Fishwrap attacks Military Chaplains. ACTION ITEM!

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At the National Schismatic Reporter (aka Fishwrap) there is a mean-spirited and wrong-headed opinion piece by someone who is described as “an arborist and a member of the Ithaca, N.Y., Catholic Worker community”.   In this piece he says that the collection to be taken up in support of the Archdiocese for Military Services is really a “sign that the spirit of militarism and nationalism has spread apace in our church, at least among our bishops”.

?!?

Let’s see more of this:

The archdiocese, on the other hand, does everything it can to assure young soldiers that carrying out the works of war is what Jesus would want them to do. Catholic military chaplains do not burden tender consciences with questions about the grisly things they encounter in war. They fulfill the role of “force multiplier” that the Pentagon has for them. Many soldiers would not be able to continue being efficient warriors without the spiritual support of chaplains who counsel obedience to commanding officers. More than 1,000 Catholic soldiers have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, but the archdiocese does not know their names. It is not responsible for funerals that take place at the home parish.

Despite its growing influence in the bishops’ conference, the very existence of the military archdiocese hangs by the thread of the possibility of the existence of a just war. Amazingly, even when the bishops admitted the war with Iraq was unjust before the 2003 invasion, they did not cut that thread of just war. Most bishops quickly supported Catholic participation in the war to avoid even the appearance of being unpatriotic or not supportive of the troops.

What came to mind as I read the piece in Fishwrap is the image of a 1960’s hippy spitting on a soldier in an airport.

Fishwrap, reverting to 60’s type, at its most virulent tree-hugging reason-free flower-power mode.

Fishwrap is attacking Catholic chaplains and the Military Archdiocese, along with all the bishops who support the Archdiocese, warmongers.  Support of the Archdiocese is, in this twisted view, tantamount to support of war.  If there’s a war, you see, then we need the Archdiocese.  Hopefully there will be a war, so that we can keep the Archdiocese going.  People who support the Archdiocese really want war.

See how easy that was?  You didn’t know you were an evil warmonger, like the bishops and the chaplains and everyone who has ever enlisted.

“But Father! But Father!”, some of you with matted-hair will now be screaming, the writer is against having any military at all!  No military, no war, right?  No war, no death, right?  We’ll finally have love and peace everywhere!  When we get rid of the military, we’ll get rid of the need for the military!  See? Even the radical Muslims will recognize that we are nice. They will stop wanting to fight us all the time.  But if you have chaplains, then you are supporting troops, and soldiers make up the military, which is for, like, war, right?  That means if you support chaplains, you want war!  And you hate Vatican II!”

No military at all.  Uh huh.  What could possibly go wrong with that?  We could all just, like, smoke some hash and, you know, like, make love and play the guitar and stuff.  And then we’ll all be killed.  But, hey!  At least we’ll die high and with multiple STDs.  Pass the bong, please.

The collection to support the Archdiocese for Military Services is important.  I suggest that you send a donation when the collection is taken up in your parish.  I suggest that you also send a donation right now.

I support the Archdiocese for Military Services and I support Catholic chaplains and I support the bishops who support both because I hate war and the suffering it causes.  We should pour out our support for chaplains, and therefore all the troops and their dependents, with true generosity.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Dogs and Fleas, Liberals, Our Catholic Identity, The Drill, The future and our choices and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

53 Comments

  1. tcreek says:

    These Chesterton quotes come to mind.

    “War is not the best way of settling differences; it is the only way of preventing their being settled for you.”

    “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

  2. Sandy says:

    The AMS is a charity most dear to my heart, having three generations of my family who have benefited from chaplains. Of course that means the military is “in my blood”, and it is painful to see our people in uniform denigrated or attacked. I was hoping we were past that phase, having witnessed the 60’s. I will be sending the AMS a check as soon as I can! God bless you, Father Z for promoting this worthy cause!

  3. wlinden says:

    So their idea is, what, that all Catholics in the armed services should be ipso facto excommunicated?

  4. Frank H says:

    Interesting to note that Phyllis Zagano weighs in and DISAGREES with the opinion piece writer. Good for her!

    [Ahhhh Dear Phyllis. She has some odd ideas about women’s ordination and she doesn’t seen to like men very much, at least clerics. That said, I have to hand it to her: she is solid in defense of the unborn and in bio-ethical issues. I am glad to know of her support for military chaplains.]

  5. DisturbedMary says:

    Catholic Worker movement? I bet the arborist hasn’t ever had a job. Anyone who calls himself a “worker” is usually unemployed and not looking.

  6. “Despite its growing influence in the bishops’ conference, the very existence of the military archdiocese hangs by the thread of the possibility of the existence of a just war. ”
    Doesn’t the fishwrap know that there are Catholics in the military stationed on military bases even in times of peace that still need the spiritual support and the sacraments that a priest gives?

  7. mike_b says:

    This type of editorial comment is what passes for good Catholic commentary here in the Diocese of Rochester. Please pray that we may someday have a good and faithful Bishop.

  8. HeatherPA says:

    We were so! grateful! for the priests and the Masses on base, the religious ed. for the kids etc. while my husband served 20 years in the USMC. He just retired 6 mos ago. The bases are located mostly in the Southern USA where there is not a lot of Catholics or parishes and we would have been very hard pressed at times to find good spiritual guidance, confession, and the Mass of course.
    I wish these people would actually talk to military families before they write their crap sometimes. Sigh. Prayers for them as always…

  9. MAJ Tony says:

    Those who conflate nonviolence and “turn the other cheek” do so at their own (and societal) peril. Therein lies the problem with these folks.

  10. majuscule says:

    I can no longer stand it.

    I hope this isn’t an occasion of sin.

    I have started posting in the Fishwrap comments section.

    Direct, we beg you, O Lord, our actions by your holy inspirations, and carry them on by your gracious assistance, that every prayer and work of ours may begin always with you, and through you be happily ended. Amen.

  11. MAJ Tony says:

    @majuscule, you are not alone. Nice handle, btw.

  12. The Masked Chicken says:

    “Catholic Worker movement? I bet the arborist hasn’t ever had a job. Anyone who calls himself a “worker” is usually unemployed and not looking.”

    This is really rash judgment. My brother is a long-time member of the Catholic Worker movement and he is a college dean. You should research the movement. It is controversial, but Dorothy Day’s cause for sainthood is progressing.

    The Chicken

  13. Andrew says:

    Quid enim? Si percutere in gladio omnino fas non est Christiano, cur ergo praeco Salvatoris contentos fore suis stipendiis militibus indixit (Luc. III, 14); et non potius omnem eis militiam interdixit? (S. Bernardi Abbatis de Laude Novae Militiae ad Milites Templi Liber, cpt. III, 5)

    So what? If it is altogether illicit for Christians to strike with a sword, why then did the Savior’s precursor tell the soldiers to be content with their pay (Luk. 3:14); instead of forbidding all military service? (S. Bernard, Abbott)

  14. fin-tastic says:

    The hippies have a point here: Militarism inside the Church discourages serious reflection on the moral gravity of war. Militaristic sermons reinforce the assumption that the U.S. military is a force for good. That assumption is debatable! When priests replace serious reflection about mass violence with unchecked glorification of all things military, they fail in their duties as priests. That’s not an “attack.” It’s legitimate criticism. We need to have a dialogue about the appropriateness of militarism inside the Catholic Church. Toward that end, check out our manifesto at Catholics Against Militarism: http//catholicsagainstmilitarism.com/manifesto/ [Be sure to send a donation to the Archdiocese for Military Services.]

    Father Z seems to think that anyone who criticizes the military, militarism, or U.S. foreign policy is a troop-spitting, drugged-up, hippie-flowerchild. That is not true! [Neither is what you are writing, here.] The Founding Fathers viewed a standing army as one of the biggest threats to liberty. James Madison wrote, “Of all the enemies to public liberty war, is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.” Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler wrote, “War is a racket…It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many.” In 1961, Dwight Eisenhower warned that the military-industrial complex created the potential for “the disastrous rise of misplaced power.” Michael Scheuer, a CIA veteran who ran the Counterterrorist Center’s bin Laden station from 1996 to 1999, wrote, “The fundamental flaw in our thinking about Bin Laden is that ‘Muslims hate and attack us for what we are and think, rather than what we do’…It’s American foreign policy that enrages Osama and al-Qaeda, not American culture and society.” I am a former Marine, a veteran of the Iraq War, and a conservative/libertarian who agrees Father Z and his readers about most theological and political issues. When conservatives accuse war critics of “attacking” the troops, they’re no different than liberals who accuse welfare critics of “attacking” the poor.

    P.S. There is not a single verifiable instance of antiwar protestors “spitting” on troops returning from Vietnam. That’s an urban myth used to silence war critics. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2000/05/drooling_on_the_vietnam_vets.html [Because Slate is such a good source.]

  15. Phil_NL says:

    For 19 centuries, the de facto assumption of both the Church and society was that war was not by itself unjust, and that there were a wide range of causes that could compel governments to wage war. Only during the last century did both society and the church shift the burden of proof – or at least appeared to do so. This assumption that war is the greatest of all evils is an innovation that, so I fear, will bear ill fruits. Just how ill remains to be seen, though it’s becoming ever clearer that the world is too small to allow anarchy and terrorism-supporting states to continue to exist.

    Mark my words, we’re not nearly as militaristic as we should be.

  16. David Zampino says:

    God bless our military chaplains!

    I would love to see a world without war — but as long as fallen human nature exists, war will happen. “Coexistence” doesn’t work with evil. I’m reminded of the line from “The Return of the King”:

    “It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, Master Warden, and those who have not swords can still die upon them.”

  17. NancyP says:

    Fin-tastic,

    My husband was commissioned after the Vietnam War (his father served in that particular conflict). My husband has, indeed, been spit upon while in uniform. You may not believe these things ever happen to military members, but you are incorrect.

    Incidentally, he has been in the military for over 25 years and we have been to Mass hundreds of times at military base chapels. Never, ever have I heard a militaristic homily. I would not conclude from my personal experience that no priest in the history of the U. S. has ever preached a militaristic homily, of course, but the idea that somehow the existence of Catholic chaplains in our armed forces or the service of Catholics in those same armed forces is wrong or immoral seems absurd to me.

    It seems to me that we have no need of manifestos – those of us who do not wish to support the Archdiocese for Military Services can just refrain from contributing.

  18. Maltese says:

    ‘Muslims hate and attack us for what we are and think, rather than what we do’…It’s American foreign policy that enrages Osama and al-Qaeda, not American culture and society.”

    Quite true. OBL’s hideaway was full of porn, and he had a penchant for young ‘brides’. There is an undercurrent in the muslim world of pederasty, and pictures of young boys wearing makeup. Hypocrites–the ‘great satan’ is their centuries-old barbarism and depravity (muhammed had a nine year old ‘wife’, who he was content to consummate with.)

    I love the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller (much better than the movie, btw)–though pre-dating islam, it shows how the ancient persians only understood blood. Most radical muslims have, and will only ever, understand blood.

  19. TomG says:

    fin-tastic: Michael Scheuer, a CIA veteran who ran the Counterterrorist Center’s bin Laden station from 1996 to 1999, wrote, “The fundamental flaw in our thinking about Bin Laden is that ‘Muslims hate and attack us for what we are and think, rather than what we do’…It’s American foreign policy that enrages Osama and al-Qaeda, not American culture and society.”

    You are quite wrong. Sayyid Qutb, the guiding light of the Muslim Brotherhood, saw American culture and society as a GREAT problem (see his “Visit to America” and “Return to Egypt” on wikipedia). And Bin Laden was obsessed with revanchism ( as he saw it), specifically the retaking of “Andalusia” (Spain). America could have stayed home in the 90s and 2000s and we still would have been the focus of Islamist wrath. Our faulty “foreign policy” (our troops in Saudia Arabia , etc.) was just a pretext – and recruiting ploy!

  20. acardnal says:

    “Interesting to note that Phyllis Zagano weighs in and DISAGREES with the opinion piece writer. Good for her!”

    Zagano Watch!!

  21. Imrahil says:

    The writer does have a point here. (No, I’m not going to agree with the dear @fin-tastic, to whom I nevertheless say thank-you to give his opinion so that we heartily can disagree with it.)

    His point, which is in so far true, is that military chaplaincy “hangs by the thread” of the Just War doctrine. I say this because over here, the military chaiplancy is usually half-heartedly apologized for on the argument that it is only about taking pastoral care of soldiers – said with an undertone as if we were talking about something like special care for prostitutes, because “war is always evil” and so on and so on…

    I’m no expert, but I think a reason why so many soldiers who destroyed an enemy of their country in a just war return with PTSD is staring us in the face.

    Only this “thread” is a mountaineer’s rope. A soldier has a legitimate, honorful and quite challenging profession, and this in service of the fatherland.

  22. msc says:

    I’m going to side with Ss. (in no particular order) Martin of Tours, Alfred the Great, Agathius, Demetrius of Thessalonika, Florian, Gereon, Maurice, Ladislaus I, Theodore, the other Theodore, Procopius, Ignatius Loyola (I delayed his name since he did retire….), Vladimir of Kiev, Louis IX…. Yes, I know I omitted Joan, but I’m not sure the Church didn’t make a mistake there: God didn’t choose sides during the Hundred Years’ War. If no saint turned up to lead forces against Hitler, I doubt God sent one against Henry VI.

  23. acardnal says:

    The Holy See doesn’t seem to have any problem with military chaplains or bishops. After all, they created military vicariates, ordinariates and archdioceses! Some have been in existence for over a century. According to Wikipedia, the first military bishop appointment was in Austria in 1773.

    Support the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. A priest of the ordinariate Baptised me!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_ordinariate

  24. One of those TNCs says:

    I found the whole article in the Fishwrap to be very eye-opening and more disturbing than only the parts that Fr. Z quoted. Most of the people who wrote responses to this piece seem to “get” what the Chaplains offer, and what soldiers need, better than the author of the article.

    It’s well-worth going there to read: http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/bishops-support-wars-underpins-collection-military-archdiocese

    With “friends” like these, who needs enemies?!

  25. Priam1184 says:

    @The Chicken can you please explain the Catholic Worker movement to me, or provide a link to an explanation, because most of what I have heard coming out of the Catholic Worker people I have encountered sounds a whole lot like this arborist, and tends to be typical left wing clap trap about phony ‘justice’ that has little to do with anything that I have come to know of the Church and its Teaching.

    With regard to the articles content my opinion goes something like this: war sucks; but it seems to be as natural a part of the life of fallen man as breathing, and won’t be abolished until Jesus Christ returns to sit in his Judgement Seat. Until that day comes any attempt to remove war from the human experience by our own means alone will almost certainly lead to more and not less of it.

  26. Darren says:

    “Catholic Worker community”? Sounds awfully communist to me.

    A good youngish priest left my parish earlier this year to become a US Navy Chaplain. I support them 310%.

  27. yatzer says:

    Military chaplains does not mean militaristic chaplains. How else can they have access to the Mass or other sacraments? The folks in the military have need of these chaplains not only when deployed, but also to cope with the distinct trials of military life when on base or at home. It is tough to be away from home in a different culture where the only familiar thing may be alcohol. Then there is being gone when serious stuff happens at home. Our military people are not automatons. I plan to give generously and would not miss this particular collection for the world.

  28. Imrahil says:

    Dear @msc, I agree.

    Interesting point about St. Joan. If her revelations were genuine, God did choose sides in the Hundred Years War – for the legitimate king against the illegitimate one, for native against the foreigner (though I agree England, especially in its aristocracy, was still French to a degree), for the preservation of the Catholic Faith in France (or so it would seem), and altogether for whatever reasons He has in his Counsel.

    As for World War II, I’m convinced that God sent St. (to be) Pius XII to do his best… the effect of the (papal, not episcopal) consecration of Russia to Mary has also not been unnoted. In addition, there was Colonel von Stauffenberg, a believing Catholic who, it is told, wore a scapular whose heroic deed, alas, would probably have been rejected even by the Western Allied had it been successful. And of course, Stalin is not one whom we really would see as the very representant of the just cause, even though his cause against Hitler was just.

  29. Jack says:

    Apparently only members of the Catholic Workers Movement are entitled to receive spiritual care from the Church. Sorry, I thought the Church was to make herself available to ALL.

    One argument not investigated is the thought that, perhaps, with the availability of chaplains, military members might make more ethical decisions in their conduct than they might make otherwise. Rather than viewing chaplains as somehow brainwashing the troops to obtain a militaristic result for their politicians, they may actually be sowing the seeds of conscience and reasonableness that might otherwise be lost. Just a thought based on experience.

  30. Rachel K says:

    I’m assuming that “arborist” is Latin for “tree-hugger”!

  31. OrthodoxChick says:

    Priam1184,

    I won’t presume to answer for Chicken, but I can give you a link to some info re: the Catholic Worker movement.

    http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/daytext.cfm?TextID=182

    I had an older cousin (deceased a few years ago) who was a priest in the Diocese of Worcester. He was very involved with the Mustard Seed, which is a worker house in Worcester, Mass. He was very devoted to the rosary and devoted to the people in the Mustard Seed. I know that that particular worker house serves people who are addicted to various substances and to those who are poor, among others. The few people whom I have met who benefitted from the care they received at the Mustard Seed have been very grateful for it and appreciative that it was there for them in their time of need. A few told me they were also grateful to my cousin for serving their spiritual needs.

    As far as I know, Worker houses are like most every N.O. parish in the U.S. today. In each, you will find the usual blend of liberals and conservatives; those who support the Magisterium and those who rally against it. There are spats and tiffs, some quite volatile, as in any family. What seems to unite them is their prayer and service to each other as well as to any newcomers to the house. Therefore, I can see why Chicken would advise that we not rush to judgement. It might seem at first glance to be a movement of the radical left, but conservatives are in there too. And the Worker House could function as a model for any hard-identity Catholics who wish to begin one.

  32. SKAY says:

    NancyP
    We were a navy family during the Vietnam War years. I agree with your comment. Interesting how the left would like to change history–and those of us who lived through that time need to call them on it. I do know that those traveling from our area were told not to travel in uniform because of exactly what you pointed out.

    Thank you for the post Father Z.

  33. tcreek says:

    “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.” — John Stuart Mill

  34. msc says:

    Imrahil: to continue in a friendly vein, by the standards of the middle ages, Henry VI’s claim was as legitimate as anyone’s, and at the time England was still proudly Catholic.
    An as aside, as a person of predominantly British ancestry, I get a bit annoyed at how forgotten and ignored the Church in Britain is. Even in as heavily British a place as where I live, more churches are named for Italian than British saints and it’s hard to find a city of any size without a St. Patrick’s, but where are Ss. George, David, Andrew, Margaret, Ninian, Columba, Cuthbert, Ethelred, etc.? Yes, that’s the Italian and Irish domination of the Church over much of North America, but shouldn’t the church also reflect the cultures of its followers?

  35. Joe in Canada says:

    But when all is said and done, I get the impression that there is a strong wing of the American Church that judges the justness of a war by whether America wants it, rather than whether the Church blesses it. [?!?] Patriotism – as represented in the jingo “my country right or wrong” – is an important virtue, but limited by the fact that our true homeland is elsewhere.

  36. Mojoron says:

    “catholic workers” should tell you something right away.

  37. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Suppose they gave a war and…
    only the Nazi Non-Agression Treaty brothers came from the West and the Soviet Non-Agression Treaty brothers came from the East… Oh, wait, the Fifth Partition of Poland was the result, with Katyn Forest, Auschwitz, etc., etc. following on…

    Or are we to suppose if only the – ‘evil’? – ‘misguided’? – Poles has not foolishly tried to offer ‘militaristic’ resistance – or must we say. ‘agression’? – everything would have been fine? Was it Polish “foreign policy that enrage[d]” Hitler and Stalin? “The fundamental flaw in [Polish] thinking about [Hitler and Stalin…] that [Nazis and Communists] attack[ed… the Poles] for what they” did?

  38. twele923 says:

    Fr. Z, could you please write a post soon considering whether, in the 21st century, with our modern weaponry and tactics, a “just war” that satisfactorily meets all criteria is even possible anymore?

  39. Bob B. says:

    When I went through SF International on the way back from Vietnam there was a young woman (hippie-type) that ask if I was a baby-killer. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was literally racing to catch a plane, I would have had a few words with her and her male companion. I did, however, give her the universal single-digit salute as I raced away (I guess I forgot to mention that in Confession later, sorry).
    The military priests were (and are) truly God-sends. What they must have heard and where they always managed to show up when the action got going is a tribute to their compassion and devotion to the troops. To think that they would ever condone or overlook the horrors of war is ludicrous.

  40. Imrahil says:

    Dear @msc, thanks for your friendly answer. What I said might be hard on a Britishman or a man of British ancestry, and please forgive that.

    The thing is, we have a canonized saint here who claimed to have revelations about God (or the saints and angels, I don’t particularly know that now) who told her not to live morally, love God and go to Church (though that also), nor to become a nun (and that entirely not), but to take up weapons and fight the English king.

    All the while when England was, up to and including the first years of Henry VIII, perhaps the stauchestly Catholic country in all the world (I heard something to that effect).

    But I do consider the claim illegitimate. The Salian Law, which was unquestioned before the War, said unmistakably both that the Valois would get France, and that the English would get most of France in fief.

    And considering France keeping the Catholic Faith, I was assuming that God actually spoke to St. Joan (which I don’t ask you to do – it suffices for the Catholic to believe she is in Heaven), and He is of course not bound to the knowledge of the then-present.

    Agreements to your aside.

  41. Priam1184 says:

    Thank you OrthodoxChick. I confess that experience has taught me to instinctively mistrust any organization that uses the word ‘worker’ in its title, and the few encounters (mostly reading articles by or listening to interviews with) members of the Catholic Worker movement haven’t improved my impression. Thank you for the link. I have always thought that the way to set our world on a better course would be a large Catholic organization that was liturgically correct, offered the Mass in the ancient Rite of the Church, was loyal to the Holy Father, followed the Magisterium to the letter, had a sincere devotion to the Blessed Mother, and also went out into the streets to take care of the drug addicts, the unwanted children, the gangbangers, the unemployed, the homeless, the lost, and the just plain miserable and bring them to Christ and his Church. This is what we did of old and it really did change the world because we were following the example of Our Lord. Maybe this isn’t the hour, but that hour will come I think. In any case we can pray for it.

  42. NancyP says:

    Joe in Canada,

    As someone who has been married to the U. S. military for a very long time, and who has lived in four different states (as well as a couple of other countries), I must respectfully disagree with your statement. I have actually not seen the Church “bless” a war in which the U. S. has been involved since my husband was commissioned, nor have I seen priests or bishops enthusiastically support U. S. involvement in any military conflict during the same period. (See my comment above.) We have attended Mass in dozens of cities around the U. S., Canada and Europe, and I’ve not seen or heard evidence of jingoism from any of the presiding priests. If the topic of war comes up in a homily, the emphasis has always been that war is to be avoided at all possible costs.

    What I have seen, instead, is an insistence by nearly all the military chaplains I have known that their mission is to minister to the troops and their families, to offer moral guidance (not support, guidance) and to be there for the servicemembers and their families during the most difficult times of their lives…such as when the CACO (the officer who notifies family members of deaths and injuries) must knock on a husband’s or wife’s door to deliver the worst possible news. (I have actually been on one of those calls, and I will never, ever forget the searing anguish of that moment of realization.) Our military chaplains need our support. Their jobs are very, very difficult.

  43. Elizium23 says:

    Priam, the Knights of Columbus do pretty well for ourselves. I’d invite you to check us out. We’re not attached to any particular Form of the Roman Rite; sorry if that is a disappointment for you, but it’s not a deal-breaker for anyone in the Order. In fact, my diocese’s FSSP parish recently founded a Council.

  44. samgr says:

    MSC, here in the Diocese of Trenton we have a church dedicated to St. George. Of course, it’s in Washington’s Crossing and I fear that it’s name is an allusion to the former British officer who led Continental troops across the Delaware on a stormy Christmas night on the way to defeat the British-paid troops who had captured the future capital of New Jersey.

  45. JonPatrick says:

    In our former Diocese of Worcester (MA) there are churches named for St. Edward the Confessor and St. Richard of Chichester, to mention 2 named after British saints.

  46. OrthodoxChick says:

    Priam1184,

    I completely agree. As best as I can figure it, it does seem as though many worker houses have been taken over by an element of the radical left present in the church and exacerbated during the turbulent 60’s. But though they are probably a minority, there are some hard-identity Catholics who volunteer their time and talent in such houses anyway. I haven’t studied the philosophy of Dorothy Day greatly in-depth, but it seems to me that there are at least a few areas in the worker house movement of today where it seems to have departed from the original model envisioned by Dorothy Day. Still, there’s nothing precluding any hard-identity Catholics from adapting the original model and employing it alongside the traditional teaching and devotions of the Magisterium as you outlined them in your comment above.

  47. Emsley says:

    Things are pretty crazy out here in Ithaca. But it was announced today that Salvatore Matano, currently bishop of Burlington, Vermont, will be the new bishop for our diocese (Rochester)! Please pray for him. He has a tough job ahead of him.

  48. Sonshine135 says:

    This type of attack is simply cruel. Even if you believe that the wars America is fighting are unjust, why would anyone deny a military member access to a Chaplain? Would they not, even in this twisted and looney logic, be precisely the targeted audience for Jesus’ message? This is simply unadulterated hate for men and women in uniform. No more thought should even be directed towards such talk.

    Please support the Priests in the Military Archdiocese. They are exceptionally adept at understanding the specific needs of our brothers and sisters in the armed services.

  49. Pingback: Catholic Military Chaplaincy: War-Mongering Or Christlike Service? | Acton PowerBlog

  50. av8er says:

    I am being involuntary mobilized to a hot part of the world in 2 months. 3 days after Christmas. Thank God for military chaplains! If there was one thing that connects me to home and my family is the Mass. The best day in boot camp over 23 years ago was Sunday when we were allowed to go to Mass. They are a source of counseling in the military if one does not want to seek a medical counselor. The services they provide are enormous. I am looking forward to see how I can help the base Padre when I get there.

    Our leadership in DC are who authorize military action in other countries for whatever reason, why attack the chaplains? Even Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines need the Mass and the sacraments.

  51. Cantor says:

    A proposal to call for dropping the annual collection on behalf of the US Military Archdiocese was dropped even by the Association of US Catholic Priests! Just how far off the rails has NsR flown?!

  52. Priam1184 says:

    Thanks for the heads up Elizium23.

  53. fin-tastic says:

    I try to avoid commenting more than once per post, but I can’t resist.

    I think all of you should consider the possibility that you’re completely wrong about foreign policy. The U.S. government has a long history intervening in places where the U.S. has no legitimate national interests; causing bigger problems than it solves; creating and provoking enemies; succumbing to excessive influence from the military-industrial complex; deceiving the American public with lies, exaggerations, false-flag operations, propaganda, and censorship; and showing depraved indifference for the well-being of soldiers and civilians.

    No foreign power has ever posed a legitimate threat to America’s way of life. Governments go to war to assert, legitimize, and expand their authority over their subject populations—and to make fortunes for banks, defense contractors, and other special interests. In the immortal words of historian Randolphe Borne, “War is the health of the State.” Everything that conservatives hate about Big Government—the welfare state, the police state, paper money, the income tax, central banking, the destruction of civil society, a subservient, dependent population of State-worshipping “sheeple”—is a byproduct of war. War has bankrupted the U.S. government, destroyed America’s soul, and turned a constitutional republic into statist Empire. When the government followed the foreign policy of non-interventionism established by the Founding Fathers, Americans were free, prosperous, and admired around the world. After 80 years of trying to be world superhero, Americans are broke, oppressed, and hated around the world.

    It’s natural to feel sympathy, admiration, and appreciation for the troops. Nobody wants to believe they suffer and die for nothing. But that’s the unpleasant truth. “Hero worship” only encourages more young people to sacrifice their bodies, lives, and possibly their souls at the unholy altar of the State.

    I’ll close with a quote from the movie The Americanization of Emily:

    “We should never end war by blaming it on ministers and generals or warmongering imperialists or all the other banal bogeys. It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals and name boulevards after those ministers—the rest of us who make heroes out of our dead and shrines of our battlefields. We wear our widows’ weaves like nuns, and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifices. It may be ministers and generals who blunder us into wars, but the least the rest of us can do is to resist honoring the institution.”

    If you wish to read some alternative interpretations of U.S. history, here is a list of books written by CONSERVATIVES that criticize America’s interventionist foreign policy:

    A Republic, Not an Empire—Pat Buchanan
    A Foreign Policy of Freedom—Ron Paul
    Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement—Justin Raimondo
    Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government—Robert Higgs
    War Is a Racket – U.S. Marine Major General Smedley Butler
    The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I—Thomas Fleming
    Great Wars and Great Leaders: A Libertarian Rebuttal—Ralph Raico

    [None of this is relevant. We support Catholic Chaplains who serve our Catholic troops and their dependents. Donate generously to the Archdiocese for Military Services.]

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