Christopher Hitchens: RIP

Posted on 16 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Christopher Hitchens dies after battle with cancer. Click.

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Have a party!

Posted on 16 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I think celebration is in order.

On 16 December 1773, a bunch of guys in disguise boarded ships in Boston harbor and destroyed imported tea by throwing it overboard into Boston Harbor.

Order Mystic Monk TEA.

I have noticed in the stats that people are ordering “Let It Snow” tea!

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“Whatever comes out of these gates, we have better chance of survival if we work together”

Posted on 16 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Before I go off to sleep … after the GOP debate, I am watching a bit of the movie Gladiator.

I have a certain affinity with the protagonist.  I, too… well… never mind.  And I can imagine some liberal bishop saying “I’m terribly vexed.”

NB: The notion that M. Aurelius would want to restore the Republic is risible… absurd beyond describing.  I digress.

A friend who once made a living in theatrical costume and set design noted from the movie that the sister of the Emperor Commodus (former lover of the Maximus) remarked that, as she becomes more and more vulnerable and in danger during the course of the film, the costumes exposed more and more of her body.

Absolutely right!

I thought that not only a great point about the movie but about how women are portrayed in the media and forced, therefore to be.

Also, I think the game they play with the snake under the basket to be a fine metaphor of the Fishwrap (Titus the Gaul?) approach to the final judgment.

In the meantime.  Everyone calls into Hugh Hewitt’s show (he has listed moi meme as an Amicus et Socius Romae, btw… look on the sidebar!) saying “Morning Glory!”  I think everyone  should call into my show saying:

Strength and Honor!

I could use the music from Gladiator for my upcoming three-hour per day radio talk show.

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Reminders for your Christmas shopping.

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

People will be doing shopping before Christmas. Just a friendly reminder about a few things.

I will also repeat my endorsement of the Kindle. I have the Kindle 3g which has a keyboard. I was skeptical at first but I have been won over. The newest Kindles amazon is putting out run on a new technology. There is new generation of Kindle, Kindle Touch, and a new Kindle Fire with color. The Kindle Fire is more like a tablet, like an iPad, and it has a new browser that runs on cloud technology which is apparently very fast.  Furthermore, on a long drive lately I had the occasion to use the text-to-speech function on the Kindle.  It isn’t available for all books, and it is mechanically generated, but it is not bad, all in all.

USA only, click HERE to order a Kindle Fire.  To order a simple Kindle Touch HERE or the top end with free 3g HERE. For the Kindle 3G with the keyboard (the one I have now) click HERE.

UPDATE:

I found in my email a note that Fr. Barron’s DVD series Catholicism is on sale through amazon.com.  It is listed at $149.95 but it is on sale for $99.99.

I saw a bit of the series.  My set was, however… how to put this… “boosted”, is the word I think.

What I saw suggested to me that this series could be a good gift for your fallen away loved one or a friend whom you think is interested in learningmore.

Click HERE.

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Sodom and Gomorrah excavated. Guess how they were wiped out.

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A reading from the Book of Genesis:

Gen 19: 24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomor’rah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife behind him looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomor’rah and toward all the land of the valley, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.

A Roman friend and I always chortle over the arrogance of modern scholars who claim that event x or y didn’t occur as reported by ancient historians especially when some story pops up in the mainstream press that evidence confirming x or y has been – shock! – unearthed.

Here is something for your Just Too Cool file from The Sacred Page:

Sodom and Gomorrah Excavated

By far the most interesting session at the recent Society of Biblical Literature Congress in San Francisco was one I wandered into by chance. I am always curious about what is going on in biblical archeology, so one afternoon I decided to skip the dozen or so sessions dedicated to Bakhtinian Decontextualization of Identity Construction in Persian Yehud (I had to tear myself away) and go hear about the excavations at a certain site called “Tall-el-Hammam.” I had no idea what I was in for. After about five minutes into the session, I realized that the archeological team assigned to this dig was convinced that they had found the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah. After another half-hour, it seemed they had most of the participants convinced as well. The sites fit the geographical and temporal context into which Sodom and Gomorrah are placed in the biblical texts. The cities at the site were suddenly and completely wiped out in the Late Bronze Age, which makes a reasonably good fit with the biblical accounts of Abraham and Lot. The entire presentation was very convincing, but never once did they deal with the “elephant in the room”: what caused the sites to be suddenly abandoned? As soon as the session was over, I was the first to raise my hand. “Did you find any arrow heads? Signs of invasion? What happened to them?” The lead archeologist paused for a moment. “I didn’t want to go there,” he said. Another pause. “I’m preparing material for publication.” Pause. “All I want to say ‘on camera’ is, they appear to have been wiped out in a ‘heat event’.”

A “heat event”!? What?!

“If you want to know more, I’ll talk after the session off the record.”

I wish I could divulge what he said to a small group of us clustered around the podium after the session was over, but it would break confidence. We’ll have to wait for the official peer-reviewed publications.

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

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Bp. Sample on how as a child he was catechized… NOT!

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Michael Voris made a video about an interview conducted by Catholic World News with an old friend of mine of many years ago, His Excellency Most Reverend Alex Sample, Bishop of Marquette.  Voris has a summary of an important point from this interview.

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A great Shadow… with a few book notes.

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

There is a very cool pic on Astronomy Pic of the Day.  There was recently a lunar eclipse.  I missed it because I was in Florida where it rained for about 4 solid days without CEASING.  But that’s another story.

In any event, in this very cool photo, you can see the shape of the Earth’s shadow.

Old Copernicus would have been thrilled.    He was careful to observe eclipses, both solar and lunar, because the casting of the shadow meant that the light source was at 180°, directly opposite.

Speaking of Copernicus, I just finished fairly light book by Dava Sobel A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. (UK edition HERE)

This was sent to me by one of you readers.  Sobel also wrote Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter.  I find all them good reads, quite informative. She treats, in my opinion, the Church fairly.

UPDATE:

Traversing the shadow of the Earth, the Moon dimmed by degrees until fully immersed. Then, instead of disappearing in darkness, the eclipsed Moon daubed itself with the Sun’s color: It glowed like an ember throughout the hour of totality, reflecting all the dusk and dawn light that spilled into Earth’s shadow from the day before and the day ahead.

Copernicus never missed a lunar eclipse. No astronomer let such an opportunity slip, for the Moon in eclipse pinpointed celestial positions as no other phenomenon could. At such times the Earth’s shadow became visible on the Moon’s surface, and the center of that shadow indicated the location of the Sun—180° opposite in celestial longitude. With the Moon’s current coordinates thus confirmed, one could also measure the distances of stars and planets from either the Sun or the Moon. “In this area,” Copernicus remarked, “Nature’s kindliness has been attentive to human desires, inasmuch as the Moon’s place is determined more reliably through its eclipses than through the use of instruments, and without any suspicion of error.”

Even with the help of “Nature’s kindliness,” the tilt of the Moon’s orbit relative to the Earth’s great circle limited the frequency of lunar eclipses to once or at most twice a year, though some years have none. After August 26, there would not be another total lunar eclipse till the end of December 1525. At the moment of mid-eclipse, which Copernicus recorded on this occasion as 4:25 A.M., the Moon stood at opposition, yet stayed its course straight ahead. Unlike Jupiter or Saturn, the Moon never shifted into reverse at opposition—or ever, at any time—because the Moon, alone among all heavenly bodies, truly did orbit the Earth. “In expounding on the Moon’s motion,” Copernicus wrote, with no apparent irony, “I do not disagree with the ancients’ belief that it takes place around the Earth.”

Sobel, Dava (2011-10-04). A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos (Kindle Locations 702-718). Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Kindle Edition.

Here is the quote from Sobel about Copernicus observing a lunar eclipse:

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Feeling safe about being a faithful Catholic, are you?

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

OMI‘s have a video about their Spanish Martyrs.

There is an odd liturgical moment, in which, during the Mass as it was during the 30’s, the priest turned around at the elevation of the Host.  I think the producers are familiar with the Extraordinary Form.  This doesn’t take much away from the value of the video.

The video is in Spanish, but with adequate English subtitles.

If any of you are feeling safe about your Catholic identity in this crazy and rapidly changing world, you ought to watch this and think about what happened in Spain, just 80 years ago.

[wp_youtube]PT2EZ3-K9IE[/wp_youtube]

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, Modern Martyrs, Our Catholic Identity, The future and our choices, The Last Acceptable Prejudice | Tagged , , , ,
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Problems with the Anglican Ordinariate in England?

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Preamble: Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity.

Pope Benedict gets to determine the parameters and dynamics of ecumenism, not his critics. According to his approach and vision, he has been making headway. Some will say that he is working on a foundation laid by his predecessors. That’s how these things work, after all. It’s called continuity and organic development.

Here is something from Damian Thompson. My emphases and comments.

The English bishops are trying to smother the Ordinariate. How long will Rome tolerate this situation?
By Damian Thompson

Here are some quick observations on the Pope’s Ordinariate project, which it’s now clear requires an intervention from Rome if the “second wave” of ex-Anglican converts is to materialise.

1. Archbishop Vincent Nichols does not regard the provision of a main church for the Ordinariate as a priority. Here’s what he said at a recent press conference: “I think that is something probably beyond their resources at the present time, and I don’t think the Ordinariate would thank us, actually, to simply give it responsibility for a church that it would have to then maintain and upkeep.”

2. Most Ordinariate members do regard a main church as a priority. It suits +Vincent to claim that they don’t; perhaps it also suits certain Ordinariate leaders who have been slow off the mark on this one.

3. The English bishops are quietly reinterpreting (ie, ignoring) Benedict XVI’s instructions to them just before he left England last year. They have settled on a policy of incorporating Ordinariate priests into their dioceses and absorbing Ordinariate groups into the parishes where they meet. This policy, dressed up as a “welcome”, undermines the Pope’s vision of an Ordinariate independent of diocesan structures. Nichols is doing nothing to stop his bishops following this sneaky and subversive strategy.  [During the last plenary of the USCCB I watched as bishops discussed how they could use the former-Anglicans of the developing US Ordinariate.]

4. The Vatican is well aware that the English bishops are trying to smother this initiative. The problem is being discussed at a high level. The question is: how will Rome respond?

5. Much depends on the Pope’s state of health. I gather that he is a little frail but essentially healthy for a man of his age. The enemies of the Ordinariate are counting on this pontificate coming to an end before the structures of the English Ordinariate are set in stone.

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Santorum on US Bishops and immigration

Posted on 14 December 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

A reader sent me a link to a piece from the Des Moines Register:

Santorum in Iowa: Catholic bishops are wrong on immigration

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops are wrong by calling for comprehensive immigration reform that includes an earned path to legalization, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said today.

The Pennsylvania Republican, who is seeking his party’s nomination for president, said in an interview  with Des Moines Register political columnist Kathie Obradovich that the United States is a country of laws and it must enforce those laws.

“If we develop the program like the Catholic bishops suggested we would be creating a huge magnet for people to come in and break the law some more, we’d be inviting people to cross this border, come into this country and with the expectation that they will be able to stay here permanently,” said Santorum, [NB:] who usually attends Latin Mass [I assume that doesn’t mean the Novus Ordo in Latin] with his family at a Catholic church in suburban Washington, D.C.

Santorum said he compares the current immigration situation to his grandfather who came to the United States by himself in 1925 to escape Mussolini’s Italy. His grandfather’s son – who grew up to become the presidential candidate’s father – was left behind. His grandfather worked in the U.S. for five years, earning his citizenship and then bringing his family over to America.

” What are we saying to all the families who are doing it the right way, who are separating from their families, who are making those sacrifices and then we say well, everybody who broke the law came here and we’re going to let you in and those folks, well sorry you’re chumps, you played by the rules,” he said. “We have to have rules and we have to keep those rules in America or we would be a magnet for more people who want to break the law.”

Santorum’s half-hour interview was recorded as part of a series of “Conversations with the Candidates” produced in a partnership of The Des Moines Register and Iowa Public Television. It will be broadcast on IPTV at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Santorum also said in the interview that despite his single-digit poll rankings, he remains optimistic he will do well in the Iowa Caucuses. He said that as president he would support policies that would be helpful to traditional American families. He spoke of growing up in an environment where doing service, loving your country and doing the right thing were drummed into him.

There are various social questions about which we Catholics can have a lively debate and differing opinions and solutions.  What to do about the problem of illegal immigration is one of them.  There is far wider leeway in the matter of immigration than there is for, say, the right to be born.  We Catholics may not legitimately stray on that foundational point of social justice.

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