A writer from Eureka, California, called to my attention the other day Sandro Magister's article, "The End of a Taboo: Even Romano Amerio Is 'A True Christian'" (www.chiesa, Feb. 6, 2006). The significance of the article is that Amerio -- the author of Iota Unum: A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church
(now deceased, pictured left) -- was the leading figure of the traditionalist opposition in the Church of the twentieth century, and although he suffered for this from a general ostracism, it now turns out, in Magister's words, that "his central thesis is the same as that of Benedict XVI -- who wants to make peace with the Lefebvrists."My source in California writes: "Amerio wrote a second book, Stat Veritas, a critque of Tertio Millenio Adveniente." Interestingly, on Magister's website you can find a review of a striking critique of John Paul II's ecumenism by one of Amerio's disciples, Enrico Radaelli, Il mistero della Sinagoga bendata, reviewed by Magister in a post entitled "The Latest Heresy: Ecumenism. Accusations from a Catholic Traditionalist" (April 15, 2003). The introduction to Radaelli's book is written by an Opus Dei priest, Antonio Livi.
DAVENPORT, IOWA -- While Catholics across the country pray for an end to the religious vocations crisis, many parishes are now reporting a sharp decline in extraordinary ministers, the lay volunteers who distribute Communion to parishioners.
In an attempt to counter the shortage, Roarke is hosting a spiritual retreat for current extraordinary ministers, as well as for those who feel God may be calling them to the job. "People need to know about the rich spiritual heritage Eucharistic ministers have," Roarke said. "Why, I believe Sts. Peter and Andrew helped Jesus distribute bread and wine to the other disciples at the Last Supper. Well, at least that is what I am telling people, anyway."
existence is in the "Renewal of Baptismal Promises" made at the baptism of those being received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. That rite includes the following questions asked of all present in the congregation:
I'm not Afraid....
Sing to the Mountains
City of God
What Mark's post is referring to is a substantial and, as-usual, well-written post by my beloved son, Christopher, "
But as Ben Franklin also said: "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." I have my own ideas on what I would recommend as the 
Breaking news as of Feb. 9, 2006: the celebrated evangelical church historian, Mark Noll (pictured left), one of Wheaton College's most beloved professors, has accepted a position at the University of Notre Dame where he will replace the retiring -- and equally celebrated evangelical church historian -- George Marsden (pictured right) this fall. Read the story 
I never thought I would make many friends by defending the New Oxford Review or its editor, Dale Vree, on this blog, but I honestly did not expect quite the flood of objections that filled the comment box to my post of February 4, 2006: "
Let me begin my discussion of NOR ads with an analogy from abortion. What do you do when you're surrounded by the Culture of Death, and nobody seems to care? What do you do when you see in your own town or city one of those neatly manicured abortion "clinics" (better: abortuaries) that dot the country where over 4000 lives are snuffed out daily in these United States, and nobody seems to care? I wonder if any of you remember that news story -- probably over a decade ago now -- when a garbage truck was rounding a corner (was it in Boston?) and spilled out several burst bagfulls of baby parts from an abortion clinic in an intersection, leaving horrified passersby staring in nauseated disbelief, clasping their hands to their mouths, several of them vomiting on the sidewalks. When reality breaks through, it's not nice. Reality isn't pretty sometimes. Despite this -- or because of this, depending on your point of view -- some pro-lifers have taken to producing large posters of aborted and dis-membered infants to show the world the reality of abortion for what it is. Many of these signs were in evidence at the national March for Life in 
Washington, DC, earlier this January. There is even a group of pro-life truckers who pull rigs with large images of aborted infants on the sides of their trucks.
Washington -- The usual suspects swept the top places in an online poll sponsored by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NAPM). The poll asked which "liturgical songs" (is that an oxymoron?) most fostered and nourished the respondent's life, reported Mark Pattison for the Catholic News Service (Jan. 25, 2006), in his article "
Bloomington, Minnesota -- In less time than it took him to order a Whopper with fries, Marty Haugen wrote the lyrics and melody yesterday for a new hymn he says is his best yet.
That's the only explanation I can think of for this new song," he said.
Haugen's new hymn features all those subjects his fans have grown to love over the years: banquets, acceptance, stars, flowers and, of course, the moon. He even managed to work in a couple of lines about his new puppy, Sparky. "This song is about me, you, God and creation. It reminds us that God really regards his entire creation, and especially us, with wonder." 
Back in January, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (January 20, 2006) ran an 
There are many reasons why some people do not like the 
And they're getting puffy and flabby, just like their hero Ted Kennedy..." Yet another reads: "As long as sodomite priests are winked, and certain seminaries remain hothouses for flamers and promote dissent that justifies immorality, sexual license in the priesthood will continue..." Still another, picturing a crusader in chain mail, states: "If you want a militant Catholicism -- as in 'the Church Militant' -- do subscribe to New Oxford Review. But don't subscribe if you're a bozo or a sissy, for we hereby forewarn you: Doing so will give you a hissy fit..." Still another ad for the magazine once pictured St. Peter's Basilica with the banner headline above it reading, simply: "Rome Will Win!" 
I was a reader back when readers watched as the whole staff of NOR, in the words of Anne Roche Muggeridge, "argued and agonized itself into the Catholic Church over the issues of the ordination of women and homosexuals." I have followed in detail the progress and changes of the magazine over the years, the passing of some of her Titans listed on her masthead of contributing editors over the years (Christopher Lasch, Sheldon Vanauken, William D. Miller, L. Brent Bozell ...), as well as the various debates engaging the energies of the editor. With very few and comparatively minor exceptions -- generally constituting, at worst, indiscretions of tact -- my judgment is that Vree's editorial performance has been utterly irreproachable. This isn't to say that his biting style or satirical humor is to everybody's taste. Nor is it to say that he hasn't been offensive to some; but this offensiveness has never, to my knowledge involved malice, slander, libel, or deliberate misinformation, but only the singular tanacity of a Pit Bull -- or, perhaps better here, bloodhound -- to get to the bottom of the facts where he smells (or at least thinks he smells) a rat. Nor is this to claim that he has always interpreted the facts right or even gotten all of the facts. Who has? But even at his most "offensive" -- as in his socio-etymological analysis of the term "fag" -- I have found Vree's arguments nearly always carefully reasoned. I may not always agree -- particularly in the tact and diplomacy department -- but then, tact and diplomacy, as lofty as they may be, are probably also more often a cloak for cowardice than we'd like to admit.
everything and knew nothing, whereas he, at least, knew that he knew nothing. Plato's Apology, of course, is an account of the trial of Socrates on trumped-up charges against him of religious impiety and corrupting the youth, and a large dose of guilt-by-association with a student of his who turned traitor to Athens. But what animates his enemies is their hatred of Socrates for his constant needling truth, his exposure of their hypocrisy, ignorance, and moral compromise. After the inevitable verdict, when Socrates is given a chance to propose an alternative to the death penalty proposed by his accusers, Socrates suggests that a fitting return for his services would be free meals and a pension so that he might continue instructing his fellow Athenians in the care of their souls -- a reward he deserves, he says, far more than a winner of a chariot race at the Olympiad. This, of course, seals his fate, even though there is nothing untrue or malicious in anything Socrates has said.
My contention here, in the first place, is not so much that Vree is either great or misunderstood -- although he may be both -- but that he is simply disliked because he rankles. Like Socrates, he rankles those who do not welcome his observations that they think they know when they do not, and -- especially -- that they have been hypocritical, inconsistent, duplicitious, or self-serving, while being pampered in public for their philanthropic largesse, theological insight, doctrinal orthodoxy, or spiritual depth. People just do not want to hear this -- even if it's true -- especially if it's true. We would all prefer to circle the wagons and lambaste the obvious enemies -- Roe v Wade, Al Qaeda, Modernism, Dissent, Cafeteria Catholicism, or perhaps the Lefebvrites -- rather than see the finger pointed at -- heaven forbid! -- one of our own, even if it involves sexual predation, administrative misfeasance, or theological confusions.
and perhaps others. In some cases, no reasons were offered for these refusals, though they are not hard to guess. NOR hasn't been an easy "team player," where being a team player has required not pointing the finger at other team members who haven't played by the rules. As I've said, Vree's blunt finger-pointing has made NOR many enemies, not altogether unlike the blunt outspokenness of Socrates among his fellow Athenians. In some cases, NOR ads seem to have been pulled purely as an act of personal spite -- although I underline the word seem: I do not ultimately know. What I do know is that NOR itself has been unjustly attacked, marginalized, cold shouldered, edged out. 
In fact Karl Keating, one of NOR's contributing editors, argues on Shea's blog that even if Vree's editorials were to be criticized as hyperbolic, the same charge could not be leveled against articles such as the one that appeared in the June 2004 issue entitled "Scott Hahn's Novelties," by Edward O'Neill. Keating writes: "I read that article more than once and saw no hyperbolic language or uncharity in it. It was a low-key look at some of the positions Scott has taken (some of which I hadn't been aware of), and I thought it brought up fair questions." (
Do not join the rush to judgment, caricature, slander, and condemnation. Do not let yourself be deceived or become an unwitting participant in the deception of others. Read NOR for yourself. It may not be a slick, glossy production. It may not always be of an even quality. What is? But it's one periodical I have always read through cover-to-cover with profit. Why? Because I invariably find there information I have not find anywhere else -- like Tom Bethell's excellent article, "
Jesus Christ (see his book,