the squawking would have been just as loud had the bishop ruled only clergy celebrants could administer the chalice). Post-Vatican II reformers were hellbent in reshaping Holy Church to resemble that of the groovier and far cooler (not to mention the higher-up-the-social ladder) Anglicans and greater involvement in the mass by the laity, whether they wanted it or not, was essential to that end (ironically, the Anglicans never went so far as to allow civilians to administer the elements, at least no Anglican church I ever attended did).

Bishop Olmsted deserves credit attempting to contain one of the more egregious liturgical reforms of post-Vatican II, one for which there was no crying need other than that the protestants did it, and one deplored by our present Pope. The bishop has shown spine in the past. What a pity he felt it necessary to cave following the inevitable shrill complaints from innovators concerning the chalice (it is uncanny how fiercely Eucharistic ministers guard their turf--like lionesses watching over their cubs). Holy Church will never recover from her Procrustean protestantization in the1970s with feckless actions like this one from the Bishop of Arizona.

h/t Angelqueen.org

From One Oracle to Another

The Christian Science Monitor (a fine newspaper indeed, even if I have certain difficulties with the rather peculiar theology of its owners) poses an interesting question:

The Reformed Broker

Berkshire Hathaway doubles stock purchases. Does Buffett see something big?

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. invested $23.9 billion in the third-quarter, the most in at least 15 years. Is Berkshire Hathaway seeing something on the horizon?

I think I can answer that. I asked another oracle, which has never let me down, the following question: "Will Barack Obama be re-elected president?" and the answer was

Great minds think alike.

From One Oracle to Another

The Christian Science Monitor (a fine newspaper indeed, even if I have certain difficulties with the rather peculiar theology of its owners) poses an interesting question:

The Reformed Broker

Berkshire Hathaway doubles stock purchases. Does Buffett see something big?

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. invested $23.9 billion in the third-quarter, the most in at least 15 years. Is Berkshire Hathaway seeing something on the horizon?

I think I can answer that. I asked another oracle, which has never let me down, the following question: "Will Barack Obama be re-elected president?" and the answer was

Great minds think alike.

Showing Them How

Another person has crawled out of the woodwork to allege Herman Cain made unwanted advances to her, this one represented by the notorious (and downright bizarre) lefty ambulance chaser, Gloria Allred. One of the three or four conservatives in Hollywood, screenwriter Andrew Klavan, explains why we should let this matter proceed, unfair as it may seem.

But there’s a reason it’s unfair—a reason it should be unfair. There’s a reason we right wingers vet our candidates while the left adulates theirs, a reason we condemn our miscreants while the left elevates theirs, a reason our news outlets cover stories that the left covers up.

The reason is: we’re the good guys. We have to do what’s right. The left doesn’t. Sorry, but that’s the way it works. It’s the price you pay for defending what’s true and good, the price of holding yourself to a high moral standard. Our politicians have to be better than their politicians. Our journalists have to be more honest. Even our protesters have to behave with decorum and decency—and still suffer being slandered—while theirs can act like animals and commit acts of violence and lawlessness and spew anti-semitic filth and still find themselves excused and glorified.

We really have no choice.

Attorney Allred introduces Exhibit A at a press conference.

Showing Them How

Another person has crawled out of the woodwork to allege Herman Cain made unwanted advances to her, this one represented by the notorious (and downright bizarre) lefty ambulance chaser, Gloria Allred. One of the three or four conservatives in Hollywood, screenwriter Andrew Klavan, explains why we should let this matter proceed, unfair as it may seem.

But there’s a reason it’s unfair—a reason it should be unfair. There’s a reason we right wingers vet our candidates while the left adulates theirs, a reason we condemn our miscreants while the left elevates theirs, a reason our news outlets cover stories that the left covers up.

The reason is: we’re the good guys. We have to do what’s right. The left doesn’t. Sorry, but that’s the way it works. It’s the price you pay for defending what’s true and good, the price of holding yourself to a high moral standard. Our politicians have to be better than their politicians. Our journalists have to be more honest. Even our protesters have to behave with decorum and decency—and still suffer being slandered—while theirs can act like animals and commit acts of violence and lawlessness and spew anti-semitic filth and still find themselves excused and glorified.

We really have no choice.

Attorney Allred introduces Exhibit A at a press conference.

If Buckley were Still Alive

Neal B. Freeman speculates how the present republican candidates would fared with the late William F. Buckley, Jr.. Romney, for example:

First, he would have summoned the Republican stalwarts for catechismic instruction. Mitt Romney, invited to dinner at 73rd Street, would have been given a pass on gun control, abortion, immigration and universal health care. Bill believed that every human being is endowed by his Creator with the unalienable right to flip-flop, though Bill might have regretted, in Mr. Romney's case, that it had been exercised so vigorously.

Instead, Bill would have bored in on what he perceived to be a lacuna: namely, the widespread presumption that Mr. Romney can fix our broken economy with an economic plan that is manifestly inadequate to the challenge. Mr. Romney would have squirmed through the evening. Bill would have barely survived it. He hated to drink alone.

Read it all, an exemplar of drollity, as WFB, Jr. might have put it.

If Buckley were Still Alive

Neal B. Freeman speculates how the present republican candidates would fared with the late William F. Buckley, Jr.. Romney, for example:

First, he would have summoned the Republican stalwarts for catechismic instruction. Mitt Romney, invited to dinner at 73rd Street, would have been given a pass on gun control, abortion, immigration and universal health care. Bill believed that every human being is endowed by his Creator with the unalienable right to flip-flop, though Bill might have regretted, in Mr. Romney's case, that it had been exercised so vigorously.

Instead, Bill would have bored in on what he perceived to be a lacuna: namely, the widespread presumption that Mr. Romney can fix our broken economy with an economic plan that is manifestly inadequate to the challenge. Mr. Romney would have squirmed through the evening. Bill would have barely survived it. He hated to drink alone.

Read it all, an exemplar of drollity, as WFB, Jr. might have put it.

Social Justice in Zuccotti Park, One Tent at Time

Randy male Occupy Wall Streeters in Zuccotti Park have made things so bad for their filly counterparts separate quarters have had to be erected for them. From the New York Post:

It’s a safe house from the sex fiends.

Zuccotti Park has become so overrun by sexual predators attacking women in the night that organizers felt compelled to set up a female-only sleeping tent yesterday to keep the sickos away.

The large, metal-framed “safety tent” -- which will be guarded by an all-female patrol -- can accommodate as many as 18 people and will be used during the day for women-only meetings, said Occupy Wall Street organizers.

Sadly, the menfolk are displaying a cynical and shocking insensitivity to the poor gals' plight.

Some of the male OWS protesters remained in denial over the growing number of sex attacks.

“Sexual harassment gets called rape, and it’s not,” one scoffed when told of the women’s tent.

This poor thing, however, insists she's a victim.

The grope victims include Kara Demetropoulos, who told The Post she was fondled in a tent last Saturday night after accepting a man’s offer of a place to sleep.

Has our society become so depraved a respectable gal can no longer bed down with a stranger in a tent for fear of being molested? Alas, chivalry is dead after all.

Yet here's a lass who isn't at all pleased about OWS management's enlightened decision to provide separate but equal quarters for the fair sex.

One woman was also against the structure, saying the protesters who put it up took her tent down without notice to make room.

“I’m pissed! I pretty much just got evicted,” fumed Angelina Isfreed, 32, after returning to find her tent taken down. “I won’t be staying there.”

Angelina? Kitten? I know you and your comrades believe property is theft but one essential principle of property ownership and the laws enforcing it is to make it difficult to be deprived of your space just because others think they know better what to do with it. Consider this a learning experience.

Of course, when one protected group is accommodated, others will demand same.

More people may have to move. The protest organizers plan to put up seven more large tents, including ones for gay and transgender people, co-ed tents and a medical tent.

Soon to be followed, no doubt, by tents for people of color (one tent per hue, we'll assume), the handicapped, differently-abled, physically challenged and, if there's any social justice at all in Zuccotti Park, a tent for the least understood and most discriminated against minority group, sex offenders. Then all will be swell in Zuccotti Park and the protesters can get back to doing what they're paid for.

Social Justice in Zuccotti Park, One Tent at Time

Randy male Occupy Wall Streeters in Zuccotti Park have made things so bad for their filly counterparts separate quarters have had to be erected for them. From the New York Post:

It’s a safe house from the sex fiends.

Zuccotti Park has become so overrun by sexual predators attacking women in the night that organizers felt compelled to set up a female-only sleeping tent yesterday to keep the sickos away.

The large, metal-framed “safety tent” -- which will be guarded by an all-female patrol -- can accommodate as many as 18 people and will be used during the day for women-only meetings, said Occupy Wall Street organizers.

Sadly, the menfolk are displaying a cynical and shocking insensitivity to the poor gals' plight.

Some of the male OWS protesters remained in denial over the growing number of sex attacks.

“Sexual harassment gets called rape, and it’s not,” one scoffed when told of the women’s tent.

This poor thing, however, insists she's a victim.

The grope victims include Kara Demetropoulos, who told The Post she was fondled in a tent last Saturday night after accepting a man’s offer of a place to sleep.

Has our society become so depraved a respectable gal can no longer bed down with a stranger in a tent for fear of being molested? Alas, chivalry is dead after all.

Yet here's a lass who isn't at all pleased about OWS management's enlightened decision to provide separate but equal quarters for the fair sex.

One woman was also against the structure, saying the protesters who put it up took her tent down without notice to make room.

“I’m pissed! I pretty much just got evicted,” fumed Angelina Isfreed, 32, after returning to find her tent taken down. “I won’t be staying there.”

Angelina? Kitten? I know you and your comrades believe property is theft but one essential principle of property ownership and the laws enforcing it is to make it difficult to be deprived of your space just because others think they know better what to do with it. Consider this a learning experience.

Of course, when one protected group is accommodated, others will demand same.

More people may have to move. The protest organizers plan to put up seven more large tents, including ones for gay and transgender people, co-ed tents and a medical tent.

Soon to be followed, no doubt, by tents for people of color (one tent per hue, we'll assume), the handicapped, differently-abled, physically challenged and, if there's any social justice at all in Zuccotti Park, a tent for the least understood and most discriminated against minority group, sex offenders. Then all will be swell in Zuccotti Park and the protesters can get back to doing what they're paid for.

Matthew 26:40

Your Bloviator received an S.O.S. recently from a Catholic friend who was in a bit of a state because the local parish (where I don't attend Mass much these days),after having announced a 24-hour adoration, apparently fell down on the job rounding up volunteers to man the event, especially during the wee small hours. The upshot is I will be rising before the dawn tomorrow morning and trudging to a probably unheated church and attending our Lord a couple of hours.

While I will confess to feeling a smidgen put out initially when volunteering to stand in for those whose talk is more impressive than their action, on the other hand, if there is a worthier activity than spending time in the Divine Presence I don't know it. Besides, Jesus only asked for one hour from his disciples; I'll be giving him two. This is a good thing.

Matthew 26:40

Your Bloviator received an S.O.S. recently from a Catholic friend who was in a bit of a state because the local parish (where I don't attend Mass much these days),after having announced a 24-hour adoration, apparently fell down on the job rounding up volunteers to man the event, especially during the wee small hours. The upshot is I will be rising before the dawn tomorrow morning and trudging to a probably unheated church and attending our Lord a couple of hours.

While I will confess to feeling a smidgen put out initially when volunteering to stand in for those whose talk is more impressive than their action, on the other hand, if there is a worthier activity than spending time in the Divine Presence I don't know it. Besides, Jesus only asked for one hour from his disciples; I'll be giving him two. This is a good thing.

My Blind Item for the New York Times

From the New York Times Caucus:

The Early Word: Flying on Another’s Dime

By EMMARIE HUETTEMAN

Today’s Times:

• Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has accepted more than 200 free flights worth $1.3 million on private planes as governor, Mike McIntire reports, including some for trips that involved official duties of interest to the planes’ owners, For instance, the head of a Texas oil refinery paid to transport Mr. Perry to a meeting where he urged Mexican officials to consider more business with Texas oil companies. While his trips do not violate state ethics laws, Mr. Perry stands out for taking private flights to complete activities related to his job as governor.

Gee, that's a great scoop, NYT. Here's another one, my gift to you: there's another government executive who constantly flies all over the place in a jet plane much, much bigger than Governor Perry's, at a cost of about $100,000 an hour, also courtesy of the taxpayer and causing huge disruptions wherever he appears. Unlike Governor Perry, however, this government executive's administration is largely considered to be a failure and his expensive trips, rather than for the furtherance of the people's business, are nothing more than thinly-veiled campaign appearances for his re-election. The executive's name escapes me for the moment but I'm sure the Times, with its renown investigative prowess, can ferret it out in no time. It might even win you another Pulitzer. Run with it (and you're welcome)!

My Blind Item for the New York Times

From the New York Times Caucus:

The Early Word: Flying on Another’s Dime

By EMMARIE HUETTEMAN

Today’s Times:

• Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has accepted more than 200 free flights worth $1.3 million on private planes as governor, Mike McIntire reports, including some for trips that involved official duties of interest to the planes’ owners, For instance, the head of a Texas oil refinery paid to transport Mr. Perry to a meeting where he urged Mexican officials to consider more business with Texas oil companies. While his trips do not violate state ethics laws, Mr. Perry stands out for taking private flights to complete activities related to his job as governor.

Gee, that's a great scoop, NYT. Here's another one, my gift to you: there's another government executive who constantly flies all over the place in a jet plane much, much bigger than Governor Perry's, at a cost of about $100,000 an hour, also courtesy of the taxpayer and causing huge disruptions wherever he appears. Unlike Governor Perry, however, this government executive's administration is largely considered to be a failure and his expensive trips, rather than for the furtherance of the people's business, are nothing more than thinly-veiled campaign appearances for his re-election. The executive's name escapes me for the moment but I'm sure the Times, with its renown investigative prowess, can ferret it out in no time. It might even win you another Pulitzer. Run with it (and you're welcome)!

Ars Brevis

From here (not the Onion):

BERLIN (AFP) - A cleaning woman at a German museum who mistook a sculpture for an unsightly mess has destroyed the valuable artwork beyond recognition, a spokeswoman for the western city of Dortmund said Thursday. 

The cleaner at the city's Ostwall Museum went to work on the Martin Kippenberger installation titled When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling, which was valued by insurers at 800,000 euros ($1.1 million), she said.

The late contemporary master had created a tower of wooden slats under which a rubber trough was placed with a thin beige layer of paint representing dried rain water.

Taking it for an actual stain, the cleaner scrubbed the surface until it gleamed.

No doubt the poor woman will be fired. She ought to be given a raise and a promotion.

Ars Brevis

From here (not the Onion):

BERLIN (AFP) - A cleaning woman at a German museum who mistook a sculpture for an unsightly mess has destroyed the valuable artwork beyond recognition, a spokeswoman for the western city of Dortmund said Thursday. 

The cleaner at the city's Ostwall Museum went to work on the Martin Kippenberger installation titled When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling, which was valued by insurers at 800,000 euros ($1.1 million), she said.

The late contemporary master had created a tower of wooden slats under which a rubber trough was placed with a thin beige layer of paint representing dried rain water.

Taking it for an actual stain, the cleaner scrubbed the surface until it gleamed.

No doubt the poor woman will be fired. She ought to be given a raise and a promotion.