Suum Cuique

The rain has spoiled the farmer's day;
Shall sorrow put my books away?
Thereby are two days lost:
Nature shall mind her own affairs,
I will attend my proper cares,
In rain, or sun, or frost.
     -Ralph Waldo Emerson

On being a faithful witness...

You live in the service of love. You are servants of love for love of Christ. In this way you achieve the maturity of human beings who offer God their own freedom and use it in his service. Therefore, every day meditate on and renew the reasons of faith that motivate and sustain your life, your devotion, and your faithfulness, which is joyous and fruitful, though offered in sacrifice. And when you confirm in the silence of prayer - which is indispensable for you - the full validity of your life, thank the Lord for his marvels. Proclaim by your holiness that his name is holy.

Christ calls you to be his faithful witness, to be the channel of his saving love in today's world, to spread his mercy, which extends from generation to generation among those who fear him. Hence the shared concrete task of your service is to fulfill the divine plan of salvation: to make present the Kingdom of God, which is the Church; to make it present in your life and your environment, in the school, in the family, among the young, in service to the sick and abandoned, in charitable institutions, in works of social benefit, and, above all, in parish and catechetical initiatives, in order to bring to all the love of Christ and through him love for mankind.

And do not forget the influential world of culture, which is vital for evangelization and the creation of a just social system. Thus the Gospel will be incarnate in the life and culture of your people, affecting the various social classes and promoting true human and Christian values.

     -Pope John Paul II, message to Venezuela, January 28th, 1985

If you're going to San Francisco...

... toss the car and bring a good pair of walking shoes.

I just returned from a very spontaneous three day excursion to downtown San Francisco for a UC Berkeley Extension course on Embedded and Real-Time Linux. The course itself was a lot of fun and very interesting, but I also got to see a lot of the city while I was there. I had been to San Francisco probably three times prior to this without a lot of opportunity to get in the trenches and experience the San Francisco city life myself, but this time proved different. The last time I was in San Francisco, I didn't like it much. Without a map, my friends and I got so lost and were eternally frustrated at the high parking rates that we vowed never to return. I was more used to Los Angeles where a car is often necessary because the city is so spread out. This time I now know - when in San Francisco, toss the car.

Flew in Sunday night and took a cab to the hotel. Class began early monday morning and went until about 5pm. Even though my coworker had rented a car, we agreed it was best to leave the car and walk from the hotel on Cyril Magnin St. (near Market and 5th) down to the UC Berkeley Extensions center on the corner of Market and Fremont. That night, I met an old friend and ventured into Chinatown and later to North Beach, the Italian district (Little Italy), for dinner at Steps of Rome.

Tuesday, again we had class early in the morning until around 5. After I got back to the hotel, I set out on foot for my own walking adventure to see Union Square and the surrounding area. Finding Bush street, I decided to walk down the street to St. Dominic's Catholic Church, renowned for its High Mass Schola Cantorum. They had actually planned a Choral Music concert that evening, but I didn't intend on staying since I had to walk back to the hotel. However, when I finally got to the church, I could not pull myself away, especially when I found out what the content of the music concert would be. So I convinced myself to stay. No regrets. The choir was positively magnificent.

Some pictures of St. Dominic's:


The concert began with Leon Boellmann's composition of the Prière à Notre Dame and also included several compositions of the Ave Maria by Tomas Luis de Victoria, Robert Parsons, Igor Stravinsky, Anton Bruckner, and Franz Biebl in addition to other motets, such as Bogoroditze Dievo by Sergi Rachmaninov and the Totus Tuus by Henryk Gorecki. The concert ended with Leon Boellmann's composition of Menuet Gothique. It is a little known fact that de Victoria's Ave Maria is one of my favorites. After the concert, I made my way back to the hotel to enter back into what was going on in the world around me.

On Wednesday, my last day, we checked out of our hotel and again went to class until 5pm. Afterward, my coworker and I cruised the streets of SF in our rented mustang convertable, top down of course. An unusually beautiful and clear day in SF allowed us to see the fully city and bay with remarkable ease. Our driving excursion ended with me at the airport ready to fly back in to Santa Barbara.

A lot more walking than I was prepared for, and lots of hills no less, so needless to say, I am perfectly exhausted today. I wish I would've had more time to explore the city and visit with all of my friends up there!

Mel Gibson and Opus Dei

Over the last several months, I have received dozens of visitors who were referred to this site from search engines using the keywords Mel Gibson and Opus Dei.

Puzzled, I ran into another fellow at St. Blog's, Matthew Collins, who also happens to be a member of Opus Dei and has composed this little Opus Dei FAQ. He has also received these visits. He even went so far as to ask what these folks were looking for, and their question appeared to be that because Mel Gibson is said to be a radical traditionalist, and Opus Dei is also considered by some to be radically traditionalist, is Mel Gibson a member of Opus Dei? Matt's FAQ answers the question.

For those folks, let me set the record straight. Mel Gibson is not a member of Opus Dei. Secondly, in my opinion, Opus Dei is far from being radically traditionalist. Though it probably isn't for everyone, I would consider it orthodox and pretty mainstream, actually. As I understand it, the primary message of Opus Dei and its founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, is the idea of the universal call to holiness, including that of the laity of our church. As ecclesiastical movements go, this is a popular idea. The whole idea of the universal call to holiness is the emphasis behind such Vatican II documents as Lumen Gentium. I also understand there are a number of myths associated with Opus Dei that I won't get in to here, primarily because I have had very limited exposure to them and am not a member myself. But Matt can answer these questions, and I'm sure there are many out there who can explain them.

The Pope and Theology of the Body

The Online Resource for John Paul II's Theology of the Body. This website contains documents and materials concerning this important subject!

The theology of the body is Pope John Paul II's integrated vision of the human person, body, soul and spirit. He tells us how the physical human body has a specific meaning and how it shows us the answers to basic questions of life such as: Is there a real purpose to life and if so, what is it? Why were we created male and female - and does it really matter if you're one sex or another? Why were man and woman called to communion from the beginning and what does the marital union of a man and woman say to us about God and his plan for our lives? What is the purpose of the married and celibate vocations?
...

This website is dedicated to helping explain and promote the Pope's revolutionary and life-transforming message of hope in a society where the body is often seen as no more as an object to be used or as a machine to be handled. John Paul II, both in his 'Theology of the Body' and his earlier work 'Love and Responsibility', as well as the encyclicals of his papacy, debunks the myth that the Catholic Church is "down on sex" and promotes a true reverence for the gift of our sexuality.

Also check out this page for tons of information about the extraordinary actor, athlete, poet, philosopher, and pastor who is Karol Wojtyla, Pope John Paul II.

Holy Bloodline?

If you've ever read the infamous book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, you'd be familiar with the story of the Church of Rennes-le-Château and its alledged association with the assertion that Mary Magdalen came to the south of France and supposedly gave birth to Jesus' offspring who went on to rule Europe before being violently suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church. I was flipping through and saw a program on television just the other day that tried to point out all of the "weird clues" found in this little church of Rennes-le-Château to supposedly back of the claims of Jesus' Holy Bloodline - only now, what I heard made me laugh. What some of these folks call clues might seem mysterious to those who aren't aware of a few facts.

The story, as far as I understand it from the conspiracy theorists, is that a priest at this little church, Fr. Berenger Saunière (1852-1917), found mysterious documents hidden in this church that spoke of a mysterious bloodline that traced back to Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Supposely, the contents of these documents inspired him to renounce his faith and participate in the occult. Furthermore, these folks say that he decided to renovate this church and left clues of his plight to communicate his message without fear of being silence by the Church.

Here is what they said.

Fr. Saunière inscribed 'Terribilis est locus iste' (This place is terrible) above the door to the church! Why would he write such a thing? This must represent his real contempt for the Church!

No - the words are actually taken from the book of Genesis, 28:17 and were used in the Common of the Dedication of a Church. Furthermore 'terribilis' doesn't mean terrible as we might understand it in English, but would mean more like impressive, terrifying, or awe-inspiring. View the faded inscription immediately above the door frame here. Note the other latin inscriptions, such as Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur (My house will be called a house of prayer), all from the Common of Dedication.

They also say:

Fr. Saunière installed a statue of a devil, or what some believe is the demon Asmodeus, near the inscription! Why would he do this, unless it were to insinuate that the devil had entered God's house and further evidence of his occultic practices!

No, the devil is being crushed by a holy water stoup, surmounted by four angels making the sign of the cross with the French inscription, Par ce signe tu le vaincrais (By this sign, you shall conquer). It's called imagery! View the statue here and the angels above it here.

One other amazing thing they have asserted:

There is a statue inside the church, next to the altar, of Jesus holding a little boy! This must represent the fact that Jesus had children - Fr. Saunière is trying to communicate something to his successors!

Actually, the statue is holding a child, but it's a statue of St. Joseph holding the child Jesus in his left hand, flowers in his right. This is opposite to a statue of the Blessed Virgin located on the other side of the altar. View it here.

But why did Fr. Saunière go mad and join the occult unless what he read shook the foundations of his faith?

Is this so novel? If he really did do these things, and that's a big if, so what? We're sinners after all. For some folk, it doesn't take a lot fo shake the foundations of their faith. I understand that. But do we have to put speculative circumstances around one man's struggles? But I must say, the only thing I can extract from his renovation is that he likes imagery and loves his church!

I could not help but watch and laugh as I listened to these assertions. As conspiracy theories go, I think this is more of an attack on the Church than an attack by the Church. But this one has a pretty stable following.

Ovusoft

For those couples who chart their fertility cycles and symptoms of ovulation, you may find Ovusoft to be a big help as it allows you to maintain your charts easily on your computer. Of course, you could always use an Excel spreadsheet or something too. However, Ovusoft does a lot of the work for you. It's makes it much easier for couples practicing Natural Family Planning.

Thanks to Saintly Salmagundi for this reference.

Rest in Peace, Msgr. Leuer

I just read in The Tidings, our archdiocesan newspaper, that Msgr. Anthony Leuer, who had been a good friend of mine from Los Angeles, died on September 18th at the age of 66. During the summer of 1998, I interned for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, working in the Chancery for the Office of Information Services. Since I was relocating from Santa Barbara, I had to find living arrangements in Los Angeles on very short notice, and Msgr. Leuer was gracious enough to rent a room to me in the former convent attached to his church, Holy Spirit Parish on Pico Blvd, for a mere $200 per month. This included secure parking, full kitchen, and all utilities. It was relatively close to the Archdiocesan Catholic Center on Wilshire and a pretty central location to be in Los Angeles. Plus, I could visit the Blessed Sacrament in the Convent Chapel anytime I wished. A handful of evenings, I was invited to dine with Msgr. Leuer and Msgr. Michael Meyers, who at that time worked in the Missions office. They shared with me their many life adventures living in Los Angeles and bringing the Gospel around the world.

Suffice it to say, working for the Archdiocese while living in Los Angeles for that brief time was one of the best experiences I have ever had. It contributed an immense depth to the development of my spiritual life and my desire to serve the Church. It helped me develop an appreciation for our Church's history and missionary efforts. It also gave me a much more personal insight into the ministry operations of our archdiocese. I keep in touch with friends there and try to visit about every year or so when I can.

Unfortunately, after I left Los Angeles to return to school, I corresponded briefly with Msgr. Leuer before losing touch after about a year. He eventually left Holy Spirit parish and so I was not able to visit him, though I later learned that he had become chaplain at Marymount College. Msgr. Leuer was a holy and compassionate priest who cared deeply for the people to whom he ministered. If only I had made an effort to connect with him again. Thankfully, we profess a Communion of Saints, so it is my hope that I will one day see him again. Please join me in praying for him.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and may your perpetual light shine upon him. Rest in peace, my friend.

Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael

Angelum nobis medicum salutis
mitte de caelis Raphael, ut omnes
sanet aegrotos pariterque nostros
dirigat actus.

Tomorrow is the glorious feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. But today, my parish celebrated the feast day of its patron, St. Raphael the Archangel. All of God's holy angels are special, but I have been particularly close to St. Raphael, who, as told in the Book of Tobit, is sent by God in answer to the prayers of Tobiah and Sarah in order to assist them. The Book of Tobit is absolutely one of my favorite books of the Old Testament. As you know, Tobit is one of the deuterocanonical books and is regarded as apocrypha by Protestant churches. I discovered Tobit after I was given my first Catholic bible when I entered the RCIA. Here is my favorite part of the story of Tobit when Raphael, the angel, who had previously disguised himself, finally reveals himself to Tobit and his son Tobiah - Tobit 12:11-22:

[Raphael said to them], "I will now tell you the whole truth; I will conceal nothing at all from you. I have already said to you, 'A king's secret it is prudent to keep, but the works of God are to be made known with due honor.' I can now tell you that when you, Tobit, and Sarah prayed, it was I who presented and read the record of your prayer before the Glory of the Lord; and I did the same thing when you used to bury the dead. When you did not hesitate to get up and leave your dinner in order to go and bury the dead, I was sent to put you to the test. At the same time, however, God commissioned me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord."

Stricken with fear, the two men fell to the ground.

But Raphael said to them: "No need to fear; you are safe. Thank God now and forever. As for me, when I came to you it was not out of any favor on my part, but because it was God's will. So continue to thank him every day; praise him with song. Even though you watched me eat and drink. I did not really do so; what you were seeing was a vision. So now get up from the ground and praise God. Behold, I am about to ascend to him who sent me; write down all these things that have happened to you."

When Raphael ascended they rose to their feet and could no longer see him. They kept thanking God and singing his praises; and they continued to acknowledge these marvelous deeds which he had done when the angel of God appeared to them.

St. Raphael, medicine of God, protect us and heal us!

Nobis adesto, Raphael,
ad patriam petentibus
morbos repelle corporum,
affer salutem mentium.
Amen.

The Enigma of the Germans

While at the university, I studied a little bit about cryptography where I learned about the Enigma machine in pretty good detail. The Enigma machine was an easy functional encryption device used heavily by the Germans during World War II to communicate - from bases, ships, and submarines. This website covers everything you ever wanted to know about the Enigma machine, particularly things the Germans did incorrectly that enabled the British to crack the code more easily.

Entry points for encrypting the messages.

A) message keys

The operator has to select 3 letters randomly But sometimes they use "AAA", "BBB" or the diagonals of the keyboard (QFL), any abbreviations, his own initials or any dirty words.

A German operator in southern Italy has used frequently his girlfriend initials CILLI and the British called such bad and easy to guess keys CILLIES (sometimes also called Sillies = Dummheiten)

B) A letter never enciphers to itself.

If you type a "A" you will get any letter from B-Z, but never an ``A''. The sequence : AAAAAAA may be XUVGFXY without any ``A''.

A tired German operator has been told to send out dummy messages and he typed only the last letter of the keyboard : ``L''. The British code breaking expert immediately recognized the missing ``L'' in the enciphered message and they got a very big crib (see below).

     [cipher]DAOACQAOFFNNHDYAPSGZHEPTWCFZEPAARVDZOSWJDHXMESGWSGRQYOZ
     [plain]LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

C) CRIBS (=Eselsbrücke)

A crib is a part of the plain text which is known to correspond with a part of the code.

Knowing the source of the message (army, navy) you can guess the meaning.

For instance most of the messages start with AN (e.g AN GENERAL...) . This was coded as ANXGENERAL

Another possibility was : AN DIE GRUPPE (to the group) The code breakers tested the first 3 letters for ANX.

KEINEBESONDERENEREIGNISSE (no special occurrences, nothing to report) could be a part of the message This crib was placed above the enciphered text and moved left and right until no letter enciphers to itself.

D) KISS

A kiss is a message that has been sent previously on a lower level radio net, which has already been enciphered. This means, the same message was send twice, but with different systems.

The British forced such messages by doing any military activity and then they waited for the messages...

E) Capturing codebooks and secret material

Found codebooks of sunken submarines or captured weather ships and military bases were also very helpful and provided the British with Enigma ground settings for some months and abbreviations for weather reports, which could be used as cribs. Some of these keys has also been used by the U-Boots.

Liberal Prophets of Gloom

While various bloggers at St. Blog's have been addressing the issue of Prophets of Gloom, primarily those who consider themselves to be orthodox, who scream about bishops and the Vatican, I must say that being a prophet of gloom isn't limited to that one particular side of the church. Last night, I challenged myself to go and give an ear to Fr. Michael Crosby, OFM Cap. I know, I know - what was I thinking? Well, I confess I did walk in with certain expectations, but I sincerely wanted to hear his words with my own ears so that I could draw some of my own conclusions about this man. My simple conclusion today is that I would Michael Crosby is a prophet of gloom just as those who would consider themselves orthodox.

A Kairos Moment?

The theme of the talk was A Kairos Moment for the Catholic Church. Crosby started by saying that we need to reclaim the Church for Jesus Christ. He began his arguments by equating the religious environment within the Roman Catholic Church today with the Jewish environment at the time in which Jesus lived and died. In the same way that Christ challenged the oppressive, religious power structures of Judaism in his day by giving them a kairos moment, or a moment of choice, Crosby argued that Christ does the same today to the Roman Catholic Church in the aftermath of this sexual abuse crisis. While he made many points, most of which I took issue with, I only want to expound on a couple that I found to be particularly egregious.

Abusive, violent oppressor?

The point he kept pounding home was that the institutional church, by demanding that there be no discussion about women priests or, at this point, clerical celibacy, is an abusive oppressor, a purveyor of violence against women and society. Further, he claimed the arguments used by the Vatican against the ordination of women are not scripturally sound nor in communion with a trinitarian theology. For him, the teaching of the Church, that she does not have the power or authority to ordain women, is gravely sinful and not worthy of belief. Very often, Crosby would talk of fear and intimidation in speaking one's mind. Truly, he said, he speaks today with the same fear and intimidation from the Church hierarchy.

The Gnostic Christ?

He then went into his scriptural argument for women priests by attacking the scriptural argument often used against them. He stated that the common scriptural argument given - that Christ only chose male apostles - was not sound because the culture discounted women. He argued that it was illogical to regard Jesus' choice within the culture at that time as His intention for the future successors to the apostles because the argument was applying the Christ of history to the Christ of faith. Furthermore, he concluded, in persona Christi has to refer to the Christ of faith, because Christ rose from His maleness.

Hmm. I am not a scripture scholar, but relying on what I have read and know about this teaching, what he is saying reveals some flaws. While the culture did not regard women well, Crosby's whole premise is that Christ came to challenge the established, religious environment. Would not Christ's challenge have been consistent with regard to those whom He chose as apostles if He had intended for women to have this particular role within the Church? Furthermore, I dispute his delineation between the historical Jesus and the Jesus of faith. To assert that the real Jesus is some sort of sexless being that is no longer human is troubling. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, is male. To extract a vague concept or principle that is called Jesus who was not the same Jesus who was born, lived, established His Church, appointed Apostles, died, and then rose from the dead is a Gnostic idea. It's to extract the divine Jesus from the human Jesus. You simply cannot do that.

Crosby confirmed this also when he reassured everyone that he believes that the Roman Catholic Church is the true faith in its mystical expression but not in its institutional expression. Same problem as above. He's extracting the divine Church from the human Church, which is the same thing as asserting that the divine Jesus, or the Jesus of faith, is not the same as the human Jesus. In reality, Jesus is both divine and human, and the Church is both divine and human. The Church is made up of human beings who are also sinners.

No role for women?

Crosby finally said that when we hold clericalism above Jesus Christ, we have idolatry. This is true, but I dispute his assertion that clericalism is the substance of ecclesiology today. His conclusion was that the institutional church is nothing but a sinful, patriarchal, oppressively political machine, and it has always been so ever since the early church merged with the imperial culture. It was then from the imperial cultural that it got its notions of power, sexual roles, and religious control of behavior. He warned that the Church will once again begin teaching that women are unclean and shouldn't be near the altar, and he used the recent draft from the Vatican concerning the use of altar girls as evidence.

Widespread Fundamentalism in the Curia?

He spoke quite a bit about how the institutional Church was fundamentalist with regard to its understanding of papal infallibility, even though he said he believed in papal infallibility - points which I will not address here due to length. You may email me if you wish to hear or discuss this further. But I have to say that much of what he used as evidence from the Scriptures and even from Tradition, when he did refer to Tradition, was taken out of context and sounded much like the fundamentalism he was attacking.

Breath of Fresh Air?

Toward the end, an older woman leaned over to me and ask, Wow. Isn't this a breath of fresh air? I honestly didn't know how to respond to that. If you walked out of that meeting believing everything that Crosby said, you had to have felt extreme despair, distrust, and lonliness. In other words, gloom. Furthermore, I counted maybe three young adults, including myself, which contradicted some of the assumptions many people make about the youth wanting to embrace people like Crosby. Some of you might believe that I would've found problems in whatever he said anyway. Perhaps, but I have to say that in reflecting on what he actually said further, I cannot understand how anyone could walk out of there, having believed every word he said, and not have been willing to listen and study for themselves what the Church actually taught with regard to many of these difficult issues. I am personally thankful that I have had some good teachers in my life who have helped me study Scripture and Tradition and have helped me better understand difficult issues such as this as they relate to both sources.

UPDATE:
Concerning the reservation of priestly ordination to men, here are some educational references:

Ordinatio Sacerdotalis - Apostolic Letter of Pope John Paul II
Ten Questions About the Reservation of Priestly Ordination to Men - the USCCB Committee on Doctrine

These are longer, but well worth the time:

Inter Insigniores: Declaration on the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood - Pope Paul VI and CDF
Mulieris Dignitatem: Apostolic Letter on the the Dignity and Vocation of Women - by Pope John Paul II

Dump the bishops?

Well, Michael Inman was kind enough to respond to my post concerning bloggers who do nothing but complain about and blame bishops. A bit of an embittered response, which seems angry at the fact that I would even suggest that our bishops are an important constinuent of the church, human though they be:

Of course, Alan, we all need to be exhorted to "turn our eyes to the Savior who has redeemed us from whom we receive the Catholic faith", but it's hard to see when your priest is waving a rainbow banner in your face.

So am I to interpret this as you saying that your myopia is so strong that you are not completely capable of turning your eyes toward Christ, and therefore simply berating the hierarchy and acting like you don't need them is the only option left? Isn't that the same thing as not seeing the forest for the trees? Is not grace at work? This is precisely what I am exhorting you not to do. This doesn't help the Church at all. It destroys faith and disintegrates hope. It is a massive sign of despair. It certainly doesn't mean you should pretend problems don't exist, but it does mean you should be loyal to Christ and His Church and trust that He knows what is best for the Church. It doesn't mean you can't raise honest and sincere criticism, but there is a wide difference between doing that in all humility and merely bitching and moaning about how horrible things are and leaving it at that. If your parish is filled with abuse, find a parish where you can be edified. And then pray for the Church. Also ask yourself how God is helping you embrace holiness through all of these trying experiences.

Michael then goes on to say:

And don't place the bishops on the same level as the pope. To imply that the bishops enjoy the charism of infallibity on matters of faith and morals displays either a staggering naivety or just another average Catholic who doesn't know jack about what his Church teaches.

I will look passed the insult for now. What I see here is a small distortion of my statement, coupled with a possibly flawed understanding of ecclesiology. Actually, I never did put bishops at the same level of the pope as though the pope were absolutely no different than they. Nor did I even ever suggest that a bishop enjoys the charism of infallibility apart from the pope.

Rather, I was merely pointing out that, properly understood, the pope is not a super-bishop who expects the other bishops to report to him as branch managers of a company headquartered in Rome. In fact, the pope is a bishop who happens to enjoy a universal primacy and jurisdiction over the universal Church and possesses the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. Also in fact, the bishops do possess an infallibility by virtue of their unity with the Holy See, which they are to exercise for the local church entrusted to them. This makes them vicars of Christ for their local church. Let's see how the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains it, emphasis mine:

894 "The bishops, as vicars and legates of Christ, govern the particular Churches assigned to them by their counsels, exhortations, and example, but over and above that also by the authority and sacred power" which indeed they ought to exercise so as to edify, in the spirit of service which is that of their Master.

895 "The power which they exercise personally in the name of Christ, is proper, ordinary, and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately controlled by the supreme authority of the Church." But the bishops should not be thought of as vicars of the Pope. His ordinary and immediate authority over the whole Church does not annul, but on the contrary confirms and defends that of the bishops. Their authority must be exercised in communion with the whole Church under the guidance of the Pope.

Christ leads the Church, and Christ has given us our bishops. That doesn't mean we get saints, but we do get human beings. We need our bishops, and that, of course, includes the Holy Father. So weigh your doubts about your bishop against the certainty of Christ and pray for your bishop daily. Offer your prayers, good works, and sacrifices for him. Make him a part of your daily reception of communion.

On a personal level, is everything rosy here in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles? :) Of course not, nor it is 100% rosy anywere as long as there are humans in charge. But I refuse to despair the way some have. Like it or not, this is my Church, and this is my local church. And this bishop is my ordinary. Has history ever shown there to be times without some element of turmoil? Not as long as humans have roamed the earth. The world is a muddy place, but that is why we have Christ. I have made an effort to know and work with both my regional bishop and my archbishop. And say what you wish, but I will not let the noxious weeds drag me down from living the Catholic faith in unity with my bishop, the Holy Father and the whole church universal.

Fr. Stan Fortuna

So last weekend was the big weekend at my parish with Fr. Stan Fortuna of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. Overall, my impressions were good. The theme of his conferences was True Freedom taken from a statement made by the Holy Father, True freedom is borne of holiness. He spoke to kids and adults of all ages about the importance of striving to live holy lives in the face of a culture of death - that this is the only way we can be truly free and affect change in our culture and in our society. He stressed frequent confession and communion as ways in which this could be embraced, and he exhorted us to be courageous and sincere when confronting moral evils that distract us from living a holy life, things such as pornography and material wealth for its own good.

His particular style of preaching is definitely more appealing to the youth, as he used a lot of rap terminology to communicate his message. You can hear him in mpeg format at his website. The Sunday evening mass that he celebrated drew a packed house, standing room only, that lasted close to 1 hour and 45 minutes! I could tell that Fr. Stan had a profound respect for Our Lord in the Eucharist.

However, I should say that there were things that I found difficult to follow. The conference I attended on Saturday evening began with Fr. Stan addressing the theme and some various anecdotes related to the importance of integrating the struggle for holiness into one's complete, daily life. This means being consistent and not choosing to do things that may pressure you to compromise your faith and respect for others in other areas of your life. He then jumped into the issue of abortion by composing and singing a song about an aborted child telling his mother from Heaven, "I forgive you." A good song, though perhaps a little heavy for some of the younger kids there, but there wasn't really any transition that explained to me how helping a mother embrace forgiveness after an abortion related to me embracing the struggle for holiness in my everyday life - but I think I got the gist of what he was saying, concerning how living out the call to holiness affects our culture positively and about how embracing the forgiveness Jesus offers us and grace He gives us in the sacraments is the first step to realizing the call to holiness.

He seemed like a great guy as well as an extremely talented musician, and he further reinforced my high opinion of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the South Bronx. Having heard him as well as Fr. Benedict Groeschel speak, I can truly see how dynamic this religious order is. Always in service of the poor, they each manifest different talents which they use to effectively communicate the Gospel message to the world around them.


Fr. Stan at age 14


Fr. Stan today

More fun pictures, as well as music samples and schedules at Fr. Stan's production company website, Francesco Productions.

The Amish Meet Silicon Valley

Well, for new buggy headlights. Read this article.

My father's family lives in central Indiana, very close to Amish country, and I always see them when I visit. They sell some of the best grown fruit ever. We've also been to a couple wonderful restaurants owned and operated by Mennonites nearby. Delicious. I found the article somewhat illuminating because there is much about the Amish that I do not know.

Being Roman Catholic is one thing, but with a degree in Computer Science, I'm not sure I would be much use to the Amish! I can't raise a barn to save my life... I suppose I could always learn.

Building Zion

Welcome back, Crystal. Only if you decide to take a break again, give us some notice so we don't think you vanished into oblivion!

Popes' Roles in History

Commenting on some discussions over at Disputations, Fr. Jim Tucker of Dappled Things has some interesting comments concerning ecclesiology and the historical role of the pope:

If you were a Catholic of a thousand years ago, the Pope probably wouldn't enter into your mind much at all. You would know that he existed. But unless you lived in Rome or had made pilgrimage there, you wouldn't know what he looked like. Unless you were a king or high-ranking bishop or subject of the Papal States, the Holy Father's actions would probably never affect you personally. Probably most people wouldn't even have known his name, except for the priests who had to whisper it in the Canon of the Mass.

But who would tell you how to worship and make the rules for liturgy? You just would do what your ancestors did. If some abuse or other had crept in, the local bishop or a local synod would make the necessary adjustment. Who would tell you what to believe? On the broad public scale, the local pastors of the Church would repeat the teachings of the Church to each generation. On the more closed-in, subtle points, the theologians and monks would make the arguments among themselves.

I'm not saying that this is the best way to run the Church. But I am saying that the Church got along this way just fine for centuries.

We are certainly living in a much different time. In the past, the Pope did not always appoint bishops or have a large say in the goings on in particular dioceses. Times today require some greater measures. But I have encountered many people who believe the Pope is some sort of super-bishop and our bishops are merely branch managers of Rome, Inc. The bishops are not vicars of the pope.

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...

I'll bet you thought this stuff only existed in the movies. Well, now you can have your own:

Spyworld Spy & Surveillance Equipment

Our Spy Store offers spy equipment, spy tools and spy gear such as night vision scopes, phone tap detector, cellular interceptor, body armor, armored cars with the top of the line video surveillance equipment. We also offer a wide variety of specialty items for telephone surveillance and camera security. We are dedicated to helping protect your privacy, assets and your personal safety with our latest Spy equipment, tools and gear. Check our Spy Equipment - catalog link for spy & surveillance cameras, night vision scopes, telephone & video surveillance.

If you're paranoid enough, this might be your style, for the right price...

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.