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Month: March 2006

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Current Events, Media

Imagine a Community

If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. — Philippians 2:1-2

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God. — Romans 15:5-7

Imagine a community where people are all of one faith. Think of a place where the rules, regulations, and lifestyle of the community support the members of that faith. Consider a town where the only places of worship and the only food available support the morals and ethos of he members of that faith. Try to conceptualize a community where government funding flows in freely to support the community.

You might be thinking of Thomas S. Monaghan’s concept of the City of God in Florida – Ave Maria. You would be wrong. Instread think of the Satmar Chasidim of Kiryas Joel in New York State.

The following from the town’s website is illustrative:

A Model Community

Kiryas Joel is a unique community, without parallel anywhere in the United States. It is perhaps a small piece of America that so many Americans could only dream about: A community without crime, drugs, AIDS, or some of the other calamities plaguing society.

Kiryas Joel is a community where traditional values and the centrality of family are still the guiding principles of community life. It is a place where parents and children participate jointly in the beautiful ritual and customs of Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish life.

To preserve these unadulterated values, Kiryas Joel is a community without television or radio. A few weeklies and other periodicals, published in Yiddish, are sold in the Village.

The community has a number of places of worship where young and old participate in prayer, song, dance and Torah study.

Albeit that only 5% of Kiryas Joel’s residents are college educated, all receive an intense religious education, many even spend several years in post-graduate rabbinical schools after they are married.

Doesn’t look like a college education is required – just faith. You can also check out their Frequently Asked Questions page.

I’ve known people who have had dealings in this town. If you think you, as a goy, could just move in and live a happy Christian life you would be very wrong. Think community pressure. Think an overwhelming majority who vote as one. Think —“ who would sell you property?

Do I think this is wrong —“ absolutely not! I think Tom Monaghan needs to learn from our elder brothers in faith. What he also needs to understand is that these people live and practice their faith. Try shopping there from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. If everything is owned, managed, and run by people of one accord then there is little impetus to move in and upset the apple cart.

Instead of changing his mind about his Florida community —“ go forward Mr. Monaghan. The model has been built, you just have to copy it.

Homilies

Homily for Holy Mass for the Sick with Annointing

My dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, so close to our Lord Jesus in your suffering, listen again to the words of the prophet Isaiah:

There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem.

In Jesus there was no outward beauty. There was nothing in Him that would attract followers. He was the antithesis of today’s bright and beautiful. He didn’t fit in with the world of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes when he walked the earth. So too, He would not fit in with today’s Hollywood elite, glamour models, or jet set.

When we think of Jesus we picture the man portrayed in statues and paintings; strong, beautiful, gentle, and attractive. That’s because we as humans cannot portray Christ’s beauty any other way.

It’s too difficult to portray His beauty for what it is —“ the beauty that comes from union with the Father. The beauty of God. The beauty of truth, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. The beauty that heals not just the outward —“ the body —“ but most importantly heals the soul.

We can see His real beauty when we study the scriptures, especially the Gospels. We can see it when we look at the action of His Holy Church. But alas, some still focus only on what is on the outside.

Listen again to Isaiah:

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed.

Ultimately Jesus’ offering of Himself as the sacrifice, the offering of His body and His death upon the cross, is what has healed us.

His death was our salvation and His resurrection is our promise. You and I as Catholic Christians come here to understand Jesus Christ’s true beauty.

My brothers and sisters,

You share in Christ’s suffering and in His beauty. Your suffering in sickness is your joining in the sacrifice of Christ. You are closest to His heart.

Remember when Jesus told the children to come to Him. When He told His disciples not to hinder them, for to such as these belongs the Kingdom of God?

You are those children.

When we are sick are we not like children? We look to our Father in heaven and to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and the saints. We look to them as we would look to our earthly parents. Daddy, please help me. Father, I am so sad and afraid. Mom, please hold me.

And we ask, please make it alright.

Jesus himself tells us:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.

The Father sees that you are joined to the Son. He knows that your suffering has borne much fruit. You cannot begin to imagine how many miracles your suffering has achieved.

And the Father continues to prune you, making you sleek and beautiful for the sake of the Kingdom. That is the beauty you share with Christ.

He does not make us outwardly beautiful because the outside is only a faí§ade. He makes us beautiful in our very humanity and in the depths of our heart and soul.

He tells us:

I am the vine, you are the branches.

And so my faithful people you are the branches. And Jesus promises you:

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.

So when you come forward, come forward in faith. Offer Him your suffering. Lay it at His feet. Look upon His pierced feet with love, seeing not only the pain of His suffering, but the beauty of God’s truth in that suffering. That, is the truth that saves you.

Amen.

Everything Else

Quiz – How Machiavellian Are You?

As a graduate of a fine Jesuit run institution I should be right up there. Machiavelli had to have been mentioned in almost every class, right along side the perennial mention of Maslow. I write this as I stare up at my copy of Machiavelli on Modern Leadership by Michael A. Ledeen.

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You’re not going to mow over everyone to get ahead… But you’re also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself. You understand how the world works, even when it’s an ugly place. You just don’t get ugly yourself – unless you have to!
Current Events

Ataturk in Rome?

Edward Young at In principio erat Verbum brought this issue to my attention at well.

It appears that someone wants to erect a statute to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Rome (see my earlier post “Bring Back the Fez“).

Mr. Young walks you through the process of signing an on-line Spanish language petition against this atrocity – NO a la Estatua del Genocida “Ataturk” en Roma. (Help Stop Ataturk Statue in Rome) which is located at the International Armenian Network website.

Current Events

12 Year-Old Girl – Suffering for the Faith

Edward Young at In principio erat Verbum brought this story, originally published at WorldNet Daily, back in October 2005 to my attention:

16 Muslims Gang Rape a 12-year-old Christian Girl, and attempt to “persuade” her to convert to their evil cult of death!

When Tabasum regained consciousness she found herself in Bibis house, where three men reportedly including Babar Bibi, raped her.

Tabasum was reportedly told that by Perveen Bibi that she could be “saved” if she embraced Islam and married one of Perveens Muslim brothers.

According to APMA, “On refusing, Sara was beaten badly during captivity and shifted to another house … where five persons raped her. She was repeatedly asked by Perveen and other men to embrace Islam and recite (the) Islamic creed to save herself from the misery. Perveens husband Babar even told her that they (had) killed her brother Suleman, and her mother (had) also embraced Islam. (With that in mind), it would be better for her to become (a) Muslim now, otherwise she could be killed or made (a) ‘prostitute.”

Tabasum refused to renounce her faith and embrace Islam, APMA reported. She was subsequently taken to another house, where she was reportedly assaulted by seven people…

It appears that the attack was precipitated by the fact that Tabasum’s mother had complained because her neighbor, Babar Bibi and his wife, had been running a prostitution ring right next door.

From the mouths of babes – this girl refused to renounce Christ in the midst of the suffering imposed by these devotees of Muhammed. That we should all have such courage.

Current Events, Political

Blue Jean Blues in Belarus

As you might have noticed, I’ve had a few posts on the situation in Belarus, the last outwardly communist and dictatorial state in Europe.

This month, on the 19th, there will be an ‘election’ in Belarus. The election will not be free and will not be fair. If there are protests following the elections I imagine that many of the protesters will be killed. You see, security forces in Belarus many not refuse any order, even if it is unlawful, at least according to a ‘law’ enacted by the current ‘president’ Alexander Lukashenko.

Here is a little bit of background.

From The Hill:

McCotter commits fashion crime in Speaker’s Lobby

It may not be the worst fashion faux pas in the world, but Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) broke the dress code last week by appearing in the Speaker’s Lobby and on the House floor in denim. McCotter is a repeat offender, according to a Capitol employee, as is Rep. Butch Otter (R-Idaho).

…

But McCotter spokesman Bob Jackson maintains that wearing jeans was appropriate considering what else the congressman was doing that day. Jackson explained that McCotter was taking part in a friendly protest called the —Blue Jean Revolution— at the Belarus Embassy near Dupont Circle in support of the pro-Democracy movement in Belarus.

—What happened was he was scheduled to appear at 11 a.m. and then was called for the vote, so he zipped straight over to the vote,— he said. —I know the fashion police probably frowned upon it, but the congressman was expressing support for freedom in Belarus.—

From the NY Times as reprinted by Data —“ The Independent Belarusian Web-site:

Bringing Down Europe’s Last Ex-Soviet Dictator

On March 19, Aleksandr Milinkevich will not be elected the next president of Belarus. He campaigns anyway, but with something else in mind. Through the winter he has traveled from city to city in clattering rented vans, meeting would-be voters in the bleak cold, gathering signatures and speaking about the social, economic and, above all, political neuroses that afflict this small nation at the eastern edge of a new Europe. “I am Aleksandr Milinkevich,” he recently assured a worker outside an auto-parts factory in Borisov, a gritty industrial city northeast of the capital, Minsk. The man seemed genuinely stunned to find this stranger greeting him.

Members of the opposition group Zubr distribute strips of blue jeans, their symbol of resistance.

“It is impossible to win at the elections, because there are no elections,” Milinkevich told me the first time I met him in a dim, three-room apartment in Minsk in October. “Nobody counts the votes.” It was my first realization that a presidential campaign in Belarus, a former republic of the Soviet Union, operates with a logic outside any traditional notion of democracy.

…

Lukashenko is prepared for unrest. Last year he eliminated a legal provision that allowed members of the police force and security services to disobey what they considered an unlawful order. A new law pushed through Parliament late last year makes organizing a public protest – or making statements that discredit the state – punishable by three to five years in prison. Lukashenko’s interior minister recently ordered new measures to increase security before the election. A European diplomat told me that if Milinkevich’s supporters gather in numbers in Minsk to protest an electoral result that is already a foregone conclusion, Lukashenko will not hesitate to disperse them forcefully. “There is no doubt Lukashenko will issue the order,” he said.

…

Zubr’s newest project is to organize protests on the 16th of each month. The date commemorates the night – Sept. 16, 1999 – that Viktor Gonchar, once a deputy prime minister and election commissioner who became a popular opposition leader poised to challenge Lukashenko, disappeared along with a businessman who financed the opposition. On that night the two men went to a banya, the public bathhouse that is a ritual part of Slavic life. They were evidently abducted and probably murdered. The idea is to remind Belarussians of the darker episodes in Lukashenko’s rule.

Please join with me in prayer for those fighting for freedom.

Saints and Martyrs

March 2 – St. Helena (Św. Helena)

Panie Jezu Chryste, który objawiłeś św. Helenie miejsce gdzie krzyż twój był ukryty, aby tym kosztownym skarbem ubogacić kościół święty, użycz nam za jej wstawieniem tej łaski, abyśmy znosząc tu na ziemi krzyże, zasłużyli sobie na więzną nadgrodę w niebie. Amen.

Political

Belarus: Freedom Denied?

Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), Chairman of the United States Helsinki Commission, announced that the Commission will hold a hearing to discuss the complete absence of political freedom in Belarus and the implications this has on its upcoming elections.

Freedom Denied:
Belarus on the Eve of the Elections
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
2:00-4:00 PM
Room 226, Dirksen Senate Office Building

Testifying before the Commission will be:

Representative of the U.S. Government

David J. Kramer, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State

Witnesses from NGOs

Stephen B. Nix, Regional Program Director, Eurasia, International Republican Institute

Rodger Potocki, Senior Program Officer for East Central Europe, National Endowment for Democracy

Iryna Vidanava, Belarusian Activist, Editor-in-Chief, Students’ Thought

Celeste A. Wallander, Director of the Russia and Eurasian Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Presidential elections in Belarus are scheduled to be held March 19, against the backdrop of stepped up repression by the regime of Alexander Lukashenka – Europe’s last dictator. The Belarusian strongman’s power grab, begun a decade ago, has included liquidation of the democratically elected parliament, a string of fundamentally flawed elections and manipulation of the country’s constitution to maintain power. A climate of fear following the disappearance of leading opposition figures in 1999 and 2000 has continued with the harassment and arrests of opposition activists and the forced closure of independent newspapers. Rights violations in Belarus have intensified in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution in neighboring Ukraine, as the regime seeks to squelch dissent. The repressive environment has made it difficult for opposition candidates to engage in normal campaign activities. Meanwhile, administration of the elections at all levels remains firmly in the hands of Lukashenka loyalists.

The Commission hearing will examine developments in Belarus in the lead up to the elections, including the pre-election crackdown, efforts to foster democracy and civil society, the international community’s increased focus on the country as well as post-election policy options.

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, is a U.S. Government agency that monitors progress in the implementation of the provisions of the 1975 Helsinki Accords. The Commission consists of nine members from the United States Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.

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