One step forward…

Posted on 4 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

… two steps back!

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Why A Religious Model for the State Is Not Good

Posted on 4 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

GIVE BACK THAT PENAsk everybody and they’ll all agree it’s a good thing priests don’t run the world.

I agree with this view.

I also believe it’s even better that members of religious orders don’t run the world, whether they are Sisters of Mercy or, lemme think, Jesuits … or some other kind of religious.

Why?

Religious don’t live in the real world.

Don’t get me wrong; I believe firmly that many religious do alot of good for the world, but they don’t live in it.

Sure there are exceptions of savvy religious who know the score, especially those who may have had a career before entering religious life.  But in general, religious formed in community don’t live in the real world.

For example, unlike diocesan priests, individual religious don’t pay income taxes. Religious don’t worry about unemployment, health care, food, housing and nursing care when they are aged, or the cost of their funerals. Their religious communities take care of all that. Religious contribute all of what little (or in some cases much) money they earn from their apostolates into a common fund that is administered by their superiors. That common fund takes care of the needs of all community members.

That’s why I get a little edgy hearing religious talking about social justice, universal health care and other federal mandates and entitlements.

The idea that religious have of the state is far too analogous to that of a religious community.

Time and time again religious who pronounce themselves on social issues demonstrate that they think of nation-states, such as the USA, in religious terms.  Nation-states are their communities writ large, in which everybody helps everybody else, and in which goods are distributed not on the basis of property rights, but instead, as in the Acts of the Apostles, “distribution is made to each according to his need” (Acts 4:35).

According to this model, wealthy Americans should “pay their fair share” in federal and state income taxes in order to help those who are poor.

I happen to agree with that sentiment.

The wealthy should help the poor. Jesus taught that. The Church Fathers taught that long before modern popes wrote encyclicals (just read St. John Chrysostom or St. Augustine of Hippo).

But what Jesus, the Acts of the Apostles and the Church Fathers all had in common in this regard is that they were talking about voluntary charity. They were not talking about the state.

The state is a modern institution and it is based upon coercion.

If you don’t believe that, go and break a law and see what happens to you.

The power of the state may in some places derive from the consent of the governed, but in no place do individual members or even the majority, consent to each and every act of the state.

If you don’t believe that, try stopping an abortion and see what happens to you.

When the government collects income taxes, it is not passing the basket at church, asking you to perform a voluntary act of charity (pace William Buffett): it is seizing your property. If you don’t hand over your property, the state will garnish your wages and/or confiscate and sell your house and goods. It may also put you in prison.

Where’s the voluntary in that?

In the national conversation Americans are currently having over the federal government takeover of health care, what gets obscured is the distinction between the public sector and the voluntary sector, that is, between the state and the Church.

It’s the role of members of any church to practice charity.  The state’s role in our lives is, with our consent, coercive.  But its coercive power should be limited.

If you allow the distinction between the political and religious spheres to be blurred, and if you begin romantically to think of the state as a kind of big religious community, you will end up thinking just like Mussolini: the state should own everything and provide you with all your needs.

When religious behave like this we call them a community.

When states behave like this we call them fascist.

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Posted in Dogs and Fleas, The Drill, The future and our choices, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
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Of apologies and of double-standards

Posted on 3 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

We know that there are two sets of rules, one set for liberals and another for conservatives.

I read that Rush Limbaugh apologized for what he called the activist from Georgetown who wants taxpayers to pay for her contraceptives.

I am sure that Nancy Pelosi will now apologize to other members of the House whom she accused of trying to kill women.

I am certain that liberals will now abandon their double-standard in a spirit of civility and fairness.

Posted in The Drill | Tagged
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WDTPRS: 2nd Sunday of Lent – our new spiritual view

Posted on 3 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

WDTPRS: 2nd Sunday of Lent - our new spiritual viewHere is the Collect of the 2nd Sunday of Lent, a new composition for the Novus Ordo based on a precedent in the Liber Mozarabicus Sacramentorum.:

Deus, qui nobis dilectum Filium tuum audire praecepisti,
verbo tuo interius nos pascere digneris,
ut, spiritali purificato intuitu,
gloriae tuae laetemur aspectu.

Used by early Latin writers such as Sts Hilary of Poitiers (d c 368), Ambrose (d 397) and in liturgical texts, gloria is more than fame or splendor of appearance.  Our Latin liturgical gloria is the equivalent of biblical Greek doxa and Hebrew kabod.   Romans translated these concepts also with words like maiestas and claritas.  Gloria has to do with man’s recognition of God as God.  Gloria is a characteristic of God which He will share with us so as to transform us throughout eternity.

The vocabulary of the prayers reinforces that this covenant we are in with God is not a contract between equals: He is Almighty and eternal, we are lowly and mortal.  We do well to beg as supplicants before His Majesty, not as cowed slaves terrified of a harsh master, but with the reverential awe of children looking at authority with the eyes of truth.  Our orations during Mass help us to see who we are and who we are not.

LITERAL RENDERING:
O God, who commanded us to listen to Your beloved Son,
deign to nourish us interiorly with Your word,
so that, once (our) spiritual view has been purified,
we may rejoice in the sight of Your glory.

OBSOLETE ICEL (1973):
God our Father,
help us to hear your Son.
Enlighten us with your word,
that we may find the way to your glory.

NEW CORRECTED ICEL (2011):
O God, who have commanded us
to listen to your beloved Son,
be pleased, we pray,
to nourish us inwardly by your word,
that, with spiritual sight made pure,
we may rejoice to behold your glory.

Note the senses of hearing (audire) and of seeing (intuitus, aspectus), both physically and also inwardly, spiritually.  The voice of God the Father spoke at the Transfiguration commanding us to listen to His beloved Son (Matthew 17:5).  We listen to Jesus and look at what He does, both in the pages of Scripture and in His continuing work through Holy Church.  Christ’s words which we hear and His deeds which we see both save us and teach us who we are (cf. GS 22).

Aspectus has both active and passive connotations, that is, the sense of sight, the act of seeing a thing, and the appearance of the thing itself.  Aspectus can mean, “mien, countenance”, how something “looks”.  Think of Henry V in Shakespeare’s play inciting his soldiers before battle to “lend the eye a terrible aspect” (III, i).  Intuitus (from intueor) means “a look, a view; respect, consideration.”  You know intueor from a verse of the hymn of St Thomas Aquinas Adoro Te Devote: “I am not looking (intueor) at the wounds, like Thomas; I am nevertheless professing faith that you are my God; make me always more to believe in you, have hope in you, love you.”  That hymn also sings “ex auditu solo tuto creditur’, only “by hearing” is the doctrine of the Eucharist believed “safely”.  Sight, touch and taste can deceive us.

Our intuitus spiritalis could be our own ability to see clearly into the state of our soul. Our intuitus (“insight”, “view”) is that spiritual lens which must be cleansed so that we can have a more perfect “view”.  Otherwise, intuitus could be the spiritual landscape within us, the “view” God sees, how we “look” to Him.  “View” picks up both views of intuitus (the power to see and that which is seen).  “Insight” would favor just one possibility.  The cognate “intuition” suggests the wrong connotation from common usage, that is, “sudden insight” or “good guess”.

Both how we see and what is seen in us, our “spiritual view”, must be purified (purificato) so that God is not offended (cf. Habakkuk 1:3)   God and neighbor must see His image in us.  We must see His image in ourselves and others if we are going to treat them with the charity Christ commands.  St. Bonaventure (d 1274) wrote about how Thomas the Apostle looked through the Lord’s visible wounds and saw His invisible wound of love.  We must with charity try to look past our neighbor’s imperfections, the wounds caused by sin, to see the intended reality.

Lent is a time for gaining a “view” of the Love who died and rose for us, thus transforming us into more perfect images of who He is: risen, living, glorious.  This necessarily requires a close examination of our lives to see and to hear what or whom we have placed at the center of our lives, Jesus Christ’s rightful place.

Posted in LENT, Our Catholic Identity | Tagged , , , , , , ,
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The future fruits of Obamacare

Posted on 3 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

One Child PolicyAt Life Site I read a story about how some Chinese women fled China to the USA in order to save their babies from the One Child Policy.

In the future, if Pres. Obama has his way, this won’t be possible.  Let’s not forget that he promoted infanticide in Illinois.

I think this is where we are headed in the USA if  Obamacare is permitted to take root.

Call me crazy.  Go ahead.  Do it.

Here is an excerpt of what I read on Life Site:

Take, for example, the compelling story of Mrs. Liu who has already had a previous abortion due to China’s policy:

The day before she left China, the officials came to her mother’s home to check on her. To look thinner and not pregnant, she tied a belt around her waist before meeting with them, Mrs. Liu said.

“They asked me to sign a guarantee statement saying that I was not pregnant, and that I would take responsibility for any consequences if I were [pregnant].”

Mr. and Mrs. Liu thought that the worst thing that could happen to them was paying the fines or losing their jobs. But later they found that the water supply, electricity, and heating of their apartment were cut off. Mrs. Liu’s parking space was also taken away, and they realized that they might even lose their apartment.

In order to save the husband’s job, the couple even considered divorce as a last resort, because if their apartment were confiscated, they would not be able to afford another one, even if they spent their life savings, Mrs. Liu said.

Mrs. Liu was eventually able to leave China and come to the United States, using the opportunity of accompanying her son to study abroad. But officials didn’t stop harassing them even after she left China.

“They even planned on sending someone over to ‘settle the score’ with me, but gave it up after learning that it wouldn’t work in the United States.”

On Dec. 2, Mrs. Liu gave birth to a healthy baby in Los Angeles.

“After seeing my baby, I felt that I could give up anything,” she said.

(This video is no longer available.)

Posted in Emanations from Penumbras, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , , ,
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Common ground?

Posted on 3 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Via the great Vincenzo:

Common ground?

Remember his promises at Notre Dame?  The hopes of Card. Cottier?  The excuses of Doug Kmiec? The panting of L’Osservatore Romano?

Don’t forget that Vincenzo has the Pius Clocks!

Posted in Our Catholic Identity, Religious Liberty, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , , ,
9 Comments

Coming to a Catholic Church near you.

Posted on 2 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

FYI…

St. James Cathedral in Seattle was defaced with anti-Catholic spray-painted stenciled graffiti.

Nice choice of color.

Coming to a Catholic Church near you.

Posted in New Evangelization, Our Catholic Identity, The Last Acceptable Prejudice, Throwing a Nutty |
77 Comments

From lightning and tempests, spare us O Lord.

Posted on 2 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

My heart and prayers go out to readers and their loved ones in the USA struck so hard by the powerful storms and tornadoes that did so much damage in so many places.

From lightning and tempests, spare us O Lord.

Posted in SESSIUNCULA |
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RECENT POSTS and THANKS

Posted on 2 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

RECENT POSTS and THANKSFirst, some important reminders.

  • Today is Friday, a 1st Friday, and most parishes have Stations of the Cross.
  • Please remember to vote for WDTPRS daily! Once per day!
  • Don’t forget the LENTCAzTs.
  • I am posting more and more of your pingbacks.  Link to WDTPRS!
  • Refresh your coffee supply.  Help the Wyoming Carmelites.
  • Please follow me on Twitter: @fatherz
  • Please pray for me.  Thanks in advance.

Some links to posts as they scroll along.

I am grateful to readers who have sent things using the amazon wishlist and people who contributed using my donation button.  I hit my monthly goal in February.  Thanks.  I have a nice long list of people whom I shall pray for with a Mass for the intention of my benefactors.  Including:

JJ, LT x2, KW, NL, EM, EMcG,  LL, LL, GG, PB, CL, AR, KB, SS, GL, MK, DN, ED, VK, JP, WH, RD, MH, TE, JB, NMcD, RD, VS, FN, VW, KB, MK, SW, MC, CW, MR, AN, MC, JB, MC, MH, MF, CS, CHE, NL, LS, GMacN, MR, EMcG, BB, WH, GW, AR, DM, MMK, LT, KA, MP-P, LT, BB, JP, MH, CD, NMcD, FN, VS, MF, AS, VM, DF, FN, TR, VW, MK, AR, JS, ML, MT, BC, MS, BH, PH, SA, JB, MC, SS, T&DE, MF, WH, KS, TK, SC, DB, AN, GMcD, CR, MF, MH, SS, MR JV, HE, KT, AZ, LT and PJPM!

Thanks!

RECENT POSTS and THANKS
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Behold, a spittle-flecked nutty in progress from NOW: USCCB and GOP want to kill women

Posted on 2 March 2012 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

NOW, the National Organization of Women, has been struggling to remain relevant for some years now. Mention NOW and most women will say “Who?”

NOW is having a spittle-flecked nutty about the fact that the Catholic Church is resisting Pres. Obama’s latest move in the kulturkampf.

NOW prez, catholic, Terry O’Neill has so flipped out that she is now howling that resistance by the bishops and, of course Republicans, is going to KILL women.

Sounds rather like catholic Nancy Pelosi, doesn’t it? “Kill” women?

This isn’t the lunatic raving of an unhinged ideologue.  This is just standard leftist boilerplate.

In October 2011 Pelosi said that Republicans want women to die on the floor.

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There there is Rep. Louise Slaughter (nomen omen -D-NY 28):

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Now for NOW on the USCCB and the GOP, between which she draws a laughable moral equivalence:

The collusion of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has led to an open declaration of war on the women of this country. The bishops have long sought to enshrine into law those policies of the Catholic Church that subordinate women. And they don’t care how badly women get hurt in the process.

In the last election, the bishops helped to elect legislators that would do their bidding, which includes enacting dangerous and discriminatory bills denying women safe, accessible and affordable abortion care and family planning, even encouraging hospitals to let women die in the name of ‘life.’

A recent poll shows abortion ‘barely registers’ among voter priorities, and yet Speaker Boehner has declared barring federal funding for abortion care a ‘highest priority’ — responding not to the call of his constituents but to the demands of the bishops. And it turns out abortion isn’t the only target, as evidenced by their stunningly dangerous efforts that, if enacted, can and will result in the preventable deaths of women:

[…]Not only are these assaults on women’s rights at odds with generally accepted medical practice and flatly unethical, there is little doubt that they will kill women.

Do they all have the same writer or is this just the fruit of a liberal education?

How much do catholics such as Pelosi and O’Neill have to do before can. 915 is applied?

Were can. 915 applied properly a few times, priests and the general public would start to get a sense of how it is properly applied, instead of just assuming that it may be applied to anyone at all even for well-intentioned motives.

If I were Bishop of Black Duck, I would advise Terry O’Neill privately, that without her issuing a public statement retracting her mendacious accusation, can. 915 would necessarily have to apply in her case.  If she then did not come around, I would then issue a press-release that she has been advised.  I would thereafter send a memo to all priests of the diocese and to the local newspapers that Terry O’Neill may no longer present herself for Holy Communion within the Diocese of Black Duck and that no priest or minister of Communion should administer the Eucharist to her except in the case of danger of death, presumably after her confession and anointing.

Posted in Throwing a Nutty | Tagged , , ,
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