Misc., This, and That

I've been accumulating numerous open tabs on my browser, foolishly thinking that at some unknown point in the near future I would wax, muse, mumble, rant, and otherwise address at length the various issues—big and small, important and trivial, light and heavy—contained therein. Since the unknown point draws no closer, I'm stuffing this post with some links and short asides. Consider it summer cleaning, part one.

• There are vague rumblings that Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol (or, as I'm going to start calling it, The Misplaced Metaphor), will have something to do with "The Feast of the Cross." If so, my guess is that Brown/Langdon will claim the Cross was invented by Eskimos living in 7th century France.

• Ignatius Press is putting together a website for the "Year for Priests."  The USCCB has a site for the Year, as does CatholicCulture.org and Our Sunday Visitor. I'm sure there are many, many more.

• Homeschooling continues to grow, at a rate of 7% per year for the past ten years according to Ian Slatter, a spokesman for the Purcellville, Va.-based Home School Legal Defense Association.

• Fr. Tom Rosica, C.S.B., one of the founders of Salt and Light Television (Canada), interviews Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the FSSPX.

• Which two countries have the worst bishops? These two, according to Sandro Magister.

• Why is it called a "culture of death"? In part, because not only does it kill the innocent and weak and vulnerable, it convinces mothers that killing their babies is better for them than growing up with this, that, and the other thing. It is, in other words, just as much or more about spiritual death as physical death. Here's a recent example of the bad thinking and deadly decisions brought on by such a "culture."

• "He's Catholic, but he's a politician too." Ah, I get it: it's simply too much to ask a politician who is a Catholic to adhere to Catholic teaching. And we wonder why so many Catholics think nearly every teaching of the Church is optional? Thankfully, Bishop William Murphy isn't standing for it.

• The St. Petersburg Times has produced a very extensive and in-depth series of reports on Scientology, drawing on interviews with former leaders of the "church," some of whom spent most of their lives as Scientologists.

• Catholic News Service has a rather checkered history and things have gotten worse in recent months.

• A Catholic nun has just been named the dean of a Presbyterian seminary. But it looks as though she has more in common with earth-worshippers and radical feminism than traditional Catholic views, having co-authored a book stating, "Western culture ... has barely begun to move from a static, ordered, hierarchical, dualistic, anthropocentric view of the universe to a process, evolutionary, dynamic, organic, interdependent, relational, biocentric one. ... The universe, the sacred body of God, also needs salvation."

• One of my favorite paintings, rendered when I was twenty and titled, "Baptizo." I now regret selling it, but at the time I was in need of the dough. I'm working on getting a bunch of slides of old artwork scanned into digital format.

• The Catholic Writers Conference, held August 5-7, 2009, will feature several presenters, including Mark Brumley, president of Ignatius Press.

• A young Catholic growing up in the late '60s and early '70s sets out to be a monk. But after going to university, he walks away from being a brother, and then leaves the Church. "Catholicism had become too authoritarian for him and seemed out of step with the times." Fast forward to present day: the man's 13-year-old son, who has no experience with Christianity, decides to start attending a local Protestant church. He drags his reluctant parents along with him. And he says, "My dad’s a Catholic monk."

• The Sports Guy advises Blake Griffin: Don't go to the Clippers. That's sound advice, even if you don't believe in the Curse of the Sacred Buffalo.

• "A genuine and fruitful dialogue between believers and nonbelievers is impossible unless one takes the standpoint of one's interlocutor seriously," says Richard Wolin. Agreed!

• "There is," writes philosopher Roger Scruton, "a great hunger for beauty in our world, a hunger that our popular art fails to recognize and our serious art often defies." He examines both the hunger and the failure in this essay for City magazine.

• PBS is going to phase out all "religious programming." I hope this means we won't be seeing as much of Joseph Campbell's smug mug on public television. Of course, the only PBS show I ever see is "Clifford"...

• Hugh Hefner's problem, says Diogenes, was not with puritanism, but with modesty, "because modest men do not purchase pornography." I'll dress to that.

• All of the biblical references found in U2 songs, by album.

• The Trumpet, magazine of the Worldwide Church of God (founded by Herbert W. Armstrong), published by the Philadelphia Church of God (thank you, Trevor, for the note of clarification), likes to criticize Benedict XVI almost as much as some dissenting Catholics. A recent article about the Pope's trip to the Holy Land concludes: "For a German pope, who is quite outspoken in his criticism of other religions, to remain eerily silent about blame for the Holocaust, is an ominous sign of future events in Europe. Bible prophecy says the Vatican will be the dominant religious movement that rides the political beast now rising in Europe." A Google search, conducted in leisurely conditions in less than 10 seconds, came across a 2005 address by Benedict in which he spoke of "what happened in Poland under Nazi occupation," and referred to the "repression of the Polish people and the genocide of the Jews. ... These were atrocious crimes”, he said, “which demonstrate all the evil contained in Nazi ideology. Shaken by so much pain and so much violence, the young Karol decided to transform his own life, responding to the divine call to the priesthood." Stick that in The Trumpet why don't ya?

• Yes, I am on Twitter.

• "Certainly the film is absurd, disorganized, obscene, and ludicrous," writes S. T. Karnick about Year One (which I haven't seen). But, he argues, the movie makes an argue of sorts "that the monotheist religions are the great source of civilization in human history." That's probably good news, in some way, for movie goers recovering from "The Hangover."

• The argument against "same-sex marriage," made by David Novak.

• The new album by Dredg, "The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion," is excellent, a winning mixture of light prog, alternative, and modern rock.

• I'm a bit befuddled as to how it is that a high profile Republican politician—the governor of South Carolina and chairman of the Republican Governors Association—thinks he can disappear for a week under strange circumstances and growing confusion, and not be found out? Ah, there it is: think. He didn't. The Democrats are clueless (and morally bankrupt), the Republicans are pantless (and morally failed), and the rest of us are left holding the bill. Nice. Oh, sorry, my cynicism is showing.

• In case you missed it, here are some of the new books being published by Ignatius Press between now and November. And if you didn't know, when you order from Ignatius Press through this blog or Ignatius Insight, it tells my boss and other important people that I am doing something to earn my keep. Hint, hint.

• I'm writing a review for Catholic World Report of The Tyranny of Liberalism (ISI, 2008), by James Kalb. It is an excellent, even exceptional book. Here is a quote: "The choice today is not between faith and reason, or between reason and chaos (by whatever name)—for chaos is not something we will live with—but among faiths anchored in revelation and capable of sustaining reason." And: "To put matters in general terms, traditionalism is concerned with essential qualities and connections, while modernity is concerned with technical factors, temporary relationships, and specific purposes." Methinks he has read a bit of Ratzinger, Kirk, and perhaps Walker Percy.

• Music for the penning of this posting was provided by Antonio Farao's, "Takes On Pasolini," an elegant set of jazz piano.

Comments

[Jackson]

“It’s kind of funny to say your dad was a monk,” Ryan said, “because you really can’t tell at all now.”

Tragic! Did this cut his father to the bone, or is he now completely numb?

[Nick Milne]

If so, my guess is that Brown/Langdon will claim the Cross was invented by Eskimos living in 7th century France.

If it was, you can bet that sinister agents of the modern-day Church went back in time and put them up to it, probably at gunpoint. That's just as plausible, right? It's certainly more interesting.

Also, that Presbyterian Nun seems be the empress of cant. She should write a(nother) book. I wouldn't read it, but she should write it. Better books that nobody reads than public speeches that someone might accidentally hear or classes someone might unwittingly attend.

[Trevor]

FYI: The Trumpet is NOT a Worldwide Church of God publication. It is published by Gerald Flurry who started a splinter cult of Armstrongism after WCG refuted ALL of Armstrong's teachings. Flurry's cult that publishes the rag is called Philadelphia Church of God. He is a sick dangerous man who is destroying countless lives with his heretical message. PCG hates everything Catholic, while WCG (who changed it's name to Grace International Communion a few months ago) has used Catholic writers and authors to help them on their journey out of the filth that is Armstrongism.

[Mikhail]

Trevor or anyone else, know of any good books or articles dealing with the theological errors of Protestant Biblical prophecy? My Methodist father is very taken with The Trumpet and has a few of Armstrong's books on his nightstand (Mystery of the Ages and The United States and Britain in Prophecy)

He is a devoted Christian but seems to be searching for something more substantial... I'm hoping this pursuit leads him to the the Church. He seems genuinely interested in Papa Benedetto and was especially impressed with the Holy Father's visit to the U.S. last year but he has his reservations about the Faith.

Particularly, he has lots of questions about Israel and the Jews. I've recently picked up Roy Schoeman's Salvation is from the Jews, and it has been an excellent read. I'm considering giving it to him after I finish.

TIA and keep up the great work Carl!

[Carl E. Olson]

Mikhail: My book, Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today's Prophecy Preachers (Ignatius Press, 2003), is a detailed examination (400 pages and about 700 footnotes) and critique of Fundamentalist beliefs about Biblical prophecy.

[Deacon Harold]

"I'm a bit befuddled as to how it is that a high profile Republican politician—the governor of South Carolina and chairman of the Republican Governors Association—thinks he can disappear for a week under strange circumstances and growing confusion, and not be found out?"

Sex is a powerful drive! Without grace infused virtue to guide it and when we yield to concupiscence, the results are disastrous.

Interesting interview with Bishop Fellay. He sounds much more congenial in person than in his writings.

BTW Carl, nice painting! Is it a self portrait? :-)

[W.]

Perhaps you could publicize this: Piers Paul Read was interviewed by Hugh Hewitt yesterday. I enjoyed it. Well worth the listen. The interview lasts about 35 minutes and I think most will enjoy it too. Very comprehensive and, as I think you know, Hewitt is good at conducting interviews. Good questions and follow-ups.

Here is the link to the audio interview:

http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/MediaPlayer/AudioPlayer.aspx?ContentGuid=43e48680-07b0-4182-bf4b-cc061f00c16a

And here is the link to the post about the interview: http://hughhewitt.townhall.com/blog/g/f8bc915e-8e2f-402c-b599-2dd1f1b3e2a9