Clarity at Last

From the Telegraph:

Killing babies no different from abortion, experts say

Parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed because they are “morally irrelevant” and ending their lives is no different to abortion, a group of medical ethicists linked to Oxford University has argued.

The article, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, says newborn babies are not “actual persons” and do not have a “moral right to life”. The academics also argue that parents should be able to have their baby killed if it turns out to be disabled when it is born.

Of course this is utterly appalling (although methinks the "medical ethicists" are being deliberately provocative so to gin up debate and draw attention to themselves; they will certainly succeed). Still, in a perverse way, a great service for abortion foes has been rendered by the medical ethicists by their brutally giving the lie to abortion proponents' assertion the issue is a matter of a "woman's right to choose" or "control over her body." The report strips away such euphemistic twaddle and lays out the argument bare: Resolved: it is morally acceptable to kill unwanted children, in or out of the womb.

Perhaps we will now see more clarity in the abortion debates.

Thanks to Justin Martyr.

Clarity at Last

From the Telegraph:

Killing babies no different from abortion, experts say

Parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed because they are “morally irrelevant” and ending their lives is no different to abortion, a group of medical ethicists linked to Oxford University has argued.

The article, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, says newborn babies are not “actual persons” and do not have a “moral right to life”. The academics also argue that parents should be able to have their baby killed if it turns out to be disabled when it is born.

Of course this is utterly appalling (although methinks the "medical ethicists" are being deliberately provocative so to gin up debate and draw attention to themselves; they will certainly succeed). Still, in a perverse way, a great service for abortion foes has been rendered by the medical ethicists by their brutally giving the lie to abortion proponents' assertion the issue is a matter of a "woman's right to choose" or "control over her body." The report strips away such euphemistic twaddle and lays out the argument bare: Resolved: it is morally acceptable to kill unwanted children, in or out of the womb.

Perhaps we will now see more clarity in the abortion debates.

Thanks to Justin Martyr.

The Gates of Hell Shall not Prevail against It.

Hackers, led by an outfit with the original tag "Anonymous" try and fail to attack the Vatican website on World Youth Day.

Hackers initially tried to take down a website set up by the church to promote the event, handle registrations and sell merchandise. Their goal — according to YouTube messages delivered by an Anonymous figure in a Guy Fawkes mask — was to disrupt the event and draw attention to child sexual abuse by priests, among other issues.

The videos, which have been viewed more than 77,000 times, include a verbal attack on the Pope and the young people who “have forgotten the abominations of the Catholic Church.” One calls on volunteers to “prepare your weapons, my dear brother, for this August 17th to Sunday August 21st, we will drop anger over the Vatican.”

No dice:

A core group of roughly a dozen skilled hackers spent three days poking around the church’s World Youth Day site looking for common security holes that could let them inside, the report says...

In this case, the scanning software failed to turn up any gaps. So the hackers turned to a brute-force approach — a so-called distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack that involves clogging a site with data requests until it crashes. Even unskilled supporters could take part in this from their computers or smartphones...

On the first day, the denial-of-service attack resulted in 28 times the normal traffic to the church site, rising to 34 times the next day. Hackers involved in the attack, who did not identify themselves, said through a Twitter account associated with the campaign that the two-day effort succeeded in slowing the site’s performance and making the page unavailable “in several countries.” Imperva disputed that the site’s performance was affected and said its technologies had successfully siphoned the excess data away from the site.

Imperva executives say the Vatican’s defenses held up because, unlike Sony and other hacker targets, it invested in the infrastructure needed to repel both break-ins and full-scale assaults.

From the early days of radio onward, the Vatican's use of technology has shown remarkable sophistication.

The Gates of Hell Shall not Prevail against It.

Hackers, led by an outfit with the original tag "Anonymous" try and fail to attack the Vatican website on World Youth Day.

Hackers initially tried to take down a website set up by the church to promote the event, handle registrations and sell merchandise. Their goal — according to YouTube messages delivered by an Anonymous figure in a Guy Fawkes mask — was to disrupt the event and draw attention to child sexual abuse by priests, among other issues.

The videos, which have been viewed more than 77,000 times, include a verbal attack on the Pope and the young people who “have forgotten the abominations of the Catholic Church.” One calls on volunteers to “prepare your weapons, my dear brother, for this August 17th to Sunday August 21st, we will drop anger over the Vatican.”

No dice:

A core group of roughly a dozen skilled hackers spent three days poking around the church’s World Youth Day site looking for common security holes that could let them inside, the report says...

In this case, the scanning software failed to turn up any gaps. So the hackers turned to a brute-force approach — a so-called distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack that involves clogging a site with data requests until it crashes. Even unskilled supporters could take part in this from their computers or smartphones...

On the first day, the denial-of-service attack resulted in 28 times the normal traffic to the church site, rising to 34 times the next day. Hackers involved in the attack, who did not identify themselves, said through a Twitter account associated with the campaign that the two-day effort succeeded in slowing the site’s performance and making the page unavailable “in several countries.” Imperva disputed that the site’s performance was affected and said its technologies had successfully siphoned the excess data away from the site.

Imperva executives say the Vatican’s defenses held up because, unlike Sony and other hacker targets, it invested in the infrastructure needed to repel both break-ins and full-scale assaults.

From the early days of radio onward, the Vatican's use of technology has shown remarkable sophistication.

Looking for the Fire Escape?

Fame-seeking atheist Richard Dawkins says he's now not sure God doesn't exist! I wonder if he's come down with a fatal illness.

Looking for the Fire Escape?

Fame-seeking atheist Richard Dawkins says he's now not sure God doesn't exist! I wonder if he's come down with a fatal illness.

Diary of a Papist Convert

I apologize to my readers (if there are any remaining!) for the prolonged radio silence. There have been no crises in my life, of faith or anything else; I simply have not felt an urge lately to put anything down in writing (though there have been several abandoned attempts) and the longer one goes without blogging the easier it is not to. Recently, however, there was a joyous occurrence for me that I, if you will indulge me, humbly believe ought be shared.

This past Friday I finally screwed up the courage and made my way to my first choir practice at the Church of the Holy Innocents in New York City. I had long ago been invited to do this but had lost heart at every attempt, often while on my way to the church. My notion (or "out," really, providing me wth the courage this time) was to sit in at rehearsals for the foreseeable future and simply follow along until I eventually gained enough facility and confidence to take part, I having little experience in plainchant and square notes. Alas, to my great horror, the choir leader promptly dismissed that wimpy notion and told me sing along right then and there. There was thus no out and no way out. I sang along, both at rehersal and in the Extraordinary Form Mass immediately following.

To my astonishment I didn't do too badly. I made more than a few flubs but none of them terribly disruptive and by Mass's end felt a sense of elation as never felt before. I had not realized how much I missed making music (your Bloviator is a frustrated musician) and doing it for the glory of God only heightened the experience. And while my voice is mediocre at best, just short of a caterwaul, God did kindly compensate for that by blessing me (although sometimes it seems like a curse) with perfect pitch, which is helpful when singing a cappella.

So I am now a proud member, two evenings a week for now, of the choir at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan, the only church in New York where the Extraordinary Form is celebrated seven days a week. Deo gratias.

Saint Cecilia pray for us.

Diary of a Papist Convert

I apologize to my readers (if there are any remaining!) for the prolonged radio silence. There have been no crises in my life, of faith or anything else; I simply have not felt an urge lately to put anything down in writing (though there have been several abandoned attempts) and the longer one goes without blogging the easier it is not to. Recently, however, there was a joyous occurrence for me that I, if you will indulge me, humbly believe ought be shared.

This past Friday I finally screwed up the courage and made my way to my first choir practice at the Church of the Holy Innocents in New York City. I had long ago been invited to do this but had lost heart at every attempt, often while on my way to the church. My notion (or "out," really, providing me wth the courage this time) was to sit in at rehearsals for the foreseeable future and simply follow along until I eventually gained enough facility and confidence to take part, I having little experience in plainchant and square notes. Alas, to my great horror, the choir leader promptly dismissed that wimpy notion and told me sing along right then and there. There was thus no out and no way out. I sang along, both at rehersal and in the Extraordinary Form Mass immediately following.

To my astonishment I didn't do too badly. I made more than a few flubs but none of them terribly disruptive and by Mass's end felt a sense of elation as never felt before. I had not realized how much I missed making music (your Bloviator is a frustrated musician) and doing it for the glory of God only heightened the experience. And while my voice is mediocre at best, just short of a caterwaul, God did kindly compensate for that by blessing me (although sometimes it seems like a curse) with perfect pitch, which is helpful when singing a cappella.

So I am now a proud member, two evenings a week for now, of the choir at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan, the only church in New York where the Extraordinary Form is celebrated seven days a week. Deo gratias.

Saint Cecilia pray for us.

Scenes from the Conversion of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore

Scenes from the Conversion of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore

There Goes the Neighborhood

Roman and Anglo-Catholics in the Baltimore area may wish to attend Mass Sunday morning at Mount Calvary Church at 10:00 a.m. so they may, in addition to worshiping and receiving the sacraments--as well fulfill their obligation, pray for the clergy (rector above) and parishioners at that church as they are received into the Holy Catholic Church. The activities for the day are as follows.

Solemn High Mass on Sunday, January 22, 2012, at 10:00 am, the parishioners and clergymen of Mount Calvary Church will make their profession of faith and be confirmed as Roman Catholics and members of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter by the first Anglican Use Ordinary of the United States, Father Jeffrey Steenson.

Solemn Evensong at 4:30 pm, with Father Dwight Longenecker preaching.

Gala receptions will follow both liturgies.

Given that this is an Anglo-Catholic parish going over to Rome, we can only believe both liturgy and receptions to follow will be nothing short of spectacular. Come and pray, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and have a rollicking good time. Deo Gratias!

Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s always laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!
― Hilaire Belloc

h/t Daniel Page

There Goes the Neighborhood

Roman and Anglo-Catholics in the Baltimore area may wish to attend Mass Sunday morning at Mount Calvary Church at 10:00 a.m. so they may, in addition to worshiping and receiving the sacraments--as well fulfill their obligation, pray for the clergy (rector above) and parishioners at that church as they are received into the Holy Catholic Church. The activities for the day are as follows.

Solemn High Mass on Sunday, January 22, 2012, at 10:00 am, the parishioners and clergymen of Mount Calvary Church will make their profession of faith and be confirmed as Roman Catholics and members of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter by the first Anglican Use Ordinary of the United States, Father Jeffrey Steenson.

Solemn Evensong at 4:30 pm, with Father Dwight Longenecker preaching.

Gala receptions will follow both liturgies.

Given that this is an Anglo-Catholic parish going over to Rome, we can only believe both liturgy and receptions to follow will be nothing short of spectacular. Come and pray, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and have a rollicking good time. Deo Gratias!

Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s always laughter and good red wine.
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!
― Hilaire Belloc

h/t Daniel Page

Behaving Like Christians

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has released a statement outlining the terms of agreement reached with the parishioners of Mount Calvary Church of Baltimore as they part from the Episcopal Church and join the Holy Catholic Church via Anglicanorum Coetibus. Given the rancor and litigation other parishes have suffered when attempting to leave the Episcopal Church, the parishioners of Mount Calvary could scarcely have done better. They will keep most of their property (paying an undisclosed sum) and the diocese will have right of first refusal should they wish to dispose of it in the future. Seems fair to me.

Most important, the statement is a model of grace and decorum and ought serve as a paradigm for the Episcopal Church in her future dealings with parishes that wish to depart. From the statement's closing paragraph:

The Rev. Canon Scott Slater, on the bishops’ staff and part of the mediation team representing the Episcopal diocese, said, "This has been a thoughtful, prayerful, and respectful process by all three entities, and I am pleased that we have reached a solution that meets the needs of all three groups."

Amen, Amen.

Thanks to Augustine.

Behaving Like Christians

The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland has released a statement outlining the terms of agreement reached with the parishioners of Mount Calvary Church of Baltimore as they part from the Episcopal Church and join the Holy Catholic Church via Anglicanorum Coetibus. Given the rancor and litigation other parishes have suffered when attempting to leave the Episcopal Church, the parishioners of Mount Calvary could scarcely have done better. They will keep most of their property (paying an undisclosed sum) and the diocese will have right of first refusal should they wish to dispose of it in the future. Seems fair to me.

Most important, the statement is a model of grace and decorum and ought serve as a paradigm for the Episcopal Church in her future dealings with parishes that wish to depart. From the statement's closing paragraph:

The Rev. Canon Scott Slater, on the bishops’ staff and part of the mediation team representing the Episcopal diocese, said, "This has been a thoughtful, prayerful, and respectful process by all three entities, and I am pleased that we have reached a solution that meets the needs of all three groups."

Amen, Amen.

Thanks to Augustine.

Diary of a Papist Convert: the Anglican Way

Thanks to Father Rutler for alerting me to this splendid (and brief) piece by George Weigel: Converts and the Symphony of Truth, in which the author celebrates the varieties of religious experiences of Catholic converts. It seems the experiences of those converting, not surprisingly, nearly equal their number. Coming as I did, however, from a quasi-WASPy Anglican background, I had most empathy with Evelyn Waugh, who, as Weigel relates, "became a Catholic with, by his own admission, 'little emotion but clear conviction': this was the truth; one ought to adhere to it." Quite so. While I will confess for years having a bit of envy for those who had some dramatic experience, an epiphany of sorts, that suddenly infused them with a true and lively faith, mine was undramatic: a years-long process of discernment consisting of questioning, reasoning, reading, consultation and prayer, eventually leading me to the Catholic Church, with no fireworks. So be it and thanks be to God.

Even more gratifying, though, in Weigel's essay is his description of a common thread running through the diverse tales of conversion:

that men and women of intellect, culture and accomplishment have found in Catholicism what Blessed John Paul II called the “symphony of truth.” That rich and complex symphony, and the harmonies it offers, is an attractive, compelling and persuasive alternative to the fragmentation of modern and post-modern intellectual and cultural life, where little fits together and much is cacophony.

There is no doubt of that. The times we live in are as corrupt, superficial and shallow as they were before my conversion but I find them now just a bit more bearable, armed as I am with the full Catholic faith and the promise of salvation to those who live by Church teachings (not always easy, of course).

Next weekend, I will have the great pleasure of witnessing the reception of an entire Episcopal parish, Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore, and its rector Fr. Catania, an old friend, into the Holy Catholic Church by the newly appointed American Anglican Ordinary, Msgr. Steenson. Priest and parishioners have gone through a period of discernment similar to mine, reasoned and deliberate (it's the Anglican way--I give you Cardinal Newman). Holy Church will be richer than she already is by this happy occurrence and I pray those good people will find themselves enriched as well.

Diary of a Papist Convert: the Anglican Way

Thanks to Father Rutler for alerting me to this splendid (and brief) piece by George Weigel: Converts and the Symphony of Truth, in which the author celebrates the varieties of religious experiences of Catholic converts. It seems the experiences of those converting, not surprisingly, nearly equal their number. Coming as I did, however, from a quasi-WASPy Anglican background, I had most empathy with Evelyn Waugh, who, as Weigel relates, "became a Catholic with, by his own admission, 'little emotion but clear conviction': this was the truth; one ought to adhere to it." Quite so. While I will confess for years having a bit of envy for those who had some dramatic experience, an epiphany of sorts, that suddenly infused them with a true and lively faith, mine was undramatic: a years-long process of discernment consisting of questioning, reasoning, reading, consultation and prayer, eventually leading me to the Catholic Church, with no fireworks. So be it and thanks be to God.

Even more gratifying, though, in Weigel's essay is his description of a common thread running through the diverse tales of conversion:

that men and women of intellect, culture and accomplishment have found in Catholicism what Blessed John Paul II called the “symphony of truth.” That rich and complex symphony, and the harmonies it offers, is an attractive, compelling and persuasive alternative to the fragmentation of modern and post-modern intellectual and cultural life, where little fits together and much is cacophony.

There is no doubt of that. The times we live in are as corrupt, superficial and shallow as they were before my conversion but I find them now just a bit more bearable, armed as I am with the full Catholic faith and the promise of salvation to those who live by Church teachings (not always easy, of course).

Next weekend, I will have the great pleasure of witnessing the reception of an entire Episcopal parish, Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore, and its rector Fr. Catania, an old friend, into the Holy Catholic Church by the newly appointed American Anglican Ordinary, Msgr. Steenson. Priest and parishioners have gone through a period of discernment similar to mine, reasoned and deliberate (it's the Anglican way--I give you Cardinal Newman). Holy Church will be richer than she already is by this happy occurrence and I pray those good people will find themselves enriched as well.

They Must be Nuts--They Enlisted, Right?

Interesting that so many in the media, when reporting on the recent fatal shooting of a Mount Ranier park ranger, find it newsworthy that the deranged suspect was (his body was found earlier today) an "Iraqi War Veteran." What is the relevance of his military past? Do you recall it being reported of crime suspects they were veterans of the Second World War or the Korean War? No, the military background of perps only began attaining relevance at the time the media turned against the military and, more pertinently, the draft, and has become a vital fact now that the nation's conflicts (especially those for which presidents named Bush may be blamed) are fought by an all-volunteer army. What a stunning coincidence.

They Must be Nuts--They Enlisted, Right?

Interesting that so many in the media, when reporting on the recent fatal shooting of a Mount Ranier park ranger, find it newsworthy that the deranged suspect was (his body was found earlier today) an "Iraqi War Veteran." What is the relevance of his military past? Do you recall it being reported of crime suspects they were veterans of the Second World War or the Korean War? No, the military background of perps only began attaining relevance at the time the media turned against the military and, more pertinently, the draft, and has become a vital fact now that the nation's conflicts (especially those for which presidents named Bush may be blamed) are fought by an all-volunteer army. What a stunning coincidence.

Imagine That

An entertainer by the name of Cee Lo Green, engaged by NBC to entertain the assembled throng in New York's Times Square this New Year's Eve, got himself into a bit of trouble for altering the lyric of one of the ditties he crooned, John Lennon's, "Imagine." It seems he changed a stanza in this treacly ode to atheism from "nothing to kill or die for / and no religion too" to "nothing to kill or die for / and all religion's true." Lennon fans are crying blasphemy.

I doubt, however, Mr. Lennon, who was a cynic but no dummy, would have been terribly ruffled over this controversy (certainly his estate receives a nice royalty check whatever the words sung). Lennon would have known, even if Mr. Green does not, the multi-culti substitution of "all religion" for "no religion" changes the meaning not one wit, as an idiot quoted in the Rolling Stone account (and are you as astonished as I to learn that tired old relic of the 'sixties is still extant?) nicely, if entirely inadvertently, confirms:

"The whole point of that lyric is that religion causes harm," tweeted someone with the handle @geekysteven. "If 'all religion's true' it would be a pretty bleak place.

Sing it, brother!

Imagine That

An entertainer by the name of Cee Lo Green, engaged by NBC to entertain the assembled throng in New York's Times Square this New Year's Eve, got himself into a bit of trouble for altering the lyric of one of the ditties he crooned, John Lennon's, "Imagine." It seems he changed a stanza in this treacly ode to atheism from "nothing to kill or die for / and no religion too" to "nothing to kill or die for / and all religion's true." Lennon fans are crying blasphemy.

I doubt, however, Mr. Lennon, who was a cynic but no dummy, would have been terribly ruffled over this controversy (certainly his estate receives a nice royalty check whatever the words sung). Lennon would have known, even if Mr. Green does not, the multi-culti substitution of "all religion" for "no religion" changes the meaning not one wit, as an idiot quoted in the Rolling Stone account (and are you as astonished as I to learn that tired old relic of the 'sixties is still extant?) nicely, if entirely inadvertently, confirms:

"The whole point of that lyric is that religion causes harm," tweeted someone with the handle @geekysteven. "If 'all religion's true' it would be a pretty bleak place.

Sing it, brother!