Falling ill and catching up...

Late Monday evening I succumbed to a rather nasty head cold/sinus infection, all of the more enjoyable (ugh!) as it came on the heels of allergy season kicking in here in western Oregon (I'm allergic to tree pollen, grass, and Oregon politics). I spent most of yesterday in a state of head-pounding, body-aching stupor, which has now relented a bit, and so I am now even more behind on this, that, and the other thing.

Here, then, in no particular order, are links to a number of stories, articles, and assorted items that I've been meaning to post about, but will just share here with a minimum of commentary:

• "Dan Brown is not a very good writer," concludes one reader. However, "He is clearly brilliant..." In addition, he is a miracle worker: "He did something fairly impossible--he got Americans to read!" Hmmmm. He's so brilliant he can get millions of semi-literates to read, but he can't figure out how to write well.

• Al Kresta now has a blog.

• Mollie Hemingway on the public square and how "all believers [are] welcome, so long as they aren't religious."

• John Wright has penned a wonderful rant about political correctness and the destruction of language.

• Piers Paul Read, author of The Death of a Pope, remarks upon Tony Blair's Catholicism in a letter-to-the-editor in The Catholic Herald:

SIR - Attending the Easter Vigil at Westminster Cathedral, I heard each candidate for reception into the Church say: "I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches and proclaims to be revealed by God."

Tony Blair will have made this profession when he was received into the Church in December, 2007, yet he seems to suggest in his recent interview in the gay magazine Attitude that he does not accept the Church's teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual intercourse: he refers to it as "an entrenched attitude" of Pope Benedict XVI. Has he come to dissent from this ancient and coherent teaching in the past 14 months? Or was his profession at his reception insincere?

Yours faithfully,
Piers Paul Read
By e-mail

• Looking for an academic journal dedicated to theology, philosophy, and Biblical Studies that is thoroughly orthodox? Check out Nova et Vetera, published by the Aquinas Center of Theological Renewal.

• The website, ReplaceJenkins.com, estimates that over $8 million in donations has been withheld from Notre Dame due to the ongoing controversy.

• Still not sure that some people believe President Obama is some sort of messiah? This might convince you.

• Prince Charles warns Pope Benedict XVI of a "new Dark Age" due to the "horror" of global warning. But I have to wonder: if England and much of the West continues to spiral into moral chaos and degeneracy, will there be much to save in a few decades from the alleged warming?

• A new children's book, Max and Benedict: A Solitary Sparrow Recounts the Pope's Day, "offers a bird's-eye view of Pope Benedict XVI's pontificate, with insider tidbits on his daily routine and his personal interests." The book will be published in English by Ignatius Press later this year.

• The Kansas City Star, in a piece about a former Episcopalian priest—married and with children—who is now a Catholic priest, says, "There are few women who can say they are married to a Roman Catholic priest." That is certainly true of priests in the Roman, or Western, rites. But many people might be surprised to learn that an estimated 20% or so of Catholic priests are married, the vast majority of them from the Eastern rites.

• What do Joel Osteen and Alan Greenspan have in common (besides being financially secure)?

• Fr. Robert Barron's "monumental made-for-TV series," "The Catholicism Project," sounds like it will be "must see" when it is released in the fall of 2010.

• Skeptics, freethinkers, and secular humanists are working hard to change the "public’s stereotype of atheists."

• Pure insanity: "So, what did the Iowa Supreme Court have to say about the purposes of marriage? Did they view the requirement that marriage be between a man and a woman as a violation of the principle of equal protection? Indeed. As the Court argued, 'Equal protection demands that laws treat alike all people who are ‘similarly situated with respect to the legitimate purposes of the law.’ If the Court can convince itself that the dual gender requirement bears no relationship to the State’s purpose in having a marriage statute in the first place, then that requirement violates the Equal Protection clause of the Iowa Constitution." From "The Institution Formerly Known As Marriage," by Jennifer Roback Morse (April 24, 2009, Public Discourse website). Marriage is now the enemy!

• The blogger "Thomas More" doubts that government provided universal health care can be aligned with Catholic social doctrine.

• This album  has the most bizarre combination of title and artwork I've seen in some time.

• Cardinal Regali, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, corrects Douglas Kmiec on the matter of embryonic stem-cell research. It seems as though correcting Kmiec has become a full-time job.

• Follow the Holy Father's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, May 11-15, on this website.

• Euthanasia is posed to become as readily accepted and defended as abortion.

• Can computer games be beneficial for children? A professor from Franciscan University of Steubenville makes his case.

• Pope Benedict XVI continues to misunderstood and misrepresented, especially in the media. Why? George Weigel offers somes analysis.

• This is the best non-Ignatius Press book I am reading right now. Both better and different than I expected.

• Go here and here for some detailed listings of the many errors in Dan Brown's Angels & Demons.

• Looking for good fiction to read this summer? This novel certainly qualifies.

• Here are ten relatively new CDs that I've been listening too:

• The Crow New Songs for the 5-String Banjo, by Steve Martin. Yes, the comedian Steve Martin. 
• My One And Only Thrill, by Melody Gardot. Wonderful jazz singer.
• Pass It On, by the Dave Holland Sextet. Holland is always excellent.
• The Long Fall Back to Earth, by Jars of Clay.
• Haydn: Symphonies #82 -#87, Neville Marriner: Academy Of St. Martin In The Fields. I love Haydn. Pure beauty.
• A Good Enough Day, by Royal Wood. A strangely effective mixture of retro and modern.
• Calima, by Diego Barber. I'm not a big fan of jazz guitar, but this is brilliant.
• The Search Within, by Sean Jones. Another fine offering from the young trumpet player.
• Experiments in mass appeal, by Frost. A sudden left turn in sound by this prog band produces good results.
• King Baby, by Jim Gaffigan. A comedian who is both very funny and quite clean. Hilarious.

• Over and out!

Comments

[Ed Peters]

Not bad, for a guy who's sick.

ps: I think you missed one about bingo being cancelled in Madagascar cuz of heavy rains or something. I'll see if I can track it down.

[Jackson]

Glad you're better. But did you alert the CDC?

[Dan Fitzpatrick]

Swine flu?

[Carl E. Olson]

Oink, oink.

No, it isn't the swine flu, thank goodness.

Ed: I save my Madagascar posts for Fridays.