update: and to spread the love (and support), Jill has details on how you can easily vote for a pregnancy center that is in the running to receive a $25,000 office makeover. I voted!
Did the pope predict this market crash back in 1985?
So say some:
Pope Benedict XVI was the first to predict the crisis in the global financial system, a ``prophecy'' dating to a paper he wrote when he was a cardinal, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said.
``The prediction that an undisciplined economy would collapse by its own rules can be found'' in an article written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became pope in April 2005, Tremonti said yesterday at Milan's Cattolica University.
German-born Ratzinger in 1985 presented a paper entitled ``Market Economy and Ethics'' at a Rome event dedicated to the Church and the economy. The future pope said a decline in ethics ``can actually cause the laws of the market to collapse.''
Pope Benedict in an Oct. 7 speech reflected on crashing markets and concluded that ``money vanishes, it is nothing'' and warned that ``the only solid reality is the word of God.'' (Bloomberg)
Breaking: Obama picks Tom Daschle for HHS secretary
Bad news:
"Former Senator Majority leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) will be secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration, with the delicate mission of shepherding a health-care bill through Congress at a time of punishing budget constraints, a senior Democratic official said.
... “Of all the proposals that Obama wants to enact, health care requires the most input and tough negotiations,” the official said. “No one knows the House and Senate like Tom Daschle." (Politico) (NYT) (more)
As for the "delicate mission of shepherding a health-care bill through Congress", that mission will be made more difficult if Daschle listens to his NARAL friends who are demanding the Freedom of Choice Act be included (we oppose it).
"Da Vinci Code director Ron Howard had to shoot the movie's forthcoming prequel using imitations of the Catholic churches in the storyline - after the Vatican banned him from all of its holy buildings.
The first movie's portrayal of the Catholic church angered the religion's heads, who were in no mood to cooperate when Howard headed to Rome, Italy this year to shoot an adaptation of author Dan Brown's 2000 book Angels & Demons, which is set in the Vatican City.
As a result, Howard has been forced to used camera trickery and substitute locations.
He reveals, "We've had problems filming in Catholic Churches. We just weren't allowed anywhere near them." (Wenn)
Well, more like the "Papist Paraphrase of the Day":
Several Beaufort County residents and officials expressed surprise and anger Tuesday after County Councilwoman Laura Von Harten criticized the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on women and reproductive rights during a rezoning discussion Monday.
Von Harten brought up church positions that don’t allow women to become priests and on “uterus rights” while the Land Management Committee debated whether to grant a zoning request to allow the expansion of St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Bluffton.
Though the committee approved the rezoning, Von Harten promised to fight the expansion, calling official Catholic church policies “an affront to my dignity and all womankind.”
“I just have to vote in favor of love not hate,” she said. (The State)
Wow, I'm surprised a Unitarian Universalist (no kidding) would show such .... intolerance!
Video: Austrian Cardinal participates in grave liturgical abuse
Your Eminence, Cardinal Schonborn, I love and admire your previous good work for the Church.
... but what are you doing?!
This video depicts grave liturgical abuses. Someone who wrote the Catechism of the Catholic Church should know better. I know things are bad for the Church in Austria - but this is not the solution to the problem of young people straying. The Cardinal looks hardly happy about the whole situation, but he remains complicit in it.
As a personal contribution, I studied in Austria for several months. I've participated in Masses across Austria. They're not all this bad! There are people in Austria who love the Mass reverently celebrated. The Church can be a magnificent sign of contradiction to the pervading secularism of Austria - but only if it remains a contradiction.
This saddens me.
update: I'm seeing precious little reaction in the Catholic blogosphere to this video, AmP and Fr. Z's excepted. The video was recorded last Sunday in Wolfsthal (lower Austria). More details in the combox below.
update 2: Fr. Z received a statement from the spokesperson for Cardinal Schonborn which he posted.
Several people have contacted me asking me to clarify what I mean in my post title by "grave liturgical abuse."
The statement which Fr. Z has posted answers my primary concern, e.g., that the matter used in the consecration was invalid. It does not rule out, of course, the fact that the large "chunks" of Eucharistic matter provide an all-too-easy opportunity for crumbs to fall, be trample upon, etc.
The statement, however, also fails to answer the other ways in which I would consider this Mass to contain some grave liturgical abuses, such as....
tie-dye vestments (which liturgically proper color is that?!)
rock instruments, including heavy metal for the consecration response
the injection of non-liturgical elements, such as the balloon-release
violation of the sanctuary space by persons not ministering (you can barely tell where the sanctuary ends and the "church" begins)
an extensive, and intrusive light show, complete with strobe lights and lasers (what is this, pink floyd?)
And those are just the ones that first come to mind, I could go on.
Back in February, Pope Benedict asked if outdoor Masses are "what the Lord wanted", and simultaneously took steps to reform them. I can say with a confidence gained from studying liturgy at some length, that the sort of Mass depicted above is not "what the Lord wanted." These sort of liturgical innovations have cropped up often in the past 40 years, but they take on a gravitas they do not deserve when Cardinals themselves participate and condone them.
At any rate, when you put together all the inappropriate elements represented here, the end result is a thoroughgoing violation of the sanctity of the liturgy, and that, to my mind, is a grave liturgical abuse. Maybe not technically, but if this celebration shows us anything, it's that one can complete violate the spirit of the Mass while arguably remaining inside the loosest interpretation of the liturgical rubrics.
An interesting application of the Apostle Paul's advice to be "sober and alert":
Pope Benedict XVI urged drivers to stay “sober and alert” Sunday and prayed for those who have died in traffic accidents.
“On this third Sunday of November, we remember in a special way all those who have died as a result of traffic accidents,” Benedict said as he delivered the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
“Dear brothers and sisters, I implore everyone — drivers, passengers and pedestrians — to heed carefully the words of Saint Paul in the liturgy of the word today: Stay sober and alert,” he added. (AFP)
Barry Knestout appointed aux. bishop of Washington, DC
News on the local front!
Msgr. Barry Knestout, formerly the pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Silver Spring, MD (where I have many friends) has been appointed our newest auxiliary bishop today by Pope Benedict:
"The Holy Father appointed Msgr. Barry C. Knestout of the clergy of the archdiocese of Washington, U.S.A., moderator of the Curia and vicar for administration, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 5,447, population 2,647,492, Catholics 582,488, priests 1,000, permanent deacons 182, religious 1,505). The bishop-elect was born in Cheverly, U.S.A. in 1962 and ordained a priest in 1989."
At 46, a young bishop, one who holds a degree in architecture, was part of the planning for the sanctuary of the papal Mass earlier this year, and has also served as moderator of the curia.
Knestout is the first auxiliary to be appointed to Archbishop Donald Wuerl since he took office, Rocco notes .... and adds that Knestout's ordination Mass has been scheduled for December 29th (rats, I'll be away!).
Cecile Richards attemps to snooker Catholic voters
(Before we get any further, let's get the definition of "snooker" clear.)
Cecile Richards is the president of Planned Parenthood. Now that Obama is president-elect, her organization is set to profit handsomely from windfall pro-abortion initiatives. "We have been communicating with [Obama's] transition staff almost daily", Richards boasts. "We expect to see a real change."
"With all the post-election polling analysis, there are many interesting outcomes that merit some soul-searching -- and not just within the political parties.
Exit polls reveal that 54 percent of Catholic voters supported President-elect Barack Obama, despite entreaties from Catholic leadership to vote against Senator Obama because of his support for abortion rights."
Soul-searching? Please. As if Richards has ever reconsidered her passionate pursuit of abortion-on-demand, ever.
She certainly has shown no willingness to debate her positions in free public forums.
Next, I'm aware of no one who can seriously claim that Catholics voted for Obama slightly more than McCain because they preferred Obama's position on abortion to McCain's. How stupid must Richards think Catholics are to believe that? Poll after poll shows that Americans voted based on the economy, and a whole host of issues, with abortion far down on the list. And that's sad, because if they had given abortion more consideration, they would have reconsidered voting for Obama. As Steven Erthelt says, "the only plausible conclusion is that some Catholic voters backed Obama despite their disagreement with him on abortion."
Richard goes into full-boar snookering at this point:
"While this may come as a surprise to Catholic bishops who are meeting this week to discuss the election, it is consistent with what we know about the attitudes of Catholic voters.
In a poll commissioned by Planned Parenthood last year, Catholic voters were asked to name their largest concerns around the issues of abortion and family planning."
What do you know, Richards? The results of a self-commissioned poll asking people what they don't like about abortion? That's like Coca-Cola commissioning a poll to ask people "what three things do you most dislike about Pepsi?" Would anyone be surprised that they can think of something?
I'll wrap this up with one more observation. Richards says:
"At Planned Parenthood, we work to prevent unintended and teen pregnancy. We provide more than 2.4 million women each year with family planning services -- but nearly another 15 million go unserved due to lack of affordable access."
Come again? That's just rich. Richards is trying to somehow imply that Planned Parenthood is prevented from carrying out its mission of mercy because - wouldn't ya know it? - they just don't have enough money....
"In April, the annual report for Planned Parenthood Federation of America revealed that the abortion giant had a total income of $1.02 billion -- with reported profits of nearly $115 million. Taxpayers kick in more than $336 million worth of government grants and contracts at both the state and federal levels. That's a third of Planned Parenthood's budget."
Forgive me if I hold back the tears. Evidently in this underdeveloped economic corner of the healthcare market, despite desiring so sincerely to serve more marginalized individuals, Planned Parenthood has still managed to make huge profits, with taxpayers eventually footing a third of the bill.
The hubris and deceptiveness required to pen an editorial like this really takes my breath away. But as you can see, demolishing Richards' arguments takes only about as much effort as blowing down a house of cards.
Clearly, Newsweek and I differ as to what sort of things can be counted as part of a "baby boom":
In Chicago, where 28-year-old Chip Bouchard—a former Hillary supporter—attended Obama's acceptance speech, he says he looked over at his boyfriend, Chris, and thought: "This [is] the president under whom I [want to] get married and adopt a baby."
So many things to say to that, but not now.
Back to the "baby boom" ... sorry, agreeing with Jill, I think we can more expect an "abortion boom".
Cardinal: Obama is "Aggressive, Disruptive and Apocalyptic"
Cardinal Stafford made some noise on the CUA campus last week:
His Eminence James Francis Cardinal Stafford criticized President-elect Barack Obama as “aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic,“ and said he campaigned on an “extremist anti-life platform,” Thursday night in Keane Auditorium during his lecture “Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II: Being True in Body and Soul.“
“For the next few years, Gethsemane will not be marginal. We will know that garden,” Stafford said, comparing America’s future with Obama as president to Jesus’ agony in the garden. “On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake.” (The Tower)
update: Andrew Sullivan goes on a tear after he hears about the Cardinal's comments:
"The Vatican hierarchy has become radicalized under Benedict and John Paul II - so much so that they see the West since the 1960s as entirely a creature of resistance to Humanae Vitae, the papal declaration that all non-procreative sex is a moral evil."
First of all, the phenomenon of dissent from the teaching of Humanae Vitae is actually (and I would add, accurately) understood by many in the hierarchy as an important symptom of deeper historical issues. Of course it's not all about Humanae Vitae, but at the same time, it's amazing how well the document managed to frame the major conflicts of that time. And frankly, not just that time, but our own age as well!
Also, Sullivan barely seems to understand what Humanae Vitae actually teaches .... "All non-procreative sex is a moral evil"? Sorry - that summary would get a failing grade if it was submitted by a kid in high school religion class. Which brings me back to my old phrase: Before you criticize the Church, try to understand her.
And to think, Sullivan plaintively asks if someone could "talk some sense" into us....?
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