Theology on Tap

I decided to go on a trip down to Camarillo with the other members of the Advisory Board of the Bridge Building Young Adult ministry this afternoon to hear the final evening in a series of Theology on Tap. This session basically featured a Q&A with our illustrious regional bishop, Thomas Curry. I will write more about the experience later today :)

In Assumptione Beatae Mariae Virginis

ad introitum, Rev. 12, 1.

Signum magnum apparuit in caelo:
mulier amicta sole,
et luna sub pedibus eius,
et in capite eius corona stellarum duodecim.

Psalm 97(98), 1:

Cantate Domino canticum novum: quia mirabilia fecit.

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto
sicut erat in principio
et nunc
et semper
et in saecula saeculorum.

I trust that you all had a blessed Feast of the Assumption. Less than two more weeks until the feast day of my beloved patron and friend, St. Augustine!

God Bless Cardinal George

Chris at Rosa Mystica has posted Cardinal George's Sunday Homily from August 3rd at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. I just talked with a good friend of mine this evening who was at that homily and loved it.

I stand here to defend our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, against a false accusation made on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times last Friday. The headline reads: "Pope Launches Global Campaign against Gays." The Pope, of course, did no such thing.

First, what did the Pope do to invite this false accusation against him? The Holy Father, through the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, approved a statement about the nature of marriage, a statement which repeats what every Pope has taught for two thousand years: marriage is the life-long union of a man and a woman who enter into a total sharing of themselves for the sake of family. This is not first of all a religious teaching, although Christ raised marriage to the level of a sacrament. This is an understanding of marriage from nature itself. Marriage predates our present government or any other and predates, as well, the founding of the Church. Marriage is not the creature of state or church, and neither a government nor the church has authority to change its nature. A government that claims such authority becomes totalitarian. What the Holy See concluded from the fact that there is neither biological nor moral equivalence between heterosexual marriage and homosexual unions is that there should be no legal equivalence either, in a well-ordered and wholesome society.

It is this conclusion, evidently, which was represented falsely as a "global campaign against gays." Because of a concerted campaign in movies and TV shows in recent years to shape public imagination and opinion into accepting same sex relations as normal and morally unexceptional, obvious truths now are considered evidence of homophobia. Because a morality based upon desires has largely supplanted a morality based upon the truth of things, a teaching which limits sexual self-expression of any sort becomes oppressive. In this context, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that people of homosexual orientation should be treated with every respect and with compassion; but the Catechism also teaches the truth about the nature of God's gift of human sexuality, a truth our bodies themselves proclaim and the lives of married couples attest to.

...The Holy Spirit invisibly anchors the Church in the truth of Christ. Truths of faith can be more adequately understood from age to age, but the Holy Spirit does not contradict himself. The Holy See, because of the personal office of the Successor of Peter, is a privileged and secure visible expression of the Spirit's guidance of the Church. Catholics therefore reverence the Petrine office as a gift from Christ himself and have a deep respect for the person holding that office. Divulging disinformation about the Pope, engaging in anti-papal propaganda, attacks all Catholics and is usually, in history, a preparation for active persecution of the Church. The Holy Father makes up nothing that he teaches. His is not the "opinion of the Vatican." His is the teaching of Jesus Christ, because he is the primary witness to the faith that unites us to Christ. In matters that are received over the ages and proclaimed by the Pope in ours, no person who disagrees to the point of denial can claim to hold the Catholic faith.

...The Pope is attacked for many reasons. In some Protestant circles, he is still regarded as the anti-Christ. Among secularists, his teaching office is a threat to human freedom. Among disaffected Catholics, the Pope must be discredited so that Catholics will be forced to change their faith. And the headline writers of the Sun-Times? I do not know their motivation. A bishop likes to presuppose good will, and what they did would find an echo in many places; but what I must say today is that a line has been crossed, and Chicago Catholics cannot ignore what has happened.

...I ask you to pray for the Holy Father; pray as well for the enemies of the Church; and let us pray for one another, for strength in the present and perseverance in the difficulties to come.

In these troubled times, it takes courage to stand up and be Catholic. It takes courage to live the sacrament of marriage. It takes courage to live a sacramental life. It takes courage to acknowedge our sinfulness and even more courage to answer the universal call to holiness. But thankfully, we can't do this by ourselves. We have God's grace and the promise of our precious Lord.

Approaching the Incarnate God

Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto.
I am a human being: nothing human is foreign to me.

     -Terence, 190-159 BC

Et Homo Factus Est. Only in the depth of God's Humanity am I raised to the height of God's Divinity. Deo Gratias.

The Episcopalian Message: A Response

Thanks to Bill Cork for pointing this out.

Episcopalian Rev. Kendall Harmon delivered this speech to the House of Deputies of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church today (Not the American Anglican Council as previously reported, thanks to the correction of an astute reader!), raising the very same issues that have been concerning me.

I rise on behalf of many members of this House in response to the action to consent to the election a person sexually active outside of Holy Matrimony.

Though many of you are celebrating, many of us are mourning. Let me tell you what some of us experienced last night.

A 24-year old woman, married just 5 weeks ago in the Episcopal Church, sobbed uncontrollably over what she felt was a betrayal by her Church.

A 56-year old layman said, "I've been faithful to God's sexual standards all my life and now my bishop and my church tell me it doesn't matter."

An anguished GenX youth minister feels his church now offers no support to his teenagers struggling to maintain sexual purity.

A rector has already received numerous emails telling him that faithful parishioners have now left his parish and your church.

...By contravening the "historic faith and order" [Preamble to the Constitution], this Convention sets itself against its own Constitution. And in thus acting unconstitutionally, this Convention now separates itself from the orthodox faith and breaks the ties that bind us to the rest of the Anglican Communion.

Let us please pray for all who are struggling right now.

Informed Consent? - Postfertilization Effects of Oral Contraceptives

Thanks to Fructus Ventris for the link to this article in the Archives of Family Medicine.

The primary mechanism of oral contraceptives is to inhibit ovulation, but this mechanism is not always operative. When breakthrough ovulation occurs, then secondary mechanisms operate to prevent clinically recognized pregnancy. These secondary mechanisms may occur either before or after fertilization. Postfertilization effects would be problematic for some patients, who may desire information about this possibility. This article evaluates the available evidence for the postfertilization effects of oral contraceptives and concludes that good evidence exists to support the hypothesis that the effectiveness of oral contraceptives depends to some degree on postfertilization effects. However, there are insufficient data to quantitate the relative contribution of postfertilization effects. Despite the lack of quantitative data, the principles of informed consent suggest that patients who may object to any postfertilization loss should be made aware of this information so that they can give fully informed consent for the use of oral contraceptives.

Are women really informed about all of the detrimental effects of the birth-control pill?

The Month of August

St. Augustine of Hippo

The month of August is one of my favorite months in the liturgical year. Not only is the Holy Feast of the Assumption in August (August 15th), but also the Feast Day of my beloved patron saint and friend, Augustine (August 28th). I'll be blogging more as the days approach. Holy Spirit, powerful Consoler, sacred Bond of the Father and the Son, Hope of the afflicted, descend into my heart and establish in it your loving dominion. Enkindle in my tepid soul the fire of your Love so that I may be wholly subject to you. We believe that when you dwell in us, yolu also prepare a dwelling for the Father and the Son. Deign, therefore, to come to me, Consoler of abandoned souls, and Protector of the needy. Help the afflicted, strengthen the weak, and support the wavering. Come and purify me. Let no evil desire take possession of me. You love the humble and resist the proud. Come to me, glory of the living, and hope of the dying. Lead me by your grace that I may always be pleasing to you. Amen. Saint Augustine of Hippo

More Schism in the Anglican Communion

On a more controversial note, I have some opinions regarding the recent confirmed election of Rev. Gene Robinson by the Bishops of the Episcopalian Church.

I've been following this story for quite some time now. For me, it was never so much about Gene Robinson, the man. I've never met him. It wasn't even so much about Gene Robinson, the man with a homosexual orientation, since in my opinion that doesn't necessarily provide an impediment to living a healthy, chaste, Christian life. Rather, it was about Gene Robinson, the man who openly endorses extra-marital sexual activity, even instrinsically disordered sexual activity, opposed to natural law, such as sodomy. In a world that is in dire need of strong Christian leaders, consider what a blow this is to Christian morality. In confirming Gene Robinson as Bishop, the Episcopal Church has blessed the desecration of the marital state by saying that it is okay for a Christian leader to engage in homosexual intercourse outside of marriage. It seems to me that implicit in this is blanket blessing of sexual intercourse outside of the marital state, homosexual or heterosexual, for any Episcopalian. Is this not true? How do the Episcopalian Bishops justify this to their flock? By arguing that pre-marital and extra-marital sexual intercourse is okay as long as there is love, or fidelity, and that sex doesn't really need to have anything to do with being married at all? What message do you think this sends to youth?

It is of no surprise to me that the Anglican/Episcopalian Church is teetering on the edge of more division amongst itself.

What a contrast this is to the beautiful, life-affirming sacramental definition of sexual intercourse within the blessed union of Holy Matrimony as the Catholic Church has consistently tried to convey. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has taken a lot of heat for releasing its new document, CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING PROPOSALS TO GIVE LEGAL RECOGNITION TO UNIONS BETWEEN HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS, particularly from the secular press. So basically, in recent days we have had two major statements from two major Christian communions. One stands up for the teachings of Christ and natural law, while the other is a complete compromise on those teachings to suit the world's good feelings. One is difficult to accept because it challenges us to live our lives for Christ, while the other is easy to accept because it says its okay to live our lives for ourselves.

Religious Practical Jokes

From expagan.com's humor page:

If you are an Evangelical / Fundamentalist Dispensationalist

Wake up earlier than your spouse. Be very quiet. Take your pajamas and put them in the bed in the exact same position as you were laying. Cover them back up. If you have children, wake them up and tell them to be very quiet. Put their pajamas back into the bed in a sleeping position.

Go out to breakfast, If you can, don't take the car.

The Joy of Latin Mnemonics

Just when you think they're gone with a former era, they come back.

Prepositions which take the ablative case:
SID P. SPACE - the Ablative Astronaut

Sine In De   Prae   Sub Pro Ab Cum Ex


Ablative Cheer - best done with pom-poms, preferably in school colors.

ab, cum, de
play, team, play
sine, pro
go, team, go
sub, ex, in
win, team, win.

The Difference between AB and AD:

in ad the round part of the d points toward the a in ab the round part of
the b points away from the a

The Seven Hills of Rome:

The Seven Hills of Rome: Can Queen Victoria Eat Cold Apple Pie?
Capitoline, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, Aventine, Palatine

The Seven Kings of Rome:

Roman Noodles Toss And Turn, Save Them!
Romulus, Numa Pompilius, Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Marcius, Tarquinius
Priscus, Servius Tullius, Tarquinius Superbus

The Roman Month:

In March, July, October, May
The Ides are on the fifteenth day;
The Nones the seventh; but all besides
Have two days less for Nones and Ides.

Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum

Check out the Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum, a collaborative effort to assemble a digital library containing the entire corpus of Latin Literature.

The Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum (CSL) is a collaborative project among scholars from a variety of disciplines with the main purpose of creating a digital library of the entire body of Latin literature, spanning from the earliest epigraphic remains to the Neo-Latinists of the eighteenth century. As a first step toward this end, we maintain an up-to-date catalogue of all Latin texts that are currently available online, making CSL a single, centralized resource for locating Latin literature on the internet. If you can't find a text or translation through this site, odds are that it does not yet exist online.

It's part of Forum Romanum, one of my favorite Internet resources.

St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral

In my free time I love to visit churches around, and while there are many in Santa Barbara worth mentioning (and I will, eventually), the talk of Cathedrals has given me pause to reflect on one of my favorite churches down in Los Angeles - the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sophia. St. Sophia's is actually located in Koreatown, though at the time of its construction, it was primarily Greek. Notable parishioners included actor Telly Savalas among others, but it is quite remarkably one of the most beautful churches I have ever seen - worth a visit if you are ever in the area. Here are some pictures from the website to give you the idea:

Looking East toward the Holy Altar

The Holy Altar and Icon Screen, with Bishop's Throne on the far right and pulpit on the far left

But take my word for it - these pictures are nothing like the real thing. The website explains the architecture of the building, both inside and out. From the outside, the building is rather unassuming. You really aren't quite sure what to expect before you step inside and find your senses overwhelmed.

Voodoo still widely popular in Carribean nations

CNN.com - Voodoo pilgrimages draw thousands

New Latin Blog?

I had thought about this myself, but being a beginner, I knew I would've been in over my head. So it's even better that Fr. Jim Tucker and friends over at Dappled Things head such an effort! I would be a regular visitor!

Cardinal Arinze at the Cathedral, A Joy to be Catholic

Cardinal Francis Arinze, preceded by Cardinal Roger Mahony and Msgr. Paul Albee, processes toward the altar at the beginning of Mass July 20 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Looks like Cardinal Arinze's mass at the new Cathedral in Los Angeles proceeded without a hitch:

More than 2,000 people, including immigrants and visitors from several African countries, attended the 3:30 p.m. Mass, concelebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahony and culminating weekend festivities commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Igbo (Nigerian) Catholic Community in Southern California.

In his opening remarks, Cardinal Arinze thanked Cardinal Mahony for welcoming the church of God "in its many colors" with "God's people" from many parts of Africa and around the world.

...He added, "The church teaches us the Ten Commandments, the church teaches us human rights, ...the rights of the family; justice and peace... harmony, living together as brothers and sisters."

The church also teaches the importance of being a good citizen, as well as standing up for the rights of the unborn, said Cardinal Arinze. "Nobody pretends that being a Christian is easy," he added.

At the same time, the cardinal reminded the assembly, "there is room for everybody in the church," which has "no reserved seats." He concluded his homily by saying, "It is a joy to be a Catholic."

The best part was this:

At the end of the liturgy, Cardinal Arinze announced that the Los Angeles Archdiocese would receive a gift of relics of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi. The previous day, Cardinals Arinze and Mahony had participated in the dedication of the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi Shrine at St. Cecilia Church in Los Angeles. Blessed Tansi, who was known for his work with the poor in Nigeria, was beatified in 1998 and, if canonized, will be the first West African saint.

Remember that Cardinal Arinze was himself baptized by Blessed Tansi in 1958. And let us not forget Cardinal Arinze's own comments about the Cathedral itself:

Cardinal Arinze --- as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments, the Vatican's top liturgy official --- publicly congratulated Cardinal Mahony for the extraordinary turnout of people for the day's event as well as for the new cathedral which he described as "really original."

He said the cathedral "delivers a message" that God is "transcendent." He prayed that visitors to the cathedral would be enlivened and quickened in faith.

You bet it's original! :)

This is a followup to my earlier blog about Cardinal Francis Arinze being in Los Angeles for a liturgy at the Cathedral and also a dedication of a chapel to Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.

Back Again

Got back from Pittsburgh late Friday evening after a small delay in Phoenix. This trip was good though I wasn't able to see much of the city of Pittsburgh itself due to lack of time, but oh well. It's good to be back, and I've had enough flying around the country to last me a long while.

Yesterday Christina and I took a trip down to Pasadena to her cousin's first-year birthday, which was quite the party! Puppet show and everythng. On our way back to Santa Barbara, we stopped off at St. Andrew's Catholic Church in Pasadena, where members of her family are registered. A truly remarkable building, to say the least!

Clock Tower

High Altar

View of the Sanctuary

Side Chapel Altar

It's good to be back in Santa Barbara also for the annual celebration of La Fiesta and Old Spanish Days. It's one of the better cultural and historical events that Santa Barbara has to offer.

More business trips

Behold, the time has come for yet another business trip - this time not to Dallas but to the Texas Instruments Pittsburgh site. I'm leaving Tuesday and will be gone through Friday. After this trip, things should settle down once again!

O quam gloriosum est regnum in quo Christo gaudent omnes sancti!
Amicti stolis albis Agnum sequuntur quocumque ierit.

O how glorious is the kingdom in which all the saints rejoice with Christ.
Arrayed in white robes, they follow the lamb wherever he goes.

Avez-vous un e-mail? Non, j'ai seulement un courriel!

According to this article, the Ministry of Culture in France is banning the word e-mail in all government ministries, documents, publications and Web sites in deference to the term courrier electronique, better expressed as courriel. The Ministry of Culture and the French Academy have been trying for several years to prevent the infiltration of the English language into French in order to preserve the French language as much as possible. But I believe that, inevitably, linguistic evolution will dominate.

Oddly enough, we used courriel in all of my French literature and composition courses at the university, so I never figured that this particular battle over words was too significant. But I guess that is what they are worried about the most - linguistic infiltration is slow and subtle, and before you know it, you have a completely new language! In a French popular culture class that I took, we studied the effect the English language is having on spoken French, particularly among French youth, and it is really extraordinary. Franglais, we called it, is much like the phenomenon of Spanglish out here in Southern California:

Je vais pas filer mon number à un keum quand j'ai un plan girlfriends soir ce!

C'est cool up ici! C'est bien cool!

Je le trust pas, il m'a pas caré de la résoi.

Arrête de me chauffer, tu me laves trop le cerveau avec tes stories de tomi.

The Pill's dark secrets

Valerie Nahmad, of the Chicago Tribune (registration required), writes a pretty biased, but nonetheless interesting article concerning one of the many side effects of the birth control pill: sexual dysfunction.

The exact cause is unknown and the issue is rarely discussed, but it is a medical fact that oral contraceptives can cause sexual dysfunction in women, often in the form of decreased libido, vaginal dryness and painful intercourse.

The issue has been studied only twice since the pill's appearance in American markets 40 years ago. Research is so insufficient that doctors do not know which pills are more likely to cause sexual dysfunction, which patients are more likely to suffer from it or how to best treat it. Doctors speculate that the effect is triggered by the pill's manipulation of various hormones, including testosterone, estrogen and progesterone, but they cannot say for sure.

Of course, this particular side effect is minor when compared to the fact that one of the safe-guard functions of the pill, should breakthrough ovulation occur, is to reduce the entrometrial lining in the uterus in order to prevent embryonic implantation, which basically results in an abortion when the embryo is then discarded (Some estimate that this occurs as many as 3 or 4 times per woman, per year) - and also when compared with the pill's potential risks for breast cancer and other problems, which is currently being studied, caused by the pill's manipulation of various hormones that basically force a woman's body to malfunction in its attempts to suppress ovulation. It is for this reason that the pill should not be considered medication, as though it was something that helps the body heal from some disease, unless you consider children a disease.

Nahmad also says this:

Indeed, there are several benefits to oral contraception, most notably its role in liberating women from pregnancy concerns.

When children are something people have to be liberated from, the future of our civilization is grim indeed. What did I say about considering children a disease?

I am so grateful and appreciative for the Catholic Church's beautiful teaching on human sexuality, which stand against the pervasive lies in our society and seeks to affirm the human dignity of both woman and man and the sacred, sacramental nature of the sexual act itself. The Church inspires me to speak up for truth and human dignity even when it's counter-cultural. For more information on approved methods of natural family planning, or to network with couples throughout the nation who practice it, contact the Couple-To-Couple League.

Thanks to Alicia at Fructus Ventris for the article link.

Meowlingual?


At first I thought this article was a joke! How in the world can you even measure the linguistic inferences of a cat? It's like translating baby noises into spoken English. I'll charge you half as much to tell you what your cat is saying. Feed me, go away, or, I don't care.

World Youth Day 2005

The official webpage for World Youth Day 2005, which will be in Cologne, Germany, is now online. Unfortunately the English version is still under construction. On a more interesting note, the Cathedral in Cologne is the place where tradition holds the remains of the three wise men are kept:

Has anybody taken the time to research this story? Who has been to Cologne?

Today's Epistle - Eph. 1:3-14

A reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,
as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,
to be holy and without blemish before him.
In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ,
in accord with the favor of his will,
for the praise of the glory of his grace
that he granted us in the beloved.
In him we have redemption by his blood,
the forgiveness of transgressions,
in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.
In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us
the mystery of his will in accord with his favor
that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times,
to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

In him we were also chosen,
destined in accord with the purpose of the One
who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will,
so that we might exist for the praise of his glory,
we who first hoped in Christ.
In him you also, who have heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him,
were sealed with the promised holy Spirit,
which is the first installment of our inheritance
toward redemption as God's possession, to the praise of his glory.

The Passion

Here is the infamous movie trailer for Mel Gibson's upcoming film, The Passion. The film will recount the last few hours of Jesus' life, with dialog being in two prevalent tongues of the day: Latin and Aramaic. Caution: The trailer is about 22 MB. You will have a better chance if you have a direct Internet connection.

Yes, it looks magnificent. I hadn't blogged on this before, and while I am looking forward to the movie's release, and while I also think that rightful criticism should wait until the film is out, I nevertheless think that those who have asked questions as to the possible anti-semitic tones in the script haven't been treated fairly by those who see them as somehow attacking the film. From what I have seen, a script was released, people saw it, and based on that and other things, they felt it important to ask some good questions regarding the nature of some of the elements in the script. From what I see, this amounts to nothing more than honest inquiry, which we as Christians should welcome in order to ensure that a film about Christ, albeit his last few hours, is as honestly and factually portrayed as possible. I disagree with those who feel that asking questions somehow constitutes an attack, even if those questions are challenging. If the story in the film is legitimately told, it should be strong enough to stand up to challenging questions, which we should have no problem asking. A sort of advocatus diaboli, if you will. I have seen very little honest answers given and a lot more hateful drivel than I care to see from Christians regarding the matter.

I can judge a film based on its plot, cinematography, music, and character development when it is released. But if a script is put in front of me (however that happens), and if what I read prompts me to ask some questions as to what will be in the final release, why should my questions be met with hostility and not with charity?

Exhortatio Ante Matrimonium

Fr. Jim over at Dappled Things has been bogging on and off about the wonders, beauties, and intricacies of Catholic marriage. One such post today concerns the exhortation that had been given at marriages prior to the Second Vatican Council, which I agree is quite beautiful:

Dear friends in Christ: As you know, you are about to enter into a union which is most sacred and most serious, a union which was established by God Himself. By it, He gave to man a share in the greatest work of creation, the work of the continuation of the human race. And in this way He sanctified human love and enabled man and woman to help each other live as children of God, by sharing a common life under His fatherly care.

Because God Himself is thus its author, marriage is of its very nature a holy institution, requiring of those who enter into it a complete and unreserved giving of self. But Christ our Lord added to the holiness of marriage an even deeper meaning and a higher beauty. He referred to the love of marriage to describe His own love for His Church, that is, for the People of God whom He redeemed by His own blood. And so He gave to Christians a new vision of what married life ought to be, a life of self-sacrificing love like His own. It is for this reason that His Apostle, St Paul, clearly states that marriage is now and for all time to be considered a great mystery, intimately bound up with the supernatural union of Christ and the Church, which union is also to be its pattern.

This union is most serious, because it will bind you together for life in a relationship so close and so intimate, that it will profoundly influence your whole future. That future, with its hopes and disappointments, its successes and failures, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows, is hidden from your eyes. You know that these elements are mingled in every life, and are to be expected in your own. And so, not knowing what is before you, you take each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death.

Truly, then, these words are most serious. It is a beautiful tribute to your undoubted faith in each other, that, recognizing their full import, you are nevertheless so willing and ready to pronounce them. And because these words involve such solemn obligations, it is most fitting that you rest the security of your wedded life upon the great principle of self-sacrifice. And so you begin your married life by the voluntary and complete surrender of your individual lives in the interest of that deeper and wider life which you are to have in common. Henceforth you belong entirely to each other; you will be one in mind, one in heart, and one in affections. And whatever sacrifices you may hereafter be required to make to preserve this common life, always make them generously. Sacrifice is usually difficult and irksome. Only love can make it easy; and perfect love can make it a joy. We are willing to give in proportion as we love. And when love is perfect, sacrifice is complete. God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son; and the Son so loved us that He gave Himself for our salvation. "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

No greater blessing can come to your married life than pure conjugal love, loyal and true to the end. May, then, this love with which you join your hands and hearts today, never fail, but grow deeper and stronger as the years go on. And if true love and the unselfish spirit of perfect sacrifice guide your every action, you can expect the greatest measure of earthly happiness that may be allotted to man in this vale of tears. The rest is in the hands of God. Nor will God be wanting to your needs; He will pledge you the life-long support of His graces in the Holy Sacrament which you are now going to receive.

Catholicity in Liturgical Diversity

I really enjoyed Bill's post concerning catholicity. It's one of the reasons why I love this Church so much!

Today, the languages of liturgy are many. In the diocese of Galveston-Houston, masses are celebrated in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Polish, French, Czech, Igbo, and other languages. The Eastern Churches are well represented by Ukrainian, Ruthenian, Syro-Malabar, Maronite, and Syro-Malankara. There is an Anglican Use parish, where the Gospel is proclaimed and lived in the cadences of the olde King's English.

I'm still itching to see an Anglican Use liturgy! But the thing that I love the most is that in this catholicity there is also unity, not necessarily uniformity. Regardless of where I attend it, the mass is still the mass, and Jesus is still Jesus, and that I can receive Him into my being in His very Body and Blood is awesome.

Cardinal Arinze at the Cathedral

It looks like Cardinal Francis Arinze, himself a Nigerian native, will be celebrating a mass for the Igbo Nigerian community in Los Angeles at the new Los Angeles Cathedral on July 20th at 3pm. I wish I could get down to the Cathedral for the mass, but I don't think I will be able to. They will also be dedicating a chapel to Bl. Michael Iwene Tansi at St. Cecilia's Catholic Church in Los Angeles the day before. Back in 1998, I interned at the Chancery of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and got to spend time with a lot of priests and seminarians involved with the Missions office. In particular, I lived with a Nigerian seminarian who introduced me to the customs of the Igbo community there. I remember most fondly the Igbo Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Cecilia's he invited me to, which was one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had. Following that mass, there was a celebration. At that time, I was also blessed to sit next to a Claretian missionary from Nigeria who took time to explain to me the significance of everything that was done.

Back in Santa Barbara

Well after a busy week in Dallas, I have returned to Santa Barbara - at least for the week. From one soap-opera city to another. Dallas is fun, but it's good to be back in 75 degree weather :) We worked hard to get our software release out by our Friday afternoon deadline. I was working in Dallas with the hardware, and my co-worker, Ken, was working in Hong Kong packaging the release. All of these timezones make teamwork very interesting! I was impressed with how well we are all able to work together to accomplish some pretty amazing things. A week from this Tuesday I fly out again to Pittsburgh for the week.

Business trips

I work for Texas Instruments, and as I've said, things have been very busy lately. And tomorrow, I leave for Dallas to the TI "mother-ship" for the week. I'll be back the following week, only to be flying out to Pittsburgh the week after that. :) I've never been as far East as Pittsburgh, so even if it's for business, it should still be fun.

I will blog when I return from Dallas and before the second trip.

New Comments System

I know that there are no perfect comment systems, but enetation has been acting miserably the last few weeks. So I switched to Haloscan, which seems to be more reliable. I sorry to say that previous comments were unfortunately reset :(

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but ne'er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
'Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I'm weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile:
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

-from the collection of Joshua Smith, 1784

Bring on the genetically engineered she-males?

This article is mind blowing:

Dr. Norbert Gleicher of the Foundation for Reproductive Medicine in Chicago and a colleague injected male cells into female embryos in research which they believe could lead to better treatments or cures for single gene disorders.

...Their work also sparked outrage from abortion opponents who described it as run-away science. "This is gross manipulation of human life," said Nuala Scarisbrick of British anti-abortion charity Life.

Would something like this ever become accepted in our society? God help us.

To be or not to be Goth

I was reflecting a little on my experience in high school. Most kids tend to hover around a group mentality where fundamentally it is the group that sets the standards of what is popular, fashionable, or unpopular. Kids form cliques and go through phases and in the end, God willing, they become adults. As they grow, they learn to build a moral compass rooted in an informed conscience by which they can judge things for themselves instead of looking toward the group for all of their answers. The ways in which some kids accomplish this has always interested me. Particularly these phases. My half-sister went through a big KISS phase in the 80s. It was around everything she did. She wanted to look like them, act like them, and be them as she embraced their music. She eventually grew out of it as she matured. Other kids idolize zealots like Marylin Manson. And others find themselves embracing groups and behaviors that many of us might deem bizarre.

Depending on what they are, subcultures are an interesting study. Sometimes they aren't as obvious as we think. The Goth subculture is one in particular that has fascinated me. Right now I am not going to focus on the religious ramifications of Goths, per se, but the sociological. I knew a few growing up. Typically I guess its a phase, but I always wonder, what brings it on? I could characterize the Goths whom I knew as living in some sort of bottomless, communal depression. My friends tried to portray themselves as deep and unknowable. They rebelled against anything society deemed good or sacred. They wanted to be deep because they felt they were living in a shallow culture. And therefore whatever society said was good was no longer interesting - coupled with an overwhelming desire to be different. This brings me to my point. In knowing the Goths that I knew, it was the Goth attitude that seemed more shallow to me. In a way, it was a sort of fundamentalism. Instead of recognizing the many diverse and opposing elements that make up a human society where human beings live, they rejected everything and invented their own society in a way. But they could not escape the fact that anything they could invent would always have been fundamentally rooted in the very society they were trying to obscure. That's what makes Goth satires like Goth Talk on Saturday Night Life so hilarious.

Our lair is located along a dark and sinister route, enshouded by weeping willows, a block and a half from the Pizza Hut. I am Circe Nightshade, and with me is Azrael Abyss, the Prince of Sorrow. Azrael had to work late last night at CinnaBuns, in the mall.

It's also what makes it very juvenile, which explains why being Goth is a phase that a person usually outgrows.

So what about the religious ramifications? Many of the Goths I knew rejected religion - well, they rejected the image of it put forth by society, and they did so very often superficially. But didn't I say that sometimes subcultures aren't as obvious as we might think? Case in point is xnetgoth.com:

...you will encounter a worldwide community of Goths and other outcasts that have one thing in common: The Christian faith. This is no ordinary website, it is made up of those who walk in the shadows cast by the Light of the world.

Yes you read it right - Christian Goths, walking in the shadows of the Light of the world. Yeah, it makes little sense, but hey. Reading through some of the discussions, I can see right away that this is a different type of Goth than those whom I knew growing up. Cynicism largely characterized those whom I knew, but what characterizes these Goths is optimism. They have come farther than the Goths that I knew. These Goths actually realize that sure, society can be shallow, but it is given a depth because it is redeemable. What, then, is the point? If it amounts to being different, okay - which shows that this, too, is a phase. I will not say that every person at that website is a Christian., but the mere existence of such a site is interesting, n'est-ce pas?

Vatican Museums

Vatican Museums is now online at the Vatican website, click here to enter.

Thanks to Dappled Things for the link.

The King's good servant, but God's First



Today is also typically the feast day of St. Thomas More, though as many bloggers have noted, it is superceded by the feast of Corpus Christi. Seeing as how Thomas More has become one of my dearest friends in Heaven, I thought I should mention something about him. I am of English descent myself, and so I enjoy reading about the history of England, particularly about the history of the Church of England, especially the pre-"Reformation" Church. Thomas More figures in that history significantly as an honorable statesman and lawyer as well as Lord Chancellor of England. When the Pope refused to grant Henry VIII a divorce from Catherine, which the Pope considered to be a valid marriage, in order that he could marry Anne Boleyn, Henry decided to assume authority for himself. More was imprisoned because he refused to swear to the Oath of Supremacy, which acknowledged the King's new title as Supreme Head of the Church in England, thereby contradicting the jurisdictional authority of the Bishop of Rome. More was later found guilty of high treason and lost his life, due largely to false testimony against him.

It should be noted that when most people, particularly textbooks, try to tell the story of why the Church would not grant Henry the divorce, they often paint the Church as some sort of monolithic structure which, on a whim of its own design, decided not to yield to Henry's desires. In truth, modern historians know precious little about Canon Law and what is meant by the validity or the invalidity of marriages. In truth, there were valid reasons for which the Church did not grant Henry a divorce. Henry had argued that his marriage to Catherine was null because he had married his brother's widow, which was a violation of the Levitical command (Leviticus 18:16), which would mean that his marriage was unlawful and therefore a divorce could be procured. However, historians often fail to note that the Pope proved that Henry's marriage to Catherine was indeed lawful because her marriage to Henry's brother was never consummated. Henry's brother was sickly and died early. There was also an exception to Leviticus given in Deuteronomy 25:5. That is why the Pope gave Henry the dispensation allowing him to marry Catherine in the first place. Therefore, a divorce could not be procured, evidence which Henry apparently chose to ignore.

St. Thomas More is my friend because I look to him as a role model and ask for his prayers for me. If you are interested in learning more about him and reading some of his short and long works, please visit the luminarium website, which is chock full of information.

St. Thomas More, pray for us.

Corpus Christi

John 6:56-59

In illo tempore: Dixit Iesus turbis Iudaeorum: Caro mea vere est cibus, et sanguis meus vere est potus. Qui manducat carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet, et ego in illo. Sicut misit me vivens Pater, et ego vivo propter Patrem: et qui manducat me, et ipse vivet propter me. Hic est panis, qui de caelo descendit. Non sicut manducaverunt patres vestri manna, et mortui sunt. Qui manducat hunc panem, vivet in aeternum.