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

 
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