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

 
Now burn, new-born to the world,
Double-natured name,
The heaven-flung, heart-fleshed, maiden-furled
Miracle-in-Mary-of-flame,
Mid-numbered He in three of the thunder-throne!

--Gerard Manley Hopkins, SJ, "The Wreck of the Deutschland"
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:16 PM

 
Saint Francis and Saint Benedight
Bless this house from wicked wight;
From the night-mare and the goblin,
That is hight good-fellow Robin;
Keep it from all evil spirits,
Fairies, weazles, rats, and ferrets'

From curfew-time
To the next prime.

- "Cartwright" (quoted in the Christmas Eve chapter from Washington Irving's Sketchbook)
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:09 AM

 
Pope Benedict signs heroic virtue decrees (part of the beatification process) for John Paul II -- and for Pius XII!
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:15 AM

 
Ready for some serious scholarship on early Scotland?

James E. Fraser, From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795, New Edinburgh History of Scotland I, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Pp. xii + 436; illus. Paperback ISBN 9780748612321, £19.99. Alex Woolf, From Pictland to Alba 789–1070, New Edinburgh History of Scotland II, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2007. Pp. xv + 384; illus. Paperback ISBN 9780748612345, £19.99.

First page of an academic review can be viewed here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:26 PM

 
UK judge issues arrest warrant for former Israeli foreign minister for pursuing foreign policy someone in UK doesn't like

Only one way to stop this kind of "universal jurisdiction"/"human rights" horseshit: Israel can issue a warrant for the judge who issued the warrant. And drop a hint that Israel, unlike the airhead rest of the world, actually knows something about extraterritorial enforcement.

UPDATE: "UK ponders law change after Tzipi Livni arrest warrant." Jolly good and about bloody time. Don't miss the Livni video statement in this link.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:58 AM

 
Eve on why "all that matters is that you get to Heaven" can't possibly be right from a sound-and-orthodox Catholic viewpoint: here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:11 PM

 
"William V." Start practicing saying it?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:46 PM

 
That reminds me -- today is the first day of the Novena of the Immaculate Conception. Let's pray to Our Lady for many favors needed, including the conversion of the Muslims.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:07 PM

 
Switzerland Defends Ban on Mosque Minarets.

Wtf is the fuss? Height restrictions are one of the most common forms of land-use regulation known to man.

No, this one is not religion-neutral -- but then, Switzerland doesn't have a First Amendment. On the contrary, it specifically designates each of its cantons "Protestant" (most of them) or "Catholic" (fewer, but man, they're really Catholic). None is designated "Muslim," which I guess in time will itself become defined as a human rights violation, but in the meantime, kwitcherbitchin.

More places in Europe -- especially Rome, ahem ahem -- should have done this long ago.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:59 PM

 
Pager Messages Sent During WTC Attacks Posted Online
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:55 PM

 
Headline Win, from Catholic News Agency: Pope and Anglican Primate meet for 20 minutes, say dialogue will continue
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:11 AM

 
Elsewhere in the Journal, the indispensible Reuel Marc Gerecht writes:

A concern for not giving offense to Muslims would never prevent the French internal-security service, the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST), which deploys a large number of Muslim officers, from aggressively trying to pre-empt terrorism. As Maj. Hasan's case shows, this is not true in the United States. The American military and especially the Federal Bureau of Investigation were in great part inattentive because they were too sensitive.

The rest
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:37 PM

 
Top Wall Street Journal headline today: Health Haggling Heats Up. Murdoch much?
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:28 PM

 
'Obama Pride' Official Starts 'Church Outing' Website to Expose (or Smear) Catholic Priests

The Church in D.C. has opposed the legalization of same-sex "marriage" there, you see, so it's drawn down the wrath.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:41 PM

 
Russian Priest Gunned Down in Church

A Russian Orthodox priest known for his missionary work among Muslims was gunned down in his Moscow church, Russian officials said Friday.

posted by Cacciaguida at 7:53 PM

 
Miley Cyrus slips "you're gay:" does she deserve a break? I don't know. Are you gay?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:44 PM

 
When a group of key officials gathered in the spring of 2008 for their monthly meeting in a Bethesda, Md., office, one of the leading — and most perplexing — items on their agenda was: What should we do about Hasan?…
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:51 AM

 

Fort Hood's 9/11

By RALPH PETERS

Last Updated: 2:50 PM, November 6, 2009

Posted: 1:36 PM, November 6, 2009

On Thursday afternoon, a radicalized Muslim US Army officer shouting "Allahu Akbar!" committed the worst act of terror on American soil since 9/11. And no one wants to call it an act of terror or associate it with Islam.

What cowards we are. Political correctness killed those patriotic Americans at Ft. Hood as surely as the Islamist gunman did. And the media treat it like a case of non-denominational shoplifting.

This was a terrorist act. When an extremist plans and executes a murderous plot against our unarmed soldiers to protest our efforts to counter Islamist fanatics, it’s an act of terror. Period.

When the terrorist posts anti-American hate-speech on the Web; apparently praises suicide bombers and uses his own name; loudly criticizes US policies; argues (as a psychiatrist, no less) with his military patients over the worth of their sacrifices; refuses, in the name of Islam, to be photographed with female colleagues; lists his nationality as "Palestinian" in a Muslim spouse-matching program, and parades around central Texas in a fundamentalist playsuit — well, it only seems fair to call this terrorist an "Islamist terrorist."

But the president won’t. Despite his promise to get to all the facts. Because there’s no such thing as "Islamist terrorism" in ObamaWorld.

And the Army won’t. Because its senior leaders are so sick with political correctness that pandering to America-haters is safer than calling terrorism "terrorism."

And the media won’t. Because they have more interest in the shooter than in our troops — despite their crocodile tears.

Maj. Nadal Malik Hasan planned this terrorist attack and executed it in cold blood. The resulting massacre was the first tragedy. The second was that he wasn’t killed on the spot.

Hasan survived. Now the rest of us will have to foot his massive medical bills. Activist lawyers will get involved, claiming "harassment" drove him temporarily insane. There’ll be no end of trial delays. At best, taxpayer dollars will fund his prison lifestyle for decades to come, since our politically correct Army leadership wouldn’t dare pursue or carry out the death penalty.

Maj. Hasan will be a hero to Islamist terrorists abroad and their sympathizers here. While US Muslim organizations decry his acts publicly, Hasan will be praised privately. And he’ll have the last laugh.

But Hasan isn’t the sole guilty party. The US Army’s unforgivable political correctness is also to blame for the casualties at Ft. Hood.

Given the myriad warning signs, it’s appalling that no action was taken against a man apparently known to praise suicide bombers and openly damn US policy. But no officer in his chain of command, either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or at Ft. Hood, had the guts to take meaningful action against a dysfunctional soldier and an incompetent doctor.

Had Hasan been a Lutheran or a Methodist, he would’ve been gone with the simoon. But officers fear charges of discrimination when faced with misconduct among protected minorities.

Now 12 soldiers and a security guard lie dead. 31 soldiers were wounded, 28 of them seriously. If heads don’t roll in this maggot’s chain of command, the Army will have shamed itself beyond moral redemption.

There’s another important issue, too. How could the Army allow an obviously incompetent and dysfunctional psychiatrist to treat our troubled soldiers returning from war? An Islamist whacko is counseled for arguing with veterans who’ve been assigned to his care? And he’s not removed from duty? What planet does the Army live on?

For the first time since I joined the Army in 1976, I’m ashamed of its dereliction of duty. The chain of command protected a budding terrorist who was waving one red flag after another. Because it was safer for careers than doing something about him.

Get ready for the apologias. We’ve already heard from the terrorist’s family that "he’s a good American." In their world, maybe he is.

But when do we, the American public, knock off the PC nonsense?

A disgruntled Muslim soldier murdered his officers way back in 2003, in Kuwait, on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Recently? An American mullah shoots it out with the feds in Detroit. A Muslim fanatic attacks an Arkansas recruiting station. A Muslim media owner, after playing the peace card, beheads his wife. A Muslim father runs over his daughter because she’s becoming too Westernized.

Muslim terrorist wannabes are busted again and again. And we’re assured that "Islam’s a religion of peace."

I guarantee you that the Obama administration’s non-response to the Ft. Hood attack will mock the memory of our dead.

--------

The above was written by Col. Ralph Peters, USA Ret., for the New York, which holds the copyright thereto.

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:15 PM

 
OK, I wasn't going to say anything about the name and/or religion of the principal Fort Hood shooter. I might have pointed out that these appear to have been coordinated shootings, which is not what typically happens in a "he just snapped" situation, which tend to be solo performances. But nope, I wasn't going to say anything about the main gunman being a Muslim.

Until this, from UK's The Independent:

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Bob Cone said witnesses heard Major Nidal Malik Hasan cry "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is great" - before opening fire at the Fort Hood complex.

EDITED TO ADD: Newsmax (credible? You tell me) adds:

His name appears on radical Internet postings. A fellow officer says he fought his deployment to Iraq and argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars. He required counseling as a medical student because of problems with patients.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:28 PM

 
Influenza cure (via tasteful blog An Affordable Wardrobe)
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:05 AM

 
"Right Wins a Battle": Up in NY's far-north 23rd Congressional District, left vacant by long-time pro-life Republican James McHugh's agreement to become Secretary of the Army, and where local Republicans chose left-0f-Obama state Senator Dede Scozzafava as the GOP candidate to fill the seat in a special election next week, some dramatic news: it appears that Scozzafava has now dropped out, leaving the way clear for regular Republican voters to support Doug Hoffman, who was already mounting a strong campaign on the Conservative Party line.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:40 PM

 


Cardinal Peter Turkson, Bishop of Ghana


Phil Lawler says "Cardinal Turkson: one to watch." In the good sense, that is. (I mean, Cardinal Kasper is "one to watch" too -- with a listening device and a butterfly net.) And John Allen says "Ghanaian cardinal destined to be an ecclesiastical star."

God grant Pope Benedict many years -- fifteen more wouldn't be too much to ask -- but a Next Pope is gonna happen sometime, and it may as well be a dynamically orthodox African! (And no, Arinze is way too old, and besides, while he was for counter-reforming the O.F., I don't get the impression he ever gave two hoots about the E.F.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:04 PM

 
An American Eastern Orthodox writer objects to the current Ecumenical Patriarch's equivocal stance on abortion. "Equivocal" is the charitable way to put it; "pro-choice" might be more accurate.
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:21 PM

 

see more Epic Fails
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:36 PM

 
Vatican in Bold Bid to Attract Anglicans!

Ignatius Insight explains the "personal ordinariate" concept. Apparently this will be "like the military vicariates" (and therefore not -- in case anyone was wondering -- the second personal prelature).

Commentary: Fr. Dwight Longenecker (ex-Ang); Damien Thompson, of The Daily Telegraph: Pope Opens Gates of Rome to Disaffected Anglicans; The Times (London): Anglican clergy in London and Yorkshire queuing up. John Allen catches Cardinal Kasper saying, pre-announcement, "We are not fishing in the Anglican lake." Nice being in the loop, isn't it, Friendly Ghost? The "bishop" of something called ANiC (Anglican Network in Canada; no, I haven't heard of it either) says: "I need not become a Roman Catholic to be a Catholic Christian. As an Anglican, I am a Catholic Christian." And I'm a tree; have fun. Fr. Z. posts, and comments on, the estimable ex-Anglican Fr. Rutler's commentary.

Robert Moynihan, fellow Yale grad student and indefatigable Inside the Vatican editor, explains it all, tempting your appetite with:

Rome is hoping to reunite with all those elements of the Anglican Church which still feel a deep connection with Rome and with the Catholic faith -- and is willing to take considerable pains to make those Anglicans feel comfortable when they "come over to Rome."

That is what is happening.

And quite a few people don't want that to happen....

And finally, an editorial page writer in Kansas City:

Seems as though it may be just as likely that the move to pack the Catholic church with even more conservatives just might send more liberal members of the flock looking for the nearest Episcopal sanctuary.

Ya think?
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:40 PM

 
Latest SSPX non-news: iPope still iNtransigent. I still say the Holy Father is way too patient with these people (though obviously some of the fruits of the effort have been worthwhile, Summorum Pontificium-wise). Wake me whenever.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:02 PM

 
CAIR (you know who they are) placing interns to spy in Hill offices?
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:54 PM

 
Notre Dame student-activity fund dispenses $$ for students to participate in DC gay rights march. "They haven't always been supportive of us in the past, but we're thrilled."
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:58 PM

 
Phantom sequel? I'm not optimistic. Please, Lord L.W., prove me wrong. (And please, Your Majesty, ixnay these life peerages for figures from the entertainment world: knighthoods are quite enough, and "Sir Andrew" was much more fitting that "Lord Lloyd Webber.")
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:23 AM

 


Forgetting? I'm not forgetting. You forgetting?
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:16 AM

 
Oh great: now Bible-carriers and trinitarian believers get added to the terrorist profile....
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:15 PM

 
Also on Sept. 25 (see post immediately infra): Alasdair MacIntyre will lecture at CUA on the topic "Ends and Endings."
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:50 PM

 
Gregorian "chant camp" (as we say in my family) at the JPII Center in Washington. Suitable for beginners. Closing event is Solemn High Mass, Extraordinary Form, with chant, celebrated by Fr. McAfee. $110. Registration deadline is Sept. 14.

Sponsoring organization is the Church Music Association of America, which also offers plainsong settings for the New ICEL translation of the Mass ordinary.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:52 PM

 
Upcoming changes in the English version of the Ordinary Form -- almost too good to be true...!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:21 PM

 
Daniel Hannan, MEP, rising Conservative (UK) star so outspoken, he sometimes annoys party leader and presumptive next PM David Cameron, writes from summer holiday: The Middle Ages were far from dark. Eh now, Cacciaguida, he always say....
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:46 AM

 


Robert Novak, 1931-2009

Hard-hitting conservative reporter and columnist, also Catholic convert.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:51 PM

 
Netherlands: Minister for Youth and Families attends pro-life/pro-marriage/pro-natalist conference; gets slammed for "legitimizing" a "right-wing religious gathering."

Is there any gratitude? Then Rouvoet for EU President, if we have to have one.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:31 PM

 
Santorum dips toes in 2012 Iowa waters

Add former Sen. Rick Santorum to the list of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates.

POLITICO has learned Santorum will visit first-in-the-nation Iowa this fall for a series of appearances before the sort of conservative activists who dominate the state GOP’s key presidential caucuses....

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:12 PM

 
Media are overplaying the "Holocaust denial flap" angle, naturally -- but it is one of the angles to the story, and, on the whole, I think it's a good idea to bring the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as the Holy Father has now done.

For one thing, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, though a devoted and energetic friend of the re-mainstreaming of the Extraordinary Form, was also a little bit like a 13-year-old boy with a laser-blaster. More than once he articulated the status of SSPX-adherents as more legit than it actually is, and if he wasn't actually responsible for the under-vetted action in re Williamson (the fact that no one in the Curia of the rank of archbishop or higher is aware of Google, or else thinks it's a number, probably had more to do with it), he sure didn't do backflips of regret over it.

Also he's 80. Five years past retirement age.

The CDF under Cardinal Levada has been doing a good job (contrary to some people's fears when this, Pope Benedict's first appointment, was made). Time to let CDF supervise PCED.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:02 PM

 
USA Today says: Top Republicans puzzled by Palin's abrupt resignation.

You know somethng? Top Republicans puzzle easily.

Besides that, the article simply doesn't back up its hedder. It devotes its second and third grafs to Sen. Chuck Grassley -- who has been puzzling top Republicans since he first took his Senate seat in 1979. After that, it cites various Republicans who are backing Palin up and seeking her out as a campaigner.

Only at the end does the piece find three Republicans whom it can quote as something other than Palin backers. Only one of them -- Karl Rove -- is credible, as speaking from a detached point of view (he hasn't been hired by any other candidate yet, has he?) The other two are Mike Huckabee, Palin's obvious bitter rival for the Evangelical vote, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a scratch-your-eyes-out Palin-hater ever since Palin beat Murkowski's daddy in a gubernatorial primary.

But of course, we sophisticates all know to laugh when Sarah blames the media....
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:38 AM

 
Great Catholic conspiracies maybe you missed, from Shrine of the Holy Whapping:

I've always had a soft spot for tacky Church consiracy novels, what I call "Cathsploitation." For once, the Church gets to be secretive, majestic, powerful, arcane, and something other than felt banners and Marty Haugen....

And so on, proceeding to a list of suggested overlooked conspiracies. Highly recommended!
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:59 PM

 
These Eastern Orthodox, man -- there's no talking to them. All I did was say to this one Oriental Schismatic priest online -- and he was, like, totally patronizing me: assuming, since I had been writing candidly about weaknesses I perceived on my own side as well on his, that what I wanted most in the world was for some kindly O.S. priest with a twelve-foot beard to take me under his wing and explain the "problems" with the Filioque to me. He even suggested the Church should change its creed -- "again"!

Well I mean really. All I did was point out that we don't change our creeds to suit factious sectaries animated by the schismatic spirit of Photius and Cerularius -- we don't, right? -- and they start going all Rikios Rikardos on me! What can you do with such people?!

A few months ago I asked my spiritual director: who's doing for Eastern Orthodoxy what Catholic Answers, Envoy, et al are doing for Protestant Fundamentalism? He said -- no one is, b/c we're cultivating good relations with the E.Os.

That won't do. Yes, I know there are high-level ecumenical talks and events, and even the occasional minor breakthrough. But at street level, Easterners -- many of whom are Protestant Fundamentists, only now they've got a few icons in their pockets (seriously: an ex-Prot E.O. I once met, a blazing anti-Catholic bigot, told me he liked Orthodoxy b/c it's "Fundamentalism with pictures") -- are out there sheep-stealing just as hard as Jack Chick, Christians Evangelizing Catholics, and all the other folks that Karl Keating et al, God bless them, have done so much to teach us about and arm us against.

So we need an Eastern-directed Catholic Answers. "Envoy to Constantinople." "Focus on the Photius." "Sail Beyond the Sunset." "When You Care Enough to Send the Very West." "1204 'n' More." I don't now, you pick the name. But somebody's got to do it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:37 AM

 
DOJ seeks to dismiss Geronimo descendants' lawsuit against Yale

...even though, as the article notes, Skull and Bones (which allegedly filched some of G's remains to decorate its clubhouse) is "not affiliated with the university."

Now that's interesting. The Pythagorean Brotherhood is no more "affiliated with the university" than Skull & Bones is, yet somehow, if we had bits of a dead Indian lying around (not to mention dung or the M4 Motorway), I don't think either Yale or the U.S. government would be as solicitous.

Ah, but that is because we've had just a few decades less in which to infiltrate Yale and the U.S. government....
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:23 AM

 
Vatican: Lefebvrists Exercise No "Legitimate Ministry." (Link now fixed. Also permalinked in margin as "SSPX suxx.")
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:00 PM

 
WSJ announces: Barbarians in Bankruptcy Court. As an old medievalist, this really got me thinking.

Svend the Spent
Skald the Skint
Attila the Munny
Broke Burgundians
Alemanni outta money
Clovis, King without Francs
Visa-Goths
Hedge funds? No, hedge rows
No-mun invasion
Magyar-card
Citicorpinopolis
GMosticism
Viking Voyage Investments
Too-Late Antiquity
Bankrupcy Code of Justinian
All Rhine, no rhino
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:56 PM

 
Jesuit University of San Francisco President Defends Condom Use for Virus Prevention Yep, during flu season just place securely over nose and mouth and breathe normally....
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:42 PM

 
Palin versus Letterman

One of the few things our sick society is still appropriately uptight about is sex across the age line (currently set at 18), and even jokes about same.

Now, there's plenty of room to ask whether Letterman was over the line or not when he made that off-color Alex Rodriguez joke involving the Palin daughter whom he may have thought was 18-year-old single mom Bristol. Turns out, though, it was actually 14-year-old very-much-non-mom Willow.

Oops.

No Number Three: Writer sending out resumes. But what about Dave?
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:56 PM

 
SkyNews: French security agency links radical Muslim names to AF447

CounterterrorismBlog: Hack-jet: airborne cyberterrorism in a networked world?

A systemic software corruption may account for the mysterious absence of a Mayday call - the communications system may have been offline. Designing airport and aviation security to keep lethal code off civilian aircraft would in the short-term, be beyond any government civil security regime.

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:08 PM

 
UK Europe elections:

Good news: Labour Party humiliated, place third in popular vote behind Conservaties -- and anti-EU fringe party UKIP.

Bad news: even fringier, racist BNP picks up one, maybe two EU Parliament seats. Voter turnout is low. Apathy is dangerous, as anti-BNP Tweaters are pointing out.

As John Redwood points out: when British voters can focus on the Euro-federalism issue (and, one must add, can be motivated to vote), they vote overwhelmingly against further rule from Brussels.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:04 AM

 
From London: imminent Cabinet re-shuffle, announced through embarrassing leaks.

But the only re-shuffle the electorate is interested in is one that moves Labour from "Government" over to "Opposition." Actually, even that might be stroke of luck for the Labour Party, as one recent poll has it trailing the Liberal Democrats.

Note that one suspected leakeuse is Hazel Blears, a Blairite widely thought to have been the model for Dolores Umbridge. (J.K. likes, and Hazel hates, Gordon Brown.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:35 PM

 
Tiller the Killer killed. NEMESIS.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:56 PM

 
Robby George v. Doug Kmiec

At 5 p.m. this afternoon, American Papist will be liveblogging a debate between noted natural law champion Prof. Robert George and noted apostate Prof. Douglas Kmiec, moderated by Harvard Law prof, former U.S. Vatican Ambassador, and noted saint-in-the-making Mary Ann Glendon.

The topic is "The Obama Administration and the Sanctity of Human Life." Since there's no verb in there, I'll assume the implication is "Two great tastes that go great together," with Kmiec in the "aff" and George in the "neg."
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:21 PM

 
Here, a pro-abortion blogger endorses the Sotomayor nomination with reservations. But it's the comments that are really wild....
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:43 PM

 
Today's news, very briefly: North Korea detonates first Hispanic gay marriage.

Been busy; back with more soon.
posted by Cacciaguida at 12:46 PM

 

Queen's Trinity Cross honour deemed unlawful by Privy Council

An honour established by the Queen has been declared unlawful after Muslims and Hindus complained that its Christian name and cross insignia were offensive.

posted by Cacciaguida at 5:51 PM

 
JACK KEMP, 1935-2009. Footballer, congressman, pro-lifer, tax-cutter, idea-politician, presidential hopeful who achieved more than some presidents do.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:01 AM

 
Gordon Brown has lost it, say ministers
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:17 PM

 
Specter: I did warn you. (Ignore Emperor and scroll down to April 22, 2004.) Well, Pat Toomey's on the move again....
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:10 PM

 
GLENDON!
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:27 PM

 
New Archbishop of St. Louis is Robert J. Carlson, who did so much as Bp. of Saginaw to clean up after the egregious (modern sense, not the sense in which the e.f. liturgy calls today's saint, Anselm, "doctor egregius") "Ken" Untener.

Pope Benedict's bishop-picking operation continues to prove more of a science and less of an art!
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:25 AM

 
The Economist on England's Archbishop Nichols: Time for Bruiser
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:06 PM

 
In New York, Archbisop Dolan installed today. From the New York Post:

Archbishop Timothy Dolan today promised to oppose Gov. Paterson's same-sex marriage [bill], just one day before it will hit the floor of the Legislature.

"You can bet I would be active and present and, I hope, articulate in this particular position," Dolan told reporters.

The question - one of many the new archbishop took from reporters at his first news conference in Midtown - came as state lawmakers prepared to begin debating the controversial issue.

Paterson to Push Gay Marriage Bill

"The topic you raise - other topics that are controversial that the church has a message to give - you'll find that I don't shy away from those things and I wouldn't sidestep them," said Dolan.

The new archbishop - who will be installed during a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral later today that will feature Mayor Bloomberg - spoke of the need for the church to embrace immigrants and to continue the process of reform that began after the sexual-abuse scandals that rocked the church a few years ago.

"The most sacred responsibility that a bishop has is to pass on the faith that remains changeless and has for 2,000 years," he said. "So in substance, in the quality, no, I couldn't change things if I wanted, because they're not mine to change."

posted by Cacciaguida at 2:32 PM

 
Vatican diplomats have quietly blocked several proposed U.S. ambassadors to the Holy See with pro-abort views, the latest being Caroline Kennedy.

First a Senate appointment, now this. There's a show-biz expression for the fix Caroline is in: she "can't get arrested."
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:13 PM

 
Pirates Killed, Captain Saved -- w00t!!

There is a tradition received from Roman law into the early modern yet Christian-influenced tradition of Grotuis and Vattel, a tradition towards which we should only with the greatest caution indulge a sense of superiority, that regarded pirates -- because of the self-expulsion from the civilized human community that knows the rule of law -- as latrunculi (a contemptuous diminutive of "thieves"), hostis humani generis (enemies of the human race), and eligible for summary execution.

The sagacious Prof. Mackubin Owens explains here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:08 PM

 
From Pope Easter homily:

The resurrection, then, is not a theory, but a historical reality revealed by the man Jesus Christ by means of his "Passover", his "passage", that has opened a "new way" between heaven and earth (cf. Heb 10:20). It is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but it is a singular and unrepeatable event: Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, who at dusk on Friday was taken down from the Cross and buried, has victoriously left the tomb....

"...it is the answer to the recurring question of the sceptics, that we also find in the book of Ecclesiastes: "Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’?" (Ec 1:10). We answer, yes: on Easter morning, everything was renewed. "Mors et vita, duello conflixere mirando: dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus – Death and life have come face to face in a tremendous duel: the Lord of life was dead, but now he lives triumphant." This is what is new! A newness that changes the lives of those who accept it, as in the case of the saints....

posted by Cacciaguida at 11:03 PM

 
"Twitter in Hell"

The exercise “Twitter in Hell” was handed to some lucky seniors at University Laboratory High School at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, after reading the classic tome. Their mission? To write 140-character tweets describing each level in hell as if they were Dante writing to his beloved Beatrice.

posted by Cacciaguida at 2:34 PM

 
Consciensce clause issue

A website that helps you participate in the notice-and-comment process on Obama's rescission of the conscience clause protecting the rights of pro-life medical professionals: http://www.adoctorsright.com/.

Deadline for comments is tomorrow (April 9). The site sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, and kudos to them for it.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:46 AM

 
Toomey vs. Specter: the saga continues
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:28 PM

 
Archbishop Vincent Nichols will be the new Archbishop of Westminster, UK. Damian Thompson, the Daily Torygraph's Catholic blogger and in-house Tridhead, who is hard to please, is for the most part -- quite pleased. The worst choice would have been Bishop Arthur Roche (as Damian made clear when he posted, mere days ago, that he thought Roche had it in the bag). The best would have been the other Nichols, Fr. Adrian Nichols, OP, but -- dream on.

As Thompson cogently remarks of V. Nichols in the comment section: "[T]he people who have wrecked the Church in this country [i.e. Britain] didn't want him to get the job."

P.S. (1) I am not Damian Thompson. If I had my own blog at The Daily Telegraph, would I write this? (2) I don't think whatever Damian Thompson tells me to think. I just find that I never disagree with him, and that he says things the way I wish I had said them. (Anglo just called: it wants its philia back.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:22 PM

 
Compared to W, new Prez's press operation is unprofessional and addicted to secrecy. Thanks to them, American TV viewers saw a day-full of violent protestors in London, instead of a day-full of a U.S. President doing presidential stuff. (Ida know, maybe that's political gold....)
posted by Cacciaguida at 5:16 PM

 
Vatican press spokesman to resign following PR disasters, say reports

No shit, Sherlock.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:59 AM

 
Anglican creed -- heh!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:50 AM

 
Christian Science Monitor op-ed: The Coming Evangelical Collapse. Of note:

Two of the beneficiaries will be the Roman Catholic and Orthodox communions. Evangelicals have been entering these churches in recent decades and that trend will continue, with more efforts aimed at the "conversion" of Evangelicals to the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

posted by Cacciaguida at 6:34 PM

 
Mets' new Citi Field makes debut, hosting college game. Note external resemblance to Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field. Mets are the new Dodgers. Always were.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:40 PM

 
Gingrich to be received into Church at Easter. Previous marriages? Archdiocese of Washington spokeswoman says Gingrich is "in proper standing with the Catholic Church" and "any obstacles to joining the Church have been resolved."
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:22 PM

 
From an interview with the author of Stuff White People Like:

Q. What does going to law school represent?
A. It's what you do when you finish with your liberal arts degree, and you start to panic about realizing that the careers available for someone who knows a lot about Proust are very limited, and you realize that you still want money.

posted by Cacciaguida at 2:50 PM

 
Sorry I didn't post about the Feast of St. Joseph. I was on the road, celebrating the Feast of St. Joseph.

All right now:

Q. Could anything make me think the Pope is wrong about condoms and Africa?
A. How about if Harvard says he's right?

Seriously, folks -- via K-Lo at NRO: Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, says “The pope is correct, or put it a better way, the best evidence we have supports the pope’s comments."

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:12 PM

 
Times of London:

My imam father came after me with an axe: Hannah Shah had been raped by her father and faced a forced marriage. She fled, became a Christian and now fears for her life

We are all too familiar with the persecution of Christians in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Yet sitting in front of me is a British woman whose life has been threatened in this country solely because she is a Christian....

And this in England.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:23 PM

 
Bogomils (and Byzantines, Bulgarians, Pechenegs, Magyars, etc.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:54 PM

 
Obama's Dept of Veterans' Affairs: We won't pay for service-related medical treatment

The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.

Moral and strategic tone-deafness? Preparing us for a draft? Wtf?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:22 PM

 
Look closely ("Catholic Blogs") and you'll notice a long-time omission repaired: The Anchoress is now linked here.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:22 PM

 
Note from yesterday's liturgy, being Friday of Ember Week in Lent (Extraordinary Form): The Communion prayer, based on Ps. 6:11, was:

Erubescant, et conturbentur omnes inimici mei: avertantur retrorsum, et erubescant valde velociter.

Let all my enemies be ashamed [lit. blush, get red] and be very much troubled: let them return back and be ashamed, especially the velociraptors.

Clearly, the Old Mass was velociraptor-aware.
posted by Cacciaguida at 9:53 PM

 
The auxiliary-bishop-designate of Linz whom I labelled "kickass" (for the record, that's praise) back on Feb. 2, has been bullied into pretending not to want the job, and, it seems, the Holy Father has decided the best course is the extremely rare one of granting a dispensation from acceptance of an episcopal appointment. Rorate Caeli reports here.

There are some things not to like about Fr. Gerhard Wagner (he's not exactly a Harry Potter fan, for one thing), but I stand by my description of him as kickass (and by my characterization of this as praise), and I worry that the Holy Father has been railoaded. The Church's enemies are crowing.

And why not? Der Fall Wagner is red meat to the sharks. Any episcopal appointment widely opposed by the local clergy will now generate "resolutions" and "protests" by said clergy. The Holy Father will have to make up his mind in advance, together with the appointee, that they are going to ride it out and assert their legitimate authority. Otherwise, the Church's effective constitution will have changed to something like the way U.S. Presidents (Republican ones, anyway) appoint Supreme Court Justices: subject to "confirmation" by a diocesan "Senate," thus forcing the Pope to look for "stealth" nominees, or worse yet, genuinely "moderate" ones.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:03 PM

 
Mark your calendars:

* April 17 is Velociraptor Awareness Day (Facebook registration req'd -- but you're all on Facebook, aren't you?)

* May 3-9 is National Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week. So if you've raptor-proofed your home and office but are still depressed as shit or edge-of-ralphing anxious, check it out.

Remember, this vicious predator can be prevented. And so can velociraptors.
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:00 AM

 
New Archbishop of New York is present Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan.

Dolan was sent into Milwaukee to clean up after Rembert Weakland when the latter was as close to fired as a bishop can get. As I recall, Dolan's record in Milwaukee, though not a 100% turnaround, has been good.

The Catholic League has sent out a press release of delight.

John Allen's typically informative one-hand-other-hand piece is here.

I just watched Dolan's press conference, and he handles the media brilliantly. Asked about declining numbers of faithful in the Church (allow me to piece this together fresh from memory), he replied:

Well, we bishops do have to be realistic about that. I don't know if you saw the recent Pew study -- all religions, not just the Catholic Church. But yes, we have to be realistic. Now, there's also growth, thanks be to God; the Cardinal was telling me about the RCIA programs, the new parishes, the new schools that have to be built here in the Archdiocese. But yes, there are problems, and there have been -- it's the Church historian in me -- there've been problems going back to the age of the Acts of the Apostles, since right after Our Lord went back to rejoin His Heavenly Father. It's something all bishops are concerned about.

Sounds like his mind runs on the right track.

Now, then -- a vacancy in Milwaukee. Say, isn't that where Bruskewitz is from, before he was made a bishop and sent to Lincoln, NE? Who better to complete the post-Weakland turnaround? As for Lincoln, surely one of its own senior priests is ready to take over as bishop?
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:28 AM

 
Heath wins!
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:51 PM

 
GM eliminating brands

New nameplates for GM:

Cadiac
Bel-Out (anyone remember the Chevy Bel-Air?)
Vlad the Impala
Pluto (Saturn's not a car any more)
Sob
Bummer
Ruick
Algorado
Obamsmobile
Pelosiac
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:10 AM

 
Foucault's Spendulus passes with "buy American" clauses intact -- trade war looms -- get ready for recession to become depression.
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:56 PM

 
Exception to Anti-NYT Rule Day: I must say, they've done a rather good article on the resurgence of indulgences. Given numerous opportunities to misunderstand the issue and pass along its misunderstanding to its readers, as it usually does in Catholic matters, the Times here takes very few of them. Read this:

“Why are we bringing it back?” asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. “Because there is sin in the world.”

Like the Latin Mass and meatless Fridays, the indulgence was one of the traditions decoupled from mainstream Catholic practice in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council, the gathering of bishops that set a new tone of simplicity and informality for the church. Its revival has been viewed as part of a conservative resurgence that has brought some quiet changes and some highly controversial ones, like Pope Benedict XVI’s recent decision to lift the excommunications of four schismatic bishops who reject the council’s reforms."

Decoupled from mainstream Catholic practice" -- that's a good periphrasis for the more predictable, and utterly inaccurate, "suppressed." Also, the whole article gives a nice sense of "the old stuff's comin' back, and despite bumps in the road, there's nothin' you can do about it."

I also note that the Archdiocese of Manhattan's only indulgence church just happens to be the parish church of the Metropolitan Opera! (St. Paul's also has fantastic cathedral-like acoustics, for which reason it has often been chosen as recording site for medieval music groups.)
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:44 PM

 
Williamson sacked as seminary rector -- maybe.
posted by Cacciaguida at 7:15 PM

 
The case of Angela Merkel, via Rome's Il Giornale:

MERKEL: Pope needs to clarify.
VATICAN: He already has.
CACCIAGUIDA (actually, this bit is not in Il Giornale): Mme. Bundeskanzler, for at least 23 years during the incumbency of the criminal East German Communist regime, while it was Lives-of-Others-ing away, you were happily studying physics and enjoying the patronage of that state. So please go make sauermagen with your morality lessons. Oh and do lose the election, so that when we once again have a guy as Bundeskanzler, I can tell him what I really think when he mouths off at the Pope. Gutdankwiedsehn.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:44 PM

 
Williamson back-pedals a teeny, tiny bit, on his own blog. Yes, he has one. You'll get no link to it from me, on principle, but the operative text of his post reads:

Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.

For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:

"Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you."

Interesting, the way he deploys the Jonah text. If I were the Holy Father I would totally take him up on it. Save the whales -- feed them rad-trad sushi!
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:36 PM

 
RS McCain on the fall of Culture11. Heh.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:44 PM

 
Cardinal O'Malley explains what the Holy Father is doing re the SSPX bishops. Follow the link to his blog by all means, but this one is good enough, and important enough, for me to republish whole. I hope Cardinal O'Malley won't mind: I think he rather hopes it will get around.

Hello to you all!

The Vatican announced this week that the Holy Father has lifted the excommunications of four bishops of the Society of St. Pius X. I was pleased with the news which shows, once again, the Holy Father’s concern for unity and reconciliation in the Church.

In 1988 Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was critical of some elements of the Second Vatican Council, ordained four bishops without the approval of the Holy Father, incurring in automatic excommunication on himself and the four bishops he ordained.

This action follows the publication of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum a year and a half ago, in which the Holy Father lifted previous restrictions on the celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Missal, commonly known as the Tridentine Mass.

Just before the publication of the Apostolic Letter, I was privileged to be a part of a meeting of cardinals and bishops with the Holy Father in which he expressed his hope that his action would help convince those disaffected Catholics to return to full union with the Catholic Church.

So, his outreach to the communities who follow these bishops is just one more manifestation of his ardent desire to bring these people (which some estimate to be as many as 1.5 million) back into the fold. We know that these are generally people who practice their faith and try to live a Christian life seriously but, unfortunately, I believe that they have been misled by their leadership.

Of course, lifting the excommunications was a first step; it does not regularize these bishops or the Society of St. Pius X, but it opens the way for a dialogue. This step was in response to a letter in which they professed their desire for full participation in the life of the Church.

It was tragic that one of the four bishops, Bishop Richard Williamson, had made outrageous statements about the Holocaust and about the September 11 attacks on the United States. It certainly raises questions as to the caliber of the leadership that the Society has. Additionally, as terrible as the comments were, it underscores the importance for the Holy Father to have increasing influence over those communities.

We are very sorry that the people in the Jewish community have been so pained and outraged by Bishop Williamson’s statements. I think the Holy Father’s statements and those of Cardinal Walter Kasper, chairman of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, have been very clear to dissociate the Catholic Church from those kinds of sentiments. I was pleased that the head of the Society of St. Pius X, Bishop Bernard Fellay, also repudiated the statements of Bishop Williamson.

It is very important for us to always remember the Holocaust so that such an atrocity could never take place again. I recall the words of the Holy Father this week: “May the Shoah be for everyone an admonition against oblivion, negation and reductionism, because violence against a single human being is violence against all.”

posted by Cacciaguida at 1:07 PM

 
Personal prelature for traditional Anglicans? Sorry, old boy, won't work.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:01 PM

 
Kickass new bishop for wayward diocese of Linz, Austria
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:57 PM

 
Eve writes (inter alia):

You could say that a work of art which requires the viewer to be Catholic already is a smaller work of art than one which commands a more universal audience.

But I wouldn't. I would say that a work of art that shows the viewer that he's already Catholic without knowing it -- because otherwise, he couldn't appreciate the work of art, yet he plainly does -- is plainly great.

Eve writes about a pre-conversion trip to Rome, and finding it very alien. I too visited Rome pre-conversion, and found it to be home. This was the more remarkable, because the same trip took in England, which also (in a very different way) felt very home-y -- only I was expecting it too. Rome's homelikeness took me by surprise.
posted by Cacciaguida at 6:02 PM

 
David Cameron vowed today that if he was elected Prime Minister he would bring an end to the era of government secrecy over UFOs and extra-terrestrial activity.

Yes, it's time for the British government to tell all it knows about Bishop Williamson....
posted by Cacciaguida at 4:46 PM

 
SSPX's Fellay forbids Williamson to speak on historical or political questions, dissociates SSPX from Williamson's views, asks Holy Father to "forgive" Williamson. Those of you who said Williamson would find a way to get himself re-excommunicated -- that may be the solution.
posted by Cacciaguida at 2:28 PM

 
Vatican decree lifts excommunication on SSPX bishops. As far as I can tell, this means no more than the mutual lifting of excommunications that took place between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras in 1965: neither any longer regards the other as personnally excommunicated, but it does not follow that communion has been reestablished between the ecclesial bodies of which they are the heads. The event of 1965 didn't reunify the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches; the lifting of the Lefebvre excommunications doesn't reintegrate the SSPX into the Catholic Church.

Please correct people whom you hear referring to these whingers -- especially the nutter Williamson -- as being "reinstated." They've been bishops ever since they were (illegally) ordained such, in 1988. So there's nothing to "re"-instate them in. But they aren't being given control of any diocese or dicastery, so they aren't being "instated" in anything. So what's being done? They, personally, are not excommunicated any more, neither more nor less. Hoop de doo.

EDITED TO ADD: Bp. Williamson is already exhibiting arrogance and flippancy in response to what is, in my judgment, the Holy Father's excessive generosity. Fr. Zuhlzdorf has the details.
posted by Cacciaguida at 8:38 PM

 
Vatican to get its own YouTube channel
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:45 PM

 
Is this a great air mishap or what? Land in Hudson, use cushion-seat for flotation, grab cab, see Broadway show, have dinner at Sardi's!
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:58 PM

 
It's an ill wind that blows nobody good: Planned Parenthood forced to lay off 20% of staff due to Madoff losses.
posted by Cacciaguida at 10:56 PM

 
Fr. Neuhaus, RIP

From Lutheran civil-rights activist to pro-life Catholic convert and priest -- always seeing each step as a fulfillment of the one before it.

Should a priest have spent so much time in specifically intellectual leadership, as distinct from pastoral, as Father did with the magazine he founded, First Things? Does First Things fulfill a worthwhile role by being broadly "traditional religious" rather than specifically Catholic?

Questions that have been asked. But no one who watched him unload a sharp and profound anti-abortion cannonade on a mostly secular-libertarian audience, as I once did, could doubt that he was an asset in the "culture wars." As for First Things, it is lonely testimony to the proposition that religious conservatives can produce a high-level intellectual review. That alone is a valuable life's work, and Father did more than that.
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:34 AM

 
SF church vandalism case -- where the vandals are also "protestors" according to the headline

As news editors say, what's the story? Here, it seems, it's not just that a Catholic church was vandalized by gay activists, but that some sort of mistake was made, as if they just got the wrong address. Third graf:

But, the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church on Diamond Street is gay-friendly. Many parishioners voted against Prop 8 and they are upset their church was targeted.

We've already paid, don't you know! We burned the incense in front of the emperor's statue! We signed the contract! Don't we at least get to play with our souls in peace for a few years...?
posted by Cacciaguida at 1:46 PM

 

“Being that the Marine Corps can be sent anywhere in the world with the snap of his fingers, nobody has confidence in this guy as commander in chief,” said one lance corporal who asked not to be identified.

That's not (necessarily) my Jonathan Lee being quoted, but apparently it reflects the views of a lot of military personnel (a strong working majority, if the "pessimistics" and the "uncertains" were to form a coalition).
posted by Cacciaguida at 11:00 PM

 
Happy Feast of the Mother of God, and Merry Chrisbris!
posted by Cacciaguida at 3:59 PM