Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi,
Quia per Sanctam Crucem Tuam, redemisti mundum.
Amen.

Fr. Stan Fortuna

Fr. Stan Fortuna, one of the original friars of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the Bronx and founder of Francesco Productions, will be giving a weekend series of conferences at my parish out here in Santa Barbara next weekend (Sept. 19-21) and will be celebrating masses throughout the weekend. I've heard about him through EWTN but don't know much more about him. He is dubbed the hip, rapper priest from the south bronx and our youth ministry is going absolutely crazy over his upcoming visit.

You can hear some of his music here. Very interesting. Do any of you know much about him? I am familiar with the Friars, especially with their founder, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, who came out to my hometown parish several years ago for a talk.

I'll most certainly blog about it after the weekend!

Waiting for Pope's death?

I was a little concerned when I read this, but perhaps it is just me - let me know what you think. CNN/Reuters posted an interesting news report this weekend speaking about the Pope's visit to Slovakia. Of all the things they could've written about, here is the headline:

Pope appears weak on Slovak tour

Although I encourage you to read the whole article, here are some snippets that concern me:

The 83-year-old pope, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and can no longer walk, had difficulty pronouncing the prayers at the mass...

The pope, who has looked exceptionally weak on his 102nd trip abroad, braved stiff winds...

Speaking in a feeble voice at the end of the two-hour mass, he told them and others who had entered the country to see him: "Your turnout and singing has pleased my heart."

The pope started the trip on Thursday and was so weak that aides had to help him finish his two speeches on his first day.

His strength bounced back a bit on Friday, ... but on Saturday he seemed very weak again...

The pope often had his head slumped in his hands as his delegate read his sermon, which was mostly about religious themes...

Given the pope's advancing age and ailments, his followers are turning out in droves knowing each trip to his native central Europe, where he spurred the struggle against Soviet domination and was instrumental in its fall, could be his last.

But his message so far on the trip, which ends on Sunday, has so far been obscured by fears over his health as he approaches the 25th anniversary of his election next month.

I grant that it said a few good things, particularly about things the pope had done, such as contribute to the fall of the Soviet Union, but what do you think their aim is with this particular article? It certainly isn't to portray an active, high-spirited pope. So why do they believe he even took this trip?

He suffers physically in his body, but his mind is clear, competent, and focused. The Holy Father is still perfectly deserving of the title John Paul the Great, even if he has trouble standing. Was not Pope St. Gregory the Great extremely ill during his final years as pope? Of Gregory the Great, newadvent.org states:

What makes his achievement more wonderful is his constant ill-health. He suffered almost continually from indigestion and, at intervals, from attacks of slow fever, while for the last half of his pontificate he was a martyr to gout. In spite of these infirmities, which increased steadily, his biographer, Paul the Deacon, tells us "he never rested" (Vita, XV).

Pope John Paul II is not too different. I saw this perfectly clear at World Youth Day last year in Toronto. The weak pope flew in to pray with us, celebrate Holy Mass with us, encourage us, teach us about Christ and the beauty of grace. One thing that I love about this pope is that just when the world thinks he is ready to throw in the towel, he surprises them with yet another trip, another letter, another prayer. When CNN writes about Stephen Hawking, what do you think they focus on? The fact that he is severely physically disabled, confined to a wheelchair, or the fact that he is one of the most brilliant minds of our day who never quits contributing to his field.

September 11th, 2001

Requiem aeternam dona eis domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Amen.

Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church

The parish of Our Lady of Sorrows was established in downtown Santa Barbara by the Society of Jesus in 1909. The original church was destroyed in the earthquake of 1925 (see Mission picture below), and so the present church was constructed soon afterward. It's a truly magnificent structure - a magnificent church filled with warm, Santa Barbara colors. On the inside, it is lined with stained glass, side altars, and confessionals. On the outside, for many years, the church had been painted pink until it was repainted white only about three years ago. The Jesuits still staff the parish, and in fact, my Jesuit spiritual director is in residence here.

Inside, looking down through the nave	View of the sanctuary from the nave
Closer view of the sanctuary. The large crucifix was only installed about two years ago. Prior to that time, there had been a small baldachino above the tabernacle topped by a much smaller crucifix.	The High Altar
Looking back through the nave from the sanctuary	Altar of Our Lady of Sorrows

Like the Santa Barbara Mission, there are so many remarkable details. I'd like to go back and get pictures of some of the stained glass. That will have to be another time.

The First Computer Bug

September 9th, 1945. Read all about it and even see it here.

Moth found trapped between points at Relay # 70, Panel F, of the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator while it was being tested at Harvard University, 9 September 1945. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found". They put out the word that they had "debugged" the machine, thus introducing the term "debugging a computer program". In 1988, the log, with the moth still taped by the entry, was in the Naval Surface Warfare Center Computer Museum at Dahlgren, Virginia.

Celebrities in Santa Barbara?!

Ben and J-Lo will be married in Santa Barbara

I already suspect that the location in the article is not the actual location, and no, I'm not trying to pass on the latest gossip - just trying to make a point of interest. For celebrities, Santa Barbara is a very popular spot. I have lived here for almost eight years, and I'm still realizing that. But there's more to Santa Barbara than many realize. You see, back in 1910, Santa Barbara was considered to be the future of the film-making industry - the film capital of the world! Only around 1920 did the motion picture industry move to Hollywood. Of particular interest is the Flying A Studio, California's first major studio, which was opened in Santa Barbara by the American Film Company around 1910. Believe it or not, more than 1200 films, mostly Westerns, were made during the studio's 10 years of existence.

Santa Barbara is nestled between mountains and the sea, and so naturally, for more than a few of Flying A's films, the local vistas doubled for the most exotic of locales. Our local mountains were once doubled as the Swiss Alps, and the Channel Islands of the Santa Barbara Channel were once doubled as South Sea islands.

So why did the film industry move? Well, it was soon realized that Santa Barbara offered little room for development and expansion of the industry. A true blessing in disguise... :)

Santa Barbara Churches

The next Santa Barbara church I plan to discuss is the beautiful Jesuit parish of Our Lady of Sorrows in downtown Santa Barbara. My computer died last week, and so I lost many of my pictures, but thankfully they are still in my digital camera and so I will have them online soon! I promise!

There's something rotten in St. Blog's

Bill Cork picks up on an observation made by Gerard at Catholic Blog for Lovers concerning some Catholic bloggers around who appear to be miserably unhappy!

...there are Catholics who are miserably unhappy with the Church and her hierarchy. Failure after failure is pointed out, name after name is vilified. The worst is believed about any and all. They come across, in the words of Pope John XXIII, as dreary prophets of gloom. Misery!

I agree. They are what Ignatius of Antioch referred to as the "noxious weeds" who imagine there is a Catholicism without the bishop. I've been particularly disgusted with the way some people, who know not a single bishop, attack bishops I know to be good men. They speak of "arrogance." Arrogance?!

Amen. This is precisely the reason why I will not link to some blogs that are considered to be pretty popular. It's horribly draining for me to read post after post of the same bitching and moaning, complaining and blaming, deriding Bishops of our church as far as the eye can see. And the worst of it is that many times the only source they have is calumnious speculation from some secular news magazine claiming to preach the truth. If that isn't the poorest apologetics witness I have ever seen, then Catholic evangelization is in serious trouble. I'd prefer to read an edifying blog, one that celebrates the Catholic faith, and while looking realistically at the sinful nature we all share, exhorts us to turn our eyes to the Savior who has redeemed us from whom we receive the Catholic faith - that which is transmitted infallibly by Christ through the hands of the successors to Peter and the Apostles, our Bishops. They're human - they have always been human. But we can do nothing without them! It's so easy to point the finger. But I can tell you that if *I* were a Bishop, people would be calling for my head by now! So instead of berating our Bishops, support them with powerful, prayerful intercession. Pray for your Bishop daily. Do it! It is our duty.

It is fitting, then, not only to be called Christians, but to be so in reality. For it is not the being called so, but the being really so, that renders a man blessed. To those who indeed talk of the bishop, but do all things without him, will He who is the true and first Bishop, and the only High Priest by nature, declare, "Why call ye Me Lord, and do not the things which I say?" For such persons seem to me not possessed of a good conscience, but to be simply dissemblers and hypocrites.

     -Epistle of St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, to the Magnesians, Chapter IV (c. 100 AD)

Mormon Missionaries in Louisiana

Some days in the lives of Mormon Missionaries in Louisiana. Having had a number of friends who were missionaries and devout members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I found this article to be quite interesting as it reveals a bit of the human side many people don't see beyond the knock at your door and the pointed questions. There is a great deal about Mormon theology that we, of course, dispute. Yet I post this merely to show that these missionaries are not evil incarnate or some grand enemy but rather human beings. It is therefore up to us to treat them with respect and not be afraid to engage them with our faith, not out of animosity, but out of a desire to share what we ourselves know to be God's complete revelation in Jesus Christ.

The Hip Pope



Where can I get one of those papal laptops? Is that a Dell?
I wonder if it has a "Phototour of the Vatican" screen saver.

Thanks to Holy Whapping for the picture link.

What did you say?

I've been meaning to plug the website Lost In Translation for a long time. Computational Linguistics, better known as Natural Language Processing, concerns itself with the algorithmic, linguistic processing of human language. It is a very tricky field with many problems to solve. While there are good techniques, they are hardly practical. Some of the more basic algorithms are available for use in translation on the web through mechanisms such as babelfish, but only for the most basic of expressions, as Lost In Translation demonstrates. As soon as you introduce complexity in the syntax and meaning of words, these algorithmic methods break down.

What happens when an English phrase is translated (by computer) back and forth between 5 different languages? The authors of the Systran translation software probably never intended this application of their program. As of July 2003, translation software is almost good enough to turn grammatically correct, slang-free text from one language into grammatically incorrect, barely readable approximations in another. But the software is not equipped for 10 consecutive translations of the same piece of text. The resulting half-English, half-foreign, and totally non sequitur response bears almost no resemblance to the original.

Classic Examples:
I'm a little tea pot, short and stout.
translates to
They are a small POTENTIOMETER, short circuits and a beer of malzes of the tea.

a cookie is just a cookie, but fig newtons are fruit and cake.
translates to
biskuit has expert of biskuit, but Newton von Fig is fruit and hardens.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore.
translates to
If the moon fixes its eye like a great vector of Fleischpie of the vector of Pizzapie, is the lover.

These algorithms don't even come close to modeling the linguistic capacity of the human brain, but the research is promising! Of course, even we, humans, sometimes get it wrong, as former US Presidential Candidate George Romney expressed back in 1967 when he said:

I know you believe you understood what you think I said,
but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant!

Santa Barbara Mission

Continuing my profile of beautiful Santa Barbara Churches and Chapels, I, of course, must bring attention to the beautiful Mission Santa Barbara, the Queen of the Missions, which, since its initial foundation in 1786, has been staffed by the Order of Friars Minor. Today it is still an active parish in Santa Barbara. It is also one of most conspicuous land marks around, considered by many to be the heart of the city. Much of the structure was damanged when an earthquake hit Santa Barbara in 1925.

Front of the Mission immediately after earthquake of 1925.

Much of it has since been reconstructed: Front of the Mission today

View of the Pacific Ocean from the Mission steps. Imagine this sight toward the end of the 18th century (minus the houses, of course)!

Original altar on display near the baptistry. The Santa Barbara Mission is the only mission that still has its entire original altar completely intact and on display. Notice the statue of St. Barbara above the tabernacle.

Inside, in spite of the earthquake damage, things look almost as they have for the last 100 years!

View of the rest of the nave and choir loft.

Within the Mission complex is the Sacred Garden, originally used for catechizing the California natives.

If you ever visit the Mission, you'll notice that this mission, like many, has an elaborate aqeduct system that runs through the Mission complex. This system was originally fed by water from a dam built in 1807 at nearby foothill waterfalls. These falls, along with the original mouth of the aqueduct, can still be visited a couple of miles up the road at the Santa Barbara botanic gardens.

For the curious historian in you:

One of my favorite stories of the Mission is the story of Juana Maria. If, as a child, you've ever read the book, Island of the Blue Dolphins, you'll know the story of the young Indian girl found living alone on San Nicolas Island, off the coast of California, after 18 years. The story is that she was brought to Mission Santa Barbara where she remained and later died. She is supposedly buried somewhere in the Mission cemetery, and she is commemorated by this plaque located on the wall within the cemetery:

The plaque reads: JUANA MARIA Indian Woman Abandoned on San Nicolas Island Eighteen Years Found And Brought To SANTA BARBARA By Capt. George Nidever In 1893 SANTA BARBARA CHAPTER DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1926

Augustine: Great Renown Has This Priest

Hymn from the old Roman Breviary

Fulget in caelis celebris sacerdos,
stella doctorum rutilat corusca,
lumen intactum fidei per orbis
climata spargens.

Cive tam claro, Sion o superna,
laeta dic laudes Domino salutis,
qui modis miris sibi vinxit ipsum
lumine complens.

Hid fidem sacram vigil usque
firmat,
arma et errorum subigit potenter,
sordidos mores lavat
et repellit
dogmate claro.

Qui, gregis Christi speculator
almus,
enites clero monachisque forma,
tu Dei nobis faciem benignam
fac prece semper.

Laus, honor, virtus Triadi beatae,
cuius in terris studuisti amanter
alta scrutari nitidaque in astris
luce potiris.
Amen.

Feast Day of St. Augustine

Today is the feast day of my beloved patron saint, St. Augustine of Hippo. So I thought I would celebrate this day by sharing with you some of his insights concerning prayer that have helped me in some way.

In his treatise, "On The Lord's Sermon on the Mount", 2.3.14, Augustine wrote this regarding the usefulness of frequent prayer:

But again one might ask whether we are to pray by words or deeds and what need there is for prayer, if God already knows what is needful for us. But it is because the act of prayer clarifies and purges our heart and makes it more capable of receiving the divine gifts that are poured out for us in the spirit. God does not give heed to the ambitiousness of our prayers, because he is always ready to give to us his light, not a visible light but an intellectual and spiritual one: but we are not always ready to receive it when we turn aside and down to other things out of a desire for temporal things. For in prayer there occurs a turning of the heart to he who is always ready to give if we will but take what he gives: and in that turning is the purification of the inner eye when the things we crave in the temporal world are shut out; so that the vision of the pure heart can bear the pure light that shines divinely without setting or wavering: and not only bear it, but abide in it; not only without difficulty, but even with unspeakable joy, with which the blessed life is truly and genuinely brought to fulfillment.

In other words, frequent prayer, manifested either in our words or our daily deeds, always orients us more closely toward the gifts of grace that our Father in heaven is always ready to give us. If even once per day we turn our souls toward matters of the spirit, we are forever changed because of it - a change not necessarily substantiated by the particular feelings or emotions associated with prayer, or even because of the ambitiousness of our prayer. Rather, as Augustine points out, it is a gradual change that is noticeable as the things we cling to in the physical, temporal world pass away. It involves a purification of the inner eye through which the vision of the pure heart may eventually come to bear and abide, with unspeakable joy, in the pure light that is God with His overflowing grace.

Monastery Chapel of the Poor Clares

Nestled in the heart of Santa Barbara on Los Olivos Street, just three blocks down from the historic Santa Barbara Mission, is the quaint and beautiful Chapel of the Cloistered Poor Clare sisters. The sisters take great care to sing for daily mass at 7am, which I love to attend when I can. They also have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament every Sunday at 7:30am with Benediction and Devotions at 4pm. Perpetual adoration is held for 24 hours the first Thursday of every month.

What I love about attending mass with the sisters is that I get an experience of holy mass with people who have a strong devotion to Our Lord present in the Eucharist. Beautiful singing and chant as well as the heavy scent of candle and incense always permeate the environment. The interior is simple yet pure. It is truly a hidden jewel to Santa Barbara.

Front of the chapel from the street.

View of the sanctuary from the nave. The sisters actually gather to the left of the sanctuary, out of view of regular congregation.

Closer to the altar. Above the tabernacle is a window used for Exposition. There is an adoration chapel behind the window where the sisters gather to adore Our Lord.

View of the choir loft and nave from the sanctuary.

The beautiful Santa Barbara Mission is up next on my list of Santa Barbara church favorites.

Churches and Chapels of Santa Barbara

In the past on this blog, I have been quick to point out particular churches in Santa Barbara that I find particularly beautiful, such as St. Barbara's Greek Orthodox Church, and even St. Sophia's in Los Angeles. I would like to continue doing that over the next few days, focusing on some of the other churches of Santa Barbara. Being possessed of a new digital camera, I hope to get up some good pictures for you. I am doing this not only because of my love for *some* of the churches around here, but also because it's a side of Santa Barbara that largely goes unnoticed, even by many who live here!

Come in, 99...

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Theology on Tap, 2

So last evening I went down to Camarillo, CA to attend the last in the series of topics for Theology On Tap, an event sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The topic was Traditions, Rituals, and Funky Relics and, as I said in the last blog, it was basically a Q&A with the Auxiliary Bishop for the Santa Barbara Pastoral Region, Thomas J. Curry.

As I understand it, the original Theology On Tap began in the Archdiocese of Chicago and quickly spread around the country, offering talks and discussions on theology in casual settings for young adults, offering drinks including beer and wine. Last night's evening proceeded with the introduction of Bishop Curry. Fortunately, Bishop Curry is no stranger to us as we have worked with him several times over the past few years. He is the co-sponsor of the Bridge Building Young Adult ministry program with which I am currently involved. He is a very intelligent, soft-spoken man from Ireland -- he articulates the faith very well and even has a Ph.D. in American History with an emphasis on Church/State relations.

Bishop Curry prefaced the Q&A with a little discussion about his own life and the nature of his vocation. He expressed to us that the one thing that is exceedingly different now than in his youth is: choices. Now it is commonplace for young adults to choose to do several different things within their lives, including changing majors, changing careers multiple times, and moving around frequently. When he was discerning his future at our age, there wasn't a lot of freedom to do these different things, and with that came a small sense of comfort accompanied by restriction. Once you made up your mind about your career, you did it, and you rarely questioned it.

Bishop cautioned us by saying that even though having choices in life is good, it is often a source of great confusion. Young Adults of Generation X are terribly afraid of messing up, of making the wrong decision - so much so that they are much more stringent on themselves and have much more unrealistic expectations about their lives. Bishop Curry faulted the individualistic bent of our society for creating much of this confusion, even though it has created much of the choices. The implications of this in the development of a healthy spiritual life are staggering. I believe this has contributed to the laissez-faire attitude many young adults now have with regard to the Church, especially when it comes to embracing challenging teachings such as being open to the confusion often associated with a loving acceptance of children in married life. Bishop stressed that our society preaches so much about rights when it speaks of choices, and the question then becomes Why can't you give me the right to choose X instead of Is it right to choose X? The former destroys the role of moral compass and exalts the individual's ability to choose, whereas the latter humbles the self in deference to what is true.

At any rate, Bishop Curry then opened the floor to questions. Many questions were simple enough, yet it was good to see people asking questions the answers to which they sincerely didn't know, such as Why does the color of vestments vary?, and how does one become a bishop?, to which Bishop quipped, Well, you better not live like you're running for the job, or you'll never get it!. Other questions included why do the Eastern Churches make the sign of the cross differently than Latin rite Christians?, and how do we explain Mary and the Saints to non-Catholics?. Interestingly, there were also questions about predestination to which Bishop responded very well, illustrating the practical failure of embracing a theology of predestination in religious circles, particularly the effect on the Puritan communities of early America.

Toward the end, there was a question asked about relics, including whose relics were in the altars of our Archdiocese. Bishop Curry explained the purpose and history of relics, but added, yes, relics are bordering on 'strange.' Many older families embrace traditions that may appear strange to outsiders, and just think - the Catholic Church is a 2000 year old family, so of course we have many things that will appear strange! Although Bishop Curry did not know off hand whose relics were in the altars, I informed him later that over 90% of the altarstones in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles contain the relics of St. Candidus, the 3rd century Roman martyr. The remaining bones of Candidus that aren't in our altars are kept at Calvary Cemetary in Los Angeles. Just today, I also found this web page explaining Candidus a bit more and how he ended up in Los Angeles:

Candidus, known as the senator militum, was among the leaders of the Theban Legion who led the opposition to Maximian, noting that "we are your soldiers, but we are also servants of the true God. We cannot renounce Him who is our Creater and Master, and also yours even though you reject Him."

Maximian, seeing no hope of overcoming their constancy, ordered that the entire legion be put to death. This all occurred near Agaunum (c. 287 a.d.) and September 22nd is the day that Candidus and his companions are commemorated in the Roman Martyrology.

St. Eucherius, the bishop of Lyons during the first half of the 5th century, is the source of the story about Candidus. Though certain aspects of the account are ambiguous, it seems clear that the martyrdom is an historical fact.

For many centuries, the principal relics of Candidus and his companions were preserved in a 6th century reliquary at the Abbey founded by Saint Theodore of Octodurum...

Bishop Curry then told me, That's good to know! He then leaned over and quietly asked me, Who was that again? Boy, I am such a Catholic nerd.

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.