Defending the 12th century since the 14th; blogging since the 21st.

Catholicism, Conservatism, the Middle Ages, Opera, and Historical and Literary Objets d'Art blogged by a suburban dad who teaches law and writes stuff.


"Very fun." -- J. Bottum, Editor, FIRST THINGS

"Too modest" -- Elinor Dashwood

"Perhaps the wisest man on the Web" -- Henry Dieterich

"Hat tip: me (but really Cacciaguida)" -- Diana Feygin, Editor, THE YALE FREE PRESS

"You are my sire. You give me confidence to speak. You raise my heart so high that I am no more I." -- Dante

"Fabulous!"-- Warlock D.J. Prod of Didsbury

Who was Cacciaguida? See Dante's PARADISO, Cantos XV, XVI, & XVII.


E-mail me

 
David Brooks on Kicking the Secularist Habit, in the March issue of The Atantic:

Secularism is not the future; it is yesterday's incorrect version of the future.... Western foundations and universities send out squads of researchers to study and explain religious movements. But as the sociologist Peter Berger has pointed out, the phenomenon that really needs explaining is the habits of the American professoriat: religious groups should be sending out researchers to try to understand why there are pockets of people in the world who do not feel the constant presence of God in their lives, who do not fill their days with rituals and prayers and garments that bring them into contact with the divine, and who do not believe that God's will should shape their public lives.


posted by Cacciaguida at 10:41 PM

 
The War, and being united with the Holy Father

Been thinking about this for a while, and I have some suggestions.

1. Pray for peace, as he is doing. Make it a rosary intention. Say an extra rosary on Saturdays (perhaps the luminous mysteries) for his intentions. As far as I can tell, "a swift and successful end to the war" is equivalent to "peace," as long as there is enough emphasis on "swift."

2. Iraq means a lot to him as the birthplace of Abraham, and therefore, as the place from which salvation history "set forth," as it were. His recently-published book of poems touches on this theme.

3. It is still unlikely that the war will expand to Syria and/or Iran, but if it does, the Holy Father's warnings about a major conflagration will look a whole lot more farsighted than they did a week ago.

4. Which brings us back to 1, supra.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:28 PM

 


Tune going through my head...

Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia....

(Child with eyes full of enchantment....)

-- Puccini, Madama Butterfly, Act I

posted by Cacciaguida at 2:23 PM

 
In a learned essay on prescription drug safety, The Onion sez:

If the pharmacist says your prescription will take 45 minutes to an hour to fill, say "Oh, no," and fall over dead.

And:

Never mix prescription painkillers with alcohol, unless you like to party really, really hard.

Via The Rat.

All right, now -- blog-break until Sunday, March 30, at the earliest. See you then.

posted by Cacciaguida at 10:40 AM

 
This'll fix 'em

"Caccia di Gregorio," the youngest of my sons, is almost 13, prefers older women, and finds his little sister irritating. With that background, he proposes the following peace process for Iraq:

You can put this up on your blog because I really think this would work!

I was thinking about exactly what would be the solution to the war that would: make Saddam Hussein NOT a savage killer and friendly towards the U.S., AND result in few or no civilian deaths.

The solution is, have Shirley Temple go over to Iraq and do a few dances and a few songs and bingo, Saddam Hussein is overwhelmed about how much of a nice little girl she is he'd even destroy his weapons of mass destruction.

If you don't know, EVERY single bloody movie Shirley Temple ever did has a grumpy old guy who is mean until the ending where the Shirley Temple character does a cute dance and/or song and the grumpy old guy has a change of heart and is suddenly nice. That's another reason I don't like her movies - all the same story!

Just a thought.



Secret weapon?


Don't dismiss it out of hand. I know I always become less grumpy and less inclined to use weapons of mass destruction when confronted with a pretty girl....

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:47 AM

 
Balkin v. Scalia

Says here that if Justice Scalia is true to his textualist principles, he'll have to allow that the 14th Amendment allows race-conscious remedies for racial injustice.

On the other hand, says here that if Prof. Balkin is true to his the-Congress-that-passed-it-must-know-what-it-meant principles, then he'll have to allow that the Establishment Clause allows a lot of government financial and symbolic support for religion.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:26 PM

 
Keeping steady amid fluctuating news coverage

Ralph Peters is a leading military analyst and military novelist. In the '90s he was the Pentagon's expert on "emerging threats". I know Ralph Peters. Ralph Peters is a friend of mine. Well, at any rate, I was on a congressional junket with him once. He knows what he's talking about, and he is no pollyanna.

About the last three days of the war, and the media coverage of it, Ralph writes:

After declaring victory on Friday and Saturday, a number of media outlets all but announced our defeat yesterday, treating the routine events of warfare as if they were disasters.

Nonsense.

We're winning, the Iraqis are losing, and the American people have executive seats for what may prove to be the most successful military campaign in history.

Read the rest of Ralph's observations in The New York Post here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:24 AM

 
My prediction four days ago that the terms "Gulf War I" and "Gulf War II" would soon gain currency has been vindicated: Max Boot used them in an op-ed in yesterday's (Friday March 21, 2003) Wall Street Journal. (Link requires registration.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:11 PM

 
The Muslim-American soldier who tried to blow up his U.S. Army colleagues

The name of the suspect is Asan Akbar. According to Fox, "the attack hasn't been linked to Akbar's Islamic faith."

It's prudent of American authorities to refrain from making this link without strong evidence. But my readers should now that Muslim-American activists have been advocating, as one among many tactics, joining the U.S. armed forces for purposes of sabotage. Go here and scroll down to the relevant section; it's in there.

Let it not be thought, however, that no Muslim-Americans are patriotic. See e.g. this piece in the new issue of The Weekly Standard. Via LGF!
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:28 PM

 
28 baby girls found in suitcase in China

They were being transported by bus, apparently to be sold. They had been drugged so they would keep quiet. When discovered, one was dead; the other 27 are now in state "care." None was older than three months.

From the linked article:

So far no one had claimed the infants.

"It's possible the parents gave the babies away. Family planning policy is very strict and they probably had exceeded their birth limit and wanted to give the babies away to avoid fines," the officer said.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:30 PM

 
Opera kings

Would you think that a listserv dedicated to opera would be a hangout for America-hating, Eurotrashy peaceniks? If so, you'd be very, very wrong.

On the opera list I belong to, one person did, in fact, write something along the line just described. He wrote: "With the Alagnas being European and having probably heard many things firsthand about the bombings there they are probably more sensitive to the matter than the war hungry Americans who have never experienced a war here in the last 100 years." (Spelling corrected.)

And what were the responses? Well, one list member -- a self-described "opera queen" (which does not mean a lady opera fan with a tiara, OK?) -- replied:

Just a few months ago I saw the World Trade Center, engulfed in flames and smoke, collapse before my eyes as I watched out my apartment window.

Your ignorance appears to be overwhelmed by your insensitivity.

And one of the list's most learned members (not, it would appear, an opera queen) wrote this, which deserves to be quoted in full:

Listen, you arrogant, supercilious twit:
You are both ignorant of facts and unsuitable for this List which is supposed to be about music and not a venue for denigrating races or nations.
Let's see.
Let's review us "war hungry" Americans------
We lost hundreds of thousands of our own people to END slavery
We were tremendously responsible for saving democracy in two world wars
We have kept the peace in Korea and will soon have a larger job of that
We re-built Europe and Japan
Instead of treating Japan like a conquered nation, we let her re-build and re-establish herself in the world economy
We have protected the independence of Taiwan for over 50 years
We freed the Phillipines and are now protecting them from radical Islam
We stabilized Haiti
We stabilized Bosnia (without any blessings of the UN)
We performed the Berlin Air Lift--a feat which a-historical people like you either have never known or forgotten (my uncle was killed in a plane crash doing that)
We, largely, brought down the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union
Granted, we were terribly wrong to the Indians and wrong in Viet Nam, but like people, nations can take wrong turns occasionally.
This is not a political forum, but if you are going to make it one, get your facts straight and see, over the long haul, who has done what for whom.
Go to Kennedy Airport sometime and see that there are something like 20 aisles for people ENTERING but only one for LEAVING
In my college classes, I have scores of men and women who have given up everything to come HERE, and I have never had one who is leaving.
It is your right to hate America and largely because of people who fought and died in wars, and you certainly have the right to express your opinion, BUT NOT ON THIS VENUE.
Can the people on this list PLEASE stick to music without gratuitious insulting poltical barbs?
And watch your filthy mouth. My son came within 5 minutes of being in those buildings, and he watched from his other office as some friends and colleagues JUMPED.
I am tiring of writing this same message about the rules of this list, but I am going to do it every time someone takes your tack. Plenty of geo-political forums exist for your purposes. In what part of the word OPERA do you see the word WAR? Or do you read as poorly as you think?
One more time--MUSIC/OPERA!!!
My apologies to the rest of you for this rant.

Since this blog is anonymous, so too must be all the opera fans quoted herein. None of them is your Cacciaguida -- but your Cacciaguida thanks and congratulates the two who wrote the remarks in boldface above. Bravi to red-blooded American opera fans!
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:31 PM

 
Rod Dreher, writing here, recounts this:

One New Yorker who supports the president says he’s had it with his family’s anti-war mania, which has gone so far that one relative insisted that 9/11 was merely a response to our attack on Afghanistan. It did no good for him to point out that the United States attacked Afghanistan a month after the Twin Towers were destroyed.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:08 PM

 
While some American anti-war protestors are carrying signs that say "We Support Our Troops When They Shoot Their Officers," it seems some Iraqi troops actually are shooting their officers.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:31 PM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida

Cacciadelia: Do you think there's anything Daddy will want to watch on TV for his birthday?

Elinor: Uh, I think so.

(Later:)

Cacciaguida (eating shrimp, smoked oysters, and salmon as part of his Friday-in-Lent birthday party, watching Saddam Hussein's government buildings turn into fireballs, and playing the PATTON march on his new victrola): This -- is -- GREAT!

(Later still):

Reporter on TV: In the Muslim world, Friday is a day of prayer.

Cacciaguida: Glad we could help.




It is to be noted that, as far as we know, civilian casualties in Iraq have so far been avoided. The governmental part of Baghdad is quite separate from the areas where people live, sell rugs, and stuff, and our missiles are very precise. If Iraqi army units start moving into the neighborhoods, then we'll have to decide whether we can invoke the principle of double effect and go after them, or whether we have other fish to fry. General McCaffrey opined on NBC that when Allied forces come within the outskirts of Baghdad, Republican Guards will surround the city, and will then either surrender, or be destroyed.

Meanwhile, the scattershot and lackluster military response from the Iraqi regime is very difficult to reconcile with Saddam still being functional.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:16 PM

 
Book title of the day

Spotted in a sale catalogue: Medieval Bath Uncovered.

Eeeeek!!


posted by Cacciaguida at 5:33 PM

 
Links on Iraq's ties to Al Qaeda

Go here, here, and here. And there's a lot more out there.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:17 PM

 
From the Old Oligarch's Painted Stoa -- thank you, O.O., for letting us know about this:

Send a letter of encouragement to any service member in the war via this link.

The free online service is basically a "bulletin board" style of writing which allows you to post messages to servicemen in a particular branch of the service, and further specify home state. That way, when the military man goes to the website, he can read messages likely to be to him or those from the same background.

posted by Cacciaguida at 5:11 PM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida

Elinor: ....but it turned out I was wrong.

Cacciaguida: Now that's something you don't hear very often!

Elinor: It doesn't happen very often!

(Pause)

Cacciaguida: 'Scuse me a minute.... (Dashes for the computer)
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:35 AM

 
Tony Blair persuaded Bush not to attack Iraq right after 9/11, The Daily Torygraph reports today. (The leak may have been timed as a peace offering to Blair's Labor Party opponents.)

If Blair did apply a restraining hand, I'm prepared to concede that this may have been a great service rendered. Iraq was, and is, less obviously linked to 9/11 than such notorious Al Qaeda havens as Sudan and Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda's principal breeding ground and money spigot, Saudi Arabia. The delay allowed time, not only for a military build-up, but for the Administration and commentators alike to absorb the fact that Iraq is tangentially -- but not directly -- linked to 9/11, and that the real answer to "Why Iraq? Why now?" is "WMDs, and why not 12 years ago?"*

As for Iraq-al Qaeda links, the story about a 9/11 terrorist and an Iraqi intelligence agent meeting in Prague never quite Czeched out (sorry about that), but OTOH, there are repeated reports that Iraq does a lot of terrorist training, including hands-on instruction on demo planes. (Sorry for no links on this, but I've got a day job.)

* Q. Why do Jews often answer a question with a question?
A. Why not?
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:22 AM

 
Conversation chez Cacciaguida

Elinor: Cacciadelia is making big eyes at me.

Cacciaguida: Why's that?

Elinor: Because she wants to get you something for your birthday tomorrow. What can she get you?

Cacciaguida (while sorting through mail): I know -- a Cadbury's Fruit and Nut Bar!

Cacciadelia (age 8): What's that again?

Cacciaguida: A Cadbury's Fruit and Nut Bar -- and speaking of which, here's a letter from the Bishop.

Elinor: Ah yes. Raising the bar on fruits and nuts.



BTW, Elinor found that everyone in the shopping centers today was bleary-eyed, presumably from watching news coverage all last night. One sales lady in the fabric section at Walmart was having an awful time helping Elinor with a purchase -- because her husband is in the Army and is even now "in country", as they used to say during Vietnam. God bless that sales lady and her husband.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:02 PM

 
Oh Say Can You Sing

A personal first last night: heard the national anthem played before an opera performance.

Ball games, sure. Operas performed in "concert form" at outdoor theaters, like the Hollywood Bowl, sure. But never inside an opera house, until last night. Meanwhile, the surtitle box announced that we were doing this "in support of our nation and troops."

I approve. Long may she wave, and play ball! -- Er, I mean in bocco al lupo!
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:54 PM

 
Somebody has learned the hard way not to diss Mets fans.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:50 PM

 
Gulf War II

"Desert Storm" is now Gulf War I. This is Gulf War II. You read it here first.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:00 PM

 
Feast of St. Joseph

I gave a "devotion" on this topic at the beginning of my seminar on Church-State Law this morning. There are four students in this class, all Protestants; one of them is an ex-Catholic. I touched on two topics: the Davidic heirship (a topic virtually required by the Scripture readings from today's Mass) and the role of ordinary work in Our Lord's professional life, and the corollaries of this: universality of vocation, and sanctification of work.

The latter two topics produced a string of friendly questions -- of the "tell me more", "help me apply that to this situation that I'm dealing with" variety -- from the ex-Catholic student, heartily joined by the others. It was almost too bad that there were a few piddling Supreme Court cases that we had to discuss, because the theological/pastoral discussion was more interesting, and much more spiritually fruitful.

posted by Cacciaguida at 5:38 PM

 
Little Green Footballs under attack again

The post that I've copied just below is pretty self-explanatory. Go visit the original here for more information.

Charlie Johnson writes on his blog Little Green Footballs:

The pathetic little Indymedia hater who threatened the President in our comments areas, using the names “Jewjerker” and “POPAJEW” among other lovely pseudonyms, has started sending the following email to clients listed in our portfolio:

To whom it my concern,

I recently ran across the web site " http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com where links to your company's web site are located.

I would like you to take a few moments to examine the disturbing and frightening content located on the web site http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com

I have noticed your company works with Children and I'm not sure how the parents of your child students would feel about your affiliation with the creators of http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com in particularly one Charles Johnson I believe would not sit well with parents in which your company relies on for revenues.

I respectfully request an explanation of your affiliation with the web site http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/

This is good in a way, because I now have an email address for the sick freak, in case any of our readers would like to express their opinion to him about the disgusting comments he left here: mchris@speakeasy.net.

I urge Cacciaguida fans to support Charlie and LGF.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:55 AM

 
Tony Blair's speech in the House of Commons this morning

Watch it here, on the PM's own website, interruptions 'n' all.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:58 PM

 
Do all you Hanna-Barbera cartoon fans out there remember a one-time villain called "Get-Out-of-Town-by-Sun-Down Brown"?

Well! Something called The Hindu Times says here that "it's Bush who should leave."

It's almost too bad that it's not a dictator in northern India that we're going after. 'Cause if it were, then we could call our President "Get-Out-of-the-Kush-or-we-Kick-Tush Bush"!


posted by Cacciaguida at 3:44 PM

 
News of the weird-today, normal-tomorrow

Taking advantage of the Netherlands's progressivism on matters moral and matrimonial, a Dutch woman is planning to marry herself.

And in Canada, a court has been asked to rule that a child can have three legal parents; Stanley Kurtz considers the implications in this NRO piece.

Thanks for both tips go to The Rat, who, with regard to the first item, remarks: "The Rat tried to marry herself once, but she couldn't stand her in-laws."
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:15 PM

 
Of interest to people in the DC area (no, it's not about duct tape or bomb shelters)

From the Catholic Information Center, 1501 K St. NW:

Bridget Maher, a graduate of the John Paul II Institute, will teach a 5-week course during Lent on the seven sacraments. EVERYONE is welcome to attend! The class will be held at the Catholic Information Center on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings (see schedule) from 6-7 pm. The Faith Explained by Leo Trese and The Catechism of the Catholic Church are the texts we will use. [Cacciaguida's note: Amazon lists the last-mentioned title as "The Catechism of the Catholic Church. By: Catholic Church." Well said!]

This class is meant for those who are newcomers to the Catholic faith, as well as for those who want to deepen their knowledge of the Church's teaching. Feel free to come, even if you don't have the books but they are available at the CIC bookstore. Please call Bridget, if you have any questions at 202-637-4670 or write: bem@frc.org

Schedule of Classes:

Wednesday, March 12th - Baptism

Tuesday, March 18th - Confirmation and Holy Orders

Wednesday, March 26th - Eucharist

Wednesday, April 2nd - Penance and Anointing of the Sick

Tues. April 8th or Wed. April 9th (date to be confirmed) - Marriage


posted by Cacciaguida at 2:38 PM

 
"Surely this is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet standing in the holy place!"

-- Patriarch Sophronius of Jerusalem to a companion, as Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab walked about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 638; quoted in Warren H. Carroll, A History of Christendom, vol. 2., The Building of Christendom, p. 213 (1987)

For those who are not history-minded, Caliph Umar was not part of a tour-group on that occasion, at least not in the generally accepted sense.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:50 PM

 
Apparently the kidnapper of Elizabeth Smart had received a "revelation" to the effect that he was to take a series of child brides.

You know, throughout religious history, it's amazing how many middle-aged men get that particular revelation. And it's amazing how their cults tend to grow when the revelation is expanded to other men who join it; see generally Islam, Mormonism.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:06 PM

 
More dialogues from DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES

The old Prioress, Mme. de Croissy, having died, Mme. Lidoine (called Sister Marie of St. Augustine in the play, though historian and Bernanos scholar William Bush tells us in To Quell the Terror that her name in religion was Teresa of St. Augustine) has been elected to take her place. With the shadows of the Revolution's anti-Christianism closing in, she addressed the sisters for the first time as Prioress.

Mme. LIDOINE:
My dear daughters, I must tell you again that we find ourselves deprived of our much-missed Mother at the moment when her presence would have been most necessary for us. No doubt we are through with the prosperous and tranquil times when we forgot too easily that nothing guarantees us against evil, that we are always in the hands of God.

What will be the value of the times in which we are going to live, I do not know. I expect of Providence only those modest virtues that the rich and powerful gladly hold in contempt: good will, patience, the spirit of conciliation. These, more than others, are fitting for poor girls like us. For there are various sorts of courage, and that of the great ones of the earth is not that of little people; they couldn't survive them....

I repeat that we are poor girls brought together to pray to God. Let us beware of everything that could turn us away from prayer. Let us beware even of the crown of martyrdom. Prayer is a duty; martyrdom is a reward. If a great King, in front of all his court, were to signal to the serving-maid to come and seat herself with him on his throne, just like a well-beloved wife, it would be better for her at first not even to believe her eyes or ears, and to go on dusting the furniture.

I ask pardon for expressing myself in my own way. Mother Marie of the Incarnation, please find a conclusion for this little talk.

Hesitation. But Mother Marie is not one of those of whom something must be asked twice. [Cacciaguida's note: Some of the sisters had hoped that Mother Marie, rather than Mme. Lidoine, would be elected Prioress.]

MOTHER MARIE:
My sisters, Her Reverence has just told us that our first duty is prayer. But that of obedience is no less, and must be carried out in the same spirit, that is, with profound abandonment of ourselves and of our own judgment. Let us conform, then, not only with our lips, but with our hearts, to the will of Her Reverence.




posted by Cacciaguida at 9:16 PM

 
A radical proposal on the Church's teaching on contraception: teach it!

Athanasius, of Summa Contra Mundum, does so, successfully, with his college ethics class. Let him tell you about it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:16 PM

 
Tariq Aziz -- "Christian"? "Chaldean Catholic"?

Yeah, right. Go read this. Thanks to The Cranky Professor for the link.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:13 PM

 
Don't miss this debate on Scripture, Epicureanism, and canonicity, now playing at your neighborhood stoa.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:17 PM

 
Remnant of good sense

Let it never be said that we critics of the Church's right-wing-schismatics don't give credit where it's due. Ace fever-swamp watcher Lidless Eye reports here that THE REMNANT, perhaps the leading RWS journal (I say "journal," but understand, its layout and printing standards make The Wanderer look professional -- 'nuff said) has run an editorial detailing the pagan roots of Nazism. Nothing really new there, but it's good that THE REMNANT has said it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:02 AM

 
Iraqi first strike?

ABC reports evidence Saddam may be planning a chemical one, both on our troops in Kuwait and on Israeli territory. Via the indispensable Little Green Footballs (sort of a 24/7 "Just So You Know").

At least this would moot out the tough moral questions about "imminence," "settled purpose," and "preventive" war.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:47 AM

 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NUMBER ONE SON!


posted by Cacciaguida at 9:34 PM

 
Mike Piazza gets thrown at by a pitcher again...

...and he's mad. Quite right, too. From the above-linked New York Post article (and BTW, the New York Post has the best Mets coverage of any paper):

When Piazza led off the bottom half, Mota’s first pitch was tight. Plate ump Ed Montague did not issue a warning.

“He was clearly going after him,” [Mets GM Steve] Phillips said. “Why somebody didn’t go out there and say cut the [garbage], I don’t know.”

"Garbage." That's good. (Those are the Post's brackets, not mine.) Continuing:

“I knew after the first pitch that it looked like intent,” Jeromy Burnitz said. “Absolutely, no doubt about it.”

Jeromy, you'd be welcome in my Criminal Law class. I need people who recognize intent when they see it, rather than reaching for a "felony murder" theory...!

The next pitch was a fastball straight into Piazza’s lower left shoulder/upper back. Piazza slammed his bat down and, fist cocked, raced straight at Mota.

Dodger backup catcher David Ross restrained him. Meanwhile, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Mota threw his glove at Piazza and then began running backward.

“The guy ran like a scared rabbit,” [new Mets manager Art] Howe said. “He wants to hit somebody, stand there and fight. He can backpedal faster than I can run forward.”

“He’s gutless,” Met catcher Vance Wilson said. “If you want to hit somebody, be a man and face him. Then he hid in the dugout and yelled a bunch of trash at Mike. He’s lucky Mike didn’t get to him.”

Meanwhile, the other Mets had joined in, especially Burnitz, who had Mike Tyson rage in his eyes. Burnitz chased Mota into the L.A. dugout before being restrained. Other Mets, including Joe McEwing, were tackled. Dodger catcher Todd Hundley said he nearly took a Burnitz elbow. Complete chaos.

Good teamwork, guys. Should be a great season!




Piazza near Berlin Wall site. This time, the war may not be so cold!
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:35 PM

 
Two blogs I've just discovered

Shawn McElhinney, a former Lefebvrist who came back to the Church, offers:

Rerum Novarum: Basically, whatever Shawn feels like writing on; this blog's epigraph is "'The Catholic Church is like a thick steak, a glass of red wine, and a good cigar.' (G K Chesterton)", so how can it miss?

And then:

Lidless Eye: a watchdog blog monitoring and responding to the rad-trads, such as Shawn used to be. Bravo, Shawn!

And where did I hear about these blogs? In The Wanderer. Am I going to drop my subcription to this dear ol' rag, just because it's sometimes too shrill and bishop-bashing, and I need to thin out my dead-trees subscription list? Not a chance!



posted by Cacciaguida at 11:01 PM

 

I forgot my parents' anniversary!!
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:24 PM

 
Another war post

Archbishop Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and former Holy See ambassador to the U.N., says U.S. attack on Iraq without U.N. permission would be aggression.

From the linked article:

Archbishop Renato Martino contended that, contrary to what happened in 1991 with the invasion of Kuwait, on this occasion "there is no aggression and so this preventive war is, in itself, a war of aggression."

No doubt war that is purely preventive -- as in, taking out a perceived future threat -- is aggression. Still to be decided is whether Locke had a point in distinguishing the category of "settled purpose" of aggression, in which case pre-emptive counter-aggression is justified, and if so, whether the current situation fits that category.

Archbishop Martino, for 16 years the Holy See's permanent observer to the United Nations, thinks that terrorism must be combated by addressing "the causes that produce it."

The causes that produce it consist of the failure of the Western world -- the Catholic Church prominent among that world's institutions -- to embrace Islam. How does Archbishop Martino propose to address that?

At the same time, the archbishop recognized that the steps taken by Iraq to disarm are due, to a large extent, to the deployment of U.S. military forces in the region.

Appreciated, but clearly untrue: "steps taken by Iraq to disarm," assuming any such have actually been taken, are due to "deployment of U.S. military forces in the region" combined with everyone being jolly well sure that the U.S. will actually use those forces if Iraq does not disarm.

That said, and apart from particular political statements from Holy See officials that don't check out, the Church's efforts to prevent war are in the best tradition of Benedict XV in 1914 and the two Pii, XI and then XII, in 1939. Attempts to imply that the Pope must love Saddam because he met with Tariq Aziz, such as this piece by Christopher Hitchens, are just standard Hitchens Church-bashing.

A sampler: "I suppose if Saddam came out for partial-birth abortions or the ordination of women or the acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle he might be hit with a condemnation of some sort. (Until recently, one might have argued that his abuse of children would get him in hot water with the Vatican, too. But even that expectation now seems vain.)" My, how witty. There's more, but not enough time to blog it. (If time allows later, I'll address his misinformation about the Spanish Civil War. But is addressing Hitchens's bile about the Church any more productive than watching paint dry? It's certainly less interesting.)

As a matter of fact, war is horrible, and my present stance in favor of this war does not preclude my realizing that a war that is expected to be short and easy can turn out to be long, hard, and devastating in loss of life, loss of livelihood, and unpredictable social transformation. Furthermore, if the war on Iraq does not go well, all efforts to blow the whistle on Saddam's evil intentions will be retroactively discredited, making it easy for the next Saddam or Hitler to rise to power on a tide of appeasement. Or does anyone think Hitler didn't benefit from the WWI-induced reaction to Churchill: "Oh, that's what they said about the Kaiser, and it turned out to be a lot of war-propaganda nonsense...."

Are we just being fed a load of war-propaganda nonsense now, or does Saddam = Hitler? I think the latter view has the better share of factual support, but that hardly means the Holy See is wrong to do anything it can, and meet with anyone it thinks it has to meet with, to prevent a war.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:21 AM

 
At last -- a post on IRAQ AND THE WAR

Did Mr. Blix hide evidence about Iraq's WMDs in his latest report?

From the linked article:

United States officials told reporters that the UN had discovered a new variety of rocket warhead seemingly configured to scatter "bomblets" filled with biological or chemical agents.

Yet, to the apparent dismay of the Bush administration, Mr Blix chose not to raise the discoveries in his oral report.

The missiles in question apparently have a range of 93 miles, which on one hand is beyond what Saddam is allowed, but on the other is obviously too short to reach the United States. So how does this fit into the war-or-no-war picture if you think the U.S. should defend primarily (though not necessarily exclusively) its own territory? (Such is my bias, though, as I have recently written, I am softening on the idea of American neo-imperialism.)

It is my understanding that missile technology can be quickly acquired by motivated and moneyed tinpots. Add this to abundant evidence of Iraqi chemical and biological weapons detailed in UNSCOM reports, and I think the case that Saddam has what Locke would call a "settled purpose" of aggression against us grows strong indeed.

Incidentally, the pro-war position at which I am rapidly arriving is not based on veneration of the U.N. as a "world government" that Iraq must obey. I'm concerned about the form that Saddam's disobedience of a U.N. mandate has taken, not at the mere fact that he has disobeyed a U.N. mandate.

IOW, accumulating a chemical and biological arsenal is per se aggressive; it is marginally more so if "international opinion" has condemned such accumulation; the reification of that condemnation in a U.N. mandate adds little, if anything. I add this for those -- and I know they're out there -- who see Saddam as a hero of the anti-world-government cause precisely because he is defying a U.N. mandate. I don't like world government either, but I like aggressive mass-poisoners with missiles even less.

Thus, if I should decide to go in search of an anti-world-government hero or two, my choices will be George W. Bush and Tony Blair, if they decide to start the war over the Security-Council-clogging objections of the French.

Which brings me to: what does the Holy Father see in the U.N. anyway? As a medieval character and a medievalist, my guess is that Popes instinctively distrust secular empires, having tangled with one or two of 'em over the millennia, and that they therefore prefer something like the U.N. to something like the Christian Empire that my boy Dante argued for. It's not a ridiculous position; just a prudential one, non-binding, and, in the present instance, wrong.


posted by Cacciaguida at 3:48 PM

 
Carmelites and their friends

Eve, who not long ago had questions about contemplative prayer, has discovered St. Teresa of Avila. Go here for her reflections on Interior Castle. Haven't read IC myself, but I'm most of the way through The Way of Perfection (I know, it hardly shows), and I'm starting my second go-round of the Life. The first time was in the Peers translation; this time it's the new translation from the Institute for Carmelite Studies-- whose website, BTW, is full of great Carmelite resources, including books and tapes on St. Edith Stein.

In case anyone thinks the Carmelite way is only for cloistered contemplatives, please note that the entire works of Teresa are considered part of the core spiritual reading recommended to members of Opus Dei, who by definition are either lay people or secular clergy.

Coming soon: more translations from Bernanos's Dialogues of the Carmelites.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:29 PM

 
Dante and some salvation questions

For a blog dedicated in substantial part to Medieval Studies, it's scandalous how little I've written about that recently. Providentially, a question comes in to rescue me from the wood of error and set me back on the straight path.

Yale sophomore Matthew Craig writes in:

The first thing I was thinking about was how possible a situation resembling that of Dante's Hell would be in the afterlife. It seems appealing to be able to set apart those who truly searched for truth and came close, for example those in Dante's first circle, despite the fact that they did not find God. Unfortunately, the conclusion I've come to is that when operating with the definition of Hell as the absence of God, it seems that all would suffer equally because all are equally truncated from God.

Perhaps separation from God is a penalty that we can either over- or under-estimate. On the one hand, if God is our summum bonum, to be separated from Him eternally is to have pretty radically, and irrevocably, flubbed one's existence. On the other hand, Virgil stresses that such separation is the only pain that he had his fellow denizens of the First Circle suffer, and in this they are distinguished sharply from those in every other level of Hell.

We heard no loud complaint, no crying there,
No sound of grief except the sound of sighing
Quivering forever through the eternal air;

Grief, not torment, but for loss undying,
By women, men, and children sighed for so,
Sorrowers, thick-thronged, their sorrows multiplying

-- Inferno IV 25-30

and:

...without hope, we ever live, and long.

-- Inferno IV 42

(Translation: Dorothy Sayers)

The question this begs in my opinion is whether those who search for truth ultimately end up in Hell or Purgatory. Obviously we have very limited means of evaluating God's judgment of people in this sort of a gray area, but in the interest of justice it seems that Aristotle, while not reaching the end of God, may deserve lesser punishment than Nietzsche, who may deserve less punishment than the truly unreflective man.

Quite right. Of course we don't know what Dante would have done with Nietzsche, but we know what he did with Mahomet: as a sower of schism, he is in Bowge 9 of Circle 8 (Inferno XXVIII). Would Nietzsche rate higher than Mahomet, for being more reflective? I have a hunch he would have been among the violent against God and nature (Seventh Circle, Cantos XIV-XVII), though not for the same reason as Brunetto Latini.

It is difficult to talk about deserving anything, and maybe deserving is the wrong term, but in order to create something resembling justice, I find it necessary to discuss it in this manner.

No need to be so Protestant. Even though strictly speaking we "deserve" nothing from God, it is not impious to talk about "deserving" in the sense in which you're using the term. Am I right, Old Oligarch? Have I conceded to much to the Jansenists?

Another question I had, less related to Dante, is about the ability to punish those who search for truth period. Assuming you agree, at least somewhat, with my conclusion that man needs not only the appropriate actions, which can be prescribed by the Church but also pure beliefs, which must be truly incorporated and not simply learned it seems problematic to say that someone who merely mimics Catholic doctrine has any more claim to salvation than someone who searches for truth and fails. Both of them have an incomplete conception of what a human life should be organized towards, but I have trouble differentiating between the two. Ultimately I would like to claim that neither of these individuals will attain salvation, although that seems problematic.

Ah, the age-old problem of "sincerity." Does God respect sincerity, even when a persons's sincere quest leads him to misbelief? One would hope so, and there is magisterial evidence to support that view. But is sincerity all-sufficient -- i.e., a complete substitute for Christian belief? Dante apparently thought no, and recruited Virgil to express this view. Having just met fellow-Mantuan Sordello at the foot of Mt. Purgatory, he says:

VIrgil am I; and I came short of Heaven
For no default, save that I had not faith."

-- Purgatorio VII 7-8 (tr. Sayers)

But maybe there are wheels within wheels here. Maybe Virgil, though gifted with a sort of premonition of Christianity (see 4th Eclogue) culpably failed to pursue that lead; whereas his fellow-poet Statius, in Dante's view, did follow the lead; in any event he considers himself to have become a Christian because of Virgil. See Purgatorio XXI.

And let's not forget Cato of Utica -- not only one who "lacked faith" in the same sense that Virgil did, but also one who died by suicide, and therefore, you would think, belongs next to Pier delle Vigne in Inferno XIII (7th circle -- wood of suicides); and not only that, Cato killed himself out of political resistance to Julius Caesar, the very emblem of secular good order (see Inferno XXXIV, and what became of Brutus and Cassius because of their action that inspired so many early American pamphleteers to call themselves "Brutus"). Cato of Utica -- unbaptized, lacking Christian faith, a suicide, and an opponent of Caesar -- is not in Hell at all, but guards the threshold of Mt. Purgatory. True, this isn't Heaven, but it's a long way from even the First Circle of Hell -- so far that he even considers the chasm between himself and his beloved Marcia to be unbridgeable (Purg. I 78-89).

With Dante, it's always more complicated than it looks.





Mount Purgatory




The problem for me comes in when I consider the fact that there are a considerable number of "Catholics" who would fall into the first category I set up. While Catholicism done wrong is obviously problematic, the sheer number of cases make me hesitant about the conclusion I've come to. I understand that God's judgment is a tricky thing to truly evaluate, but for a conception of justice I think it is helpful to do the best we possibly can.

By "the first category," you mean those who "mimic" Catholic doctrine, and no more? I should think they would be in a worse position than those who seek and fail, though that's only my guess and has no magisterial weight. Against that view must be set the Church's clear and constant teaching that baptism matters a lot. A "tricky thing to evaluate," to say the least. Fortunately -- no, providentially -- we can avoid this question in practice by eschewing spiritual minimalism. We should be interested not in fulfilling the minimum entrance requirements of Heaven, but in giving the greatest glory to God that we can. This would exclude, on the one hand, coasting on the mere fact of baptism and frequenting the sacraments, and, on the other, coasting on the mere fact of being a "sincere seeker." The saint -- and that's what we're all called to be -- transcends both. Paradiso fairly rings with this truth.

posted by Cacciaguida at 6:54 PM

 
Oh ye, Jack Straw!

Labor, Conservative -- who cares, when it comes to what really matters: sticking it to the French and "shocking" the U.N.!
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:55 PM

 
More on Marxist historian Christopher Hill

Re this post, David Nishimura of Cronaca writes in:

Thought you might like to know he's been unmasked as a Soviet agent.
Not as much a surprise as the fact that he was allowed into Military Intelligence during the war.

best

David Nishimura
www.cronaca.com

Wow.

This would mean, I suggest, not that Hill's books on 17th century English history should be thrown away, but that they should be retained, not as history, but as primary sources for the question: what did the organized world-Communism of the 20th century want students to believe about 17th century English history?


posted by Cacciaguida at 1:19 PM

 
Lead us not into temptation

Thought-provoking post from The Contrarian here against bishop-bashing (via Fr. Jim's Dappled Things).

This reminds me: at the entrance of the church where I attend daily Mass, there's a large box for "Farewell Messages for Bishop ........."

Given my family's sarcastic culture, the possibilities are endless. But, in keeping with The Contrarian's reminder, I'll confine myself to promising that the Bishop's upcoming 75th birthday will be celebrated in our household with all the joy that befits the occasion.

The problems of my present diocese are many and famous. All the same, we still have a few parishes that have kneelers (three such parishes in our greater metro area!); daily Mass is available (though without the Benedictines, it would often be hard to find); and a Tridentine Mass is available every Sunday, holy day, and first Friday. Things could be much, much worse. And we hope they will soon get even better.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:01 PM

 
If you can't say anything nice about someone, sit right here by me

Is it a sin to publicize the heretofore-unknown vices of a major public figure who did incredible damage to the legal and moral fabric of the nation?

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

To make your decision, follow this link to Judge Posner's review of a new biography of Justice William O. Douglas.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:34 PM

 
ZOOM!

Cacciamichele (#3 son) has just set the Cacciaguida family up with a DSL connection. This means lightning-fast loads, and even better, Dad's laptop is now Internet-connected, so he can blog from there and not throw us cool guys off the main PC! Dad will of course pay the bill, but this will be balanced by the elimination of formerly necessary extra phone lines.

As a wise man once said, "Sweet tube!"
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:22 PM

 
Pigs-in-blankets in Britain

Concerning this post, alert reader Robert Wenson writes in to say:

Your comment, "Muslims in Britain are already dictating pre-school content" is off-target. If you read the linked article, you will see that the school adopted its policy (no references to pigs) unilaterally, and the quoted Moslem says that the policy is wrong. This is, instead, ignorant PC wimpery.

The point that this was sort of preemptive PC-ery is well taken. Still, I can't help thinking that this move did not come entirely out of the PC blue, and that some Muslims other than the one quoted had something to say about it. If not, my point is all the stronger: if this is what British educators are doing when they don't yet have to, imagine what diligent wood-hewers and water-drawers they will be when sharia comes to Britain....

posted by Cacciaguida at 9:16 PM

 
The last word on the Supreme Court's "three-strikes-and-you're-out" decision is to be found here.

TalkLeft says here that the problem with this decision is that it "allows states to abandon rehabilitation" as a penal goal. But, one, nothing in the Constitution requires states to pursue rehabilitation (or retribution, or incapacitation, or any of the other goals that have been assigned to punishment), and, two, the real problem with the plurality opinion (not the Scalia and Thomas concurrences) is that it allows that a penalty may be "proportional" while having nothing even remotely to do with retribution. If that's true, then a medicalized version of "rehabilitation", with convicts "sentenced" to indefinite hospitalization until "cured", could be "proportional."
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:39 PM

 
Father Jim Tucker's Ash Wednesay homily and (keep on reading) practical Lenten suggestions
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:49 AM

 
Thou Canst Not Win

The rad-trad, "I'm not a sedevacantist but...." crowd thinks John Paul II is an incorrigible Jew-lover (repeated meetings with Chief Rabbis of Rome, diplomatic recognition of Israel, pilgrimage to the Wailing Wall, etc. etc.), and some of them think Paul VI was a Jewish agent dedicated to subverting the Church, etc. etc. For general info on this particular fever-swamp, visit swamp-monitor John Betts's new blog Boycott CAI and go link-wild.

Meanwhile, other opinionators -- respectable ones, unfortunately -- think the Holy See's opposition to war in Iraq is just another go-round of its never-really-abandoned anti-Semitism. Don't believe me? See what InstaPundit has to say on the matter here.

Thanks to alert reader Randy Tunac for blowing the whistle on InstaPundit on this.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:41 PM

 
The Empire ICQs Back

Some great ICQ mischief here; thanks to PejmanPundit for the link. The concept is, RightWingNews poses as an Iraqi professor, then gets "interviewed" by a Brazilian leftist radio journalist (or so he claims to be). By pretending to be as anti-American as his interviewer, RWN does a sort of Cordelia Flyte number on him, getting him to believe all sorts of stuff about the U.S. and Iraq.


Cordelia: reliable informant




Along the way, one word of wisdom manages to get said -- oddly enough, by the Brazilian radio guy: "America is the new Rome...."

A wise friend of mine recently opined that there had darn well better be an American Empire that dominates the 21st century, because any imaginable alternative will be a lot worse. Still thinking about that; inclining to agree....
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:29 AM

 
Just So You Know

Muslims in Britain are already dictating pre-school content. And this is before they become a majority. Via Cronaca.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:50 AM

 
The Ninth Circus and the Pledge of Allegiance

The latest decision is here. For other relevant links, go here. For incisive commentary, go here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:58 PM