Richard Chonak: July 2004 Archives

Today's letter from the CDF, a meditation on man and woman, reminds us that in the Christian understanding of reality, God created beings with distinctions among them, and he created humanity in two kinds. These differences are not illusory and baneful, but good and based in the ontological character of the created beings.

WIthout distinctions between beings, there is no relationship between them. Certain Eastern religious ideas affirm only one Being, with no fundamental difference between God and us, and even all the things and persons that we experience. Christianity affirms the difference between the Creator and the creature as true and as the most fundamental distinction of all. This difference makes possible a relationship between an 'I' and a 'You', not merely an 'I' and itself.

CDF writes:

The first text (Gn 1:1-2:4) describes the creative power of the Word of God, which makes distinctions in the original chaos. Light and darkness appear, sea and dry land, day and night, grass and trees, fish and birds, “each according to its kind”. An ordered world is born out of differences, carrying with them also the promise of relationships. Here we see a sketch of the framework in which the creation of the human race takes place: “God said ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness'” (Gn 1:26). And then: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gn1:27). From the very beginning therefore, humanity is described as articulated in the male-female relationship. This is the humanity, sexually differentiated, which is explicitly declared “the image of God”.

The very first sin, as described in Genesis, involves the failure to acknowledge the difference between Creator and creature. This breach disrupts the relation of God and man, and has repercussions on all the other relationships: that between man and woman, and between man and other creatures.

Acknowledging the other as other, and as good, is absolutely necessary. Without it, there is no possibility of love.

What: you mean--? Oh, they were the originals from the movie....

I saw some great TV tonight, but only 60 seconds of it, and it combined two of my worldly loves: R&B music and office supplies.

The OfficeMax chain is running a "Back to School" ad with Eddie Steeples returning as the delightful and limber "Rubber Band Man". The first RBM ad is available on-line, along with an amusing "Making Of..." video. (Be patient: they take a while to load, even at broadband speeds.)

No, I haven't been watching the Dems' convention live, but later Monday night I saw some clips from Bill Clinton's speech. He was talking about how John Kerry volunteered to serve his country in several capacities, and his refrain was that each time, John Kerry said, "Send me." The former president was speaking in his "preaching" style, and he made that refrain sound like a little echo of Samuel the prophet. Of course, Clinton himself used to say something like that: he told the state troopers, "Send me that woman over there."

To add to Sal's item below: PP's T-shirt that announces "I had an abortion" is a way to commemorate one's participation in a murder, though I doubt most aborted women really want to remember it that way. I wonder if they give one free to each such ex-mother as a parting gift: been there, killed the baby, got the T-shirt.

Why stop at T-shirts? They could go to offer hats, too. Maybe a little set of forceps on a chain. Lots of souvenir tees come in baby sizes, or with bibs and booties. Of course, the slogan would have to be adapted: "I was aborted."

Since PP is selling these so-called goods through Yahoo's on-line store facility, you can make a difference by letting Yahoo know that these materials are inappropriate. Since Yahoo's Merchant Guidelines forbid adult-oriented and "otherwise objectionable" material, there seems to be sufficient reason to bar it from Yahoo's site. Remember to be polite, now.

That Diogenes is onto something. Since donations to campaigns for Federal office are a matter of public record, he's found some Catholic clergy and college presidents whose donations funded pro-abortion politicians.

Is it any surprise that the same is true of the Rev. Fr. Robert Drinan, S.J., professor at Georgetown? His donations to Peace PAC and Council for a Livable World funded an array of candidates for the Senate and House.

All the Senate incumbents on the CLW list and most of the House incumbents on the PPAC list had a 0% NRLC rating.

I guess these organizations are indifferent about peace in the womb.

Well, readers, now that you have the links at hand, try your own research. Post any interesting results in the comments.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) The Springfield Diocese reached a proposed settlement of more than $7 million Thursday with 46 people who accused priests of molesting them when they were children....

''I'm overwhelmed,'' said Marty Bono, a Chicopee man who says he was molested by a priest in 1971. ''I've been crying ever since I heard.''

''I respect the bishop,'' Bono said. ''He's done in four months what (his predecessor) couldn't do for a year and a half.''

Frank at IMAO says:

I think Arnold should keep up the rhetoric. He should have a press conference to apologize saying, "I am so sorry I upset the Democrats by calling them 'girlie men.' To make up, I'll give them all pretty flowers so they squeal with girlish glee."

Since I live near Boston, I'm speaking, of course, of the impending Democratic party convention that is about to close highways and bridges, make our subway stations operate as smoothly as airport checkpoints, shut down business for a week, and - oh, yeah -- cost the taxpayers over $20 million in direct subsidies.

Well, at least we get to crack jokes at the Dems.

Update: Coverage of highway and subway closures.

A friend of mine is on vacation in Colorado right now, where he writes about his puzzling visit to a monastery with lots of activity but no monks.

A transcript of canon lawyer Marc Balestrieri's appearance on Fox's Hannity and Colmes is available on-line. In the July 9 program, Alan Colmes and fill-in host Monica Crowley interviewed Mr. Balestrieri about his heresy complaint against J. Forbes Kerry.

Fr. Sibley's fourth ordination anniversary is July 15. Ad multos annos, Padre!

Philosophy professor James Tuttle is suing Lakeland (OH) Community College. The College reduced his teaching schedule and thus his salary -- contrary to seniority rules -- in an apparent move to punish him after he disclosed his Catholic point of view to his students and even -- shock -- mentioned it in a class syllabus!

Dean Brown went on to suggest that Dr. Tuttle "would be happier in a sectarian classroom."

Just imagine the outrage if some other philosophy professor were urged to go get a job at another college because his philosophy was... (you fill in the blank).

That is, if you've been away for a while.

Sometimes people become disaffected with the Church and end up in small sects or "independent" chapels because they got scandalized by something bad going on in the Church. And sometimes people come back after they get scandalized by even freakier stuff in the small sects. Here in Boston, the death of long-time "independent" traditionalist dissenter Fr. John Keane left his followers and his privately-owned chapel in an uproar: apparently two factions are now feuding over control of the property.

The priest they hired to fill in for him is reported to have a teensy weensy bit of a criminal record from running over a six-year-old, plus there's that little matter of the sexual abuse case. Oh, yeah, and he's said to be a sedevacantist kook too. So, God bless the congregation, they got rid of him and sent him back to the bottom of the barrel he came from.

Memo to Abp. O'Malley: maybe this would be an opportune time to reach out pastorally and seek a reconciliation for the 120 souls in that little group. We 250 at the indult Mass would be happy to welcome them. That's what we're here for.

MarketWatch reports that pizza mogul Tom Monaghan is taking Domino's public (DPZ) 44 years after its founding; 3 million of the shares sold will benefit his Ave Maria Foundation with an estimated $45-51M. Congratulations to all involved.

The lay canonist charging John Kerry with heresy was interviewed on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" show tonight. The show will be repeated later on for us night-owls.

My crummy local state rep sent out a mailing the other day that included a "survey" of constituents' opinions.

I throw those scare quotes around "survey" because unlike a well-made survey instrument, the form was plainly designed to elicit approval for the rep's positions, the "Yes" answers in each case. It gives me a special feeling to have cheap politicians insult my intelligence at my own expense.

One of the agree/disagree items was: "It is important for the state to fund stem-cell research." (Disclaimer: I don't have it here in front of me.)

Now, what's the correct answer for this? Technically, one could answer "Yes" because if the state funds immoral stem-cell research, that certainly is an important matter. But one should answer "No" because you and I know very well how they meant it.

And that's where Senator Lurch comes in and wins my gratitude today. He made it possible to explain to the rep in the Additional Comments space:

Stem cell research must be conducted within the proper ethical limits. As Sen. Kerry said, life begins at conception.

There. And who says I never have a good thing to say about Democrats?

Or maybe just bear one another.

Is carrying your wife a bit of rustic chivalry? Man's exploitation of woman? Woman's exploitation of man? Maybe a symbol of mutual self-donation?

A look at His Eminence's re-emergence in connection with his new title at St. Mary Major.

I've made an update to the "lite" version of the blog, intended for PDA users. It presents the titles of the last five posts, and full text of the latest ten comments. I've downsized the logo graphic too for faster loading. If anybody else is using it besides me, let me know!

A bunch of terrorists attempted to blow up an Israeli barracks from underground, but in a miscalculation, their tunnel ran underneath a car-park. They did blow that up, killing one soldier instead of dozens. American writer Meryl Yourish quips (with no apologies to Joni Mitchell): "They craved paradise but blew up a parking lot."

(via OxBlog, thx)

Sandro Magister, writing in L'espresso, presents the letter Cdl. Joseph Ratzinger sent the US bishops supporting the denial of Communion to pertinacious pro-abortion politicians.

(via CWN)

The work of Scots Catholic artist Tommy Canning.

Jeff Miller invites our terrorist friends for a stay at the Ramadan Inn.

(via Mark Shea)

HLI's Fr. Thomas Euteneuer is fighting the good fight for the cause of life, but I think he let his passions get the better of him in his rebuke of Nancy Pelosi.

To be sure, the Minority Leader deserves reproof for publicly promoting her erroneous views on the duties of Catholic politicians, but Fr. Euteneuer goes way over the top when he accuses her of apostasy. After all, that's "a total repudiation of the Christian faith": a total rejection of adherence to Christianity, and merely declaring some false doctrine about morals isn't the same thing.

There are several sins against faith that don't constitute apostasy, and the Catechism paragraph that Fr. cites (2089) makes distinctions between apostasy, heresy, incredulity, and schism. He doesn't seem to notice. Even rejecting the teaching authority of the Church would be heresy but not necessarily apostasy.

It's embarrassing to see a worthy priest stumble into making such an exaggerated charge.

Update: I originally misstated Ms. Pelosi's title in the post, but have fixed the reference. Thanks to TPFKAAC.