Maciel’s Houston Connection

LA Times reports that Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ, died at the LC residence in Houston.

A Package

Diogenes looks at the NARAL webpage, which gives some insight into a cluster of issues supported by some very ardent abortion supporters.

Ground “Sacred and Holy” to Moloch

Unbelievable. Via Diogenes: “As he blessed a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Albany, New York yesterday,…”

…the Rev. Larry Phillips of Schenectady’s Emmanuel-Friedens Church [United Church of Christ] declared the ground “sacred and holy … where women’s voices and stories are welcomed, valued and affirmed; sacred ground where women are treated with dignity, supported in their role as moral decision-makers … sacred ground where the violent voices of hatred and oppression are quelled.”

Update: Rod Dreher weighs in.

“Paved with the Skulls of Bishops”

Richard John Neuhaus reviews Phil Lawler’s new book, The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture (my heading is taken from a statement from Chrysostom, cited by Fabian Bruskewitz endorsing Lawlor’s work, that “the road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops”).

One might suggest that the book is really two books, one about what has happened to Catholicism in Boston and the other about the sex abuse scandal in the Church in America. Boston is the synecdoche for the telling of the much larger story.

Lawlor was editor of the Boston Pilot under Law, and thus has a unique perspective.

The account offered is devastating and the blame is clearly laid at the door of the American bishops. Lawler is outraged, but, to his credit, his outrage is controlled. His judgments are sometimes harsh, but, in view of the evidence, they could hardly be otherwise.

I’m not sure what to make of the middle sentence. What does it mean to praise “controlled” outrage in such a case? Probably another slap at Lee Podles, whose book Neuhaus didn’t like.  Podles was too angry at lies and rape, in Neuhaus’ opinion.

 “The thesis of this book,” writes Lawler, “is that the sex abuse scandal in American Catholicism was not only aggravated but actually caused by the willingness of church leaders to sacrifice the essential for the inessential; to build up the human institution even to the detriment of the divine mandate.” Bishops again and again responded to the crisis as institutional managers, employing public relations stratagems to evade, deceive, and distract attention from their own responsibility. Lawler several times invokes the terse observation of St. Augustine, “God does not need my lie.” The bishops lied, says Lawler, and many of them are still lying. This is offered not as an accusation but as a conclusion that he believes is compelled by the evidence.

Reproductive Injustice

So, Barack Obama is now referring to the slaughter of unborn children as “reproductive justice.” I’ve heard of retributive justice and distributive justice. I would think “reproductive justice” would result in reproduction of whatever good is desired–instead of being the evil that Obama has in mind. HT Alan.

Memories of a Catholic School

When I was Director of Religious Education at a church in upstate New York, one of the perqs was free tuition for the kids at the parish school. This was fine for preschool, but a nightmare when my son got to kindergarten. It was a rigid program–full day, with the kids sitting at little desks in rows. My son was struggling, and the teacher and principal were not into adapting for individual needs.

February 3 is the day of St. Blaise, patron saint for sore throats (he was beheaded, according to legend). On this day, Catholic churches “bless throats.” After mass, deacons and priests stand at stations at the front of the church, each one holding two candles joined in an “x” shape. This is put against the person’s throat, while a blessing is said. Why candles? Because the prior day is Candlemas. Here are some pictures.

At that point, I had never heard of this ritual–more importantly, neither had my son. It wasn’t explained to the kids ahead of time (as any good teacher would do)–the kids were just lined up and expected to go up. My son did, following everyone else, and then was shocked when this big guy takes this big candles (to a Kindergartner) and, holding them like a giant pair of scissors, thrusts them towards his throat. He backed up and uttered some kind of yelp, and moved quickly away. Were the teacher and principal at all sympathetic? Did they try to understand why a kid might feel this way? Nope. He “had a problem,” in their view.

Movies of 2007

Here’s the full list of 992 movies released in 2007.

And here’s the list of movies I saw–mostly when they came to DVD, since I can’t justify paying $40 to take my wife and kids to a theater (we had a couple of free passes for the only movie we all went to see this year, The Water Horse). Those that I’d recommend are in bold:

• Bridge to Terebithia (good film version of Katherine Paterson’s book)
• Amazing Grace (must see, about Wilberforce’s long effort to end slavery)
• 300 (graphic account of Thermopylae)
• TMNT (well, better than the other ones of this ilk)
• Spiderman 3 (ranks well below other two)
• La Vie en Rose (aka La Môme; disjointed biopic of Edith Piaf)
• Pirates of the Caribbean–At World’s End (way overblown)
• Ratatouille (cute)
• Fantastic Four–Rise of the Silver Surfer (yawn)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (jogs the memory of scenes in the book)
• Underdog (cute)
• High School Musical 2 (my daughter loved it; I slept)
• Beowulf (gory re-paganized version of classic poem)
• The Water Horse (good children’s film)

Catholic Bishops at the Movies

Of course, the fact is that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops never reviews movies, even if movie reviews are published in their name. Staff writers watch the movies and write the reviews without submitting them to any bishops for re-review. Why, one wonders? Why should movies be reviewed by bishops (or in their name) in the first place? Is it to suggest that some movies should not be watched and some should, based on moral content? Evidently not, as this article shows–the reviewers (who liked “The Golden Compass” and “Brokeback Mountain”) seem to have a unique sense of what constitutes “morally grounded” films.