The embed's report on the shooting of the minivan

As an unidentified four-wheel drive vehicle came barreling toward an intersection held by troops of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, Capt. Ronny Johnson grew increasingly alarmed. From his position at the intersection, he was heard radioing to one of his forward platoons of M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles to alert it to what he described as a potential threat.

"Fire a warning shot," he ordered as the vehicle kept coming. Then, with increasing urgency, he told the platoon to shoot a 7.62mm machine-gun round into its radiator. "Stop [messing] around!" Johnson yelled into the company radio network when he still saw no action being taken. Finally, he shouted at the top of his voice, "Stop him, Red 1, stop him!"

That order was immediately followed by the loud reports of 25mm cannon fire from one or more of the platoon's Bradleys. About half a dozen shots were heard in all.

"Cease fire!" Johnson yelled over the radio. Then, as he peered into his binoculars from the intersection on Highway 9, he roared at the platoon leader, "You just [expletive] killed a family because you didn't fire a warning shot soon enough!"

Plan B?

Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard says there seem to be more missiles coming into Kuwait that CentCom is acknowledging.

Sgt. Stryker says to watch the north.

At Nasiriya

A note before I sign off to work:

I am always grateful for my readers and their comments, but please remember that the reason I have reentered the blogosphere on a daily basis is to give you a place to discuss the war, especially from a spiritual and moral perspective. I am not happy with the tone of some of the commenters, especially from some of those supportive of the war who are responding to questions and concerns with jabs, name-calling and setting up of straw men. I seriously doubt that there is anyone who posts or reads here who believes that Hussein is anything but a tyrant, or who knows that the muted response Coalition troops are receiving is in large part because of the terror and fear of reprisal that still hangs over even the "conquered" areas. Everyone who reads and posts here is very concerned about issues of terrorism, the clash of civilizations and the rise of Islamofascism. As far as I know, Sheryl Crow is not a part of this community here.

So that means when questions are raised, either by me or commenters, you can bet they are serious questions that emerge from serious soul-searching and engagement with the Gospel, Catholic Tradition, and the realities of the present situation.

I would appreciate it if everyone would conduct themselves with that in mind and take each others' concerns seriously and respectfully and just stop the responses like Oh..you're have questions about the conduct of the war...and you think Hussein would have just left if we'd asked nicely, huh?

That's not helpful.

Pope's Eucharist Encyclical will be released on Holy Thursday

Finds of the day:

It's a few months early, I know, but writers have to work way ahead: A gorgeous, comprehensive site dedicated to St.Nicholas

and

Need to track a flight in progress? This one gives you a purty picture.

As I noted below, I was very interested in the fact that the Scripture readings today concerned, in part, the Babylonian Exile - a conflict with the ancient empire centered in the land upon which we are today fighting a war.

Did any of your homilists reference this? What did they do with it? How did they work with it?

I made great progress today, thanks to my wonderful husband, who took care of Joseph for a great part of the afternoon and early evening. I only have a couple of more things to write for this study guide to the Passion in Matthew, then I need to give it a once-over cleanup, put it in the template and then with a click of the mouse it's out of my life - until it comes back for revisions, that is. And best of all, I'm actually fairly pleased with it. But then I still have another two-thousand word project due on Tuesday and three columns of various sorts due around the middle of the week, so I won't be in the clear until Thursday, I imagine. Then I take a breath, revise my Saints" The Sequel manuscript by April 15 and then get to work on a talk I'm giving up in Kalamazoo in early May.

I must tell you about the funniest thing Joseph (who will be 2 on Friday) is doing. Quite frequently, when you ask him if he wants something, and he does, he'll answer with a breathless, "Oh, yeeeessss!" I don't know where he picked that up, but it's very funny. I think he's also confused "thank you" and "okay," in the sense that he never says "okay." You tell him to go sit down and he says, "thank you" and trots over and has a seat. He's either confused, or the most grateful person living in this house.

Well....

Today's 1st reading and Psalm, for this 4th Sunday of Lent...

concern the Babylonian Exile:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept remembering Sion.On the willow-trees of Babylon we hung up our harps.

Wow.

I'm stunned.

And honored - that goes without saying. I guess I'd better get busy and try to be worthy...

Talk about pressure.

Ad Orientem declares his blog a "Dorothy-Day Free Zone."

The angel and the girl are met
Earth was the only meeting place.
For the embodied never yet
Travelled beyond the shore of space.
The eternal spirits in freedom go.

See, they have come together, see,
While the destroying minutes flow,
Each reflects the other's face
Till heaven in hers and the earth in his
Shine steady there. He's come to her
From beyond the farthest star,
Feathered through time. Immediacy
Of strangest strangeness is the bliss
That from their limbs all movement takes.
Yet the increasing rapture brings
So great a wonder that it makes
Each feather tremble on his wings.

Outside the window footsteps fall
Into the ordinary day
And with the sun along the wall
Pursue their unreturning way.
Sound's perpetual roundabout
Rolls its numbered octaves out
And hoarsely grinds its battered tune.

But through the endless afternoon
These neither speak nor movement make,
But stare into their deepening trance
As if their grace would never break.

The Annunciation

by Edwin Muir (1887-1958)

Peter Nixon breaks his fast.

Sign at a Fort Wayne strip club:

"Sadaam You Suck"

Hmmm.

Andrew Greeley today

You'll like the first line...

A while back, the New York Times sent one of its reporters who writes fiction about the Catholic Church out to interview Catholics about the conflict they feel when they make up their minds whether to side with the pope or the president over the war....

But dunno how you'll feel about the rest of it...

The Wall Street Journal also warned the pope that he ought to rein in the Vatican publications and the Curia cardinals who are clearly anti-American.

Maybe they are. Like most Europeans, the Curia has been anti-American for a long time. His Holiness minimally has been impatient with American foreign policy. Might one say that is his right? Does not a moral and spiritual leader have the obligation to speak up against evil when he sees it? Does he not have an obligation to apply the just war doctrine to the events he observes? His opinions on the subject deserve attention and respect from Catholics--and everyone else.

However, he is not telling Catholics what they should think, only what he thinks. He is not obliging us in conscience to accept his reading of the situation. One should not have to say that; yet so strong is the current surge of anti-Catholicism in America, one has to repeat it over and over again--and not expect to be heard. The people in the major media know that Catholics have to agree with the pope.

Those of us who have grave doubts about the war will quote the pope often, if only to challenge the fundamentalist piety of the Bush administration, if only to suggest that God is not always on the Republican side. Maybe, just maybe, the pope knows a little bit more than George W. Bush about war and peace.

Some of the Republican pundits shade their criticism of the pope with allusions to the moral problems in the Catholic priesthood. Those who write letters pull no punches. Usually in obscene terms they suggest that the pope should both shut his mouth and do something about clerical sexual abuse.

That argument merely shows how morally and intellectually bankrupt many Republicans are these days. Bush's war has corrupted them.

BBC reporters in the Gulf have a blog

Via Blogs of War

Rod's going to Texas!

Jean Bethke Elshtain has a timely new book called Just War Against Terrorism: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World

It's reviewed here.

Another good read:

The Arrogant Empire

In England, they're afraid hot cross buns will offend the kids.

Here, the stores are stocking Easter baskets with toy guns in them.

Terry Mattingly on the tensions between First and Third-world Christians

This kind of angry language is especially shocking since Episcopal bishops and other mainline leaders have long proclaimed the need for racial harmony and dialog with other cultures. But today the politics of sex, money, evangelism and power have created a painful dilemma for First World elites.

"The liberals basically spent the last 40 years saying, 'Let's hear the voice of the Third World,'" said historian Philip Jenkins of Pennsylvania State University, addressing a recent Anglican Mission in America conference. "And now they've heard it and they'd like the Third World to shut up for several decades."

Joseph's Book of the Week

Peek-A-Boo, a charming little board book with terrific rhymes and rich, busy illustrations of life in what appears to be WWII England or thereabouts.

(Offered for the sake of parents, grandparents and friends looking for quality stuff for the little ones.)

Encyclical on Eucharist due in April

Cardinal Ratzinger points out, brilliantly, the value of Eucharist:

The cardinal leaves room for arguments that are sometimes heard nowadays: "I can also pray in the woods, submerged in nature."

"Of course one can," Cardinal Ratzinger replies. "However, if it was only that way, then the initiative of prayer would remain totally within us: Then God would be a postulate of our thought. That fact that he responds or might want to respond, would remain an open question."

"Eucharist means: God has responded," the cardinal continues. "The Eucharist is God as response, as a presence that responds. Now the initiative of the divine-human relation no longer depends on us, but on him, and so it becomes really serious." ...

..."In this prayer we are no longer before a God we have thought about, but before a God who has really given himself to us; before a God who has made himself communion for us, who thus liberates us from our limits through communion and leads us to the Resurrection," Cardinal Ratzinger concludes. "This is the prayer we must seek again."

Still Monday...

Your Catholic school tuition dollars at work:

Worried about your school's test scores? Think there might be room for improvement?

How about a little aromatherapy for the kids?

Prayers are said to soothe the soul, but local Catholic school officials are looking at other ways to ease students' anxiety when taking a test.

Brain-based learning methods from motivational speaker Bruce Boguski could have students lighting a peppermint-scented candle while studying or rubbing the edge of their ear while taking a test - two ways of boosting the memory, Boguski said.

"With (Boguski's) methods, we hope that it increases our ISTEP+ scores," said Jo Ann Roscoe, associate superintendent for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend.

Though private and parochial school students traditionally score higher than state averages on the ISTEP exam, school officials say there is still room for improvement. Even if that means looking at alternative ways to make sure students are relaxed and focused when taking the test.

Boguski presented stress-reducing tactics to diocese teachers and staff Friday.

He said specific techniques trigger brain responses that can cause a person to relax, focus and study better. For example, he said cinnamon, lemon and peppermint smells help in memory retention. While students are studying, they should light a peppermint candle or, while taking the test, they might suck on a peppermint candy, which Boguski said will help them remember what they studied.

With thanks to Nancy Nall, whose new car I covet.

For three days, I have been trying to settle myself down and think of something to put here besides links. I’ve not failed completely. Some moments, some thoughts have come to mind that seem worth sharing. But only for that moment, after which I am struck by a strange dual sense that whatever it is I am thinking of is at once too trivial and too weighty to inflict on others.

How can one observation be both trivial and weighty? This way: when you are filled with a conviction that the world is about to change, a baby story seems to both shrink and grow in importance in the presence of such a shadow. After all, what is the toddler’s proud achievement of three words strung together – “More pretzels please” – in comparison to a looming war? Who cares? Why bother a worried world with such minutiae? If I’m going to add to the din, shouldn’t it be about something more weighty and worldly?

At the same time, though, at the same time as I am trying to push aside the ordinary for reflections on the extraordinary, I am filled with an overwhelming sense that I must pay attention now to these little things. Someday, I am going to be asked to explain myself – by grandchildren, I hope, to myself as I work to weave a narrative of what I have lived and seen. To witness. What was it like? we will ask, much like we want to know what America was like so very early Sunday morning, December 7 or what Flanders was like in 1913.

So for the past few days, I have watched, because I have been filled with dread. And I have been noting everything – this is what they said, this is what they told us about what had to be done, and this is what they promised would happen. This is where my sons were and this is what they were worried about. This is what the air felt like, this is what the priest said in church, this is what the little girl looked like reading a story to her brother.

Like former prisoners released from confinement, my neighbors and I burst out of the house this weekend, no need for jackets, not even a long sleeved shirt, for even though the snow has not melted completely, the air is warm and the sun is bright. The ground, soaked through with months of melted snow, squishes under our feet and the river rushes, almost over its banks, full of that same winter remnant. Down at the park the Latinos gather under the pavilions, cooking and hanging out, playing volleyball, walking the running path, as they do every weekend, not skipping a beat since November when it got too cold. Katie and Joseph and I got downtown to a children’s arts festival where we watch Polish dancers and singers who end their set, smiling broadly and singing their charmingly accented version of “Back Home Again In Indiana,” waving American flags. On a Monday morning, I take Joseph to Katie’s school where they will be shearing sheep for the city children. The shearer grabs the ram by the horns, throws him on his back and in a few minutes gets the wool off in one beautiful piece, and the ram, exposed, shakes himself in relief.

At the grocery store in Fort Wayne, Indiana, my gray-haired clerk is chided by another for not wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day. “It’s not my color,” she says, and then lowers her head and murmurs, “Besides, there’s nothing to celebrate today. We’re going to war.”

Finally, several times a day for the past few days, as I cook, as I write, as I lull the baby to nap, I hear planes. Terribly loud planes whose roars last for minutes it seems. Perhaps they were there before, but I don’t think so. The noise shakes the house and sends the baby to my arms “’cared” he says. Scared.

This is what it was like. Before.

I have a morbid streak, obviously. A sense of foreboding that is sometimes on target, sometimes not. Perhaps there will be great change, perhaps things will never be the same again, but perhaps it will be all for the better, for more people around the world. Or not. I pray this time that my dark intuitions are more off-base than they have ever been, and I will laugh with the loudest of you when events – a quick end, a grateful Middle East – whatever - prove my dread to be silly and unfounded. I will. I hope.

I haven't blogged much about the sexual-abuse scandals recently because, well...it's the same old story, told too many times, and while there is much to pray about, every single day, there's not much new for me to say about any of it. I trust that those of you who are interested - and I hope all Catholics are, not out of prurience, but because it involves your brothers and sisters in Christ, and your Church's credibility in its fundamental task of sharing the Good News - I hope that you're keeping up with the news through Poynter, which never fails to have fewer than ten stories from around the country. Something's always about to explode somewhere: In New Hampshire where a parish has just stopped sending money to the diocese and the details of the Roland Cote saga have been made public

In California, where the pressure is building on Mahony

In Massachusetts, where, among other things, a family determines to take its abuse complaints right to the pope

And in Alabama where Bishop Lipscomb of Mobile removed a priest from a parish after a fourth allegation of abuse surfaced. There had been three previous allegations, and Lipscomb, an opponent of zero-tolerance and a supporter of Cardinal Law, had trust the priest to psychiatrists. But with this most recent allegation:

Lipscomb said he had known of three victims, which Sherlock had admitted, for some time. "Last week, it came to my attention, as a fourth and credible allegation surfaced, that Father Sherlock had not been truthful in the full disclosure of his abusive activity," he said. "Though this last case was not current, it could not be characterized as long past." .....

In December, after Boston's Cardinal Bernard Francis Law resigned, Lipscomb said Law was guilty of no personal wrongdoings and was a victim of "the media campaign against him." Lipscomb said Law had followed a long-standing church practice of relying on psychologists and psychiatrists, who assured the Catholic hierarchy that priests exhibiting such behavior could be treated and returned to the ministry.

By contrast, Sherlock[the priest in question] was quoted as saying Law made the right decision. "I'm glad he (Law) resigned... He should have done it months ago," Sherlock told the Montgomery Advertiser. " It's sad on one hand because he (Law) has worked very hard all of his life, but I think that the Archdiocese of Boston served him poorly and the church poorly in the way it handled many of these cases," Sherlock said. "He's a man who worked hard, and he trusted a lot of people under him that he shouldn't have trusted."

In the Advertiser story, Sherlock described the church's crisis as a "dark night of the soul."

Calgary bishop comes down harder on gambling:

"This is not appropriate," said Henry. "We want to gradually disassociate ourselves from any reliance on bingo."He said the new reality of bingo is that its glitz and glamour have taken it away from a recreational and social experience, and moved it into the growing culture of gambling."We're dominated by the spirit of greed. The amount of money spent is secondary to the thrill of gambling and the prospect of winning."This does raise the issue of complicity in something that is unhealthy. As a church we have to distance ourselves from this and protest. . . . It worries us that as a church we're getting involved in what we call complicity with evil."

Just heard an interview on public radion with the author of a new book about Lily Dale, NY, a town founded in the late 19th century by spiritualists.

I've always regretted that during my time in Central Florida, I never made it to Cassadega, Florida, another venerable American spiritualist center.

Hmmm....what do you think of this?

An art exhibit at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA called "Manna"

In "Manna," Dehaemers weaves the history of Saint Vincent College and Archabbey with contemporary stylistic and cultural references.

Most straightforward is the representation of Sportsman's Hall, a log building that was the first on campus. Its cover of loaves and slices of bread makes it reminiscent of a gingerbread house, but it gains significance because the Saint Vincent bread is made of flour ground at the Saint Vincent Gristmill, baked on site and eaten daily by the monks who live there, forming a link between the self-sufficient Benedictine founders and current members of the order.

Carrying more symbolic complexity are a three-dimensional representation of the crucified Christ and a large two-dimensional triptych with the faces of Christ, Mary and Boniface Wimmer, Saint Vincent's founder, made of unconsecrated hosts, pressed bread rounds which, in Roman Catholic belief, become the body of Christ during the celebration of the Mass. Use of the hosts may startle some, but while the artworks are current they're also respectful, and the play between the corpus and consecrated Christ -- each heavily symbolic -- brilliantly magnifies the implications of either alone.

A sound-accompanied DVD projection of the monks at Ash Wednesday vespers brings closure to the experience of the piece.

Well, St. Benedict was big on hospitality...

Benedictine monks run a B&B in downtown Chicago (via Integrity)

The historical context of the recently-unearthed Edith Stein letter

Around the world...

In Saudi Arabia..

No churches may be built

Saudi Arabia, as the birthplace of Islam, will not allow churches to be built on its land, according to Defense Minister Prince Sultan. Islam is the only accepted religion in Saudi Arabia, home to the faith's holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina. "This country was the launch pad for the prophecy and the message, and nothing can contradict this, even if we lose our necks," Sultan told reporters Saturday. His comments were published by Saudi newspapers and confirmed by several journalists who attended the press conference. Sultan said that foreigners have been allowed to worship freely in their homes since they began arriving in Saudi Arabia in 1951 but permitting a church in the country "would affect Islam and all Muslims." On Thursday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency, complained that a new State Department list of countries that severely limit religious freedom omits several that deserve censure, including U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. The commission's annual reports say that religious freedom "does not exist" in the Gulf Kingdom.

On one Indonesian island..

Tolerance is a priority:

Some of my relatives are Muslims," said the Rev. Philipus Tule, the director of the St. Paul Major Seminary, who grew up in Flores and recently completed a doctorate in the anthropology of religion at the Australian National University in Canberra. "We inherited the same land and we still celebrate local customs.""We even pray for our Muslim relatives," he continued. "It is a very advanced theology. I started to do that when I studied Islamic theology and when I understood other believers had the same aim: searching for God."Catholicism arrived in 1914, when fathers from the German-based Society of the Divine Word landed on the coast of Flores and pushed into the malaria-filled mountainous hinterland. They succeeded — where their Jesuit colleagues had failed in the previous century — in converting almost everyone, leaving only scattered Muslim villages and some followers of local pagan beliefs.

From Cuba...

A reminder that at that Castro-attended convent dedication last week, there were no representatives from the actual Cuban Church:

The Mass at the cathedral was presided over by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and was attended by Cardinal Juan Sandoval, archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico. John Paul II's message of greetings to Cardinal Ortega and the Cuban people for the occasion was read during the Mass.

The bishops' statement explained that the Catholic Church in Cuba had no part in the renovation of the building for the Bridgettine sisters, nor in its inauguration or blessing. The order's arrival in the Island is due to an initiative of President Castro, who sent a letter to John Paul II, following arrangements made by Mexican ecclesiastical, business and political personalities, the statement explained. Cardinal Ortega said he offered "canonical approval" for the order's establishment in the Island. But he reminded his audience that the Cuban government continues to refuse the permits the Church has requested for the entry of 15 religious congregations that wish to come to the island, as well as for "several priests" and "numerous women religious." The statement also criticized the excessive kindness with which Castro was treated in the public gatherings linked to this event.

In Guatemala...

it's lawless chaos..

"We are living through anarchy," said Bishop Álvaro Ramazzini, who leads the diocese in San Marcos, a state on the Mexican frontier that is plagued by lynchings. "People do not believe in the legal system. Instead, it is the law of the strongest, that violence can solve any problem. They can tell anyone `burn them,' and it will be done."...

Several human rights advocates also said that fast-growing Evangelical churches, whose preachers work independently in small congregations, had frightened villagers about the dangers of satanic cults and encouraged retribution with strict interpretations of Scriptures. Such teachings by locally trained Guatemalan preachers, they said, played a role in whipping up hysteria among the villagers of Todos Santos, a western mountain village famous for its colorful textiles, where a lynching in 2001 claimed the life of a Japanese tourist who tried to photograph a child. Days before he arrived in the town, a religious radio station had warned listeners about rumors of a satanic cult that was snatching babies for grisly rituals, said Guillermo Padilla, who has studied lynchings and is an advocate for indigenous rights in Guatemala.

"The evangelicals like to fish in turbulent waters," Mr. Padilla said."All week the evangelicals warned, `Take care of your children because there will be satanic rituals and children will be carved up and their organs removed,' " he said. "There was so much panic that the school was closed that Friday so the children could stay home. By the time the Japanese tourist arrived, there was a state of paranoia."

Toledo priests want input on their new bishop

Auxiliary Bishop Robert Donnelly, administrator of the diocese, said he has been told by Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Pope’s Washington-based representative to the U.S., that given the large number of appointments to be made, naming a successor to Bishop James Hoffman, who died Feb. 8, could take a year."It isn’t something done quickly," Bishop Donnelly said, adding that because Toledo has a bishop and a retired bishop available for such duties as confirmations and ordinations, filling the vacancy here may be less pressing than in some other jurisdictions where there is no bishop.Today, however, a group of priests was to meet in a private, closed session in Bowling Green to arrive at a consensus about what qualities they would like to see in a new bishop. They planned to forward their ideas to Archbishop Montalvo, who will be charged with submitting a list of three finalists to the Congregation for Bishops at the Vatican

Priests and ministers moving out of rectories and parsonages

It's an arrangement that is becoming rare. Nationwide, 58.6 percent of all clergy do not live in a parsonage, according to a Duke University Divinity School study. Even more surprising, the numbers include Catholic priests, who, unencumbered by families, traditionally have lived together in rectories on church grounds.The transition to single-family homes has drawn attention here with the Archdiocese of Miami's controversial purchase of pricey homes, such as the $582,000 house for the new pastor at St. Richard Catholic Church in Palmetto Bay."In all of the newest parishes, this is the trend," says the Rev. Anthony J. Mulderry, who has lived in a single-family house in Sunrise, Fla., since he helped start All Saints Catholic Church there 20 years ago. The house, bought for $80,000, is about a mile from the church.

From the Chicago Tribune:

The village in Syria that's the last place on earth they speak Aramaic

Historians attribute the survival of Aramaic in this farming community, clinging to steep mountains 5,000 feet above sea level, to the village's isolation and harsh climate. Blanketed by snow in winter, residents were traditionally cut off from the outside world for half of every year, leaving them to chatter away in the language passed down by their ancestors.The advances of the modern world are proving more powerful than those ancient conquerors, however. State schools teach in Arabic, the language spoken throughout Syria, and even the villages' ancient churches conduct services in Arabic. No written version of Aramaic survives, not even the Bible, despite the fact that portions of it were originally written in Aramaic.
Half a century ago, 15,000 people lived in Maalula, and Aramaic was the only language spoken in the village. Today, there are just 6,000 residents, and though more than 80 percent still speak Aramaic, barely 2,000 can speak it fluently, according to George Rizkallah, 65, a retired local schoolteacher."Maybe it will survive another 50 years, but after that it will die, unless we do something," said Rizkallah, who has made it his life's mission to save the language.

More positive Harry Potter stuff from Catholics.

Diabetic man encouraged by his fellow cultists to fast. You know, like Jesus. For forty days.

He dies. Some time later, the police find his decaying body in the house, still being prayed over in the hopes of resurrection.

If you read one article...

Go to this one describing English school systems' decisions to remove hot cross buns from the menu this year:

Officials in the London borough of Tower Hamlets decided to remove the buns from menus this year after criticism over its decision to serve pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. A spokesman for the Labour-run council claimed that there had been "a lot" of complaints but did not have a figure.

The spokesman added: "We are moving away from a religious theme for Easter and will not be doing hot cross buns. We can't risk a similar outcry over Easter like the kind we had on Pancake Day. We will probably be serving naan breads instead."

Naan bread: a traditional Indian bread. From an apparently totally secular Indian culture. Someone over there needs to get busy and find some instance of Naan bread used in a Hindu religious ceremony, don't you think?

In the past, invidivual schools have taken the decision to not serve hot cross buns, but this is the first time local authorities across the country have imposed blanket bans.Liverpool council, which is controlled by the Liberal Democrats, also told The Telegraph that the symbol of the cross had the "potential to offend" and buns will no longer be served to children.

Well.....1 Corinthians 1:17-25. Yup.

Despite this ruling, the council confirmed that it will continue to organise special menus to celebrate events as diverse as the Chinese New Year, Italian National Day and Russian Independence Day.

Other councils not serving hot cross buns include York, where Labour is the largest group, and Wolverhampton, which is Labour-run. Officials in Wakefield, which is also controlled by Labour, have decided it would be more appropriate to tailor the Easter menu to information technology.

Yes. Absolutely the first thing that pops into my mind if I'm looking for an alternative way to think about Easter. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. Fits the age, I suppose. But still...how does one "tailor a menu" to INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY? I guess everything we've ever heard about British cooking is true, after all.

"We are not serving hot cross buns at all," said a spokesman. "Each term we try to come up with a menu which encourages children to think about different issues. This Easter term we chose information technology and did not even consider putting hot cross buns on the menu."

Ann Widdecombe, the Conservative MP and former shadow home secretary who is a Roman Catholic convert, described the ban as "appalling and absurd". "These people are silly asses," she said.

Heh.

Light of the World Watch...

A priest ministers to the forgotten victims of the forgotten 39-year long civil war in Colombia:

Orphans.

Like most Colombians, the Rev. Mario Cárdenas is weary of years of terror in his country, the most violent in the Western Hemisphere. A four-decades-long civil war claims about 3,500 lives a year, mainly of innocent civilians, and forces a larger number of Colombians to flee their homeland.

For Cárdenas, who has been serving in the San Antonio Roman Catholic Archdiocese for five years, the untold story is the damage done to the children, especially to those whose parents have been killed in the conflict.

"What will happen to these children?" the 34-year-old priest asked during a recent visit to his country. If these children are Colombia's future, may God save Colombia."...

Cárdenas felt he had to do something to relieve the suffering of these "forgotten victims." With the help of Rafael Duarte, a boyish-looking 41-year-old priest and a longtime friend in Málaga, Cárdenas founded and is overseeing the growth of a nonprofit organization called Children Orphaned by the Violence in Colombia, or COVIC. Created in San Antonio 19 months ago, COVIC's aim is to feed, clothe and educate thousands of children who have at least one murdered parent.

The group, which has its own Web site, estimates that some 40,000 children in the South American nation have been orphaned by the civil war. Some Colombians insist that the figure is low; they say that many families, especially in the countryside, don't report the killings of loved ones for fear of retaliation.

In the shadow of St. Patrick

...unfortunately is St. Joseph, whose feastday is Wednesday, March 19.

(We knew our Joseph was a boy before he was born, and had already named him while he was in the womb, but we couldn't help but hope and pray that he would actually be born on his feastday. Ah, no - he wasn't ready, and he had to wait until April 4.).

One of the more common St. Joseph's Day traditions is the St. Joseph's Altar, brought to this country by Sicilian immigrants, and apparently very strong particularly in Louisiana, especially New Orleans.

Notes from the book signing

I'm too tired and too much on the edge of a cold to offer any but

Michael has notes here

and

Patrick Madrid has real nice things to say about Michael here.

Just got word on the official publication date of the exciting sequel to the Loyola Kids Book of Saints

It's called the Loyola Kids Book of Heroes: Stories of Catholic Heroes and Saints Throughout History, and the publication date is October 1.

George and God

From Fred Barnes and the Weekly Standard

Michelle Cottle in The New Republic

Resigning Bishops Beat:

Bishop of Tuscon (72) resigned last week

Seems as if the Bishop of Norwich, CT (who is 75) is announcing his retirement on Tuesday.

Both are due, although Moreno of Tuscon is a little young, his health is apparently failing. Both dioceses have their troubles - Norwich announced staff reductions today - but...what diocese isn't, these days?

Hart of Norwich to be replaced by Michael Richard Cote, currently the auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Portland, Maine

Unresigned Bishop Beat:

Adamec defends himself

Remember, for all of your hierarchy needs, go visit the invaluable Catholic Hierarchy website, where a mere click of a mouse can tell you who was bishop of Morelio, Mexico in 1674 or who's being ordained bishop of Nyahururu, Kenya on March 25, 2003.

Phew.

Joseph is always exhausting, but this evening especially so. From about 6 on, he was plain berserk, racing around the house like a Mad Baby, throwing stuff, screaming bloody murder when Katie wouldn't let him swipe her glasses off her face (and yes, she has glasses now - nifty little wire rims. She looks like such a brainy young lady, sitting there on the couch in her glasses, nose buried in a book.). Around 8, he just started wailing, and even though it was a mite early, I started The Process, which lasted until about 9:30, with several back and forths from our bed to his, stories, water, and lots of tossing and turning. Why not just throw him in his bed and let him cry, you ask? Because he'll cry so hard that he'll throw up, that's why. Which he did tonight after I thought he'd fallen asleep and had tiptoed out to quiz Katie on her social studies and continue through the Gospel of Mark with her...I didn't hear him weeping until he was well into it, which means, quite simply, he was a mess. At least I hope that's why he threw up, because if there's another reason, I swear to heaven I am never, ever going to say, "Gee, this writing project is going so well...I have all the time in the world.." AGAIN.

But anyway. Michael's feeling poorly,so he's also retired, everyone else is in bed or puzzling over calculus, and you know what? It's still Monday.

Grown-ups saving kids:

In Florida, an uncle saves his nephew from an alligator

In Arizona, a brave woman saves a 3-year old from an abduction.

Hang on to your kids, and watch out for each others', too..

Someone just wrote me and said that her high school aged children returned from a church (Catholic) youth-group sponsored lock-in over the weekend to report that

a) Hide and Seek and Capture the Flag had been played and enjoyed in the church

b) relaxation massage had been taught and practiced by the kids on each other - mostly in boy-girl pairs.

I ask you.

Bad week for Catholic high school religion teachers:

Arizona religion teacher fired for handing out Valentines that said "I hate you. I wish you would die."

Pennsylvania religion teacher and married deacon jumps to his death after running of with a 15-year old girl

Thomas Lemmon, a 37-year-old married man with two teenagers of his own, fled from his school and his family shortly after presiding over Ash Wednesday Mass this week. He had been confronted by school authorities that day with concerns about his relationship with a 15-year-old girl he had been counselling through her parents' divorce.

Again, with the Catholicism 101 for the reporter - a deacon would be presiding over a prayer service, not a Mass.

A minor point, though, in a very sad situation, made a bit sadder by the school's assistant principal's lingo of choice:

"It's difficult because the deacon had all of our trust. He obviously made some mistakes," said Ken Salem, the school's assistant principal. "We have to explain to students that just because representatives of the Church made a mistake doesn't mean they should lose faith in the Church."

Let's hope the kids learn that this was a bit more than a "mistake."

Reporters and other interested parties wade through the mass of documents released in New Hampshire, and what they're finding:

How the law cooperated with Church cover-ups

the role of alcohol

From the LA Times (LRR), an article about "Safe Haven" laws designed to prevent abandonment and killings of newborns...and how too many still don't know about the option.

In California, which has had a safe haven statute since 2001, officials are about to unveil the second phase of a $1.7-million drive to publicize the law. In Los Angeles County, all county vehicles will soon bear bumper stickers that read, "Don't Abandon Your Baby." But as these efforts are launched, a number of experts are questioning whether the safe haven concept works."We're having more babies abandoned than ever before," said Debbe Magnusen, founder of Costa Mesa-based Project Cuddle, which runs a 24-hour hotline for women who are hiding pregnancies or contemplating abandoning babies.

Yesterday was the Rite of Election for catechumens and candidates, so chances are that your local paper will run an article with the theme "Heaven knows why anyone would become Catholic now...but some are anyway."

From Albany, where the reporter needs some lessons in Catholicism 101

and from Boston

Vatican announces 12 canonizations to occur this year

Mostly founders of religious orders.

Catholicism in Cuba

Cardinal Jaime Ortega issues pastoral letter

Communists claim him for his anti-colonial fervor, and dissidents claim him as an inspiration for political reform. But Father Felix Varela was first and foremost a man of the church, Cardinal Jaime Ortega reminded Cubans in his most recent pastoral letter.Last month, on the 150th anniversary of Varela's death, Ortega released the 27-page epistle, calling for the spiritual values Varela inspired -- hope and compassion. He tackled a range of topics, from high abortion rates to national reconciliation and the desperation that leads many to leave the island. The letter, which many describe as his most candid snapshot of Cuban society, addresses the heartache of divided families and the stress of balancing a legitimate government job with work in the black market just to make ends meet.

Castro attends convent opening

"Without the help and generosity of Comandante Fidel Castro we would not be here today," said Mother Tekla Famiglietti, Abbess of the Order of Saint Bridget founded by a 14th Century Swedish mystic.The event was attended by two cardinals, the Pope's envoy Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe and the Archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, and Italy's deputy foreign minister Mario Baccinni. But the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, was notably absent, pointing to tensions between the church's leader in Cuba and the Castro government, which the prelate publicly criticized in a recent pastoral letter.

Remember Bishop McCarthy?

They say he's retired, but no one's really sure what happened.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Shrub Oak, where McCarthy served as pastor from 1996 until June, included a brief note about McCarthy's fate in its bulletin for this weekend's Masses. The note says Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Vatican's representative in this country, has informed Cardinal Edward Egan that McCarthy's official church status is now that of "retired bishop." ....

McCarthy's status has been the subject of steady speculation across the archdiocese since his stunning resignation in June as pastor of his parish and as an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese. He resigned at the end of a four-day period during which Egan received a letter from a woman saying she had an affair with McCarthy, McCarthy admitted to several other affairs and Egan suspended McCarthy from acting as a priest.

Since then, McCarthy has become a bit of an outlaw bishop. He refused directives from Montalvo to do penance for an indefinite period at an institution in the Midwest and to permanently leave his house in Hopewell Junction in Dutchess County, which is within the boundaries of the archdiocese.

Just last month, McCarthy visited the Vatican, where he met with Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who heads the Congregation for Bishops and is often mentioned as a possible future pope. Nothing was resolved in the meeting, according to McCarthy associates.

Poet-Pope

An article with some excerpts

A polite, but less-than glowing review

There is no doubt that the Pope has every bit as much intellectual muscle as Donne, Herbert and Hopkins but in technical terms he can’t match their inventive poetic skills. That English triptych of poets all boasted formidable technical gifts, using metaphor to beguile and surprise, forcing the English language into new shapes and presenting religious truths in subtly arresting ways. The Pope’s verse is, by contrast, more derivative...

But, I ask you...is the Pope's poetry the fruit of prudential judgment and may we take any stance towards it we choose in accord with our own critical perspective? Or should we give over our Lenten reading to his poetry because he represents the Long View of versifying and because of that is surely worth our serious attention? Or should we simply join with the sede-poeticas and declare that the current poetry-writing Pope is not the real poetry-writing Pope, and that the authentic one is scribbling his iambic pentameter (in Latin of course) somewhere out west...in Mel Gibson's guest house, maybe?

Ethnicity and Catholicism

Monthly article on Latin Americans, Catholics and Protestants:

"The big attraction for these migrant workers is that the evangelicals offer them a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, whereas the Catholic Church more or less offers them a relationship with the Catholic Church."

Which, I might add, is not just a problem for migrant workers.

A traditionally German parish in New Jersey is now mostly Hispanic, but still offers one German-language Mass on Sundays.

From the LA Times (LRR): A parish split over ethnic matters

In short, it's a predominantly African-American Catholic parish, and they're losing their African-American pastor. The sizable minority of parishioners who are Hispanic would like a pastor who's more fluent in their language and culture than the last one was. Tensions mount.

This, of course, is not a new conflict in American Catholicism. A couple of weeks ago I read a book (linked over there on the left) called Slovaks on the Hudson which struck some people as obscure..(Ummm...pot? kettle?)

Well, I guess a book about Slovak parishes in Yonkers, New York might strike a few as narrowly-focused reading, but I guess that's why I was a history major and you weren't. Some of you, anyway.

I read books like that (and it wasn't a hard read at all - relatively short, straightforward) because studying the past is the only way I can even begin to understand the present. Looking at the difficulties of the contemporary church can lead one quite easily to despair - unless you've studied history and really come to understand that there is really nothing new under the sun.

So with ethnic parishes in the United States - it's difficult and challenging, but it's a challenge that's been confronted by the church in this country for a hundred and fifty years. There have been wicked fights over ethnic parishes, and Hispanics aren't the first to scare the institution with their threatened migrations elsewhere - the history of Eastern European Catholics in this country has been one of great tension as, at times, whole congregations have threatened to join the Orthodox unless they get a priest who can speak their own language.

And as much as the whole idea of an ethnic parish goes against our ideal of the church as universal, even at the parish level, the fact is that in this country, ethnic parishes (and their associated institutions, which included schools and lay associations) were absolutly vital in immigrants' ability to adapt to life in this country. It's a lesson, I fear, that has been lost in too many areas today - I've blogged about this before, but in our own diocese, there's serious thought being given to actually closing the two parishes that have developed into the centers for newly-arrived Hispanic immigrants both here and in South Bend. I don't know anything about the South Bend situation, but I do know that here, the parish they're thinking about closing is actually larger than the parish with which they'd merge it. Yes, the church building is in slightly worse shape, and because the people of the parish are generally poor, there's barely any collection to speak of, but it's still appalling to me that they would close and merge this parish rather than making a concerted effort to build it up as a center for ministry to these new arrivals who are coming to our town in great numbers.

I don't get it. But then, I hardly ever do, it seems..

On Mel, Hutton and Passion

I'm looking forward to Gibson's Passion as much as anyone, and I'm not surprised to see intrepid reporters starting to look into his background and beliefs for ways to understand or even discredit the project.

But I don't see those efforts as wrong or necessarily as "hatchet jobs" as one commenter below put it.

Look,Gibson is putting his faith front and center here, and is being very direct about it, asserting that he's doing the project because of his faith. Given that claim, it's natural for people to wonder..well...what is Mel Gibson's faith all about then, anyway?

One commenter below said that it was wrong for a reporter to take advantage of an elderly gentleman - Hutton Gibson, Mel's dad. Well, sorry, but there's no evidence that Hutton Gibson is suffering from senility or Alzheimer's. He's held his uber-traditionalist, sedevacantist, conspiracy-drenched views for decades, and very publicly, too. Despite his protestations, I can't imagine that Mel Gibson is surprised by the media's growing attention to his background in light of the film. I'm sure he expected it, and I hope he's prepared - and I particularly hope he's prepared to offer careful, nuanced historically-rooted explanations of the respective Roman and Jewish roles in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, especially in response to reactions like this

A prominent Jewish leader on Friday asked actor Mel Gibson to make certain that his new film on the last 12 hours in the life of Christ does not portray the Jews as collectively responsible for the crucifixion.

Since I'm currently writing a study guide to Matthew 26-28, such issues are much on my mind these days.

My bookshelf is piled high with commentaries on Matthew, and, in case you're wondering, I'm making great progress and should make my deadline with no problem (I always scold my son when he says things like that: "I've never been in a car accident..." "I've done fine on all the other microbiology tests..." Famous Last Words is what I say...so listen to me cry on March 31, wondering how I got into such a mess when it all looked so good on March 10).

For my money, in case you're wondering, the most helpful commentaries have been the following:

The Expositor's Bible Commentary

Daniel Harrington's commentary on Matthew, part of the Sacra Pagina series.

Daniel Patte's commentary

and, of course, Raymond Brown's Death of the Messiah

For those of you whose knees reflexively hit your jaw when you hear the name, "Raymond Brown," you really need to understand that Brown was actually one of the more "conservative" American Catholic Biblical scholars of the post-Vatican II era. (yes, yes...I know. Rene Laurentin...The Truth of Christmas. Got it.) Crossan, for example, has no use for Brown, and that tells you something. I find the Death of the Messiah fascinating because as he goes through the many, many interpretations of each passage offered by scholars from the 19th century to the present, Brown almost always opts for a) the simplest explanation (Occam's razor, you know) and b) the historicity of the text.

And by the way..you should hear my husband's smart interpretation of Mt. 26:25. You should.

One of the more important events going on this week will be the Senate's vote on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban.

To keep up with the news on this matter, stay tuned to the National Right to Life website.

All right, let's going here.

It's going to be a busy week around here. I have to go tape a radio interview tomorrow afternoon, Katie has an after-school class, then an audition for a play on Tuesday, while David is occupied with an Academic Team meet, Wednesday is dance - for Katie, not me - and then on Thursday, we trek over Toledo way - actually Maumee - for a booksigning at Drouillard's Catholic Bookstore. Patrick Madrid will be the featured speaker of the evening, but there will be several more of us Catholic writers there, including Michael, me and Dave Armstrong. If you're in the area and would like more information, call 419-891-1166.

So with all this activity, you can see that blogging will be light.

Oh. It's supposed to be anyway. Yeah.

By the way, on this Academic Team business. I was the sponsor for the A-team at one of the high schools at which I taught, and it was the traditional College Bowl style of competition with buzzers, timers, the whole thing.

Do you know what they do around here?

They take a written test.

As the kids say - lame.

Can't wait til Monday for this one

Is the Pope Catholic...Enough?

The NYTimes Magazine piece on Mel, his dad and their faith:

Mel Gibson is also known in traditionalist circles as the most famous son of Hutton Gibson, a well-known author and activist who has railed against the Vatican for more than 30 years. His books on the topic include ''Is the Pope Catholic?'' and ''The Enemy Is Here.'' (Precisely where is indicated by a map on the dust jacket -- it's a cartoon of Italy, drawn by one of his 49 grandchildren). Gibson père also publishes a quarterly newsletter called ''The War Is Now!,'' which includes all manner of verbal volleys against a pope he calls ''Garrulous Karolus, the Koran Kisser.''

Now living in suburban Houston, Hutton Gibson invited me for a weekend visit after an initial phone conversation. When I arrived, he was wrapping up an interview with a syndicated radio program. Hutton Gibson is 84 but seemed a good deal younger (which he credited to his abstinence from drinking, daily doses of vitamins and ''never going near a doctor''). He is energized by an abiding love of corny jokes and lively debate, and he peppered a commentary on the scandals facing the Catholic Church with jokes about Texans, the Irish and, inevitably, the pope.

He said he speaks to his son frequently and knows all about Mel's chapel in the hills. ''Mel wasn't raised in the new church, and he wouldn't go for it anymore than I would,'' he said. ''I've got to say that my whole family is with me -- all 10 of them.''

While his rhetoric showed no signs of mellowing, the elder Gibson had plenty of reasons to be satisfied. For one, he is a newlywed. His doting bride, Joye, is a statuesque Oregonian who playfully addressed him as ''Mr. G.'' Surrounded by ceramic knickknacks and photos of his grandchildren, he seemed entirely at ease with himself and the world.

.....

Blogrolling:

Took off Catholic Classic, because Robert Gotcher got sucked into the Greg Popcak vortex over at HMS and added Oblique House and Amy Kropp who has a very cool first name.

Because it’s Shrove Tuesday, the night before the Discipline really begins, and because I miss my husband who got back from like, five days in California last night only to travel today to a Fairfield Inn somewhere in Kentucky before he goes to the Abbey of Gethsemani tomorrow to meet with an author, and because I’m bored and stir crazy, I once again violate my hiatus.

Over at HMS, Robert Gotcher offered a list of favorite kids’ books in his household. Veddy nice, but oh, our list would be much, much longer.

My mother was a children’s librarian, and, thank God, took great care in selecting books for me as I grew up, a habit I learned and practiced with my own children. I still do – although now I hand them Peter Kreeft and say “read this” instead of E. B. White. ANd sometimes, they even comply.

I go the children’s section of our library – especially now that all of the “old” books are out of storage – and I’m simply overwhelmed. There is so much wonderful, magnificent stuff out there for children, we’ve absolutely no excuse for ever turning on a television at all. I see the sense of my friend Meggan (whom I haven’t heard from since my blogslowdown, by the way….Meggan? Meggan?) who is a children’s librarian, choosing her profession. What fun – to be able to just deal with such beautiful books all day and put them in the hands of wondering children.

Can you think of a better job?

Anyway, I have twenty years of child-rearing behind me, not to speak of a childhood of reading, and I never, ever tire of sharing books with my kids. Never. Of course, at the moment, we’re starting over with Joseph, and since Joseph is an active child, we’re still concentrating on board books. He can handle books of small dimensions that have regular paper pages, but anything bigger risks being ripped – so we stick mainly to board books which our library has in great supply. What follows is a list of some that I think are the best for that age, offered for you to share with your own children or children of friends and family.

I think that way too much of the time with small children, we give in too quickly to media cross-promotion. That is – they love Blue’s Clues, so when we give them a book, we get them a Blue’s Clues book. Or Bob the Builder. Or (gag, gag, gag) Sesame Street. Most of that stuff is fine on TV, but you know – there’s so much more out there on the printed page – er – piece of cardboard – that’s worth sharing.

Happy and Sad

and others in the series by Alison Lester. I like this book, in particular, because not only are the illustrations rich – the many things a baby can be during a day – it includes “Baby is Bad!” with a wrecked living room, right after the very helpful little “Baby is Good” assisting with the laundry. I think it must not be an originally American-produced book, because American publishers would not allow such devastation to self-esteem pass by uncensored.

Tom and Pippo Go For a Walk by Helen Oxenbury

Of course, anything and everything by Oxenbury is wonderful, but these are charmers that I’ve just discovered. Tom is a little boy, and Pippo is his stuffed monkey. Joseph is our little boy and George is his stuffed monkey. We identify. Tom and Pippo have lovely 8-page adventures (just the right length for a 2-year old) and the amusing thing is that somehow, Tom always suspects that Pippo must be to blame for his troubles.

Big Dog and LIttle Dog Wearing Sweaters Dav Pilkey

These are cute books too – very simple, short and amusing, as they teach the concept of big and little. And the concept of trouble. Must not be American either.

Davy Goes Places and I Like Winter by Lois Lenski as well as many others. These books are not board books, but they're small, so they can't be easily wrecked. Lenski wrote many books like these, including the popular books featuring "Littles" doing various things, and they are all absolutely charming. Lenski, of course, also wrote books for older children, including a series featuring children from different regions of the United States. We're most familiar with Strawberry Girl since it's required reading in the 4th grade in Florida, being set in Plant City, a mere 10 miles from our former domicile called Lakeland.

Skip to My Lou by Nadine Bernard Wescott

This is a riotous interpretation of the song, featuring a little boy left in charge of a farm while his parents go off for a while, what the animals do in their absence and how they clean up. Sort of like the Cat in the Hat, but much less tiresome to read.

Curious George Counting 1 to 10 and back again

Well, of course we love Curious George around here because Someone sleeps with his arms tightly wound around his own personal C.G. Beware, though - the original Curious George books are wonderful, but there are those that were published later that are dreadful - I think the illustrations are simply reproductions of images from a cartoon based on the character, and they are fuzzy, simplistic and uninteresting. The board books using the character are very nice, though - and I like this one because it not only counts forwards, but backwards, too!

What Sadie Sang by Eve Rice

Again, not a board book, but small in dimension. It doesn't seem to be in print any more, but it might be at your library. It's about a baby being taken for a walk who sings the whole way, and keeps singing until she falls asleep for her nap. Joseph is absolutely enraptured by this book.

Sheep in a Jeep and its companions by Margot Apple. I love this book - it's very funny. Always good in a book you anticipate reading 3,712 times.

We also like the books about Wibbly Pig and this baby.

Now for the standards, and my typically iconoclastic take on them:

Goodnight Moon and its companion My World by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, smokin' their cigarettes in the vintage author photos.

Here's my question. It's simple.

Does anyone else think these two must have been on drugs?

Good-night, nobody...Good-night mush...Good-night air

Kind of scary, if you ask me.

Happy Lent to all, and to all a Good Lent!

See you Monday - really.

For something so simple, this took me way too long to do:

But it's done.

Books For Lent is now online!

And you're complaining about giving up hamburgers on Friday

Canonization Watch:

Miracle attributed to Fr. Damien of Moloka'i reported

Reserve your tickets for Mother Teresa's beatification online.

Could a charter model salvage Philadelphia's urban Catholic schools?

Priest Shortage Beat:

When a church feels more like a hermitage

Latin America experiencing a dire shortage of priests

According to the Church's Statistical Yearbook, there are 20,874 baptized Catholics per priest in Cuba; 14,035 in Honduras; 10,809 in Nicaragua. By comparison, in Ireland there are 870 Catholics per priest; in the United States 1,312; in Spain 1,362; and in Italy 1,017.

Church building beat:

Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, MI to undergo $35 million expansion

In Santa Fe, a chapel richly expresses the parish's faith and identity

Lenten Book List coming later this afternoon - depending on the length of Joseph's nap.

Ah yes, another riveting Catholic homily yesterday.

Honestly, I try to be fair about this, but I really don’t understand why Catholic priests apparently find it so difficult to preach well.

Of course, our definitions of “preaching well” may range all over the map – what’s riveting to you may be lame to me and vice versa. But in general, what I’m looking for is not entertainment, education or even inspiration, as commonly understood. I’m looking for help in making the connections between the reality of Jesus – present in Word and Sacrament - and the reality of my life. That’s it. And not in any earthshaking way every time. Give me one simple point of reference and reflection. Give me one little nudge to open myself more fully to the Jesus I’m about the receive in Eucharist. That will do.

The evident challenge of this task puzzles me because it’s not too far off from what I’ve been doing for a living for years. I did it while teaching theology, I do it in my writing. Not that I do it well all the time, and not that I meet my own standards. But thinking in those terms – how can I unravel this mystery in a way that’s understandable and helpful to my audience – just comes naturally to me. It’s a challenge, but it’s a good challenge, and I like it. So I really don’t understand why so many priests, who spend many of their waking hours in close proximity to the most pressing needs of the human soul – don’t seem to view their preaching in the same way, and don’t seem to welcome the gift they have – standing in front of hundreds or thousands each weekend – as an amazing opportunity to share the richness of Christ in a way that really connects with the hearts and yearnings of their listeners.

Sunday morning, a case in point.

Here’s a synopsis of the homilly:

You know the phrase, “been there, done that.” Too many of us have that attitude towards Lent. Funny, we don’t have the same attitude towards Christmas, but strangely enough, once or twice through Lent strikes a lot of us as plenty.

Take fasting. No one sees the sense of fasting and abstinence any more. It’s seen as old-fashioned. Well, read the Catechism. It’s all there. Read about the spiritual value of fasting and abstinence.

Oh, and by the way, did you know that contrary to popular opinion, all Fridays during the year are still days of abstinence unless you choose to take up another form of penance to mark the day? Yes. No one knows that.

So let’s make this a good Lent, because we all need to repent.

Now listen, when our relatively new pastor appeared last fall, I was initially pleased – his first few homilies did exactly what I sketched at the beginning of this meandering, and rather well. But then…things deteriorated, and the only thing I can think of is that as the only priest in the parish, he’s simply run out of time to prepare. And perhaps he’s run up against some problems of some sort, because Michael went to Mass here one recent weekday morning, and the homily, preached to bleary-eyed folk on their way to work at 6:30 am, we an energetic defense against those who criticize him for putting other parish’s and schools notices about their fund-raising events in our bulletin.

And that’s too bad, because he’s clearly capable of more.

I mean, let’s look at this homily. First – and I’m not kidding – there was absolutely no reference at all – beginning, middle or end – to any of the Scripture passages. None. Which is especially odd since the Gospel was, of course, about fasting, and more precisely Jesus explaining why his disciples didn’t need to fast while he was with them.

So we listen to this Gospel, then listen to Father blast us for not fasting well enough and not understanding it, and we’re left thinking - huh? What’s the connection?

Secondly, I’ll just tell you what was running through my mind as he preached – other than Joseph be quiet:

Actually, people do fast in the modern world. They fast all over the place. People deny themselves food in general, food with too much fat, food with carbohydrates – yes, people certainly do fast and abstain, and many people are pretty obsessed with it.

Why?

Quite often they distance themselves from food because of either general or specific health concerns, but most people do it because they want to look “good.” They want to match themselves up with the ideal body image of the 21st century West. And in the end, they want to “feel good about themselves.”

Which shows us, in the end, that there is a connection between body and spirit. We are not bodies housing an imprisoned soul – we are whole creatures, body and soul, in which one affects the other. Our physical state impacts our emotional state. Maybe it shouldn’t. We definitely shouldn’t allow the fact that we don’t have “ideal” bodies to affect how we feel, but we do.

And somewhere in there is the groundwork for understanding the discipline of fasting and abstinence. It’s not just to “show God how much we love him” (a common understanding that kids have) – it’s to help us draw closer to God. Governing what we put in our bodies impacts our spiritual lives.

How? The ways are many and varied. The two that make the most sense to me are these: first, by fasting and abstaining, I am doing without something that is not God, and something (ideally) that brings me a sort of material happiness or satisfaction. (why we give up something that we like for Lent). By doing without those things, I am deepening my dependence on God. I am schooling myself in the lesson that I don’t need those things to be happy. If I never had another Diet Coke or Cheese Nip or never spent another hour on the computer the rest of my life, (ah..the “fasting” of the 21st century! I should be ashamed…and I am) – I could still be happy, because my joy depends, not on those things external to me, but on the mere fact that God is and God fills me with His love. And that's the life I need to be working towards - indeed, stripping it of all but God, because in the end, that's all there will be anyway.

Secondly, fasting and abstinence is a called a discipline, and for a good reason – it instills discipline in us, and that is something we all sorely need. It’s an aspect of the spiritual life that has just been totally lost for us moderns, which is tragic, because it leaves us prisoner to our feelings and our desires, and no relationship can grow and deepen in that context – not a human relationship, not a relationship with God.

There are many other reasons, all excellent, and all worth thinking about, and none of which were mentioned in this morning’s homily. It’s also worth noting that, of course, fasting is a discipline that is universal – is found in all world religions – every one. What does that tell us?

No, that’s not my homily, but threads of it are there. The point is not to blast people for not immersing themselves in this discipline, but to seriously think about why they don’t (which includes the fact that they’re not taught about it), and to bring out one or two compelling points explaining why this is a valuable thing – it’s not the be and end all of Christian spirituality, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel – but it has a value, and that value really isn’t all that foreign to even our modern experiences.

Help people connect. Don't blast them for not fully grasping what they should be doing, expecially when you represent the reason - Church leadership and catechetics - they don't grasp it in the first place.

But, you know, we really do try avoid Lit Crit (Liturgical Criticism) in this house, especially since the point of Michael’s most recent book is to help the reader get beyond such matters and give herself more deeply to Christ during every Mass, no matter what. But still…it’s hard, especially when one’s experience of Mass is constrained and hampered by a restless toddler, and you just really want everyone to get to the point and give us a little help here.

But, in the Lenten spirit, I end this complaint by turning it around. Which one of us answer his or her call flawlessly and perfectly? Answer: none. The priest may not be giving me what I think I need out of a homily, but what would my children say if they were asked how attuned to them and their needs at any given hour of the day their mother was yesterday? Probably that sometimes I was there in the right way, and sometimes I wasn’t. My interest in David’s preparation for his Academic Team match probably drifted from concern to nagging, Katie didn’t deserve to be snapped at just because her hairbrushes regularly disappear into some chasm in her room every two weeks, and Joseph…well, he got a solid thirty minutes of story-reading in the afternoon and another good thirty minutes at bedtime, but I’m sure I neglected him at some point during the day, too.

So yes – God calls us all to live so that our lives are like the ideal homily I described above – to let the reality of Christ’s love be revealed through our actions and words. I struggle to do so in the midst of the pressures of life and my own limitations, as does the priest. And you know what Paul says. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God… We’re one in the faith, and we’re one in the struggle to live it.

On second thought…maybe I did get something out of that homily after all.

Two stories of ...."coincidence?"

...in a randomlly distributed Valentine..

and Separated twins

Maryland Lieutenant Governor to step out with pro-lifers

Sending a signal he will not waver on his deeply held beliefs, Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele will break from the new Republican administration's stance on abortion tonight by joining the annual Annapolis March for Life rally.

Philippines to promote Natural Family Planning (scroll down past the headlines)

Cambodia bans Christians from proseltyzing

Secular French goverment makes Muslims get themselves organized.

Iranian youths arrested for arranging dates over the internet

On Kucinich's flip-flop

A friend of mine makes it a point to thank politicians who share his commitment to the pro-life cause whenever the opportunity presents itself. A few years ago, he approached his congressman, Dennis Kucinich, and thanked him for standing up for the unborn despite the pressures of belonging to a pro-choice party.

"I am very consistent on this issue," Kucinich replied. "I don't eat meat."

Rats to this

Monday Morning Blogging, which I usually try to finish on Sunday night, will be spread throughout Monday. Michael's in California with the laptop, (coming back late Monday night, then off again to Gethsemani. In Kentucky, that is.) and I've got my dear PC in my study, but it's slow (especially on a Sunday night), and if I spend much time in here tomorrow while Joseph's awake...there will be no house left by the end of it, and perhaps no baby. (Note to self: Almost two. Not a baby.)

But do come back - there's lots to blog and lots to say..

Blogworthy:

Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday/Carnival ("farewell to the flesh")/Fasnacht ("night of the fast") links:

From Ye Olde Catholic Encyclopedia

From Domestic Church (with recipes)

Epicurious chimes in

Fasnacht in Appalachia: Helvetica, WV, population 25 - except on Fasnacht.

American Catholic sums it up

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On the Pope beat:

Poland snatches up Pope's new book of poetry

- Pope John Paul II's first poetic work since he became pontiff in 1978 is a best seller in his native Poland even before hitting the bookstores, the Polish publisher said. Buyers have already placed orders for about 80 percent of the 300,000 first-edition copies of "The Roman Triptych," said Pawel Piotrowski, sales manager for the WAM publishing house, which is distributing the book....John Paul's meditation on religion written after his emotional journey to his homeland last summer will be published in Poland and at the Vatican on Thursday.

Pope reminisces about wartime in Poland

After reading a speech to a gathering of seminarians, the ailing 82-year-old pontiff put aside the text and said he had something he wanted to tell the young men.Speaking off the cuff for about 10 minutes in a strong, clear voice, John Paul said he was marveling how, as a young man, he was a laborer in a chemical factory in southern Poland while secretly a seminarian, and how now he is pontiff, speaking to seminarians.

Pope warns new Archbishop of world on the brink

The Pope warned the Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday that he was beginning his ministry at a "painful and tense moment in history" with the world standing on the brink of "yet another war".In a rare personal message, the Pope sent Dr Rowan Williams his "prayerful best wishes" following the Archbishop's enthronement in Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday.

By the way, here's the text of the already roundly scolded Williams' sermon at his enthronment. The famed Fr. Wilson forwarded it to me, and I agree with his assessment: "marvelous"

The gospel reading we've just heard is about knowing and telling secrets, discovering a truth not everyone sees.

In one way, nothing is hidden: Jesus has just been talking about what happens to the local towns that have seen his miracles and heard his words and yet haven't changed.

It's as though the people in these towns haven't realised there is any mystery about who Jesus is; they look at what he does and they listen to what he says, yet they treat it as something they can think about at arms' length, an interesting phenomenon that has nothing really to do with how they live and die.

And Jesus rounds on them and says: "I don't want your idle curiosity or your patronage. There is a secret that you haven't a clue about - and the ones who know that secret are the ones who don't try to protect themselves by staying at a safe distance."

And he might equally round on us, in what used to be called "Christendom" in the West, and say: "You have seen everything, the truth has been displayed, and yet you too react with boredom or polite curiosity. It's all a bit too familiar. Perhaps it's time for you to listen to some strangers."

Vatican artifact exhibit opens in Houston:

Hundreds of priceless items from 2,000 years of the Roman Catholic papacy, many of them stored in Vatican collections and not normally seen even in Rome, go on display this weekend for the first time in the United States. The exhibition, titled "St. Peter and the Vatican: The Legacy of the Popes," makes its debut Sunday at the Houston Museum of Natural Scienceand continues through July 27. "If you came to the Vatican, two-thirds of these things you would never see because they are in storerooms or archives or sacristies that are never open to the public," said the Rev. Allen Duston, international director of the Office of Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums. "So this is a very unique opportunity to see many of the things that are kept in the Vatican that have been there, in some cases, for nearly 2,000 years."

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From the Chronicle of Higher Education:

A summary of a most interesting book, Judaism and the Enlightenment by young scholar Adam Sutcliffe which argues that animosity to Judaism was at the heart of the Enlightenment worldview:

In what Mr. Sutcliffe describes as a "barbed embrace," early Enlightenment thinkers simultaneously idealized and repudiated Judaism, an attraction-repulsion that surfaced repeatedly. Indeed, Mr. Sutcliffe writes, philo-Semitism and Judeophobia were "frequently intertwined in the same text and even in the same sentence." Paradoxically, however, as Enlightenment thought became increasingly hostile to religion, it focused on Judaism as the source of Christendom. To attack Christianity at its roots, thinkers such as John Toland and Voltaire turned their critical ire on its Jewish foundations.

For the champions of the new Empire of Reason, Judaism came to represent everything they were against.

To them, Judaism embodied tribalism, scripturalism, legalism, and irrational adherence to tradition. Where the Enlightenment upheld reason, Judaism wallowed in myth. The Enlightenment stood for the universal, Judaism for the particular. Enlightenment meant cosmopolitanism, Judaism insularity. The Enlightenment promised progress, Judaism threatened atavism. In short, the Enlightenment came to define itself, Mr. Sutcliffe argues, as the antithesis of all things Jewish.

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A few hundred of Stalin's victims still stuck in the gulag

How AIDS is depopulating southern Africa - and one view on why.

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A superb article from the Guardian on Waugh and Greene by the creator of a radio drama about the two

During my research, at least two well-read friends worried for me that it was futile to attempt a double drama about Greene and Waugh because it was simply not possible that either could ever have tolerated the other's presence. But this proved to be rather touchingly untrue. A friendship stretched from the 1930s -when Greene invited Waugh to write for his magazine Night and Day, a short-lived "English New Yorker" - until Waugh's death in 1966. In one of the final letters from Combe Florey, the usually formal and reticent correspondent tells the other novelist: "I am deeply fond of you." ...

At one point - tantalisingly - the writers almost collaborated. In the early 1950s, Greene was approached to write the screenplay for a mooted American movie of Brideshead Revisited . A letter from Waugh expresses the hope that the project might succeed: Greene, after The Third Man, was one of the most admired screenwriters of the period. We must await the eventual publication of Greene's correspondence to know why he rejected the commission, but it seems a reasonable guess that he found the source material too Catholic for him.

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Crime Beat

The man accused of shooting and killing a priest and a parishioner a year ago on Long Island was ruled competent to stand trial.

The race for Bishop of the Year promises to heat up mightily this week as

Bishop Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown is undoubtedly called on to defend his unique vocations recruitment technique of silencing priests who disagree with him

and

Bishop McCormack eagerly awaits the public release of 9,000 pages of files from the DA's office.

Hmmm..who will win?

Boston contemplates more past sins: Medeiros and Dailey writing letters of recommendation for an admitted misbehaving priest

San Antonio comes right out and asks for direct contributions to cover a settlement (It's a link to a TV news story, so it's sketchy)

Cardinal George has an odd houseguest and Domenico Bettinelli wonders about it.