Mainstreaming 'gay partnerships': the case of Cardinal Schönborn

Andrea Tornielli,"Vienna: Schönborn chooses young gay man for position in parish council" (Vatican Insider, April 3, 2012):

Twenty-six year-old Florian Stangl received the majority of parishioners' votes during the election of the new pastoral council of the parish of Stützenhofen, a town north of Vienna, but the parish priest did not want to ratify his nomination. The archbishop has intervened and, assuming full responsibility, has decided to validate the election. A row began following the intervention of cardinal Cristoph Schönborn, who, after his initial reservations, recently decided to admit a homosexual - living with a companion whom he married in a civil union - to the pastoral council of the parish of this small Austrian town.

The words of the Cardinal: "They witness the vitality of the Church. In their diversity, they reflect the diversity of today's way of life and faith."

As a reader emailed me: "If you hear something often enough, it begins to sound normal." Think of the entire generation now in its teens. "Normal" will soon mean what passed for normal before the Noahic deluge. Grapes of wrath.

[Hat tip to J.M.]

Good Friday

My people, what have I done to you
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you out of Egypt,
from slavery to freedom,
but you led your Savior to the cross.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

For forty years I led you
safely through the desert.
I fed you with manna from heaven,ù
and brought you to a land of plenty;
but you led your Savior to the cross.

Holy is God!
Holy and strong!
Holy immortal One, have mercy on us!

What more could I have done for you.
I planted you as my fairest vine,
but you yielded only bitterness:
when I was thirsty you gave me vinegar to drink,
and you pierced your Savior with a lance.

Holy is God!
Holy and strong!
Holy immortal One, have mercy on us!

For your sake I scourged your captors
and their firstborn sons,
but you brought your scourges down on me.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you from slavery to freedom
and drowned your captors in the sea,
but you handed me over to your high priests.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I opened the sea before you,
but you opened my side with a spear.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I led you on your way in a pillar of cloud,
but you led me to Pilate's court.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I bore you up with manna in the desert,
but you struck me down and scourged me.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I gave you saving water from the rock,
but you gave me gall and vinegar to drink.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

For you I struck down the kings of Canaan.
but you struck my head with a reed.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I gave you a royal scepter,
but you gave me a crown of thorns.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

I raised you to the height of majesty,
but you have raised me high on a cross.

My people, what have I done to you?
How have I offended you? Answer me!

[Hat tip: Good Friday Reproaches, Catholic culture.org]

Maundy Thursday

Man who lost his family finds forgiveness gives him peace

Here's an article about it in the Detroit Free Press.

Fifty-one weeks after Tom Wellinger killed Gary Weinstein's family, the jeweler decided to accompany his attorneys to a meeting with Wellinger at the Oakland County Jail.

In addition to the above-linked article, the following online interview tells the moving story of the triumph of forgiveness over hatred and resentment: "Uncut interview with Gary Weinstein."

Obama vs. Obama on mandate

Anthony Hopkins speaks at Thomas Aquinas College

The event took place on March 29, 2012.

[Hat tip to James Layne]

Imagine: Obama debates Santorum on contraception!

Brilliant. An imaginary debate by Prof. Janet E. Smith, "A Presidential Debate on Contraception?" (CatholicVote.org, April 3, 2012).

Jiro Dreams of Sushi: Trailer to the movie

A film by David Gelb. Like true believers in the elegant culinary art of sushi everywhere, I've got to see this film. The classical score offers a perfectly fitting setting for the artistic presentation.

Nori. Shoga. Wasabi. Shoyu. Maguro. Ikura. Ika. Toro. Kamaboko. Sake. Tamago. Inari. Inagi.

It's enough to bring tears to your eyes ...

Hmmmmm ... Sushi for Easter??? Not a bad idea!

[Hat tip to Andres Seba and Matthew Zetuna]

The phenomenon of "general absolution": to be avoided

Read more >>

"CATHOLIC BLOGGERS! ACTION ITEM! POLL ALERT! Time Magazine on Card. Dolan"

"Should Timothy Dolan be on the list" [for candidates for TIME magazine's most influential "Man of the Year"? VOTE! HERE!




[Hat tip to Fr. Z.]

Advice to Catholics attending a Tridentine Mass for the first time

• Don't even pretend you know anything about this liturgy, because you don't. Hearsay isn't experience. Forget everything you've heard about it being a liturgy of "passive spectators" and needing to be "fixed," because it's likely based on superficial opinion, misinterpretation, and partisan distraction. Suspend your critical faculty, which poisons your ability to find God in any case, sit back, listen, observe, and pray.
  
  
• Pretend you're visiting some far off country, distant both geographically and in time, and observing how the Catholics of that alien land have always worshiped God. If you were visiting a Coptic church, a Jewish synagogue, or even a Buddhist temple, chances are you would be disposed to maintain a respectful and attentive deference. Expect no less of yourself here.
  
  
• Picture yourself wading ankle deep in the shallow waters along the sea shore, realizing that if you were to turn and wade out into the surf and keep going, you would soon be over your head. This is your present condition. You are splashing around in the shallows of a strange divine liturgical sea that is deep and vast enough to engulf you; and whatever else it may be, it is Catholic all the way down.
  
  
• Please understand that the Tridentine liturgy is not linear and simple like the new one, but multi-layered and complex, with many things happening simultaneously. It involves a learning curve. Don't expect to understand much of anything your first visit. Like reading St. Thomas Aquinas, it can be daunting at first, and takes time, but if you're a docile pupil, it's quite possible you will eventually fall head-over-heels in love, as Flannery O'Connor could attest.
  
  
• Watch and learn from those around you that those who love the old liturgy may love their Lord with as much white hot passion as anyone, even if they don't express it through breezy 70s-style songs with electric amplification and visible enthusiasm. Don't misinterpret their recollected restraint for emotional coldness or spiritual torpor. It's not. Rather, it is a fitting and reverent appreciation of the drama of redemption unfolding before them, that awesome and terrible Sacrifice at which they, and you, assist.

Is he being funny, or serious, or both?

In reference to an ad placed by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development on the USCCB website, blogger New Catholic offers a post that reads: "Young Trad, Become a Double-Agent in the USCCB. Enlist today!" (Rorate Caeli, April 2, 2012).

The post is not dated for an April Fool's joke. And given the track record of the CCHD, it probably isn't a bad idea.

I remember one Sunday after being received into the Church witnessing a promotion for a CCHD collection that would be taken up during the offertory, and wondering what this was all about. "Human development" sounded just so ... United Nations. Then I read a major exposé in the Catholic World Report, followed by other similar reports from credible sources that made them look little better than a front for leftist community activist organizations. Not only were they reportedly promoting a leftist political agenda, but moral practices contrary Church teaching.

To be fair, word on the street says that efforts have been made to clean up their act. But reports remain mixed, and it never hurts to "trust, but verify."

Obama's not foolin'. Neither are the bishops.

[Hat tip to Sword of Peter, via Fr. Z.]

For the record: Manner of Receiving Communion

Revisited substantially in FIUV PP3, updated to the original FIUV Position Paper post.

Hosanna! Crucify!