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Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, , , ,

So much in blogland

I’ve been keeping up with my daily blog reads and there’s so much going on that I wanted to mention a few of the highlights to my readers.

From the Conservative Blog for Peace

The Young Fogey posts on the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is joyous news for all who long for the reunification of the Catholic faithful.

He’s been posting so many good links and reads of late that it’s difficult to keep up. Even so, keep up I do. I highly recommend people read what he posts. The combination of his genteel, classically liberal style, and his balanced and studied Christian witness make his the first site I visit each day.

From blogs4God

They’re back.

Dean Peters has done a remarkable job or re-engineering blogs4God. He found the technology (Pligg) and the style best suited to capturing Christian witness in bloggerland.

No doubt its taken awhile, but the wait has been worth it!

Dean’s other site, Heal Your Church Website has also been revamped.

Whether you are a church or a witness, if you care about your on-line presence, take heed.

His recent posts on Bab’tist Churches was funny (sort of in a sad sense) and a wake-up call to the church webmasters among us (yes, I’m one) who fail to proof and re-proof their work. I’ve taken Dean’s counsel seriously (as far as I’m able with my technical skills) and our parish has benefited.

I also offer up my prayers for Dean and his family. Dean’s father was called home to the Lord last week. Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord!

From Faith and Theology

Who knew?

Say theology and a flood of images pass through your mind (or maybe not). Anyway, the images I get are of disaffected academics with some relationship to God, trying to disprove Him, disrupt all else, and de-construct so they can reconstruct.

It is easy to think that way, if you rely on a caricature modeled after folks like Hans Kung. But anyway…

Benjamin Myers of the Faith and Theology Blog sets all that to rest.

What he and his collaborators post is amazing, insightful, easily digestible, and actually provides some insight, some glimpse of God, to common folks like me.

His postings come at you in layers, from the first insight to the deep pondering.

I can’t get enough of Propositions by Kim Fabricius, and the recent Prayer in a time of war by George Hunsinger is something that should be said daily.

Think theology is for academicians? Read Ben Myers blog, and you may very well see our Lord in ways you haven’t yet experienced.

And the rest

My other daily reads come from different Catholic traditions, and represent a cross section of what I see as very good, wholesome, and positive in blogs. They are:

They all fit into the model proposed in the recent posts on blog level ecumenism.

No one denies who they are, their faith or tradition, yet they are open to discussion, understanding, and to common witness.

Technology is not immune to God, and in the hands of His servants can do amazing things. Let’s pray that it continues to work for the building up of the one body of Christ.

Perspective, PNCC,

Take me home, EWTN road…

With my apologies to John Denver.

Anyway, I read a post that Ben Johnson put up on his Western Orthodoxy site, regarding an Orthodox deacon who became Roman Catholic. This clergyman appeared on the EWTN show “The Journey Home.”

This show drags out various people who have come over to the Roman Church, primarily from other Christian Churches, but not only. In the past it has featured Jews who have converted as well as people of various non-Christian backgrounds.

It is a tortured show that exposes all the ‘faults’ of the person’s prior church, how the opinion of family and friends is unimportant, how much resistance the person received in making the changeover (yes, they are all martyrs), and how some family and friends now accept the person’s choice. It also highlights their moment of conversion, you know, the one they failed to discuss with their spiritual father. Didn’t St. John warn us:

Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

I think that if you added a little bling and spiced up the set a bit you’d have an infomercial for Roman Catholicism.

You don’t want to shop there, their Eucharist is hokey, shop here and you’ll not only receive the reeeeeal Jeeeesus, but eternal life as well. Listen to how Bob found the truth… 100% guaranteed, some restrictions apply. Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus, Inc.

What I find particularly sick is that the show flies in the face of the Roman Church’s teaching on Orthodoxy and other Catholic Churches, which the Roman Church deems to be “true particular churches” like the PNCCsee DOMINUS IESUS.

But ultramontanes, neo-conservative Catholics, and EWTN have never been ones not to foist their beliefs upon the Pope or the Vatican. They obviously know the way far better than those whose office is to teach.

For us, in the PNCC, we follow Bishop Hodur’s message – simply, allow God to enlighten and direct you:

The National Church does not recognize any anathemas. We are a group of free people and if, therefore, someone comes to know that our principles appeal to his soul, his education, and temperament, then we acknowledge him as our brother or our sister. In the same manner, if a person changes his conviction and leaves us, we do not condemn him because this is his free and Christian right. When new religious groups emerge, we do not curse them but acknowledge them as brothers. We, therefore, invite all the people of good will to our Church and if they do not come to our side, we will not degrade or ridicule them.

Something to be said for trusting in God.

Current Events, Perspective, Political, Saints and Martyrs,

Doing the devil’s work

From the AP via the International Herald Tribune: Iraq’s Christian minority flees from violence

BAGHDAD: Despite the chaos and sectarian violence raging across Baghdad, Farouq Mansour felt relatively safe as a Christian living in a multiethnic neighborhood in the capital.

Then, two months ago, al-Qaida gunmen kidnapped him and demanded his family convert to Islam or pay a US$30,000 ransom. Two weeks later, he paid up, was released and immediately fled to Syria, joining a mass exodus of Iraq’s increasingly threatened Christian minority.

“There is no future for us in Iraq,” Mansour said.

Though Islamic extremists have targeted Iraqi Christians before, bombing churches and threatening religious leaders, the latest attacks have taken on a far more personal tone, with many Christians being expelled from their homes and forced to leave their possessions behind, police, human rights groups and residents said.

The Christian community here, about 3 percent of the country’s 26 million people, is particularly vulnerable. It has little political or military clout to defend itself, and some Islamic insurgents view it as a fifth column —” calling Christians “Crusaders” —” whose real loyalty lies with the U.S. troops they are fighting.

Many churches are now nearly empty during religious services, with much of their flock either gone or too scared to attend. Only about 30 people sat scattered among the pews at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in the relatively safe Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah during this week’s Sunday Mass. About two dozen worshippers took communion in the barren St. Mary’s Church in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday…

After I had read that article, I came across an article on church closings at the Buffalo News. In Under canon law, Catholic parishes rarely ‘close’ I found the following:

Closing a parish is a rare and rather involved legal process that extends all the way to the Vatican.

…

—No parish is really ever closed unless there are no Catholics left there,— said Litwin. —In reality, what seem to be closings are not really closings. You’re closing buildings perhaps, but you’re merging parish boundaries.—

The Vatican clarified the issue last summer in a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in which Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a high-ranking prelate, wrote: —Only with great difficulty can one say that a parish becomes extinct.—

—A parish is extinguished by the law itself only if no Catholic community any longer exists in its territory, or if no pastoral activity has taken place for a hundred years,— Hoyos wrote, according to the Catholic News Service…

President Bush has done quite the job in ridding Iraq of Christians. By 2108 the Canons regarding church closings will become operative. No Christians, no pastoral activity, no churches in Iraq.

Mr. Bush is the real problem, not the jihadists pushing dhimmitude, who in reality have been given license to run rampant under the ‘government, we don’t need no stinkin’ government’ situation in Iraq.

I would say, beyond much doubt, that President Bush considers the Christians of the Middle East anything but Christians, maybe dogs, but certainly not Christians.

You see, our President is firmly aligned with the Evangelicals whose rhetoric, practice, and belief, denies the fact that anyone of the ‘catholic’ persuasion is a Christian at all.

  • Christians in Lebanon – nope.
  • Christians in Iraq – nope
  • The Orthodox, Romans, Orientals – who dat.
  • Christians in Israel – just those awaiting the rapture

Mr. Bush, pay attention to scripture. A house divided and all…

You are working against these ancient communities of faith, and the responsibility for their fall lies at your feet. You’ve just about accomplished what the Roman Emperors, the Hun, the Horde, the Sultans, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Kim Jong-il, all combined couldn’t accomplish. You’ve just about rid a huge chunk of the earth of Christianity.

Current Events, Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia

Majówka – what we’re all in need of

This past Saturday, April 28th, was the beginning of Majówka.

Stanislaw Kamocki, Blossoming Apple Tree, 1906, Lviv Art Gallery, Lviv, Ukraine

Majówka is a nine (9) day weekend enjoyed by Poles.

A nine day weekend you say? How can that be?

The nine day weekend encompasses two full weekends (4 days) plus the Public holidays of May 1st, the “State holiday” (formerly known as Labor Day during the communist oppression) and May 3rd, the anniversary of the Polish Constitution of May 3rd, 1791 (2 days).

May 2rd is Polish Flag Day. While May 2nd is a National Holiday, it is not a prescribed Public holiday or ‘day off.’ Nevertheless, most businesses are closed May 2nd. (1 day).

Adding two personal vacation days during the week (2 days) grants you a total of 9 days off.

Now that doesn’t happen every year. The 1st and 3rd have to fall properly on the calendar, during the workweek, as they do this year.

What to do — na Majówka?

Pretty much anything but stay home.

Head to the mountains or the shore, hit the road for a countryside holiday. Get out to your działka (a country garden – many city dwellers in Poland own a small country plot that they use for gardening) and get your plantings in.

Can you imagine something like that happening in the United States? The production drumbeat goes on, often to the detriment of family, health, and communal wellbeing.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, ,

To our Armenian brothers and sisters

We stand with you today and always. Once the truth is acknowledged we can truly say: Never again!

The Young Fogey sums it all up in 92 Years ago.

Armenian genocide chain poster

Guard me, O Christ my God, in peace
Under the shadow of your holy and venerable cross.
Deliver me from the visible and invisible enemy.
Make me worthy to give you thanks and glorify you
together with the Father and the Holy Spirit now
and always. Amen.

— From the Divine liturgy of the Armenian Church

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, Political,

Publish a Bible – you die

At least that’s the way it is in Turkey – the long time EU aspirant, that touts its facade of democracy and its religious freedom, but does nothing to engender those values in its people or national consciousness. From the LA Times and elsewhere: 3 killed in attack on Bible publisher in Turkey:

Five youths — all with notes that say, ‘They are attacking our religion’ — are held at the scene.

ISTANBUL, Turkey — In a gruesome attack that sent shockwaves through Turkey’s tiny Christian community, assailants Wednesday slit the throats of three men at a publishing house that distributes Bibles and other Christian literature.

Five youths were detained at the scene in the conservative eastern city of Malatya, Turkish authorities said. One news report said the suspects carried notes indicating their motive was right-wing nationalism.

Turkey’s sometimes hostile stance toward its own religious and ethnic minorities has been a persistent source of concern to Western governments as the country presses ahead with its campaign for European Union membership.

Although the government officially preaches tolerance, it historically has failed to rein in virulent ultra nationalist groups. Authorities were accused of ignoring repeated death threats against Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian newspaper editor who was gunned down outside his offices in Istanbul in January. Prosecutors later said a teenager confessed to the shooting.

At the Zirve publishing house in Malatya’s city center, police discovered the three victims bound hand and foot and tied to chairs with their throats cut. Two were dead; the third died later at a hospital…

And speaking of freedom, the Young Fogey points to an article on our country’s efforts in Iraq and how our “Christian” President has brought pain and suffering to the Christians of Iraq.

From Asia News: Islamic group in Baghdad: —Get rid of the cross or we will burn your Churches—.

In the Dora quarter threats continue to be made against Christians. In the last two months Christian parishes have been forced to give in to extremist pressure, only the Church of Sts Peter and Paul has withstood so far. A fatwa forbids the practice of Christian ritual gestures.

—Get rid of the cross or we will burn your Churches—. This is the threat aimed at the Chaldean Church of Sts Peter and Paul, located in the ancient Christian quarter of Baghdad, Dora. Local sources say an unknown armed Islamic group is behind the threats which are inseminating terror in the capital. The Arab website Ankawa.com and Aina news agency speak of a campaign of persecution in act in the area. Even Mosul, a Sunni stronghold, the Christian presence is being gravely threatened.

Msgr. Shlemon Warduni, Chaldean auxiliary bishop of Baghdad, tells AsiaNews —in the last 2 months many Churches have been forced to remove their crosses from their domes—. In the case of the Church of St. George, assira, Muslim extremists took the situation into their own hands: they climbed onto the roof and ripped out the cross…

Well maybe they’re just not his kind of Christians…

The Young Fogey also points to the following LRC Commentary: Does Anybody Care About the Christian Arabs?

Short answer, NO!

If you are a Christian in the Middle East, whether in Israel or the Muslim lands, you may not practice your religion.

Any Christians proselytizing Jews or Muslims in Israel proper? Nope, forbidden.

Anyone reading bibles, wearing crosses, or praying in public in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt? Nope, forbidden.

Have a Church and want to keep it, sorry, forbidden – it is being converted into a mosque (most especially in Turkey and the Turkish controlled areas of Cyprus.

Israel – allies and friends? Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey – partners? Iraq – bastion of freedom and democracy?

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective,

It’s a start

From The State: Justices affirm ban on partial-birth abortions:

The Supreme Court Wednesday broke new ground in upholding federal restrictions on abortion, with President Bush’s two appointees joining a court majority that said Congress was exercising its license to —promote respect for life, including the life of the unborn.

—The court’s 5-4 decision upholding the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act passed by Congress in 2003 marked the first time justices have agreed a specific abortion procedure could be banned, and the first time since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that justices approved an abortion restriction that did not contain an exception for the health of the woman.

—The government may use its voice and its regulatory authority to show its profound respect for the life within the woman,— wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy. He said the ban on the controversial method of ending a midterm pregnancy was valid because other abortion procedures were still available to a woman. It provides an exception to save the woman’s life…

While it isn’t a panacea for the ills that have been created since Roe v. Wade, this is the beginning of some kind of common sense.

The most interesting comments I’ve heard are from the abortion fanatics out there, pandering by saying women’s health will be put at risk.

I’m wondering, how? Is Doctor Kildare still delivering babies? You mean we can’t save a mother and a 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 month old baby?

I really do not believe anything these folks say about health. They simply want to use dead babies as score sheets. Twenty dead in the last hour, twenty victories.

The key is that a baby can’t be killed when medical technology has shown us that many, if not all of these infants can be saved.

You’re giving birth by one or another means to a child and killing it just as it’s partially born, a child that, if placed in an incubator and properly cared for under today’s technology would live. I’d wonder, why make the choice to kill?

Now to me all life is sacred, from conception onward, but even if you’re a complete dolt, and can’t reason beyond the obvious, you have to see that this is nothing more than murder for the sake of murder.

More on this issue from the Pro-Life Action League and Priests for Life. A lot more screaming elsewhere.

Blogged with Flock

Media, Perspective

We don’t need no stinkin’

…badges.

There’s been some discussion recently about a ‘voluntary’ blogging code of conduct (I can get a badge and add more bling to my sidebars). Here’s a perspective from the Index on Censorship.

Now I’m all for manners and civility in the blogsphere. For me it comes down to this. If you want a civil blog, and your com-boxes to contain civil discourse, no badge or code is going to do it. You have to manage your blog. Isn’t that the thing that makes for a great blog, the writers involvment?

Sure, if you want to write a few tidbits here and there about your personal adventures that’s fine – for your and perhaps grandma’s reading enjoyment. But if you, in any way, choose to be serious, you’ll be involved. You’ll write on some sort of regular schedule, prune the comment spam (better yet, use Akismet), and monitor AND respond to your com-boxes.

What you say? You’re Arianna Huffington and you can’t manage the whole thing (we should all have this problem) by yourself. Well then, get yourself down to your local geek, writers, or politicians watering hole and hire a few folks to help you out.

Unfortunately it would appear that some desire cover, just in case they have to unceremoniously delete someone’s snarky commentary. Look, friend, I’m a member of the state, and we don’t put up with that, and because of our laws, I’ve got to delete you.

Uh, yeah. But only if you need a state (read any organized community) to act as cover for your lack of personal standards, courage, fortitude, or management ability.

Don’t you just hate it when a non-system evolves into a system?

anarchy symbol

Current Events, Perspective,

…and the proposed solutions would be wrong

All over the place, but this from Reuters: Gunman kills 32, self, in worst U.S. college massacre.

Gun control, people control,
parent beratting, immigrant rating,
liberal baiting, education failing,
fault of religion …or not.

If and until we all come to the conclusion that it is indeed the fault of each and every one of us, that it is our weakness and the dispossesion with which we regard each other that lies at the heart of such crimes, there will be no end in sight.

Our only hope lies in One who sees past what we are to what we can be.

Lord Jesus, grant them eternal rest.
Grant healing to all those affected.
Fill our hearts with contrition.
Have mercy on us in our sinfulness.
Do not delay any longer.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Media, Perspective,

Imus, Ima, Imum

A little Lingua Latina humor from my college days.

Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, fire every shock jock, talking head, conservative, liberal, doctor, or anyone with an opinion from every radio and television station. These people make my skin crawl.

People who listen to them fall into two categories.

  1. Those who need affirmation in their beliefs.
  2. Those who are looking to have their empty heads filled with something.

I grew-up listening to WKBW-AM radio in Buffalo. These guys had enough broadcasting wattage to reach Virginia. They had music, family safe humor, the news and weather. That’s what radio should be, even AM radio.

But its come to this, the airwaves filled with mindless blather by people who like to hear themselves talk – and get paid a lot for it. Need ratings? Blather. Need more ratings, insult someone.

On the Imus issue I found Al Roker’s commentary on the issue to be not all that enlightening – what else could he say – but I did find the com-boxes disturbing.

Why?

Because many of them touted out the old lines: “I’m not a racist but…” ; “I love you but…” ; “What he said is wrong, and I’m no racist, but…” ; “I have a lot of black friends, but…”

Everyone needed to couch their language and their commentary just in case someone might think ill of them.

I’d ask everyone there, everyone with a comment, how do you live? What do you do in your day to day in dealings with people? Are you fair, honest, and trustworthy? Do you treat everyone with dignity? Are you so unsure of your own actions and lifestyle as to apologize before you even begin talking?

It’s time to take a step back.

Live a life that exhibits dignity, and treat people with human dignity. That DOES NOT mean you have to agree with their lifestyle choices, or in any way support what they believe in. It simply means that you must accept and preserve their humanity before all people. It means that you see yourself in them, in their eyes, in their souls regardless of color, creed, orientation, or membership in a terrorist organization.

Yep, even the ‘bad guys.’ We torture them, we torture ourselves.

Folks like Mr. Imus never got that. No one has dignity, not his peeps, not even the reflection he sees in the mirror. That’s the sad part. No firing will fix that. Only grace can fix that.

God help us to see the humanity of all our brothers and sisters. Help us to see your reflection in them.

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