Interesting November conference on modern martyrs at Notre Dame

This looks interesting, and I pray the opportunity to be there.

Especially for those of you for whom the persecution is a pressing one (as it is for me), let me encourage you to investigate this a little more deeply.

Cardinal sins of/must haves for religion reporters

Recently, Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post did a piece on the USCCB's lobbyist, who is retiring after several decades of work being the bishops' mouthpiece on Capitol Hill.

 

There were the typical faux pas you'd expect to find from someone from the mainstream media reporting on the Catholic Church. Rather than get mad about it, however, I thought, 'Maybe this is just ignorance. Maybe she and the others just don't know.' We always assume good will, right?

 

So in the interest of constructive criticism, I need to gently take our friends who report on religion for these cardinal sins, which also seem to represent "must have" features for their pieces.

 

Cardinal sin/must have feature that it borders on being a commandment (depending on your perspective) #1

Every piece has to have a quote from a) Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ; b) Fr. Richard McBrien; c) Sr. Joan Chittester, OSB/someone else from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (the LCWR is the umbrella group for women's religious orders; because of the pervasive dissent and sometimes outright heresy within its ranks, the Vatican recently conducted an investigation of it).

Good news! Boorstein didn't do this. Furthermore, the fact that she didn't was such a refreshing change from what most of her peers do when writing a piece on the Catholic Church, that it bears mentioning.

Cardinal sin/must have feature that it borders on being a commandment #2

Every piece must only quote so-called progressive Catholics, namely those who dissent from the Church on X, Y, or Z issue or all of the above (e.g., birth control, abortion, fill-in-the-blank), and then some.

Was Rep. Chris Smith unavailable? Rep. Jeff Fortenberry? What about someone from a think tank/advocacy group that could at least lay some claim to being "compassionate conservative"? National Right to Life? Democrats for Life? Scott Hahn? Curtis Martin? Peter Kreeft? Robert P. George? I mean, there are any number of faithful, orthodox Catholic voices out there. Yet, at best, they get one quote out of five-plus in a piece. What usually happens is their perspective gets synopsized, and typically falsely so.

Cardinal sin/must have feature that it borders on being a commandment #3

Thou shalt not quote an orthodox, faithful to the Magisterium Catholic. (See above.)

Cardinal sin/must have feature that it borders on being a commandment #4

Thou shalt synopsize the opposing (i.e., orthodox/faithful) position and usually in a shoddy fashion.

She wrote, "Traditionalists feel isolated as polls show most Catholics approve of contraception and same-sex marriage."

Nothing could be further from the truth. She's right about the polls. However, the vast majority of faithful/orthodox Catholics who are paying attention knows that we're gaining ground.

 

Furthermore, as the JPII generation assumes their own pastorates and as the Pope appoints more universally faithful bishops, they will fill the vaccuum of the last 40 years in terms of teaching what the Church actually teaches on such issues. 

 

Reporters have to understand that it's not like the Catholic faithful have been taught what the Church teaches from a rational perspective and found the Church wanting. Rather, they haven't been taught it at all or have had that teaching belittled, mischaracterized, and held in contempt ... from the pulpit, no less.

Cardinal sin/must have feature that it borders on being a commandment #5

Thou shalt confuse issues on which the Church's Magisterium say are non-negotiable issues with those in which reasonable Catholics approaching an issue with good will can disagree (e.g., "Progressive" Catholics vs. Rep. Paul Ryan et al).

As Cardinal Dolan noted in Katherine Jean Lopez's recent NROnline.com piece, the best way to help the poor is to help the economy. So if even His Eminence is sympathetic to Rep. Ryan's prescriptions, why can't other Catholics be? And yet the so-called "moderate" Catholics impugn Rep. Ryan et al as being against "gospel values" for not wanting to lay more taxes upon the rich/middle class.  

Incidentally, you can get information on what those five non-negotiables are from Catholic Answers (http://www.catholic.com/), Ascension Press' The Five Issues That Matter Most ($1.00 if you call 800-376-0520), or Bishop Thomas Olmstead's short Q&A book, Catholics in the Public Square ($5.95, 800-932-3826 or http://www.catholicword.com/).

Cardinal sin/must have feature that it borders on being a commandment #6

Thou shalt position those who focus on the poor but dissent from the Church's other moral teachings as the good/moderate Catholics, and those who quietly help the poor and are faithful to all of the Church's moral teachings (without fail) as traditionalist, archtraditionalist, conservative, ultra-conservative, etc. (and paint them -- subtly or no -- as troglodytes).

We are not. We are Catholic, plain and simple. We believe and assent to everything in the Catechism, nothing more, nothing less. Indeed, as noted Catholic speaker Curtis Martin has said, "If you reject even one of the Church's teachings, you're not a liberal Catholic, you're not a conservative Catholic, you're just not Catholic."
 

Cardinal sin/must have feature that it borders on being a commandment #7

If you can only give the perspective of one side, make it the "moderate," liberal, progressive side. And don't make the core issues clear.  

Boorstein writes, "Carr is well aware that both sides feel the other is missing the core issue." 

What are those core issues? For faithful Catholics, the core issue is this: Without the right to life, all other rights -- real or perceived -- have no meaning. The bishops have said as much themselves.

 

Cardinal sin/must have feature that it borders on being a commandment #8

Thou shalt assume that faithful, orthodox Catholics have checked their brains at the door and accept Church teaching like mindless zombies.

I used to be "pro-choice." I used to use contraception. I used to favor so-called "gay rights." I no longer do. This is not because I checked my brain at the door. Rather, after reading both sides and weighing the arguments, I not only became convinced the Church had it right (after 2,000 years, you would hope so!), that she had the truth. It was also because I saw her teachings were beyond beautiful, primarily because they are not of the Church but from God Himself. Thus no one has the right to alter them or wish them away for the sake of personal convenience or any other reason. It seems most reporters, however, laugh at such a notion. That's a tragedy. It belittles and invalidates not only hundreds of millions of believing Catholics around the globe (dissent is a phenomenon largely confined to America and Europe), but some of the smartest men and women whoever lived, people who were certainly much smarter than they themselves can claim.

Thoughts? Additions? Subtractions? Remeber: No matter how hot under the color something here might make you, be charitable. (Sorry, btw, for the color change. It's one of  the reasons why I'm thinking of ditching blogger.com. It's platform makes it hard to easily transpose text written in a different platform (e.g., Word, an e-mail, Notepad, etc.)

Saints News for August 2012

Beneficiary of saint’s miracle to miss his canonization? 

A Filipino woman who came out of a coma due to the intercession of soon-to-be canonized Pedro Calungsod probably won’t be able to attend the martyr’s canonization next month in Rome.  

The situation, say canonization trip leaders, is that the long travel involved would likely stress the woman’s acute asthma too much.  

The lady had been in a severe coma and few thought she would ever come out of that, much less continue living. But her doctor asked Bl. Pedro Calungsod for his intercession, and the woman recovered in a way medical professionals cannot explain.  

Whether this woman gets to attend the canonization Mass or not, it seems the real take away here comes from the doctor. All this person did was to say a simple little prayer asking for a saint’s intercession. It shows that no action of ours is too little for God to use in bringing graces and blessings to another person’s life.  

Copacabana is not just a night club 

The diocesan phase has finished for the beatification process for a Bolivian priest who carved the statue representing his nation’s patroness, Our Lady of Copacabana. If his cause is successful, the Servant of God Fr. Francisco Tito Yupanqui, a 15th century priest from the Aymara Indian tribe, would become Bolivia’s first saint.  

Fr. Yupanqui was a direct descendant of the Incan Emperor Huyana Cupac who asked for baptism after receiving instruction from Dominican friars. A few  years later, he became a priest.   

Fr. Yupanqui wanted an image of Our Lady his people could venerate and which might in turn stoke their faith in Christ. So he set about to make one himself, even though he had no experience in sculpting. His first attempt in clay, however, was what you might expect from someone with no experience, and the pastor of the church to whom he had given it placed the sculpture in a back corner of Copacabana’s sacristy. 

It’s sad, because Fr. Yupanqui had put so much love, time, and effort into crafting this small figure, and now it was being seen by no one. You can imagine how humbling that must have been for him.  

His relatives, though, told him that if this was what he thought God was calling him to do, to not give up. They encouraged him to go to the provincial capital of Potosi, which was a center for the arts, so that he could learn from the very best sculptors.  

So he did, and studying under these people, he became an expert wood carver. Before he set about sculpting a new statue, he celebrated Mass to ask for the grace to do well. (We always have to get those graces.) 

Sadly, when he finished, the people back home again decided they didn’t want it. Well, Fr. Yupanqui was having none of it. He decided to make the statue a travelling, pilgrim one. Everywhere he took the figurine, people began reporting miracles after praying for Our Lady’s intercession before this beautiful image.  

As a result, the statue came back home, and a shrine was built for it, making it the third oldest Marian shrine in the Americas after Guadalupe in Mexico and Cocharcas in Peru. 

This Aymaran Indian priest showed great “perseverance because he promised the people of Copacabana that he would make a bust of the Virgin Mary, despite opposition from some who said, ‘What can an Indian do? Impossible. We need to bring a professionally made statue from Spain.’” He makes us ask, “What am I doing to persevere for Our Lord and the increase of His kingdom on earth?”

 

Cause for late Knights of Malta prince to commence soon 

As you may know, canon law requires a five-year period between a person’s death and the initiation of their cause for beatification. Well, on February 7, 2013, it will have been exactly five years since the passing of Grand Master and Prince Fra’ Andrew Bertie of the Order of Malta (better known as the Knights of Malta), and judging by the looks of things, it is a good bet the Order won’t waste any time in introducing his cause.

Fra Andrew was the youngest son of the 7th Earl of Abingdon and descended from English royalty on both sides of his family. After his education, he taught foreign languages and joined the Order of Malta in 1956. Thirty-two-years later, in 1988, he became the Order’s Grand Master, succeeding Bl. Gerard Sasso, and his reign was known for clearly adhering to the Knights’ motto, “Defence of the Faith and Service of the Poor.” 

Now, even though the cause cannot officially open for a few months yet, the Order is already in the process of collecting the testimony of those who knew Fra Andrew.

It's about time

If you know the history of the conflict between Polish Catholics (especially those of the Byzantine/Ukrainian rite) and the Russian Orthodox Church, you know what a sad, sordid, sorry history it is. But now both sides are looking to move beyond the past, to bury the hatchet in the spirit of Christ's dying for our sins, and working to make the world more conformed to His loving, merciful image in an age that desperately needs that. See here.

50 Shades of Grey

Women and porn! Right on! See here. It's about time, baby! Yeah!

This looks really cool

Up for an apocalyptic epistolary novel set in a Benedictine monastery being attacked by literary zombies? And each chapter being mailed (yes, via post) each week? Then look no further. This looks totally cool!

Cardinal Dolan eats with ... gasp! ... De-mo-crats!

Did you catch His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan's benediction closing last week's Republican National Convention? It was a beautiful prayer that hit many themes near and dear to social conservatives' hearts. (NewAdvent.org still has it up on their page, I believe.)

If you are one of them, you can be forgiven for wondering why --- as several conservative Catholics have called upon him to do --- Cardinal Dolan will not cancel the quadrennial Alfred Smith Dinner, which gives a prominent platform to both presidential candidates. You might also be scratching your head on why he has decided to pray at the Democratic National Convention this week in Charlotte, North Carolina.

After all, the Democrats willfully trumpet abortion in their party platform, wrapped up in fuzzy language, though it may be. They're pushing for the direct undermining of marriage. The list can and does go on.

But His Eminence strikes the right chord in response. It's not only thoughtful and reasonable, it's Christ-centered. And as the head of the Catholic Church in what is arguably the world's capital and as head of this nation's bishops conference, that last consideration is the most important. Disagree? Go ahead, but make your case from the Gospels. I don't know if you can do so. On the other hand, I know the Cardinal definitely can.