Author: Sal

The Catholic Church and Iraq – Editorial in today’s Washington Times. It’s a now-then-now perspective. Here’s a chunk of it:

The following February, Saddam’s forces were driven out of Kuwait by the U.S.-led coalition forces.
But, if U.S. officials had followed the advice of the Vatican and many Catholic bishops in this country in 1990-91 who were outspoken critics of military action against Saddam, none of that would have happened. For example, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent a letter to the first President Bush cautioning him against going to war, and U.S. bishops endorsed a letter to then-Secretary of State James Baker raising moral questions about the use of military force in the Persian Gulf. The pope issued numerous statements questioning the wisdom of going to war.
Unfortunately, some in the Vatican today seem to have learned the wrong lesson from the 1991 Gulf War. Archbishop Martino, for example, suggested last month that the 1991 experience shows that war is always futile. “Everyone knows the way it turned out. War doesn’t resolve problems. Besides being bloody, it’s useless,” he said. But the tragic reality learned from centuries of experience is that sometimes dialogue and discussion with cutthroat dictators can be futile. Sometimes, the only way to achieve justice is to employ force.

This one takes the cake
I thought I had seen some nutty Masses but Karen Hall has me beat. Check it out over at her new blog “Disordered Affections.”

Then comes the homily. A few words on the readings, followed by a tirade, including but not limited to: how we should all be marching against the war, where we can go to march against the war, quotes from the brave folks who are marching against the war, blah blah blah School of the Americas, blah blah blah Jesuit martyrs in El Salvador and their housekeeper and her daughter (who, I presume, would all be marching against the war if they were still alive), blah blah blah we should all be embarrassed to be Americans and by the way, our attitude toward Muslims is un-Christian. Then, he sings “Where have all the flowers gone?” Yes, really. Not a line. The entire thing.

Perhaps all the flowers have become Redemptorists?

Have you prayed for vocations today?
Today’s special intentions:

• For diocesan seminarians – that their lives of prayer, study and service allow God to raise them to the altar one day.
• For novices and postulants in religious communities who have not yet made perpetual vows.
• For a more generous response to God’s grace in all those who are discerning a vocation to religious life or the priesthood.
• And for whom else shall we pray?

The psychology of Christian conversion

How God’s grace moves the heart and mind to seek after Him is a worthy topic of study. Does anyone know of any good sources on this? Greg Popchak and Mark Shea should get together on this – or at least offer their thoughts at HMS. I would imagine there are significant differences in the psychological factors of an adult convert to Catholicism and an adult convert to Evangelical Protestantism. Sometime Catholic Light blogger Bryan Baldwin should chime in too – he grew up Baptist and became Catholic as an adult.

Please add a comment if you have any thoughts on this!

‘No place in life or law’ by Ward Connerly in today’s Washington Times

It is not the legitimate business of government in America to promote “diversity.” Nowhere is such a duty to be found in the Constitution. It is the government’s responsibility to not discriminate against any of its citizens on the basis of their “race,” ethnicity, skin color or national origin or that of their ancestors. When the government uses “race-neutral” means to achieve a desired racial outcome instead of explicit race preferences, the two approaches become a distinction without a difference. The deliberate pursuit of racial diversity by either race-neutral means or “quotas” is the antithesis of ensuring that individuals are guaranteed freedom from government discrimination and then letting the chips fall where they may.
…the wisdom of President Kennedy when he said, “Race has no place in American life or law.”

Kennedy said that? I suppose he did. The business of politics is very different from the business of government. Kennedy’s party progeny know that people vote. Lincoln’s do, too. Changing laws does only so much when politicians are fomenting racial acrimony and pandering to special interest groups.