Cascadia Catholics

Homer Simpson in deep thought

2010-10-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

Discovering Kiva.org

2007-12-27T12:41:00.000-08:00

FRONTLINE World did an intersting segment on micro-lending this Christmas, and featured a San Francisco company called Kiva. So I figured I'd join up, and am currently sponsoring four little industries around the globe.

Now we all have given to charities from time to time, and I think that's great (better even). But micro-finance is different, and worth exploring, since the lender gets that money back again (presuming all goes well for the business).

Kiva.org operates through PayPal, so donations are super easy and secure. And you get to know the individual you are funding. Lending amounts are limited to $25.00, and (at least as far as I can tell) there's no interest gained. Suits me! What else would I be doing with an extra $25 in my checking account that's gaining exactly the same interest amount?

So click on the banner above, or go to kiva.org. Take a look see and try it out.

And now hopefully, I'm back to blogging on a regular basis.

Cheers.

Classes Start October 7!

2007-09-20T13:40:00.001-07:00

Blessed Sacrament Church
Seattle, WA

Link to Flyer

Have 34 minutes to watch this video?

2007-09-18T18:33:00.001-07:00

I have not been this impressed with a presidential candidate in decades; or since I was old enough to care. I suppose I was too young to appreciate Bobby Kennedy, but no one speaks like John Edwards. And as much as I like Obama, he's never given a speech like this one. Check it out:

YouTube Link
UPDATE: At the SEIU Convention in Washington DC, members took a straw poll and chose John Edwards as their candidate. This is not a formal endorsement; the Executive Board of the International will make a decision next week about who the endorsed candidate will be. But an endorsement by SEIU will be a huge boost for the Edwards campaign.

Dick in 1994

2007-08-17T13:53:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while, someone in the Bush administration suggests that "no one knew" how bad things could get in Iraq. No one could have imagined the quagmire. The deaths. The destruction. The unprecidented (well, Vietnam was a precident) mess that would result from invading Iraq. But wait! We did know! Of course we knew all along, and here's Dick to tell us exactly what we knew; at least in 1994.

Here's the YouTube Link: Dick Cheney

I love the look on his face in this photo. That's the expression my dog would have when he was caught peeing on the rug.

Bad Dick! Bad! Bad!

No End In Sight

2007-08-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Starts showing tomorrow night (Aug 10) at the Egyptian Theatre in Seattle. Any takers? I'm game, but probably not until next week sometime.

Grave of the Fire Flies

2007-08-03T11:39:00.001-07:00

We will be showing Grave of the Fire Flies at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Seattle, at 8:00 PM, August 4th in the Parish Hall (below the church).

I just wanted to give a little ad for the movie, if any Seattlites are watching, and will give some kind of review after the show, in the comments section here. Don't know what to expect, exactly, but folks are very excited about the film.
Here's a link to our poster: Grave of the Fire Flies

SiCKO: Health Care is a Moral Issue

2007-07-30T16:12:00.001-07:00

So a group of friends and I gathered to watch SiCKO last week, and it was just great. Informative, striking, funny, and jarring (one hopes to the point of action). Michael Moore seemed to tone down his confrontational style, in SiCKO, and this has worked to make his message that much more powerful. The issues are potent enough, as are the simple interviews, to convey a very moving message to Americans about their collapsing Health Care system.

To paraphrase what Al Gore had to say about Global Warming, Health Care is a moral issue. Sure it's political, but the Church has often expressed her conviction that Health Care is a human right, tied to our human dignity as children of God. In the 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris, Pope John XXIII stated that health care is a human right, grounded in the right to life. The U.S. bishops repeated their call for universal insurance in 1974 and 1981. In 1993, the American bishops approved a resolution stating Catholic values and placing a priority on Health Care reform.

As a right, then, this whole-scale plundering of our Health Care system by insurance companies, pharmaceuticals and other profit-driven entities, is simply immoral - and ought to be made criminal. A market-driven health care system will always put profit over care at some point. It has to. There's an innate conflict of interest in such a system, which Michael Moore points out quite well in his movie.

In case you didn't know (and who'd tell you?), Michael Moore is a practicing Catholic. An article by Sarah Baker and Katie Escherich / ABC News states:

In addition to being a filmmaker and an activist, Moore is also a deeply religious man, an Eagle Scout who at one point decided to go to the seminary and become a priest. He said that "Sicko" comes from "a spiritual place."

"I don't like putting my religious beliefs out there," he said. "But I do believe that this film is coming from a very deep place, from a spiritual place in the sense that I believe as a Christian and a Catholic that it is my responsibility to make sure that not only am I covered if something happens to me, but that everyone else is covered."

Link to Article

Universal Health Care will be a huge undertaking, truly. But is the concept itself really so difficult to grasp?

I've been impressed with what the California Nurses Association is doing to alert the public about our ailing Health Care system, and their efforts in bringing about a Universal Health Care plan for this country. Check them out here:

California Nurses

Edwards Again....

2007-07-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

I hate to make this a mini-Edwards site, but I really liked this:

Follow the link.

It's About TIME.inc

2007-07-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Whoa Nelly! (Can I say that?) Looky who's gone and got religion! No, not the Democrats, but the Main Stream Media! And it's even passably intelligent.

The July 23 issue of TIME has published an article entitled "Leveling the Praying Field." Cute. But it is decent, though I think sparse on the Catholic Democratic voter. [It calls the Catholic Vote the "loosest swing vote in the spiritual cosmos," but not much more is said. Well, one can't expect too much from these guys, afterall.]

Leveling the Praying Field is about the Democratic Party finally Getting It when it comes to religious voters. They just aren't Republican anymore. (Well, duh.) It spends a lot of time talking about Evangelicals, and gives Jim Wallis's book, God's Politics, some good ink.

Mostly, it's about the three top candidates running for president, and their views on religion; as well as the DNC's past blunders, and hopeful fixes.

Among the candidates, I found Barack Obama's words the most impressive. (Too bad they left out Kucinich and his Catholic views. Oh, they did mention Kerry's pathetic Catholic showing, but only to say it was pathetic. It was.)

Here's what Barack Obama had to say about religion in the public square:

If we scrub language of all religious content, we forfeit the imagery and terminology through which millions of Americans understand both their personal morality and social justice. Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering into the public square.

Here's the Article online. Worth reading on your coffee break.

John Edwards States it Plain

2007-07-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, on the CNN / YouTube debates, John Edwards stated the truth plainly. It is so refreshing to hear, without apology; simple and direct.

You know, there's a reason we don't see much of John Edwards on talk shows or in the media. There's a reason Obama and Clinton get all the media glitz. The media doesn't like John Edwards. The media is bought off. By whom? Oh, come on. You know, or you wouldn't be here reading this.

What Edwards had to say that just torques them off:

"The people who are powerful in Washington - big insurance companies, big drug companies, big oil companies - they are not going to negotiate. They are not going to give away their power. The only way that they're going to give away their power is if we take it away from them."

Check out the video on this YouTube Link

Subsisting In... Part II

2007-07-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

I was a bit ribald in my dealings with the Vatican's latest statement on the "Church Founded by Christ" - given the Simpsons video and all. [But hey, it was pretty funny!]

Still, on a more serious note, I was pleased and proud to read a very fine comment on the Vatican document by our own Fr. Bernhard Blankenhorn, O.P., at Blessed Sacrament in Seattle. I'm linking to it to share with you all:

Link Here
Many Protestant friends have been asking me about this, and I've been having trouble trying to express my own understanding of the document. Maybe it's the same for you? If so, I hope this helps.

God knows, the media sure made a mess of it.

Go Fight Your Own War, Mr. Bush.

2007-07-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

Keith Olbermann delivers another great zinger. It's cathartic, refreshing... but those aren't the right words. It's historic. A hundred years from now, school children may still find this little gem in the archives of their favorite underground press. And they'lll realize: "Hey! People DID speak out against the Tyrant!" - providing the US, and children, are still standing.

Keith on YouTube

On War, Bishops and Democrats

2007-07-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

This is Tim Ryan, Democratic Congressman for the 17th District in Ohio, and member of "Catholics for Peace."

On July 3rd, Ryan and 13 other Congressional Democrats petitioned the USCCB (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) to assit them in their quest to end this war in Iraq.

"Throughout our nation’s history, Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice," said Congressman Tim Ryan. "We are proud to see that the USCCB feels as strongly on this issue as we do, and we are prepared to work closely with them to reach out to fellow members of the faith."

In the letter these Congressional Representatives drafted, which you can read HERE, they stated:

We recall with no small measure of sadness the failed efforts of His Eminence Pio Cardinal Laghi, sent in March 2003 as the Special Envoy of the Pope, to plead with President Bush for a renewed effort at negotiations before this war began, or simply for a delay in commencing hostilities because of the personal intervention of the Holy Father. Though treated politely, Laghi was rebuffed even as he provided the administration with valuable insights from the Iraqi bishops’ conference and Vatican staff in Iraq. Iraq and its people would be in a far different place today had President Bush heeded the advice of Cardinal Laghi and Pope John Paul II.

In our own education in the faith, we find the testimony of the Scriptures compelling, and although we have no illusions about the complexities of our current situation in Iraq, we have come to believe that peace cannot simply exist as an ideal – our efforts must be accompanied by actions as we embrace the teachings of peace and justice.

We have deliberated with great care, and our consciences calls us to act with conviction and compassion. Throughout our nation’s history Catholics have been at the forefront of the fight for social justice. Now, at another critical moment, we respectfully urge the USCCB to join with us in mobilizing support for Congress’ efforts to end the war.

Today, in response to their request, the Bishops affirmed their commitment to end the war, and are making plans to meet with these members of Congress. Bishop Thomas Wenski, chairman of the bishops' committee on International Policy, wrote:

Our conference hopes to work with the Congress and the administration to forge bipartisan policies on ways to bring about a responsible transition and an end to the war. Too many Iraqi and American lives have been lost. Too many Iraqi communities have been shattered. Too many civilians have been driven from their homes. The human and financial costs of the war are staggering.

Representatives of our conference welcome the opportunity to meet with you and other policy makers to discuss ways to pursue the goal of a 'responsible transition' to bring an end to the war in Iraq.

Article HereWell, I feel better now.

Republicans Don't Care About Black People

2007-07-13T13:32:00.001-07:00

Look closely. That's one little guy standing among nine empty lecturns. What if you held a Presidential Forum and only one Republican candidate showed up? This is what happened to the NAACP this morning in Detroit. Ten GOP candidates were invited.

Well then, let's hear it for Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, the only Republican with the moxi to show his face to the NAACP. If the Republicans can't address civil rights to the NAACP, how can they swear an oath to uphold our civil rights? If they're afraid to address Americans with opposing views, how can they take on the terrorists with really opposing views?!

Meanwhile, eight Democratic candidates got a warm reception. Ah, me.

Link to USA Today Article

Link to Frameshop Article

War Weary Wednesdays

2007-07-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

Do you pray for peace in Iraq?

One of our parishioners, from the Peace and Justice Committee at Blessed Sacrament in Seattle, suggested we begin a prayer ministry specifically for that purpose. We call it the War Weary Wednesday prayer group, since we meet after the 5:30 PM Mass each Wednesday, beside the shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Generally, there's a group of about 12 people, half circled around the shrine, praying traditional prayers, contemporary prayers, inspired prayers; speaking to God, to one another, to Our Lady. We also include a litany of names of our fallen soldiers and Iraqis who have died. Lists are easily found on-line. We pray for them, their families and our countries. It's very moving.

I invite you all to join us at 6:00 PM on Wednesdays, or begin your own peace-prayer ministry, or perhaps just share in the moment wherever you are, to offer up a war weary prayer.

Subsisting In, or Something

2007-07-11T11:53:00.001-07:00

I've already noted some pretty wild misconceptions about what the Vatican is saying in The Subsisting Church of Christ

Let's look at what's really being said:

The use of this expression [subsists in], which indicates the full identity of the Church of Christ with the Catholic Church, does not change the doctrine on the Church... Rather, it comes from and brings out more clearly the fact that there are 'numerous elements of sanctification and of truth' which are found outside her structure, but which 'as gifts properly belonging to the Church of Christ, impel toward Catholic unity.'

See? It's perfectly clear.

Or maybe he meant this:

YouTube Link
Just a thought.

The Sacramental Imagination

2007-07-09T14:35:00.000-07:00

(or, Flannery O'Connor and those other guys)

Analogical Imagination

I first came across the expression "Sacramental Imagination" in Andrew Greeley's book, The Catholic Myth, which is a sociological study of American Catholic culture, behavior and beliefs.¹ In the third chapter of his book, Greeley poses this question to his readers: "Do Catholics Imagine Differently?" He then proceeds to explain that, yes, indeed they do.

"Religion... is imagination before it's anything else. The Catholic imagination is different from the Protestant imagination. You know that: Flannery O'Connor is not John Updike."

² This piqued my interest. "How is the Catholic Imagination different?" I wondered, and "Why might this be so?" Greeley writes:

"The central symbol (of religion) is God. One's "picture" of God is in fact a metaphorical narrative of God's relationship with the world and the self as part of the world... The Catholic "classics" assume a God who is present in the world, disclosing Himself in and through creation. The world and all its events, objects, and people tend to be somewhat like God. The Protestant classics, on the other hand, assume a God who is radically absent from the world, and who discloses (Himself) only on rare occasions (especially in Jesus Christ and Him crucified). The world and all its events, objects, and people tend to be radically different from God."

³ Greeley defines this difference this way:

"(T)he Catholic imagination is 'analogical' and the Protestant imagination is 'dialectical.'"

⁴ So what does Greeley mean by an "analogical imagination?" He means that our Catholic mind-set tends toward analogy, where one (deeper) reality corresponds to, and underlays, another reality. From our earliest days, we recall churches filled with incense and candles, statues and flowers, bells, ashes, oils and fonts of holy water; each standing alone as natural objects of the world, yet each signifying a deeper mystery of faith. The sacraments themselves (with the exception of the Eucharist, which is the Sacrament of sacraments)⁵ are analogical. The new catechism states that:

"The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the grace proper to each sacrament."

⁶Therefore, this notion that the Catholic Imagination is different from the Protestant Imagination presents a real challenge to the literary student; one which I hope to explore.

Sensual Imagination

In truth, literature is not the natural domain of the Catholic imagination. The natural domain of the Catholic imagination is the visual or sensual arts.

In a rather eye-popping essay for the New Art Examiner, Eleanor Heartney examines the legacy of the Catholic Church and its influence on contemporary art. Presuming her audience might be hostile to such a claim, she supports her contention with a brief "delve into theology" and explains:

"Catholic doctrine holds that the human body is the instrument through which the miracle of man's salvation from sin is accomplished. As a result, all the major mysteries of the Catholic faith - among them Christ's Incarnation, his Crucifixion and Resurrection, the Resurrection of the faithful at the end of time, and the Transubstantiation of bread and wine into Christ's body and blood during the Mass - center around the human body. Without Christ's assumption of human form, there could be no real sacrifice, and hence, no real salvation for mankind. The Catholic Church has traditionally relied upon visual imagery and sensual experience in order to convey these truths. The medieval cathedral, with its elaborate sculptural programs and stained-glass cycles provided a visual summary of both biblical tales and highly sophisticated theological disputes to a public that was largely illiterate. By the Renaissance, art had become an essential tool for the promulgation of religious doctrine...

"All of this is of course in stark contrast to the Protestant emphasis on biblical revelation as the primary source of God's truth. Since the Reformation, Protestants have tended to regard Catholic practice of venerating Christ and the Saints through richly ornamented religious statuary as a form of idol worship. Sensual imagery and sensual language are seen as impediments, rather than aids to belief. The body and its experiences are things to be transcended...

"The tension between Catholic and Protestant sensibilities outlined here can be summed up as a conflict between the Catholic culture of the image and the Protestant culture of the word. Catholicism values sensual experience and visual images as essential tools for bringing the faithful to God. By contrast, American Protestants depend for their salvation almost exclusively on God's Word as revealed through the Holy Bible..."

⁷ It is no coincidence that the invention of the printing press and the first stirrings of the Protestant Reformation occurred at the same moment in history. With the aid of the printing press, Reformers were able, not only to foster their ideas to the Christian world, but to print and distribute the Bible in the vernacular of the people (something the Catholic Church rigorously opposed). In a very important way, the Bible and the written word became the domain of the Protestant Imagination. In Protestant culture, this has translated into a rich literary tradition.

But what of the fiction writer who is Catholic? Where are our Catholic authors? How does the "sensual imagination" translate into the written word?

In the early part of this twentieth century, Catholic periodicals were asking these same questions, especially with regard to American literature. ⁸ While there were European classics, and a wonderful body of Russian Literature grounded in the sacramental, American Catholicism had still not produced a coherent, literary legacy. By mid-century, with a few emerging exceptions, this was still the case.

In a 1952 essay entitled "Catholic Orientation in French Literature," Wallace Fowlie writes:

"American literature is quite thoroughly non-Catholic. There has never been in this country anything that would resemble a Catholic school of letters or movement in literature. It is true that in 1949 a Catholic magazine was founded, Renascence, concerned with art and literature, but the title was ill chosen. It is difficult to have a renascence of something that never existed."

⁹As for European literature, the Catholic character seems to be most profoundly embodied in poetry. Is it any wonder, when poetry is itself a 'sensual' art form, teeming with 'visual' imagery? Dante, the famed Italian poet of the Divine Comedy and our great precursor, is the first to come to mind as a master of powerful, visual verse; and yet the Renaissance which followed and flowered in southern Europe was primarily a renaissance of the visual arts, and not of literature.

Centuries later, the French poets, most especially Baudelaire and Claudel, began to develop the idea that religious symbolism and poetic symbolism are very much the same. Claudel speaks of nature as a temple, each part of which possesses a symbolic meaning. How is this different from St. Thomas Aquinas, who called the universe "a general sacrament which speaks to us of God?" In fact, the writings of St. Thomas had a profound and lasting influence on the French literary world. The renaissance of medieval philosophy, that school of thought known as neo-Thomism, got its start in France. St. Thomas provides the French poet with a sacramental aesthetic, according to which the universe is the mirror of God.

It's important to note that the seed of Thomistic thought does not die on the continental shores. It has a strong influence in Ireland, again most especially with the poets, though it's barely managed to make its way across the Atlantic or, at any rate, to spring to life here and be recognized beyond the usual Catholic circles.

That is until a young woman who raised chickens in Georgia started writing stories in the 1950's. Flannery O'Connor, self-schooled in Thomistic thought, managed to contribute two novels and a number of short stories to American Literature before her life was cut short at the age of 39. And yet she really does stand out as one of America's great prose writers, one whose sensibilities and whose personal faith were profoundly Catholic, and whose stories are steeped in the sacramental. O'Connor regarded her talent as a gift, but it was not an unconscious gift. She knew what she was about. She once remarked to a friend that, as an art form, fiction is "incarnational." In an essay on the "Novelist and Believer," she tells us:

"St. Augustine wrote that the things of the world pour forth from God in a double way: intellectually into the minds of the angels and physically into the world of things. To the person who believes this - as the western world did up until a few centuries ago - this physical sensible world is good because it proceeds from a divine source... [The aim of the artist is] to render the highest possible justice to the visible universe... The artist penetrates the concrete world in order to find at its depths the image of its source, the image of ultimate reality."

¹⁰ This view is at the heart of the Sacramental Imagination. The central mystery of the Catholic faith is the Incarnation, by which God became man and dwelt among us. The great lesson of the Incarnation has become the pivotal theme of contemporary Catholic literature. In his essay on French Literature, Wallace Fowlie concludes with this remark:

"One wonders if Claudel ... is the only one close to the Dominican interpretation: Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects and raises it. Despair is not the ultimate secret. Claudel believes in a theocentric humanism. Nothing is more exultant than this conception of the universe. When the Word became Flesh, it assumed the universe."

¹¹ My guess is, in 1952, Mr. Fowlie had not yet stumbled upon the hen-house Thomist in Georgia.

The Reader's Imagination

While this might seem very well and good, even perhaps a bit heavy-headed, it takes more than great writers to make literature. It takes intelligent readers as well. In this vein, Flannery O'Connor presents us with a more personal and immediate challenge. In a speech delivered to an audience of would-be Catholic novelists, she tells them:

"One of the most disheartening circumstances that the Catholic novelist has to contend with is that he has no large audience he can count on to understand his work."

¹² For O'Connor, the modern secular world, which makes up most of the Catholic writer's audience, does not believe in the theological truths of the Faith, which is the foundation of the writer's universe and imagination.

"It does not believe in sin, or in the value that suffering can have, or in eternal responsibility, and since we live in a world that ... has been increasingly dominated by secular thought, the Catholic writer often finds himself writing in and for a world that is unprepared and unwilling to see the meaning of life as he sees it."

¹³ Of course, the secular modern world does not make up the author's entire audience. And while it's fair to say that the Protestant believers are likewise confused by the Catholic imagination, there must be a few Catholic readers in the audience who do share the "theological truths of the Faith." It's hoped that these would certainly grasp the analogical underpinnings of the sacramental. However, Ms. O'Connor suggests that this is rarely the case. In a letter to a friend, she writes:

"The average Catholic reader is a militant moron."

¹⁴ Not exactly flattering, is it?

I would like to think quite a lot has changed since 1956, when she first penned those words, but this seems unlikely. The world has certainly become more secular, and even less equipped to understand the themes that underlay the Catholic mind-set.

As for the "average Catholic reader," well, our situation is not hopeless. While it's possible that we may have lost much of our sacramental temperament to the secularized world view, or to a more abstract, transcendental expression so common in American Protestant literature, it's also possible that much of our Catholic sensibilities remain, lingering, so to speak, in the vaulted arches of our memory. Fr. Greeley would surely agree with such an assessment. He would state that it is there, it has always been there, and it needs only to be recognized and nurtured and named.

The Catholic Myth. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990. pg. 34.

2. Ibid., pg. 34.

3. Ibid., pg. 45.

4. Ibid., pg. 45.

5. Catechism of the Catholic Church, lines: 1211:1374

6. Ibid., lines: 1131

7. "Blood, Sex, and Blasphemy - The Catholic Imagination in Contemporary Art" Eleanor Heartney. New Art Examiner.

8. Esp. America, Queen's Work and The Catholic Literary Revival. Arnold Sparr: To Promote, Defend, and Redeem - The Catholic Literary Revival and the Cultural Transformation of American Catholicism, 1920-1960. Greenwood Press; 1990.

9. "Catholic Orientation in Contemporary French Literature" Spiritual Problems in Contemporary Literature, 1952, pg. 225.

10. "The Novelist and Believer" Mystery and Manners. 1957, pg. 157.

11. "Catholic Orientation in Contemporary French Literature" Spiritual Problems in Contemporary Literature, 1952, pg. 241.

12. "Catholic Novelists" Mystery and Manners. 1957. pg. 181.

13. Ibid., pg. 185.

14.

The Habit of Being, 1979, pg. 179.

The Return of the Latin Mass

2007-07-09T10:49:00.001-07:00

I have always loved the Mass. As a child, I remember attending the Latin Mass, and I was fortunate, for many years, to be able to enjoy the Dominican Rite (Latin) Mass at my church in Seattle. But as the priests who knew the Latin Mass aged, and with younger priests who did not know the Latin Mass replacing them, the practice drew to a sad end.

This ending divided us, certainly; as it divided the Church. Traditionalists went one way, overly-enthusiastic progressives went another; both, at times, to extremes, I think.

So on Saturday, 7/7/7, Pope Benedict XVI issued his statement on allowing the use of the Tridentine Mass, in SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM.

Honestly, I welcome the return of the Tridentine Mass, the Mass said in Latin. Once in a while, I enjoy it. What I do not welcome are the old divisions and the re-opened wounds. The side taking. The trench digging. Aren't we polarized enough?

Let's hope and pray that this will bring back unity, as I believe this is the Holy Father's intention. Let us not refreseh those old arguments: That Vatican II was the work of the devil. Or that the mass in the vernacular is illegitimate. Or that all that Latin is so much Hocus Pocus (hoc est corpus meum!).

My greatest fear is that this signals the beginning of a Restoration mindset; and a return to Pre-Vatican II thinking. I see it already in young people, priests and laity. They romanticize an ideal, but don't recall the reality. It wasn't always so pretty.

Anyway, here's a USA Today link: USA TODAY: Latin Mass

Or, if you prefer something less annoying: Zenit Article

It's all still quite an interesting ride, I dare say.

Amnesty and Human Rights for All

2007-07-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International and the Catholic Church are currently embroiled in a sad, yet I suppose inevitable, clash over abortion and the context of Human Rights.

It seems inevitable to me, at any rate. So long as we continue to debate over what exactly constitutes "human life" we can never fully ground our approach to Human Rights.

Recently, Amnesty International (AI), which I have long and proudly supported (see link at this blog), has redefined its approach to abortion. This drew a quick and negative response from Rome, as one might well expect.

Responding to criticism from Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, AI defended its changed policy, stating that they would continue protecting "the right of women to sexual and reproductive integrity in the face of grave human rights violations..." "Amnesty International recently incorporated a focus on selected aspects of abortion into its broader policy on sexual and reproductive rights. These additions do not promote abortion as a universal right and Amnesty International remains silent on the rights and wrongs of abortion."

See Article Here
In the article, Kate Gilmore, Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International, attempts to clarify AI's position. "Amnesty International’s position is not for abortion as a right but for women’s human rights to be free of fear, threat and coercion as they manage all consequences of rape and other grave human rights violations."

Well, I'm not sure this clarifies very much. I wish it did. I wish I knew exactly what AI was proposing, or addressing, by this change.

Monday, the President of the US Conference Catholic Bishops, Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, responded to AI's statement. The entire text of the letter can be found here.

In part it reads:

For many years, the Catholic community in the United States and elsewhere has admired and worked with Amnesty International in its efforts to advance the cause of universal human rights. Founded by a Catholic layman, Peter Benenson, Amnesty International has been a beacon of hope to thousands of prisoners of conscience and victims of abuse and torture. In this regard AI has been a source of inspiration to millions of supporters, including the many Catholics who are members. Much more urgent work remains, work which we believe will be harmed by this unprecedented and unnecessary involvement in the abortion debate.

I hope this promotes dialogue, before people start pulling their funds from an amazing and wonderful organization that has done so much good in the world. I urge you to be part of that dialogue, as a beginning. You can write to Amnesty Internation USA here:

Contact AI

The Modern Seminary

2007-05-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

"You profess Chalcedon...or you take a beatin'"

Just for laffs.

Here's a little YouTube video.

Republicans Eating Their Own

2007-05-18T14:35:00.001-07:00

What on earth is going on here? Could Cascadia Catholics be tilting just a little bit to the right? Not on your life! I just have to applaud Pat Buchanan's latest article in the World Net Daily, which you can view at Information Clearing House and avoid all those nasty wing-nut ads over at WND.

Ok, so, I didn't watch the Republican debates. I had better things to do, like clean the bathroom floor. But I did hear Ron Paul's take-down of Bush's Iraq policy, and Rudy's silly rebuttal, on an Air America replay. It was really something. That's the second time I had even heard of Ron Paul. The first time was when Winnipeg Catholic commented on him in an earlier post. At the time, I had to go 'google' him and read up on the main stream media's attempt to keep a lid on the guy. "Funny," I thought, "They're doing a good job of it!"

So Buchanan's article in today's WND made me smile. Pat's no fan of the Iraq war and prefers an isolationist policy for the US. And he's still a big jerk, of course. But this really is lovely:

What Ron Paul was addressing was the question of what turned the allies we aided into haters of the United States. Was it the fact that they discovered we have freedom of speech or separation of church and state? Do they hate us because of who we are? Or do they hate us because of what we do?

Osama bin Laden in his declaration of war in the 1990s said it was U.S. troops on the sacred soil of Saudi Arabia, U.S. bombing and sanctions of a crushed Iraqi people, and U.S. support of Israel's persecution of the Palestinians that were the reasons he and his mujahedeen were declaring war on us...

[After the debate, on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," came one of those delicious moments on live television. As Michael Steele, GOP spokesman, was saying that Paul should probably be cut out of future debates, the running tally of votes by Fox News viewers was showing Ron Paul, with 30 percent, the winner of the debate.

Brother Hannity seemed startled and perplexed by the votes being text-messaged in the thousands to Fox News saying Paul won, Romney was second, Rudy third and McCain far down the track at 4 percent].

Ron Paul is no TV debater. But up on that stage in Columbia, he was speaking intolerable truths. Understandably, Republicans do not want him back, telling the country how the party blundered into this misbegotten war.

By all means, throw out of the debate the only man who was right from the beginning on Iraq.

Yep. Oh, and pass the ketchup.

2007-05-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the drive-by flash posting, but a friend pointed out a story about four members of Congress living off of $21 a week, the amount allotted to people on food stamps. Here's a story in the Washington Post about them. Here's two blogs they're keeping:

http://timryan.house.gov/

http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com/

Rudy the Excommunicated?

2007-05-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a few months since Rudy Giuliani topped the polls as the Republican nominee. He's been sliding a bit lately, but not because those conservative Bishops have been after him for his Pro-Choice stance.

Click on the Play Button for the latest from those fiery Pro-Life Bishops that were all over John Kerry in 2004.

Conservative Bishops Speak Out

Man oh man. Yeah, and the Yankees suck, too, Rudy.

Did You Think I Was Kidding?

2007-05-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I asked this question: "When was the last time you heard a presidential candidate even mention poverty? [Besides, incidentally, John Edwards]" I wasn't kidding. He's made it a major campaign issue. Today in the NY Times, Bob Herbert writes a revealing article about Edwards' concern for the poor in America, and his plan to eliminate poverty in 30 years.

Here's a link to the article:

NY Times Article
Herbert quotes Edwards:

The real story is not the number but the people behind the number. The men, women and children living in poverty -- one in eight of us -- do not have enough money for the food, shelter, and clothing they need. One in eight. That is not a problem. That is not a challenge. That is a plague.

Edwards has also made an issue of global poverty, especially in Darfur. He probably can't pick up a whole lot of votes from Darfur, so I suspect his concern is legitimate. His plan is to create a new cabinet post on global poverty. You can read about that HERE.

I don't hear much from the Catholic candidates on global poverty. Or from the pro-life candidates, for that matter. That could be the same ol' problem with our lovely news media, but I'm glad Edwards' voice is getting through, at least, and I like what I hear.

Truth Matters

2007-04-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

People my age and older like to go around asking each other this question: “Where were you when John F. Kennedy was shot?” You see, this was such a shocking event that we can never forget the moment when first we heard the news. Something like 9/11, I imagine.

Well, I don’t remember where I was, not really. In school, I figure, but the day’s a blank in my mind.

It's tough to admit that I turned 50 this year, but there you go. That means I was six years old when Kennedy was shot; old enough to remember his funeral, Jackie and the kids, that riderless horse, my father’s tears… But I don’t remember when or how I was told that someone had shot and killed the President.

But what’s interesting, I think, is that I do remember Oswald’s death. Lee Harvey Oswald was shot by a mafia thug named Jack Ruby, two days after Kennedy was killed. I remember Jack Ruby, boy. I remember his hat, his black suit, his gun shoved into Oswald’s gut. And I remember Oswald’s “Ooooof!” as he was shot dead on national TV.

Now to my small mind, this was some kind of perfect justice. Boy, was I glad they got the guy who shot our president! When I mentioned the happy news to my father, he just looked at me, this grinning six year old kid, and then he told me something I will never forget: “But don’t you see?” he said, “Oswald was the only person who knew why Kennedy was shot, and now he’s dead. Now, we will never know the truth.” And suddenly, for the first time in my life, I got it. I understood. “Oh,” I said. “Ohh… Ohhhhhhh!!!”

I spent the rest of the week trying to convince my little friends that they shouldn’t be so glad that Oswald got killed. Some of them got it. But most didn’t. Few things ever change, I guess. So that’s what I remember from those days, one choice little epiphany; and I’ve been in a bad mood ever since.

So what does this have to do with conscientious voting? Well, maybe I should start again.

...

Some weeks back I was asked to give this talk on how I, a conscientious Catholic, apply my values to the political realm – specifically, to how I vote. Key to any Catholic's formation of conscience is an understanding of Church teachings.

1. So the first thing to do is study the Social Teachings of the Church, which have been conveyed to us through Papal letters, encyclicals, council documents, and Holy Scripture. Together they express some key themes about the life and dignity of the human person. Namely: Our innate human rights, including the right to life – which is primary; the preferential option for the poor and most vulnerable; the dignity of work and the rights of workers; the solidarity of humanity regardless of national, racial, ethnic, or ideological differences; the rights of nations; the care of God’s creation; and an overall obligation to promote the Common Good for all people.

2. Second, we must discern the good of social issues as we come to know them in the concrete, circumstantial experiences of our lives. Remember, there is a law written on every human heart which aids us in this discernment. This Natural Law is based on the notion that truth is knowable, and that we have access to the truth. This is important, and I’ll be getting back to it.

3. Third, we reflect on what we’ve learned, what we’ve experienced, and pray for God’s guidance.

4. Fourth, we take a hard look at the candidates and their political parties – not only to ensure that they profess these values, but that their actions manifest what they profess; that there is a real, workable, social benefit as a result of their actions.

5. Fifth and finally, we must take action. We apply the virtue of prudence, or moral wisdom, to the act of voting, trusting that the political process will bear out our good intentions, and that our elected officials will carry out their promises.

So voting itself is a moral action that Catholics should take very seriously. It is also, to a certain extent, the duty and obligation of every Catholic to participate fully in the political process.

Now I happen to know that Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement made a point of never voting. This always struck me as an odd position to take, as I think anyone so committed to serving the poor, and so politically minded as Dorothy Day indeed was, would leap at the chance to actively express her values in the voting booth. But she had no use for it. She considered the political system so corrupt, that to vote at all was to participate – even marginally – with evil. Well, few of us are as radical as Dorothy Day. Fewer yet as sainted.

But I’m certainly not of that mind – though I suspect I could get there. For me, being politically active means taking sides in our country’s two-party system, and I come down hard on the side of the Democratic Party. I always have.

Now contrary to what you just heard, Kennedy’s assassination did not seal me as a Democrat. At six years old? Give me a break! I was a Democrat long before Kennedy was shot. My parents were good, union-card-carrying Catholic Democrats - which was a perfectly normal thing to be in those days. In our house, there was never a question of which party to support. There were issues, sure, and we argued about them plenty, but there were never disloyalties. I’ve never voted for a Republican in my life. That’s not my dilemma, believe me. I am a Democrat precisely because the Democratic Party was formed by Catholics and based on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. This is our party.

Historically, it was the party of immigrants and labor unions. In 1928, New York’s Democratic Governor, Al Smith was the first Catholic candidate ever nominated in this country. He ran for president on such progressive issues as Civil Rights and fair labor practices, as they were outlined in Rerum Novarum: that “… wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner.” Anti-Catholic bigotry and corporate interests did him in by a landslide, and the economy collapsed the following year under Herbert Hoover.

Monsignor John Ryan shaped the New Deal programs of Franklin D. Roosevelt, from Quadragesimo Anno: “… the right ordering of economic life cannot be left to a free competition of forces. For from this source, as from a poisoned spring, have originated and spread all the errors of individualist economic teaching.” Fr. Ryan helped pull this country out of the Great Depression and, for so many, out of devastating poverty. Roosevelt was no Catholic and he didn’t much care for them, but he listened to their guidance and he took their advice.

In the 60’s John Kennedy established the Peace Corps and the New Frontier (later the Great Society), he championed Civil Rights and proclaimed an all-out War on Poverty. When was the last time you heard a presidential candidate even mention poverty? [Besides, incidentally, John Edwards.]

So then what happened to all these Catholic minded Democrats? Well, I think we know. Two were assassinated – which ended an era. Then, in 1973, abortion was legalized in this country. And in an attempt at what I consider to be some misguided appeasements, the Democratic Party ran on a platform that was radically Pro-Choice. As a result, many Catholics simply walked away. [And the Party let them go, too, saying that was just fine with them, ‘bye-bye!’ In essence, I think, the Democratic Party left the Catholic voter, not the other way around.]

Still, a lot of us stayed. I stayed because I’m fiercely loyal, tenacious, and pragmatic. I don’t want to see my Party led by the likes of NARAL, or any other tunnel-visioned faction. I stayed because this is my Party, and I believe in the principles that have formed it.

Now there’s talk that maybe Catholics should go make up their own third party, one that is wholly pro-life. That might sound well and good, but a lame third party would only serve to disenfranchise the Catholic vote, and that would be tragic for our country.

I’m not going to go vote Republican. Are you nuts?

So where does that leave me? Just a lonely voice under the big tent of dissident, disorganized Democrats. But you know, I am working to bring the Democratic Party back to her moral roots. I go to my Party caucuses. I was a delegate in 2004. I’ve spoken up for life issues when the party platform was being debated. I mean, how can we engage in the political dialogue if we don’t even show up for the discussion? It takes more than a bumper sticker to change the course of this country. It takes involvement, imagination, and the guts to say: “These things are wrong, here’s how we might change them.”

Still, I would rather stand shoulder-to-shoulder beside someone with whom I have a deep, honest and profound disagreement, than stand in the same room – the same arena even – with a liar who tells me everything I want to hear.

This is the key point. It gets back to the whole issue of truth I touched on earlier. You can’t form a Catholic Moral Conscience without access to the truth – which I don’t think we have – and without caring very deeply about it.

When government officials spin, distort, waffle and down-right lie to us, then we no longer have access to the truth. When the media, which has an overriding corporate interest in forming public beliefs… when the media no longer reports the crucial news of the day, no longer asks the tough questions of our leaders, no longer investigates incompetence and corruption, then we no longer have access to the truth. And when our Judicial system turns a blind eye to criminal activity at the highest levels, then our country has lost its moral compass, truth becomes irrelevant, and only power – raw power – is left to rule, creating its own reality.

Listen carefully to what Pope Benedict XVI had to say just last year, on World Peace Day, in a message he called: “In Truth, Peace”

Who and what, then, can prevent the coming of peace? Sacred Scripture… points to the lie told at the very beginning of history… Lying is linked to the tragedy of sin and its perverse consequences, which have had, and continue to have, devastating effects on the lives of individuals and nations. We need but think of the events of the past century, when aberrant ideological and political systems willfully twisted the truth and brought about the exploitation and murder of an appalling number of men and women... After experiences like these, how can we fail to be seriously concerned about lies in our own time, lies which are the framework for menacing scenarios of death in many parts of the world? Any authentic search for peace must begin with the realization that the problem of truth and untruth is the concern of every man and woman; it is decisive for the peaceful future of our planet.

Who do you think he’s talking to?

You see, what I learned that day in 1963, the insight that has remained with me to this day, is this: Truth matters. It really does. Because there are powers in this world that are bigger than good guys and bad guys; bigger than cowboy sheriffs; bigger than presidents, governments and even nations. We come to know these powers by the way they speak to us: which is never honest, never humble, and never true.

You want to know how to comport yourself as a conscientious Catholic? It’s really not that complicated. You study the issues, you study and honor the teachings of the Church, and you love and demand the truth above your own life, your own ego, your own loyalties, prejudices, and even your own perceptions of God. Then speak truth to power, it’s a sin to tell a lie.

Five Reasons to Endorse John Edwards

2007-03-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

I seem to have solidified into a John Edwards supporter. I sent him $50 last week and ordered a bumper sticker. This is an extreme gesture of support, by my standards. Usually, I just sit around and jabber to my friends over a beer.

But John and Elizabeth Edwards are impressing me day after day after day.

On my mini trip to Atlixco, Puebla, I read Barak Obama's Dreams From My Father. A very fascinating and well-written memoir. I'd love to have Obama as President, but I wonder if he can really buck the racist tide in this country. Hillary drives me nuts. No support there.

But Edwards has a plan; a real, concrete, written down plan, to change this country in exactly the direction I want to see it go. And Edwards speaks repeatedly about eliminating poverty. I haven't heard that tune since Bobby Kennedy. The very notion that a 21st Century candidate actually cares about poor people across the globe, moves me deeply.

From DailyKos I swiped this today, taken from John Edwards' speech at the Winter DNC meeting:

Five reasons to vote for John Edwards:

1. Restoring America's Moral Leadership in the World

America's leadership role in the world has grown out of our compassion and moral strength, as well as our unparalleled economic and military strength. We can be proud of our long history of using our strength to fight for the freedom of others, but our standing in the world has been badly tarnished. America can once again be looked up to and respected around the world. The first step is by immediately withdrawing 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq, with the complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within 12-18 months -- allowing the Iraqis to assume greater responsibility for rebuilding their own country. It also means working to restore our legitimacy by leading on the great challenges before us like the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the genocide in Darfur, extreme poverty, and living up to our ideals in the fight against terrorism.

2. Guaranteeing Affordable, Quality Health Care for Every American

The 47 million uninsured Americans often do not get the care they need. Each year, about 18,000 die as a result. Despite the problems of the uninsured and unnecessarily low quality care, our health care system is the most expensive in the world and insurance premiums have grown faster than wages for almost 50 years. John Edwards believes we need to reform our health care system to provide truly universal coverage - not mere access to insurance - and get better care at lower cost.

3. Eliminating Poverty

Every day, 37 million Americans wake in poverty. Our response to that reality says everything about the character of America. John Edwards has called for a national goal of eliminating poverty within 30 years, with policies rooted in the core American values of opportunity for everyone and responsibility from everyone. We can reach that goal by creating and rewarding work, strengthening families, helping workers save and get ahead, transforming our schools, expanding access to college, breaking up areas of concentrated poverty, reaching overlooked rural areas, and expecting people to help themselves by working whenever they are able.

4. Strengthening America's Middle Class

The backbone of America is its middle class. But middle class families are struggling. Wages have fallen in recent years even as the economy has grown. At the same time, the costs of necessities like health care, child care, and education have grown. President Bush's tax policies have increased the share of the tax burden borne by middle-class workers. Our economic policies must reward work, help families save for the future, and fight the rising costs of middle-class life.

5. Leading the Fight against Global Warming and Our Addiction to Foreign Oil

Our nation's dependence on oil and other fossil fuels is contributing to global warming and jeopardizing our national security. To protect our future, John Edwards believes that Americans must be patriotic about something other than the war. We must act now by investing in clean, renewable energies like wind, solar, and biofuels to create a new energy economy, developing a new generation of efficient cars and trucks, and putting new energy-saving technologies to work in buildings, transportation, and industry.

Cheers. And get your bumper stickers here.

Join a Wednesday Meetup here.

Donate here.

Onward.

The Relativism Thing

2007-03-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

I've been reading up on John Courtney Murray (Jesuit Priest) and his social philosophies based upon the Natural Law. I highly HIGHLY recommend this book: The Search for an American Public Theology, The Contribution of John Courtney Murray to anyone interested in finding a solution to our Church / State issues (from either a liberal or conservative perspective).

[I also highly HIGHLY recommend that Catholics read Dignitatis Humanae, from the documents of Vatican II, which was heavily influenced by John Courtney Murray.]

The notion of Natural Law comes from Thomas Aquinas and grounds Catholic Social Teaching. The Natural Law relies upon two suppositions: 1. A Realist Espitemology (that we can know what is real) and 2. that there is a God creating/ordering that reality.

From the Natural Law we derive the principle that human life is sacred, and that the role of government is to serve our Human Dignity. And from this notion of our Human Dignity come the "unalienable rights" of individuals and nations.

Now, in our pluralistic society there are many different ways of interpreting the law, different ways of forming values, different beliefs and different customs. These certainly include atheism and moral relativism. However, according to Natural Law, the law of justice is a law "written in the human heart" (St. Paul); so it belongs to our human nature and is accessible to all people. Even atheists and relativists have a sense of justice, whether they believe this comes from culture and is learned or is derived from some innate instinct.

Many (traditional) conservatives come from this Natural Law tradition. But I think few have a full grasp of it; and certainly many are abusing it toward their own ends.

For example, it is a distortion to say that Liberals are all relativists (a charge I often hear). We certainly are not. However, I think it would be true to say that many relativists are liberals. [If you are an atheist and/or a relativist, there's nowhere else to go but to appeal to the consensus of a pluralistic society in the forming of just laws. And this consensus is the very working of Natural Law.]

The irony here is that at heart, we are all subscribers of the Natural Law whether we recognize it or not; whether we distort it or not; whether we abuse it or not. At least for anyone who actually holds to the Natrual Law principle.

So by condemning consensus, or by stating that relativists are unfit to govern, or by assigning to all Liberals the relativisitic label, these conservatives are trashing the very Law they use to sustain their own conservative convictions. Imagine that.

Scrat's Beatific Vision

2007-02-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

God is hidden. It's the all consuming paradox of religion and the meat of the atheist's faith: this unknowable God. This hidden God. A God so elusive we can't even name Him.

No man has seen God, and few saints have experienced the Beatific Vision: that peculiar, mystical vision of God in ecstacy. St. Thomas Aquinas is one, and afterwards he stated that everything he had ever written was "as straw" in comparison.

So you can imagine my delight in finding the Beatific Vision, such as it is, depicted at the end of Ice Age 2, on DVD and in stores now. And it's none other than our beloved Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel, who experiences this glory! You can just see it on his face, can't you? [Anyone noticing a distinct resemblance to Duncan had better hush up about it]. Or better yet, watch the scene on video.

It's here.
Be sure to expand the screen size and turn up the sound!

"The good is what we desire." St. Thomas Aquinas

Fr. Robert Drinan, SJ Dies - Cross Posting

2007-01-29T16:31:00.000-08:00

This is a cross posting from dailykos.com. I don't usually do that, but this was such an interesting diary, I had to link to it. Please follow the link:

HERE

What is it with you Republicans?

2007-01-26T11:16:00.000-08:00

Ted Kennedy goes at the Republicans and their rider amendments, which are delaying the vote for an increase in the minimum wage. Move to the middle of the speech to get the full impact and if you just want the fireworks.

"Do you have such disdain for hard-working Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? Why don’t you just hold your amendments until other pieces of legislation? Why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try and raise the minimum wage? What is it about it that drives you Republicans crazy? What is it? Something. Something! What is the price that the workers have to pay to get an increase? What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?"

Yeah.

2007-01-25T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is on KCTS RIGHT NOW: "Lives for Sale". So far it's pretty good, although my picture isn't coming in. (Sound is great.) Looks like it repeats on KCTS on 1/29 at 1 a.m.

Catholic warcast podcast

2007-01-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

A friend brought to my attention a podcast put out by the Catholic Peace Fellowship called the Warcast for Catholics. It's primary focus is on conscientious objection and the war in Iraq, but recently they had a special edition of an interview with Sr. Helen Prejean. I've only listened to the first 3 podcasts or so, but what I've listened to has been good. The one episode was an interview with a former soldier, who was able to be discharged; a father whose daughter was taken in by false recruiting tactics; and a discussion of scripture relating to conscientious objection and peace.

A Not-So-Subtle Comment on My Blog

2007-01-22T10:05:00.000-08:00

A Sneak Preview for 2008!

2007-01-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

Are aliens the only Republicans left who support Bush and his policies? I'm beginning to think so. Good thing he still has Lieberman! But since we aren't Republicans here at Cascadia Catholics, let's move on to a more interesting topic:

2008 Sneak Preview. As you know, I'm a Kucinich supporter. But I'm also realistic. I like Edwards, but he's not my man. Clinton drives me nuts. Obama is refreshing, but what do we really know about him? And who are all those other guys?

I googled around and found a fantastic website. Check it out:

http://www.issues2000.org/2008_Speculation.htm

(You can even look at Republican voting records here, if you're so inclined.)

Most impressive are the Status Reports, what I consider to be some fair, objective and well documented histories of each candidate's voting record and speechifyings.

Last night I went through every Democrat on the list and was cheered to know that the Kooch still has my heart, but probably not my vote (in a close primary). Who does stand out?

Tom Daschle! (Who knew?) Tom Vilsack! (Come again?) and Barack Obama (I was just as surprised!) Edwards actually sank more than a few rungs in my estimation. He voted for the war (apologized, but still...). He voted for the Patriot Act! (No excuse there). He supports the Death Penalty. All bad things in my book, though it doesn't count him out. He is tough and aggressive, and is fighting poverty as a key issue (no one else is), so that's all good.

But you know what is also very interesting. Of all these Democrats, guess how many are Catholic?

Dennis Kucinich
Tom Daschle
Wesley Clark
John Kerry
Bill Richardson
Christopher Dodd
Tom Vilsack
Joe Biden

Wow. And even Obama at least was raised with a Catholic School education - as well as Muslim Schools (He's a convert to the United Church of Christ).

I just thought that was really interesting. Of course they are all pro-choice Catholics, and one can quarrel with that all one wants, but I was really surprised to see that so many of the Democratic Party leaders are Catholic. Reminds me of the good ol' days, before the Reagan bait-and-switch campaign stole so many and damaged so much.

And sorry the blog has been slow. I'll try to do better.

Panhandling Downtown

2007-01-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

Apologies if people have heard this program before, but I've been out of town and am catching up on my podcasts. KUOW's "The Conversation" had a program a few weeks ago on curbing panhandling downtown. You can hear it at this link. I found it interesting that they tried to verify that incidents of aggressive panhandling were on the rise with the Seattle police, and the Seattle police were unable to verify that claim. Woo seemed rather patronizing, to me. A few other callers did mention that there are charities which will take donations to help the homeless, but none were specifically mentioned.

KooooOOOOOoooOOoochhhh!!!!

2006-12-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

Kucinich Launches Presidential Bid

By JOE MILICIA
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 12, 2006; 3:01 PM

CLEVELAND -- Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich launched his second bid for president on Tuesday, a long-shot candidacy fueled by his frustration with his party's effort to end the Iraq war.

"I am not going to stand by and watch thousands more of our brave, young men and women killed in Iraq," Kucinich said to applause from a crowd gathered at City Hall. "We Democrats were put back in power to bring some sanity back to our nation. "We were expected to do what we said we were going to do - get out of Iraq."

Kucinich is a six-term, liberal congressman from Cleveland... Kucinich, 60, said he was inspired to run because he disagrees with the way some of his fellow Democrats are handling the war, including approval of a proposal to spend $160 billion more on the conflict.

From _alyosha_: Now I don't expect ol' Kooch to beat out Hillary or Gore, but I will be thrilled to have him in the conversation, playing his scrappy version of "speak truth to power" in the debates.

Duncan is with the Lord

2006-12-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

Little Duncan passed away from heart failure on Thursday, November 30, 2006. It's been very sad.

But I've since learned, through Private Revelation, that dogs *do indeed* go to heaven, and it's high time this realm of speculative theology be revisited.

Duncan tells me that Heaven isn't quite what he had imagined. It isn't at all exclusive, and they let just about anyone in. He's never seen so many "damn fools and Democrats" in his life. Obviously, he hasn't been attending our Peace and Justice meetings.

Anyway, I thought you should know.

P.S. This just in: Oswald *was* a Patsy!

55% of Catholics Vote Democratic this Mid-term

2006-11-22T14:58:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting figure. 55% of Catholic voters voted for a Democratic candidate this year. That's up considerably from 2004, where Democrats only carried 48% of the Catholic vote, giving Bush a slight (52%) victory.

Granted, the mid-term election was not a presidential contest, but it certainly points to a cheery trend. “This represents a dramatic change,” said John Green, senior fellow in religion and American politics at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

This from a National Catholic Reporter article, which you can read in full here:
National Catholic Reporter

The article goes on to state:

And while the war in Iraq dominated voter thinking, Catholics had other issues on their minds, according to analysts and activists who study religion’s impact on voting.

Among the top issues: congressional corruption and malfeasance (think Florida Rep. Mark Foley and convicted California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham), managerial incompetence (exemplified by the handling of Hurricane Katrina and the war), and increasing angst in the electorate focused on economic inequality. Add to the mix a new Democratic desire to engage religiously motivated voters and the result is the party’s first Capitol Hill majority in 12 years.

I never fully believed in the "God Gap" - a catchy phrase for this co-opting of religious voters by the Republican Party. I mean, I know it exists, but the issues are more complicated than that. As usual.

Letter to a Catholic Convert

2006-11-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

First of all, I want to begin by welcoming you to the Church, though I have to admit, honestly, that I regard you as a bit of an oddity, a living miracle. The big miracle to me – besides your existence – is that you found your way into the Church at all. I can’t imagine such a thing. How did you do it? How did you choose to enter such an ancient, crotchety, bruised and shaken institution as the Roman Catholic Church? Converts to the faith alarm me. They really do.

Now I can understand us “born” Catholics. We manage to thrash our way through the cobwebs and rigors of Rome with apparent ease, because we still recall the assuring voice of our mothers, teaching us the rosary or telling us stories of the saints. We have been raised, schooled, and thoroughly steeped in our Catholic identity. It’s in our guts. But I don’t know where you people come from, I really don’t – except maybe from God, and that’s a miracle, alright.

So now you’re a Roman Catholic, just like the rest of us, wholly immersed in this Catholic community by way of your baptism and confirmation, and every bit as Catholic as those born to it. And when people ask you who you are, you might even appeal to that Catholic identity, if you’re brave enough. I say “brave” because, gathering from what you've been saying, there were objections to your conversion from family and friends. And can you really blame them? Their knowledge of the Catholic Church is probably incomplete or skewed, coming to them from outside the faith. And if we believed the Church was everything the world tells us it is, there’s little chance intelligent people like ourselves would be in it at all. But the world has never really understood the true character of the Catholic community. And it’s high time we Catholics took matters in hand and stated it plainly.

Who are we, exactly?

We are a Eucharistic Community. We are Christ-ridden people. I don’t mean to say we are Christ-like in our behavior, I mean that we are suffused with God, thoroughly steeped in the body and blood of Christ. Really. Concretely. In our guts.

You have been taught in your RCIA class that the Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ made flesh. This is fundamentally Catholic. You really aren’t going to find this anywhere else, not in quite the same context. The Eucharist is not a metaphor, and it is not a symbol. When you receive communion you receive the Incarnate God, just as Creation received the Incarnate God in the person of Jesus Christ. You are that Creation. And you are in communion with that Creation, in everything and everyone, in every culture and every creature on this planet, and in the very stuff of the planet itself. If you want the whole picture, you are in communion with every subatomic particle, every quark that blinks in and out of existence, and every star at the leading edge of our expanding universe. This is Creation - so far as we know - and here we are, the Christ-bearers, conscious somehow of this tremendous reality, believing somehow that God enters this reality. And we have to get our minds and hearts around that if we can.

So then I think it’s fair to say that we are all, each of us, Sacramental: We are the outward sign of an invisible grace.

Flannery O’Connor, one of our greatest American writers, wrote a letter to a friend that is often quoted, but I thought I’d quote it again, in case you missed it. She says:

I was once, five or six years ago, taken by some friends to have dinner with Mary McCarthy and her husband, Mr. Broadwater…. She departed the Church at the age of 15 and is a Big Intellectual. We went at eight and at one, I hadn’t opened my mouth once, there being nothing for me in such company to say. Having me there was like having a dog present who had been trained to say a few words but, overcome with inadequacy, had forgotten them. Well, toward morning the conversation turned on the Eucharist, which I, being the Catholic, was obviously supposed to defend. Mrs. Broadwater said when she was a child and received the Host, she thought of it as the Holy Ghost, He being the ‘most portable’ person of the Trinity; now she thought of it as a symbol and implied that it was a pretty good one. I then said, in a very shaky voice, “Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.” That was all the defense I was capable of, but I realize now that this is all I will ever be able to say about it, outside of a story, except that it is the center of existence for me; all the rest of life is expendable.

What does that mean, the center of existence? I suppose we each have to answer that in our own way. But when we participate in the Eucharist, we are Eucharist, we are communion, we are the body of Christ that is the Church. And this Church, this people, is flawed, varied, broken, often sinful, yet always and profoundly Sacramental.

Let me quote one more paragraph from Flannery O’Connor, this is from her first novel, Wise Blood:

Hazel Motes walked along downtown close to the store fronts but not looking in them. The black sky was underpinned with long silver streaks that looked like scaffolding and depth on depth behind it were thousands of stars that all seemed to be moving very slowly as if they were about some vast construction work that involved the whole order of the universe and would take all time to complete. No one was paying any attention to the sky. The stores in Taulkinham stayed open on Thursday nights so that people could have an extra opportunity to see what was for sale.

If Creation is suffused with God, the God Who comes down from heaven to share in His Creation, then Creation must be charged with the grandeur of God, and we ought to be paying closer attention. If Creation is suffused with God, the God Who comes down from heaven to share in our humanity, then we are the voice of that Creation, its only conscientious part, and our voice ought to proclaim the truth that this is so.

If we are a Eucharistic community, then our words as well as our actions - our ‘outward signs’ of the invisible grace that is God Incarnate - are critical to the Christian promise of hope. They are critical to our Sacramental character. It’s not the Church but we as church, who must assume responsibility for making Christ present to the world. If the world is ever to know Christ, is ever to know the fulfillment of the Christian promise, we must speak the whole truth, always, and then do the work of human hands – however we are gifted. And we must make the Eucharist the center of our existence, in our lives, in our stories, and in our guts.

Capital Punishment Slide Show

2006-11-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

Over at alyosha.com, my working website, I have uploaded a Power Point presentation on the Death Penalty, given from a Catholic perspective. You can download the Power Point slideshow from the website, or simply view the pages in .html.

Anyone wishing to use this presentation for their congregation or justice group is welcome to it.

Let's keep the conversation going! Comments always appreciated.

Death Sentence of Saddam Condemned by Vatican Official

2006-11-08T13:47:00.000-08:00

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said it would be wrong to carry out the death penalty against Saddam Hussein.

"For me, to punish a crime with another crime, such as killing out of vengeance, means that we are still at the stage of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'"

This according to Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service:

In a Nov. 5 interview with ANSA, the Italian news agency, the cardinal said both Pope John Paul II's 1995 encyclical, "Evangelium Vitae" ("The Gospel of Life"), and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach that modern societies have the means to protect citizens from the threat of a murderer without resorting to execution.

"God has given us life, and only can God take it away," the cardinal said, adding, "the death sentence is not a natural death."

"Life is a gift that the Lord has given us, and we must protect it from conception until natural death," he said.

"Unfortunately," he said, "Iraq is among the few countries that has not yet made the choice of civility by abolishing the death penalty."

A point that isn't made, which I think needs emphasis, is that a dead Saddam is a silent Saddam. He will take many secrets to his grave. He knows a lot. He knows what chemical weapons he got from foreign governments, and how he got them. (See: Donald Rumsfeld).

And on another note, regarding the Death Penalty and Catholic Social Teaching, let's remember this statement: "A DEATH SENTENCE IS NOT A NATURAL DEATH." It will come in handy.

Ride the Blue Wave!

2006-11-08T10:55:00.000-08:00

Now that things have settled down, it's good to be back at the Blog. Hope all of you out there (ok, all two of you) are still around.

Dems take House!
Dems poised to take Senate!
Rumsfeld resigned!
It's not raining in Seattle!
It's time to CELEBRATE

Catholic Social Teaching

2006-10-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

1. DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

The dignity of the human person flows from her/his creation in God's image. Every human being possesses an inalienable dignity that stamps human existence as good regardless of gender, race, class, ethnicity, nationality.

2. SOCIAL NATURE OF THE PERSON

Human dignity is realized in community with others and with all of creation. Every aspect of life in community is measured by how the dignity of each person is upheld; therefore the earth and human community must be whole and healthy.

3. THE COMMON GOOD

The freedom and good of the individual must be balanced with the good of society - domestic and global society. Promoting the common good is not compatible with tolerating hunger, homelessness, unemployment or injustice. The economic, political and social institutions of society must be shaped to contribute to the individual and common good.

4. SOLIDARITY OF THE HUMAN FAMILY

Solidarity helps us to see the "other"-- whether a person, people or nation ... as a neighbor, a "sharer", a "helper", irrespective of age, race, gender, ethnicity, political persuasion, etc. There is an interconnection among all peoples demanding that we value and respect the experience of all.

5. PARTICIPATION AS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT

People should be able to participate in the decisions which affect their lives (unions, social organizations, councils, etc.).

6. SUBSIDIARITY AS THE RULE OF SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Decisions should be made as close as possible to the level of individual initiative in communities and institutions. Families, local community groups, local governments and small businesses should be fostered and their input considered. Larger government structures have a role when greater social coordination and regulation are necessary for the common good.

7. DIGNITY OF WORK

Work is an extension of the person, his/her gifts, talents, and education. It provides a person with an opportunity to contribute to the common good. Work should enhance the human person, not demean him/her for less noble motives. People should be able to earn a living wage with adequate benefits and be employed in good working conditions. Through work people participate in the social and economic order.

8. UNIVERSAL PURPOSE OF MATERIAL GOODS

The goods of the earth are meant to enhance human life and dignity. How we use the resources of the earth, what we produce and sell should enhance the human spirit. Planet Earth belongs to all humanity. Both the Earth and humanity must be in partnership with each other for their mutual survival. Therefore, we must learn about and respect its multiple resources and systems if we would be responsible partners. The Earth's productive resources do not belong to the few who seek to use it for personal or corporate profit, but to the whole human community. These resources are limited and have their own right to be a part of God's creation. We need to use them with care, respect and in a way which allows for regeneration, i.e. sustainability.

9. OPTION FOR THE POOR AND VULNERABLE

Jesus teaches us to look at all reality through the eyes of the poor as he did. He chose to be born poor, to look at reality through the underside of history. His life teaches that a just society is achieved only when the needs of the poor in society are given first priority. In the Pastoral Economic Justice for All the U.S. Catholic Bishops state, "The obligation to provide justice for all means that the poor have the single most urgent economic claim on the conscience of the nation."

10. ECOLOGICAL RESPONSIBILITY

Earth's resources are limited and are part of God's creation. We need to use them with care and in a way that allows for regeneration and sustainability.

About Ndugu

2006-10-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

So, has anyone here seen the movie, About Schmidt?

If not, let me tell you something about it. This is the story of Warren Schmidt, a retired Insurance Actuary from Omaha, Nebraska (wonderfully portrayed by Jack Nicholson). And, like many professional men, he soon discovers that retirement is not all it’s cracked up to be. He and his wife, Helen, have plans to tour the country in their new Winnebago, but Warren isn’t very excited about it. It was his wife’s idea. In fact, Warren isn’t very excited about much of anything, and spends his days in front of the television set, reclined in his easy chair.

Somewhere along the line, he catches a commercial about sponsoring a poor child overseas, and on a lark - or perhaps upon inspiration – he signs himself up. A couple of weeks later he gets a packet in the mail from the Sponsorship Foundation, along with a photo of Ndugu, a six year old boy from Tanzania. The Foundation recommends he write a letter of introduction to his sponsored child, which he immediately does.

And so, for the rest of the movie, the internal dialogue of Warren Schmidt is set down in these letters he sends to little Ndugu Umbo. He tells the boy about his life and family. He even sends a little extra money to Ndugu, so he can go down to the corner drug store and “get himself some candy.” Soon, he’s confesses that living in the same house with his wife for 24 hours a day is driving him crazy. Everything she does annoys him. And as for his old job, well, Warren writes that just this morning he went down to his old Insurance Company, thinking to give the “new man” some pointers, and they gave him the brush off! He later found all of his business files, which he had meticulously kept for over 30 years, piled high in the dumpster outside his old office. “Let that be a lesson to you, young man,” he scrawls across the yellow page.

Then one day, after a visit to the post office, Schmidt discovers his wife has collapsed and died on the kitchen floor, which she had been cleaning. Suddenly, all of their dreams for a happy retirement are shattered. “Dear Ndugu,” Warren writes sadly, “I hope you’re sitting down for this…”

At the funeral Schmidt’s daughter arrives with her fiancé, Randall, who’s a waterbed salesman. Now, if ever there was a disaster of a son-in-law, boy, this guy is it! Still, Warren is polite and stoic, and when all is said and done, and after his friends and family leave, Schmidt finds himself alone in the big, empty house. Things go down-hill pretty quickly after that. The house turns into a shambles: pizza boxes on the floor, dirty laundry draped everywhere, dishes piled high in the sink and the TV, always droning on.

Warren Schmidt misses his wife. And while going through her things one day he finds a shoe box full of love letters written to her by his best friend! Sure, the notes are 30 years old, and the affair a brief one, but Schmidt is horrified. He jumps into his Winnebago and tears off down the street. He stops only long enough to punch his “best friend” in the nose, and then motors off to Denver, filled with new purpose. In a flash he’s decided to keep his only daughter from marrying that nincompoop and ruining her life. All the while, he keeps Ndugu informed of every detail.

Now what all happens in Denver is too silly and lengthy to tell. So I’ll be brief: Schmidt’s daughter refuses to call off her wedding, and she asks her father in a very irate tone: “Why are you suddenly taking an interest in my life NOW? Where were you when I needed you MOST?”

Warren Schmidt is shocked beyond all measure. The couple do get married, and our hero drives home to Omaha in a daze. He has utterly failed; not only at preventing his daughter’s disastrous marriage, but at his own marriage as well. He’s failed as a parent and at his job: 30 years in the same company and all his hard work is thrown out in the trash. He forgives his wife’s infidelity, but it doesn’t seem to change things. Stripped bare of everything he values, Schmidt now realizes that there isn’t a single thing he has ever done in his life that matters. “I am weak,” he tells Ndugu, “I am a failure. What difference has my life made to anyone? None that I can think of, none at all.”

At home he kicks his way through the pile of mail that has stacked up in the entryway and discovers a thin, blue envelope, with international markings. He opens the letter. It is from the Sisters of Mercy at the orphanage where Ndugu lives. The Sister reports that Ndugu is a very intelligent and loving child, and he receives all of Schmidt’s letters. “Recently, he had an infection in his eye, but that is better now. Ndugu is too young to read and write,” she tells him, “but he has made for you a painting. He hopes you will like his painting.” Enclosed is a little child’s colored drawing of two people holding hands. The people are smiling. One is big and one is little. The sun is shining behind them. And Warren Schmidt begins to cry.

And that is the end of the movie.

But I didn’t come here to tell you about a movie. I came here to tell you about Child Sponsorship. I thought I’d talk about all the good things you could be doing for some needy child. I mean, as their sponsor, you’d be giving them food and clean water, a warm shelter, healthcare, clothing, and an education. And you’d be helping their families, too, and even their communities. But I didn’t want to tell you all that because you’ve seen the commercials, just like I have, and you can read about that stuff in the shiny pamphlets they print up.

So what am I trying to tell you? Well, it’s this. Look. If you see even a bit of yourself in Warren Schmidt - maybe your spouse annoys you, or your friends disappoint, or you have a stupid job and the kids don’t listen, or maybe you'd just like to make a difference in the world - why not take a chance on sponsoring a child? You’ll be doing the kids a world of good, and you know that. But, you see, what you don’t know, what I think you don’t realize at all, is that these kids will shine for you like the sun; these kids will be the light and love of Christ for you, because that’s exactly Who they are.

And that’s why Warren Schmidt wept with joy.

Achieving Conscientious Objector Status

2006-10-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow!

A Conscientious Objector Workshop

Two years back, the University District (Seattle) Interfaith Advocates put on a Conscientious Objector Workshop for young students and their parents. The workshop was purely informational on how to achieve Conscientious Objector status by building a personal C.O. file. Step by step instructions were presented in a PowerPoint presentation, which you can view (or download) online at my working website: alyosha.com

Here's the link: http://www.alyosha.com/advocate

Given the saber rattling that continues over Iran's nuclear program, I think it would be wise to alert the young people you know about this important information.

The Bishops' Letter to the US Congress

2006-10-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

What the Bishops have said about the "detainee" [torture] legislation:

September 19, 2006

... prisoner mistreatment compromises human dignity. A respect for the dignity of every person, ally or enemy, must serve as the foundation of security, justice and peace. There can be no compromise on the moral imperative to protect the basic human rights of any individual incarcerated for any reason.

We share the concern of lawmakers and citizens for the safety of U.S. soldiers and civilians serving abroad in these times of great uncertainty and danger. In the face of this perilous climate, our nation must not embrace a morality based on an attitude that “desperate times call for desperate measures” or “the end justifies the means.” The inherent justice of our cause and the perceived necessities involved in confronting terrorism must not lead to a weakening or disregard of U.S. or international law.

In a time of terrorism and fear, our individual and collective obligations to respect dignity and human rights, even of our worst enemies, gains added importance. Reaffirming the standards contained in Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions would reflect the conviction that our nation must treat its prisoners as we would expect our enemies to treat our own military personnel or citizens. We urge you to reject any proposed legislation that would call into question America’s commitment to Common Article 3. Preserving the strong U.S. commitment to humane and ethical treatment of detainees would continue your efforts to restore the moral credibility of the United States at a crucial time.

Bishop Thomas G. Wenski
Bishop of Orlando
Chairman, Committee on International Policy
USCCB

Voting For the Common Good

2006-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

A Practical Guide for Conscientious Catholics

You can get your own guide by clicking on this Catholic Alliance link.

This is a well written guide that outlines Catholic Social Teachings, so that voters can make informed decisions about today's pressing issues.

And when your relatives start in with their right-wing "Catholic Answers" routine, you can whip this handy little volume out and give them a good education.

Download for free at the above link, or buy hundreds of booklets for your congregations at $1.00 each. Might be a step in the right... er, left direction! (Not really, it's a pretty measured, sober review of the Church's teachings on social matters.)

Amnesty International on the Evil of Torture, American Style

2006-09-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

"...what we do to those who suffer, we do to the Last Judge of our life..."

Pope Benedict XVI

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Rubber stamping violations in the "war on terror": Congress fails human rights

By passing the Military Commissions Act, the United States Congress has, in effect, given its stamp of approval to human rights violations committed by the USA in the "war on terror". This legislation leaves the USA squarely on the wrong side of international law, and has turned bad executive policy into bad domestic law.

On 27 September, the House of Representatives passed the Military Commissions Act by 253 votes to 168. On 28 September, the Senate passed the Act by 65 votes to 34. After any discrepancies between the Senate and House bills are reconciled, the legislation will go to President Bush for signing into law. If President Bush signs the bill, as expected, Amnesty International will campaign for repeal of the Act. The constitutionality of the legislation is also likely to be challenged in the courts.

In the "war on terror", the US administration has resorted to secret detention, enforced disappearance, prolonged incommunicado detention, indefinite detention without charge, arbitrary detention, and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Thousands of detainees remain in indefinite military detention in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. Congress has failed these detainees and their families. President Bush has defended the CIA’s use of secret detention and in the debates over the Military Commissions Act, members of Congress have done the same. Yet this is a policy in clear violation of international law.

Accountability among higher officials for human rights violations authorized or committed by US personnel in the "war on terror" has been absent, as has been reparation for such abuses. Investigations into alleged war crimes and human rights violations have lacked independence and have not gone up the chain of command. Not a single US agent has been charged with war crimes under the USA’s War Crimes Act or torture under the extraterritorial anti-torture statute, despite compelling evidence that such offences have occurred.

Meanwhile, the Military Commissions Act provides for trials of the "enemy" in front of military commissions using lower standards of evidence than apply to US personnel, and with the power to hand down death sentences. Whether charged for trial or not, those detained by the USA as "enemy combatants" will not be able to challenge the lawfulness or conditions of their detention in habeas corpus appeals. Habeas corpus is a fundamental safeguard against enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

There appears to be little doubt that President Bush will sign the bill. He had sent a version of it to Congress on 6 September at the same time that he had announced the transfer of 14 "high value" detainees from years in secret CIA custody to detention in Guantánamo. He said that these detainees could be tried if Congress authorized military commissions acceptable to the administration.

Amnesty International deeply regrets that Congress failed to resist this executive pressure and instead has given a green light for violations of the USA’s international obligations.

Why Believe?

2006-09-29T10:43:00.000-07:00

This is cross posted from StreetProphets (a Kos Community), since things have been very hectic with me lately.

"So," a diarist asks, "Why believe in God?"

I answer that:

As for me, I am a Christian Roman Catholic and a dabbler in doubt. God does not speak to me. I'm living with His silence. (Usually in a huff). But here are some things that move me to believe:

I love the truth. I respect all truth. I really dispise dishonesty and lies. Jesus said: "Everyone who loves the truth hears my voice." [Isn't it interesting that he did not say "Everyone who loves me hears the truth."] I think anyone who seeks the truth, honestly, will find God. Everything that exists is true, and what is true is of God.

For me, existence itself is the kingpin. Existence is so radical and impossible, and so wild a thing, that the very act of recognizing my own existence forces me to look for an Other. Why is there something instead of nothing? Why is there me? Logically, it looks like this: I know only two things with absolute certainty. 1. I exist. 2. I came into being. [I had nothing to do with my own existence.] Everything else for me is a matter of belief (even you). And yet these two things that I do know for certain force me to seek God, maybe even name Him.

Then there is the second law of thermodynamics (entropy, things fall apart). This law is violated by life, evolution, and intelligence; and yet I participate in all three of these things. I am running contrary to a very universal physical law (and I believe you are, too). Isn't that odd?

Also, and finally I suppose, I realize that the universe is not perfect. That nature, which we all so much enjoy, is really quite hideous underneath. The universe is flawed. (I recommend you read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard). And people are horribly flawed. Even children can recognize injustice. And so I believe that evil truly does exist. If I did not believe in God, I could not call it evil. I'd have to say it's just another way of being. Maybe I'm so colored by my own culture that I can only call it evil, but I don't think so. It seems universally true. Absolutely evil. And it would be quite a trick indeed to discover God by coming to the realization that first of all, evil exists. And since I recognize it and can name it, I have to wonder what it is that allows me to see it, if not an absolute good that I cannot see.

These are only some ideas. I still live with fear and trembling, but our mutual existence cheers me some. We participate in being. I know I do and trust that you do as well. That Being, that Other, that Unmoved Mover that brought me into this participation, I name God. The rest, you know, is easy.

Killing in the name of God

2006-09-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

Too often I hear people condemn religion, because too many wars are fought in the name of God. How can people kill in the name of God?

Well, you can kill in the name of anything. Or at least, people do. People kill in the name of justice, for example, when often it's really just revenge or some warped sense of vindication. People also kill for the sheer thrill of it. So it's really a lame question to ask how one can kill in the name of "X".

The real question is, can one rightly kill another person. And if so, when?

If you want to start a war, and you need a lot of good people to kill other good people, you have to have a cause that will move them. People need a good reason to kill other people. The highest good is God, by most people's cultural standings, therefore, if you tweak their religion a bit, you can get people excited enough about "God" to kill other people who have (presumably) slandered that god.

But don't stop there. Wars aren't really started by religion so much as the lust for power and domination and greed. God is just the twisted excuse.

Wars can be fought in the name of "Democracy" or "Liberty" or "Freedom", too, as we've often seen. These are all good things in themselves, as I believe religion is a good thing in itself. We don't condemn true liberty or true freedom or true democracy because people have gone to war over these ideals, or because these ideals have been perverted by evil men who get rich on the wars they start. I don't think we should condemn religion any more than we would condemn democracy.

Let's blame the real culprits. Blame the love of power and unbridled greed; and the ignorance of people who allow themselves to be swayed by the powerful and greedy. Because at a certain point, ignorance is culpable. And when we're done blaming, we have to get back to work to overcome ignorance.

But this dividing of unbelievers against believers (or the other way around) only divides the unified voice we need to overcome the oppressive powers that are rising up like Titans all around us.

New Bumper Sticker (or window sign)

2006-09-11T18:53:00.000-07:00

Path to 9/11 - ABC's Propaganda Machine in Mouse Ears

2006-09-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Or ... How To Make a Mickey Mouse Administration Look Competent
HINT: Hire Actors

Disney/ABC is planning to air "Path to 9/11' this week, a mini-series that is wrought with inaccuracies (can I say lies?) and inuendo - and which manages to shift the blame for 9/11 onto the tail-chasing shoulders of the Clinton Administration. The blogosphere is alive with criticism of this propagandistic attempt to rewrite history.

People need to see through the official justification "hey, it's a dramatization." People need to smell the rat of propaganda. If you haven't contacted ABC and Disney, I urge you to drop them a line and voice your displeasure. Here's a link to the Democratic Party page. One hundred and twenty thousand petitions have been sent so far! That's 120,000!

And to get you going, I thought this letter to ABC's Robert Iger was most impressive:

Dear Robert Iger:

We write as professional historians, who are deeply concerned by the continuing reports about ABC's scheduled broadcast of "The Path to 9/11." These reports document that this drama contains numerous flagrant falsehoods about critical events in recent American history. The key participants and eyewitnesses to these events state that the script distorts and even fabricates evidence in order to mislead viewers about the responsibility of numerous American officials for allegedly ignoring the terrorist threat before 2000.

The claim by the show's producers, broadcaster, and defenders, that these falsehoods are permissible because the show is merely a dramatization, is disingenuous and dangerous given their assertions that the show is also based on authoritative historical evidence. Whatever ABC's motivations might be, broadcasting these falsehoods, connected to the most traumatic historical event of our times, would be a gross disservice to the public. A responsible broadcast network should have nothing to do with the falsification of history, except to expose it. We strongly urge you to halt the show's broadcast and prevent misinforming Americans about their history.

Sincerely,
Arthur Schlesinger
Sean Wilentz, Princeton University
Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
Lizbeth Cohen, Harvard University,
Nicholas Salvatore, Cornell University;
Ted Widmer, Washington College;
Rick Perlstein, Independent Scholar;
David Blight, Yale University;
Eric Alterman, City University of New York.

Bumper Sticker of the Month

2006-09-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

THE RAPTURE IS NOT
AN EXIT STRATEGY

Days of Obligation

2006-09-06T10:51:00.001-07:00

I have been reading Richard Rodriguez's "Days of Obligation - An Argument with My Mexican Father." It seems to be one of those books that one either loves or hates; or so I gather from browsing through the Amazon.com reader reviews. Still, I'm enjoying it. It's written by a practicing Catholic, a Mexican/American, a gay man, and a San Franciscan. (Some of you may remember him being interviewed by Bill Moyers on his PBS series: Faith and Reason, which I blogged about back in August.) So I thought I'd see what it was about.

It's a hodgepodge collection, loosely bound by themes which are consciously sacramental, surrounding his life and experiences. On how Mexico differs from America, even though Mexico is in his parents' memory, not his, since he was born in San Francisco. The way Mexicans worship, embrace death, tie themselves like Indians to the land. And how America lives, looks forward to some grand, invisible ideal; but then, where are all the Indians? Or the way San Francisco's Victorian homes were built around the "nuclear family" - and how these homes are lived in now, ironically, by gay and childless couples. Vacant mirrors, gilded with cherubs.

About San Francisco and the AIDS crisis, he wrote this moving passage, which I'll quote and leave with you:

And if gays took care of their own, they were not alone. AIDS was a disease of the entire city. Nor were Charity and Mercy only male, only gay. Others came. There were nurses and nuns and the couple from next door, co-workers, strangers, teenagers, corporations, pensioners. A community was forming over the city...

And the saints of this city have names listed in the phone book, names I heard called through a microphone one cold Sunday in Advent as I sat in Most Holy Redeemer Church. It might have been any of the churches or community centers in the Castro district, but it happened at Most Holy Redeemer at a time in the history of the world when the Roman Catholic Church pronounced the homosexual a sinner.

A woman at the microphone called upon volunteers from the AIDS Support Group to come forward. Throughout the church, people stood up, young men and women, and middle-aged and old, straight, gay and all of them shy at being called. Yet they came forward and assembled in the sanctuary, facing the congregation, grinning self-consciously at one another, their hands hidden behind them.

I am preoccupied by the fussing of a man sitting in the pew directly in front of me - in his seventies, frail, his iodine-colored hair combed forward and pasted upon his forehead. Fingers of porcelain clutch the pearly beads of what must have been his mother's rosary. He is not the sort of man any gay man would have chosen to become in the 1970's. He is probably not what he himself expected to become. Something of the old dear about him, wizened butterfly, powdered old pouf. Certainly he is what I fear becoming. And then he rises, this old monkey, with the most beatific dignity, in answer to the microphone, and he strides into the sanctuary to take his place in the company of the Blessed.

So this is it - this, what looks like a Christmas party in an insurance office, and not as in Renaissance paintings, and not as we had always thought, not some flower-strewn, some sequined curtain call of greasepainted heroes gesturing to the stalls. A lady with a plastic candy cane pinned to her lapel. A Castro clone with a red bandana exploding from his hip pocket. A perfume-counter lady with an Hermes scarf mantled upon her shoulder. A black man in a checkered sports coat. The pink-haired punkess with a jewel in her nose. Here, too, is the gay couple in middle-age; interchangeable plaid shirts and corduroy pants. Blood and shit and Mr. Happy Face. These know the weight of bodies.

Bill died... Passed on to heaven... Turning over in his bed one night and then gone.

These learned to love what is corruptible, while I, barren skeptic, reader of St. Augustine, curator of the earthly paradise, inheritor of the empty mirror, I shift my tailbone upon the cold, hard pew.

And yet...

2006-08-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

My heart belongs to Kooch!

"We recited the Prayer of Saint Francis to each other during our marriage ceremony."

Why I Like John Edwards

2006-08-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Because he is the only politician I know, who takes special notice of the poorest of the poor.

Look at what is happening in Sudan:

"Sudan began a genocide against tribes of small farmers in its Darfur region three years ago. Militia groups backed by the Sudanese government have slaughtered an estimated 400,000 people and driven 2.5 million people from their homes. U.N. troops are on their way, but will take at least five more months to arrive in Darfur. NATO forces -- if the U.S. stepped up to moral leadership -- could end the conflict immediately."

Please follow the link and sign!

Sign Here

Prison Walk

2006-08-19T08:55:00.002-07:00

I was introduced to "prison ministry" about a year ago, when our JustFaith group visited the State Corrections facility in Monroe. We went to the Friday evening Mass and bible study, and because I enjoyed it so much, I've been going back as regularly as I can manage.

Last month, after a great deal of organization by the inmates, the prisoners conducted a "walk-a-thon" for the Jamie Moyer Foundation. The inmates, who were sponsored by doners on the "outside," marched around their athletic track in 95 degree heat in order to raise money for "the kids, man" (as one walker put it) - for the kids suffering from cancer.

One of my jobs was to help with the water distribution. We also provided sunscreen, becuase it was a scorcher of a day. Still, the feeling was very festive, as if we were all at a picnic.

"Anyone need sunscreen?" one fair-skinned volunteer called out. All the black guys howled with laughter. "Don't laugh," said the volunteer, cheerfully applying lotion. "Dark skinned people can get skin cancer, too."

"We don't use that shit," a big, soft spoken fellow said.

"Oh, I don't know," replied the volunteer, who had traveled extensively. "People in Africa use it all the time."

"Well," said the inmate, "I'm not from Africa, I'm from Alabama, and we don't use that shit." More howling laughter.

After the pre-game drill they got down to it. Off came the shirts, off went the runners, joggers, walkers and limpers. And, I can tell you, I never saw so many tatoos in my life. There were hearts and guns and knives and angels; skulls and bones and titties and crosses. It was really quite something, and not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

So my next job was to sit and keep a written record of the laps the inmates finished. At first, it was tough enough just to get everyone's name right, as I had about 25 guys to keep track of, but by the 8th lap (two miles) I was getting the hang of it. And I dare say, those tatoos really did help out! By the 16th lap most were pretty beat, but they kept marching on, and I, sitting on my butt, could gleefully cheer them along. After some thirty laps they had to quit, because their time was up, but I'm sure some of those guys could have kept hiking for days. It was impressive. These were young, healthy men, sure, but there were also a lot of older guys walking. And some fat guys. Some slow guys. Guys with canes. Most of these guys never quit.

In all, they raised over $2,000 for the Moyer Foundation.

There is something very meaningful, when your life is nearly snuffed out behind prison walls, in doing good things for other people. One gains a sense of pride and accomplishment, but more importantly I think, is the sense of human dignity that comes with helping out another human being. And these inmates, isolated from the world, were throwing their physical all into helping "the kids, man," - kids who also live in fear and isolation. This desire to 'give back' is universal, I think, and tatooed on the human heart.

I just thought people should know about this unseen day behind the walls.

Interview With Seymour Hersh on Democracy Now!

2006-08-14T13:40:00.000-07:00

Democracy Now! is one of the finest independent mediums streaming on the internet these days. You can also pick it up on the radio in the Seattle area on AM-1090 and KBCS 91.3-FM.

On today's Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman interivews Seymour Hersh, investigative journalist at The New Yorker, who has written a very compelling piece on the US support of Israel, in this latest mid-east crisis, and how it sets up conditions for an invasion of Iran. The lead up to the interview states that:

The Bush administration has openly backed Israel's campaign. The administration resisted international efforts for a ceasefire and rushed arms to the Israeli military.

A major new article says U.S. support for the invasion of Lebanon has gone even further than we already know. That in fact, White House support for the massive bombing of Lebanon even predates the day those two Israeli soldiers were seized.

Nothing surprises me anymore, so I can't say I'm surprised, but given the constant and desperate appeals by Pope Benedict XVI for a cease-fire in the region, it is imperative that we Catholics sit up and take notice exactly where our government (or our Vice President) is taking this nation.

You can read the interview here.

Or, if you have the means, do listen to the interview at one of the streaming links available on the Democracy Now! page.

Evolution (or) Intelligent Design

2006-08-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Given some of the comments in an earlier post, I thought I'd link to this article. It's only mildly interesting, but is at least relavent:

Pope to Dissect Evolution With Former Students

The Catholic Church supports evolution, and has stated that "intelligent design" is not good science. Of course, to clarify, intelligent design isn't even science at all. It's a hermeneutic, an ideology that tries to explain something (the evidence we gather while we explore the universe). And by the same token, the scientific method is not good philosophy.

The Devil's Miner

2006-08-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

I saw "The Devil's Miner" on Independent Lens last night on PBS. For the Seattle crowd, it's scheduled to replay at 3:30 a.m. on 8/13. It's a documentary following a 14 year old boy and his brother, who work in Bolivia's silver mines. It's beautifully filmed, but absolutely heart-wrenching. (And in the updates, they were able to raise 1 million Euros to help child mine workers of that region.)

Half of US still believe in Iraq's WMD

2006-08-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

In an article published in Mainichi News, a July '06 Harris poll shows that fully 50% of Americans still believe that Iraq did have WMDs when U.S. troops invaded in March 2003. When in fact...

The reality in this case is that after a 16-month, $900-million -plus investigation, the U.S. weapons hunters known as the Iraq Survey Group declared that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991 under U.N. oversight. That finding in 2004 reaffirmed the work of U.N. inspectors who in 2002-03 found no trace of banned arsenals in Iraq.

The article goes on to speculate why Americans are still so out of touch with reality. I suppose it's true that people need to feel justified in their support of this invasion and occupation of Iraq. But I doubt this is quite so self-inflicted. What I believe, quite simply, is that the Mainstream Media in this country, and particularly the TV Networks, are doing a very good job of manipulating the minds of your average American viewer.

Go read the article.

You'll see why it ends with this stunning Fox News headlie:

"ARE SADDAM HUSSEIN'S WMDS NOW IN HEZBOLLAH'S HANDS?"

We used to laugh at market tabloids with headlines that screamed:

"WAS THIS MAN'S BRAIN STOLEN BY ALIENS???!!!"

We don't laugh so much no mo'. And why does my head hurt?

SQPN and Fr. Roderick Vonhögen

2006-08-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

If you haven't checked out SQPN.com, give it a go look-see (and listen). Podcasts of "Daily Breakfast" with Fr. Vonhogen are both informative and entertaining. Ciaviel suggested I give it a try, which I do from time to time. Thought I'd share. Now back to our own entertaining animations...

Blogging in times like these

2006-08-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Writing a blog is hard work.
Especially in times like these.
It can be upsetting.
Very, very upsetting.

From Hiroshima to Hope

2006-08-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, August 6, 2006, 6:30 PM

You are invited to join "From Hiroshima to Hope."

Hundreds of lanterns floating on Green Lake at dusk.

The event will take place on the northwest shore of Green Lake in Seattle, just south of the former Bathhouse Theatre. It is free, but donations will be appreciated.

This is annual event to remember those who perished in the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombing sixty-one years ago. The family-oriented program will include Seattle Kokon Taiko members and other community performances and culminate with the Toro Nagashi ceremony conducted by a reverend of the Nichiren Buddhist Church and the floating of lanterns at dusk to honor the victims of war and other violence. Please come early to pick up a lantern and to help fold origami peace cranes. Co-sponsored by local community, church and peace organizations, including the United Nations Association of Seattle.

If you would like to volunteer for this event contact fhthvolunteers@gmail.com or call 206-623-5124, ext 114 or 206-322-1678 (Bert Metzger).

US Conference of Catholic Bishops - Middle East

2006-08-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

On July 20, 2006, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a letter to the US Congress condemning the cycle of violence in the Middle East.

In the letter they condemn the violent and provacative actions of Hezbollah and Hamas, and clearly state that Israel has a right to defend itself. However, they also condemn Israel's disproportionate and indiscriminate bombing, which has killed so many civilians - many of them children - and undermines the work of those who seek a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This comes after many pleas by Pope Benedict XVI for an immediate cease fire in the region. Pleas that have not only gone unheaded, but mostly unreported in our main stream media. The Pope recently issued a day of prayer for July 23, 2006, specifically for peace in the middle east, and calling for a cease-fire in the region which would allow humanitarian aid corridors to reach the suffering populations.

The US bishops call on the United States to take the lead in ending the cycle of violence, beginning with an immediate cease fire. "Immediate!" As the Pope himself has repeatedly stressed. Will this administration listen?

Is anyone?

Bill Moyers' Faith and Reason on PBS

2006-08-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've been watching Bill Moyers' Faith and Reason on PBS these past few Friday nights, and would highly recommend it to Cascadian Catholics. Many interesting interviews with noted authors, scientists, and cultural icons; all discussing issues of faith in our world today.

I particularly enjoyed Mary Gordon's interview. Very intelligent, very knowledgable, and unflinchingly Catholic in her approach to fiction. Richard Rodriquez was also quite good, with a different Catholic perspective. Some others I didn't care for as much, and others I managed to miss. I also rather liked the atheist, Colin McGinn.

If you get a chance, tune in this Friday at 9:00 PM on channel 9 (Seattle), or check your PBS listings. If you want, you can follow the link above and read the transcripts, or download a podcast, or even view a video link (I don't know if it shows the entire interview, or not).

It's good to see some intelligent religous discussion happening in places other than our church basement.

KKNW Interfaith Talk Radio

2006-07-31T10:19:00.000-07:00

Northwest Interfaith Community Outreach takes a step forward with the new, weekly Interfaith Talk Radio Show featuring Rabbi TED FALCON, Muslim Sufi Minister JAMAL RAHMAN and Pastor DON MACKENZIE (Presbyterian). I think they need a Catholic in there, but hey, that's just me.

WHEN: Mondays, 5:00 - 6:00 PM
WHERE: KKNW, 1150 AM

Discussions center on matters of spirituality, faith, compassion, inclusion and social justice.

You can visit their website and stream the audio broadcasts.

Here's the link: http://www.interfaithtalkradio.com

Seattle Shooting

2006-07-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a middle aged man from the Tri Cities entered the Jewish Foundation building and shot six women, killing one and critically wounding three others. He reportedly announced that he was a Muslim American and was angry at Israel and then opened fire.

So continues the ridiculous, brutal cycle of revenge and reprisal, even against the innocents. And as I watched the news unfold yesterday, I remembered what Pope Benedict XVI had said, just last Sunday, and posted below: "Precisely at this time, a time of great abuse of the name of God, we have need of the God who overcomes on the cross, who does not conquer with violence, but with his love."

It seems to me that the God of love is much missing in our world, even among Christians who ought to know better.

Those of us who are active in the Seattle Interfaith community are stunned by this crime, and dismayed that it should happen here. After 9/11, many Seattlites "stood guard" at the local mosques, to protect them from retalliatory violence. Representatives from the Seattle Muslim community hurried to the site of the shootings, yesterday afternoon, and expressed their outrage and condemnation of this hateful act. Today, the have cancelled a silent march they had scheduled in Kirkland, to protest the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, fearing the safety of all those involved.

In a statement issued yesterday by Rev. Dr. Sandford Brown, Executive Director of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, he states that: "Seattle is a place of interfaith understanding and cooperation. This incident does not reflect how religious people interact here. Along with the innocent people killed and hurt, it will take many years for our interfaith work to overcome this brutal and hateful crime."

Amen.

Message of Peace from Benedict XVI - July 25, 2006

2006-07-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

RHEMES-SAINT-GEORGES, Italy, JULY 25, 2005 (Zenit.org).- From an address Benedict XVI delivered last Sunday during a ceremony for Mideast peace over which he presided in the church of Rhemes-Saint-Georges in the Aosta Valley

"...what we do to those who suffer, we do to the Last Judge of our life... Precisely at this time, a time of great abuse of the name of God, we have need of the God who overcomes on the cross, who does not conquer with violence, but with his love. Precisely at this time we have need of the Face of Christ to know the true Face of God and so be able to take reconciliation and light to this world. For this reason, together with love, with the message of love, we must also take the testimony of this God, of God's victory, precisely through the nonviolence of his cross."

Benedict XVI
July 25, 2006

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2006-07-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Cascadia Catholics!

2006-07-26T16:05:00.000-07:00