Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog

"Hail, Full of Grace": Mary, the Mother of Believers

"Hail, Full of Grace": Mary, the Mother of Believers | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger | An excerpt from Mary: The Church at the Source

"From henceforth all generations will call me blessed"–these words of the Mother of Jesus handed on for us by Luke (Lk 1:48) are at once a prophecy and a charge laid upon the Church of all times. This phrase from the Magnificat, the spirit-filled prayer of praise that Mary addresses to the living God, is thus one of the principal foundations of Christian devotion to her.

The Church invented nothing new of her own when she began to extol Mary; she did not plummet from the worship of the one God to the praise of man. The Church does what she must; she carries out the task assigned her from the beginning. At the time Luke was writing this text, the second generation of Christianity had already arrived, and the "family" of the Jews had been joined by that of the Gentiles, who had been incorporated into the Church of Jesus Christ. The expression "all generations, all families" was beginning to be filled with historical reality. The Evangelist would certainly not have transmitted Mary's prophecy if it had seemed to him an indifferent or obsolete item. He wished in his Gospel to record "with care" what "the eyewitnesses and ministers of the word" (Lk 1:2-3) had handed on from the beginning, in order to give the faith of Christianity, which was then striding onto the stage of world history, a reliable guide for its future course.

Continue reading...

The Church in China: Complexity and Community

The Church in China: Complexity and Community | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D. | December 22, 2008 | Ignatius Insight

Editor's Note: Dr. Anthony Clark, assistant professor of Asian history at the University of Alabama, recently returned, in mid-December, from Beijing, China, where he spent four months as director of the University of Alabama Chinese Language and Culture Program in the capital of China. During his time there, he wrote a series of articles for Ignatius Insight about Catholicism in China; this is the fourth and final article in that series. For more about Dr. Clark, see his bio at the end of this article.

---

During my final month in China, after three months of exhausting travels and research at various Catholic areas in the Middle Kingdom, I had the most intense encounters of my entire visit. These most recent experiences were at Hunan and Shanxi provinces. I have met many bishops, priests, nuns, and faithful, some of whom are in China surreptitiously. The clergy in China, Chinese and foreign, is as disparate as China's many dialects, which are at times mutually unintelligible.

I'll begin with an account of my first evening in Hunan's capital, Wuhan. After an afternoon meeting with the priest in charge of the cathedral, St. Joseph's, I received an evening phone call from another priest at the cathedral: "I'm calling you from a public phone because the church lines and my personal cell are all tapped by the government. Can you meet me at the main gate of Binjiang Park?" I found him there and we walked into a dark side path to discuss the complexities of the Catholic community in Wuhan. He informed me that the Patriotic Catholic Association was particularly severe there, and that two of the priests are intimately involved with the Communist authorities in Hunan, and that they are suspicious and paranoid of visitors from the outside. I was an outsider, and as one who has researched at the Vatican, I was not really welcome by the priests in charge.

As much as the Church has improved in some parts of China, there remain areas like Wuhan where the Vatican is best unmentioned, the faith is best diluted to make it palatable to the government, and the priests who attest any loyalty to Rome are persecuted—not only by the authorities, but also by their fellow priests who are content with the status quo. Priests who cooperate are richly rewarded; one of the priests at the cathedral sent me away with his private car and driver to conduct my research while being chaperoned. As I walked with the priest through the dimly lit park trail it became clear to me that he would have been elected to be Wuhan's next bishop, but his loyalties to the Pope had resulted in an official party refusal to allow his consecration. So far, Wuhan has no bishop because the Vatican and the local Communist cadres cannot agree who should be chosen.

Read the entire article...   

"Outstanding among the saints is Mary, Mother of the Lord ..."

... and mirror of all holiness. In the Gospel of Luke we find her engaged in a service of charity to her cousin Elizabeth, with whom she remained for “about three months” (1:56) so as to assist her in the final phase of her pregnancy. “Magnificat anima mea Dominum”, she says on the occasion of that visit, “My soul magnifies the Lord” (Lk 1:46). In these words she expresses her whole programme of life: not setting herself at the centre, but leaving space for God, who is encountered both in prayer and in service of neighbour—only then does goodness enter the world. Mary's greatness consists in the fact that she wants to magnify God, not herself. She is lowly: her only desire is to be the handmaid of the Lord (cf. Lk 1:38, 48). She knows that she will only contribute to the salvation of the world if, rather than carrying out her own projects, she places herself completely at the disposal of God's initiatives. Mary is a woman of hope: only because she believes in God's promises and awaits the salvation of Israel, can the angel visit her and call her to the decisive service of these promises. Mary is a woman of faith: “Blessed are you who believed”, Elizabeth says to her (cf. Lk 1:45). The Magnificat—a portrait, so to speak, of her soul—is entirely woven from threads of Holy Scripture, threads drawn from the Word of God. Here we see how completely at home Mary is with the Word of God, with ease she moves in and out of it. She speaks and thinks with the Word of God; the Word of God becomes her word, and her word issues from the Word of God. Here we see how her thoughts are attuned to the thoughts of God, how her will is one with the will of God. Since Mary is completely imbued with the Word of God, she is able to become the Mother of the Word Incarnate. Finally, Mary is a woman who loves. How could it be otherwise? As a believer who in faith thinks with God's thoughts and wills with God's will, she cannot fail to be a woman who loves. We sense this in her quiet gestures, as recounted by the infancy narratives in the Gospel. We see it in the delicacy with which she recognizes the need of the spouses at Cana and makes it known to Jesus. We see it in the humility with which she recedes into the background during Jesus' public life, knowing that the Son must establish a new family and that the Mother's hour will come only with the Cross, which will be Jesus' true hour (cf. Jn 2:4; 13:1). When the disciples flee, Mary will remain beneath the Cross (cf. Jn 19:25-27); later, at the hour of Pentecost, it will be they who gather around her as they wait for the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).

— From Deus Caritas Est, by Pope Benedict XVI (par. 41).

• Today's Gospel reading is Luke 1:46-56, the Magnificat of the Theotokos.
• "Hail, Full of Grace": Mary, the Mother of Believers | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger | An excerpt from Mary: The Church at the Source
• Immaculate Mary, Matchless in Grace | John Saward

Merely implying what might have possibly happened

The BBC (or one of its news sources) sure knows how to write a powerful concluding sentence to this thin "news piece" about Pope Benedict XVI and Galileo. First, the beginning:

Pope Benedict XVI has paid tribute to 17th-Century astronomer Galileo Galilei, whose scientific theories once drew the wrath of the Catholic Church.

The Pope was speaking at events marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's earliest observations with a telescope.

What events? Where? When? Who was there? Was it a Church event? A secular event?

Is it too much to ask for such basic info? Aw, never mind. Here's the punch line:

Pope Benedict had been criticised in the past for appearing to condone the heresy verdict against Galileo.

Vowels: $27.00. Grammar: $43.00. Hazy, meaningless, suggestive remark by a lazy reporter/editor: Priceless.

Is that sentence a reference to the Sapienza situation that took place earlier this year? If so, here is some helpful info, which shows that "appearing" refers to how then-Cardinal Ratzinger, in 1990, quoted a negative remark made by an agnostic philosopher against Galileo, then responded to it.

Since it will soon be the season to give, here are a few early Christmas gifts for the BBC or any other MSM outlet that needs some hazy, meaningless concluding sentences:

• The Dali Lama has been known, according to sources, to sometimes drink tea that might have been purchased from a Starbucks or a similar coffee shop with capitalist connections that might be partially owned by Chinese investors.

• President-elect Barak Obama has been rumored to occasionally spend time in Illinois, a state racked by political scandal and strong winter storms.

• Some supporters of Proposition 8 are heterosexual men, which causes experts to suspect that they could struggle, in particular instances, with deeply suppressed urges to watch "Barney" when their wives are absent.

• An informal poll among some scientists suggests that a recent surge of cold weather has been indirectly linked in selective computer models to global warming, McDonald's espresso drinks, and dropping gas prices.

By the way, I don't appear to have condoned any of the above statements, either now or in the past.

UPDATE (Dec. 22, 2008): ZENIT and Catholic News Service provide some actual details about what the Pope really said at a particular place and time for a specific reason. From CNS:

Before reciting the Angelus with the faithful in St. Peter's Square Dec. 21, the pope said that since the day marked the winter solstice it was the perfect time to greet all those who would take part in next year's celebration of the International Year of Astronomy and the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first use of the telescope to observe the cosmos.

Just as the psalmist sang "the heavens declare the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder's craft," he said, scientific discoveries and the laws of nature "are a great stimulus to contemplate the works of the Lord with gratitude."

The pope praised some of his predecessors who embraced scientific inquiry: 10th-century Pope Sylvester II, who was a scientist; 16th-century Pope Gregory XIII, who reformed the calendar with the help of a Jesuit astronomer; and 19th-century Pope St. Pius X, who designed sundials.

Read the entire story. Funny how all of the MSM reports I've read (about a dozen so far) make no mention of Benedict's remarks about popes who have played an important role in advancing scientific discoveries and research. Also, here is some information about The International Year of Astronomy (2009).

Ongoing project: "The internal solidification of Catholicism..."

From a previously unpublished interview with Avery Cardinal Dulles, given in 2006, posted today by John Allen, Jr.:

I began by explaining the gist of my project, which is to identify the most important forces shaping the future of the Catholic church over the next 100 years. Dulles did not hesitate to offer his candidate: "The internal solidification of Catholicism," he said, a project that Dulles said began under Pope John Paul II and continues under Pope Benedict XVI.

I pressed Dulles to explain what he meant.

"Restoring clarity where there had been confusion in the period following the Second Vatican Council," Dulles said. "Rebuilding a strong sense of Catholic identity, including a clear repudiation of the notion that church history can be divided into a 'before' and 'after' Vatican II. You can see this working itself out today in theology, in liturgy, in religious life … both popes have emphasized the organic connection between the 'now' of the church and what came before."

Interestingly, Dulles hazarded the guess that this "internal solidification," as it plays out over the next half-century or so, might carry the church back to different positions on some matters than those taken by the popes who unleashed it.

Specifically, Dulles said, his hunch was that the church may ultimately return to a "more traditional posture" on both the death penalty and the idea of a "just war." Recent popes, Dulles conceded, beginning with John XXIIII, seem to have taken quasi-abolitionist positions on both matters. Yet used sparingly and with safeguards to protect the interests of justice, Dulles argued, both the death penalty and war have, over the centuries, been recognized by the church as legitimate, sometimes even obligatory, exercises of state power. The momentum of "internal solidification," he said, may lead to some reconsideration of these social teachings.

<snip>

At the time we sat down, Dulles had recently brought out a revised edition of his 1971 book, A History of Apologetics. In it, Dulles makes the point Christianity's original experts on Islam were neither impartial scholars nor specialists in inter-faith dialogue, but medieval apologists - writers from the 7th through the 14th centuries who articulated a strong defense of Christianity in light of Islamic critique.

<snip>

Dulles said requests to update his book on apologetics shows that interest in "the somewhat forgotten tradition of offering a reasoned defense of the faith, in light of contemporary objections," is growing. He added that he's not sure writers such as Cardinal Juan Torquemada or Savonarola, both of whom figure in his book, necessarily offer the best models for contemporary apologetics, pointing instead to masters such as Augustine, Aquinas, Pascal and John Henry Newman

Read the entire interview. The new edition of A History of Apologetics mentioned above was published in the fall of 2005 by Ignatius Press.

• The History and Purpose of Apologetics | An Interview with Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.
• Foreword to Yves Congar's The Meaning of Tradition |  Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.

HLI and HRC agree on one thing

And one thing only: Rick Warren should not be a part of the inauguration of President-elect Barak Obama.

From Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual/bi-sexual/try-anything-sexual activist organization:

Let me get right to the point.  Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans.   Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years.  And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.

<snip>

But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.  Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.

From the Human Life International, a Catholic organization devoted to pro-life, anti-abortion work:

“Suffering and diminishment are not the greatest of evils..."

"... but are normal ingredients in life, especially in old age. They are to be accepted as elements of a full human existence. As I become increasingly paralyzed and unable to speak, I can identify with the many paralytics and mute persons in the Gospels, grateful for the loving and skillful care I receive and for the hope of everlasting life in Christ. If the Lord now calls me to a period of weakness, I know well that his power can be made perfect in infirmity. Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

Those words are from the last McGinley Lecture given by Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J. Father Raymond J. de Souza, a close friend of Cardinal Dulles, has written a poignant piece for National Catholic Register about the last several months of the Cardinal's life, including his private meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this past April.

Also, The New York Times reports on the funeral Mass for Cardinal Dulles.

Faith, fertility, and family

Intelligent Life magazine wonders: "What's the connection?":

Eberstadt argues that part of the reason why western European Christians have become more secular is that they have been forming fewer stable families, and having fewer children when they do. This, she suggests, may help to explain some puzzles about the timing of secularisation in certain places. In Ireland, for example, she notes that people started having smaller families before they stopped going to church. And, she argues, if something about having families can incline one to religion, this might shed some light on another mystery: why the sexes are not equally religious.

According to Rodney Stark, an American sociologist of religion, the generalisation that men are less religious than women “holds around the world and across the centuries”. In every country--both Christian and non-Christian--analysed by Dr Stark, based on data from the World Values Survey in the 1990s, more women than men said they would describe themselves as religious. There is no agreed explanation for this striking difference. Perhaps the fact that women play a rather larger role than men in the production and rearing of children has something to do with it. If family life does contribute to religiosity, then having larger families might backfire on unbelievers. It might make them more religious. And since faith is still largely a family affair, their children would then be more likely to be religious, too.

One can admit the complexities of the issue while also asserting that some of connections seem obvious. If we ask, "What came first, the large family or religion?", we'll find that in ancient societies the connection between family and religion was so intimate that such a question would likely be considered nonsensical. The patriarchs of the Pentateuch, for example, were both priests and fathers. And priests, in Christianity, are fathers, while fathers are also considered priests, partaking in the priesthood of the baptized, heads of the domestic church. Man's need for family flows from the fact that he is created by and for the familial communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In more general terms, man's religious impulse is tightly bound to his desire to live, to procreate, to be familial. But those both can be distorted and undermined in all sorts of ways, as the historical record (and current events) readily indicates.

A very wise man has written much on this topic. Here is a bit of what he wrote back in 1981:

Scientific and technical progress, which contemporary man is continually expanding in his dominion over nature, not only offers the hope of creating a new and better humanity, but also causes ever greater anxiety regarding the future. Some ask themselves if it is a good thing to be alive or if it would be better never to have been born; they doubt therefore if it is right to bring others into life when perhaps they will curse their existence in a cruel world with unforeseeable terrors. Others consider themselves to be the only ones for whom the advantages of technology are intended and they exclude others by imposing on them contraceptives or even worse means. Still others, imprisoned in a consumer mentality and whose sole concern is to bring about a continual growth of material goods, finish by ceasing to understand, and thus by refusing, the spiritual riches of a new human life. The ultimate reason for these mentalities is the absence in people's hearts of God, whose love alone is stronger than all the world's fears and can conquer them.

Thus an anti-life mentality is born, as can be seen in many current issues: one thinks, for example, of a certain panic deriving from the studies of ecologists and futurologists on population growth, which sometimes exaggerate the danger of demographic increase to the quality of life.

But the Church firmly believes that human life, even if weak and suffering, is always a splendid gift of God's goodness. Against the pessimism and selfishness which cast a shadow over the world, the Church stands for life: in each human life she sees the splendor of that "Yes," that "Amen," who is Christ Himself.(84) To the "No" which assails and afflicts the world, she replies with this living "Yes," thus defending the human person and the world from all who plot against and harm life.

Read the entire document.

Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles and Book Excerpts:
• Marital and Family Commitment: A Personalist View | Monsignor Cormac Burke
• The Challenge of Marriage Preparation | Dr. Janet E. Smith
• Focus Groups and Marriage: A Match Made for Heartache | Mary Beth Bonacci
• Entering Marriage with Eyes Wide Open | Edward Peters
• Human Sexuality and the Catholic Church | Donald P. Asci | Introduction to The Conjugal Act as a Personal Act
• Who Is Married? | Edward Peters
• Marriage and the Family in Casti Connubii and Humanae Vitae | Reverend Michael Hull, S.T.D.
• Male and Female He Created Them | Cardinal Estevez
• The Meaning and Necessity of Spiritual Fatherhood | Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, MTS
• Practicing Chastity in an Unchaste Age | Bishop Joseph F. Martino
• The Truth About Conscience | John F. Kippley | An excerpt from Sex and the Marriage Covenant

Digging King David

Fascinating post by Michael Barber of "Singing in the Reign":

This is a story I've been closely following for some time now, but have held off posting on out of caution. However, it seems as though the evidence is beginning to look pretty solid. In sum, an archaeological dig at Khirbet Qeiyafa, which was reported on a few months ago by the New York Times, is turning out finds that are rocking the scholarly community. And, while at the time, the New York Times reported that only a small piece of the site had been excavated, information is pouring out that even more striking evidence has been uncovered.

This may very well go down as the "21st century Dead Sea Scrolls". However, while the DSS helped illuminate the New Testament, Khirbet Qeiyafa is shedding incredible light on a much, much earlier period, apparently corroborating the historicity of the Old Testament.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me give some background here.

Many scholars dispute the historical reliability of the Old Testament, particularly the parts prior to Ezra and Nehemiah: e.g., David, Solomon, the kingdom, etc. Why?

According to many scholars the stories about the glorious reign of David and Solomon are myths--of little more value than the stories about King Arthur and the Roundtable. All of it was made up. When Israel returned from their Babylonian exile the past history of Israel was "invented". In fact, for some historians there never even were twelve tribes in Israel. The Israelites "idealized" their past. The story of the apostasy of Solomon and the sinfulness of the Israelites were created for two purposes. First, it gave the Jews a claim on the land. Second, it gave the Jews a reason to remain obedient to the priestly leaders.

In sum, the Old Testament narratives about David, Solomon--not too mention that of Abraham and the Patriarchs--were nothing more than political propoganda. Some scholars believed Israelite writing didn't even exist at that point.

Perhaps, such scholars might concede, there were some tribal leagues and small villages, but a kingdom of David? Such scholars--often called "minimalists"--would laugh and say, no way.

Until now.

Read the entire post.

The "virtues" of vampire romances

Are they real or not? Steven D. Greydanus takes a bite out of the topic in an article for the December 21st edition of Our Sunday Visitor.

James Hitchcock on politicians as moral leaders

From the December 2008 issue of Touchstone, an editorial by Dr. James Hitchcock, professor of history at Saint Louis University and prolific author:

The role of “pro-lifers” in the Obama campaign was not to persuade the candidate to moderate his stand on abortion (there is no evidence that they even tried to do so) but to persuade pro-lifers to forget about the issue. ...

But if social conservatives follow this advice over the next four years and beyond, they will be required to overcome their “narrow” outlook on more than just the issue of whether abortion should be legal. The Obama administration can be counted on to initiate systematic government funding of abortions and embryonic stem-cell research, to support efforts by international agencies to promote (and sometimes require) abortion in Third World countries, and to endorse efforts in the United Nations to define abortion as a “right” that must be recognized by all nations.

The new administration will probably go on to support “assisted suicide” and homosexual “marriage” and espouse the philosophy of the American Civil Liberties Union on “separation of church and state.” The rights of parents, as in homeschooling, will be further eroded, and demands for the criminalization of “hate speech,” as in Canada, will be heard sympathetically in Washington.

During the campaign, Senator Joseph Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi continued the custom—begun by former Governor Mario Cuomo of New York—of liberal politicians offering themselves as religious leaders more reliable than the clergy themselves. Thus, Pelosi repeated the long-discredited claim that the Catholic Church has not always condemned abortion, while Biden implied that only those Catholics who doubt church teaching can be credited with “thinking.” Kmiec also directly contradicted the official statements of the American bishops.

The acceptance by the public of certain politicians as moral leaders is necessary to the liberal agenda, because the nation appears to be on the verge of a major cultural revolution—the belated implementation of the entire vision of the counterculture of the 1960s, now directed from the White House.

Read the entire editorial.

Search Ignatius Insight for columns by Dr. Hitchcock.

"The Miracle at the Berlin Wall" by Taylor Caldwell

The Miracle at the Berlin Wall | Taylor Caldwell

The well-known novelist, Taylor Caldwell, met a radiantly happy couple at an airport in Athens. She wanted very much to get acquainted with them. The young husband responded. "In my travels over the years," she later admitted, "I have heard strange and dreadful stories, and many that cannot be explained. But the story this young man told me is one of the strangest and most moving."

The Miracle at the Berlin Wall

Last January I visited the Holy Land again for fresh material for a novel, stopping also in Athens, Rome, and Lisbon.

For a full year before, life had become intolerable to me for various reasons, and I had to force myself to make this trip. In Rome I had what is known as a "coronary accident" and was told that I must remain in the hospital for at least a month. I decided, however, that I must continue my journey to the Holy Land no matter the cost and so left the hospital. I do not advise this as an ordinary rule, but I had reached such a state of mind and body that I did not care what happened to me. I was also full of bitterness; nothing was further from my mind than spiritual consolations or reflection, and I was physically pretty low.

Download the entire story as a PDF file...

Obama appoints Rick Warren to be Secretary of Homophobia...

... and Bigotry. What? You think I'm joking? I may be, but these people aren't:

In another Donny McClurkin moment, magnified by the context of this historic inauguration, the Joint Inaugural Committee has chosen Prop 8 homophobe and noted religious nutcase Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church and Store™ to deliver the Benediction at his Inauguration. ... This is a horrific insult to the thousands of LGBT Americans who worked to elect Barack Obama president and the millions of LGBT Americans who voted for him.

You can quickly warm up your cold, mid-December toes over the blazing heat being generated by this story. Do a Google blog search for "Rick Warren" and "homophobe" and there's plenty to read/scorch your retinas. Mr. Warren is described as a "homobigot", "arch-homophobe" (ooohhh!), "rabid homophobe" (uuuuhh...), and "fundamentalist homophobe" (hmmm...). Say, how about "progressive homophobe" or "post-modern homophobe"? Or, "purpose-driven homophobe." C'mon, kids, let's put that public education to use and get creative with the name-calling!

Meanwhile, the president of the "Human Rights Campaign" weighs in, delivering the most painful blow. That's right: he compares Rick Warren to (gasp!) Dr. James Dobson:

Bush administration issues medical "conscience rule"

From The New York Times:

The Bush administration, as expected, announced new protections on Thursday for health care providers who oppose abortion and other medical procedures on religious or moral grounds.

“Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience,” Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement on his department’s Web site.

The rule prohibits recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and health care aides who refuse to take part in procedures because of their convictions, and it bars hospitals, clinics, doctors’ office and pharmacies from forcing their employees to assist in programs and activities financed by the department.

“This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience,” Mr. Leavitt said.

The Bush administration had signaled its intention to issue the measures, which are part of a flurry of regulations it is announcing before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. The new president will be able to undo the regulations, and is virtually certain to, given his previous comments on the issue. But undoing them will be a time-consuming process.

<snip>

Opponents of abortion, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Health Association, which represents Catholic hospitals, support the new regulations and say they are needed to protect health-care providers from being forced to perform abortions and sterilizations.

Read the entire piece.

Favorite Christmas Albums

Yes, it is still Advent and there is another week until Christmas. But I hope you won't mind if I share a couple of my semi-famous music lists. (I'll be posting a "Favorite Music from 2008" column after Christmas.) After all, most stores started playing Christmas music immediately after the Fourth of July this year—and, sadly, most will stop playing it on Christmas Eve.

I didn't think I had much Christmas music until I started digitizing my music collection earlier this year. Turns out there were close to sixty Christmas CDs scattered throughout the house. To give you a taste, for better or for worse, here is a random play list of ten Christmas songs from the 620 available cuts:

1. "Viderunt Omnes", by the Benedictine Monks Of Santo Domingo De Silos, from Chant Noel - Chants For The Holiday Season
2. "Silent Night", by Josh Groban, from Noël
3. "Third Carol For Christmas Day", by Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill & Donal Lunny, from Celtic Christmas Christmas           
4. "The Christmas Song", by Lou Rawls, from Yule Struttin'
5. "Mary, Did You Know", by Clay Aiken, from Merry Christmas With Love
6. "O Come, O come Emmanuel", by Robert Shaw, from Christmas with Robert Shaw
7. "Christmas On TV", by Chris Isaak, from Christmas
8. "Auld Lang Syne", by Martin Sexton, from Camp Holiday
9. "Peace On Earth; Silent Night", by Dean Martin, from Christmas With The Rat Pack
10. "My Dancing Day", by Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, from Songs of Angels - Christmas Hymns & Carols

And here are my favorite ten thirteen Christmas albums:

• On Yoolis Night, by Anonymous 4. Simply sublime.
• The Sinatra Christmas Album and Christmas Songs by Sinatra, by Frank Sinatra. The latter, from Sinatra's early years (the 40s) has wonderful renditions of "Ave Maria" and "The Lord's Prayer."
• Wintersong, by Sarah McLachlan. Surprisingly traditional and very beautiful.
• A Christmas Song, by Russ Taff. Jazzy and warm.
• Songs of Angels - Christmas Hymns & Carols, by Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers. You can't go wrong with Robert Shaw when it comes to choral music.
• Christmas Songs, by Jars of Clay. One of the few modern pop/rock Christmas albums that works for me.
• Light of the Stable, by Emmylou Harris. A beautiful voice with understated production and mostly acoustic instrumentation.
• Christmas Songs, by Diana Krall, and Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas, by Ella Fitzgerald. My two favorite straight-up jazz Christmas albums.
• Holiday Spirits (Bonus Track Version), by Straight No Chaser. Acapella brilliance.
• Christmas, by Chris Isaak. I'm an Isaak fan, but was still surprised by how good this album is.
• Majesty & Wonder An Instrumental Christmas, by Phil Keaggy. My pick for instrumental Christmas music, performed with the London Festival Orchestra.

Ignatius Press carries several Christmas albums (in addition to other music), many of which I've not heard. Click here for a complete listing.

Your favorites?

Christmas, Atheists, and the Separation of Brain and Reality

A recent edition (Dec. 16, 2008) of the local newspaper, The Register Guard (aka, "The Red Guard"), contained this letter to the editor, filled with the joy and wonder of Christmas. Or something like that:

We’re bombarded by religion

Get Christmas out of my face. Not everyone is Christian.

Last December, I was thrown out and banned from Market of Choice for complaining about the religious lyrics in the Christmas music playing in the store.

Most people are not even aware that they are constantly being bombarded by religious beliefs in public places. It permeates all aspects of our society. “In God We Trust” on our money. “One Nation Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Politicians almost always end their addresses with “God Bless America.”

Whatever happened to separation of church and state?

ALLAN GROSSMAN
Eugene

Hmmm. Which is worse: the overt stupidity or the pitiful whining? I can honestly say, having lived in Eugene, Oregon, since 1995, that no one here is "bombarded by religion." Quite the contrary. It's tempting to say, "Hey, Allan, get atheism out of my face. Not everyone is an atheist." But I don't think he'd get it. So, instead of mere barbs, I've decided to write some some new lyrics (musical barbs!) for "We Three Kings," just for Allan and the Atheists:

We four kings of atheism are
Writing books we sneer from afar.
Harris and Dawkins, Dennet and Hitchens,
Wanting to be a star.

Stars of reason, stars of spite,
Stars with the nickname: the "brights",
Anger leading, condescending,
Guide us in our Godless fight...

By the way, Allan, don't you think Market of Choice, which is a private business (and which I shop at quite often, as I live three blocks from one of the stores), should be able to choose what music it plays? Or do you think that since there are only two possible, ultimate masters in this world—the Church and the State—that the former must not only submit to the latter, but be subsumed, consumed, and eliminated by it? I suspect such is the case.

Hilaire Belloc, in his essay, "The Catholic Church and the Modern State," wrote:

All men accept authority. The difference between different groups lies in the type of authority which they accept. The Catholic has arrived at the conviction, or, if you will, has been given and has retained the conviction [some come in from outside; some go outside and come back again; most receive the Faith by instruction in youth, but test it in maturity by experience] that there has been a Divine revelation. He discovers or recognizes a special action of God upon this earth over and above that general action which all who are not atheists admit. He discovers or recognizes a certain personality and voice-----that of the Catholic Church-----which conforms to the necessary marks of holiness and right proportion, and the ramification of doctrine from which is both consistent and wholly good. The incarnation of the Deity in the Man Jesus Christ, the immortality of the human soul, its responsibility to its Creator for good and evil done in this world, its consequent fate after death, the main rite and doctrine of the Eucharist-----these and a host of other affirmations are not dissociated, but form a consistent whole, which is not only the sole full guide to right living in this world, but the sole just group of affirmations upon the nature of things.

  To take up that position is to be a Catholic. To doubt it or deny it is to oppose Catholicism. ...

  Each Modern State is but one among many rivals; yet does it claim greater powers than ever the State claimed before, and with those powers I submit that the Catholic Church must inevitably come into conflict sooner or later; not because the State is modern, but because it claims unquestioned authority in all things.

Read the entire essay.

Video of Fr. Joseph Ratzinger's episcopal ordination

I had not seen this footage before today; it was posted on YouTube in July 2008 and has only had a few hundred views. It is of Fr. Joseph Ratzinger being ordained Archbishop of München und Freising [Munich], Germany, on May 28, 1977:

Joseph Ratzinger on Advent and Christmas baking

Yep, that's right. From  The Blessing of Christmas (Ignatius Press, 1986, 2007), by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI):

Even a custom like Christmas baking, apparently such an external activity, has its roots in the Church's Advent liturgy, which makes its own the glorious words of the Old Testament in these days of the declining year: "In that day, the mountains will drip sweetness, and the rivers will flow with milk and honey." People of old found in such words the embodiment of their hopes for a world redeemed. And once again, our ancestors celebrated Christmas as the day on which God truly came. When he comes at Christmas, he distributes his honey (so to speak). Truly, the earth much flow with this honey on that day: where he is present, all bitterness disappears, and there is harmony between heaven and earth, between God and man. The honey and the sweets are a sign of this peace, of concord and of joy.

...

Perhaps the right way to celebrate Advent is to let the signs of God's love that we receive in this period penetrate our soul, without resistance, without questions and quibbling. Warmed by these signs, we can then receive in full confidence the immeasurable kindness of this child who alone had the power to make the mountains sing and to transform the trees of the wood into a praise of God. (pp 31, 32)

Also available: Seek That Which Is Above, by Joseph Ratzinger

"If God is dead, so is reason."

Philosopher and prolific writer Michael Novak, author of No One Sees God: The Dark Night of Atheists and Believers, considers the relationship of science and religion over on the First Things blog:

Of course, many today hold that all this talk about God, Creator, Prime Intelligence, and the Act of Existence is gibberish. Yet even they must admit that it was to their good fortune that, in a small family of cultures, a decisive number of inquirers, scholars, and copyists of ancient manuscripts did learn to expect pervasive intelligibility in the universe because of their faith in an ordering Intelligence. That is why they were willing to invest most of the hours of their humble lives in preparing the way for modern science.

In other words, the belief shared by (at first) a few million of the Earth’s inhabitants that a light emanates from the Creator of the world, and suffuses all things, gave them a strong motivation for devoting their lives to scientific efforts. They wanted to learn more about God by studying the world He made. (The great scientist Johannes Kepler held that two books teach us about God: the Book of Nature and the Book that reveals what we otherwise could not learn about God.) Down the centuries, Westerners enjoyed the sheer pleasure that they found in inquiring, gaining insights, and making well-founded judgments. Judaism and Christianity taught them to think of these acts as participations in God’s own inner life. Why?

At its root, the notion of one single Creator who knew what He was doing “before time was,” and then chose to do it at the time and in the way of His choosing, enabled some humans to know by anticipation that human inquiry is good. Human inquiry is noble, and just, and with high probability will be rewarded by trustworthy knowledge. If God is good (and the Torah taught us that He is), then it is good to labor diligently to deepen our knowledge of His entire created world, and all things in it.

The proposition that all things have been made by one Creator has a corollary. The Creator transcends the world. He is not identical with the world, nor with any creature in it. He actively sustains all things, but is not the sum of all things. This transcendence teaches us that no creature, no earthly thing is divine. No idol within space or time is to be put in His place.

This idea of a transcendent Creator assures us that in examining and experimenting with nature, we are violating no taboo, and not defiling God. It is through experimentation that we come to understand and to appreciate the work of His creative genius. By contrast, those peoples who identified their God with some creature within creation—the serpent, the jaguar, the rain—were afraid, lest by inquiry or experiment they might arouse His anger. It is by experiment that, today, many who do not believe in an intelligent Creator encounter the intelligibility that suffuses all things. Even unbelievers, by their actions if not their words, show their confidence in the unified intelligibility of all things. This confidence is the cultural patrimony bequeathed them by generations of believers.

Read the entire post. Along similar lines, Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson has written a short essay, "The Problem With Monotheism," in which he states:

Authors who condemn monotheism seem oblivious to how much their own comfortable, free lives owe to the historical impact of monotheism. The pre-monotheistic worldview was pagan. Paganism exalted nature above all, and taught human subjection to nature. Paganism was fatalistic; it inculcated resignation to a static social order. To the pagans, individual lives were unimportant, cheap. The welfare of the collective, which in practice was the welfare of the ruling elite, was supreme. There was no theory of individual rights opposed to this arrangement. If you were born a drone, you lived the life of a drone, and if the rulers decided that your life should be forfeited to the sun god or in some military campaign to obtain booty for the rulers, then your fate was sealed.

The Judeo-Christian tradition’s greatest contribution to the human race has been to liberate the human race from the stifling and deadly paganism that preceded it—and that is trying to defeat it today. Monotheism impelled the search for scientific knowledge to tame the natural world. Judeo-Christian teachings gradually imbued human thought with ethical values that spawned the doctrines that all men are created equal, that they have inalienable rights, and that rulers are not above the law. The free market—based on that premise of God-given rights—has lifted masses of people out of poverty for the first time in human history. All three monotheistic faiths teach their followers to be charitable to those in need. In fact, the widespread calls we hear today about helping the less fortunate, even when made by unbelievers, are cultural echoes of our monotheistic traditions. It is hard to imagine how much poorer and less free we would be today if not for the leavening influence of monotheistic teachings.

Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles and Excerpts:

• Dawkins' Delusions | An interview with Fr. Thomas Crean, O.P., author of God Is No Delusion: A Refutation of Richard Dawkins
• Atheism and Fatherlessness | A Review of Paul Vitz's Faith of the Fatherless | Father Brian Van Hove, S.J.
• AtheismForChildren.com | Website for Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children's Fantasy, by Sandra Miesel and Pete Vere
• The Obfuscation of the New Atheism | Dr. Jose Maria Yulo
• Professor Dawkins and the Origins of Religion | Thomas Crean, O.P.
• Are Truth, Faith, and Tolerance Compatible? | Joseph Ratzinger
• Atheism and the Purely "Human" Ethic | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• Is Religion Evil? Secularism's Pride and Irrational Prejudice | Carl E. Olson
• A Short Introduction to Atheism | Carl E. Olson
• C.S. Lewis’s Case for Christianity | An Interview with Richard Purtill
• Paganism and the Conversion of C.S. Lewis | Clotilde Morhan
• Designed Beauty and Evolutionary Theory | Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M.
• The Universe is Meaning-full | An interview with Dr. Benjamin Wiker
• The Mythological Conflict Between Christianity and Science | An interview with Dr. Stephen Barr
• The Source of Certitude | Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M.
• Deadly Architects | An Interview with Donald De Marco & Benjamin Wiker
• The Mystery of Human Origins | Mark Brumley

Pope Benedict XVI on Christmas, "a universal festivity"

From the Vatican Information Service:

CHRISTMAS: OPPORTUNITY TO REFLECT ON MEANING OF EXISTENCE

VATICAN CITY, 17 DEC 2008 (VIS) - Benedict XVI dedicated the last general audience of 2008, celebrated in the Paul VI audience hall, to Christmas, "a universal festivity".

"Even non-believers", he said, " perceive something extraordinary and transcendental, something intimate that touches our hearts in this yearly Christian event. It is the festivity that sings of the gift of life. The birth of a child should always be a joyful occurrence".

"Christmas is the encounter with a new-born baby, wailing in a wretched grotto", the Holy Father added. "Contemplating Him in this crèche how can we not think of all the children who still today, in many regions of the world, are born amidst such poverty? How can we not think of those newborns who have been rejected, not welcomed, those who do not survive because of a lack of care and attention? How can we not think of the families who desire the joy of a child and do not have this hope fulfilled?"

"Unfortunately, under the drive of a hedonist consumerism, Christmas runs the risk of losing its spiritual meaning, reduced to a mere commercial occasion to buy and exchange gifts. Actually, however, the difficulties, uncertainty, and the economic crisis that many families are living in these months, and which affects all humanity, can truly serve as a stimulus for rediscovering the warmth of the simplicity, friendship, and solidarity that are the typical values of Christmas. Stripped of its materialist and consumerist trappings, Christmas can become the opportunity to welcome, as a personal gift, the message of hope that emanates from the mystery of Christ's birth".

"Nevertheless, all of this does not suffice to capture the value of this celebration we are preparing for in all its fullness. We know that it celebrates the central event of history: the Incarnation of the Divine Word for the redemption of humanity. ... 'Thus the recurring annual cycle of the mystery of our salvation is renewed that, promised at the beginning and given to the end of time, is destined to last without end'".

"At Christmas, therefore, we do not limit ourselves to commemorating the birth of a great person. We do not celebrate, simply and in the abstract, the mystery of the birth of humanity or, in general, the mystery of life. ... At Christmas we recall something that is quite concrete and important for human beings, something essential to the Christian faith, a truth that St. John summarizes in these few words: 'The Word became flesh': This is a historical fact that St. Luke the evangelist is careful to place in a particular historical context: during the days of the decree of the first census of Caesar Augustus".

"In the darkness of the night in Bethlehem a great light was lit: the Creator of the universe became flesh, indissolubly and eternally joining himself to human nature, to the point of being 'God from God, light from light' and at the same time truly human. By 'the Word' ... John also intends the 'Meaning'" and "the 'Meaning' that became flesh is not just a general idea inherent in the world; it is a Word addressed to us".

"The Meaning has power: it is God. A good God who cannot be confused with some being on high and far away who cannot be reached, but God who made Himself our neighbor and who is very near to us", "God reveals Himself to us as a poor 'infant' in order to conquer our pride. ... He made Himself small in order to free us from the human delusion of grandeur that arises from pride; He freely became flesh so that we might be truly free, free to love Him".

"Christmas", the Pope concluded, "is the privileged opportunity to contemplate the meaning and value of our existence. The nearness of this solemnity helps us to reflect, on the one hand, on the dramatic nature of a history in which human beings, wounded by sin, are perennially seeking happiness and a reason for living and dying; on the other hand, it exhorts us to contemplate the merciful goodness of God, who has come to meet humanity that He might communicate the saving Truth to us directly and make us to participate in His friendship and His life".

Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles on Advent and Christmas:
• "Hail, Full of Grace": Mary, the Mother of Believers | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger | An excerpt from Mary: The Church at the Source
• What In Christmas Season Grows: On the Days Leading Up to the Nativity of the Lord | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• Turn Your Hearts! | A Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent | Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.
• The Perfect Faith of the Blessed Virgin | Carl E. Olson
• Come, Lord Jesus! The Meaning of Advent | Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.
• Mary Immaculate | Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J.
• Archbishop Fulton Sheen on Advent | From Through the Year With Fulton Sheen
• Mary's Gift of Self Points the Way | Carl E. Olson
• Immaculate Mary, Matchless in Grace | John Saward
• The Medieval Mary | The Introduction to Mary in the Middle Ages | by Luigi Gambero
• The Mystery Made Present To Us | Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J.
• Remembering Father Alfred Delp, S.J., Priest and Martyr | A Conversation with Father Karl Adolf Kreuser, S.J.
• Assumed Into Mother's Arms | Carl E. Olson
• The Disciple Contemplates the Mother | Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis
• The Incarnation | Frank Sheed
• "Born of the Virgin Mary" | Paul Claudel
• The Old Testament and the Messianic Hope | Thomas Storck
• Christmas: Sign of Contradiction, Season of Redemption | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
• The God in the Cave | G.K. Chesterton