Ecclesia et Mundus

Two Language (Geek) Blogs

Two excellent language blogs have come to my attention via in Principio, itself an excellent blog.

The first, dedicated to the official language of the Roman Church, is BlogLatin, whose tag line is Veni, vidi, blogi.

The second, focusing on the descendents of Latin, is Romanika, and includes the author's "everyday thoughts on the Romance Languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French, Catalan, Italian."



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Evil

Re: Iraqi Prison Photos Mar U.S. Image and Liberators, with sexual abuse, torture for good measure: G.I.'s accused of abusing Iraqi captives, just like Saddam Hussein

The cynics among us will be perversely overjoyed at this story; I feel nothing but disgust and hope that those involved get prosecuted to the fullest extent of military law. It's amazing the damage a few evil-doers can render.

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Una Reconquista Musulmana

Expert says Europe's identity loss could aid Islamic 're-conquest'

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The Rosary

Here's an excellent article with tips on how to better pray the rosary: Rediscover praying the Rosary

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Outsourcing Mass Intentions

From Shortage of Christian priests? Outsource to India:

"Faced with a shortage of priests in the West, European and American clergy are outsourcing "mass intentions" - requests for services, such as thanksgiving and memorial masses for the dead - to priests and congregations with time on their hands.

"Each mass is said in front of a public congregation in Malayalam, the local language. Rates vary from country to country: a request from North America or Europe can net a priest three pounds or four pounds; poorer countries pay less."

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Update

A few days ago, I posted about this article: Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad and the Rule of Islam.

Here is William F. Buckley's excellent response to the same article, DUMB, DUMBEST, which contains this:

"Ann Coulter, in her recent book 'Treason,' illustrated the point: '"In early December 2001, '60 Minutes' host Steve Kroft interviewed (Transportation Secretary Norman) Mineta about his approach to securing the airlines from terrorist attack. Kroft observed that of 22 men currently on the FBI (news - web sites)'s most-wanted list, "'all but one of them has complexion listed as olive. They all have dark hair and brown eyes. And more than half of them have the name Mohammed.'" Thus, he asked Mineta if airport security should give more scrutiny to someone named Mohammed -- "'just going down a passenger manifest list: Bob, Paul, John, Frank, Steven, Mohammed.'" The secretary of transportation said, "'No.'" In fact, Mineta was mystified by Kroft's question, asking him, 'Why should Mohammed be singled out?'"" (Forgive the Conradian use of quotes within quotes - Ed.)

Here's another article on the same topic: Call to militant Islam resonates in Europe

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A Tale of Two Marches

Thanks Jason, from chosunhoon's Xanga site, for the link to this article, contrasting media attention on the "North Korea Freedom Day" march and the Pro-abortion March:

Freedom and Truth for Korea

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"The Knowledge Class"

Here is a truly fascinating article and a refreshing anti-progressivist voice from Europe:

Interventionists and Resisters: The Preview of a Study on the Catholic Intellectual Class: They are in favor of state intervention and against the Church’s opening to capitalism. They bear a strong resemblance to the American “knowledge class” as analyzed by Peter L. Berger

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Oh... Canada!

Re: Canadians Allow Islamic Courts To Decide Disputes: Sharia Gains Foothold in Ontario

First, gay "marriage." Then opposition to gay "marriage" labeled a "hate crime." Now, Sharia law. Quo vadis, Canada?

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Karl Keating on Conservatives

It's was nice to read in the latest edition of Karl Keating's E-Letter the author's taking to task of certain conservatives. So great are the errors of the political liberals, that it is often all too easy to ignore the errors of some conservative thinkers. He concludes with these words:

"As late as the 1960s conservatism in America was, at least in its theoretical constructions, largely a Catholic movement. In four decades it has become much more secular. Many of its leaders (not just in politics but in other fields) give cant evidence that their thinking on public policies has been formed by twenty centuries of Christianity."

It seems that Mr. Keating may be going after the neos and defending the paleos with this last.



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Asalam-u-alaikum!

Here are some moving statements from actor Abel Jafri, as quoted in A Muslim Who Acted in Mel Gibson's "Passion":

"What impressed me most was the physical and moral suffering of this innocent man. Like a hurricane, blind and senseless violence knocked him down.

"Today, people continue to let themselves be carried away by hasty judgments, without reflection, without a conscience, manipulated by pressure groups that defend their personal interests.

"The current problem is summarized in a question: Why so much hatred? Why is love not loved? In our modern developed societies, it would seem that reactions are the same as they were 2,000 years ago. The film's message brings us directly to the present....

"The film's violence is a mirror of the violence hidden in man's heart. All of us are, in a certain measure, accomplices of this wickedness, of this mystery of evil, and if we become conscious of it, it is never too late to turn around, to love.

"Only the force of love can triumph over the absurd. We can be in solidarity in the good [and] decide that the light shines in the darkness through our daily actions....

"The controversy over the film is a good sign, as it shows that Jesus continues to trouble us, as at the time he walked on the roads of Palestine. I am very happy to have contributed to give timeliness again to the call to universal fraternity....

"Mel Gibson often asked me to stay by his side; he gave me confidence. On Sundays he invited me to eat with him and his family; it was a privilege.

"He had schooled his children during that year in Italy, at the American School. I was impressed by his person, his profound goodness, his respect for people.

"He really puts his faith into practice. He is not a fundamentalist or a fanatic, as some seem to think. He is a being full of gentleness; bold, who lives his convictions without being intimidated by worldly considerations....

"How is it possible not to respond to the phrase pronounced by Jesus on the cross, when he says to God: 'Forgive them'? In these words he offers us the key to happiness and peace. Everything is said in this forgiveness."

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7000 Jihadis

War fears resurface in Ambon

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PC and Race

Political correctness is more about alleviating white guilt than about improving the situation of ethnic minorities. Here's an article that explores that idea: Political correctness towards ethnic minorities is racist, says Phillips

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A Far Corner of the Diaspora

A Torah goes to India where a `lost tribe' awaits: Retired lawyer seeks to bring Judaism to the Bnei Menashe, who believe their ancestors were driven from Israel 2,700 years ago

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First, they came for the anti-gay Muslims...

Holland May Close Anti-Gay Mosque

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Ambon Update

Muslim-Christian fightings, kill 18

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Women's Rally?

Re: Women's Rally Draws Vast Crowd

So, it's a "women's rally," not an "abortion rally"? I guess if you oppose the rally, you oppose women. The article's from The Washington Post, so we can't really expect objectivity.
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Archduke Otto von Habsburg

Here's an excellent interview with the son of a man who shoud be a saint: Son of Austria's Karl I, on Limits to Power: Interview With Archduke Otto von Habsburg. Here's a sample quote:

"The divine right is the strongest limitation, in order that power not become tyranny or transgress its limits. For this reason, it is indispensable that the European Constitution now being elaborated recognize the divine law.

"It is imperative that Europe recognize God in public life. This is one of the great tragedies of our Europe, in which the defense of God in the past has been championed especially by the Muslim nations.

"They are the ones who demanded in the conference of San Francisco that God be mentioned in their sessions. At that time, the motion of six Muslim states was rejected by all the votes with the exception of 11 -- six Muslims and five Ibero-Americans, who defended it."

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Read This, Sen. Kerry

Why Communion Could Be Denied to Anti-Life Legislators: Interview With an American Theologian in Rome

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Some Thoughts on Eastern Orthodoxy

This post is a response to the following comment posted on my other blog, Katolik Shinja, by LLB of the the laughing linden branch:

Since I have an interest in Eastern Orthodoxy, and you mentioned your own one time interest, do you mind me asking what your current opinion is?

My "current opinion" is that I hope and pray for the noble Eastern Orthodox churches to return into full communion with Rome. In the words of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, I await for the day when the Church can once again "breathe with both lungs." Our division is made all the more painful by how little separates Catholics and Orthodox; I think it was Karl Keating of Catholic Answers who said that "the only thing lacking for full communion is full communion." As the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH states in Paragraph 838:

"'The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter.'" Those "'who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.'" With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound "that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist."

That said, the divisions that remain after nearly a millenium cannot be glossed over. While clearly both East and West had a share in the blame, perhaps even the West more than the East, Eastern Orthodoxy began in a state of schism, defined by Paragraph 2089 of CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH as "the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him." Of course, the subsequent generations born into Eastern Orthodoxy cannot be balmed for the error of their ancestors, and the Eastern Orthodox churches continue to have valid Sacraments and Orders.

Those are my doctrinal thoughts. (Well, they're not originally mine, but those of the Catholic Church.) As for my personal opinion, before becoming Catholic I seemed more attracted to the spirituality of the East. But this attraction was one of distance. I really knew very little about Eastern Orthdoxy, most of what I knew coming from a reading of The Orthodox Church by Kallistos Ware and by a one-time visit to an Eastern Orthodox parish in Toledo, Ohio for a "Peace and Justice" conference.

In many ways, my attraction to the East was nothing more than a rejection of the West. I grew up in as a Lutheran in a suburb of very Catholic Buffalo, New York. Most of my friends were Catholics with unpronouncable Polish last names. They, and the Italian and Irish kids, seemed far from holy, as did the Catholic priests to whom I delivered the newspaper as a paperboy, with their cigars and glasses of brandy.

Years went by and I began looking elsewhere. I read a bit about Buddhism and other Eastern religions, but like Hazel Motes of Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood, I could never leave Jesus behind. It seemed that Orthodoxy combined the mystery and esotericism of Eastern religions with the truth of Christ Jesus.

When it came time to leave Protestantism behind, there was no Orthodox parish nearby, so Catholicism was the natural choice. Being in communion with the See of Peter seems to be the safest bet. Not only that, but Eastern spirituality is alive and well within the Eastern Rite Catholic churches. (They even say the Nicene creed without the filioque.)

It took a while to recognize and eliminate my anti-Western biases, but now I love the devotional practices of Catholics and could not live without them. (By Catholic, I borrow the succint definition of A Conservative Blod for Peace: those that answer "yes" to the question "Are youse under da Pope?")

The Jesus Prayer humbles me, but the Rosary is the sine non qua of my daily devotions. I kneel before the stern icons of the Theotokos, but the gentle statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary melt my heart. I cherish the choral masterpieces of the Russian Orthodox Church, but more love the works of Palestrina and Monteverdi. In the Catholic Church, one can have it all.

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Let's Get our Heads out of the Sand!

Re: Militants in Europe Openly Call for Jihad and the Rule of Islam, from the The New York Times on the Web

That the above article comes from the liberal NY Times makes it all the more alarming. Do these folks represent the mainstream of Islam in the West? Probably not. But that a sizable minority of Muslims in the West are would-be jihadis should be a wake-up call to all of us in the West. Yes, Islam has praticed a limited tolerance of minority religions in some historic times. The key word in that last sentence is minority. Islam is uncomfortable being a minority religion itself. Jihad is the struggle to make Islam dominant, and it is being waged this very day (see Church, UN Office Torched in Indonesia's Ambon.

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Pinochetismo

From Latin America's Fragile Democracies:

"An ambitious report released last week by the United Nations Development Program sounds the alarm against complacency. Latin America's democracies are so fragile because their failure to deliver on their initial promise has discredited them. The U.N. program surveyed thousands of people in 18 democratic Latin American countries and found that a solid majority would prefer an authoritarian system if it produced economic benefits.

"Clearly, this endorsement of the Pinochet model shows that most Latin Americans do not feel as if they have a stake in their democracy. It is little wonder, really, given the high levels of poverty and social inequality that persist from Mexico to Argentina, coupled with chronic official corruption."

Pinochet was completely vilified by the Chilean students I studied with at the Universidad de Chile in 1993. These students were almost to a person leftist, many of them members of "La Jota" (Juventudes Comunistas). These same students complained that that was not the case at the Universidad Católica. These students were said to be "Pinochetistas" or "fachas" (fascists).

I've been re-evaluating Pinochet recently. The repression unleashed shortly after the coup d'état of September 11, 1973 can never be justified. (From what I understand, most of the abuses were confined to those first few weeks). However, living in the chaos of an Allende or a Hugo Cháves cannot be said to be freedom either.

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Blogging

Here's a good article on the current state of blogging and its future:

Blogs: Here to stay - with changes
By Gregory M. Lamb | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

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Pro-abortion "Catholic" Statement

Re: Women Have the Moral Capacity to Make Their Own Choices; Statement of Catholics for a Free Choice President Frances Kissling

Yes, they do. No one doubts that "women have the moral capacity to make their own choices." This is called "free will." Choosing to murder is a choice we are all free to make, but it does not follow that murder should be legally sanctioned.

Some women, however, are not given free will. Aborted women are denied the chance to develop their moral capacities even before birth.

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Insightful Observation

This comes from that inexhaustible source of insightful observations, A Conservative Blog for Peace:

"A friend once observed that in Catholic Europe - southern and eastern - you see these extremes of incredible holiness and extreme evil, while Protestants in the north tend towards blandness and mediocrity..."

The "friend" in question is on to something here. The pinnacle of the blandness of which he speaks must be Liberal Protestantism (I speak from experience; I once called myself an adherent to that strain of Christendom), which inevitably leads to the near-complete apostasy of countries like Sweden, whose people seem to be saying, "Just leave us alone, that we might peacefully and comfortably pass away..."

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New Beati

From Pope Beatifies Six From Europe, S. America:

"Honored were: August Czartoryski (1858-1893) of Poland, a Salesian priest; Laura Montoya (1874-1949) of Colombia, who founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Mary; Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala (1878-1963) of Mexico, co-founder of the Congregation of the Servants of Saint Margaret Mary and the Poor; Nemesia Valle (1847-1916) of Italy, a nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Giovanna Antida Thouret; Eusebia Palomino Yenes (1899-1935) of Spain, a nun of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians; and da Costa (1904-1955), who became a lay Salesian cooperator."

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The Plot Thickens

Kerry Takes Communion After Vatican Edict

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My Kind of Liberal

Actor Martin Sheen Backs Out of Pro-Abortion March Sponsorship

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Why I Wear a Suit to Mass

I reflected on the above while dressing for Mass this morning. There was a time when I deliberately wore simple clothing, such as flannel shirts and corduroys, to church. This was when I was a Liberal Protestant. I thought it not good to be ostentatious. I suppose I also wanted to show solidarity with the Masses, The Wretched of the Earth, to borrow Franz Fanon's phrase. Even after several years of having jobs in which it seemed a good idea to wear a suit, I stubbornly continued to dress down on Sundays.

Then after marrying a Korean, I was required to wear suits to the Confucian Chesa (sacrificial meals in honor of the deceased) held at home on important holidays and death anniversaries. All the males wore suits, to a ceremony even Confucious himself knew to be nothing more than a symbol of filial piety.

I came to realize that I wore suits for my bosses, my students, and ancestral spirits, but not for Jesus Christ. Once I became a Catholic and accepted the Real Presence, that Christ Himself was present in the Holy Eucharist, that the Mass was the ultimate Chesa, then I decided that wearing a suit would be a sign of respect for Our Lord.

While the older men at my Parish wear suits, I seem to be the only "young fogey" who holds on to the custom. There are times when I don't wear a suit to Mass, and I harbor no ill will for those who dress more casually on Sundays, but I'll continue to see my attire as one more way I can offer my best to Him Who died for my sins.

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Inanity

Rev. Bill Hausen is the founder of the soon-to-be schismatic Christ Hope Ecumenical Catholic Church, whose

"intention is to evolve, develop and embody the wisdom, faith-hope-and-love of the Church, as taught in the Documents of Vatican Council II...and the 'Wisdom Literature' of the Major Religions."

In Catholic priest planning to form "inclusive" splinter church, Rev Hausen is quoted as saying:

"The word 'God' is more of a verb than a noun - we do 'God' when we do selfless love."

So, in effect, we are God. He's not the Transcendent, the Almighty; He's you and me. This is just another attempt to deify the ego, disguised in the terms of "agapic love."

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Classic PJB

Patrick J. Buchanan, from The Passion and Its Enemies: The campaign against the movie bespeaks deeper animus:

"What did the Crucifixion give mankind? Salvation, the opening of the gates of heaven, Western civilization, the greatest art, architecture, music, painting, sculpture, cathedrals and churches in history, the idea that all men are children of God and that each has an innate worth and dignity, which puts limits on the power of any state—and an end to slavery.

"No Cross, no Christianity. No Christianity, no West. No West, no freedom, no human rights, no America."

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Redemptionis Sacramentum

The full text (65 pages): Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum on certain matters to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist

A handy summary: Document lists 28 grave abuses against Eucharist


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"The Passion" Worldwide

Israeli cinema in talks to screen Passion of the Christ
India News: 'The Passion of The Christ': a sublime work of art

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Fair

From Hug an Evangelical: By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF:

"If liberals demand that the Christian right show more tolerance for gays and lesbians, then liberals need to be more respectful of conservative Christians."

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Kerry Update

Here's a sensationalistic headline if there ever was one: No Communion for Pro-Abortion Rights Pols. Here's the straight story: Cardinal Arinze's Presentation on Instruction Regarding the Eucharist "Redemptionis Sacramentum" Published.

On the same issue, Earl E. Appleby, Jr., of Times Agaisnt Humanity will be keeping tabs on developments at the Catholic Kerry Watch.


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Follow-up

A day or two ago, I wrote post entitled A(nother) Foothold for Islam in the West. Well, it seems there was more to the story than met the eye, as blogger Robert Duncan, of Santificarnos and resident of Spain, wisely pointed out. Here's more on the issue:

We Didn't Ask Vatican To Pray At Cathedral: Spanish Imam

Also on Santificarnos was a wonderfully impassioned plea for tolerance in a recent post, entitled In advance to my fellow bloggers I ask your forgiveness if I offend you .... I agree with her wholeheartedly that there is a lot of anti-Muslim hysteria out there. We Catholics have a lot of areas in which we can and should cooperate with Muslims, our brothers as fellow spiritual children of Abraham. As Paragraph 841 of the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH clearly states,

"The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."

Still, we have the right and even the duty to maintain and defend our Christian civilization, and this may at times entail the adoption of policies that are less than politically correct, such as the curbing of immigration. Italy once had (and maybe still has) a wise policy of encouraging immigration from Catholic Latin America. Malaysia, where I spent a year, allowed citizens of Mulsim countries to enter without a visa, but barred entry to visitors with an Israeli stamp in their passports.





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"We didn't leave the Democratic Party, it left us."

Here's an excellent interview with former Boston Mayor and ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn: Ray Flynn on Politically Homeless Catholics. Following is an extended quote from Ambassador Flynn:

"Catholics have become politically homeless in the United States. Neither the Democratic nor the Republican Party represents the values and principles of the Catholic faith. At one time, the Democratic Party fought for social and economic justice and was the party of blue-collar, working-class Catholic families.

"Today, the Democratic Party is controlled by wealthy left-wing activists whose extreme political agenda, for the most part, excludes loyal, faithful and patriotic American Catholics.

"These political activists who now control the nominating process have forced Catholic politicians to change their positions on key moral and political issues, or they won't be recognized or appreciated in the party organization.

"But it's not just the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has also not been willing to give working-class Americans a seat at the table, either.

"When I was mayor of Boston, a reporter called me the Lech Walesa of Boston politics. I was also called a John Paul II Democrat. It's too bad they had to go all the way to Poland and the Vatican to define how many millions of American Catholics like me feel today.

"Wouldn't it be nice to hear that voice of social and economic justice once again in the Democratic Party? So far, the Democratic Party has shown no openness to Catholics who believe in the values and principles of their faith."

Perhaps Boston, like my home town of Buffalo, NY, or like Chicago, is, or was, a one-party town. The local Democratic Party of Buffalo was much different from the national organization; it was much, much more conservative on social issues. I've heard from a colleague that the same is true for many cities in the South, like Memphis. Less democracy seems to be a good thing. If only the adage were true: "All politics is local."


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Race Trumps Religion?

Re: Remarks irk some Hispanics: Chaput's comments on politicians seen as swipe at Salazar

The Politics of Idenitity has raised its ugly head in Colorado. Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, without naming names, criticized politicians "who claim to be Catholic and then prominently ignore their own faith on matters of public policy." Some Hispanics took that to be a swipe at Democratic Attorney General Ken Salazar, a Catholic abortion-rights supporter running for U.S. Senate. However, according to Sergio Gutierrez, the archbishop's spokesman, "The feedback we've gotten from Hispanics and non-Hispanics is running 10-to-1 in support of the archbishop speaking out on public policy issues and the moral teachings of the church."

This could very well be a case of media manipulation.


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"Arabisation"

Here's an interesting article about Malaysia, a lovely country that I had the pleasure of living in during 1996 and 1997: In Malaysia, it's do as the Arabs do: Muslims are adopting Arab culture, thinking that it is more Islamic, but some fear that Malay culture is being displaced.

I'd really hate to see Malay culture be displaced by anything. The Brits called the Malays "Nature's gentlemen," but we shouldn't forget that our phrase "to run amok" comes from the Malay language.

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Thanks for the Link

To Dave at Dave's Mormon Inquiry, who describes himself as an "informed, discouraged, liberal, honest, practicing Mormon." I was a bit surprised by the link, and must admit to knowing very little about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, apart from having seen their smartly dressed missionaries in many corners of the globe to which I've travelled. Dave advises us to "be more interested in the Mormon Church--in a couple of hundred years it will probably be running what is left of America." Who knows? He could just be right! I wish American Catholics believed in themselves and practiced their faith as fervently as most Mormons do.

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Sagrada Familia

Barcelona's most famous architectural wonder has a new interactive site in Catalan, Spanish, and English:

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Exploitation?

Re: Conservatives Try to Exploit Catholic Democrats' Views

Notice the use of the verb "exploit" in the above (it's from the New York Times, after all). The truth is that the Democratic party abandoned its orthodox Catholic voters by making abortion the sine qua non of its political platform. While there is room for a variety of opinions on the minimum wage, foreign policy, and trade, there is only one position on abortion; that it is the killing of a soul.


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God Bless Africa

Re: African Anglicans shun US money over gay policies: Bishops last week said they will not sacrifice conscience.

Once again, African Christians show their commitment to orthodoxy while large portions of Western Christendom drift toward heterodoxy, or in this case, homodoxy (forgive me for the stupid pun).

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Bonkers

Re: Their beliefs are bonkers, but they are at the heart of power: US Christian fundamentalists are driving Bush's Middle East policy

The above article is biased (it's from the Guardian Unlimited, after all), but points out some serious dangers inherent in the Bush White House's acceptance of Pre-Millennial Dispensationalism (belief in "The Rapture") and Christian Zionism (the idea that all the Jews must return to Israel and be converted to Christianity in order to hasten the second coming of Christ).

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Religion vs. Spirituality?

"It's not about religion. This is about improving your life from a spiritual point of view."

So said Dr. David Marder, a physician who helps run Kabbalah classes, quoted in Finding their religion: Celebrities embrace Kabbalah, irritating longtime followers.

The article describes how the likes of Madonna, Britney Spears, Demi Moore, and Paris Hilton have become would-be practitioners of the Kabbalah. According to Rabbi Byron Sherwin, the 13th Century Jewish mysistical practice "is esoteric and advanced and requires advance knowledge of the Bible, Talmud, Jewish law and philosophy." (I saw an episode of Paris Hilton's trash TV show last time I was in the US and don't recall any ponderings on Jewish law or philosophy.)

There is a trend in the West to try to separate the religious from the spiritual. In reality, these two are inseperable, but we seem to want the benefits a spiritual life guarantees without the rigors and sacrifice required by a religious life. This is a very childish attitude.

This attitude is the reason that exotic Eastern religions have gained such popularity since the Theosophy of the late 19th Century, even more so since the 1960s. Since religions like Buddhism and Hinduism are alien to us, we feel free to accept certain bits and parts while throwing out what does not gel with our Western "enlightened" minds. The Dalai Lama's book had to be edited for Western consumption because it contained Buddhist doctrines opposed to homosexuality. (That the esteemed Lama allowed it to be so edited is another matter.)

The New Age movement is nothing more than an attempt to glean the spiritual practices of diverse religions while ignoring their disciplines, doctries, and dogmas. In the West, as the Judeo-Christian tradition is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and thus alien and exotic, the New Agers are now able to trove its treasures for its spiritual gems, isolating them from the religious doctrines from which they arise.



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A(nother) Foothold for Islam in the West

Re: Cathedral may see return of Muslims: Centuries after Christian building was put at the centre of Córdoba's mosque, Vatican hears Spanish appeal to allow Islamic worship there:

While not necessarily against the above idea, I do have to wonder how an appeal to simply open a small church in Saudi Arabia would be heard by the religious authorities there. They would answer that Saudi Arabia is holy land for Islam, and for that reason no other form of religious expression can be allowed; to which most Western multiculturalists would say that religious freedom is culturally relative, and at the same time insist that the Cathedral in the article above be given back to the Muslims.

After a "grim chronology" of Islamic terror attacks and attempted terror attacks in the West, Srdja Trifkovic, writing in WHY IS THE WEST LOSING THE WAR ON TERROR? (an article I came across via The New Fugitive Blog), warns about the existence of an Islamic Fifth Column in Western lands:

"In reality the existence of the multi-million-strong Muslim diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere in the Western world—from Madrid to Montreal, from Buffalo to Berlin—provides the terrorists with the recruits, the infrastructure, and the relative invisibility without which they would not be able to operate. This is the only immigrant group that harbors a substantial segment of individuals who share the key objectives with the terrorists, even if they do not all approve of their methods. A sizeable minority of them wishes to transform the United States of America into a Caliphate and to replace the Constitution with the Sharia by whatever means. A coherent long-term counter-terrorist strategy, therefore, must entail denying Islam the foothold inside the West. But the notion of cultural and religious criteria in determining the eligibility of prospective immigrants is ideologically unacceptable to the ruling American establishment..."

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Sad, Sad, Sad

Re: Police launch enquiry into abortion for cleft palate

Pray for that little soul who suffered and died without a chance at life due to a physical imperfection.

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Traditionalists?

Re: Who Are the ‘Real’ Catholics? Some traditionalists may want to shun pro-choice Catholics like John Kerry. But a pragmatic approach won’t harm a church still trying to deal with pedophile priests, argues Melinda Henneberger in her first Web-exclusive column on religious and social issues

Following the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH simply makes one a Catholic, not necessarily a "traditionalist."

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End of the Empire?

From Do Abortion, Religious Apathy, Sexual Perversion Mark Beginning of the End for America?:

"President Harry Truman said, 'The only thing new is the history we don't know.' The rebellion against the natural order of God's creation that has gripped America is nothing new. In 1994, Jim Nelson Black authored a book called, When Nations Die. The book traced the history of civilizations, and catalogued the symptoms present in a culture in crisis.

"Black said in the past 2,000 years, every empire -- even those that seemed invincible at the height of their glory -- collapsed into ruin. Every one of these empires had three factors in common before they fell: civil society devalued human life, forsook religious belief, and celebrated sexual immorality. These three factors took root in the United States in the early 1960s. And the seeds sown 40 years ago have ripened into bitter fruit."

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Paleo-Conservativism

How I Became a Paleo-Conservative ends with these rousing words:

"Give me back my ancestral chains- give us back the traditions we’ve lost. They are the only things keeping me from flying off this earth, they are holding what remains of this country together."

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The Democrats

Re: Democratic Party Lost Soul: Cardinal George of Chicago

My grandmother did such a good job indoctrinating me into the Democratic Party, that I insisted my elementary school teacher was wrong when he told us that Lincoln had been a Republican. I'm sure my grandmother, God rest her soul, wouldn't recognize the Democratic Party of today.

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25 Years for Gays, 7 for Lesbians

Zanzibar outlaws homosexual acts


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Hope for the Future

The rise of new Christianity: This will come to be seen as the century in which religion replaced ideology, writes Angela Shanahan.

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The Petrine Ministry

Survey says US evangelicals prefer Pope to Robertson and Falwell

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Three Great Articles

From The American Cause:

The passion of the Christian
Abortionists Reveal Inhumanity in Testimony on Partial-Birth Abortion
Spanish Lessons

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Another Great PJB One-Liner

From Fr. Kerry & Pius XXIII:

"...Kerry is about as conversant with Catholic doctrine as Cardinal Ratzinger is with hip-hop."

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Alleged Atrocities

From Christian peacemakers report killings of women and children by US troops in Fallujah:

"Volunteers assisting Doctors Without Borders in Fallujah reported that U.S. Marine snipers were 'shooting at anyone who moves.'

"Hospital workers reported that 518 Iraqis had been killed by U.S. fire by Sunday, including at least 157 women and 146 children. Of the children, one hundred were under age twelve and of those, 46 were under age five. More than 1,200
had been wounded."

And from Hundreds of Vietnamese Christians killed at Easter:

"An estimated 400 Christians have been killed during peaceful and prayerful demonstrations by Christians in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

On Saturday 10 April up to 400,000 Vietnamese Christians, from the Degar people, gathered in several Vietnamese cities to demonstrate against the government’s refusal to allow them to follow the Christian faith freely."

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Linguistic Fun

Essentialist Explanations is a link that came to my attention by the fellow "language geek" at A conservative blog for peace, always a source of interesting links. Here are some of my favorites:

(Caveat lector: Do not proceed reading if your sense of national or linguistic pride is so malformed that it is easily wounded by good-natured humor.)

English is essentially bad Dutch with outrageously pronounced French and Latin vocabulary.
--Eugene Holman

English is essentially a bizarre dialect of Chinese, pronounced entirely in the first tone.
--John Cowan

English is essentially a language that uses vowels no other language would accept.
--Luís Henrique

American English is essentially British English without the redundancies, including the monarchy.
--Ivan C. Amaya

American English is essentially your Queen's English as bastardized by colonists, or is it as colonized by bastards?
--ilvi

American English is essentially Irish English as spoken by non-native speakers.
--Benct Philip Jonsson

American English is essentially English after having been wiped off with a dirty sponge.
--J.R.R. Tolkien

Australian English is essentially Cockney without the refinement.
--Öjevind Lång

The Queen's English is essentially Modern Anglo-Saxon as passed on by generation after generation of stiff necked Norman nobles with their noses in the air.
--ilvi

Men efter all Englisk äre basiklig Svensk förpoisonat of Frensk (ellor skould dat be Danisk?).
--Jonathan Knibb

Inglish iz issenshali a langwidje dhat, wen rittun fonetkli, iz ilejibul tu netiv spikerz.
--Peter Bleackley

Spanish is essentially Italian spoken by Arabs.
--Benct Philip Jonsson

Castilian Romance is nothing but Latin spoken by Basque lips and transformed by evolution in an environment of Basque habits and of Basque phonetic tradition.
--P. Ormaechevarria, via David Mediavilla Ezquibela

Argentinean is essentially Italian spoken so that other South Americans can catch on.
--ilvi

Mandarin is essentially Chinese as spoken by Mongols.
--Daniel von Brighoff

Korean is essentially bad Japanese, also as spoken by Mongols.
--Daniel von Brighoff

Conversely, Japanese is essentially Korean in the mouths of little children.
--Daniel von Brighoff

Korean is essentially being caught in a syllable-diagraming exercise gone horribly, horribly wrong.
--David Boshko

Korean is essentially Mongolian with a Chinese vocabulary.
--Danny Wier

Japanese is essentially Tagalog spoken by Koreans trying to do an impression of Americans from the point of view of Chinese people.
--Andrew Johnson

Cantonese is essentially what everyone else in China calls swearing.
--Kiri Aradia Morgan

Vietnamese is essentially Chinese spoken as fast as you can.
--Alex Stanich

Spoken Vietnamese is essentially Chinese with 6 tones, unpronounceable consonants, and sounds you have to say while inhaling.
--Jonathan Walton

Written Vietnamese is essentially Wade-Giles as invented by an opium-smoking Frenchman.
--Jonathan Walton

Nativeamericanlanguagesessentiallycramlotsofideasintooneword.
--Clint Jackson Baker

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Bishop Zen

We had the great Cardinal Sin in the Phillipines, and now we have Bishop Zen in Hong Kong (see Meddling activist or Catholic 'saint'?)

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Solomon Islands

Reading this article, Sydney education office helps Solomons rebuild, I was reminded of some beautiful music that was recorded for use in the film The Thin Red Line (starring James Caviezel) and compiled on the album Melanesian Choirs (Original Soundtrack): Chants from the Thin Red Line.

Here are two versions of the same song:

Jisas Yu Holem Hand Blong Me by the Choir of All Saints, Honiara
Jisas Yu Holem Hand Blong Me by the Melanesian Brotherhood, Tabalia

The title of the song is in Solomon Islands Pidgin English, from "Jesus, (You) Hold Hand Belong Me" or "Jesus, (You) Hold My Hand."

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Good Odds

Via A conservative blog for peace:

Does God Exist? Physicist says it's two-to-one He does

That, with Pascal's Wager*, is more than enough for me.

*If God REALLY exists, and we believe (= bet that God exists), we have an infinite gain (heaven).
If God REALLY exists, and we don't believe that, then we have the potential of an infinite loss (hell, or at least eternal separation from God).
If God really does NOT EXIST, and we believe that God exists, we essentially lose nothing.
If God really does NOT EXIST, and we believe that God doesn't exist, we essentially gain nothing.

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Resurrection

From the Catholic News Service:

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Awakening

"The Passion" is a sign: America may be on the cusp of another religious Great Awakening.

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A Footnote

From page 569 of my 1965 edition of The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas, describing the failed Republican Segovia offensive:

"Our Lady of the Fuencisla, patron saint of Segovia, was later named a full Field-Marshall for her part in the defense of the town... The news caused Hitler to say that he would never under any circumstance visit Spain."

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Easter Mass

St. Paul's Parish, I-dong, Pohang, South Korea

Easter Mass was beautiful; the choir sang the Kyrie in Greek and the Gloria, Santus, and Angus Dei in Latin!


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Communion

From Pope Presides Over Long Easter Service :

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Foz do Iguaçu

Re: Laughing in the Face Of Terrorist Reports: Brazilian City Lures Tourists With Humor

I visited the city, and the nearby falls, about nine years ago and found it to be a most pleasant place. The same could not be said for Ciudad del Este, across the border in Paraguay, which was a very frightening city. Paraguay's capital, Asunción, in contrast, was a wonderful place.

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He is Risen!

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A Poem

A Prayer on Good Friday

Grant me today
that I may call upon you
with the deepest and lowest voice.

May I weep over the darkness
embedded within Mary's griving heart,
encountering your unavoidable departure
for the sake of even more souls.

May I also prostrate myself before you
in deep humility
just as Peter bitterly wailed
over his betrayal.

O Lord of love,
You overpowered death
by drinking the bitter cup of death.

May I not boast of imprudent love
without imitating you.

May I be a somber point in the darkness
lying within the stone tomb today
together with those deeply despairing souls
who loved you so deeply

May I be a bright point in the darkness
for having fallen asleep with you,
I shall awaken with you
O Lord of light.


by Sister Claudia Haein Lee

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Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli Kyrie

Listen to the Kyrie from:




PALESTRINA: Missa Papae Marcelli

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The Church Persecuted

Re: 1500 Christians killed in Nigeria

I believe it was Samuel Huntington who noted that "Islam has bloody borders:" Nigeria, Sudan, Palestine, Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Kashmir, the Phillpines, etc.

Let's keep the Nigerian Church in our prayers this Easter Triduum.


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Triduum Reading

Easter Triduum Is Time of Conversion, Says Pope: Reflects on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus

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Words of Wisdom

From Boston Archbishop Decries Hedonistic Life:

"Today, our challenge is simple: to resist the temptation to conform to the culture of death, to consumerism, hedonism, individualism."

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The Real "Root Causes"

Re: Why no Christian suicide bombers? and other thoughts on Islamic terror by Dennis Prager

The author reflects on a simple fact: While 25% of Palestinians are Christians (including Yasser Arafat's wife), there has not been a single Christian suicide bomber! The very notion of a Christian suicide bomber is oxymoronic, isn't it?

So, for those looking into the "root causes" of Islamic Terror, don't look to Israel, the United States, or poverty; look to Islam.

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Gay "Marriage"

Re: Behind the Push for Same-Sex Marriage: Bioethics Expert Sees an Ideological Intention

There is much more than meets the eye behind this issue. It has nothing to do with human rights or even with "self-actualization." It is an attempt to destory the family, the basic unit of society and culture. Patrick J. Buchanan, in The Death of the West, decribes how Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci came to the realization that the Revolution failed in Europe due to the remaining vestiges of Judeo-Christian culture, and that until that culture was wiped out, the Revolution was bound to fail. Gay "marriage" and adoption (Kyrie, eleison!) is another in a long series of attempts to wipe out that culture.

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Club Culture

From Depressing Sign of the Times...:

"A simple detector of the three main types of drugs used to spike drinks was launched on Tuesday in an effort to reduce the soaring number of drug rape cases."

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JP2's Challenge

Pope hasn't wavered

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"Eurabia"

Controversial Italian journalist's new book says Europe is becoming 'a province of Islam'

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Thoughts on The Passion of the Christ

I went to see the movie two days after it opened in Korea with my father-in-law, Mr. Park Sang-woo. (He is completely unchurched and the movie provoked many questions for him. If you read this, please say a little prayer for his conversion.)

I saw the film without the benefit of English subtitles, and only resorted to the Korean subtitles occasionally. Thus, I saw the film as Mel Gibson had originally intended it to be seen. The Latin and Aramaic sounded beautiful to my unlearned ear.

I saw the movie on Palm Sunday, so the Passion readings from Mass were fresh on my mind. God, in His wisdom, chose rather mediocre writers to be the inspired authors of the gospels. (This fact led C.S. Lewis to believe; reading them in the original Greek, he noticed they were not written with the florid style of ancient myths, but rather with the urgency of rough first-hand accounts.) If Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John were one of my Korean freshman students, I might give them low marks for a lack of transitional phrases in their writings. (John would get high points for style.) Events seem to move through time and space without much coherency. Thus, reading the gospel accounts, it is somewhat hard to create a mental picture of the events described. Mel Gibson's film helped to put it altogther.

I went to see the film with the same feeling I have going to Mass. I had to remind myself that what I was going to see was just a movie, and that even the most perfunctorily performed Mass would be infinitely greater because of the Real Presence of Our Lord. The Passion of the Christ, however is much more than just a movie; it is a masterpiece of Christian Art that will stand to inspire for centuries.

I had my doubts about Mel Gibson's ability to pull off the story of the Passion. Although he was my favorite actor as a young teenager (Mad Max, The Road Warrior, and The Year of Living Dangerously being some of my favorite films), I was not all that impressed by Mr. Gibson's directorial talents as displayed in Braveheart. With The Passion of the Christ, he has a produced a great film, not just a great Christian film.

Of course the central theme of the film was the suffering Our Lord undertook on our behalf, and nothing was spared its depiction. The goriest Spanish Renaissance painting of the Crucifiction pales in comparison. It is moving beyond words to see Our Lord's agony in the garden, His trembling at the pillar, His torment as the crown of thorns is forced upon His head, His collapse on the via dolorosa, and His horrific crucifiction; I will never pray the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary again in the same way.

Christ was the hardest of the characters, if we can call Our Lord a character, for me to identify with. Perhaps it was his bloodied appearance that made it difficult for me. I was repulsed by his physical condition, all the more so knowing that it was my sins that did that, that I was in the crowd shouting "Crucify Him!" For this reasons, the flashback scence of Our Lord in His beauty during the Sermon on the Mount and the Last Supper were particularly effective.

I am surprsied, happy, and hopeful at the positive response of so many Protestants and Evangelicals on viewing this film, because it is so very Catholic.

One theme that all Christians will agree on is the centrality of an individual's response to the Person of Christ Jesus. In the film, most jeer at Him, taunt Him, hurl abuse and stones upon Him. But then there are those faces that turn away, knowing something, but not quite what, is horribly wrong.

There is Claudia, Pilate's wife, trembling as she she gives cloths, later to be used to wash up the Precious Blood of Our Lord after his scourging, to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mary Magdelene. There are nameless faces as well, that only appear for a moment, but speak volumes with their expressions. There is an African eunich in the court of Herod, who lowers his gaze as others drunkenly mock Our Lord. There are a few Roman centurions, who, although unwilling to put an end to it, seem unable to stomach the cruelty their comrades bestow on Our Lord. And then there are the Saints.

A key to understanding this movie is the Catholic belief in the Communion of Saints. (Of course, our seperated Protestant and Evangelical brethern profress this doctrine in the creeds, but their churches do not fully realize its implications.)

First and foremost is Mary, the Mother of God. Mel Gibson gives her the prominant role in the film that Catholics assign her in the economy of Salvation. I focused on her throughout the film. Peter, played beautifully in his weakness, disappears, but Mary is always there. She is His Mother and ours. As He drops the Cross and falls, she flashes back to an image of Him failing as a child. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "The Marian dimension of the Church precedes the Pertine" (Paragraph 773).

There is Mary Magdelene, suffering as a sinner who knows forgiveness. She too, flashes back, to the scene of the adulterous woman from John VIII (a bit of very effective dramatic license on part of the director). Her slowly crawling to the feet of Our Lord portrays the essence of contrition and repentance.

There is John, the disciple whom Our Lord loved. I don't think he utters a word through the film, but he nods with perfect obedience as he holds Mary and Our Lord says to him from the Cross, "John, your mother."

There are two more Saints who, even more than the others, left an impresion in my mind, perhaps because they are less familiar and central. First there is Veronica, who washes the face of Our Lord and gets to look into His blessed face for a few moments. She is the essence of feminine caring. She is beautiful. Then there is Simon the Cyrene, Christopher, reluctantly drafted to help carry Our Lord's Cross. He is a giant of a man, but with a face and voice of utmost gentleness and goodness. As Veronica is the essence of feminity, Christopher is masculinity, In a burst of righteous anger, he defends Our Lord from the taunts of the Romans. Both Veronica and Christopher are belittled and abused by the Romans: Veronica as a woman, Christopher as a Jew. Both also have an opportunity to look into the Beatific Vision of Our Lord's face, an experience that changes their lives.

As Chistopher descends from Golgotha, he passes Mary, Mary Magdalene, and John. They do not so much as look at each other. As Saints, they would only know each other in the Church Triumphant.

The actions and reactions of all the people mentioned above revolve around the sufferings of Our Lord. It is a very Christocentric film. Yet, we see how we are called to participate with Our Lord, in the Communion of Saints.

I was reminded of the "whisky priest" at the end of Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory, who, facing the firing squad and reflecting on his less-than-saintly life, undertands "that there was only one thing that counted - to be a saint."

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Progessive Christianity

The 8 Points of The Center for Progressive Christianity has come to my attention via A conservatice blog for peace. Here are the The 8 Points (emboldened) and what I hope is a charitable orthodox Catholic rebuttal of them (in italics):

By calling ourselves progressive, we mean that we are Christians who…

1. Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus;

This is true, brothers and sisters, but Jesus offers us much more than "an approach;" he offers us salvation and eternal life. And, by not mentioning his death and resurrection, his "life and teachings" become not much more than those any other enlightened teacher.

2. Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us;

We do indeed recognize the "faithfulness of other people" and that they have "other names for the way to God's realm" (a somewhat ambiguous phrase). And yes, "their ways," while being "true for them" (they may even attain salvation by cooperating with God's grace even though in a state of invincible ignorance), they are not true "as our ways are true for us." Other religions may contain truths, Christianity contains the Truth.

3. Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus's name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples;

In defense of the Real Prescence, I can do no better that to quote the great Flannery O'Connor on the Eucharist: "Well, if it's a symbol, to hell with it."

4. Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to):

believers and agnostics,
conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,
women and men,
those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,
those of all races and cultures,
those of all classes and abilities,
those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope;

Of course, all are invited to Christ's banquet. Accepting the invitation requires Faith on the part of "agnostics" and "skeptics" and the desire and effort to live by the teachings of God by those of "all sexual orientations and gender identities" (and everyone else as well).

5. Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe;

Well put, brothers and sisters.

6. Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty - more value in questioning than in absolutes;

Not so well put, brothers and sisters. We find more grace by conforming our wills to the "dogmatic certainty" we have in the Church as guided by the Holy Spirit. You are right, however, to say that there is grace "in the search for understanding." I myself was a "progressive" Christian once, and my "search for understanding" led me to understand the truly revolutionary (not in the wordly sense) implications of Christian orthodoxy. Christians who are currently being martyred in Sudan, Nigeria, Kosovo, Sri Lanka, North Korea and elsewhere certainly don't have the luxury to place such a high value on questioning.

7. Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers; and

Brothers and sisters, you have written an excellent desription of the Church Militant. lf only all of us as individual members would follow the words you've written.

8. Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege.

Amen. However, some of the points above, especially 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 represent compromise with the Zeitgeist of modernism and post-modernism. Thus, "following" Jesus becomes cheap, and entails self-love, cooperation with evil, and arrogance. Liberal Protestant denominations in Europe and North America are withering away, as is the Catholic Church where she follows their "progressive" dogmas. Christianity is thriving where it still means something, especially in Africa and Asia.

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Quote of the Day

Calling the Church "a witness of hope," the Holy Father, quoted in Pope Sees "Moment of Hope" for Church in U.S.: But Warns Nation Is Losing a Sense of the Transcendent:

"Precisely because American society is confronted by a disturbing loss of the sense of the transcendent and the affirmation of a culture of the material and the ephemeral, it desperately needs such a witness of hope."

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The "Hillbilly Thomist"

I started reading Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor a few days ago. I was floored by her Complete Stories, and picked up all I could find by her at used bookstores last time I was in the United States.

A few days ago, on her birthday, A Catholic Blog for Lovers posted some excellent information on Flannery O'Connor under the title of Birthday of the "hillbilly thomist", from where I got this photo:

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"Politically Dangerous" Science

Re: Autism Theory on Brains Sparks Debate

Cambridge University professor Simon Baron-Cohen theorizes that there are differences between male and female brains, the former predominantly hard-wired for empathizing and the latter for systemizing. Observation from real life tells us that there is truth in this idea. Natural Law tells us that males and females are different and complementary. Biology shows us that male and female animals behave quite differently. Yet, some still insist on labeling as "politically dangerous" any idea that there are a biological differences between the sexes (look at our bodies for crying out loud!).


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Gandhi vs. Sanger

From Virtue of Temperance:

"In January 1936, a meeting took place between Mohandas Gandhi and Margaret Sanger. The subject of their conversation on that auspicious occasion was contraception. Mrs. Sanger was, at that time, the high priestess of the birth control movement. For her, as well as for her legion of followers, 'birth control' meant contraception. Gandhi had a different understanding of birth control. For him it meant temperance, or self-control."

The article goes on to describe the meeting; "It is not an exaggeration to compare this meeting between the voluptuary and the ascetic with that between Satan and Christ after the latter had fasted for 40 days in the desert."

Margaret Sanger, foundress of Planned Parenthood, was indeed a woman who promoted very evil ideas: contraception, abortion, and eugenics.


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Peacemaker, not Pacifist

From Vatican Downplays Opposition to Iraq War:

"A top Vatican official sought Wednesday to downplay the Vatican's opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq, saying it only objected to the means of disarming Saddam Hussein not the ends.

"French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican foreign minister during the war, stressed the Vatican did indeed oppose the conflict and thought U.N. weapons inspections should have been allowed to continue. But he said Pope John Paul II shared Washington's ultimate aims in Iraq.

"'The Holy See is not pacifist,' he said. 'It is a peacemaker.'"

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Faulty Reasoning

From French Catholic Bishops Blast Gibson's the Passion:

"In an unusual statement on a commercial film, the bishops' conference said the traditionalist Catholic Gibson had made a film that might not be anti-Semitic but 'could be used to support anti-Semitic opinions.'"

Following that logic, the New Testament should be "blasted" as it can, has been, and is "used to support anti-Semitic opinions."

That said, and not having the French Bishops' statement before me, I'm sure the above article was a misreading or distortion of the French Bishops' statement. It seems to be yet another media attempt, this time using the verb "blast," to drum up more controversy surrounding the film.
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