February 2007 Archives

Singapore's "organ donor policy ... assumes that all citizens are willing donors, unless they have registered with the government that they wish to opt out."

But when the criterion is "brain death", and the medics want those organs, they sometimes tend to hurry the family along:

Sim's family had no objection to his organs being used for transplants but wanted doctors to wait one more day before turning off the life support machine.

But as Sim's 68-year-old mother and about 20 other relatives knelt weeping before the doctors, begging them to wait, nine police officers entered the ward and restrained the distraught family while Sim's body was quickly whisked away.

"The hospital staff were running as they wheeled him out of the back door of the room. They were behaving like robbers," said Sim Chew Hiah, one of Sim's elder sisters. [...]

His parents were offered five years of subsidized hospital fees -- and his family received a thank-you letter from the ministry for their "generous organ donation."

I wish I could be assured that current practice is proper, because I'm not convinced yet that (a) "brain death" is a sound definition of bodily death, or (b) the medical profession can be trusted to make sound ethical decisions. Sad to say, I have opted out in Massachusetts.

I grew up going to Good Shepherd, and was too young to realize I was attending a "dynamic, Vatican II, mulitcultural parish."

I'm not sure how I stumbled on this, but they are advertising for a "Director of Social Justice" which has to empower "parishioners to become active in outreach and care of others, the community and our world."

It's really a charity director position. But the folks at Good Shepherd need to make it sound more Vatican II by calling it "Director of Social Justice." And "Social Justice" implies there's a disparity of income that is by its nature unfair, which I'm sure the folks at Good Shepherd believe.

So I thought - if they can have a Director of Social Justice, then when can't another parish have a Director of Divine Justice?

And here's the job announcement.

DIRECTOR OF DIVINE JUSTICE – St. Peter Parish seeks a dynamic, self-starter to plan, organize, and execute the parish’s Divine Justice activities. The Director of Divine Justice provides leadership and organizational resources for the infusion of reprimands, castigations and retributions associated with all manner of sins. The applicant must be trained and experienced in various methods of chastisements such as plagues, famine, & catastrophic weather events.

Experience with ice storms in early May and Thundersnow on the day after Thanksgiving is a plus.

The Director of Divine Justice must be capable of and willing to collaborate with various angelic choirs for the purposes of carrying out divinely ordained penalties.

The candidate should inspire dread and panic by his very presence and help turn even the most hardened sinner into a true penitent.

A bachelors degree is theology, philosophy, or Old Testament Scripture studies is required, with experience in the following areas a plus:

Turning rivers to blood, spreading pestilence, carrying out hail storms that include fire, and unnatural darkness.
Smaller-scale chastisements including but not limited to having an annoying neighbor, praying a group rosary with someone who does the prayers too slowly, and dry meatloaf.

Applicant must demonstrate particular experience in chastising wayward liturgists by way of ecclesiastical rigidity and/or irritable bowel syndrome. The applicant must be just in his mercy and merciful in his justice. But not too much.

Due to the universal nature of divine retribution, no special language skills are required.
Submit cover letter, resume, three letters of recommendations from either Cherubim or Seraphim and photos of the results of your past castigations to the search committee via US Mail. No calls.

Thanks to Richard Terry (1865-1938), and the Archbishop of Westminster.

Don't talk about drinking, sex, or get so emotional that you upset the family further.

After all - this is a funeral in Australia.

And here's another article with more detail.

The members of Good Shepherd voted almost unanimously in October to close the church by the end of 2007. Since the height of its popularity in the early 1980s, when Good Shepherd had more than 250 members, membership has dwindled to its current 37, only about 15 of which regularly attend services. This has made it hard for the congregation to do routine tasks, such as paying a pastor and outreach in the community. ...full article

Here are some choral pieces my choir is doing for Lent. Links go to the Choral Public Domain Library (or "Liberry") as seminarians from St. Charles in Philly would say.

Miserere Mei- di Lasso

O vos omnes - Casals (no score available)

Peccantem me quotidie - Morales

Salvator Mundi - Tallis

Surely, he hath born our griefs - G.F. Handel

Episcopal Church feels 'regret'

Homosexual Scandal in Anglican Church Spurs Plan to Reunite with Catholics

Report: Churches May Reunite

A church torn in two

What would a reunification under the Pope mean? Less folk songs. More incense.

A particular type of dementia in men has been linked to vasectomies.

Tehran - A top Iranian cleric said on Friday the United States was within Iran's "firing range", a day after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to hit back at US interests worldwide if attacked.

"Americans have surrounded us but it works to our advantage. They are within our firing range in the east, west and elsewhere," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in his Friday prayer sermon carried live on state radio. ...article here

"The President's budget misses the mark on reducing poverty in America. In fact, with cuts to key programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, the president's budget will only serve to exacerbate the problems facing millions of our nation's poor families... The President's new budget hurts those living in poverty at a time when we should be doing even more to help the most vulnerable among us. America needs to strengthen vital social service programs to help those in need, not weaken those programs."

A) Nancy Pelosi
B) Ted Kennedy
C) Howard Dean
D) Fr. Larry Snyder, President of Catholic Charities USA

I'll give you a hint:

Catholic Charities USA is especially alarmed that just two weeks after President Bush's State of the Union address, in which he acknowledged the nation's health care crisis, the president is recommending cutting more than $100 billion from Medicaid, Medicare, and other critical health care programs over five years.

I thought Catholic Charities was for... charity? Am I naive to think that they shouldn't be heavily involved in policy debates when the government is inherently uncharitable?

I guess this practice would be a nice gesture. If it were true. But it's not.

The monumental motet for 40 vocal parts by Thomas Tallis is sung by one man.

Reuters cites the Roman Rota's annual report on annulment appeals:

Smoke got in his eyes. Too much of it, so he asked the Roman Catholic Church to annul his marriage when his wife refused to kick the nicotine habit.

That is just one of the, well, hazy cases that wound up before the
Vatican's Sacra Romana Rota, a top court which hears the most complicated of marriage annulment requests. [...]

In the case of the non-smoking husband, the health and physical fitness enthusiast asked his girlfriend to marry him on condition she would eventually quit smoking.

She said yes and after they tied the knot she tried her best but her addiction was stronger than her and the marriage went up in smoke -- at least from the husband's point of view.

A first diocesan marriage tribunal granted him the annulment but a second tribunal overturned that decision. They are still married in the eyes of the Church and the case is now before the Vatican's Rota.

Hey, Pete, what do you think of this one? Is it even possible for someone to validly vow marriage when his or her consent depends on a future condition?