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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, 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.

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.

Christian Witness, Perspective, Political

Raise your voices, cry onto the Lord

Roe v. Wade – the march of death goes on. So raise your voices today and every day.

Lord have mercy on us and on our nation for we have sinned grievously.

It’s not just abortion, but our wanton rush toward death as an answer for every problem. War, put ’em out of their misery (especially those without a voice such as handicapped children and the mentally retarded), euthanasia, the death penalty, war again. It is the Pandora’s box of death.

Beseeching the Lord to save oneself or those one loves was not enough. Now we must pray, O man, kill me and my kin. Lead me into the grave and shut the door – there is no more.

So we pray, march, and witness. O Lord, save us and have mercy.

There’s some great stuff out in the blogsphere on this. Fr. Jim Tucker covers it well in Abortion and Freedom.

Perspective, Political

I hope someone asks

The networks were chasing after Hillary Clinton for her response to the State of the Union. As she runs for President I hope someone gets the nerve to ask, during one of these interviews:

When you, your husband, and your staff were pillaging and vandalizing the White House, just before you left Washington, did you ever say to yourself: Hey, it’s not my property, and you know, I might want to move back in someday?

Perspective, Political

State of the Union

I like President Jim Webb – oops, I mean Senator. He had the best line of the night (full transcript at the NY Times):

Regarding the economic imbalance in our country, I am reminded of the situation President Theodore Roosevelt faced in the early days of the 20th century. America was then, as now, drifting apart along class lines. The so-called robber barons were unapologetically raking in a huge percentage of the national wealth. The dispossessed workers at the bottom were threatening revolt.

Roosevelt spoke strongly against these divisions. He told his fellow Republicans that they must set themselves “as resolutely against improper corporate influence on the one hand as against demagogy and mob rule on the other.” And he did something about it.

As I look at Iraq, I recall the words of former general and soon-to-be President Dwight Eisenhower during the dark days of the Korean War, which had fallen into a bloody stalemate. “When comes the end?” asked the General who had commanded our forces in Europe during World War Two. And as soon as he became President, he brought the Korean War to an end.

These Presidents took the right kind of action, for the benefit of the American people and for the health of our relations around the world. Tonight we are calling on this President to take similar action, in both areas. If he does, we will join him. If he does not, we will be showing him the way.

As to the President’s message, two major problems jumped right into my mind.

First, taxing my health insurance benefits, then giving me a tax break that won’t even come close to covering the value of the plan I am enrolled in. All this so a transference of wealth can take place. Once again the middle class, who has worked its way up to the position and benefits they have (some kind of false American ideal, hard work and all that) will get less and pay more. I don’t think I voted socialist… Can somebody clue me in?

Second, Iraq. What can I say? The most disingenuous line was (full transcript at the NY Times):

This is not the fight we entered in Iraq, but it is the fight we’re in.

Oh, but it is. It is the exact fight the President set-up. We got exactly what was predicted by all the advisers who said ‘send more troops.’ Who cares what Sec. Rumsfeld thought about the military, small, lean, fast and all that. The buck stops at the President’s desk. He should have listed to the military experts, not his ‘ole buddy.

He still doesn’t get it, it never was about Iraq, but about terrorism. He missed the boat and has put us all in far greater danger from terrorism, debt, and a wasted cadre of young men and women.

Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, Political

Miscellaneous

PNCC

Adam has a link to pictures from the November 30th Consecrations of four PNCC bishops. Note that the linked site is commercial.

Church and school closings:

Our PNCC seminarian and soon to be cleric, Adam has a post regarding closures in the Diocese of Scranton. See A Sad Situation… He rightly points out that the PNCC, a Church established along democratic lines, develops solutions to pressing issues in a manner that better serves its constituents.

In the same vein, at least one R.C. Bishop is taking first steps in recognizing the democracy and Church can co-exist. See In southern NJ, Roman Catholic churches preparing to consolidate from Newsday. Here’s an excerpt:

Unlike many, though, the bishop is leaving it largely up to lay people to figure out how the church should be reorganized.

Bishop Joseph Galante on Thursday announced a process that will shake up the configuration of churches that serve an estimated 500,000 Catholics in six southern New Jersey counties.

He envisions some parish churches and Catholic schools being closed, some churches sharing priests and perhaps some new churches and schools being planned in growing communities.

Committees from groups of parishes and schools are being formed to work out the plans. Galante said he would make the final decisions.

Anglicans Making Sense?

From the Guardian: Church of Ireland head wants end to ban on Catholic monarchs

Turkish PM – getting it right?

The BBC is reporting that prominent Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink has been shot dead. See Turkish-Armenian writer shot dead. Amazingly, the Turkish PM has condemned the killing as an affront to democracy.

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the killing and said two suspects had been arrested.

“A bullet has been fired at democracy and freedom of expression,” Mr Erdogan told a hastily convened news conference.

The attack on Hrant Dink was an attack on Turkey and on Turkish unity and stability, Mr Erdogan said, vowing that the “dark hands” behind the killing would be brought to justice.

Hopefully he really believes this and will move to overturn the Turkish Identity Law which prosecutes anyone who exercises freedom of speech and conscience.

Dink, 53, was found guilty more than a year ago of insulting Turkish identity after he wrote an article which addressed the mass killings of Ottoman Armenians nine decades ago.

…

Dink was among dozens of writers in Turkey who have been charged under 301 of Turkey’s penal code with insulting Turkish identity, often for articles dealing with the killing of Kurds and Ottoman Armenians.

Current Events, Perspective

Shoes a droppin’

From the Buffalo News: Catholic Charities sets goal of $11 million: Campaign facing added challenges

Amid growing anxiety about the future of Catholic schools and parishes, Bishop Edward U. Kmiec announced Wednesday that the Diocese of Buffalo will try to raise $11 million for Catholic Charities services and various diocesan programs.

No problem there. Catholic Charities does lots of great work in the Buffalo area.

Kmiec and campaign organizers acknowledged that they face an additional challenge in this year’s fundraising.

…

School closings are expected to be announced later this month, and an initial round of parish mergers, consolidations and closings is slated to be made public in February.

The plans are part of a restructuring process, known as “Journey in Faith and Grace,” that began in 2005. In some parts of the diocese, the process has heightened emotions and anxiety among many Catholics.

A problem for sure, but not something people have been unaware of. But wait, the process of self-destruction begins now.

David Uba, chairman of the 2007 appeal, said the campaign and the diocese’s restructuring efforts are “two separate issues.”

People continue to need Catholic Charities, regardless of whether there are fewer parishes and schools in the future, Uba said.

…

“What we really want to emphasize is, “We’re service-oriented and the need is there,’ ” said the Rev. Joseph J. Sicari, diocesan director of Catholic Charities.

Actually no. That’s the problem with Catholic social services, they separate Catholic from charity. They are ‘Catholic Charities’ in name only (it’s a fundraising trick). The underlying message, at least as conveyed by Mr. Uba, is that people need charity, not Jesus. People will pick up on this.

The Church, at a minimum, should understand that you can’t compartmentalize your efforts. These are not separate ‘goods.’ Good is a totality, starting with Jesus Christ, through His salvation, to service flowing from Him.

Now for the other shoe:

The diocese, which has a $2.1 million budget deficit this year, will set aside a greater percentage of the 2007 appeal funds for its own operations than it had in previous years.

About $6.4 million of the $11 million goal – down from $6.6 million in 2006 – will go toward the operating budget of Catholic Charities, which serves about 180,000 people per year at 56 sites in eight counties.

The rest – $4.6 million, up from $4.3 million in 2006 – is earmarked for the Bishop’s Fund for the Faith, which helps pay for diocesan programs, such as seminary training, the diocesan retreat house and subsidies for central city parishes and schools.

Again with the business model. Budget deficits, closings, restructuring, fancy titles of journeying in faith… I take it that some of these folks were sick on the day they studied logic in seminary.

“We’re service-oriented and the need is there” so were re-balancing and focusing more on deficit reduction over direct aid. We’ll reduce Catholic Charities programs by $200,000, up the ante by $100,000 and put the combined total of $300,000 into Diocesan operations – instead of ‘Catholic Charities.’

We’re going to put the money into seminary training (for the – how many men studying for the priesthood?), a retreat house (vacations not vocations), and subsidies for city parishes and schools which will be — CLOSING.

Try to sell that one to the pockets in the pews.

Current Events, Perspective, Political

Diplomacy and the Vietnamization of Iraq

So the United States decides to take out another country’s consulate. It’s probably not surprising, seeing that international rules most nation-states have lived by for decades, if not centuries, are meaningless to the Bush Administration.

Geneva conventions? We’ll re-write them the way we see fit.
Inviolability of another nation’s embassies and consulates? Nah, forget it.

Now I’m not saying that the raid will not produce some damning evidence of Iranian interference in Iraq. It probably will. But that’s not the point. We lived for decades with Russian, Chinese, and Israeli spies in the heart of Washington and NY City. For some strange reason we could live within the bounds of international law through the whole Cold War, when every major city had a thermonuclear target painted on it. Why can’t we live by those rules now?

The reason is this. We have an Administration that is bent of dragging the entire region into its version of the apocalypse. What we’ll get is just a bloodier version of Apocalypse Now (by the way, based on Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad – i.e., Teodor Józef Konrad Korzeniowski).

Do they really think that they can relive Vietnam and ‘win’ this time? The parallels are pretty evident, Iran as Cambodia, Syria as Laos, the domino theory.

Here’s the synopsis of the days events from the NYT. 5 Iranians Detained at Consular Office

American forces backed by helicopters raided the Iranian consulate in the mainly Kurdish city of Erbil in northern Iraq before dawn today, detaining at least five Iranian employees in the building and seizing some property, according to Iraqi and Iranian officials and witnesses.

Kurdish forces were in control of the consulate building when a reporter went there after the raid. There was broken glass on the pavement outside the building, and no sign of the Iranian flag.

A statement from the United States military today did not mention the Iranian consulate specifically, saying only that six people were taken into custody in —routine security operations— in the Erbil area. Other than saying they were —suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraqi and Coalition forces on Jan. 11,— the statement did not say who the people were.

But the American statement did warn that —the Coalition will continue to work with the Government of Iraq to prevent interference by hostile actors in Iraq’s internal security affairs.—

Statements by the Iranian government were more explicit. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said that United States forces arrested five Iranian staff members at the consulate early this morning, and confiscated computers and documents.

The Iranian embassy in Baghdad has sent a letter of protest to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Mr. Hosseini told the IRNA news agency.

A statement issued by the presidency office in Kurdistan said the American forces were backed by helicopters.

Noting that the consulate was protected by international agreement and that the regions under Kurdish control have been fairly calm, the statement said the raid —does not help the efforts to bring peace, stability and security to the rest of Iraq.—

The statement suggested that the raid was an unwelcome surprise to the Kurdish authorities. —It is better to inform the Kurdistan government before taking actions against anybody,— it said.

…

Mr. Hosseini, the Iranian spokesman, also reacted sharply to the speech Mr. Bush gave last night about Iraq, telling the news agency that the dispatch of more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq was intended to prolong the United States occupation, and that it would increase insecurity and tension.

Referring to Mr. Bush’s accusations that Iran and Syria were interfering in Iraq’s domestic affairs, Mr. Hosseini said that Washington was seeking —pretexts for its failed policies— in Iraq.

IRNA also quoted an Iraqi Kurdish security official, whom it did not name, as saying that Kurdish forces were responsible for maintaining security in Erbil, including protecting the consulate. American forces —disarmed the Kurdish guards of the consulate and used force to enter the building,— IRNA quoted the Kurdish official as saying.

Secretary of the War State, Condoleezza Rice was exceedingly blunt in testimony before Congress:

The US stepped up pressure on Iran Thursday with the secretary of state warning that Washington will not stand “idly by” if Tehran disrupts a new strategy to stabilize Iraq hours after US troops raided an Iranian government office in Irbil. Condoleezza Rice faced a fierce grilling by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee over the plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq and President George W. Bush’s warning that US soldiers would tackle Iranian and Syrian elements there.

Rice declined repeatedly to rule out US military action against Iran.

“I don’t want to speculate on what operations the United States may be engaged in, but you will see that the United States is not going to simply stand idly by and let these activities continue,” she said.

Rice defended the Gulf military deployments as necessary to assure US allies they “have the defense capacity that they need against a growing Iranian military buildup.”

She also said Bush in his speech was referring to taking action against Iranian and Syrian operatives inside Iraq.

“Obviously, the president isn’t going to rule anything out to protect our troops, but the plan is to take down these networks in Iraq,” she said.

No, he won’t rule out anything, because ruling things out takes judgment, something sorely lacking in this administration.

In her testimony, Rice also reaffirmed the Bush administration’s refusal to open a dialogue with Iran on stabilizing Iraq, as strongly recommended last year by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group and many foreign-policy experts.

She said Iran would seek in any such talks to obtain concessions in the standoff over its nuclear program in exchange for help in Iraq. “That’s not diplomacy, that’s extortion,” she said.

Rice insisted that Bush’s revised strategy would put more pressure on Iraqis to take over their own security, vital to any eventual US military pullback.

She also defended the reliance of the Bush administration on the much-derided government of Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki, which has failed to satisfy past US demands for robust action.

“I think he knows that his government is, in a sense, on borrowed time,” she said…

Threats – those help. He’s bad, he’s good, he’s I don’t know… You’ve just pushed the Iraqi Premier closer to Shiite terrorists and radicals.

[Senator Joe] Biden said that Americans’ prayers for a workable strategy had not been answered.

“I believe the president’s strategy is not a solution, Secretary Rice. I believe it’s a tragic mistake,” Biden said.

Yep. He and 70+% of the American public.

In response to our actions, the war is coming to us tit-for-tat (and that didn’t take long). See: Blast rips through U.S. embassy compound in Athens

ATHENS (Reuters) – An explosion ripped through the U.S. embassy compound in central Athens on Friday, a police source said.

It was not clear what caused the blast and there was no immediate word on whether there were any casualties.

Police cordoned off all roads around the embassy.

Police officials at the scene said that whatever caused the explosion damaged the official embassy sign outside the mission, but there was little other indication of the extent of damage inside.

Syria and Iran will pull Israel in and U.S. interests will be hit. People will feel less secure, the police state will grow…

I pray not. Let’s go Congress and God have mercy on us all.

Current Events, Perspective, Political

News Analysis?

From the NY Times: Bush’s Strategy for Iraq Risks Confrontations

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 —” By stepping up the American military presence in Iraq, President Bush is not only inviting an epic clash with the Democrats who run Capitol Hill. He is ignoring the results of the November elections, rejecting the central thrust of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group and flouting the advice of some of his own generals, as well as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq.

The obvious…

In so doing, Mr. Bush is taking a calculated gamble that no matter how much hue and cry his new strategy may provoke, in the end the American people will give him more time to turn around the war in Iraq and Congress will not have the political nerve to thwart him by cutting off money for the war.

Don’t you just hate it when the truth smacks you in the face. Our leaders have no courage, our king has no clothes. Still, we must pray and witness.

The plan, outlined by the president in stark, simple tones in a 20-minute speech from the White House library, is vintage George Bush —” in the eyes of admirers, resolute and principled; in the eyes of critics, bull-headed, even delusional, about the prospects for success in Iraq. It is the latest evidence that the president is convinced that he is right and that history will vindicate him, even if that vindication comes long after he is gone from the Oval Office…

Now where was I? Step 1, Put the steak through the meat grinder. Step 2, Re-create the cow. Thank you Dr. Frankenstein*.

—It’s more than a risk, it’s a riverboat gamble,— said Leon E. Panetta, a Democratic member of the Iraq Study Group and former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. —There’s no question that under our system he’s going to be able to deploy these troops without Congress being able to stop him. But he’s going to face so many battles over these next few months, on funding for the war, on every decision he makes, that he’s basically taking the nation into another nightmare of conflict over a war that no one sees any end to.—

And whose consequences we will live with well into the future.

I think the NY Times is stretching the analysis angle. I know that they’ve got to make it fit the format, but perhaps they should add a new section – pointing out the obvious.

*Stay tuned for the movie. Gene Wilder as George Bush, Marty Feldman as Ey-gor, I mean the Vice-president, and Cloris Leachman as Frau Rice.

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