Liberalism in a nutshell

A reader from Seattle writes, quoting President Obama:

"It is absolutely true that we can't depend on government alone to create jobs or economic growth. But at this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back into life. It is only government that can break the vicious cycle where lost jobs lead to people spending less money which leads to even more layoffs." -- President Obama.

The reader then comments: "What resources? Every penny they “have” is borrowed! The only “resource” they have is the (liberal) will to spend other people’s money! Let people keep more of their own money in the first place!

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe people voted for this?

Only slightly less disturbing than what they're actually planning ...



[Hat tip to Old World Swine via Akin, and K.K.]

Perniciously misleading spin

"Vatican Accepts Darwin's Theory Of Evolution Compatible With Christianity" (AHN, February 12, 2009).

This may not be inaccurate reporting, if indeed it is true, as the article states, that "Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said Darwin's theory which the Church was against in the past, is compatible with Christianity." Nevertheless, it remains egregiously confusing and misleading publicity. "Darwin's theory" is far from being a tidy, uncomplicated package of ideas. There are inconsistencies within it, and there is much that is rejected by Darwin's own contemporary stepchildren and proponents; and there are elements in it that are clearly inimical to the Catholic Faith. "Sound bites," of course, are not the stuff of subtle analysis; but misleading statements can be highly problematic and fatally confusing the the faithful. It is broadly supposed now that the Vatican dropped the ball in the publicity department in the instance of the Holocaust-denying bishop. Yet the Vatican's publicity on the question of the theory of Evolution has been consistently confused and confusing ever since Pope John Paul II's 1996 "Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences: On Evolution," which was widely interpreted by both elated liberals and alarmed reactionaries, in the absence of forthcoming caveats and clarification, as an unqualified pontifical embrace of Evolution as a "fact," simpliciter.

It would have been helpful if the Vatican publicity personnel could have acknowledged at least the complexity of the issue. Notre Dame University's Reformed philosopher, Alvin Plantinga, at least had the presence of mind in addressing the issue some years ago to ferret out no less than five distinct claims resident within the "Grand Evolutionary Story":

The first thing to see is that a number of different large-scale claims fall under this general rubric of evolution. First, there is the claim that the earth is very old, perhaps some 4.5 billion years old: The Ancient Earth Thesis, as we may call it. Second, there is the claim that life has progressed from relatively simple to relatively complex forms of life. In the beginning there was relatively simple unicellular life, perhaps of the sort represented by bacteria and blue green algae, or perhaps still simpler unknown forms of life. (Although bacteria are simple compared to some other living beings, they are in fact enormously complex creatures.) Then more complex unicellular life, then relatively simple multicellular life such as seagoing worms, coral, and jelly fish, then fish, then amphibia, then reptiles, birds, mammals, and finally, as the culmination of the whole process, human beings: the Progress Thesis, as we humans may like to call it (jelly fish might have a different view as to where to whole process culminates). Third, there is the Common Ancestry Thesis: that life originated at only one place on earth, all subsequent life being related by descent to those original living creatures-the claim that, as Stephen Could puts it, there is a "tree of evolutionary descent linking all organisms by ties of genealogy."12 According to the Common Ancestry Thesis, we are literally cousins of all living things-horses, oak trees and even poison ivy-distant cousins, no doubt, but still cousins. (This is much easier to imagine for some of us than for others.) Fourth, there is the claim that there is a (naturalistic) explanation of this development of fife from simple to complex forms; call this thesis Darwinism, because according to the most popular and well-known suggestions, the evolutionary mechanism would be natural selection operating on random genetic mutation (due to copy error or ultra violet radiation or other causes); and this is similar to Darwin's proposals. Finally, there is the claim that life itself developed from non-living matter without any special creative activity of God but just by virtue of the ordinary laws of physics and chemistry: call this the Naturalistic Origins Thesis. These five theses are of course importantly different from each other. They are also logically independent in pairs, except for the third and fourth theses: the fourth entails the third, in that you can't sensibly propose a mechanism or an explanation for evolution without agreeing that evolution has indeed occurred. The combination of all five of these theses is what I have been calling 'The Grand Evolutionary Story'; the Common Ancestry Thesis together with Darwinism (remember, Darwinism isn't the view that the mechanism driving evolution is just what Darwin says it is) is what one most naturally thinks of as the Theory of Evolution.

This would be a start, at least; and the kind of care in presuppositional analysis that Plantinga's little piece goes on to display is a welcome antidote to the flat-footed statements emanating from the Vatican.

Historical expert on the Popes

Dr. James Ramon Felak, Associate Professor of History at the University of Washington in Seattle, was invited this year to give the prestigious Costigan Lecture Series at UW on the Popes of the 20th Century.

A correspondent from Seattle writes: "[Prof. Felak] is a very dynamic speaker and that his History of Christianity course at UW is packed, but still, this lecture series is an amazing opportunity to educate people."

But here, you can see for yourself: Prof. Felak was just interviewed on Catholic radio in Seattle on Pius XII. This half-hour conversation gives an idea of his substance and style.

[Hat tip to K.K.]

Tridentine Travelogue! Top 10 Music Programs

Tridentine Community News (February 8, 2009):

Tridentine Travelogue: Top 10 Music Programs
Outside of Metro Detroit
One of the most identifying aspects of the Latin Mass in both Ordinary and Extraordinary Forms is the sacred music employed. The Church has a vast collection of compositions, both chant and polyphonic, that have been written for her liturgy. A Latin Mass is uniquely capable of making full use of that music.

Indeed, a recurring topic of discussion at St. Josaphat and Assumption-Windsor is our music program. How can we improve it? How can we strike a balance between becoming familiar with a certain repertoire, yet continue to expand that repertoire? We can learn from others: Today’s column recaps information presented in previous columns and presents an entirely subjective list of music programs that excel. These are not special-occasion-only sites; their sacred music is dependably exceptional most any non-summer Sunday of the year. This list is based only on places that this author has visited or been made aware of, so it is by no means comprehensive. And there is no particular order to this list.

1. Brompton Oratory, London England (OF and occasional EF): The music at the London Oratory is extraordinary for its level of commitment. Various choirs accompany many liturgies, from the crowded Sunday Novus Ordo Latin Mass, to Sunday afternoon Vespers, to the humble Monday evening Benediction. The music program is simply integral to the life of the parish.

2. St. John Cantius, Chicago, Illinois (EF & OF): This celebrated parish boasts six choirs, each of which performs traditional repertoire, for different purposes.

3. St. Agnes, St. Paul, Minnesota (EF & OF): North America’s home for Orchestral Masses, St. Agnes offers a staggering number of major polyphonic works during the course of a year.

4. St. Stephen, Portland, Oregon (EF & OF): St. Stephen is the home of America’s most accomplished professional choir, Cantores in Ecclesia. Their sound, as well as their efforts to promote sacred music via festivals, a web site, and other means, is unrivaled elsewhere.

5. St. Michael’s Abbey, Silverado, California (OF): The setting is spartan: a small, bare, white-walled chapel. But the sound! A glorious, synchronized group of approximately 35 priests and brothers singing Norbertine Chant, a modified form of Gregorian Chant. Most of the singing is a capella. The best part for travelers in Southern California on business: A sung Latin (OF) Mass is offered there every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:00 AM.

6. Sacred Heart, New Haven, Connecticut (EF): Much like the choir at Assumption-Windsor, Sacred Heart’s choir is comprised of musicians who have responsibilities at other parishes on Sunday mornings. They come to Sacred Heart at 2:00 PM after those assignments, to sing the music they want to sing. A labor of love, their “St. Gregory Society” has put out several CDs of their work.

7. St. Mary, Cadogan Street, London, England (OF): Though attendance at this church nestled in a posh neighborhood is rather small, a surprisingly large professional-grade choir leads the music.

8. St. James, Spanish Place, London, England (OF): Much like St. Mary, above, St. James’ choir also has a powerful, professional sound. The choir sings from a third-floor gallery above and to the right of the congregation, completely out of sight.

9. St. Frances de Sales, St. Louis, Missouri (EF): Strength in numbers: This bustling parish offers a music program that involves the congregation to a greater degree than many others. Singing Gregorian Chant resoundingly with 800 others crowding the pews around you can be a transforming experience.

10. St. Paul Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts (OF): Longtime readers of this column know that this church is the favorite of this writer. The church’s remarkable acoustics, the Boston Archdiocesan (Boys’) Choir School, Men’s Schola, and dual antiphonal organs played at the Sunday 11:00 AM Mass provide a musical experience that cannot be matched anywhere else. Go. There. Soon.

What Are Your Favorites?
In your travels outside Metro Detroit and Windsor, have you encountered any particularly noteworthy music programs? The criteria we ask for is that the music be largely in Latin, be for a Catholic Mass, and the program be of a traditional nature. Please e-mail us at the below address with details and your experiences, and we’ll publish your nominations in a future column.

St. Patrick, Kinkora Commences Tridentine Mass
Fr. Paul Nicholson is a friend to a number of readers of this column. Currently assigned to historic St. Patrick Church in the farm fields outside of Stratford, Ontario, Fr. Nicholson has been preparing for several months to offer a weekly Extraordinary Form Mass. He is now offering a Low Mass every Sunday at noon, making this the third Tridentine Mass site in the Diocese of London. He hopes to turn it into a Missa Cantata if musicians can be organized. Members of the Assumption Church-Windsor Tridentine Mass Community have assisted with training and supplies: Sharp-eyed readers will recognize that Fr. Nicholson is wearing one of Assumption’s chasubles in the adjacent photo from a practice session. St. Patrick’s will also be joining the roster of churches using the Assumption/St. Josaphat weekly Latin/English Propers Handouts. For further information, visit St. Patrick’s web site at: www.stpatricks.rcec.london.on.ca

[Comments? Ideas for a future column? Please e-mail tridnews@stjosaphatchurch.org. Previous columns are available at www.stjosaphatchurch.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Josaphat bulletin insert for February 8, 2009. Hat tip to A.B.]

From the front: a Marine's View of the Iraqi Election

Email
Sent: 2/5/2009 6:07:00 PM
Subject: A Marine's View of the Iraqi Election

Commander Multi National Force-Iraq Election Comments

MajGen John Kelly, USMC, Commander MNF-West, comments on the election are copied below:

All Hands:

Major General John Kelly sends this Iraq election notice

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

I don't suppose this will get much coverage in the States as the news is so good. No, the news is unbelievable.

Something didn't happen in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, today. Once the most violent and most dangerous places on earth, no suicide vest bomber detonated killing dozens of voters. No suicide truck bomber drove into a polling place collapsing the building and killing and injuring over 100. No Marine was in a firefight engaging an Al Qaida terrorist trying to disrupt democracy.

What did happen was Anbar Sunnis came out in their tens of thousands to vote in the first free election of their lives.

With the expectation of all of the above (suicide bombers) they walked miles (we shut down all vehicle traffic with the exception of some shuttle busses for the elderly and infirm) to the polling places. I slept under the stars with some Grunts at Combat Outpost Iba on the far side of Karma, and started driving the 200 miles up the Euphrates River Valley through Karma, Fallujah, Habbiniyah, Ramadi, Hit, Baghdad and back here to Al Asad. I stopped here and there to speak with cops, soldiers, Marines, and most importantly, regular Iraqi men and women along the way. It was the same everywhere. A tension with every finger on a trigger that broke at perhaps 3PM when we all began to think what was almost unthinkable a year ago. We might just pull this off without a bombing. No way. By 4PM it seemed like we'd make it to 5PM when the polls closed. At 4:30 the unbelievable happened: the election was extended an hour to 6PM because of the large crowds! What are they kidding? Tempting fate like that is not nice. Six PM and the polls close without a single act of violence or a single accusation of fraud, and nearly by early reports pretty close to 100% voted. Priceless.

Every Anbari walking towards the polling place had these determined and, frankly, concerned looks on their faces. No children with them (here mothers and grandmothers are NEVER without their children or grandchildren) because of the expectation of death. Husbands voted separately from wives, and mothers separately from fathers for the same reason. In and out quickly to be less of a target for the expected suicide murderer. When they came out after voting they also wore the same expression on their faces, but now one of smiling amazement as they held up and stared at ink stained index fingers.

Norman Rockwell could not have captured this wonderment. Even the ladies voted in large numbers and their husbands didn't insist on going into the booths to tell them who to vote for.

One of the things I've always said was that we came here to "give" them democracy. Even in the dark days my only consolation was that it was about freedom and democracy. After what I saw today, and having forgotten our own history and revolution, this was arrogance. People are not given freedom and democracy - they take it for themselves. The Anbaris deserve this credit.

Today I step down as the dictator, albeit benevolent, of Anbar Province. Today the Anbaris took it from me. I am ecstatic. It was a privilege to be part of it, to have somehow in a small way to have helped make it happen.

Semper Fi.
Kelly

[Hat tip to K.K.]

Limitations on the EF Mass in the Philippines

For your information: Guidelines on the celebration of the EF Mass posted on the Archdiocese of Manila website (December 8, 2008) contain the following provisions:

2. This form of Mass is to be celebrated only at the Christ the King Chapel of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Manila once a month, but not on Sundays and Solemnities. Further requests from individuals or groups from the parishes of or who belong to the Archdiocese of Manila to celebrate this form of Mass is to be directed to join the monthly celebration at the Manila Cathedral....

6. ... It is like wise encouraged that those who will participate in this Mass undergo a catechetical orientation before the celebration.

7. The Archbishop of Manila has jurisdiction over this celebration and, therefore, can decide to limit or discontinue this monthly celebration anytime he judges that this is not consonance with the whole pastoral direction of the Local Church.

I wonder, are these limitations in line with the principles and articles of Summorum Pontificum?

Less Shouting, More Talking

Richard J. Mouw was my first philosophy professor. I had Philosophy 102 with him at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the Fall semester of 1970. That was almost 40 years ago. He was then a vibrant junior professor at the beginning of his career, and I was a young and callow fellow in my second year of college -- in the era of hippies, Mao jackets, SDS and Vietnam. Mouw was energetic, engaging and entertaining, and a very, very good teacher. I still remember vividly his discussion of Plato's Phaedo, peppered with humor and a good measure of contemporary illustrations.

So I was surprised to see that Mouw -- now President of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California -- had an article in Newsweek's "My Turn" column. Mouw was always a judicious, if amusing, stand-up guy: fair-minded and well-spoken in all his judgments. We knew where he stood on the issues, but he would always bend over backwards to avoid alienating the opposition. Good guy. His Newsweek article is no exception. Thought you might like it too. It's entitled "Less Shouting, More Talking" (Newsweek, January 31, 2009). Summary: "Yes, I voted for Prop 8. Yes, I oppose gay marriage. But that doesn't make me a religious fundamentalist."

On the morning of Nov. 4, I saw an angry confrontation between two groups at an intersection in my California town. Both sides were carrying signs: one set supporting Proposition 8—the ban on same-sex marriage—and the other opposing it. The two groups were angrily shouting and gesturing at each other as I passed by. That's when the tears welled up.

I voted for the ban. As an evangelical, I subscribe to the "traditional" definition of a marriage, and I do not want to see the definition changed.

Does that mean I want to impose my personal convictions on the broader population? No. I celebrate the fact that we live in a pluralistic society, with many different worldviews and lifestyles. I support the democratic process and believe that civil society is at its best when people with different perspectives engage in a mutually respectful dialogue. And that's why the tears welled up on Election Day morning. The angry sign wavers on opposite corners symbolized the way this whole disagreement over same-sex marriage has gone. Angry shouts. Shaking fists. It makes me sad.

This is something that happens on occasion in an intimate relationship. People who care deeply about each other start arguing about some touchy issue. As temperatures rise, so does the rhetoric. Mean-spirited things get said. The situation seems hopeless.

That is why I want to issue this plea to my fellow citizens on both sides of this divide over sexuality: Can we talk?

I ask this as someone who has been one of the angry ones—angry about things that have been said about people like me. I've been on talk shows where people phone in to call me a fascist or equate me with those who burned accused witches at the stake. One remark that hit especially close to home was made by the editor of this magazine. He wrote that anyone—anyone!—who tries to make a scriptural case against same-sex marriage is guilty of "the worst kind of fundamentalism."

That hurt. I have spent several decades of my life trying to spell out an evangelical alternative to "the worst kind of fundamentalism." My friends and I have argued that the Bible supports racial justice, gender equality, peacemaking and care for the environment—views that often draw the ire of the worst kind of fundamentalists. But none of that seems to matter to folks who don't like our views about same-sex relations. Because we also believe that the Bible frowns on sexual intimacy outside of marriage between a man and a woman, we are being relegated to the margins of the civil dialogue.

I refuse to go to the margins. As my fellow citizens in a pluralistic society, gays and lesbians have a right to ask me what my sincerely held convictions mean for how they pursue their way of lives.

While my views about sexuality are shaped by my religious convictions, I know that I cannot simply quote the Bible in arguing for public policy. Not every sin ought to be made illegal. But in this case, the issues go deep. For many of us, "normalizing" same-sex marriage comes down to deep concerns about the raising of our children and grandchildren. What will they be taught about sexual and family values in our schools? How will they be affected by the ways the entertainment media portray people with our kinds of views? And will we even be allowed to counter these influences in our homes and churches without being accused of "hate speech"?

And, fair or unfair, "slippery slope" concerns loom large. Are there limits to what we can be asked to tolerate when it concerns matters that violate our convictions? If we were to accept mutual consent and deeply felt convictions as a sufficient basis for allowing the legalization of same-sex relationships, what would keep us from extending marriage to a three-partner arrangement?

But I also want to hear from folks who worry about my views. What is it about people like me that frightens you so much? What would you need to hear from us that would reduce your anxiety? What is your vision of a flourishing pluralistic society? Where do people like me fit into that kind of society?

Maybe I am unrealistic in thinking we can have this national conversation. But the alternatives are frightening. Posing this question has worked at other times when people seemed hopelessly at odds. So let's try asking it now as a nation, and in a gentle tone: Can we talk?

Mouw is the president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

Once, in the now defunct Reformed Journal, I remember Mouw relating how, in a Catholic Church in Europe, he witnessed a young woman and her skinhead boyfriend making rude remarks and gestures in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother. The woman then broke down and fell on her face weeping in front of the statue. Mouw, a good Calvinist, witnessing all of this, said that he couldn't help offering up a little prayer to the Blessed Mother herself. "Please pray for her." Something like that. Great guy.

Global warming dogma ensconced in federal, state gov't

Veteran weatherman and weather researcher John Coleman has been a vocal skeptic of global warming since 2007 when he publicly described it as "a fictional, manufactured crisis, and a total scam." He reportedly gave a speech before the San Diego Chamber of Commerce in 2008 blaming the "global warming scam" and environmentalist lobby, for rising gas and food prices, as well as "a threat to our economy and our civilization."

He recently published an article (recent news to me) entitled "The Amazing Story Behind the Global Warming Scam" (KUSI News, San Diego), in which he promotes his ideas that many scientists and politicians have been embroiled in what amounts to scam based on incomplete science and a political motive for a world government. Coleman traces the roots of the global warming movement to the claims of scientist Roger Revelle, reportedly "an early mentor of Al Gore," whose objective was seeking increased funding for the Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

The key players are now all in place in Washington and in state governments across America to officially label carbon dioxide as a pollutant and enact laws that tax we citizens for our carbon footprints. Only two details stand in the way, the faltering economic times and a dramatic turn toward a colder climate. The last two bitter winters have led to a rise in public awareness that there is no runaway global warming. The public is now becoming skeptical of the claim that our carbon footprints from the use of fossil fuels is going to lead to climatic calamities.

And the irrepressible Al Gore was feted in Hollywood as a rock star for his lucrative 100-minute slide show that should have been called "A Convenient Fraud" and voted a Nobel Laureate? Over this truly exceptional woman?

Candlemas

I remember reading in British novels about Candlemas decades ago. Whatever else one may say about the British, they've preserved a lot of these traditional Catholic names in their culture. Last Monday, however, I had the pleasure of actually assisting at "Candle Mass" -- the Mass of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Candlemas Day. Here's what the church bulletin said:

Today's feast commemorates not only the obedience of the Blessed Virgin to the Mosaic Law in going to Jerusalem forty days after the birth of her Child and making the accustomed offerings, but also the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple, and the meeting of the infant Jesus with the old man Simeon. The blessing and distribution of candles, to be carried lighted in procession, precedes the Mass today -- a symbolic presentation of the truth proclaimed in the Canticle of Simeon: Our Lord is the "Light for the revelation of the Gentiles."

I wish I had time to write out the entire Candlemas liturgy for you, with the Blessing of the Candles, Distribution, and Procession, as well as the Mass itself. It's really quite beautiful and much more involved than I ever expected. Gotta go.

Remember how he asked: "Pray for me ..."

In the midst of the storm of media criticism surrounding our Holy Father of late, I could not help recalling his still timely words from the Homily of his Inaugural Mass in St. Peter's Square, Sunday, April 25, 2005:

One of the basic characteristics of a shepherd must be to love the people entrusted to him, even as he loves Christ whom he serves. “Feed my sheep”, says Christ to Peter, and now, at this moment, he says it to me as well. Feeding means loving, and loving also means being ready to suffer. Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good, the nourishment of God’s truth, of God’s word, the nourishment of his presence, which he gives us in the Blessed Sacrament.

My dear friends – at this moment I can only say: pray for me, that I may learn to love the Lord more and more. Pray for me, that I may learn to love his flock more and more – in other words, you, the holy Church, each one of you and all of you together. Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. Let us pray for one another, that the Lord will carry us and that we will learn to carry one another.[emphasis added]

The reason I have not addressed the Bishop Williamson affair is that I consider it a red herring. As Christopher A. Ferrara says, "Damian Thompson slams the nail on the head when writes

Make no mistake: far from being deeply offended by the lifting of the excommunications, many liberals are delighted that the entire traditionalist movement has been tainted by the supposed “rehabilitation” of a Holocaust denier. Other, less extreme, liberals are meanwhile quietly content to sit back and watch “the Ratzinger project” unravel. (Telegraph.co.uk, February 2, 2009)."

"Loving means giving the sheep what is truly good," says His Holiness. What he believes is "truly good" can be known in part by recalling the words of his Letter to the Bishops accompanying his Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, now in the full eclipse of media spin:

I now come to the positive reason which motivated my decision to issue this Motu Proprio updating that of 1988. It is a matter of coming to an interior reconciliation in the heart of the Church. Looking back over the past, to the divisions which in the course of the centuries have rent the Body of Christ, one continually has the impression that, at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the Church’s leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity. One has the impression that omissions on the part of the Church have had their share of blame for the fact that these divisions were able to harden. This glance at the past imposes an obligation on us today: to make every effort to enable for all those who truly desire unity to remain in that unity or to attain it anew. I think of a sentence in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, where Paul writes: “Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return … widen your hearts also!” (2 Cor 6:11-13). Paul was certainly speaking in another context, but his exhortation can and must touch us too, precisely on this subject. Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows.[emphasis added]

And so, especially in this hour, let us honor the request of our Holy Father by remembering him in prayer.

Aquinas Institute in the Year of St. Paul

Our friend, Professor Peter Kwasniewski from Wyoming Catholic College, sends the following news:

We are very pleased to announce the launch of a new institute dedicated to the graduate-level study of the Catholic faith specifically through the writings of the Angelic Doctor: The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, located in the beautiful town of Lander, Wyoming, along the Wind River Mountain Range. On our website you can find out all about us: www.TheAquinasInstitute.org.

A capsule summary: last summer a number of professors ran a graduate program in which the student participants read and discussed nearly the whole of the Prima Pars, using bilingual texts. Everything went so well that we decided we would like to do this EVERY summer, and so we have founded an institute for the study of sacra doctrina according to the writings and method of St. Thomas -- in particular, by reading the Summa theologiae in a serious and sustained way. Typically our plan will be to read almost the entire Summa over the course of three intensive summer programs dedicated to the Summa’s three parts. (Students are not necessarily required or expected to attend all three, although naturally it would be ideal for them to do so.)

This summer, however, we are making an exception to that plan by putting on a one-time program, in honor of the Year of Saint Paul, dedicated to reading all of St. Paul’s Epistles with all of St. Thomas’s commentaries on them. While it is possible that Aquinas’s commentaries have been studied as a group this way in a monastery or other rarefied setting, certainly no college or university in living memory has offered such a program -- an opportunity to be steeped in the wisdom of St. Paul’s corpus as a whole, as systematically interpreted by the greatest Doctor of the Church. The Aquinas Institute hopes to make available to participants bilingual editions of the commentaries to be studied.

The program will run from May 25^th to July 30^th, 2009. The teachers will be Dr. John Mortensen, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Dr. Jeremy Holmes, Fr. Sebastian Walshe, and Mr. Marco Emerson. The deadline for applications is March 31^st. Information on tuition, housing, how to apply, etc., may be found at the above-mentioned website. Please help SPREAD THE WORD!

Sudden death and trust

You may have heard about the sudden death of Amy Welborn's husband on February 3, 2009. No less remarkable is "The Last Column" (February 4, 2009), which one reader describes as "unbelievable ... the wind is still completely knocked out of me."

[Hat tip to J.M.]

Mr. Biden goes to church (with fanfare)

Hadley Arkes, "Joe Biden: The Rise of an Empty Man" (The Catholic Thing, February 3, 2009):

On the morning of the inauguration, according to news and eyewitness reports, the streets near Georgetown University were blocked by a fleet of limousines and police on motorcycles. It was for Joe Biden, attending Mass on campus at Dahlgren Chapel. It was a sign that would now mark the presence of Joseph Biden, the risen Joe Biden, ascending to a post of high honorifics. Bereft of both knowledge and wisdom, he will nevertheless stand in the high councils of state, with an entourage of cars flashing lights to herald his progress.

The cars assembled at their post conveyed a message, as inescapable as it was portentous: Here, in a chapel, affecting to be in communion with his Church, is a man who has trumpeted his rejection of the most central moral teachings of the Church. During the presidential campaign he offered, as one of the prime accomplishments in his political life, that he helped to defeat the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. With that stroke he managed to preserve, unimpaired, the right to kill an unborn child at every stage of its life. We have had a sense of what it means to “give scandal” or to misinstruct the faithful about the teachings of their own Church. But now it is done even more dramatically, with the presence of limousines to convey the point: that you can be a prime defender of the right to abortion at every stage and for any reason – nay, you can even exult in public for your achievements in securing that “right” – and still be a “good Catholic.”

[Hat tip to Prof. E.E.]

Giving the Devil his due - Part II

Three years ago, in a post entitled "Giving the Devil his due" (Musings, February 13, 2006), I described my encounter with Catholic students and parents who were surprised to learn that the Catholic baptismal rite contains a minor exorcism -- one, in some cases, which they witnessed unwittingly (apparently) in the baptism of their own infant siblings or children. I went on to compare the baptismal rite as found in the simple, clear, and powerful language of the Roman Missal of 1962, in which there could be no mistaking what is happening: "I exorcise you, unclean spirit ... Come forth, depart from this servant (hand-maid) of God, N., for He commands you, accursed and damned spirit ..."

There is something quite bracing and invigorating about such robust, martial and (dare I say it?) manly language -- a slight redolence of the battlefield where Lt. Killgore declared: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning ... It smells like ... victory!" In this vein, I offer the following minor Leonine Exorcism as a modest contribution to efforts of the New Evangelization:

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF H.H. POPE LEO XIII
The Holy Father exhorts priests to say this prayer as often as possible, as a simple exorcism to curb the power of the devil and prevent him from doing harm. The faithful also may say it in their own name, for the same purpose, as any approved prayer. Its use is recommended whenever action of the devil is suspected, causing malice in men, violent temptations and even storms and various calamities. It could be used as a solemn exorcism (an official and public ceremony, in Latin) to expel the devil. It would then be said by a priest, in the name of the Church and only with the Bishop's permission.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel
Most glorious Prince of the Heavenly Armies, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in "our battle against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places" (Ephes., VI, 12). Come to the assistance of men whom God has created to His likeness and whom He has redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Holy Church venerates thee as her guardian and protector; to thee, the Lord has entrusted the souls of the redeemed to be led into heaven. Pray therefore the God of Peace to crush Satan beneath our feet, that he may no longer retain men captive and do injury to the Church. Offer our prayers to the Most High, that without delay they may draw His mercy down upon us; take hold of "the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan," bind him and cast him into the bottomless pit "so that he may no longer seduce the nations" (Apoc. XX, 2).

Exorcism
In the Name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints, (and powerful in the holy authority of our ministry).¹ we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil.

Psalm 67: God arises: His enemies are scattered and those who hate Him flee before Him.

As smoke is driven away, so are they driven; as wax melts before the fire, so the wicked perish at the presence of God.

V/. Behold the Cross of the Lord, flee bands of enemies.

R/. He has conquered, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the offspring of David.

V/. May thy mercy, Lord, descend upon us.

R/. As great as our hope in Thee.

[The crosses indicate a blessing to be given if a priest recites the Exorcism: if a lay person recites it, they indicate the Sign of the Cross to be made silently by that person.]

We drive you from us, whoever you may be, unclean spirits, all satanic powers, all infernal invaders, all wicked legions, assemblies and sects; in the Name and by the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ + may you be snatched away and driven from the Church of God and from the souls made to the image and likeness of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Divine Lamb. + Most cunning serpent, you shall no more dare to deceive the human race, persecute the Church, torment God's elect and sift them as wheat. + The Most High God commands you. + He with whom, in your great insolence, you still claim to be equal; "He who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (I Tim., II, 4). God the Father commands you. + God the Son commands you. + God the Holy Ghost commands you. + Christ, God's Word made flesh, commands you; + He who to save our race outdone through your envy, "humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death" (Phil., II, 8); He who has built His Church on the firm rock and declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Her, because He will dwell with Her "all days even to the end of the world" (St. Mat., XXVIII, 20). The sacred Sign of the Cross commands you. + as does also the power of the mysteries of the Christian Faith. + The glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, commands you; + She who by her humility and from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception, crushed your proud head. The father of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of the other Apostles commands you. + The blood of the Martyrs and the pious intercession of all the Saints command you. +

Thus, cursed dragon, and you, diabolical legions, we adjure you by the living God, + by the true God, + by the holy God, + by the God "who so loved the world that He gave up His only Son, that every soul believing in Him might not perish but have life everlasting" (St. John, III); stop deceiving human creatures and pouring out to them the poison of eternal damnation; stop harming the Church and hindering her liberty. Begone, Satan, inventor and master of all deceit, enemy of man's salvation. Give place to Christ in whom you have found none of your works; give place to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church acquired by Christ at the price of His Blood. Stoop beneath the all-powerful Hand of God; tremble and flee when we invoke the Holy and terrible Name of Jesus, this Name which causes hell to tremble, this Name to which the Virtues, Powers and Dominations of heaven are humbly submissive, this Name which the Cherubim and Seraphim praise unceasingly repeating: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, the God of Armies.

V/. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R/. And let my cry come unto Thee.
V/. May the Lord be with thee.
R/. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray. -- God of heaven, God of earth, God of Angels, God of Archangels, God of Patriarchs, God of Prophets, God of Apostles, God of Martyrs, God of Confessors, God of Virgins, God who has power to give life after death and rest after work, because there is no other God than Thee and there can be no other, for Thou art the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, of whose reign there shall be no end, we humbly prostrate ourselves before Thy glorious Majesty and we beseech Thee to deliver us by Thy power from all the tyranny of the infernal spirits, from their snares, their lies and their furious wickedness; deign, O Lord, to grant us Thy powerful protection and to keep us safe and sound. We beseech Thee through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

From the snares of the devil, deliver us, O Lord.

That Thy Church may serve Thee in peace and liberty, we beseech Thee to hear us.

That Thou may crush down all enemies of Thy Church, we beseech Thee to hear us.

(Holy water is sprinkled in the place where we may be.)
Imprimatur: +Henry, O.M.I.
Vicar Apostolic of James Bay -- August 15, 1967.

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle; be our protection against the malice and snares of the Devil. May God restrain him, we humbly pray, and do though, O prince of the heavenly host, by the divine power cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; have mercy on us (3 times)

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Notes

1. Lay people omit this parenthesis. [back]