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Hurricane Gustav is strengthening greatly and threatening Louisiana and surrounding states. It is expected to be a Category 5 by landfall. I have friends who are staying in New Orleans–please help me pray for their safety!
I fear what will happen if New Orleans takes a direct hit from this storm. It’s just over three years since Hurricane Katrina hit the city. Galveston could be in danger too. Two of my most important and beloved cities.
I take a little comfort thinking about the basilicas that stand over them: mighty St. Louis in New Orleans, and lovely St. Mary’s in Galveston. The latter survived the monstrous 1900 hurricane, and has since been specially devoted to Mary under the title of Stella Maris–Star of the Sea. She watches over the island from one of the basilica’s towers.
We also have a Patron Saint Against Storms in my dear Father Thomas Aquinas. May we have his intercession too!
At National Review Online, Father Thomas D. Williams, LC gives a wonderful commentary on Nancy Pelosi’s claims to be both ardently Catholic and in favor of abortion, and why our bishops and other Catholics have responded so strongly. He starts by stating something very basic and very important that can sometimes get lost in the modern world: namely that words mean something.
You are unlikely to ever come upon a group called Mohammedans for Polytheism or Environmentalists for Seal Slaughter. A Muslim who espouses a multiplicity of deities has, ipso facto, placed himself outside the Muslim confession. Polytheism is not an Islamic thing. An environmentalist who patronizes anti-ecological activities is not an environmentalist at all, but a subversive. This is because the monikers “Muslim” and “environmentalist” mean something; they carry with them a series of necessary consequences. Certain terms — like “Muslim” and “polytheism” — simply can’t be squared, and combining them is nonsensical. [Nearly anybody would find those examples laughable, and yet when dissenters call themselves Catholic, people tend too often to take them at their word, and scoff when Catholics stand up for our own identity. There's something very wrong with that.]
The recent ecclesiastical backlash to Nancy Pelosi’s unfortunate remarks on Meet the Press should have surprised no one, least of all Speaker Pelosi herself. Her attempts to squeeze abortion rights into Catholic moral teaching were no more credible than trying to pass apartheid off as a legitimate goal of the civil rights movement. The bishops — some seven have weighed in on the matter so far — had no choice but to speak out. [Imagine! Catholic bishops speaking out about Catholicism! This is what we Catholics need and want from them! But some people have a problem.]
I’m pretty sure most Catholics have been up against this problem: people think that they can identify themselves as a Catholic, define for themselves what that means, and presume to impose their self-definition on us! Hence we find things like “Catholics for Choice” and “Catholic Womenpriests.” Hence we single Catholics searching for Catholic spouses often find ourselves dealing with people who identify as Catholic and yet are all for cohabitation, pre-marital sex, and artificial contraception. To a Catholic, those are oxymorons. They violate the very meaning of “Catholic.” They can be maddening to deal with! And Catholics have recently been responding very strongly to such violations, such as Rosemary Radford Ruether being touted as a Catholic theologian when it is obvious by her beliefs that Ruether is not a Catholic. To be fair, though, Ruether is not the first false Catholic theologian, and won’t be the last, and Nancy Pelosi is only one example of the false Catholic politician. It doesn’t matter how strongly these people feel that they Catholic, and it doesn’t matter how many other people may consider them Catholic. They have placed themselves beyond the definition of what Catholic means. If that offends them, or if they disagree, that doesn’t change the reality, it just means they are out of touch with reality.
The title “Catholic” presumes a whole string of basic beliefs, succinctly laid out in the Apostle’s Creed. Catholics believe in one God, creator of heaven and earth, in Jesus Christ his only begotten son who became man, suffered and died for us, rose from the dead on the third day, and so forth. Along with this canon of doctrines, Catholics also embrace a body of moral teaching (summed up tidily in the Catechism of the Catholic Church) which governs their understanding of right and wrong, what is pleasing to God and what offends Him. [Ultimately, morality is defined by God, not us.]
From the earliest days of Christianity, Jesus’ followers distinguished themselves from those around them both by their doctrinal beliefs and their moral code. [Both/and!] The earliest known work of Christian antiquity outside the New Testament is called The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, known also by its familiar Greek appellation, the Didache. This catechetical manual makes no bones about what it means to be a Christian. It begins with the stark admonition: “Two ways there are, one of Life and one of Death, and there is a great difference between the Two Ways.” Included in the explanation of what it means to love one’s neighbor, as part of the “way of life,” first century Christians read the words, “Do not kill a fetus by abortion, or commit infanticide.” Such has been the consistent teaching throughout the history of Christianity and no amount of political posturing will change that.
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The most disturbing element of Speaker Pelosi’s comments, however, was not her historical fudging, her disingenuous misrepresentation of Catholic moral teaching or her implicit adoption of cafeteria Catholicism. It was her insouciant dismissal of the moral significance of abortion. She said that in the end, it didn’t matter when life begins anyway. Her exact words were: “The point is, is that it [when life begins] shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.” [For a Catholic to say such a thing is absurd. For Catholics, the right to choose is a given, innate to our humanity. What we do with that choice is at the heart of moral life, and supporting abortion has no place in a Catholic's moral life.] No matter when human life begins, a mother’s right trumps a baby’s, and that right includes the choice to destroy the child. This is irreconcilable not only with Catholic morality, but with the most basic natural ethics.
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Speaker Pelosi can campaign for abortion all she likes, but to do so as an “ardent, practicing Catholic” is to invite a stiff correction. Americans still value truth in advertising, and know that words have meanings. [Yes! Somebody understands his fellow citizens and gives us a little credit! Bless you, Father!!!] “Catholic” means pro-life.
I think we could reasonably go so far as to say Catholic means pro-choice too, given the important role that choice and free will play in our faith and in our everyday lives. We believe that God Himself gave us the “right to choose” as part of our human nature and human dignity, and He doesn’t then turn around and violate that right. So the popular claim that Catholics would seek to violate it is ridiculous. Denying that we all can, and must, choose our own actions is not an option for Catholics. The problem is when people regard choice as some kind of trophy that trumps everything else, including morality. They divorce “right” from “responsibility,” whereas Catholics also see it as a huge responsibility: to choose good and avoid evil. (There’s that pesky both/and again!) Failure to choose good and avoid evil can convict us before God and man of mortal sin–a state in which we are out of communion with God until we seek reconciliation.
What it comes down to is this: anybody who wants to choose abortion is free to do so… but nothing can change the fact that they are choosing evil. The choice, in itself, does not constitute a good. That’s something that “pro-choicers” don’t seem to get. And that no lawyer or judge can make it right just be making it legal. A Catholic cannot abide by a law that tries to legitimize an evil act. If it comes to us being civilly disobedient, even if it comes to us being punished, then so be it. If we believe what we believe, then we have to put ourselves on the line for it, just as so many Catholics before us have–even to the point of giving their lives. Clearly, Pelosi and lots of other Catholic politicians are not willing to do that. They are too much like Richard Rich and not enough like St. Thomas More.
So, my dear readers, if you are Catholic, keep standing up for your own identity! If you are non-Catholic, please show solidarity with your Catholic loved ones and fellow Americans! All of us need to understand that not everybody who’s called Catholic really is Catholic, and we need to demand that they be honest with us and not expect us to just go along with their delusions.
Just when election-year angst was starting to weigh heavily on me, John McCain announced his new running-mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska! I’m just starting to learn about her, but so far, I think she sounds like a breath of fresh air! Just what I’ve been waiting and hoping for in a national political figure! What has immediately struck me, of course, is her pro-life stance, which is not just an ideology or a plank in a political platform, but an actual part of her living experience.
Over at American Papist, Thomas Peters has gathered a good bunch of resources.
Father Dwight Longenecker is “so delighted … that it hurts.”
The Archbold brothers at Creative Minority Report incorporate fun graphics into their commentary.
So clearly, I’m not the only Catholic in America who is really excited about Gov. Palin’s VP nomination! I’m also not the only one who has had my interest in the election totally re-ignited! Finally, we may have somebody in this race to genuinely identify with and root for! McCain himself deserves some praise for being willing to look beyond the “usual suspects” for his choice of running-mate. His choice of Gov. Palin suggests that he is the real candidate for change.
I am really looking forward to seeing more of Gov. Palin and hearing what she has to say.
If you are interested in following this story, and the rather impressive responses of some of our U.S. bishops, I recommend that you start with this post at Fr. Z’s blog. He also has more recent stuff too, and an exhortation to Catholic bloggers to keep this story alive. (I realize that most Catholics who read blogs at all have already probably been following Fr. Z’s coverage, but… just in case!)
I am not sure what I have to add to the story… I am stunned by Pelosi’s trying to defend her pro-abortion stance with Catholicism. In my experience, everybody knows that Catholicism teaches against abortion! And yet here we have somebody, a woman we would expect to be quite well-educated and experienced, a woman who refers to herself as an “ardent, practicing Catholic,” and she takes it upon herself to speak publicly about Catholic teaching and Catholic theology… and makes a huge fiasco of it, completely misrepresenting what the Catholic Church teaches and what faithful Catholics believe, and potentially misleading and confusing people all over the nation.
Fortunately, the U.S. bishops have been really taking this as an opportunity to speak out loudly and clearly and to reaffirm genuine Catholic teaching. My own Bishop Farrell has given his support to the statement issued by the USCCB. More bishops will likely be adding their voices. I hope this experience grants them all greater courage, greater faithfulness, and greater unity. The nation and the world are watching them. Catholics everywhere are looking to them to rule decisively and preach the truth!
It will be interesting to see how everything plays out. I feel that this experience could turn into a positive one for all Catholic Americans. It could enlighten minds and convert hearts. It could remind Catholic political leaders from where–and from Whom–their power really derives. Maybe that sounds idealistic. But if it helps even a small handful of Catholics in this country to reconsider the Church’s teachings and what place they give their faith in their lives… if it compells them to think more deeply about how they vote in November and in the future… if they pass on the Church’s authentic teachings to others… then great good will have come of it!
This is a very important time for the United States and for our Church in the U.S. All Catholic Americans need to stand together and be of one mind and one heart. Tom at Disputations has proposed a novena of fasts that starts tomorrow, Friday 29 August, leading up to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Queen Mother in Heaven, and Patroness of the United States. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis!
Yesterday, sort of out of nowhere, I was thinking about Patrick’s death and funeral. His casket was kept closed. At the time, it was a huge relief… I didn’t want to see him dead. I am pretty sure I couldn’t have handled it. But looking back, sometimes I wish I had had to face it. Because without facing it, I have been able to still imagine that he’s not dead. I find myself feeling sure sometimes that he will come knock on my door one day, and the last 3 years and 4 months will have been nothing but a dream, a crazy mistake.
I know that’s not the reality of things, and yet it’s hard for me to find any real evidence to latch onto. Now, obviously, I believe in many things I can’t see. Patrick was a real person, with a body that could be seen and touched and heard. And yet what happened to him seems like a bigger mystery to me than God and angels or microwaves or quarks. The last time I saw him, he was sitting next to me in my car, outside Love Field, smiling and giving me a goodbye kiss. And after that… gone? Just gone? No more seeing him? It doesn’t make any sense sometimes!
Seeing things makes them more real to us. Or at least, seeing things makes a greater impression upon us.
Later yesterday, I understood the importance of that as I knelt in prayer near the front of my parish church, my eyes locked upon the Crucifix, the crown of thorns, the nailed hands, the agonized, imploring heavenward gaze of the Savior. Looking at that image, taking it deeply into my mind, embossing it in my heart… Christ’s suffering and death were no mere abstractions, no hazy concept or foggy collective memory or phantasm. When you stare at the Crucifix, there is nothing distant or uncertain about the Savior and what He has done for us. Likewise, when you take in the image of Him glorious and resurrected, there is nothing distant or uncertain. Nor when we see any other good, true, and beautiful image of Him. The image of the invisible God, God’s Word Incarnate.
I thought to myself, “I am so very glad and grateful to be able to see His face!” It is so very important! It is important for understanding that He is not some mental abstraction, no amorphous energy or force–He is a Person! A Person who constantly calls us into relationship with Him, a relationship He has initiated, and a relationship that depends on our response to Him. We generally have no problem understanding ourselves as persons, but when we understand Him as a Person… that changes everything. We come to realize that we cannot be indifferent to Him. We respond to Him either with love and attraction or with loathing and rejection.
When the atheists portray Him as just a flight of fancy or a mental construct… when people of various other faiths speak of Him as an impersonal force, as natural (but not human or fully human) manifestations, or as a master so transcendent He can’t possibly be related to, among other things… when some of our fellow Christians can talk about Him all day long but never look Him in the face or see His hands and feet nailed to the cross… They are all missing a fundamentally important aspect of Him as He really is. Obviously, with varying degrees of consciousness and deliberateness. The atheist is extremely conscious and deliberate in denying that God is a Person and in refusing to be held in any relationship with Him. Christians and people of other faiths, more likely, simply don’t realize what they are missing, or why it is important.
I am grateful to belong to a religious tradition which has ever been extremely rich, prolific, creative, and yet very realistic when it comes to seeing our Lord and portraying our Lord as a Person. A Person who, for a time, and for our benefit became a man who could be seen, touched, heard. A man who was born and who suffered and died. He didn’t have to do it… but He knows how He made us: we need to see. And for that reason, He made Himself visible and tangible, so that we might see Him, and not only believe more deeply, but know Him more deeply, and in knowing Him, that we might love Him more deeply.
I know that much, much more could be said, such as the reality that God is actually three Persons. That doesn’t mean so much if we don’t come to understand God’s Personhood in general, and being in relationship with Him, whatever that relationship may be. Being in relationship with Him, person to Person, is the first step toward delving into deeper mysteries like the Trinity. It is also the first step to learning what love really is and to living a really happy, healthy, full human life.
I might… just might be able to attend this one conference, since it is local and not expensive: Theology of the Body Singles Conference. I hesitate to speak with too much certainty; doing so seems to have a way of making my plans go to pieces. But I am hoping to attend.
My dear friend Meg is starting RCIA tomorrow to become Catholic–I ask your prayers for her! I also ask your prayers for me, that I may be a good sponsor to her! The sponsors don’t start going to meetings until later in September. I’m as excited and anxious as a mama hen, LOL!
I’ve been thinking and rethinking about one of my novel projects. I’ve come up with some interesting plans for it, but again, I’m afraid to say too much.
Wish me luck!
Fall semester has just begun, which means lots of traffic on campus. I mean, lots. It’s just part of the joy of being at a university, you know?
As I slowly made my way toward the library, I watched a rather lengthy succession of pedestrians very narrowly avert being creamed right in the crosswalks. I listened as horns blared all over the place, as if it would make all the delays and jams magically disappear. I saw drivers make aggressive moves on other drivers.
And I thought: it’s no wonder there’s so little respect for the lives of children in the womb, when there is so little respect for the lives of people we see right in front of us. It’s no wonder there’s so little respect for the bedridden, the infirm, the elderly, the disabled, when there’s so little respect for the healthy and the on-the-move.
I know that impatience is only human–Heaven knows I get impatient sometimes! But really, it seemed a bit excessive this morning, a little too unrestrained, a little too ubiquitous. Actually, I found it a bit insane. And I think that is more of a societal flaw than a personal one. The moment another human being becomes an inconvenience, even if for 2 seconds, go ahead and get angry, threaten their lives, maybe even end their lives. It happens plenty.
Sheesh.
A little quotation that jumped out at me while cataloging (emphases original):
One secret of sweet and happy Christian life is in learning to live by the day. Take no thought for the morrow; only strive to do your very best today. Begin the day with God.
The Living Way (Oakland, Calif.), v. 4, no. 4 (July 1906)
I think that’s really good advice, and I really needed to hear it, but dang if it’s not hard to live by!
I think that “learning to live by the day” is something the Lord is trying hammer into me right now. Last night, I went to bed, but I couldn’t sleep for thinking about what I should be doing in my life now and for the near future. Either that or falling into that melancholic nostalgia that has been getting me down lately. I called to the Lord: “Lord, what do You think? What do I need to do with my life?”
I sensed the unmistakable small voice telling me, “All you need to do now is go to sleep.”
That wasn’t good enough for me, so I kept pestering Him, and He kept replying, as patient as anything, ”All you need to do now is go to sleep.”
That’s all He gave me. Finally, probably an hour later, I just went to sleep. When I woke up this morning, naturally, I really wished I had gotten an extra hour of sleep! But no matter, I sat down with my Christian Prayer and said Morning Prayer. And that really brightened my day! It really is wonderful to “begin the day with God.” Occasionally, I neglect Morning Prayer and life veers into the doldrums. When I pick it back up, I can’t believe I ever stopped! Especially when I myself am always saying that life is much better when I just pray the Divine Office!
I’m still struggling with just living for today… but I’m trying! I know God is trying to teach me something, and I know I’ll be whooped if I don’t jump to it! I know how He works: if He can’t make me learn the easy, reasonable way, He will make me learn the hard and sometimes painful way. I’ve been put through the wringer too many times not to have learned that lesson!
But it is always worthwhile. I imagine He is just trying to help get me out of the funk I’ve been in… and that’s what I want. I don’t want to stress out about the future or pine away for the past. If the Holy Spirit has to bang me over the head, so be it!
I recommend that all Catholics who write blogs or express themselves in other Internet fora read this Inside Catholic article by Jennifer of the blog Conversion Diary (formerly “Et Tu?”). She reminds us that “the world is watching.” Here is an excerpt:
It’s worth taking a moment to ask ourselves: How well are we representing our faith? For those of us who express our opinions on the Internet, whether it’s through our own sites or comments on other sites, what kind of image do we paint of the Body of Christ through the words we publish on the Internet?
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Every single one of our online discussions takes place in an open-air forum with people from all backgrounds all across the world as witnesses. Even the smallest blogs and the most obscure comment threads are at least occasionally read by people who know nothing of Catholicism outside of the discussion. When these people read our words, for better or worse they think, “This is what followers of Christ are like.”
Do go read the whole thing.
Oh my gosh, I just caught this episode of “I Love Lucy” on TV. At the very end, it shows Lucy on the cover of an issue of “Look” magazine, and off to the side of the cover is a photo of Pope Pius XII!
I’ve probably seen that episode a hundred times and never noticed the pope’s picture, but this time my eyes immediately zoomed in on it!
I guess being Catholic has changed how I look at everything!
Another funny thing that happened a few months ago was that I was reading a book on accounting for not-profit organizations. Only they called them “not-for-profits,” and abbreviated it as NFP. I kept thinking I was reading about natural family planning!
Oh, and when somebody talks about “the Sisters of Mercy,” I have to think about whether they are referring to the religious sisters or to the goth band. It just depends on where I am and who I’m talking with!
My life is pretty amusing sometimes.
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