Indabamized for Your Protection

Note to Catholic readers: I beg your indulgence.

This is how business will (not) be transacted at what is likely to be the final Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion.

At the heart of the Lambeth Conference 2008 are the fifteen indaba groups. After two days of meeting together, each group will be asked to nominate the member of their group whom they believe to be most capable of carrying their views and the fruit of their discussion into the reflections process in a way which expresses the aspirations outlined above. This 'Listener' will then join a Listening Group made up of all the listeners under the chairmanship of Archbishop Roger Herft of Perth, in Western Australia. Working with the summaries of the fruit of indaba arising from each group, it will be their duty to generate a common text which reflects authentically the indaba and is loyal to the considerations set out above.

That text will be tested by the conference through two main routes. First, preliminary drafts of the Reflections document will be circulated to the indaba groups as the work progresses at regular intervals throughout the conference. It will be possible for bishops to respond to the developing text through their listener and the discussions within the indaba groups.

Secondly, on four occasions the Listening Group will meet in open session before any bishop who wishes to attend to invite comment on and response to the developing text. These hearings are an advertised part of the conference programme, and will take place on the Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the second week of the Conference.

It is hoped that in this way every bishop attending the conference will be given the opportunity to shape the Reflections document which arise out of the conference. The hope of the Lambeth Design Group is that this process will permit the development of a Reflections Document which will meet the objectives set out for it, and be available on the last day of the conference to be received as an authentic account of the engagement of the bishops together in the service of Christ.

Those of a certain age (en d'autres termes, moi) may recall "encounter groups," "rap sessions" and the like promulgated by high school administrators in the 70s, wishing to impose their will but in the guise of doing so democratically. My classmates and I (who represented a fairly broad range of perceptivity) were always able to see past the hippy-dippy blathering and recognize their words for the manure it was. It did not matter, however, to the cynical administrators we were onto their ruse: they would go through the charade, clap their hands and announce we had arrived, as one, at the same conclusion.

Similarly for the liberal autocrats staging "Lambeth: the Final Episode." They know bishops representing the majority of Anglicans are skipping it. They know those traditionalists who do bother to show will be "indabamized" and ignored. The liberals will blab on for days, issue their "Reflections Document" that calls for more "listening," "engagement," "dialogue" and such; return home, clap their hands and report to their flocks via diocese newsletters and the pulpit the brilliant success that was Lambeth; how it was infused with the Holy Spirit and served as a glorious paradigm of participatory democracy, that all is well.

And just as it has for years, the average Sunday attendance will continue its relentless plunge.

Good Call

Now that liberals in the Church of England have pushed through the notion of women bishops, it is worthwhile to revisit a prescient essay, written back in 1994, on the occasion of the C of E first allowing women into the priesthood. Entitled "The End of the Oxford Movement," it uncannily predicts the events now taking place in the Anglican Church:

As Newman himself was frustrated in attempting to link the early Church to an orthodox Anglicanism or Reformed Catholicism, modern Anglo-Catholics are realizing the impossibility of a via media between Rome and the Reformers. Fr. Ian Ker, the authoritative biographer of Newman, comments that the Synod's recent decision is a victory for the liberals and may mark the end of the Anglican Church's unity. He wonders how long Evangelicals will remain in harmony with liberals now that the Anglo-Catholics are leaving or are marginalized.

Fr. Ker repeats Newman's warning that the Church might become so "radically liberalized . . . as to become a simple enemy of the Truth." To him it seems "only a matter of time, how long the Anglican Church retains any part of the faith." At least one thing is clear: The Oxford Movement has served its purpose and has now come to an end.

This short piece, published in This Rock, is well worth reading in its entirety. Its author, by the way, was a young Rhodes Scholar, a recent convert from Hinduism to Catholicism, by the name of Bobby Jindal, now Governor of Louisiana and a possible vice-presidential candidate.

Good Call

Now that liberals in the Church of England have pushed through the notion of women bishops, it is worthwhile to revisit a prescient essay, written back in 1994, on the occasion of the C of E first allowing women into the priesthood. Entitled "The End of the Oxford Movement," it uncannily predicts the events now taking place in the Anglican Church:

As Newman himself was frustrated in attempting to link the early Church to an orthodox Anglicanism or Reformed Catholicism, modern Anglo-Catholics are realizing the impossibility of a via media between Rome and the Reformers. Fr. Ian Ker, the authoritative biographer of Newman, comments that the Synod's recent decision is a victory for the liberals and may mark the end of the Anglican Church's unity. He wonders how long Evangelicals will remain in harmony with liberals now that the Anglo-Catholics are leaving or are marginalized.

Fr. Ker repeats Newman's warning that the Church might become so "radically liberalized . . . as to become a simple enemy of the Truth." To him it seems "only a matter of time, how long the Anglican Church retains any part of the faith." At least one thing is clear: The Oxford Movement has served its purpose and has now come to an end.

This short piece, published in This Rock, is well worth reading in its entirety. Its author, by the way, was a young Rhodes Scholar, a recent convert from Hinduism to Catholicism, by the name of Bobby Jindal, now Governor of Louisiana and a possible vice-presidential candidate.

Whither Thou Goest

Quickly on the heels of the Church of England's decision to allow women bishops, Damian Thompson of the Telegraph gives us news of the impending exodus.

The Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, is to lead his fellow Anglo-Catholics from the Church of England into the Roman Catholic Church, the Catholic Herald will reveal this week.

Bishop Burnham, one of two "flying bishops" in the province of Canterbury, has made a statement asking Pope Benedict XVI and the English Catholic bishops for "magnanimous gestures" that will allow traditionalists to become Catholics en mass.

As I see it, the Church of England is now fractured into three parts: a dying liberal Protestant sect that will align with its counterparts in the United States and Canada, (a subset of the liberal Protestants are the so-called "Affirming Catholics," vested Unitarians who are otherwise identical theologically and politically); second, a growing conservative and Protestant sect, the GAFCON group, that will go its own way, taking with it the more evangelical C of E Membership; third, conservative Anglo-Catholics who really have nowhere to go in the Anglican Communion save the myriad alphabet-soup of continuing Anglican churches. They, of course, are most likely to pope for the goodness of their souls.

These observations are hardly earthshaking. What might prove surprising, however, is the number of members of the C of E, never dreaming of describing themselves as "Catholic" or even "High Church" but also not caring for the snake-belly low Protestantism of the GAFCONERs, who follow Bishop Burnham to Rome; who conclude having a Pope and Magisterium keeping watch over the faith is the only sure way to keep it from veering into heresy. Should the Vatican establish some form of Anglican Use that permits use of the modified Prayer Book and Anglican Hymnody, the number might even be greater. Additionally, when those wavering Anglicans factor in the singular benefit of undisputed sacraments, we may well be witnesses to quite a stampede to Rome in the near future.

Whither Thou Goest

Quickly on the heels of the Church of England's decision to allow women bishops, Damian Thompson of the Telegraph gives us news of the impending exodus.

The Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, is to lead his fellow Anglo-Catholics from the Church of England into the Roman Catholic Church, the Catholic Herald will reveal this week.

Bishop Burnham, one of two "flying bishops" in the province of Canterbury, has made a statement asking Pope Benedict XVI and the English Catholic bishops for "magnanimous gestures" that will allow traditionalists to become Catholics en mass.

As I see it, the Church of England is now fractured into three parts: a dying liberal Protestant sect that will align with its counterparts in the United States and Canada, (a subset of the liberal Protestants are the so-called "Affirming Catholics," vested Unitarians who are otherwise identical theologically and politically); second, a growing conservative and Protestant sect, the GAFCON group, that will go its own way, taking with it the more evangelical C of E Membership; third, conservative Anglo-Catholics who really have nowhere to go in the Anglican Communion save the myriad alphabet-soup of continuing Anglican churches. They, of course, are most likely to pope for the goodness of their souls.

These observations are hardly earthshaking. What might prove surprising, however, is the number of members of the C of E, never dreaming of describing themselves as "Catholic" or even "High Church" but also not caring for the snake-belly low Protestantism of the GAFCONERs, who follow Bishop Burnham to Rome; who conclude having a Pope and Magisterium keeping watch over the faith is the only sure way to keep it from veering into heresy. Should the Vatican establish some form of Anglican Use that permits use of the modified Prayer Book and Anglican Hymnody, the number might even be greater. Additionally, when those wavering Anglicans factor in the singular benefit of undisputed sacraments, we may well be witnesses to quite a stampede to Rome in the near future.

How Socialism Makes Us All Millionaires

I had no idea it was so simple . We'll have poverty licked in no time...sort of.

How Socialism Makes Us All Millionaires

I had no idea it was so simple . We'll have poverty licked in no time...sort of.

This is Almost Too Exquisite

Image from Infinite Monkeys

From the Washington Post:

15 Hostages Rescued in Colombia

Military Tricks Rebels Into Freeing Politician Betancourt, 3 American Contractors

Colombia's military yesterday rescued the most prominent of several hundred hostages held by Marxist rebels, a group of 15 that included the French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American Defense Department contractors who had been imprisoned in remote jungle camps since 2003.

In what Colombian officials called an elaborate ruse, commandos deceived a rebel unit entrusted with the prized hostages into turning them over in a grassy field deep in southeastern Guaviare province. The prisoners, who included 11 Colombian soldiers, were then flown to freedom in what amounted to a powerful blow to a fast-waning insurgency.

Here's the best part.

Yesterday, two white helicopters arrived in a jungle clearing where the hostages were being held. The men in the helicopters looked like guerrillas, Betancourt later said, describing details of the rescue at the military airport.

"Absolutely surreal," she said, noting that some of the men who got off the helicopter wore T-shirts emblazoned with the iconic image of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. "I thought this was the FARC," she said.

Nope, it wasn't the FARC, nor was it myriad deluded college students and 'sixties hangers-on: rather, it was freedom-loving Colombians, down in the trenches (unlike those pseudo-warriors previously mentioned), who have seen the true and ugly face of communism up close and are fighting against that wretched tyranny. What a splendid and appropriate gift the people of Columbia have offered our nation on the anniversary of its founding.

Happy Independence Day.

This is Almost Too Exquisite

Image from Infinite Monkeys

From the Washington Post:

15 Hostages Rescued in Colombia

Military Tricks Rebels Into Freeing Politician Betancourt, 3 American Contractors

Colombia's military yesterday rescued the most prominent of several hundred hostages held by Marxist rebels, a group of 15 that included the French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American Defense Department contractors who had been imprisoned in remote jungle camps since 2003.

In what Colombian officials called an elaborate ruse, commandos deceived a rebel unit entrusted with the prized hostages into turning them over in a grassy field deep in southeastern Guaviare province. The prisoners, who included 11 Colombian soldiers, were then flown to freedom in what amounted to a powerful blow to a fast-waning insurgency.

Here's the best part.

Yesterday, two white helicopters arrived in a jungle clearing where the hostages were being held. The men in the helicopters looked like guerrillas, Betancourt later said, describing details of the rescue at the military airport.

"Absolutely surreal," she said, noting that some of the men who got off the helicopter wore T-shirts emblazoned with the iconic image of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. "I thought this was the FARC," she said.

Nope, it wasn't the FARC, nor was it myriad deluded college students and 'sixties hangers-on: rather, it was freedom-loving Colombians, down in the trenches (unlike those pseudo-warriors previously mentioned), who have seen the true and ugly face of communism up close and are fighting against that wretched tyranny. What a splendid and appropriate gift the people of Columbia have offered our nation on the anniversary of its founding.

Happy Independence Day.

Independence Day, 1968

Here's how the Philadelphia Inquirer's distinguished columnist Chris Satullo, overflowing with nostalgia for the good old days, want us to observe Independence Day this year:

Put the fireworks in storage.

Cancel the parade.

Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.

This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.

For we have sinned.

We have failed to pay attention. We've settled for lame excuses. We've spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.

The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner.

The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing.

The America they founded should never ship prisoners to foreign lands, knowing their new jailers might torture them.

Such abuses once were committed by the arrogant crowns of Europe, spawning rebellion.

Today, our nation does such things in the name of our safety. Petrified, unwilling to take the risks that love of liberty demands, we close our eyes.

We have done such things, on orders from the Oval Office. We have done them, without general outrage or shame.

Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. CIA secret prisons. "Rendition" of prisoners to foreign torture chambers.

...and on and on and on, ad nauseum. Read the whole thing (if you can take it) and for relief, read some of the comments spawned by Mr. Satullo's pearls of wisdom.

Thanks to Banished Child of Eve.

Independence Day, 1968

Here's how the Philadelphia Inquirer's distinguished columnist Chris Satullo, overflowing with nostalgia for the good old days, want us to observe Independence Day this year:

Put the fireworks in storage.

Cancel the parade.

Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.

This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.

For we have sinned.

We have failed to pay attention. We've settled for lame excuses. We've spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.

The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner.

The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing.

The America they founded should never ship prisoners to foreign lands, knowing their new jailers might torture them.

Such abuses once were committed by the arrogant crowns of Europe, spawning rebellion.

Today, our nation does such things in the name of our safety. Petrified, unwilling to take the risks that love of liberty demands, we close our eyes.

We have done such things, on orders from the Oval Office. We have done them, without general outrage or shame.

Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. CIA secret prisons. "Rendition" of prisoners to foreign torture chambers.

...and on and on and on, ad nauseum. Read the whole thing (if you can take it) and for relief, read some of the comments spawned by Mr. Satullo's pearls of wisdom.

Thanks to Banished Child of Eve.

Ignorance is Bliss

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), the meeting of mostly evangelical Anglican primates held in Jerusalem last week, finished its business Saturday and the primates issued a statement outlining their future intentions. While their statement makes clear the primates do not recognize the authority of apostate primates in the west nor, any longer, that of the Archbishop of Canterbury owing to his aggressively lethargic stance dealing with the apostates, they do seem to genuinely regret having to take that action.

"Regret" is not a word that comes to mind when reading the statement released yesterday by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, in response to the GAFCON statement. The words "sputtering, incoherent rage," however, do readily come to mind:

Much of the Anglican world must be lamenting the latest emission from GAFCON. Anglicanism has always been broader than some find comfortable. This statement does not represent the end of Anglicanism, merely another chapter in a centuries-old struggle for dominance by those who consider themselves the only true believers. Anglicans will continue to worship God in their churches, serve the hungry and needy in their communities, and build missional relationships with others across the globe, despite the desire of a few leaders to narrow the influence of the gospel. We look forward to the opportunities of the Lambeth Conference for constructive conversation, inspired prayer, and relational encounters.

Not surprisingly, many Anglican conservatives are upset at what they see as the patronization and downright rudeness of Ms. Schori's response (her use of the word "emission" is a particularly nice touch) but I, for one, am willing to cut her some slack. In her tenure as Presiding Bishop, Ms. Schori has committed so many jaw-dropping gaffes one has to conclude she is simply unaware of her own boorishness. That despite the bedazzling brilliance her supporters insist streams (or emits?) from her, she is quite possibly the dimmest, albeit driven, Presiding Bishop (notwithstanding a lengthy succession of fifteen-watt bulbs in that office) in Episcopal Church history; so dim, she is blissfully unaware of her fearsome ineptitude.

It recalls the famous counsel of Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, the distinguished German general (and ardent foe of Hitler), on the proper selection and deployment of officers.

I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!

Alas, for the Episcopalians it is far too late to remove Ms. Schori.

Ignorance is Bliss

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), the meeting of mostly evangelical Anglican primates held in Jerusalem last week, finished its business Saturday and the primates issued a statement outlining their future intentions. While their statement makes clear the primates do not recognize the authority of apostate primates in the west nor, any longer, that of the Archbishop of Canterbury owing to his aggressively lethargic stance dealing with the apostates, they do seem to genuinely regret having to take that action.

"Regret" is not a word that comes to mind when reading the statement released yesterday by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, in response to the GAFCON statement. The words "sputtering, incoherent rage," however, do readily come to mind:

Much of the Anglican world must be lamenting the latest emission from GAFCON. Anglicanism has always been broader than some find comfortable. This statement does not represent the end of Anglicanism, merely another chapter in a centuries-old struggle for dominance by those who consider themselves the only true believers. Anglicans will continue to worship God in their churches, serve the hungry and needy in their communities, and build missional relationships with others across the globe, despite the desire of a few leaders to narrow the influence of the gospel. We look forward to the opportunities of the Lambeth Conference for constructive conversation, inspired prayer, and relational encounters.

Not surprisingly, many Anglican conservatives are upset at what they see as the patronization and downright rudeness of Ms. Schori's response (her use of the word "emission" is a particularly nice touch) but I, for one, am willing to cut her some slack. In her tenure as Presiding Bishop, Ms. Schori has committed so many jaw-dropping gaffes one has to conclude she is simply unaware of her own boorishness. That despite the bedazzling brilliance her supporters insist streams (or emits?) from her, she is quite possibly the dimmest, albeit driven, Presiding Bishop (notwithstanding a lengthy succession of fifteen-watt bulbs in that office) in Episcopal Church history; so dim, she is blissfully unaware of her fearsome ineptitude.

It recalls the famous counsel of Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, the distinguished German general (and ardent foe of Hitler), on the proper selection and deployment of officers.

I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Each officer possesses at least two of these qualities. Those who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Use can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!

Alas, for the Episcopalians it is far too late to remove Ms. Schori.

Just in Time for the Fall Elections

The Supreme Court ruled today, 5-4, that contrary to the view of gun control advocates, the Second Amendment does grant individuals the right to bear arms and overturned a D.C. law prohibiting it. This is bad news for the Democrats in an election year because it places at the forefront an issue, gun control, they would just as soon avoid, their advocacy of it testing so poorly in the polls. Today's court decision should provide a fine showcase for Barack Obama to display his terpsichorean skills dealing with an unpopular position espoused by his party.

Update: Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, thinks the court's ruling removes gun control as a political issue. I disagree. Not only was it a split decision from a panel with members getting on in years and in need of replacement, gun control, along with abortion, is one of precious darlings of the angry left. That is why Obama will have his work cut out for him, appeasing his lefty core furious at the court's ruling while avoiding the alienation of those agree with it.

Update 2: He's already twirling across the ballroom floor!

Just in Time for the Fall Elections

The Supreme Court ruled today, 5-4, that contrary to the view of gun control advocates, the Second Amendment does grant individuals the right to bear arms and overturned a D.C. law prohibiting it. This is bad news for the Democrats in an election year because it places at the forefront an issue, gun control, they would just as soon avoid, their advocacy of it testing so poorly in the polls. Today's court decision should provide a fine showcase for Barack Obama to display his terpsichorean skills dealing with an unpopular position espoused by his party.

Update: Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, thinks the court's ruling removes gun control as a political issue. I disagree. Not only was it a split decision from a panel with members getting on in years and in need of replacement, gun control, along with abortion, is one of precious darlings of the angry left. That is why Obama will have his work cut out for him, appeasing his lefty core furious at the court's ruling while avoiding the alienation of those agree with it.

Update 2: He's already twirling across the ballroom floor!

The Hermeneutics of "Today"

Fr. Neuhaus dispatches a less than spectacular breakthrough made by N. T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham:

Closer to the gravamen of his new book, Wright debunks traditional ideas of heaven by noting that Jesus could not have been referring to heaven when he said that the good thief would be with him today in paradise because Jesus still had to descend to hell and be resurrected and therefore was not himself in heaven on that day. Gotcha. Now why didn’t Thomas Aquinas and all those other smart theologians think of that? Here and elsewhere, N.T. Wright is as literalistic as the staunchest of fundamentalists.

(Thanks to William Tighe.)

The Hermeneutics of "Today"

Fr. Neuhaus dispatches a less than spectacular breakthrough made by N. T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham:

Closer to the gravamen of his new book, Wright debunks traditional ideas of heaven by noting that Jesus could not have been referring to heaven when he said that the good thief would be with him today in paradise because Jesus still had to descend to hell and be resurrected and therefore was not himself in heaven on that day. Gotcha. Now why didn’t Thomas Aquinas and all those other smart theologians think of that? Here and elsewhere, N.T. Wright is as literalistic as the staunchest of fundamentalists.

(Thanks to William Tighe.)

Bless Me Father for I Will Sin

A tip o' the hat to Christopher Johnson of the MCJ for this item, from the Living Church, on the latest travesty of the late, great Episcopal Church.

Last Sunday, in an article titled “New Blood: Violent Gang Life is Passed Down from Parent to Child,” the New York Daily News reported the Rev. Luis Barrios, priest associate at St. Mary’s Church, Harlem, had performed the rite of “blessing” for about 300 children as part of an initiation into the Latin Kings gang.

“It’s a street organization with the capacity to bring together young people in search of power, collective identity … [and] belonging in the society that’s rejecting them,” Fr. Barrios said, as reported by the Daily News.

How lovely. Lest there be any triumphal clucking, however, let us be mindful the deplorable practice of the Holy Catholic Church over the years administering the sacraments to known mafiosi via cowed or indifferent clergy (although, gratifyingly, she has been cracking down on it recently). That said, I will wager most of those clergy, if called to account, would not actually brag about it, nor use PoMo jargon like "bring together young people in search of power, collective identity" to justify it. They might even express remorse (especially if they're placed in the Witness Protection Program).

Bless Me Father for I Will Sin

A tip o' the hat to Christopher Johnson of the MCJ for this item, from the Living Church, on the latest travesty of the late, great Episcopal Church.

Last Sunday, in an article titled “New Blood: Violent Gang Life is Passed Down from Parent to Child,” the New York Daily News reported the Rev. Luis Barrios, priest associate at St. Mary’s Church, Harlem, had performed the rite of “blessing” for about 300 children as part of an initiation into the Latin Kings gang.

“It’s a street organization with the capacity to bring together young people in search of power, collective identity … [and] belonging in the society that’s rejecting them,” Fr. Barrios said, as reported by the Daily News.

How lovely. Lest there be any triumphal clucking, however, let us be mindful the deplorable practice of the Holy Catholic Church over the years administering the sacraments to known mafiosi via cowed or indifferent clergy (although, gratifyingly, she has been cracking down on it recently). That said, I will wager most of those clergy, if called to account, would not actually brag about it, nor use PoMo jargon like "bring together young people in search of power, collective identity" to justify it. They might even express remorse (especially if they're placed in the Witness Protection Program).

Couldn't Agree with You More

Ramesh Ponnuru, in the Corner (quoted in its entirety):

Apropos of Nothing

Any time I see somebody described in the papers as "devoutly Catholic," my mental reaction is: Oh. I didn't know he was pro-choice.

Couldn't Agree with You More

Ramesh Ponnuru, in the Corner (quoted in its entirety):

Apropos of Nothing

Any time I see somebody described in the papers as "devoutly Catholic," my mental reaction is: Oh. I didn't know he was pro-choice.

Tyranny and the Times

Pajamas Media has just posted a well-written abstract by Bruce Bawer of the pathological condition afflicting the editors of the New York Times these many, many years: the willful ignorance of tyranny. Two paragraphs stand out:

Indeed, it can seem that for the Times, when it comes to the very biggest and most disturbing stories, the “news that’s fit to print” was, and is, often the news that best fits the paper’s pre-existing picture of the world. In this sense, the Times is not a liberal newspaper at all, but deeply conservative, determined above all to provide its largely comfortable and affluent readers with a consistent, predictable picture of the world that doesn’t challenge their own worldview in any significant way or make them feel obliged to deal with things they’d prefer not to deal with.

[]

Indeed, to read Duranty, Matthews, Schanberg, and the Times’ Holocaust-era European correspondents is to be struck by how much alike they all sound. Whether they were in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Castro’s Cuba, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia, these reporters evinced the selfsame fascination with tyrants and offered the selfsame justifications for tyranny.

The posting is essential reading because the point of Bawer's sordid history of the Times' rationalization of evil is to serve as illustration how it is does so yet again; this time in its coverage of Islam in Europe, with an array of apologist reporters turning a blind eye to Sharia and intolerance among Muslims, disingenuously claiming the underlying problem is not radical Islam but racism among white Europeans.

That sort of pseudo-Marxist drivel would be would be laughable were it only appearing, as it is constantly but largely ignored, in college newspapers, the Nation or the dailykos.com. The Times, however, despite its recent falling fortunes, is still hugely influential among policy makers (you will see little if any difference between positions held by Times editorialists and the leadership and candidates of the Democratic party). Lamentably, more than a few politicians in Washington take their stand on issues based on what they have read in the New York Times so its whitewashing of the gravest threat to Europe in over two generations should be viewed with great concern by the rest of us.

Given its shameful history, e.g. Walter Duranty filing reports (and winning a Pulitzer prize) denying Stalin's intentional starvation of the Kulaks (estimated deaths, seven-to-ten million), the New York Times can be creditably accused of accessory to murder. What a shame if it were to get away with it again.

Tyranny and the Times

Pajamas Media has just posted a well-written abstract by Bruce Bawer of the pathological condition afflicting the editors of the New York Times these many, many years: the willful ignorance of tyranny. Two paragraphs stand out:

Indeed, it can seem that for the Times, when it comes to the very biggest and most disturbing stories, the “news that’s fit to print” was, and is, often the news that best fits the paper’s pre-existing picture of the world. In this sense, the Times is not a liberal newspaper at all, but deeply conservative, determined above all to provide its largely comfortable and affluent readers with a consistent, predictable picture of the world that doesn’t challenge their own worldview in any significant way or make them feel obliged to deal with things they’d prefer not to deal with.

[]

Indeed, to read Duranty, Matthews, Schanberg, and the Times’ Holocaust-era European correspondents is to be struck by how much alike they all sound. Whether they were in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Castro’s Cuba, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia, these reporters evinced the selfsame fascination with tyrants and offered the selfsame justifications for tyranny.

The posting is essential reading because the point of Bawer's sordid history of the Times' rationalization of evil is to serve as illustration how it is does so yet again; this time in its coverage of Islam in Europe, with an array of apologist reporters turning a blind eye to Sharia and intolerance among Muslims, disingenuously claiming the underlying problem is not radical Islam but racism among white Europeans.

That sort of pseudo-Marxist drivel would be would be laughable were it only appearing, as it is constantly but largely ignored, in college newspapers, the Nation or the dailykos.com. The Times, however, despite its recent falling fortunes, is still hugely influential among policy makers (you will see little if any difference between positions held by Times editorialists and the leadership and candidates of the Democratic party). Lamentably, more than a few politicians in Washington take their stand on issues based on what they have read in the New York Times so its whitewashing of the gravest threat to Europe in over two generations should be viewed with great concern by the rest of us.

Given its shameful history, e.g. Walter Duranty filing reports (and winning a Pulitzer prize) denying Stalin's intentional starvation of the Kulaks (estimated deaths, seven-to-ten million), the New York Times can be creditably accused of accessory to murder. What a shame if it were to get away with it again.

This Will Get Your Guests' Attention

As a former Anglican, recently received into Holy Mother Church, sometimes embracing the Faith require a leap of faith. A case in point (shown above) is taken from a site called Catholic Cuisine:

Appetizer for Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is May 30. Here is a fairly simple idea for an appetizer which could be served on this date or during the month of June which is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The recipe (if you must) is found on the Catholic Cuisine website but suffice it to say, Jesus' Heart is cream cheese crafted with a heart-shape mold and His Most Precious Blood taco sauce poured over. Christ have mercy and bon appetit!

(Thanks, I think, to Slane Hill.)

This Will Get Your Guests' Attention

As a former Anglican, recently received into Holy Mother Church, sometimes embracing the Faith require a leap of faith. A case in point (shown above) is taken from a site called Catholic Cuisine:

Appetizer for Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is May 30. Here is a fairly simple idea for an appetizer which could be served on this date or during the month of June which is dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The recipe (if you must) is found on the Catholic Cuisine website but suffice it to say, Jesus' Heart is cream cheese crafted with a heart-shape mold and His Most Precious Blood taco sauce poured over. Christ have mercy and bon appetit!

(Thanks, I think, to Slane Hill.)

Aww...

(Thanks to Fr. P)

Aww...

(Thanks to Fr. P)

Obama: I Will Prosecute the War (But Only in a Courtroom)

From an interview with Barack Obama by Jake Tapper of ABC:

What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks — for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.

And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, “Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims.”

So that, I think, is an example of something that was unnecessary. We could have done the exact same thing, but done it in a way that was consistent with our laws.

We also know many of those involved with the first bombing of the Trade Center got away with it because arresting them would not have been "consistent with our laws." We also know one full year passed between the arrests and convictions of those we could nab; that those who got away, the ones we couldn't arrest, rather than occupy themselves praying to Allah the jury would find for their chums, instead threw themselves into the work of ensuring the job would be done right the next time.

What we don't know, only Obama does, is given now the preference of Muslim terrorists to blow themselves to bits when doing same to the rest of us, how they are best arrested and tried should they be successful. And I wonder if Barack Obama knows that a memorial erected to the memory of the six people killed in the first Trade Center attack was destroyed in the second attack.

What a foolish and dangerous man.

(h/t Andrew C. McCarthy at the Corner.)

Obama: I Will Prosecute the War (But Only in a Courtroom)

From an interview with Barack Obama by Jake Tapper of ABC:

What we know is that, in previous terrorist attacks — for example, the first attack against the World Trade Center, we were able to arrest those responsible, put them on trial. They are currently in U.S. prisons, incapacitated.

And the fact that the administration has not tried to do that has created a situation where not only have we never actually put many of these folks on trial, but we have destroyed our credibility when it comes to rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment in countries that say, “Look, this is how the United States treats Muslims.”

So that, I think, is an example of something that was unnecessary. We could have done the exact same thing, but done it in a way that was consistent with our laws.

We also know many of those involved with the first bombing of the Trade Center got away with it because arresting them would not have been "consistent with our laws." We also know one full year passed between the arrests and convictions of those we could nab; that those who got away, the ones we couldn't arrest, rather than occupy themselves praying to Allah the jury would find for their chums, instead threw themselves into the work of ensuring the job would be done right the next time.

What we don't know, only Obama does, is given now the preference of Muslim terrorists to blow themselves to bits when doing same to the rest of us, how they are best arrested and tried should they be successful. And I wonder if Barack Obama knows that a memorial erected to the memory of the six people killed in the first Trade Center attack was destroyed in the second attack.

What a foolish and dangerous man.

(h/t Andrew C. McCarthy at the Corner.)

BREAKING NEWS!

Al Gore has endorsed Barack Obama! He says the "U.S. needs new vision."








Uh, hello?





Hello?





Hellooooooo?





Anybody out there?





Hello?

BREAKING NEWS!

Al Gore has endorsed Barack Obama! He says the "U.S. needs new vision."








Uh, hello?





Hello?





Hellooooooo?





Anybody out there?





Hello?

No First Amendement in the Vatican, Deo Gratias

From the Telegraph:

The Vatican has banned the makers of Angels & Demons, the latest book from Da Vinci Code bestseller Dan Brown to be turned into a movie, from entering the Holy See and any church in Rome.

[snip] The scene will now be shot on a soundstage after the diocese of Rome closed its doors against the producers. Father Marco Fibbi, a spokesman, said: "Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn't necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough."

Adding insult to injury, Franco Zeffirelli (bless his heart) joins the fray: "Dan Brown is a rapscallion. The Vicariate has done well to deny them access."

No First Amendement in the Vatican, Deo Gratias

From the Telegraph:

The Vatican has banned the makers of Angels & Demons, the latest book from Da Vinci Code bestseller Dan Brown to be turned into a movie, from entering the Holy See and any church in Rome.

[snip] The scene will now be shot on a soundstage after the diocese of Rome closed its doors against the producers. Father Marco Fibbi, a spokesman, said: "Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn't necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough."

Adding insult to injury, Franco Zeffirelli (bless his heart) joins the fray: "Dan Brown is a rapscallion. The Vicariate has done well to deny them access."

The East is Green

Further bolstering my claim if you scratch an environmentalist you'll find a socialist is Mary Anastasia O' Grady's column today in the Wall Street Journal, where she makes the not-so-surprising observation environmentalists only oppose drilling for oil by the private sector. The Brazilian government-controlled oil company Petrobas has lately been drilling up a storm offshore that country and there has been nary a squeak of protest from the greens.

Likewise the other government-controlled oil companies in South and Central America and the Cubans, via the Chinese government, have been drilling just sixty miles off the coast of Florida, hoping to tap the same 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels in reserves that are off-limits to American oil companies. You won't see or hear of demonstrations opposed to that drilling in Havana, of course, it wouldn't be allowed, but neither will you anywhere else, at Cuban embassies or the United Nations. The reason, you see, is drilling for oil only threatens the environment when there is a possibility private corporations (especially American) and shareholders might make a profit from it.

(h/t the Instapundit)

The East is Green

Further bolstering my claim if you scratch an environmentalist you'll find a socialist is Mary Anastasia O' Grady's column today in the Wall Street Journal, where she makes the not-so-surprising observation environmentalists only oppose drilling for oil by the private sector. The Brazilian government-controlled oil company Petrobas has lately been drilling up a storm offshore that country and there has been nary a squeak of protest from the greens.

Likewise the other government-controlled oil companies in South and Central America and the Cubans, via the Chinese government, have been drilling just sixty miles off the coast of Florida, hoping to tap the same 4.6 billion to 9.3 billion barrels in reserves that are off-limits to American oil companies. You won't see or hear of demonstrations opposed to that drilling in Havana, of course, it wouldn't be allowed, but neither will you anywhere else, at Cuban embassies or the United Nations. The reason, you see, is drilling for oil only threatens the environment when there is a possibility private corporations (especially American) and shareholders might make a profit from it.

(h/t the Instapundit)

Planting the Seed

The warmness of relations between Pope Benedict XVI and President George Bush is leading to speculation the president may, at the conclusion of his presidency, follow Tony Blair over to Rome. That doesn't seem likely to your Bloviator. The president is a devout, evangelical protestant (Methodist) and the likely reason he and the Pope get along so well is that there are so few world leaders today of similar moral outlook; the two may simply be starved for friendship.

Just the same, it is thrilling to imagine our president becoming a Catholic and should, within the next few months, an invitation be extended to Fr. Michael Seed to visit the White House, your Bloviator will have to reconsider his doubts that ever happening.

Fr. Seed

Planting the Seed

The warmness of relations between Pope Benedict XVI and President George Bush is leading to speculation the president may, at the conclusion of his presidency, follow Tony Blair over to Rome. That doesn't seem likely to your Bloviator. The president is a devout, evangelical protestant (Methodist) and the likely reason he and the Pope get along so well is that there are so few world leaders today of similar moral outlook; the two may simply be starved for friendship.

Just the same, it is thrilling to imagine our president becoming a Catholic and should, within the next few months, an invitation be extended to Fr. Michael Seed to visit the White House, your Bloviator will have to reconsider his doubts that ever happening.

Fr. Seed

Raison d'être

A high school senior comments on her graduation ceremony:

The survivor from the plane crash in the Andes was going to speak at our graduation, but instead we got a monk who basically talked about how abortion was bad. I was pissed that we were supposed to have this cool guy and got a crappy one.

Deplorable and even more so because the girl had just been handed a diploma from the Woodside Priory School, an elite, by the look of it ($28,850 for tuition alone), Catholic school in the well-to-do community of Palo Alto, California. And while that girl's comment is appalling and probably not typical of her classmates, you can be reasonably sure her sentiment was widely shared by them (read the whole sad business on the excellent blog On Dover Beach).

The mission of Catholic Schools is to give pupils a sound education from the Catholic point of view, even to those who are not Catholic. If a Catholic school does not instill in its young charges Catholic teachings and morals, e.g. the evils of abortion, then it has lost that mission, its reason for being, and should cease to exist.

Raison d'être

A high school senior comments on her graduation ceremony:

The survivor from the plane crash in the Andes was going to speak at our graduation, but instead we got a monk who basically talked about how abortion was bad. I was pissed that we were supposed to have this cool guy and got a crappy one.

Deplorable and even more so because the girl had just been handed a diploma from the Woodside Priory School, an elite, by the look of it ($28,850 for tuition alone), Catholic school in the well-to-do community of Palo Alto, California. And while that girl's comment is appalling and probably not typical of her classmates, you can be reasonably sure her sentiment was widely shared by them (read the whole sad business on the excellent blog On Dover Beach).

The mission of Catholic Schools is to give pupils a sound education from the Catholic point of view, even to those who are not Catholic. If a Catholic school does not instill in its young charges Catholic teachings and morals, e.g. the evils of abortion, then it has lost that mission, its reason for being, and should cease to exist.

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

In this existence, anyway.



It's really rather sad. The poor women are so deluded they don't realize they're just getting their heads massaged.

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

In this existence, anyway.



It's really rather sad. The poor women are so deluded they don't realize they're just getting their heads massaged.

Missing Spine Alert

Many of us were relieved last week when Francis Cardinal George of Chicago appeared to have steeled himself and, at long last, dispatched the Archdiocese's crazy uncle in attic, Fr. Michael Pfleger; "temporarily removing [him] as pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago's South Side." Unfortunately, "temporarily" was the operative word: Fr. Pfleger is already back at his post and under "no restrictions" so it looks as if the clown masses will continue on the South Side.

(Thanks to Viator Catholicus.)

Missing Spine Alert

Many of us were relieved last week when Francis Cardinal George of Chicago appeared to have steeled himself and, at long last, dispatched the Archdiocese's crazy uncle in attic, Fr. Michael Pfleger; "temporarily removing [him] as pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago's South Side." Unfortunately, "temporarily" was the operative word: Fr. Pfleger is already back at his post and under "no restrictions" so it looks as if the clown masses will continue on the South Side.

(Thanks to Viator Catholicus.)

The Looming Question

Your Bloviator has been following with interest the saga of the Traditional Anglican Communion, a breakaway group of beleaguered Anglicans who would dearly love to come over to Rome. I last wrote of them:

Last year, one of the many breakaway "alphabet soup" Anglican organizations, the Traditional Anglican Communion, petitioned the Pope to be admitted, en masse, into the Holy Catholic Church. The Church has a tradition of moving glacially slow on requests of that sort but I suspect the TAC may receive a reply soon and that it will be positive.

There are now buzzings Rome may at last be turning down the sheets and fluffing up the pillows for those weary souls in the TAC. Comes this report from the National Catholic Register, via the website Clerical Whispers, that

discussions at the Vatican on devising a possible structure for the Traditional Anglican Communion to come into communion with Rome are understood to be nearing completion.

And that

during his May 5 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, [Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan] Williams asked that any potential announcement be delayed until after the Lambert Conference.

Veteran observers of the Anglicans’ continuing identity crisis are not optimistic that it can be resolved, given the wide gulf that exists between liberal-minded Anglican hierarchies in Western countries and more orthodox bishops in the developing world.

Further:

Viscount Christopher Monckton of Brenchley, author of Anglican Orders: Null and Void?, believes that in the absence of a magisterium and under the less-than-decisive leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, there is “no chance whatsoever that the Lambeth Conference will settle the question of what — if anything — the Anglican Communion believes.”

If the TAC is brought into communion with Rome, that "possible structure" will likely take the shape of the Pastoral Provision and "Anglican Use," a creation of the Holy See in 1980 to permit disaffected Episcopalian priests (even when married) and parishes to be received into the Catholic Church but to continue worshipping in an Anglican manor, using an appropriately modified Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal. Despite being in existence for twenty-eight years, however, there are but six Catholic parishes in the entire country created under the Pastoral Provision, it having no fans among liberal Catholic bishops who would rather chew glass than see large contingents of conservative, traditionalist (and possibly troublesome) Anglo-Catholics coming into their fold. That could all change should the Vatican decide for the TAC and it could prove to be deliverance for traditional Anglo-Catholics in America, heretofore trapped in the apostate Episcopal Church, and, eventually, for Anglo-Catholics everywhere, also trapped, in the increasing number of apostate provinces within the Anglican Communion.

Should Rome decide favorably on the Traditional Anglican Communion's request for communion, the very day that decision is announced Anglo-Catholics in the United States and the rest of the world will be forced to ask themselves, respectively, what possible benefit is obtained by remaining loyal to to the utterly corrupt Episcopal Church and to the increasingly corrupt Anglican Communion; whether having a Pope, Magisterium and undisputed Sacraments is really such a bad thing after all.

(h/t those Shriners at Holy Whapping)

The Looming Question

Your Bloviator has been following with interest the saga of the Traditional Anglican Communion, a breakaway group of beleaguered Anglicans who would dearly love to come over to Rome. I last wrote of them:

Last year, one of the many breakaway "alphabet soup" Anglican organizations, the Traditional Anglican Communion, petitioned the Pope to be admitted, en masse, into the Holy Catholic Church. The Church has a tradition of moving glacially slow on requests of that sort but I suspect the TAC may receive a reply soon and that it will be positive.

There are now buzzings Rome may at last be turning down the sheets and fluffing up the pillows for those weary souls in the TAC. Comes this report from the National Catholic Register, via the website Clerical Whispers, that

discussions at the Vatican on devising a possible structure for the Traditional Anglican Communion to come into communion with Rome are understood to be nearing completion.

And that

during his May 5 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, [Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan] Williams asked that any potential announcement be delayed until after the Lambert Conference.

Veteran observers of the Anglicans’ continuing identity crisis are not optimistic that it can be resolved, given the wide gulf that exists between liberal-minded Anglican hierarchies in Western countries and more orthodox bishops in the developing world.

Further:

Viscount Christopher Monckton of Brenchley, author of Anglican Orders: Null and Void?, believes that in the absence of a magisterium and under the less-than-decisive leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, there is “no chance whatsoever that the Lambeth Conference will settle the question of what — if anything — the Anglican Communion believes.”

If the TAC is brought into communion with Rome, that "possible structure" will likely take the shape of the Pastoral Provision and "Anglican Use," a creation of the Holy See in 1980 to permit disaffected Episcopalian priests (even when married) and parishes to be received into the Catholic Church but to continue worshipping in an Anglican manor, using an appropriately modified Book of Common Prayer and Hymnal. Despite being in existence for twenty-eight years, however, there are but six Catholic parishes in the entire country created under the Pastoral Provision, it having no fans among liberal Catholic bishops who would rather chew glass than see large contingents of conservative, traditionalist (and possibly troublesome) Anglo-Catholics coming into their fold. That could all change should the Vatican decide for the TAC and it could prove to be deliverance for traditional Anglo-Catholics in America, heretofore trapped in the apostate Episcopal Church, and, eventually, for Anglo-Catholics everywhere, also trapped, in the increasing number of apostate provinces within the Anglican Communion.

Should Rome decide favorably on the Traditional Anglican Communion's request for communion, the very day that decision is announced Anglo-Catholics in the United States and the rest of the world will be forced to ask themselves, respectively, what possible benefit is obtained by remaining loyal to to the utterly corrupt Episcopal Church and to the increasingly corrupt Anglican Communion; whether having a Pope, Magisterium and undisputed Sacraments is really such a bad thing after all.

(h/t those Shriners at Holy Whapping)

A Modest Suggestion Toward the Revival of Parochialism

The Catholic News Agency has an excellent piece by Hugh J. McNichol on the value of parochialism; the vital part it plays in the preservation of Catholic identity and, as a result, the upholding of the Faith. Growing up in the Gray's Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia, which at the time was a thriving Irish-Catholic neighborhood, McNichol gives us a colorful description of an urban Catholic neighborhood of a bygone era.

Expressions of Catholic identity were everywhere, when people walked past the front of the Church, they sometimes genuflected or blessed themselves, grade school boys and girls wore the Rosary on the belts of their pants and school uniforms, Marian statues poked their images of the Mother of God through lace curtains and immaculately clean front windows. Perhaps a lot of this recollection is nostalgia for a Catholic existence that is no longer around…

It is no longer around, alas. McNichol rightly laments this and suggests that "the evolution from a neighborhood parochial system to the sprawling suburban parish complex is part of the blame for the erosion of visible Catholic identity over the past 50 years." Certainly that may have played a part in the erosion but I wonder if some blame may also be be laid at the feet of the radical post-Vatican II reformers, whose innovations gave rise in the Catholic Church to the Protestant notion of "church shopping;" people willing to travel great distances in order to avoid worship à la Kumbaya.

Whatever the reasons for parochialism's decline, it would be good if it were revived. McNichol writes:

As part of Catholic renewal and evangelization in the 21st century let’s impart a bit of South Philly Catholicism to all of our children and neighbors and show them clearly that being Catholic is a proud theological tradition that deserves emulation and modern participation. Don’t be afraid to show your Catholicity, order the fish on Fridays, go to Mass on a daily basis, vote in elections with Catholic morality in mind...

It was with the above in mind your Bloviator, only recently received into Holy Mother Church, registered with the local parish church, resisting the temptation to do so in a downtown parish with better music and liturgy. Recently, I hoofed it from the quasi-swanky part of my neighborhood in northern Manhattan to the decidedly less swanky part of it where the parish church is located; where the music and liturgy, sadly, leaves much to be desired. In the parish office I explained to a friendly receptionist why I was there. She handed me a spiral-bound notebook of lined paper, instructed me to put down my name and address, which I did, and told me pledge envelopes would soon be mailed to me. I was now a parishioner. The envelopes did indeed arrive few weeks later but I will confess to feeling just a little let down.

In my Episcopal days changing parishes was more involved. When joining a new parish you had to fill out a form stating date of birth, baptism and confirmation. The new rector would send a request for a "letter of transfer" to the previous rector seeking confirmation you had been a member of his parish. Only when the letter had been received by the new rector could you then consider yourself a member of that parish. I remember going through this process many years ago at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue, one of the few remaining "orthodox" Episcopal Churches in the Diocese of New York and, unlike most Episcopal Churches, having a very large number of parishioners. Despite that, after the paperwork had been accomplished, the rector, the Rev'd John Andrew, insisted on an interview and took me out to lunch afterwards.

While I realize Catholic priests have vastly many more souls entrusted to their care than most Protestant clergy (as well vastly smaller salaries), I can't imagine it would bust the budgets of most Catholic Churches to host the occasional modest do where a couple of bottles of plonk are unscrewed and new parishioners are introduced to their fellow fisheaters. It would go a long way, I think, to increasing that old parochial pride and that would be all to the good.

A Modest Suggestion Toward the Revival of Parochialism

The Catholic News Agency has an excellent piece by Hugh J. McNichol on the value of parochialism; the vital part it plays in the preservation of Catholic identity and, as a result, the upholding of the Faith. Growing up in the Gray's Ferry neighborhood of Philadelphia, which at the time was a thriving Irish-Catholic neighborhood, McNichol gives us a colorful description of an urban Catholic neighborhood of a bygone era.

Expressions of Catholic identity were everywhere, when people walked past the front of the Church, they sometimes genuflected or blessed themselves, grade school boys and girls wore the Rosary on the belts of their pants and school uniforms, Marian statues poked their images of the Mother of God through lace curtains and immaculately clean front windows. Perhaps a lot of this recollection is nostalgia for a Catholic existence that is no longer around…

It is no longer around, alas. McNichol rightly laments this and suggests that "the evolution from a neighborhood parochial system to the sprawling suburban parish complex is part of the blame for the erosion of visible Catholic identity over the past 50 years." Certainly that may have played a part in the erosion but I wonder if some blame may also be be laid at the feet of the radical post-Vatican II reformers, whose innovations gave rise in the Catholic Church to the Protestant notion of "church shopping;" people willing to travel great distances in order to avoid worship à la Kumbaya.

Whatever the reasons for parochialism's decline, it would be good if it were revived. McNichol writes:

As part of Catholic renewal and evangelization in the 21st century let’s impart a bit of South Philly Catholicism to all of our children and neighbors and show them clearly that being Catholic is a proud theological tradition that deserves emulation and modern participation. Don’t be afraid to show your Catholicity, order the fish on Fridays, go to Mass on a daily basis, vote in elections with Catholic morality in mind...

It was with the above in mind your Bloviator, only recently received into Holy Mother Church, registered with the local parish church, resisting the temptation to do so in a downtown parish with better music and liturgy. Recently, I hoofed it from the quasi-swanky part of my neighborhood in northern Manhattan to the decidedly less swanky part of it where the parish church is located; where the music and liturgy, sadly, leaves much to be desired. In the parish office I explained to a friendly receptionist why I was there. She handed me a spiral-bound notebook of lined paper, instructed me to put down my name and address, which I did, and told me pledge envelopes would soon be mailed to me. I was now a parishioner. The envelopes did indeed arrive few weeks later but I will confess to feeling just a little let down.

In my Episcopal days changing parishes was more involved. When joining a new parish you had to fill out a form stating date of birth, baptism and confirmation. The new rector would send a request for a "letter of transfer" to the previous rector seeking confirmation you had been a member of his parish. Only when the letter had been received by the new rector could you then consider yourself a member of that parish. I remember going through this process many years ago at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue, one of the few remaining "orthodox" Episcopal Churches in the Diocese of New York and, unlike most Episcopal Churches, having a very large number of parishioners. Despite that, after the paperwork had been accomplished, the rector, the Rev'd John Andrew, insisted on an interview and took me out to lunch afterwards.

While I realize Catholic priests have vastly many more souls entrusted to their care than most Protestant clergy (as well vastly smaller salaries), I can't imagine it would bust the budgets of most Catholic Churches to host the occasional modest do where a couple of bottles of plonk are unscrewed and new parishioners are introduced to their fellow fisheaters. It would go a long way, I think, to increasing that old parochial pride and that would be all to the good.

When the Music's Over, Turn Out the Lights

Cynthia Sheehan (remember her?) campaigning for Congress in front of City Hall in San Francisco yesterday: Poor thing, she never realized all that love and adulation showered upon her by the left was entirely contingent on her continuing utility. Now she's soooo 2006.

(From the San Francisco Citizen , via the Instapundit.)

When the Music's Over, Turn Out the Lights

Cynthia Sheehan (remember her?) campaigning for Congress in front of City Hall in San Francisco yesterday: Poor thing, she never realized all that love and adulation showered upon her by the left was entirely contingent on her continuing utility. Now she's soooo 2006.

(From the San Francisco Citizen , via the Instapundit.)

Now That's More Like it

CBS 2 News has learned that Francis Cardinal George is temporarily removing Father Michael Pfleger from his position as pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago's South Side.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the move comes after several days of deliberation and consultation by the Cardinal, who first learned about Pfleger's racially charged comments about Sen. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity Unity Church of Christ last Thursday night (From CBS2@Chicago.com)

You almost get the silly notion His Eminence reads this blog!

(Thanks to Banished Child of Eve.)

Now That's More Like it

CBS 2 News has learned that Francis Cardinal George is temporarily removing Father Michael Pfleger from his position as pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago's South Side.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the move comes after several days of deliberation and consultation by the Cardinal, who first learned about Pfleger's racially charged comments about Sen. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity Unity Church of Christ last Thursday night (From CBS2@Chicago.com)

You almost get the silly notion His Eminence reads this blog!

(Thanks to Banished Child of Eve.)

Will They Ask for a Refund or a Store Credit?

When children are regarded as a commodity rather than a gift of God, you get stories like the following.

A British couple abandoned their newborn twin girls, conceived by in vitro fertilization, at a hospital — because they wanted boys.

The 59-year-old mother and 72-year-old father conceived in India with fertility treatment and returned to England for the birth.

They told horrified hospital workers they did not want the “wrong sex” babies immediately after the Caesarean section at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, England.

The husband then asked how soon it would be before his wife could try IVF again in the hope of getting a boy to continue the family name. (From Fox News.)

There will be more stories like this.

Will They Ask for a Refund or a Store Credit?

When children are regarded as a commodity rather than a gift of God, you get stories like the following.

A British couple abandoned their newborn twin girls, conceived by in vitro fertilization, at a hospital — because they wanted boys.

The 59-year-old mother and 72-year-old father conceived in India with fertility treatment and returned to England for the birth.

They told horrified hospital workers they did not want the “wrong sex” babies immediately after the Caesarean section at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton, England.

The husband then asked how soon it would be before his wife could try IVF again in the hope of getting a boy to continue the family name. (From Fox News.)

There will be more stories like this.

Independent Thinking in Manhattan

An odd trait of lefties (maybe not so odd, considering their herd mentality) is the propensity to plaster their cars with bumper stickers proclaiming support for liberal causes like “peace,” gun-control, abortion etc. or, especially in Manhattan, opposition to conservatives and their causes. Manhattan is rotten with these four-wheeled billboards, we few conservatives are long used to them and pay them little mind.

There is, however, a vehicle in your Bloviator’s neighborhood that has commanded his attention. It is a big, gas-guzzling 4-wheel drive van that for several year has sported the following bumper sticker.



There appear to be inconsistencies with the message, “Republicans=Always war, all the time,” with the iconography alongside: a swastika, cross and dollar sign. After all, the United States went to war against the Nazis, most Americans who fought that war were Christian and U. S. dollars paid for it. Furthermore, it was a Democratic president who asked for and received from a Democratic congress a declaration of war…but never mind: we get the gist of this sticker, sort of, if we squint our brains.

A while back, a new sticker appeared below the original one.



Here, while the graphic is a tad confusing and the spelling poor, the message is clear enough although it should be pointed out those evil Republicans still haven't rep(p)ressed the owner of the van nor his bumper stickers.

Just a few days ago a third sticker appeared below the other two.



The cumulative message: “Dare to think for yourself: two examples above," an obvious manifestation of the left's intellectual superiority.

Independent Thinking in Manhattan

An odd trait of lefties (maybe not so odd, considering their herd mentality) is the propensity to plaster their cars with bumper stickers proclaiming support for liberal causes like “peace,” gun-control, abortion etc. or, especially in Manhattan, opposition to conservatives and their causes. Manhattan is rotten with these four-wheeled billboards, we few conservatives are long used to them and pay them little mind.

There is, however, a vehicle in your Bloviator’s neighborhood that has commanded his attention. It is a big, gas-guzzling 4-wheel drive van that for several year has sported the following bumper sticker.



There appear to be inconsistencies with the message, “Republicans=Always war, all the time,” with the iconography alongside: a swastika, cross and dollar sign. After all, the United States went to war against the Nazis, most Americans who fought that war were Christian and U. S. dollars paid for it. Furthermore, it was a Democratic president who asked for and received from a Democratic congress a declaration of war…but never mind: we get the gist of this sticker, sort of, if we squint our brains.

A while back, a new sticker appeared below the original one.



Here, while the graphic is a tad confusing and the spelling poor, the message is clear enough although it should be pointed out those evil Republicans still haven't rep(p)ressed the owner of the van nor his bumper stickers.

Just a few days ago a third sticker appeared below the other two.



The cumulative message: “Dare to think for yourself: two examples above," an obvious manifestation of the left's intellectual superiority.