Nancy Pelosi: Hypocrit of the House

I'm both horrified and gratified. Horrified that Nancy Pelosi made such a stupid remark to Tom Brokaw on August 24th's Meet the PressI. I don't really need to to into the details, as it's been played repeatedly, and discussed repeatedly.

But I'm also gratified that it happened, for selfish reasons.

1. I was right in a post I made to this blog during the Pope's visit to the U.S. when I said that the behavior of Catholic politicians was tantamount to Henry VIII demanding that the Church bow to him. Catholic politicians are now stating "Church doctrine," which is not Church doctrine at all (in the first place), and is not their purview (in the second place).

2. The dispute is out in the open. Prior to this, most people who don't know what the Church teaches could be led astray with comments like Pelosi's.

3. The Bishops have actually had the strength of character and faith to actually confront her!

Now I only hope that they will go further and outright condemn this kind of c***.

Actually, I don't argue the abortion case on the strength of the human being having a "soul." I argue it on the strength that human beings are exceptional, self-aware creatures, and if we start categorizing them as "wanted" or "unwanted," how far are we from Nazi Germany?

I don't support the death penalty, either, but not so much because of the "worthy of life" argument. I think if someone has committed a truly heinous act (killing a little child, for example), they've pretty much made themselves unworthy to be among the rest of us. On the other hand, I don't want to give that kind of power to state. If we let the state decide who has the right to live and who should die... well, Nazi Germany again.

I think there is plenty of argument against abortion without bringing religion into it - and it's probably counter-productive when it is brought in, because then it is too easy for pro-abortion folks to dismiss the position.

Now, Pelosi has a point - the Church I grew up in did counsel us that we all have a free will and a conscience - it was hoped that this was a "Catholic" conscience, which would guide us along Catholic principles. So, if we were starving and had no money, would it be a major sin to take an apple? Probably not - but this would be an area for one's conscience. If I killed my child (at whatever state of development) is not a matter of my conscience deciding the right or wrong of the matter. This is a mortal sin, by any measure, in the Catholic Church.

I stopped practicing the Faith many years ago because I couldn't justify what I was expected to do, and I couldn't live up to it. I felt it would be hypocritcal to attend Mass and the Sacraments if I was not able to at least try to live up to the rest of the program.

Nancy Pelosi should do the same.

A New Catholic Blog

I've decided to create this new blog to give full attention to issue to do with matters catholic and Catholic. The Church had been a huge part of my life growing up, but thanks to Vatican II and more particularly the aftermath, I was disaffected for a long time. Thanks to the unswerving dedication of the SSPX (about which much more to come!), it again is a huge part of my life, Deo gratias!

Italian Lady at a Latin Mass

First Published: Monday, July 21, 2008

This Sunday at Mass I sat next to an elderly woman who was clearly Italian. During some portions of the Mass, she read from an Italian devotions booklet. However, when the congregation read or sang responses (Et cum spiritu tuo, etc.), she joined in, clearly understanding where we were in the Mass.

I write this as a good laugh on all the NO people who insist that "in the bad old days" there were so many "little old ladies" in the pews, reciting their rosaries, and not understanding what was going on in the Mass.

I also write this to reinforce the idea that for someone who does not understand the local language, having Mass in Latin can be a real grace - it can be one place where you will always feel at home, and understand what is happening.

The Multicultural Church

First Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008

I found this on the "New Liturgical Movement" blog. It is about how the traditional Catholic Church's chant and plainsong was so much more multicultural than the new, vernacular, modern, "inclusive" Church. Multicultural in that all members of the Church had the same experience, could speak the same "language," worshiped with the same words, and felt at home in Church wherever they went. The Church transcended cultural differences, it did not pander to them.

The fact is, the Church was founded in Israel under Roman rule. It grew up and flourished under Rome and in Europe. That it spoke Latin, and built churches that reflected European culture was apparently as it was ordained. Jesus did not found his church in the Sahara, or the Orient, or the Americas. But church members were expected to take this church, this experience of the numinous, and spread it to the world - and for better or worse, that included the language, the vestments, the rituals, and the architecture. Well, here, this blogger says it better:

Multiculturalism. The other day I met a priest from Uganda who was visiting the United States for the first time, and the topic quickly turned to music. He sang a Kyrie and I picked up on it, then I sang a Sanctus and he knew that one too. We then turned to propers and sang some of those. It was an instant connection of two completely different worlds. There is no other music that is capable of engendering that type of total global unity. The Catholic Church is a universal Church and we need universal liturgical forms that reflect that.

It is easy to tell the difference between fake multiculturalism and the real thing. The fake kind ends up being patronizing of other cultures, a disguised form of elitist imperialism in which we conjure up what we imagine what the foreign peoples of the world—aggregating their class interests—might desire. The real form deals with reality, and the reality in Catholic music for the world is that chant is the great unifying force. And by the way, this applies to issues of age as well. It is the music that unites the generations.

Nancy Pelosi to Slap the Holy Father!

First Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008

I've been watching - and really enjoying - Showtime's The Tudors series on Sunday nights. We all know that Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic Church, establishing himself as Head of the Church in England. We know that he did this for ostensibly personal reasons - he wanted to divorce and remarry (repeatedly). But there was a climate of religious rebellion in Europe at the time that went far beyond Henry's willful actions.

Watching this series, I am caught up in the intrigues, the politics, and the power plays that lived behind the scenes, both on the side of the Church, and the various nationalities involved in what would later be known as The Protestant Reformation.

And then I happened to read an article this morning about how Nancy Pelosi and other wayward "Catholics" intend to humiliate the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, and the Church, by presenting themselves to receive Holy Communion when he offers Mass in Washington, D.C. Here's the story:

"Benedict's stance on abortion and Communion has been painful for elected officials who inhabit the troubled zone where Catholicism and their political beliefs intersect.

Pelosi was one of 48 Catholic lawmakers — some who support and some who oppose abortion rights — who signed a letter in 2004 complaining about statements by "some members of the Catholic hierarchy."

"If Catholic legislators are scorned and held out for ridicule by Church leaders on the basis of a single issue, the Church will lose strong advocates on a wide range of issues that relate to the core of important Catholic social teaching," they wrote. "Moreover, criticism of us on a matter that is essentially one of personal morality will deter other Catholics from entering politics, and in the long run the Church will suffer." (So in other words, if Catholic legislators are asked to live up to the rules of their religion, they will quit the Church? And if they want to avoid the scorn and ridicule, all they need do is not show up for Holy Communion!)

None of the Catholic lawmakers interviewed Wednesday said they hesitated to attend Thursday's celebration of Mass. This event, they said, is about bigger themes and values, such as hope and compassion."

And it dawned on me that I am watching a power play no less enormous than Henry's when he demanded that the clergy of England swear fealty to him, above their oath of allegiance to the Church. They caved. The question is, what will Benedict do?

The Epistle for This Sunday

First Published: Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Epistle for this Sunday (the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas) brought an idea into focus for me.

The Epistle reads this way: Brethren: As long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the master of all; but he is under guardians and stewards until the time set by his father. So we too, when we were children, were enslaved under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, that he might redeem those who were under teh Law, that we might receive tee adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father." So that he is no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, an heir also through God."

The message made me think of a plot line for a sci-fi story, in which evolution and God's creation were indeed one; God chose a point in the evolution of man to imbue him with his Godlike qualities, and as man has grown and developed his mind and his faculties over time, he is being brought closer and closer to his own divinity.

Well, in fact, it is no sci-fi at all - whether in that way exactly, or in another, whether we were created perfect and fell away, or created imperfect with the job of moving forward, we are here to become better and better in all ways so that one day we can be worthy of the presence of God.

7/7/07

First Published: Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The long-awaited Motu Proprio of Benedict XVI has been released, and I think it is just the beginning of what will likely be a recovery for the Catholic Church.

Bear with me on this: one of my big problems with Liberalism (progressivism) is there is no stopping point. Joseph Bottum put it very well when he said his turn toward Conservatism came because he reached a place (abortion) beyond which he could not go. If you examine most of the arguments for Progressivism, it's clear that there are no stopping points.

If the definition of "marriage" s not a man and a woman creating a family, but is a (lifetime) commitment between two people who love one another, then why not a man and his daughter, a woman and her sister? Why bother to sanction the state at all?

If the definition of human is not the human being at every stage of development from conception to death, but is "worthwhile" or "happy" or "productive" or "able to live on its own," then we can discuss the continued life of old people, retarded people, people who have lost their limbs, Alzheimer's patients.

As usual, the progressives want to open the doors as they see fit, not as the doors are likely to be opened once the limits are removed. Yes to Gay for marriage. No to fathers and daughters. At least for now. Yes to aborting human fetuses,no to routinely offing the wheel-chair bound. For now.

So with the Catholic Church. The idea behind Vatican II was ostensibly to "open the window" and let the bracing air of modernity into an ancient and yes, in some ways, creaky institution. But as Benedict clearly knows, once under way, the changes became their own excuse. The Church, essentially, disappeared. There were no real differences between the post VII Church and most Protestant sects. Argue though they will that there is still "the Real Presence" in the Eucharist, the behavior of the "people of God" at Sunday Mass would suggest that these people thought otherwise: if you really believed that was Jesus in the Host, would you be showing up for Mass looking like you just rolled out of bed? Would you bolt out the door still chewing the Host? If you really believed the Church was God's authority on earth, would you go to Mass at Easter, but then talk in favor of abortion?

It's not easy to be a Catholic. I abandoned the Church following VII, and when I later found a traditional Church and felt as though I wanted to return, I wrestled for a long time with my willingness to try to be at Mass every single Sunday, to go to Confession, to change my open attitudes toward relationships, what movies to see, and so on. It's a commitment, a way of approaching life. And it sounds like Benedict is going to ask that we work a little harder at it than we have been.