The Ark and The Dove

Dear friends in Christ,

You may consider this my farewell post.  My absence from the blog for the last month or so has been due to my being a postulant to the Dominican Friars.  Tomorrow I leave for the novitiate.  I am scheduled to receive my religious name in the next few days and to be clothed with the habit of the Order on the Feast of St. Dominic.

I do miss seeing you all, but I have nothing but happiness and joy in my heart because I know that I am where God wants me doing what He wants me to do.

This especially to my friends in the Washington area - If I don't answer email or call you, don't think that I have forgotten you.  I don't have a cell phone or a computer of my own, and the novice master has told us to ask people to give us some "space," especially during the early part of the novitiate.  I will (D.v.) be back in Washington for studies in a year, and perhaps I will see you then.  Don't expect things to be the same as they were before, because we'll both have grown and changed.  But don't think that I love you any less.  Even if I never get to see you again on earth - let's all be saints and then before long we will all be together with God in heaven.  You are all in my prayers.

If you don't mind me sharing some of the things I've learned in the last month or so...

My mother has always liked to say, "Mañana is the busiest day of the week," and I have found that this is very true.  If there's something you've always been meaning to do, and you don't do it today, chances are you won't do it tomorrow either, because tomorrow will probably be much like today.  So do it now.

Similarly, don't let your vocation be something you always think about and maybe talk about but never do anything about.  There is something God wants of you.  Find out what it is and do it.  Then you will be happy. 

Oremus pro invicem.

Goring Reason

Now, I'm about to break a cardinal rule of research: Never trust the other guy.
That being said, I have no desire to read through Al Gore's Assault on Reason. Thus, I offer you this excerpt from the book which is itself excerpted from an article by Jack Beatty.

Gore weaves science, history, and philosophy into his assault on Bush’s assault on reason. Fresh insights result. For example: "Bush’s view of policies in the context of a fateful spiritual conflict between good and evil does not really represent Christian doctrine," he notes. " It actually more closely resembles an ancient Christian heresy called Manichaeism—rejected by Christianity more than a thousand years ago—that sought to divide all of reality into …absolute good and absolute evil."

Of course, the problem with "absolute good vs. absolute evil" in Manichaeism is that it is essentially Zoroastrian, from my humble understanding at least. The issue here is that it suggests that good and evil are ultimately balanced in the cosmos, and we just pick a side. In a way, I suppose he's right to say there is no "absolute evil," but only insofar as all things were created good before they became evil. He says there is no war between absolute good and absolute evil without seeming to concede that the war is really between an absolute good and an inferior evil.

Ironically, Gore's own profession that the salvation of this country depends solely on our use of knowledge and reason actually sounds far more like Manichaeism than Bush's belief that the world struggles between forces of good and evil...at least according to the following (excerpted from the Catholic Encyclopedia):

The key to Mani's system is his cosmogony. Once this is known there is little else to learn. In this sense Mani was a true Gnostic, as he brought salvation by knowledge. Manichæism professed to be a religion of pure reason as opposed to Christian credulity; it professed to explain the origin, the composition, and the future of the universe; it had an answer for everything and despised Christianity, which was full of mysteries. It was utterly unconscious that its every answer was a mystification or a whimsical invention; in fact, it gained mastery over men's minds by the astonishing completeness, minuteness, and consistency of its assertions.

 Kind of sounds like a plot summary of An Inconvenient Truth...

Chavez is a Clown

As an American, I haven't been exactly thrilled with the kinds of things that Venzuelan "President" Hugo Chavez has had to say about my country. In an article that Drudge has linked to, Chavez insults Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga. Assigned to Honduras, the cardinal was mocked for criticizing Chavez's blatant tyranny.

And You Think an Hour a Week is Tough...

"I would never forgive myself and God would not forgive me if I do not pray on time because I want to earn some money," he said.

The quote above comes from an article at FOXNews.com about Muslim workers taking action against a Nebraska meat-packing plant for firing workers over sunset prayer time disputes. According to the article, the debate is not as to whether or not the workers should be allowed to pray so much as it is a question of whether or not workers abandoned a processing line without permission to pray...which could lead to costly difficulties for the plant, such as having to shut down the line unexpectedly.

Anyway, what I found most provocative about this article was the quote above, which leaves one with a sense that Allah is an God who cannot forgive those who miss their very precise obligations. (Note, that it's praying "on time," not just praying.) Obviously, I'm not suggesting that we take our obligations less seriously because we believe God can forgive us...or that we can exploit God's forgiveness to intentionally miss Mass. Still, the quote that FOXNews chose to run is one that emphasizes a wrathful God punishing those who chose poorly, rather than a loving God who calls us closer to him. It also expresses how internalized this angry God has become for this individual Muslim. He claims that he (no less than God) could ever forgive himself, if he chose to continue working rather than pray every day. Perhaps this is conversational hyperbole just said for emphasis, but it is a shame that no one in the article could explain why the sunset prayers are so important beyond it merely being an obligation instituted by Mohammed. The effect of prayer seems less important than the conditions of prayer, and the effect of missing prayer seems more important than the prayer itself. It would be like saying that it is more important that Mass is on Sunday than what actually happens at the Mass, or that the catastrophe of missing Mass is far greater than the goodness of Communion.

Harry Potter Spoilers!

Brian Briggs at BBSpot.com is purporting to reveal Harry Potter spoilers.
I haven't read the book, and I don't plan to read it any time soon, so I have no idea whether or not these are actual spoilers or just very plausible but intentionally erroneous conjectures on his part (he admits he enjoys writing fake spoilers).

I just thought I'd post this to torture A&D readers (and contributors) who are in the midst of this naughtily occult book.

Great.

Just what I want the government spending my money on: abortion.

And yet I keep hearing about Democrat outreach to Catholics. What a joke.

Move Over Megatron...Here Comes King Og!

I like the Bible.
I like collectible action figures.
But for some reason I don't think I'll like Biblical action figures anymore than I enjoyed the Bible Video Game.

I hypothesize that there are two reasons why the Bible doesn't make for the best modern-day entertainment franchise (unless it is to lampoon a character, as in the case of Archie McPhee toys). First, there is a lack of decorum. The Bible is a divinely inspired text. It is very difficult to effectively translate anything that is divinely inspired into something utterly secular. Making a Bible video game or action figure that is worthy of sacred scripture is as nearly impossible as composing contemporary folk music that sounds appropriate during liturgy.

Second, people who are interested in translating scripture into pop entertainment usually either don't understand what makes something really fun or don't understand what makes something sacred. Because they've invested all of their energy in the "Christian" part of the project, they often are lacking when it comes to creating something that is genuinely entertaining or, dare I say, cool.

It seems to me that if you really wanted to make an effective action figure line based on the Bible, then you need to sneak in through a back door. That is, rather than making a Bible toyline, one should make a Biblical toyline. The subtle distinction I intend by that adjective is that you would do better to create a toyline that echoed Biblical themes or that alluded to Biblical narrative without being obvious and direct. I guess what I am saying is that it would be better to have your kid play with a toy that primed them for the Bible than have them actually play with the Bible. For instance, how many kids really understood that Aslan represented Christ?

Buying your kid a Bible action figure will probably lead them to think that the Bible is kid's stuff or just as fictional as everything else they play with. But even if playing with toys doesn't misdirect their faith, it will probably inspire bullies to pummel your kid in the schoolyard after he brings his Jesus doll to class.

So What Do You Want to Do Tonight?

According to Fox News, fewer teens are engaging in sexual intercourse. The numbers they say are 47% of high school students report that they have engaged in intercourse, which is down from 54% in 1991. That means a majority of students claim to save themselves, at least in high school. The same article also touts "record low" birth rates among teens, but it doesn't indicate pregnancy rates, which makes one wonder why the birth rate is so low.

Anyway, I thought this was particularly interesting because I had my students read some articles by Mark Morford on the ineffectiveness of abstinence programs and why he thinks it is unhealthy to discourage children from having sex outside of marriage. I'm not going to link to his article because I don't want to offend people. (Mark Morford wants to be the left's answer to Ann Coulter, but she comes off looking down-right ladylike and pacifying next to his crude, potty-mouthed, often violent, and sexually-frustrated rants.)

Good News

Archbishop Edwin Frederick O'Brien will become the fifteenth archbishop of Baltimore.
Good news for Baltimore, Archbishop O'Brien, and Cardinal Keeler.

I've met Archbishop O'Brien several times at the CSC, he would help out at the leadership conference as well as say mass on several occasions.

You can read more here.

The Motu Wuh?

Okay, so St. Blog's is fairly consumed in discussions about the Motu Propero.  I can't say I see anything to get too worked up about.  It seems to me that the practical conclusion of the MP is that priests who have parishioners who request the 1962 mass can give it to them without getting their bishop's permission.  No priest will be forced to say such a mass but can add merely add it to their arsenal of pastoral sensitivity.  Hopefully this means that people who were driving hours to go to a Tridentine mass might be able to get it in their home parish.  But I don't see a tremendous pent up demand for any of this.  DC has had two Tridentine masses for years and although they're well attended they're hardly packed.  Of course the usual suspects that like controversies and simple answers to everything (journalists) will make a big deal out of what will not change the worship habits of 99% of Catholic Americans.  I hardly see how this is "turning back the clock" on anything.  A Tridentine (both high and low) is on my list of masses to attend to, along with any non-Latin rites offered in this area, but it's generally a pretty low priority.