Defect in form

A Vatican Secretariat of State press release came out over the weekend. It’s a policy statement about a relatively minor matter: organizations named after Popes.

DECLARATION ON THE PROTECTION OF THE FIGURE OF THE POPE
Recent years have witnessed a great increase of affection and esteem for the person of the Holy Father. There has also been a desire to use the Pope’s name in the title of universities, schools or cultural institutions, as well as associations, foundations and other groups.
In light of this fact, the Holy See hereby declares that it alone has the right to ensure the respect due to the Successors of Peter, and, therefore, to protect the figure and personal identity of the Pope from the unauthorized use of his name and/or the papal coat of arms for ends and activities which have little or nothing to do with the Catholic Church. Occasionally, in fact, attempts have been made to attribute credibility and authority to initiatives by using ecclesiastical or papal symbols and logos.
Consequently, the use of anything referring directly to the person or office of the Supreme Pontiff (his name, his picture or his coat of arms), and/or the use of the title “Pontifical”, must receive previous and express authorization from the Holy See.

(emphasis added)
Here’s what I find odd: that a statement from the Vatican is using a modern word such as “logo”. I feel as if the word were invented practically yesterday. As it happens, “logo” only dates to 1937, which seems way too recent for an institution with 2000 years behind it.
Surely there should be some rule that the Vatican doesn’t use words that aren’t at least 100 years old.

The God of Christian revelation and the god of the Koran

Genevieve Kineke, author of The Authentic Catholic Woman, did some reading in the Koran as part of her research for a book on women in Muslim cultures, and has written a helpful article on the differences between the Christian and Islamic concepts of God.
The Christian revelation presents God as consistently good and truthful, and worthy of adoration; and it says that God, in some sense, is Love.
The Koranic message does not make these affirmations, and calls not for adoration, but for submission, and asserts above all else that God is powerful.
The consequences are enormous.

Newspaper: Mass. woman sees image of Jesus on her iron

20091127-iron.jpgI am not making this up.
From the Lawrence (MA) Eagle-Tribune:

METHUEN — Mary Jo Coady walked into her daughter’s bedroom Sunday afternoon and noticed a familiar image on the bottom of an iron sitting on the floor.
“I see his eyes, his nose, his whole face and I was like, ‘That’s Jesus looking at us,'” Coady said.
The rust-colored residue on the bottom of the iron strikes a remarkable resemblance to Jesus Christ. For the 44-year-old secretary who was raised Catholic, the image reaffirmed her faith at a time when she has separated from her husband, had her hours cut at work, and moved out of a house she owned and started renting a home where she now lives with her two college-age daughters.
“It just gave me a sign that life is going to be good,” Coady said. “I think he’s listening.”
Coady said she hopes her story will lift other people’s spirits in time for the holidays. Her daughters — Melody, a 21-year-old student at Northern Essex Community College, and Alison, a 20-year-old student at Merrimack College — aren’t ones to overreact to an iron.
“They wouldn’t believe this if it hit them in the head, and they were like, ‘Mom, that’s Jesus looking at us,'” Coady said.
[more at the original story]

Oh, well, God does “draw straight with crooked lines”: odd things, even mistakes, can sometimes work out to our good.
Now, I shared this with some other friends today, and they couldn’t help wisecracking:

Friend 1: “Is she getting messages as well?”
Friend 2: “Only when the iron is set on ‘steam’.”

But fortunately, the lady is not “getting messages”, and isn’t out to persuade anyone that this is anything miraculous. She’s just taking it as a personal hint from God to get back into a regular relation with Him after being distant from the Church for a while.
By the way, this story goes well with the restaurant grill in Calexico bearing an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe!