Emory Law Professor questions "Same-Sex Marriages"

My friend, Adam Draper, asks: "Is this Witte's reiteration of "Stop, children. What's that sound? Everybody look what's goin' down . . ."? John Witte, Jr., who is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion at Emory University, offers this editorial opinion on the hot topic of "same sex marriage." Obviously, much more needs to be said, but Witte's historical cautions are welcome.

Democrats in Congress assail denial of Holy Communion

Church Being Used for Partisan Purposes, They Tell Cardinal McCarrick. This from ZENIT:

WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 20, 2004 (Zenit.org).-- Forty-eight Catholic Democrats in Congress sent a letter to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick saying the indications by some bishops to deny Communion to pro-abortion politicians were "deeply hurtful" and counterproductive.

The letter is the first organized response by Democratic legislators since a number of Catholic bishops declared that they would withhold Communion from politicians who favor "abortion rights," the New York Times reported today.

The letter's signers, including at least three House members with strong pro-life voting records, said the bishops are "allowing the Church to be used for partisan purposes.

Isn't it amusing that these politicians accuse the BISHOPS of "allowing the Church to be used for partisan purposes," when the likes of Senator John Kerry has been pawning himself off in Catholic constituencies as the "only Catholic presidential candidate"!

They also question why these bishops made abortion a litmus test while ignoring politicians who voted counter to the Church by endorsing the death penalty and the war in Iraq.

Another red herring. Who makes the abortion issue a "litmus test" at every turn if not the Democrats? Isn't THAT the litmust test that was applied to Robert Bork, Clarance Thomas, and nearly every other conservative nominee for the Supreme Court in the Senate nomination hearings? Ye gads, what hypocrisy!

Cardinal McCarrick is the chairman of a bishops' task force asked to devise recommendations for U.S. prelates on relations with Catholic politicians.

Recently, Coadjutor Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, Florida, asked that those in public office who support abortion to refrain from receiving Communion.

And now note the choice words of the Orlando bishop . . .

"Today, some self-identified Catholic politicians prefer to emulate Pontius Pilate's 'personally opposed but unwilling to impose' stance," he wrote in a statement.

"Perhaps, they are baiting the Church, daring an 'official sanction' making them 'bad Catholics,' so as to gain favor among up their secularist, 'blue state' constituencies," the coadjutor bishop added. "Such a sanction might turn their lack of coherent Catholic convictions into a badge of courage for people who hold such convictions in contempt."

And note this humdinger:

Bishop Wenski went on to say, "You cannot have your 'waffle' and your 'wafer,' too.

Wow! Now there's a memorable zinger!

Those pro-abortion politicians who insist on calling themselves Catholics without seeing the contradiction between what they say they believe and their anti-life stance have to do a lot more of 'practicing' [holiness]. They need to get it right before they approach the Eucharistic table."

Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland, Oregon, also recently asked those in public office who support abortion to refrain from receiving Communion.

That prompted a prominent donor in the Colorado Springs Diocese to threaten to revoke a $100,000 pledge to his parish's building project and to enlist others to take similar steps, the Denver Post reported Wednesday.

In a scathing "open letter," businessman Ric Kethcart contended that Bishop Sheridan's stance hearkens back to McCarthyism.

Peter Howard, Bishop Sheridan's executive assistant, said the diocese is willing to sacrifice dollars to stake a moral claim, the Post reported. Already, some Catholics in the 10-county diocese who support Bishop Sheridan's leadership have increased their giving, Howard said.

News you won't hear on the networks

May 22, from Fallujah (The Green Side). In related news, see the post entitled "Marine sees what defeatists don't" posted by Christopher on May 20, 2004.

Vatican support for traditional Latin Mass promoted

From the Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club discussion group comes a notice about a site advocating the establishment of a Traditional Apostolic Administration for the purpose of regularizing the status of the Traditional Rite in the Church. The author of the post notes that Cardinal Ratzinger is very much involved in this matter as a member of the Pontificial Commission in charge of "Ecclesia Dei." In the Apostolic Letter, Ecclesia Dei (July 2, 1988), the Holy Father called for the "wide and generous application" of the indult (traditional Latin) Mass. Supporters are asked to sign on to a petition requesting Pope John Paul II to erect Personal Apostolic Administrations for the Traditional Rite online at this link. Related links include:

• Coalition in Support of Eccesia Dei
  
• The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter
  
• Una Voce
  
• Keep the Faith
  
• Latin Mass: A Journal of Catholic Culture
  
• Return Gregorian Chant and Latin to the Mass (related petition)

Site devoted to promoting beatification of Pope Pius XII

A contributor to the Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club discussion group sent the following link to a site devoted to promoting the beatification of Pople Pius XII. He writes:

I have been told by Sister Margherita Marchione, that the propositio has been completed, and will soon be presented. This is the next to last step in granting beatification to Pope Pius XII.

Sr. Margherita Marchione is a leading scholar on the life of Pope Pius XII, this Italian-American nun has led the fight to defend Pius against charges that he did little on behalf of Jews during World War II.

Christopher Blosser has one of the most informative links I've seen the controversies centering on Pope Pius XII: the page is entitled Pius XII, the Catholic Church and the Holocaust.

Yawn . . . Poll confirms liberals dominate media

May 23, 2004 -- New York. Editor & Publisher staffers announced Monday that a new Pew Research Center survey confirms the widespread assumption that liberals dominate media:

At national organizations (which includes print, TV and radio), the numbers break down like this: 34% liberal, 7% conservative. At local outlets: 23% liberal, 12% conservative. At Web sites: 27% call themselves liberals, 13% conservatives.

The survey of 547 media professionals, which was completed this spring, is reportedly part of an important study released today by The Project for Excellence in Journalism and The Committee of Concerned Journalists, which mainly concerns more general issues related to newsrooms (an E&P summary will appear Monday).

The Geneva Convention and morality of wartime executions

Christopher relates the following:

Interesting how pictures can deceive -- you never know the full story:

Remember this picture? The general was executing somebody who they had caught killing a policeman and his family.

Interesting discussion on the morality of executions in wartime by Eric Johnson, a veteran of Iraq, at Catholic Light (not Catholic 'Lite')!

Thanks Christopher!

Thomas Howard's classic back in print!

Peter Kreeft's favorite book by Tom Howard, and mine, Chance or the Dance? is back in print (thanks to Ignatius Press)! In my opinion, there exists no other book, which so accessibly presents the sacramental view of life that is the substance of the medieval and Catholic worldview. For a general sampling, click here; for a selection on sexual topics, like promiscuity, homosexuality, and autoeroticism, click here, here, and here, respectively.

Pope celebrates 84th birthday

VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II (search) marked his 84th birthday Tuesday with publication of his new book, Get Up, Let Us Go, which "mixes memories from his native Poland, a touch of self-criticism and a defense of priestly celibacy" (Fox News, May 17, 2004). According to one reviewer, the book contains a few candid revelations--that he has never felt "lonely" despite a life of celibacy but also that he questions whether he perhaps has not been strict enough. The book is likely to be a best seller. His 1994 book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, has sold more than 20 million copies. His royalties will go to charity. (The Age, Entertainment/Books)

Transsexuals cleared to compete in Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Transsexuals were cleared Monday to compete in the Olympics (search) for the first time. Yes, you heard correctly (Fox News, May 17, 2004).

The myth that the medievals believed in a flat earth

In his Crowhill Weblog (5/17/2004), Greg Krehbiel references an interesting article on "The myth of the flat earth," which was apparently presented originally as a paper at a conference of the American Scientific Affiliation at Westmont College on August 4, 1997, by Jeffrey Burton Russell, Professor of History, Emeritus, of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

It turns out that the myth of widespread medieval belief in a "flat earth" was propagated by two contemporaries, a Frenchman and an American (though no connection has otherwise been established between them). the Frenchman is the antireligious Antoine-Jean Letronne (1787-1848), and the American is the storyteller, Washington Irving (1783-1859). Both of their fictionalized accounts of history have misled many modern scholars and continue to mislead contemporaries.

I grew up believing the Washington Irving myth-- in Irving's fictionalized account of Columbus as the "simple mariner," appearing before a dark crowd of benighted inquisitors and hooded theologians at a council of Salamanca, all of whom believed, according to Irving, that the earth was flat like a plate. But then I came across the following passage in my study of the thirteenth-century theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas' SUMMA THEOLOGIAE (in the opening article of the very first question, reply to objection #2):

Sciences are differentiated according to the various means through which knowledge is obtained. For the astronomer and the physicist both may prove the same conclusion--that the earth, for instance, is round: the astronomer by means of mathematics(i.e., abstracting from matter), but the physicist by means of matter itself. (emphasis added)

Ever since, I have found myself increasingly skeptical of contemporary assumptions about the past. In fact, I have thought about compiling a list of "modern myths" that continue to be widely held in our own times. These might include the pervasive acceptance, still, of (1) Darwinian macro-evolution, (2) belief in global warming, (3) moral relativism, etc.

Sarin, Mustard Gas Discovered Separately in Iraq

May 17, Fox News.

Snot from the nose of the Great Buddha

"I'm not making this up," says Jimmy Akin, who posted this notice from Fox News. It seems a A gooey candy is being sold in Japan that would seem guaranteed to offend almost everyone. The packaging reads--yes, it's true--"Snot From the Nose of the Great Buddha" -- and the accompanying illustration shows a stylized Buddha with his finger up his nose, reports London's Daily Telegraph. Nevertheless, tourists visiting the giant Buddha statue in the town of Nara in western Japan are gobbling it up. For anyone who enjoys this kind of humor, I (being of rather perverse humor myself) can can be of some service: permit me to direct you to the funniest Japlish humor site in the universe: Engrish.com. Browse the site for a few minutes, and I guarantee you will land on your ass in hysterical convulsions.

Decisive victory behind the scenes in Iraq

On Wednesday, May 12, Amy Reidenour's National Center Blog posted an email from Army Spc. Joe Roche on the front in Iraq: "I ask that the American people be brave."

Massachusetts begins marriage mockery

May 17, 2004 (Doug Patton). As President Bush's ratings fell 42 percept over the continued media feeding frenzy over the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal, Drudge reports "Karry daughter shows cannes" (Druge Report), and Gay couples began exchanging marriage vows in Massachussetts on Monday.