Yes or No?

It's time to make up a new background image for the blog. I've realized that color gradients are overused and not as interesting as they used to be. Here's a sample with some more, um, structure to it.

Faith of Our Parents

Normally, I think music directors stop singing most hymns after two verses out of laziness and haste, but let's go along this time, and sing just two verses of Fr. Faber:

Faith of our fathers, living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene'er we hear that glorious Word!
Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.

Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free:
And truly blest would be our fate,
If we, like them, should die for thee!
Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death.

At my parish we have a very good reason to stop there. The third verse in the Seasonal Missalette runs as follows:

Our mothers, too, oppressed and wronged,
still lived their faith in dignity;
Their brave example gives us strength
To work for justice ceaselessly....

As you probably know, that was not written by Fr. Faber, and it doesn't take a da Vinci to decrypt it as a bunch of feminist code-speak. Just count how many of those 23 words come loaded with whiny left-wing resonances, and you'll get the point.

Ideology was obviously the primary concern in producing that text, because nobody interested in beauty would have written it: just try to wrap your mouth around that word "wronged" and sing it attractively. You can't.

"Welcome to Saint Humbert's Parish. The entrance hymn is number three-hundred-and-one, 'Faith of Our Fathers'. We will sing verses one, two, and four, because verse three is some crock o's--- they put in there to please the feminazis. Please rise and greet our celebrant."

The Office of Readings

Of the Washington Times:

Gay bishop dismisses Anglican reportGene Robinson creates God in his own image:

"We believe God didn't stop revealing God's self when the canon of Scripture was closed," he said. "We worship a living God, not one who checked out 2,000 years ago."
The Bible has been "hijacked by the religious right," he said. "That is our Bible. It's time we take it back."
He continued, "I keep on saying to gay and lesbian people: Let's reclaim this book. It is our story."
For instance, the Old Testament book of Exodus is the "greatest coming-out story in the history of the world," he said at a Sunday school forum.
The 57-year-old bishop, who is divorced with two daughters and living with his male lover, said he does not teach celibacy to unmarried heterosexual or homosexual couples but rather "responsibility in relationships."
Acknowledging that his daughter, Jamie, had been living with her fiance before they were married, he said, "I can't remember the last couple I married who weren't living together."

Kerry, Jackson tell blacks to ignore gay 'marriage' issue - it's absolutely shocking how morally bankrupt and intellectually dishonest the Reverend is.

"How many of you — someone from your family — married somebody of the same sex?" Mr. Jackson asked of the congregation of about 500. After nobody raised a hand, he asked, "Then how did that get in the middle of the agenda?"

Black Christians are in very bad company with the abortionists and so-called gay rights supporters.

Hawaiian seawater, going for $6 a bottle

Desalinated deep-sea water from Kona is the state's fastest-growing export, with demand soaring in Japan. Super-cold water sucked up from thousands of feet below the Pacific Ocean's surface is being marketed as healthy, pure, mineral-rich drinking water.

Next we start exporting cheese to France.

Arming Beijing? - Scary!

Uncoated electoral illusions - Mark Steyn, my hero.

Mr. Edwards, on the other hand, driveling on like a Depression-era sob-sister about the "bright light" of America now "flickering" is one of the funniest acts I've seen in years.

Pride, greed, anger, envy and lies

I suppose with that many sins, it would have to be Pay-per-view. And just clarify, I'm talking about the sins* of the movie maker & marketers, not the sins apparently portrayed in the movie.

'Fahrenheit 9/11' Team Seeks Election-Eve Pay-TV

*And don't get all upset that I'm passing judgment or something. I'm not.

Watching this in the news

Mount St. Helens Shoots Out More Steam

I was living in California in 1980 when Mount St. Helens blew in a cataclysmic fashion. A few months later, we visited relatives in Oregon who had saved some of the ash. As a kid, it all seemed pretty amazing. I guess this time there's fewer people close to the action and hopefully no fatalities if the big stuff goes down.

Late Debate Thoughts

I had the debate on while I was doing my first Finance assignment, and was pleased to see Bush do a much better job. Here's some random thoughts:

Style of Substance - so many people seem caught up with the externals: grimacing, posture, tone, etc. It's almost like we're having an audition for President, not an election.

Kerry the Catholic - his abortion answer reminded me of Pontius Pilate: "What is Truth?" It was a meandering rationalization that was strained and insincere.

Kerry and the war - nothing points to Kerry as someone who can continue the Iraq campaign of the terror war with any effectiveness. He never met a weapons or intelligence program that he didn't want to cut. He seems to think he can negotiate the US out of the terror war and out of sticky situations like Iran and North Korea.

Bush's humor - self-deprecation is the mark of someone who is at peace with himself. It was nice to see Bush go on the offensive and have an enjoyable time.

Bush and substance - it was nice to see Bush tackle the meat of the issues in an effective way.

Kerry's closing statement when he said, "I'll say this - and right to the camera" and then turned like Herman Munster to the camera to start his lines. It was as if he was reminding himself to doing something like Reagan...

Music Today

My choir did a great job today. We did the Proulx arrangement of the hymn tune "Thaxed" and the Rutter "God Be In My Head." It's amazing what a group of amateur singers can produce for the glory of God.

My blood pressure is rising

My blood pressure is rising in anticipation of the second presidential debate tonight. I expect the same post-debate spin we've seen all week. I am positively dismayed at the bias in the media. Forget the pasting Cheney gave Edwards - according to the media Cheney was just an angry, old, tired-looking white man. The Duelfer report is published and the reports on it skewer this administration, yet what has been called the scoop of the year on Saddam's WMD programs and connections to terrorists at CNSnews has been largely ignored. I know some of our readers are irked by the number of posts on this blog of late that seem to be only political, but there is a lot at stake in this election. In recent weeks the media has kept at the fore many of the issues that are not of the greatest importance to the cause of life. We as Catholic voters need to be informed on the issues and vote on them considering them in the proper moral proportion. Mark Shea posts a link to info about a book, The Five Issues That Matter Most: Catholics and the Upcoming Election. It looks like a great resource for us Catholics.

I also offer these links to give a balanced perspective on some of the other news issues of tha day.

Misreporting the Duelfer report - washtimes

Debating the moving target - R. Emmett Tyrell in the washtimes

Eat up, they're low-cal

CWN reports about Bp. Krenn's resignation:

The Vatican's announcement on October 7 indicated that Bishop Krenn's resignation was "accepted in accordance with Canon 401, para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law ." That canon allows for the replacement of a bishop who can no longer fulfill his duties "because of illness or some other grave reason." In his own September 30 announcement, Bishop Krenn indicated his resignation was not required by reasons of health, but requested by Pope John Paul.

Now, this is contrary to earlier newspaper rumors that the Vatican was going to claim that the resignation was due to illness and not some "other grave reason". Will Diogenes who in effect called the Pope a liar now eat his words? Rod Dreher has already set the record straight on that point.

"The Dream of Gerontius" by Cardinal John Henry Newman

I joked a few days ago about taking a break from the daily news by listening to "The Dream of Gerontius" several times in an afternoon. I assure you that listening to it would have been time well spent. If you don't have the gumption to get a recording of it, follow the link to the poem. It might take you a hour to read, probably less.

Edward Elgar took Newman's poem and turned it into an oratorio. John posted some tidbits about it a couple of years ago.

It's a story of a man who dies and is led by his guardian angel to his judgement. I won't give away the surprise ending. But this part, which is the Angel of the Agony pleading with Jesus for mercy, is very moving:

JESU! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee;
Jesu! by that cold dismay which sickened Thee;
Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrilled in Thee;
Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee;
Jesul by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee;
Jesu! by that innocence which girdled Thee;
Jesu! by that sanctity which reigned in Thee;
Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee;
Jesu! spare these souls which are so dear to Thee,
Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee;
Hasten, Lord, their hour, and bid them come to Thee,
To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.

Faith and politics - washtimes

An Op-ed piece by George J. Marlin. It seems that Catholic voters might decide this election. Definitely worth reading the whole thing.

Life does end at Birth -- Kerry's Blood Money

An interesting piece appeared in the October 11th edition of the Weekly Standard. It discusses Kerry's support from various third trimester and partial-birth abortions. Here's an excerpt from Blood Brothers: Why the leading practitioners of late abortion wrote checks to Kerry:

"MARTIN HASKELL, George Tiller, and Warren Hern have several things in common. All three are abortionists who specialize in late abortions. Haskell's name is closely linked with the partial-birth abortion method. Tiller and Hern may be the only two abortionists in the United States who openly advertise their willingness to perform third-trimester abortions.

"Finally, all three men have opened their checkbooks to support Senator John Kerry's bid to be president of the United States. Their contributions to Kerry's campaign total $7,000."

Another fragment from the Gloria lausque manuscript

I believe this one was less well known, but it was sung to stringed instruments with a loping country rhythm on the chor-- I mean, antiphon.

XXV. Si Deus Pro Nobis

Antiphona:
Si Deus pro nobis
contra potest quis?
Liberavit nos Dei spiritus.
(idem)

Versus:
Scio in mundo posse nil
nos separare ab Deo.

Capere potest ab amore
nil nos effuso in Jesu.

Nec mortem scio nec ac vitam
amore Dei capturum.