Richard Chonak: February 2004 Archives

I thought Catholic theater companies only existed in places that have a Catholic culture: you know, like Poland. Not here in America.

Yes, there was the exception, Leonardo Defilippis, who for a long time seemed to have the Catholic theater niche all to himself, touring from his home base in Oregon.

Now the next generation is coming up. Boston's Fiat Productions opened Arthur Giron's Edith Stein tonight. The Epiphany Studio is active in Nebraska, there's an outfit called "Theophany" in Washington -- which I will see on Saturday doing readings from the Pope's poetry -- and San Jose has Quo Vadis, whose founder Cathal Gallagher has also launched a company in LA.

Any more out there?

Cardinal Pell
Steven Greydanus

[I'll add more later.]

Oh: my reaction? It's a sobering, purifying experience that left the audience and me in silence. I went home and read the Stabat Mater.

A few months ago, this Dominican sister in LA was mentioned in some story as an example of the various isn't-that-nice ministries that today's religious are involved in. She runs a tattoo removal parlor.

Now I have to admit this job description sounds strange, and the usual cynical impulse out here in blogdom is to write her off as another case of a religious sister doing a secular job that's really in the domain of lay people. Let's resist the impulse this time.

This is a pretty admirable work she's doing, getting doctors to donate their services, getting the clients to do some community service in exchange for the free cleanup job they're receiving. When the plan all comes together, she's helping ex-gang guys, who are rejecting the glamor of evil and refusing to be mastered by it, to put their conversion away from evil into a concrete form, by removing the marks that used to reinforce them in lives of crime.

We could use something like that around here in Boston: a cashier at Wendy's on Route 9 has "thug life" in a column of capital letters down his forearm, and he probably doesn't have $2K to pay for his own cleanup.

If you missed the "Making Of" special on Pax TV Sunday, you'll have another opportunity Tuesday night. My jaw's already dropping at this movie and its lingering, meditative manner.

Quotes at WorldNetDaily.

Says the Globe poll: opposition to "gay marriage" has risen from 43% to 53% since November; from 47% to 66% among Catholics.

Your average US bishop, when faced with the problem of bad Catholic politicians -- say, pro-aborts -- may go so far as to say that a pro-abortion pol shouldn't receive Holy Communion. On the other hand, most bishops won't go so far as to apply any penalty under church law: he'll just leave it up to that individual pol to hear the teaching and do the right thing.

In contrast, Archbishop Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, when faced with the question of non-discrimination against homosexual persons, indicates that civil legal enforcement of this moral teaching would be a good idea.

Let me get this straight, Archbishop: imposing mere penalties of church law on manifest grave sinners who support child-killing would be counterproductive, but imposing criminal penalties by the state on, say, housing discriminators would be fitting and right. You know, if you keep swallowing those camels, you're going to need an otolaryngologist.

For a few hours this morning, I mentioned a rumor at another site. It turned out to be an exaggeration, so I've removed the reference to it here.

Once again the news confirms that nobody's wrong all the time, or in the words of the aphorism, "even a stopped clock is right twice a day."

Thanks to Rep. Barney Frank who has come out ... in opposition to San Francisco's illegal same-sex marriages, because, well, they're illegal. And dittos to gay-paper editor Fred Kuhr, who argued the same point on O'Reilly's show Friday evening.

John Allen says that the revamped ICEL is collecting comments on the draft English translation of the Mass and will issue a completed text this summer. Anybody out there got a copy you want to leak to us?

Nobody's been talking about the movies lately, so a bunch of folks have started a site for movie reviews: the Popcorn Critics.

Eric, can you comment on this? It seems rather imprudent that these Baptist ministers were traveling unescorted in Iraq.
Update: More details.

Wow! What a campaign!

What a great showing! Thank you! Thank you!

First, I'd like to thank every single one of the 64 people who voted for Catholic Light in this great race for the title of Best Catholic Group Blog. Your love has just been a great sustenance to us throughout these weeks, and I am so proud of every one of you for your courage and your fortitude, your prudence and your temperance, and all the other marvelous virtues you showed, day in and day out, throughout this great campaign for the good of the global village. It has truly been an amazing experience.

I want to acknowledge and congratulate our friends at Holy Whapping for their great showing tonight -- yes, they deserve a lot of credit for a fine and hard-fought and fair campaign; that is, unless the voting irregularities observed by our investigators turn out to be provable, in which case you'll be hearing from Pe-- oh, never mind.

Anyway, we still have a mission ahead of us. We have work to do for this weblog, for this audience, for this great Internet stretching across the world, bringing together the posts of our wonderful team and your great comments which together show forth with increased splendor that Light which we are all here to celebrate: the light of the Faith and of its truth and the one Light whom we in our limitations can never fully comprehend and yet which the darkness can never overcome. To that Light who enlightens all men by His quiet coming may there be effervescent glory when He is revealed in endless majesty and unto endless ages!

Good night and God bless you!

Marc Zappala's weblog Transcendence is hardly out of the box, and already he's laid into the following subjects with acute attention and a few acerbic poems:

• pro-aborts who are at some level anti-choice
• people who still regard Bill Clinton as an innocent scapegoat
• why Margaret Cho is so bitter
• the gay lobby's reflexive support for abortion
• W.'s failure to understand and pursue American interests
• his own temptations.

So far on day one of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention (a joint session of the legislature), the ConCon has rejected two proposed amendments.

By 94-104, they rejected a text from the Senate Dem and Rep (!) leaders that would ban same-sex "marriage" but require the establishment of "civil unions"; and by 98-100, they rejected a compromise by the House Speaker that would ban same-sex marriage and allow the option of civil unions if the legislature so chose. The original text, which would ban both gay marriage and civil unions, will be on the agenda Thursday afternoon.

My guess is that the anti-family forces have done their part to stack the deck by bringing the Speaker's compromise proposal up for a vote first: if the strongest version had been debated first or second and failed, the compromise text -- restoring the legal status quo before Goodridge -- would have remained an option acceptable to pro-family folks. Now Thursday's vote will be for all or nothing, and if it's defeated, the anti-family forces will have what they want -- excepting a possible legislative end-run -- and the nationwide legal battles will be on.

Correction: I previously stated here that the Senate text had been proposed by my State Senator. That was incorrect; however, he did vote for it, sad to say.

Fr. Shawn says that most of the ongoing argument that readers post in weblog comments isn't worth doing or reading, and he's got a point.

Sometimes people post stuff in the comments that I don't know how to respond to, if at all. Long-dormant weblog entries often get new additions, as for example, by this anti-Catholic dame; or as these folks posting their prayer petitions for their lost marriages, endangered jobs, and serious illnesses, onto web pages that few people will ever read again.

I guess the latter is a reminder that there's a world of hurt out there, folks.

"Every human being, even those marked by sickness and suffering, is a great gift to the Church and to humanity," the Pope said. He said that everyone who is in pain because of illness should find other people ready to provide them with care and concern. Human suffering, he said, "is always a call for the display of merciful love."

The World Day for the Sick should be a reminder of "the important place in the Christian community for people who suffer," the Pope continued. He reminded his audience that while suffering can appear pointless from a human perspective, in the light of the Gospel we should seek its "profound salvific significance."

Maine border resident fined for illegal crossing.

At Sunday's Boston Common rally for the preservation of legal marriage, the most enthusiastic and protracted ovation for any of the speakers (except for the archbishop) went to Jewish conservative and long-time columnist Don Feder.

Now, this applause was coming from the people who, if you want to believe the talking heads on TV, are one movie away from staging a new pogrom. Call me skeptical, but I don't think it's too likely.

The lay-run Padre Pio Centre in Pennsylvania appeals the Allentown bishop's ban on Masses at the site. God bless 'em, but I have to think that this is just a political maneuver with the aim of negotiating a deal, 'cause I can't imagine any argument that would give the Centre -- not a recognized Catholic institution -- a permanent right to let priests say Mass there.

Update: More coverage and comments at Amy's.

This may have been Your Catholic Voice's first public event, but it'll have to be just the beginning: about 2000 supporters of marriage rallied in the cold Sunday afternoon in front of the Massachusetts State House. Coverage from AP and Reuters.

In separate statements, black ministers and a multi-faith coalition speak in support of the proposed constitutional amendment.

Click. Read. Pray.

John, Eric, Alex, Bryan, maybe even Steve -- since I presume you're all Virginia voters, and since there is no registration of party preference in the Commonwealth, a story on WTOP radio tells me you're all eligible and welcome to vote for your favorite Democratic Party candidate for the Presidency on February 10. Have you decided for whom you plan to vote?

We've been nominated for a Bloggie in the category of "Best Group Blog". Exit polls so far show us to be, um, still in contention.

Our Black-Robed Masters (thank you, Mark) at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court have taken away the remaining wiggle room from politicians wanting to avoid the gay-marriage question. Civil unions, say the Justices, do not meet Our requirements: you, the legislature, must pass laws letting homosexual couples marry as We command.

The weaselly state Senate president, Robert Travaglini, wanted to obstruct a vote February 11 on a proposed state constitutional amendment to protect marriage from the Goodridge decision, but his excuse -- the lack of clarity on whether civil unions would satisfy the judges -- has just evaporated.

Seen on the net:

Statement by the Jackson Family

WHATEVERLAND, CA -- The Jackson family today issued a statement generally apologizing for ever coming into existence. Mrs. Jackson added quietly. "It seemed like a good idea when they were small." The statement also added that any member of the Jackson family testing positive for any kind of a hormone would be neutered, effective immediately.

AP writes:

Tacking Jr. or II onto a boy's name is too common, a new father decided, so the self-described engineering geek took a software approach to naming his newborn son.

Jon Blake Cusack talked his wife, Jamie, into naming their son
Jon Blake Cusack 2.0.