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Christian Witness, Current Events

What if you posted a sign

…and nobody ‘got it’? From today’s Albany Times Union, the Columbia County (NY) Quakers have posted a billboard for peace. Here’s an excerpt from Village’s sign of troubled times: Billboard touting peace causes reactions from surprise to confusion:

CHATHAM — The idea was to solicit designs for a “Billboard for Peace.”

The picture a group of Columbia County Quakers chose is about as far as can be from your typical peace symbol.

Since last month, drivers on the busiest road in the village of Chatham have passed a billboard that evokes the imagery of Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib.

The sign on County Route 66 shows a hooded man with no shirt and his hands tied. It cites the biblical injunction to “love your enemies.”

And it asks, in big red letters, “Is This Love?”

An Old Chatham Quaker Meeting committee chose the image over a half-dozen milder submissions, such as a yellow ribbon with the slogan: “Peace. The Ultimate Support.”

“These are not mild times,” said Jens Braun, 48, a committee member who teaches peace studies at Berkshire Community College. “These are times when we are doing some things which I think historically we will look back on and really regret.”

Amen to that.

Current Events

Available but unused – on the Tridentine Rite

There is buzz aplenty across the press and the blogspere about the imminent alleged freeing of the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Mass for Roman Catholics.

The Catholic News Services reports: Vatican source says pope to expand use of Tridentine Mass

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI is preparing to expand permission to use the Tridentine Mass, the pre-Vatican II rite favored by traditionalist groups, said an informed Vatican source.

The pope is expected to issue a document “motu proprio,” or on his own initiative, which will address the concerns of “various traditionalists,” said the source, who asked not to be named.

The source said the new permission, or indult, was a papal decision, but was being done in cooperation with agencies of the Roman Curia. He would not elaborate on the extent of the indult, when it would be established or how it would work…

I hope it is true for those who have a love for and a desire for the Rite. I think wider use will benefit the Roman Church in that it will reconnect Rome to its historic patrimony. Hope for more than that at this time is unwarranted.

But, I still have to ask, who will do it?

  • The local pastor or associate pastor who had three years of Latin in the minor seminary (that’s a big maybe) and can’t remember a word of it (especially pronunciation)? Even if he can pronounce the words correctly, can he connect the words he is saying with their meaning? Can he connect his intent to the words he’s using?
  • The local pastor or associate pastor who has not one iota of an idea of how to properly attire himself (now where did I put those gothic chasubles —“ oh, yeah, I remember I threw them out when we got the rainbow set), follow rubrics, or disconnect himself from the idea of ‘connecting with the people’?
  • The local pastor or associate who gets through all this only to have one cadre of parishioners at the throats of another cadre; each calling the bishop’s office to complain? Oh, the bishop will like that so much. That bishop will make a local ‘unwritten’ rule and kill the career of any ‘traditional’ priest who tries this. After all, they tried to get ’em in the seminary —“ and if they did slip through —“ well now is the chance (at least in the U.S.).
  • The priest you know from blog such-and-so who received a classical education in Rome (or any other decent seminary), connects to Tradition, and says he will do this? Sure, until his pastor, head of the deanery, or bishop pulls back the reigns because ‘we have to [pick one or more: test the waters, go slow, catechize the people, do a class on rubrics, language, and music, create a local committee to decide where and when…]’

If anyone hopes that this will happen overnight in their local deanery they are sadly mistaken. No books, no training in Latin and the rubrics, no vestments, no training in proper music to accompany the Holy Mass, and altar girls. There is a lot to overcome and it will be a slow slog – again IF this happens.

Hopefully the Tridentine Rite Holy Mass will be available to Roman Catholics who desire it, on the local level, and without a ton of bureaucracy to get there. Hopefully local parishes will implement this. But that is a lot to hope for in the face of a lot of basics that need to be covered first.

I would also consider the danger – some will have their hopes up and run to the local pastor – ‘Oh father, please!’ only to have their hopes dashed. ‘Father, but the Pope said. Well dear he says a lot of things.’

I’m lucky, I have the Traditional Rite in the PNCC, in English, and it has always been there. It’s the pre-1974 beauty I remember from the R.C. parish I grew up in, in a language I can understand.

So to my title, the Tridentine Rite Holy Mass may be made available, but in the U.S. at least, your chance of seeing one won’t be greatly improved (except for tuning in to EWTN). Disintegration happened quickly because rust never sleeps. Repair is done in small steps taken carefully.

Current Events

French move to acknowledge Armenian genocide

From the Mail & Guardian: French Parliament backs Armenian genocide Bill

France’s lower house of Parliament on Thursday backed a Bill that makes it a crime to deny claims that Armenians suffered genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I.

Though the Senate or President Jacques Chirac can still block the Bill, Turkey has made clear the move will badly damage relations with France. Ankara denies the genocide claims.

French politicians have said Turkey must acknowledge the genocide before it can hope to join the EU.

…and French politicians are absolutely correct.

Germany could not move on as a part of the international community until it addressed what it had done. The same applies to Turkey. The genocide, along with the persecution of the Ecumenical Patriarch, the situation in Cyprus, and the lack of religious freedom in Turkey are the top reasons for saying no to Turkey’s entry into the E.U.

Current Events

Killing via chaos

We’ve killed approximately 654,000 Iraqis since our invasion of Iraq.

Who says you need nuclear weapons to be effective? The U.S. killed approx. 340,000 people with our atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (see the Manhattan Project —“ An Interactive History). We’ve doubled that through the ‘effective’ use of chaos…

An excerpt from the Lancet: Mortality after the 2003 invasion of Iraq: a cross-sectional cluster sample survey (PDF document) by Gilbert Burnham, Riyadh Lafta, Shannon Doocy, and Les Roberts.

Summary

Background An excess mortality of nearly 100,000 deaths was reported in Iraq for the period March, 2003—“September, 2004, attributed to the invasion of Iraq. Our aim was to update this estimate.

Methods Between May and July, 2006, we did a national cross-sectional cluster sample survey of mortality in Iraq. 50 clusters were randomly selected from 16 Governorates, with every cluster consisting of 40 households. Information on deaths from these households was gathered.

Findings Three misattributed clusters were excluded from the final analysis; data from 1849 households that contained 12,801 individuals in 47 clusters was gathered. 1474 births and 629 deaths were reported during the observation period. Pre-invasion mortality rates were 5.5 per 1000 people per year (95% CI 4.3—“7.1), compared with 13.3 per 1000 people per year (10.9—“16.1) in the 40 months post-invasion. We estimate that as of July, 2006, there have been 654,965 (392,979—“942,636) excess Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war, which corresponds to 2.5% of the population in the study area. Of post-invasion deaths, 601,027 (426,369—“793,663) were due to violence, the most common cause being gunfire.

Interpretation The number of people dying in Iraq has continued to escalate. The proportion of deaths ascribed to coalition forces has diminished in 2006, although the actual numbers have increased every year. Gunfire remains the most common cause of death, although deaths from car bombing have increased.

…but let’s stay the course. We’ll hit 1,000,000 dead by the end of the Bush administration.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, Political

The end is near – again

In a comment on an article by Chris Hedges: Bush’s Nuclear Apocalypse, a reader named Mason states:

…I am absolutely horrified about what’s going to happen and with the GOP now unravelling behind Predatorgate such that the Dems have a legitimate shot of winning control of at least one house in Congress, I realize that any reservations that King George entertained about nuking Iran have evaporated because, in what passes for his mind, he cannot allow the elections to take place. A Democratic majority means subpoenas, hearings, and impeachment by inches.

God, how I wish it were not so, but I think we’re looking at nuclear war in fifteen days followed by cancelled elections and dissenting citizens being rounded up and disappeared into gulags, never to be seen or heard from again.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m terrified and I don’t scare easily. I think that the only hope we’ve got is if someone wearing a ton of brass marches into the White House and takes the car keys away from the madman whose foreign policy is dictated by a disembodied voice in his head that he calls God.

I would agree with some of the article’s commentators, in that the scenario would seem overly apocalyptic. I also think that some of the information on the reasons for deploying aircraft carrier battle groups to the Persian Gulf is too lightly researched (what about regular rotations, the beefing up of the U.S. military presence in a final attempt to get Bagdad under control, etc.). And what do you mean – they won’t let us blog from the gulag ;)?

I work with a lot of reservists. If they start disappearing without notice then I’ll be getting very nervous.

All in all I am nervous. Mr. Bush looks like he’s less and less in control of his faculties. He is manufacturing stories that have no relationship to reality. He’s combative and defensive in interpersonal contact. It’s not a stretch to think of what he might do; the story by Mr. Hedges being a possibility.

If Mr. Bush finally attempts to, or takes a step over the cliff-of-no-return, what are the possible choices for those who could do something?

  • If I were Congress I’d be moving for impeachment. As a matter of fact, do it now, even with a weak case —“ it could distract him long enough. This is the best scenario as it falls in line with our democratic principals.
  • If I were the military I’d be preparing to do a Thailand type coup. This would be among the worst scenarios, but I think people would buy it if there was a looming danger. It’s also classic Rome revisited —“ history repeating itself. ‘Oh Caesar, save us!’ It’s just that Caesar won’t go away.
  • If I were the Russians and the Chinese I’d be pointing my ICBM’s right back at the U.S. They might be able to shut Mr. Bush up with one call on the ‘red phone’. They could care for our government or people, but they do have to protect their self interests. This may or may not work. In Mr. Bush’s own mind he’d probably figure that he could speed the second coming through MAD.

When you have a madman running a superpower you pretty much assure that everyone else will be looking to anyone that makes more sense (and that’s pretty much everyone else right now). Can you see China or re-emergent Russia steering the ship?

As Christians we are to be a eschatological people. We pray the Our Father – ‘Thy Kingdom come’ but in praying for the coming of the Kingdom we follow by praying ‘Thy Will be done’. Acknowledging God’s will is supposed to be an act of submission. Somehow, those of Mr. Bush’s ilk have decided that they can forego submission and tell God what to do.

Remember, the Kingdom is here but not yet, and only the Father knows. Focus your attention and energy on living within God’s parameters and maybe then you would speed the coming of the Kingdom.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Media, Political

Church and State

The NY Times is doing a four part series called —In God’s Name—. It highlights the exemptions and benefits religious organizations get from the government.

The first two articles are now on-line:

I encourage you to give them a read (they are long).

Besides the false extrapolation of those in the religious community who act uncharitably (e.g., those who turned a nun out because she had breast cancer) to the entire faith community, the articles do beg the question —“ When will the piper come for his pay?

The faith community needs to take charge of the paradigm and refocus itself on matters of faith, not business (although doing business rightly is not a wrong in and of itself —“ business must be connected to and must flow from the central purpose of the organization).

Current Events, Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

Shut-up, shut-up, shut-up!!!

The Washington post reports on an academic who was to deliver a lecture at the Polish Consulate in New York City.

In: In N.Y., Sparks Fly Over Israel Criticism, Polish Consulate Says Jewish Groups Called To Oppose Historian the Post describes the last minute cancellation of a lecture by Tony Judt. The Polish Consul General, Krzysztof Kasprzyk, caved to pressure from the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee who do not agree with Mr. Judt.

Mr. Judt and other academics who espouse any thinking contrary to the sanctified image of the Jewish State and the United States’ multi-billion dollar support of that state have faced blistering attacks and cancellations of their lectures.

Personally, as a Polish American, I am ashamed of Mr. Kasprzyk.

The beauty of Poland was that it was once, and still is, a country that welcomes all (including, historically, millions upon millions of Jews who sought and received freedom there). Poland’s history as a nation is all the richer from the learning, growth, and development that occurred there based on a free exchange of ideas between peoples and cultures (much as the United States has).

The roots of today’s Jewish State go back to the social and political developments that took place within the Jewish community in Poland. Unfortunately, the connection between free speech and free development seems to be lost on people who would rather hold on to their tenuous grasp of what is today.

Groups like the ADL and the AJC have done a fantastic job of placing themselves in a position of influence. I actually credit their ingenuity and hard work.

I would just encourage people to peek under the covers and ask themselves if they like everything they see.

As to Mr. Kasprzyk, perhaps he likes being an errand boy. To him I would simply say —“ Iść i łudzić się (Go and deceive yourself). Perhaps you think that the ADL and AJC will stop labeling all Poles as anti-Semites, or that Poland will get a big fat thank you? Good luck! You should have learned in the school of hard knocks diplomacy that the convenience of today will be the downfall of tomorrow. I hope you are recalled from your post.

A few excerpts from the Post article with my commentary interspersed:

NEW YORK — Two major American Jewish organizations helped block a prominent New York University historian from speaking at the Polish consulate here last week, saying the academic was too critical of Israel and American Jewry.

The historian, Tony Judt, is Jewish and directs New York University’s Remarque Institute, which promotes the study of Europe. Judt was scheduled to talk Oct. 4 to a nonprofit organization that rents space from the consulate. Judt’s subject was the Israel lobby in the United States, and he planned to argue that this lobby has often stifled honest debate.

And… here’s the irony and the self fulfilling prophesy come to realization.

An hour before Judt was to arrive, the Polish Consul General Krzysztof Kasprzyk canceled the talk. He said the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee had called and he quickly concluded Judt was too controversial.

“The phone calls were very elegant but may be interpreted as exercising a delicate pressure,” Kasprzyk said. “That’s obvious — we are adults and our IQs are high enough to understand that.”

Mr. Kasprzyk has bought into natavist stereotypes. He is defending his IQ, not freedom of speech.

Judt, who was born and raised in England and lost much of his family in the Holocaust, took strong exception to the cancellation of his speech. He noted that he was forced to cancel another speech later this month at Manhattan College in the Bronx after a different Jewish group had complained. Other prominent academics have described encountering such problems, in some cases more severe, stretching over the past three decades.

The pattern, Judt says, is unmistakable and chilling.

“This is serious and frightening, and only in America — not in Israel — is this a problem,” he said. “These are Jewish organizations that believe they should keep people who disagree with them on the Middle East away from anyone who might listen.”

The leaders of the Jewish organizations denied asking the consulate to block Judt’s speech and accused the professor of retailing “wild conspiracy theories” about their roles. But they applauded the consulate for rescinding Judt’s invitation.

In diplomacy what goes unsaid often speaks louder than what is said. It is also what terrorists do; they create an atmosphere of fear. They needn’t say anything, everyone knows what …might… happen.

“I think they made the right decision,” said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “He’s taken the position that Israel shouldn’t exist. That puts him on our radar.”

David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, took a similar view. “I never asked for a particular action; I was calling as a friend of Poland,” Harris said. “The message of that evening was going to be entirely contrary to the entire spirit of Polish foreign policy.”

If you weren’t asking for anything why call —“ to chat up the weather? Oh, and thank you for your affirmation of yet another country’s foreign policy. If it weren’t for your take on foreign policy the world might fall apart —“ but then again —“ it is…

Judt has crossed rhetorical swords with the Jewish organizations on two key issues. Over the past few years he has written essays in the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books and in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz arguing that power in Israel has shifted to religious fundamentalists and territorial zealots, that woven into Zionism is a view of the Arab as the irreconcilable enemy, and that Israel might not survive as a communal Jewish state.

The solution, he argues, lies in a slow and tortuous walk toward a binational and secular state.

…

Foxman has referred to Judt’s views of Israel as “an offensive caricature.”

…

And we all know what offensive caricatures did to the Danes.

Thank you to Daithí­ Mac Lochlainn for Historian’s Voice Silenced which pointed to this and to the Young Fogey’s Conservsative Blog for Peace for the pointer to Mr. Mac Lochlainn’s article.

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