Richard Chonak: October 2003 Archives

Big Idea, the producer of VeggieTales entertainment for children, has been bought by New York's Classic Media, owner of several other lines of TV programming.

St. Maria Goretti is famous both for forgiving her attacker and for fighting against his sinful attack. And she's still on the job!

A flasher who'd harrassed girls at Philadelphia's St. Maria Goretti High School got his comeuppance yesterday: three students who'd seen his act before chased him down, and another 20 students wrestled him to the ground, holding him until police could arrive.

"I'm happy he's off the street," said Caitlin Dalin, 14, a Goretti ninth-grader. The flasher exposed himself to Dalin twice, she said. About two times too many....

Dalin said she kicked the suspect with her Eastland black school shoes.

You go, girl!

The National Catholic Bioethics Center offers a helpful guide to Catholic teaching on medical ethics and how it applies to decisions for a patient in danger of death. It mentions some of the main points that should be included in a morally sound "Advance Directive" document to regulate medical decisions in case a patient is incapacitated.

Whom the gods would destroy, they first send on Larry King Live.

Update: A law student friend mentions:

The transcript isn't out yet, but Schiavo made an admission which seems to settle the issue in terms of Catholic bioethics, and should settle the matter in law. Even he admitted last night that there is not brain death. Until that happens, if it happens, his actions are objectively morally wrong, and there are no relevant issues in controversy.

So the YWCA decided after six months that having the bisexual adulteress Patricia Ireland as their CEO and role model for the youth of America wasn't working out, especially since she wanted to turn the group into an activist organization. Maybe soccer moms across the country notified National that they didn't want the local Y to be turned into a branch office of NOW.

American Life League's David Brandao wrote, back when Ireland was hired:

At first glance, it's tempting to ask if Patricia Ireland's task is to do for the YWCA what the Village People did for the YMCA. But the truth is, unfortunately, that the YWCA has been on the wrong side of the moral tracks for a long, long time. This bunch is already well entrenched as agents of the Culture of Death....The YWCA cannot become pro-abortion; it already is pro-abortion.

So now that Ireland has been fired, it's only a small piece of good news, but it is good news. Just keep those pools well chlorinated, OK?

The Register reports that Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, a Catholic hospital, has been performing "early induction" procedures to terminate pregnancies of children with unsurvivable abnormalities.

The president of Alaska Right to Life, Ed Wassell, contacted the hospital about what appears to be a form of abortion.

The only therapeutic reason given by hospital officials for early induction was "to relieve familial distress," according to Wassell.

Providence officials did tell Wassell that if Archbishop [Roger] Schwietz told them to stop performing the procedure, they would.

From then on, Wassell said, Right to Life stopped talking with the hospital and started talking with the archbishop to persuade him to take action.

Abp. Schwietz asked the hospital to suspend the use of the procedure and, with the help of Boston's National Catholic Bioethics Center, got the hospital to tighten up its policy somewhat. He thinks the new policy is in compliance with the bishops' medical-ethics directives.

These directives say (among other things):

49. For a proportionate reason, labor may be induced after the fetus is viable.

Is the reason sufficient?

The office of the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne has issued an invitation for composers to submit songs for use at the international event, including a contest for the WYD theme song.

If anyone's curious to see the ground rules for participants, here they are (in German). My translation follows.

Robert Novak reports:

The Senate chamber was filled with audible gasps last Tuesday when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the pro-choice champion, clearly voted "yes" on final passage of the bill to ban partial-birth abortion.

It was too good to last.

I hesitate to call another human being self-righteous: it seems like presumption itself to think I know what someone else's inner attitude is. So let me limit myself to saying that the piece presents an image of animus and arrogance. The writer rises up and delivers condemnations: the object of his disapproval is "not Christian"; "none of that is Christian"; "an outdated, badly skewed version of Christianity"; "blatantly ignores the teaching of the church", "both devious and probably servant to another agenda".

Not that this guy is in a position to accurately represent the Catholic Church's teaching: he's a liberal Episcopalian clergyman writing a hatchet job about Mel Gibson's Passion movie.

In this guy's world, don't bother pretending there are two points of view. There's only your view. Just bash away.

Don't prove: assume. "Sure, Mel Gibson's film, The Passion, is probably anti-Semitic."

Don't document: use rumor. "Gibson, however, is rumored to be a 'traditionalist' Roman Catholic who repudiates the decisions of the Second Vatican Council held in the 1960s and considers all popes since the council usurpers."

Don't rely on direct evidence: use guesswork. "The movie, as reported by Christian and Jewish scholars who have read the script, turns the theological clock back to the middle ages...."

Rely on your target's critics; don't mention anyone who defends him from the very charges you present. Why, your readers might think there were two sides to the question.

"...genuine inculturation has nothing to do with the product of the over-fertile imagination of an enthusiastic priest who concocts something on Saturday night and inflicts it on the innocent Sunday morning congregation now being used as a guinea pig."

The text of the Cardinal's address is at EWTN.

CNN reports a story from Variety magazine: Lightning has struck actor Jim Caviezel on the Passion set, but he's fine. An assistant director was struck for the second time! As reader eje says, "This is just way, way too weird."

I wasn't expecting Italy's "Northern League" party to emerge as a defender of Christian values, but that seems to be happening:

The European Union's elite are determined to destroy Europe's Christian heritage, Italy's reform minister, Umberto Bossi said yesterday.

He described the elite as "filthy pigs" who wanted to "make paedophilia as easy as possible".

Mr Bossi, leader of the Northern League, said Brussels was "transforming vices into virtues" and "advancing the cause of atheism every day".

Cheers for Mr. Bossi!

Nice to see the dictum attributed to Churchill confirmed again: "There is nothing so exhilarating as to be shot at without result." Here's a case in point.

Geez, man, Bp. Sheen coulda told ya life is worth living.

Gov. Bush promises to sign bill to stop Terri Schiavo's court-approved starvation.

Dom Bettinelli posts about the wishful thinkers who keep suggesting that the Pope should retire and get out of the way for them.

But they don't get it: the papacy is not a mere elective office defined by some functionalistic description: it's an iconic role and a divine vocation. To resign would be to diminish that aspect of divine calling, and treat the papacy as a humanly-conferred role that can be laid aside on grounds of human prudence and convenience. To reinforce the convenience culture is not a message this Pope will ever want to send.

Some of the people who wish the Pope would retire seem to have forgotten that the Church has dealt with ailing and infirm popes before, and has survived quite well, thank you.

An age limit, even as a matter of "voluntary" custom, has political implications, in the Church where custom is a powerful force. Making the papacy subject to an arbitrary age restriction moves the Pope away from his rightful position of being the supreme legislator in the church, and closer to being a functionary subject to legal process, check and balance. It will be no surprise to recall that the canonist quoted in the article is an advisor to VOTF, which certainly favors notions of making the papacy part of a "constitutional government".

Well, yes:
A wedding at Wal-Mart just seemed like the perfect fit.

St. Anthony's Chapel in the holy city of Pittsburgh has the most prominent collection of relics in the U.S., but a Catholic in Reading (or is it a little lay group?) is no slouch: he's doing his part to foster veneration of the relics of the saints.

(Via Fr. Sibley.)

Hey, Pete, what does this mean for moral conservatives? Here are the headlines, and commentary from NRO and the NaPo.

Here's a weird one: two reporters infiltrated the Quebec-based "Raelian" sect for nine months. Their report is a five-part series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

And get this: the claim that the sect had cloned people wasn't even true! Who'd have thunk it?

(Via Religion News Blog.)

Sensible David Morrison has left the Babylon of Blogspot and moved to a new home on Typepad. Enjoy.

A Cypriot bishop suggests offering confession in schools.

"Would you like the senior discount?"

No, Miss, it's a little early for that.

Heavens. Either the 55-and-up set is looking good these days, or I'm really decrepit for 45.

First, the Archbishop of Edinburgh called for "full and open discussion" on celibacy and contraception. Orthodox Catholics everywhere were aghast at such a suggestion from a Cardinal-designate.

And a few days later, in an appendix to the Profession of Faith required of new Cardinals, the Archbishop seemed to reverse himself by affirming the points of law and doctrine he had called into question:

I further state that I accept and intend to defend the law on ecclesiastical celibacy as it is proposed by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church; I accept and promise to defend the ecclesiastical teaching about the immorality of the homosexual act; I accept and promise to promulgate always and everywhere what the Church's Magisterium teaches on contraception. So help me God and these Holy Scriptures which I touch with my hand.

The Scotsman reports:

Critics seized on the statement, claiming it had been ordered by the Vatican.

However, Archbishop O’Brien denied that any pressure had been brought to bear on him from Rome and rounded on conservative elements of his Catholic flock. He told The Scotsman: "Having recently restated my loyalty to the Church, its teachings and the Pope, I would hope that Catholics everywhere will join with me in respecting the decisions of the Pope and demonstrate their own loyalty by not questioning them."

The archbishop added that his Profession of Faith amounted to the start of a "healing process" for the Church.

There's a nice way to start the healing process: by turning on the people he's offended, pretending their loyalty's in question, and urging them politely to shut up. I suppose the #1 papal decision people mustn't question is the Pope's decision to name this dicey prelate a cardinal.

It's a little hard to believe that nobody in Rome asked the Archbishop to make the extra profession and publish it to the press. After all, bishops don't routinely add extra affirmations to a canonically required Profession of Faith on their own initiative.

This was a special case, the start of a healing process, a matter of unity.

Peter Kearney, the media director of the Catholic Church, last night described Archbishop O’Brien’s affirmation of belief as being similar to a politician toeing the party line.

I hope the spokesman didn't mean to suggest that the Archbishop were insincere, right after Abp. O'Brien himself had publicly celebrated the Sacrament of Clarification.

(Thanks, Diogenes.)

It's October and time for the Nobel Prizes to be awarded, including the Peace Prize. This year's winner seems to be a courageous person. Since Pope John Paul, a nominee several years running -- and the subject of speculation this time around -- was passed over again, it's also apparently time for Catholics to whine a little about the slight.

Not me, though. After all, some of the winners make it look like a prize for effort rather than achievement. Jimmy Carter's and Kim Dae Jung's efforts in Korea seem to have sputtered, and John Hume's and David Trimble's brave effort in Northern Ireland limps along inconclusively. Arafat, Peres, and Rabin got the prize in 1994, and Yasir's still calling in his bloodthirsty way for more "martyrs". Kissinger and Le Duc Tho -- well, enough of that.

A few winners have been plainly undeserving: Rigoberta Menchu appears to have won mainly by presenting a phony image that appealed to leftist sympathies.

It's hard to argue that Catholics have been particularly disfavored by the Nobel Institute: Kim's a Catholic; Bp. Belo of East Timor won in '96; I presume John Hume's a Catholic; of course there's Lech Walesa and Blessed Teresa.

Anyway, I figure the prize does more good if it goes to some relatively unknown figure whose efforts will be strengthened by it. The Pope's work for peace isn't going to change one whit. Yes, giving the Pope the prize would be instructive to the world's elites, but I'm not convinced they'd get much benefit from the lesson.

Update: David Brooks weighs in with an NYT op-ed.

Larry has found a music professor's nice explanation of why congregations enjoy singing square old hymns more than newer and rhythmically more complicated compositions.

(via Victor)

Robert Frost once said, "Don't be an agnostic. Be something."

Let me add to that: being a syncretist in religion is a cop-out too.

Because he's not a syncretist, it's always refreshing to hear the Dalai Lama's remarks to the press. The Tibetan Buddhist leader seems to be a clear and logical thinker, which contrasts strongly with the vague concepts some people have about merging religions. ZENIT quotes him:

there "cannot be unification" between Christianity and Buddhism. "If you mean having a closer relation, understanding, that is happening in religions," he noted. ... "If by unifying you mean mixing, that is impossible, useless."...

"In the United States I have seen people who embrace Buddhism and change their clothes," he said, laughing. "Like the New Age. They take something Hindu, something Buddhist, something, something. ... That is not healthy."

A believer who picks and chooses elements from multiple religions really is making himself the permanent authority to judge truths. This is not the way to humility and spiritual progress. It's very fitting that a Buddhist agrees that this is not wise, because (if I understand it correctly) his doctrine teaches the unimportance of the self.

Keep talking to those reporters, your Holiness! Maybe people who don't accept the irreconcilability of religions will be more ready to accept it from you.

Episcopalians used to have a charism for good taste. Oh, well, that illusion's shattered.
(Thanks, Mark.)

Psychiatry professor Robert Spitzer of Columbia is back in the news: some time ago, he interviewed 200 volunteers who reported a change from homosexual orientation to heterosexual orientation with the help of various therapeutic means, and often with a religious motivation for the effort. His report has now been published, and NARTH has a summary.

CL co-founder Steve Schultz and I had a good time today attending a symposium at his seminary in Philadelphia. The moral teaching of Pope John Paul was the theme, and it's fair to say the highlight...

Now, I wouldn't recommend that just anybody try this. The web site says this "radionic energy is a powerful force", and warns that you shouldn't use it "for any malicious or illegal purposes". However, if you want to use if to get money and revenge, here's the product for you!

Right now, I'm using my computer to send out waves of radionic energy to quash internet scams.

I can't actually attest that this site isn't some hoax, but there are various neo-pagan sites out there that seem to take it as legit.

In some cultures, it's still conventional that fathers aren't present at childbirth, but in the technological West, when women started having to bear their children in a room full of strangers, it became accepted and even expected that fathers would attend and assist at births, somewhat as an advocate for the mother vis-a-vis the medical professionals.

So says obstetrician Dr. Michel Odent. However, his experiences have led him to believe that in many cases the father's presence and his excitement make labors longer and more difficult for the mother.

With words, most modern women are adamant that they need the participation of the baby's father while they give birth; but on the day of the birth the same women can express exactly the opposite in a nonverbal way. I remember a certain number of births that were going on slowly up to the time when the father was unexpectedly obliged to get out (for example to buy something urgently before the store is closed). As soon as the man left, the laboring woman started to shout out, she went to the bathroom and the baby was born after a short series of powerful and irresistible contractions (what I call a "fetus ejection reflex").

The full article is available online.

Twenty-four years ago today, the Pope was here.

An enterprising record company offers audio highlights of the trip.

The Archbishop of Birmingham has pointed out what many Catholics have thought: that the BBC has a pattern of bias and hostility toward the Catholic Church.

It shows up occasionally on the entertainment side: long before Popetown, the BBC presented insulting cartoons about Sister Wendy Beckett, even as it raked in cash from her art-appreciation shows.

But the news side matters more, and there the Archbishop runs down a laundry list of the Beeb's cheap shots and underhanded efforts.
[Thanks to Religion News Blog.]