Sunday, May 5

You need to read Drudge's account of last night's White House Correspondent's dinner starring Ozzy Osbourne.
Lots of links to Situation-related article on Poynter today.
Many thanks to reader John for reminding me of this quote from Flannery O'Connor (in a letter to Cecil Dawkins) that's particularly apt:

Glibness is the great danger in answering people's questions about religion. I won't answer yours because you can answer them as well yourself but I will give you, for what it's worth, my own perspective on them. All your dissatisfaction with the Church seems to me to come from an incomplete understanding of' sin. This will perhaps surprise you because you are very conscious of' the sins of Catholics: however what you seem actually to demand is that the Church put the kingdom of heaven on earth right here now, that the Holy Ghost be translated at once into all flesh. The Holy Spirit very rarely shows Himself on the surface of anything. You are asking that man return at once to the state God created him in, you are leaving out the terrible radical human pride that causes death. Christ was crucified on earth and the Church is crucified in time. and the Church is crucified by all of us, by her members most particularly because she is a Church of sinners. Christ never said that the Church would be operated in a sinless or intelligent way, but that it would not teach error. This does not mean that each and every priest won't teach error but that the whole Church speaking through the Pope will not teach error in matters of faith. The Church is founded on Peter who denied Christ three times and couldn't walk on the water by himself. You are expecting his successors to walk on the water. All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful. Priests resist it as well as others. To have the Church be what you want it to be would require the continuous miraculous meddling of God in human affairs, whereas it is our dignity that we are allowed more or less to get on with those graces that come through faith and the sacraments and which work through our human nature. God has chosen to operate in this manner. We can't understand this but we can't reject it without rejecting life.



Good stuff Catholics do: (A continuing series)

St. Anthony's Free Medical and Dental Clinic

The St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic is located in the St. Francis Center at 421 East 155th Street, Bronx, NY 10455. Through the sponsorship of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal the clinic has been opened since July 1998, it provides many free medical services to the very poor. The clinic operates solely by the work of dedicated volunteers and is funded exclusively through donations. Due to the kindness and generosity of volunteer doctors, nurses and other staffers, and with donations of supplies, equipment and funds from individuals and corporations, poor children and adults who are medically uninsured receive free medical care in a safe and healthy environment

St. Vincent de Paul societies all over the world. This one in Phoenix caught my eye, what with its multitude of services, including:

Ozanam Manor Transitional Shelter: named for the Society's founder, Frederic Ozanam, our 43-bed shelter houses the homeless elderly and disabled homeless adults over 18 while they work toward becoming completely self-sufficient.

Free Medical and Dental Clinic:In our state-of-the-art clinics, roughly 160 volunteer physicians, dentists, nurses, technicians and others see almost 10,000 annual patient visits from the uninsured working poor.

St. Anne's Ministry:This ministry lends durable medical equipment - wheelchairs, walkers, bath benches and the like - free of charge to low-income, uninsured individuals.

Our Lady's Inn in St. Louis:

Our Lady's Inn is an emergency shelter for pregnant women in crisis, helping them to choose life for their unborn child. Founded on January 22, 1982, OLI is a safe refuge where a woman can learn how to care for herself and her unborn baby.
A woman may come to OLI at any time during her pregnancy and stay until after the birth of the baby. Upon entering the program, she must commit to an individualized self-sufficiency plan which she and a caring staff member develop together. She comes to OLI stressed and brokenhearted. We offer them a healthy and hopeful tomorrow through counseling and assistance in formulating goals.