The Ark and The Dove

Attack of the Living Dead

St. John the evangelist says, "The man who does not love is among the living dead."

Ok, so that's not exactly the way it's phrased in the NAB, but that is the way it's phrased in the Breviary.  (Thus I wonder if Peter worked this passage into that Bible Study the one time.)

Pensees for your thoughts...

From Pascal's Pensees...with some minor editorial notes:

18. When we do not know the truth of a thing, it is         of advantage that there should exist a common error which determines the         mind of man, as, for example, the moon [insert GLOBAL WARMING], to which is attributed the change         of seasons, the progress of diseases, etc. For the chief malady of man         is restless curiosity about things which he cannot understand [CLIMATE]; and it         is not so bad for him to be in error [CARBON TAX, etc.] as to be curious to no purpose [GORE W/O A JOB]. The         manner in which Epictetus, Montaigne, and Salomon de Tultie wrote is the         most usual, the most suggestive, the most remembered, and the oftenest         quoted, because it is entirely composed of thoughts born from the common         talk of life. As when we speak of the common error which exists among         men that the moon [GLOBAL WARMING] is the cause of everything, we never fail to say that         Salomon de Tultie says that, when we do not know the truth of a thing,         it is of advantage that there should exist a common error, etc.; which         is the thought above.

Tony Blair to sign up for RCIA?

Drudge has linked to an article speculating Blair might be converting to the original Church of England after he steps down...

Apparently, these speculations are nothing new...but it would be pretty cool. I'd volunteer to be his sponsor!

Hint for Plagiarists:

If you are so incapable of coming up with original ideas in your paper that you feel you absolutely must take material from uncited sources, here's a tip for you:

Make sure to incorporate latin phrases that your teacher never used in class.

It makes it much easier to find possible source material on the Internet.

How

The Curt Jester reminded me of what Mother Teresa said once to a country that didn't want to listen.

How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love.

She reminds us,

Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

John Allen

Is a must-read if you want to know what's going on with the Pope's recent business and how he thinks about these issues, as well as useful to read in general.    Don't count on the regular news to give you this kind of analysis; they chiefly care about how it will affect the political matters they care about.

More from the archives - Pope Paul VI

Mense Maio (English), encyclical on May Marian devotion for peace.

Grave reasons

This article from Homiletic and Pastoral Review critiques the old translation of Humanae Vitae as imprecise and holds up the newer one as a better model.  I put this up because I think I've had conversations with friends on similar lines.  From my Latin skills (modest, to be sure), what they say looks reasonable.  Remind me to improve my Latin and never read a church document only in English.

Why Some Protestants Love Benedict

Frank Pastore over at Townhall.com challenges his fellow Protestants to step up to the plate and follow Pope Benedict's lead.

According to the Pope, Catholic politicians who vote in favor of abortion should not receive communion and they risk excommunication from the Church. According to Church law, anyone who knowingly commits or allows a grave sin, such as abortion, inflicts “automatic excommunication” upon themselves.

I’d love to hear some Protestant Benedicts speak with such clarity.

But, where are the pulpits of men with conviction and principle eager to take politically incorrect stands? 

Where are those men with chests who fear God more than men? 

Where are those pastors who care more about their faithfulness to the Biblical text than they do about filling their pews and the next building program?

Where are the Bible colleges and seminaries who teach such things?

What are the denominations that still care about such things?

Who are the radio and television ministries who regularly address such things?

They are so rare.

Which is why I am so proud of Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church, even though I’m not Catholic.

 

An authentic theology of liberation

John Allen - Day Three Benedict holds up a model of authentic liberation theology.

Thought I'd post this because it's of interest anyway, and because of my friends asking questions about liberation theology lately.

This is S.O.P. when the Church is challenged by a movement that proposes a mixture of truth and error - Step one: condemn the bad.  Step two: reflect and pray.  Step three: propose an "authentic" version (i.e. one that is fully in accord with the truth about God and human nature).  People who get stuck at step one and refuse to admit the possibility of step three are the ones who are in danger of running (possibly under the guise of conservativism or tradition) toward a schismatic or heretical movement.  Meanwhile the next generation will take this development for granted the way we take Pope Leo XIII's social teaching or St. Thomas Aquinas' philosophy work or (for younger people) Pope John Paul II's thought.