Finally, a story about a Catholic university taking a stand for Catholic values.  And look what happens.  Not surprising, but still dismaying.  I just hope the university doesn’t buckle.

Found via The Deacon’s Bench, here are some excerpts from a San Diego Union-Tribune article (with my emphases and comments):

A University of San Diego decision rescinding a prestigious position to a Catholic feminist theologian has thrust it smack in the middle of a national debate over academic freedom versus adherence to [C]hurch teachings. [Versus! Since when?]

Faculty and Roman Catholics are divided over USD’s decision to withdraw the appointment of Rosemary Radford Ruether to an endowed chair. At issue is Ruether’s position on the board of directors for Catholics for Choice, an abortion rights organization.  ["Catholics for Choice" indeed!  Catholics and Catholic universities have the right to choose faculty who are actual Catholics, not Catholic dissenters (note: there is a difference!).  And presuming the donor was a Catholic, they have a right to have their endowed chair held by an actual Catholic.]

Two national women’s religious groups have sponsored a petition with more than 2,000 signatures demanding that she be allowed to assume the post.

USD is standing by its decision. [Let's hope it stays that way!]

“Her public position and the symbol of this chair are in direct conflict,” said USD spokeswoman Pamela Gray Payton. “This chair is a powerful, visible symbol of Roman Catholic theology, and in Roman Catholic theology abortion is disallowed.”  [In a truly free and sane world, that would be the end of the discussion.]

. . .

Ruether, 71, is concerned about the decision’s effect on academic freedom.

“It appears to me that some right-wing group has put pressure on the university,” she said. [That must be it!  After all, Catholics who expect their theologians to be Catholic are such Nazis!  Really, that statement alone would make me show her the door if I ran that university.  What nonsense!]

The position, the Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology, involved coming to campus three days a week, teaching a course, giving a public lecture, and mentoring junior faculty during the fall 2009 semester, said Lance Nelson, chairman of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies.

. . .

“She’s a widely respected scholar in the field,” Nelson said. “She’s done seminal work on Christian feminism, social justice [except for the unborn!], and the relationship between religion and ecology.”

. . .

Fifty USD faculty members have signed the petition demanding that USD reverse course.  [Sounds like there are already dissenters in the ranks.] The petition was sponsored by the Women’s Ordination Conference, which advocates for female priests, deacons and bishops; and the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, a multireligious feminist educational center with Catholic co-founders.  [And these people should have any say in a Catholic university because...???  They're just more dissenters, and they have no right to it!]

The petition asks for USD either to apologize and honor the offer or allow Ruether to deliver a campus lecture on academic freedom.  [Whose academic freedom? Those who want a Catholic theology professor to teach Catholic theology?]

“Rosemary Ruether is like the godmother of the feminist theologian movement,” said Linda Pieczynski, spokeswoman and past president of Call to Action, a nonprofit Catholic organization that advocates on church reform issues and is endorsing the petition. “It’s just criminal to disinvite her from the University of San Diego.” [Oh come now!  According to what code of law?  Somebody needs to get a grip.]

. . .

During a visit in April to Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Pope Benedict XVI advised Catholic college educators not to allow scholarly pursuits to depart from Catholic doctrine.

“Any appeal to the principle of academic freedom in order to justify positions that contradict the faith and the teaching of the [C]hurch would obstruct or even betray the university’s identity and mission,” he said. [Again, this should be the end of the discussion.]

. . .

USD’s Monsignor John R. Portman Chair in Roman Catholic Theology was established in 2000 through a $2 million bequest. It was named after Monsignor Portman, who became the founding chair of the department in 1967.

According to the university’s Web site, “Chair holders are to be distinguished theologians who think from within the Roman Catholic tradition while exploring and expressing the tradition in contemporary contexts.”  [Seems pretty clear to me.]

. . .

Ruether doesn’t see a conflict between her two roles.

“First of all, what people are doing in their personal life has nothing to do with what you’re going to teach,” said Ruether, adding that she had no plans to speak on campus about abortion.  [That holds true if you regard Catholicism as something you do, rather than something you are.  Which seems to be the case for some allegedly-Catholic theologians.  It becomes a job instead of a living, and lived, faith.]

If she cares so much about academic freedom, why doesn’t she do the honest and just thing and teach at a Protestant school?  There’s surely plenty of them that would love to have her, and she wouldn’t have to suffer so criminally at the hands of Catholic Nazis.  I work at Southern Methodist University, and they’ve got Charles Curran as their professor of moral theology and “human values.”  Obviously, you couldn’t pay me to study theology there, but if that’s what the Methodists want, who am I to object?  Academic freedom is not the issue.  Not in the way these dissenters would have us believe.

Lately, I’ve found myself very often occupied by memories… staring out the window at the trees or the sky… sighing over people and places and times I miss… wishing I could go back in time to this or that moment and stay there forever, or perhaps fix something or do something differently.

I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s something much more than nostalgia.  I am a rather nostalgic person sometimes, but this is much more intense.  It has an edge to it that pains me and troubles me.  Sometimes I feel it is wrapped up in grief and regret.  Other times it involves a stronger-than-usual attachment to this life and this world, almost to the point where I never want anything to change, and I never want to die.  Odd for someone who tends to long for Heaven.  I am grateful for my life and for this world, each with their good and not-so-good qualities, but I am wary of being too attached to them.

My mind keeps trying to be logical and find some reason for it.  Perhaps it is just part of aging; I have more now than ever to look back on.  Perhaps it is just a completely normal, natural part of life.  I hope so.  But…

These are very deep feelings.  I get a sense that they are very important feelings.  That they mean something.  I just don’t know what.

I fear I’m not making much sense.  I just had to put this all out here.  Any thoughts?

Maybe I’m weird, but I can never get enough of this video!

I have always admired and been very impressed by this form of dance, but I dare say, the way it’s been synched to this song makes it even better!  :D

I watched another wonderful DVD today:  Witness to Hope: the Life of Karol Wojtyla - Pope John Paul II. It is based on the book by George Weigel.

It was a beautiful, moving, and very well-done film.  I learned a lot about the world our late Holy Father came from, and how it shaped him and his work.  I wish I could put myself into God’s hands the way Pope John Paul II did.  He was truly a remarkable man, even when he was still Karol Wojtyla, before he became Pope.

He was Pope from the time I was 2 years old, until I was 28.  But he was never much a part of my life.  I never paid him or the papacy much mind.  He was just some old man in Rome.  He didn’t really affect us or our lives (so I thought).  When he died and his story was everywhere on TV and in the media, I finally began to learn who he was and what he did.  And I was so full of regret!  How could I have been so indifferent and, at times, so hostile?

When Pope Benedict XVI was elected, I started to slip back to my old ways.  I still wasn’t much of a Catholic at the time.  But I have since vowed that I was going to do my best to get to know our Holy Father and follow his activities and ideas.  I haven’t regretted that one bit–I love him so much!  He fills a special place in my heart, sort of a grandfatherly place, since I never got to know either of my biological grandfathers.

I have begun to feel that way for Pope John Paul as well… and really for all the previous popes.  I know that they are still watching over their children from Heaven, along with my biological family and other loved ones who have gone before me.  That makes me very glad!  :)

I had hoped that this matter was over with and that maybe the Canadian Human Rights Commission was coming to its senses… but no such luck.

I’m not Canadian, but as a Catholic I am very much sorrowed and troubled.  We’re all part of the same Mystical Body, after all.

I pray that the case will be dismissed again.  But even if it is, I’m sure that Catholic Insight will still be punished with even more legal fees.

I heard about this from Seraphic Single, who heard about it from Blazing Cat Fur.

My prayers are with our brothers and sisters to the north.

Wonderful news from our pastor this afternoon after Mass: 3 men from our parish are going to begin training for the priesthood this year, 1 man is making his first vows as a Cistercian, and 1 lady is going to join Dominican sisters!  :D

As a parish, we always includes prayers for vocations at every Mass, and I’m sure most people in the parish offer their own prayers… as mentioned yesterday, I offer my own daily prayers and do my third Friday thing.  It’s just so exciting and uplifting to see our prayers coming to fruition!  And it has bolstered my spirit and made me want to pray even harder!

Also, our local priory is getting 4 new novice friars! They are receiving their habits tomorrow morning.  I wish I could attend the ceremony, but I’ll be busy at my parish library.

Please join your prayers to mine for all these wonderful fellow parishioners of mine as they take big steps in discerning their vocations! And for all the men and women around the world who will be doing the same!  We should remember their families too… it must be a huge experience for them as well!

Deo gratias!  God is so very good!  Alleluia!

As for us, let’s pray, pray, pray, pray, PRAY!!!

I just watched a terrific video: The Face: Jesus in Art.  The artwork itself is glorious, and the video does a splendid job of presenting it, with beautiful photography and music.

Most of all, it helped me to truly appreciate not only the art, but the fact that we have a God who can be portrayed in art. He took on a human body, a human face.  While we may not be able to create an exact likeness of His face, He is very much present wherever we find beauty.  Beauty is part of His nature, and He is the source of all beauty.

When some people say that we should sell our art and other property to feed the poor (or some variation of that statement), they don’t fully understand what they are asking us to give up.  Not just rich material objects, but images that have brought generations of Christians closer to their Lord.  Not just artifacts of our civilization, but treasures of our faith.  They are truly priceless, and losing them would cause a poverty more dire and long-lasting than that which might be temporarily assuaged by money.  And then, there are many churches which are themselves works of art–would we have to sell them too?  Where would the line be drawn?

We should love, care for, and admire the art that illumines and expresses our faith.  Especially that which depicts our Lord Himself. Too often, we either take it for granted or count it to be of no importance.  My own experience has shown me that being mindful and appreciative of religious art and beautiful spaces really does draw me into deep and active worship.  Conversely, I find it nearly impossible to worship in a space devoid of beauty; I end up turning inward on myself, rather than being raised up out of myself to encounter an Other.  That is what worship is all about for Catholics–encountering the divine Other; in encountering Him, we can do naught but worship Him, so irresistably attractive He is!

“The gate of Heaven is very low; only the humble can enter it.”
–St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

“We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.”
–St. Teresa of Avila

“Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.”
–St. Augustine

“Humility is one of the most difficult virtues both to attain and to ascertain. It lies close upon the heart itself, and its tests are exceedingly delicate and subtle. Its counterfeits abound.”
–Venerable John Henry Newman

“Humility does not consist in ignorance of truth. If a man is above the average height of men, he cannot help knowing it.”
–Cardinal Henry Edward Manning

“Real excellence and humility are not incompatible one with the other; on the contrary, they are twin sisters.”
–Père Jean-Baptiste Lacordaire, OP

“Jesus invited us to be like Him, humble of heart. But what is humility of the heart? It consists in receiving humiliations from God with a submissive love, in accepting one’s state of life and one’s duties whatever they are, and in not being ashamed of one’s condition.”
–St. Peter Julian Eymard

“Pride makes us forgetful of our eternal interests. It causes us to neglect totally the care of our soul.”
–St. John Baptist de la Salle

“True humility does not make a show of herself or use many humble words; for she desires not only to conceal all other virtues, but most of all to conceal herself.”
–St. Francis de Sales

I dedicate every third Friday of the month to praying and fasting for all of our bishops and priests, and for all men who are being called to the priesthood.  It’s wonderful that this third Friday coincides with the Assumption, given Mary’s special motherly love for priests!

We laypeople look to our priests to be faithful, holy, wise leaders, and we can be harshly critical of them when we feel they are not.  Criticism is not always unwarranted, of course.  But even then, we must be sure that we are: praying for them, being cooperative and constructive in any way possible, and not hastily judging and being overly-critical about things we don’t fully know about or understand.  We can’t always know what they may be going through, what their circumstances are, or the reasons behind every action or inaction.  Our priests and bishops need us to support them, above all with prayer and sacrifice! 

And we need more priests, many more!  This is pretty common knowledge among most laypeople, and this is a situation that also requires our prayers and sacrifices.  Not just the sacrifices of those who are called, or of their families, but of each and every one of us.  We all must have the best interests of our Church in mind.  And having plenty of priests is essential.  Without the priests, there are no Sacraments, and without the Sacraments, we don’t receive the sanctifying grace they give us–the supernatural life we need and long for.  If we believe in God’s providence, we know that God is calling plenty of men to be His priests.  Those men and their families need prayer and sacrifices from us all in order that that extraordinary calling can be heard and fulfilled.

It is important for us laypeople to remember that although we are not ordained, by Baptism we too share in Christ’s priesthood–we too are called to give of ourselves and offer sacrifices. 

So, let us pray today and every day for our bishops and priests, and for all men who are called to the priesthood.  Let us pray that they our priests may always grow in faithfulness, holiness, and wisdom, whereby they may help us all to do the same.  Let us pray that those with priestly vocations may grow in courage and selflessness, and that they may receive the support they need from their loved ones and their communities.  Let us pray for ourselves that we fulfill our own priestly duties of prayer and sacrifice.

What a joyful day for our Lady: at last, she is reunited with her beloved son and Lord, in His everlasting kingdom, never again to be parted!  That’s what I think of when I think of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother.

It fills me with joy and with hope, for I know that we too are able to follow her and share personally in her joy!  The joy of at last meeting our Lord face to face, being safe and secure with Him, never again having to worry about separation from Him.  Finding at last the fullness of life and peace.  And through Him, being reunited with our own family and friends who have gone before us.

So, a joyful feast for all mankind!  Let us keep our eyes focused on it each day!