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Current Events, Perspective, Political

Just in case you were bored

Kidnapped:

From the AP via the Boston Herald: U.S. behind kidnapping of diplomat, Iran claims

BAGHDAD – Iran is blaming the United States for the abduction Sunday of an Iranian diplomat by men wearing Iraqi Army uniforms.

The kidnapping of Jalal Sharafi threatens to escalate the tense standoff between Iran and the United States – and could become a major diplomatic crisis for Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government.

U.S. authorities deny any role in the disappearance of Sharafi, a second secretary at the Iranian embassy. The United States has accused Iran of supporting both Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias that run abduction operations.

The kidnapping occurred when uniformed gunmen blocked Sharafi’s car, forced him into a vehicle and sped away. Iraqi police then opened fire, disabling a second vehicle, arresting the four gunmen inside and taking them to a police station.

The next day, Iraqis in uniform appeared at the station, showed government badges and demanded the four suspects.

The authorities complied and the men disappeared. Spokesmen for both the Interior Ministry and the Defense Ministry, which together control Iraqi security forces, said they had no idea where the suspects went.

Shiite lawmakers said they believed Sharafi was detained in an operation carried out by the Iraqi Special Operations Command, an elite unit under the direct supervision of the U.S. military…

Just ticking up the tensions until someone snaps – then BOOM!!! (sound of a low yield nuclear weapon exploding)

More bodies:

From the NY Times: Military Wants More Civilians to Help in Iraq

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 —” Senior military officers, including members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have told President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates that the new Iraq strategy could fail unless more civilian agencies step forward quickly to carry out plans for reconstruction and political development.

The complaints reflect fresh tensions between the Pentagon and the State Department over personnel demands that have fallen most heavily on the military. But they also draw on a deeper reservoir of concerns among officers who have warned that a military buildup alone cannot solve Iraq’s problems, and who now fear that the military will bear a disproportionate burden if Mr. Bush’s strategy falls short.

Among particular complaints, the officers cited a request from the office of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that military personnel temporarily fill more than one-third of 350 new State Department jobs in Iraq that are to be created under the new strategy…

Hey, sign me up, I have a death wish (Dear Government watchdogs – note that this is sarcasm. I have no desire to die in a place no U.S. soldier or civilian should be in in the first place.)

Let’s see all the neo-con and Evangelical supporters of Bush’s war head over to represent and evangelize.

NEXT!

From All Headline News: Pentagon Decides To Establish African Command

Washington, D.C. (AHN) – After a thorough review, the U.S. Department of Defense will establish an African Command, to oversee American military operations on the continent.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates spoke on Capitol Hill, saying, “The President has decided to stand-up a new unified, combatant command, Africa Command, to oversee security cooperation, building partnership capability, defense support to non-military missions, and, if directed, military operations on the African continent.”

We gotta send our war weary troops somewhere to let off steam once they’re done (done for, done in) in Iraq.

Useless resolutions:

From VOA: US Senate Divided on Approach to Iraq War Debate

A day after Senate Republicans blocked a nonbinding resolution expressing disagreement over President Bush’s decision to send more troops to Iraq, the Democratic-led Senate Tuesday remained deadlocked over the best way to move the bipartisan measure to the Senate floor for a vote. VOA’s Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

Although Senate Democrats and Republicans say they want to be able to vote on nonbinding resolutions on the Iraq war, an issue that will likely influence the 2008 presidential and congressional elections, they have not been able to agree on how best to do it.

Democrats still hope to reach agreement with Republicans on allowing a Senate vote on a resolution sponsored by Senator John Warner of Virginia, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, which expresses disagreement with President Bush’s decision to increase troop strength in Iraq.

But Republicans, who blocked the measure from coming to a vote Monday, are demanding that at least one other Republican-sponsored resolution be allowed to go to the floor for a Senate vote along with the Warner measure. That other resolution, sponsored by Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, includes language saying Congress should not take any action that will endanger United States military forces in the field, including the elimination or reduction of funds…

We’re going to fight and haggle over meaningless resolutions, like Pilate washing his hands. If you’ve been elected to do something, doing something would be good; something in the traditional sense of something as in the concrete and real.

Current Events

Some Episcopalian news

From the ChristianNewsWire: Province-in-Waiting’ Proposed to Primates by U. S. Orthodox Lay Group ‘To Stop the Bleeding’ If Key Dar-Es-Salaam Meeting Doesn’t Produce Solution

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 /Christian Newswire/ — A temporary “province-in-waiting” plan to assist the Anglican Communion and its primates in their quest for a solution to “the U.S. problem” was offered last Saturday by an American lay group.

Primates received the supportive good-faith contingency measure as they prepared for their general meeting in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, Feb. 13- 15.

Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion (LEAC) presented an “Interim Compact for Anglican Loyalty” last Saturday in support of Bishop Robert W. Duncan, moderator of Common Cause Partners and the primates’ designee to represent corporate orthodox U.S. interests at their meeting. Bishop Duncan also heads the Anglican Communion Network and the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The document decried the accelerating “Balkanizing” of the American scene and growing flight of individual Episcopal communicants for safe haven from the “schismatic” U. S. province, which has “walked apart” and is now in broken communion with most of the 38 provinces. The estranged provinces comprise more than half of the 78 million members of the worldwide communion.

Since 2003, more than 100 U. S. parishes have established relationships with foreign provinces in order to remain in the Anglican Communion. They would not condone TEC’s schismatic crowning of an openly homosexual bishop and TEC’s refusing to repent and promise not to repeat that and other affronts to Anglican doctrine.

Most orthodox clergy and lay people and some court papers have declared that TEC has theologically abandoned the Anglican Communion by refusing to repent, as urged by the Communion’s “Windsor Report.” That is a paper calling the U. S. province back, in repentance and with a promise not to violate Anglican Communion doctrine again.

LEAC says the “Balkanizing” increases weekly, giving foreign primates an expanding presence in the dysfunctional U. S. province.

LEAC says it may take decades for the renewal orthodox church to undo the intrusions, while acknowledging that the intrusions are all done by foreign prelates with generous and compassionate pastoral purpose.

“If Dar-Es-Salaam comes and goes without a practical and effective stanching of the bleeding in America, we cannot wait until the next international meeting, which is more than a year away,” a LEAC spokesman said. While appreciating their great effort and love, we want the primates to understand our high sense of urgency and need for action.

“A prompt American solution is imperative. If necessary, Americans can solve the problem on an interim basis. While fervently supportive of Bishop Duncan, we offered up our unique plan respectfully. Most who have studied it as an interim contingency measure found it clearly a template for effective American governance.

“We have heard of no other plan which would assure prompt, positive renewal of a faithful robust national orthodox scene under American corporate governance.”

The plan calls for a new orthodox Anglican “federation” of dioceses, parishes and communicants, temporarily independent of the Anglican Communion but totally self-sufficient in the Anglican faith. It would operate on its own until the primates and communion complete the tasks of formally ridding the American Anglican landscape of the Episcopal Church and chartering a reliable replacement province reserved for orthodox clergy and communicants.

If activated promptly, the new system would be operating by November, on All Saints Day, an important annual Anglican celebration, the document sent to each primate said. It would have its own bishops, church organization and full administrative capability.

As a “province-in-waiting,” it would be ready to step back into an historic position in the Anglican Communion when that organization offers an acceptable permanent province.

LEAC said that in one conceptual approach the new federation would undertake a difficult “pan-Anglican” role, bringing disparate “Common Cause” offshoots into a “mosaic” of faithful dioceses. Some thinking, LEAC said, suggests that those wishing keep their own bishops in U. S. dioceses without boundaries could do so. Their churches would be located within but would not be part of new mainstream dioceses, with “pan-Anglican” bonding encouraged among all in scores of geographical “fellowship” areas overlaying the national map. One approach provides “local option” with respect to inclusion of women deacons and priests. LEAC has not recommended any particular organizational approach or operating policies.

The “mosaic,” if adopted, could be “a creative and altogether faithful 21st Century Anglican province,” LEAC said. Missions and churches in alliance with foreign provinces likely would be required to discontinue those parochial or diocesan relationships and rejoin “the mainstream” organization in most scenarios, LEAC said.

LEAC said it would provide administrative services it might be asked to perform but would not be part of the new Federation. It said it would continue to seek “for our brothers and sisters in the pews” greater influence than was possible in the TEC structure.

I’ll make two comments.

It seems to me that the ‘we can’t wait another year’ approach is counter productive.

Everyone should get their ducks in order and get on the same page. That takes time and thought. Now I understand that the Episcopal Church engages in debate and dialog ad infinitum, thus the push to get it done, but at least have a plan and a normative statement.

This leads to the second comment.

You cannot do any of that planning and getting on the same page because Balkanization results in a people with a bitterness so deep it’s nearly impossible to overcome.

In addition, the Anglican/Episcopal tradition has no unifying factor. The Churches Catholic have the liturgy, and Rome adds the Pope. Episcopalians have such varied degrees of operation that there is little if anything that can be used as a unifying factor. It is a Church replete with Balkanization – from Protestant Evangelicals to Anglo-Catholics and every shade in-between.

What are they going to agree on – except a few things they don’t like.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Political,

Deacon dustup

The commentary across blogs over the recent conflict in the R.C. Diocese of Buffalo goes on.

Michael Liccione of Sacramentum Vitae has a pretty balanced take on this issue in Buffaloed. He comments on the root causes of the frustration felt by that deacon in Buffalo and lays the charge squarely at the feet of negligent pastors and weak bishops.

Babsnc of Daily Kos goes the way of the rest of the ultra-liberal elite. If you’re in a church or a member of a church please shut-up (ok, no please was said or intended, just shut-up). Only Babsnc and friends have rights, people of faith have none, Churches have none. See House Rep. Criticized by Deacon /During memorial mass/ for Yes Vote on Stem Cell Research. It appears, unbeknown to me, that the Founding Fathers intended that free speech rights only apply to some. We’re all equal on the farm, some are just more equal than others.

The writer concludes by making a plea for decency – if only that plea were made on behalf of innocent children.

The Society and politics Blog sticks a pin in Babsnc argument in Deacon calls out CINO*. The other pertinent quote taken from a commentator at The Cafeteria is Closed is:

WE NEED MORE PRIESTS LIKE THIS DEACON!

Of course, those neo-con Catholics who frequent sites like Cafeteria should understand that that would mean giving up the celibate priesthood… ooops.

*CINO = Catholic in name only

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, Political

Blair and Catholics

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will not grant an exemption from compliance with ‘gay’ rights laws for faith based organizations who provide about 30% of the adoption services in Britain, often dealing with the most difficult to place children. From Ekklesia UK: Blair confirms that Catholic adoption agencies will not be able to discriminate.

The UK government has announced there will be no exemption from anti-discrimination laws for Catholic adoption agencies, but that they will get 21 months to prepare for change, which will make it illegal to discriminate against lesbian and gay people.

Prime Minister Tony Blair, himself a practicing Anglican married to a Catholic, called the outcome “a sensible compromise”. The Catholic Church in England and Wales said it was “deeply disappointed” that no exemption had been offered.

The 2006 Equality Act will face a vote in Parliament in February before coming into effect on 6 April 2007.

A spokesperson for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement told Ekklesia this evening that the decision looked like a —reasonable outcome overall—. Secular groups and the Liberal Democrats have said that the change period is too long.

It remains to be seen whether Catholic adoption agencies will eventually hand their service over to others in the voluntary sector. A similar thing has happened in the USA, after pressure from the Vatican.

Mr Blair commented: “There is no place in our society for discrimination. That’s why I support the right of gay couples to apply to adopt like any other couple. [This is why] there can be no exemptions for faith-based adoption agencies offering public funded services from regulations that prevent discrimination.”

No place for discrimination, except against people of faith, and faith based organizations, who abide by their Church’s teachings. See particularly Now, all our English liberties are becoming orphans by William Rees-Mogg in The Times:

The issue of the Roman Catholic adoption agencies, and their refusal to arrange adoptions for same-sex partnerships, I find altogether fascinating. It involves fundamental questions of liberty, of freedom of religion, of European law and of political philosophy. In our collapsing political society it may prove to be only one week’s wonder, but it is important to think it through.

Current Events, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia

From the Polish Catholic Church

Mr. Robert Strybel’s syndicated column, which appears in Polish American World, notes the following regarding the Polish Catholic Church (a daughter of the PNCC):

Poland’s first Roman-Polish Catholic nuptial in a Polish-Catholic parish has occurred in the southeastern town of Łęki Dukielskie, the PC fraternal organ “Rodzina” reported recently. Elżbieta Nycz was able to marry Polish-Catholic Norbert Gruszczyński after receiving dispensation from her bishop – something the RC Church had earlier been reluctant to grant…

The local Polish Catholic parish is the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Current Events, Perspective, PNCC

Motu photo (Lingua latina fugat)

Someone should have taken a picture of the eager faces of R.C.’s who are awaiting the return of the Traditional Rite of the Holy Mass in Latin (something the PNCC has always had – and in the vernacular) as word creeps out that the Pope’s Motu proprio on its restoration will be a no-go. This word is in opposition to the word from other sources here, here, here, and here.

As The Young Fogey points out – it’s not about Latin, but rather Godwardness, holiness, and respect for what one is doing in the Sacrifice of the Mass.

He picked up on the story in No Motu proprio. He also picked up on another story I read last night: Pope’s Latinist pronounces death of a language in which the Rev. Reginald Foster says of the Motu porprio:

He said reports that Pope Benedict will reintroduce the Tridentine Mass, which dates from 1570 and is largely conducted in Latin, were wrong —“ not least because of the Pope’s desire to avoid more controversies. A speech last year offended Muslims and more recently he gave initial support to a Polish archbishop who was eventually forced to resign, after admitting that he had collaborated with the communist-era secret police.

“He is not going to do it,” Fr Foster said. “He had trouble with Regensberg, and then trouble in Warsaw, and if he does this, all hell will break loose.” In any case, he added: “It is a useless mass and the whole mentality is stupid. The idea of it is that things were better in the old days. It makes the Vatican look medieval.”

The whole exercise tells me that R.C.’s have less respect for the Pope than the Orthodox, Orientals, and PNCC combined. Sure he’s a great figurehead (sort of like the Queen of England), but if he tries to play the part the ultramontane want, he gets shut down. Can anyone say committees (Curia, local bishop’s conferences) run amok.

As to the Rev. Foster’s points, that medievalist attitude has paid his room and board for a long time, dead languages and all. He’s gotten his fill at the table of academic exercise. I’d like to see him in a poor rural parish now that his skills are no longer necessary, medieval, and simply old. There’s no going back Rev. Foster, there’s no going back.

Current Events, Political

Could be, maybe, we sorta think

The United States is criticizing Israel’s use of cluster bombs during its invasion of Lebanon last year, albeit grudgingly and couched in all sorts of ambiguous ‘well it kinda looks like’ language.

From the AP via The Guardian: Report cites possible misuse of U-S-made cluster bombs:

WASHINGTON (AP) – Israel probably misused American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon during the war against Hezbollah last summer, the State Department said Monday.

Department officials sent a preliminary report on the issue to Congress on Monday. By law, lawmakers must determine whether further investigation by the State Department is warranted.

The report represents an embarrassment to the United States and Israel, one of its closest allies. During last summer’s war, the U.S. was seen as letting Israel continue attacks inside Lebanon long after many other countries had demanded a halt to military action.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack would not provide details of the report, which was classified.

But he told reporters the department had made a preliminary finding “that there may – likely could have been some violations” of the agreement by which Israel purchased the weapons from the U.S. He would not specify what those agreements were.

When Israel purchases cluster bombs and other lethal equipment from the United States, it must agree in writing to restrictions on their use.

The report, McCormack said, “is not a final judgment.” He declined to speculate on what action may be taken against Israel if a violation is confirmed.

The United Nations said last summer that unexploded cluster bombs – anti-personnel weapons that spray bomblets over a wide area – litter homes, gardens and highways in south Lebanon.

…

Danny Ayalon, the recently retired Israeli ambassador to Washington, said Israel had no choice but to use the munitions against villages. “This was a clear-cut case of self-defense, in order to stop incoming Katyusha rockets aimed at our own population centers, and it was done to areas that were likely to be abandoned by Lebanese civilians,” Ayalon said.

Yeah, about that. You see we have jets, laser guided bombs, sophisticated American weapons, tanks, a whole arsenal of vastly superior firepower (plus nuclear weapons). How dare you fire vintage unguided munitions at us. Oh, and sorry about grandma, grandpa, and your children and cousins who were on-site. Couldn’t have foreseen that.

But the New York-based Human Rights Watch said the report’s findings “should lead to an immediate cutoff of all U.S. cluster munitions sales to Israel.”

The U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center has said it is not illegal to use the cluster bombs against soldiers or enemy fighters, but the Geneva Conventions bar their use in civilian areas.

Frankly, I can’t believe the U.S. government is actually (well kind of) saying these things. I guess there was just too much civilian blood on the roads of southern Lebanon to ignore it.

Nothing against Israel’s right to exist, but I’ll up Human Rights Watch one better. The U.S. should extract itself from the Middle East, Iraq, Israel, the whole mess.

Current Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia

Ambassador Who Defected From Poland Dies

From the AP via Newsday

WARSAW, Poland — Zdzislaw Rurarz, a former Polish ambassador to Japan who humiliated Poland’s communist regime by defecting to the U.S. in 1981 to protest its imposition of martial law, has died of cancer, his daughter said Saturday. He was 76.

Rurarz died Jan. 21 at the Inova Fairfax Hospital in northern Virginia, his daughter, Ewa Rurarz-Huygens, told The Associated Press by telephone from Reston, Va., where his family lives.

Rurarz was one of two Polish ambassadors who defected after Poland’s last communist leader, Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, imposed martial law on Dec. 13, 1981 in an attempt to crack down on Solidarity, a trade union pushing for democratic change.

The defections of the two communist party loyalists from such prestigious positions came as a humiliating blow to the regime that, it later turned out, was poised to collapse eight years later.

Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa, eventually prevailed, helping to end communist rule in 1989. However, Poland endured 19 months of martial law — harsh military rule that saw Solidarity leaders, including Walesa, imprisoned and about 100 people killed.

The other ambassador to defect was Romuald Spasowski, the ambassador to the United States…

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, Political,

Of deacons, polls, and charity

The Buffalo News has featured two reports over the past two days regarding a R.C. deacon who publicly reproved Congressman Brian Higgins from the ambo (pulpit) last Sunday.

From today’s report: Deacon hailed for pulpit blast at Higgins

The Buffalo Regional Right to Life Committee on Wednesday hailed a deacon who criticized Rep. Brian Higgins during Sunday Mass in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.

Deacon Tom McDonnell’s rebuke of the Buffalo Democrat for voting for federal funding for embryonic stem cell research led Higgins to walk out of the church during his sermon.

“God bless the deacon a thousand times. He did his job. If every bishop, every clergy member of all faiths did their jobs, we wouldn’t have the shedding of innocent life in our country,” said Stacey Vogel of the Buffalo Regional Right to Life Committee.

The anti-abortion group’s position was in stark contrast with the phone calls and e-mails at Higgins’ Buffalo and Washington offices, which were running in his favor by a nearly 4 to 1 ratio, according to a staff member.

According to the latest polls people deem the earth to be flat – therefore it must be.

Higgins said his relationship with St. Thomas Aquinas Church, where he was baptized and married, is “very deep, very meaningful and very long.” He apologized earlier for the congregation’s having to be subjected to criticism of him during the morning Mass.

“The lesson here is that the Catholic Church has enough problems and should take greater care before allowing nonpriests to use the church as a forum to advance what clearly was a political agenda,” Higgins said…

Based on his long and loving relationship with the Church he has stepped to the fore in opposing attacks on human life… oops, maybe not.

Also, I see that he has taken a strong interest in his faith and that he has been properly catechized. See, there’s priests and non-priests, that’s about all there is to my faith. Also, life is a subjective good and no one can tell me what to do, unless of course they let Senator Clinton or some other womyn preach – and I’ll make an exception for Michael J. Fox.

All this being said, I do believe the deacon was wrong for the following reasons:

  • The deacon is not the pastor. Mr. Higgins’ pastor is the Rev. Art Smith, and as pastor this responsibility falls to him. The problem with some deacons (me especially) is that we want to step-up and fill-in wherever and whenever we see something lacking. We are not the answer. We need to be more humble, more in tune with our ministry, and this is a good reminder of that fact.
  • The homily serves two purposes, cracking open the scriptures in such a way so as to edify and teach all the people you minister to, and as a call to apply that scripture to our everyday lives. It is not an occasion for political showmanship or the airing of one’s personal grievances, regardless of how in-tune those grievances are with Church teaching.
  • Charity, scripture, and Catholic polity demand that one reprove one’s brother in private first, then in front of witnesses, and finally, if he is obstinate, before the community. If that communal reproof is to have any meaning it must come from the Church’s representative in the community – the Bishop.

In conclusion, the lack of leadership on the part of some Bishops and pastors and their acquiescence to political power provide fertile soil for these types of events. They also make taking sides in issues like this the go-to thing to do.

From the original story: Pulpit barb prompts walkout by Higgins

A deacon upbraided Rep. Brian Higgins during Sunday morning Mass in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church for voting in favor of embryonic stem cell research, prompting the congressman and his family to walk out during the sermon.

The Rev. Art Smith, pastor of the South Buffalo church, said he felt “horrible” about the Higgins family’s departure on “Respect Life Sunday” and offered an apology from the pulpit after the congressman had left.

Bishop Edward U. Kmiec of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo later issued a statement also criticizing Deacon Tom McDonnell’s action.

“I can’t tell you how terrible I felt,” Smith said Tuesday. “While we have to always uphold the church’s teachings regarding life, I don’t think it’s ever fair to publicly criticize someone who serves our community and our parish so well.”

The right-to-life community, with the deacon will be on one side, the congressman – obviously obdurate in error will be on the other, and the leaders of the Church will appear to be weak on the sanctity of life.

Please, pray for the protection of all human life and for us deacons.

Current Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia

R.C. Archdiocese of New York announces church closings

The announcement and a link to the list in Realignment Announcement Decisions from the Archdiocesan website (it’s loading real slow right now).

The closings as summed up in the NY Times in N.Y. Archdiocese Announces Parish Closings.

There’s two St. Stanislaus parishes on the list, one in Port Jervis, one in Pine Island. The Pine Island parish will in effect disappear and merge into another parish.

Our Lady of Vilnius is not on the list, anywhere, thankfully.

(UPDATE 1) The Our Lady of Vilnius, NYC blog notes that 1010 WINS is reporting Our Lady of Vilnius will be closed as well (as a footnote non-the-less). Stay tuned.

(UPDATE 2) The NY Sun states that it confirmed the closing of Our Lady of Vilnius with Archdiocesan officials. See N.Y. Archdiocese Will Close 10 Parishes.

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