Abortion and African Americans

It's been no secret that Planned Parenthood has targeted minority communities, particularly African American communities, for decades. No question most clinics are located in more poverty stricken areas of town. PP's founder, eugenicist Margaret Sanger, referred to African Americans and other minorities as "human weeds" and "reckless breeders", and according to Woman's Body, Woman's Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America, by Linda Gordon, Sanger once said, "We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population... if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." That was back when PP was all about birth control, before they considered providing abortion.

But in fact, since the 1970's nothing has done more to harm African Americans than abortion. According to blackgenocide.com:

In America today, almost as many African-American children are aborted as are born [3 out of 5 pregnancies]. A black baby is three times more likely to be murdered in the womb than a white baby. Since 1973, abortion has reduced the black population by over 25 percent. Twice as many African-Americans have died from abortion than have died from AIDS, accidents, violent crimes, cancer, and heart disease combined. Every three days, more African-Americans are killed by abortion than have been killed by the Ku Klux Klan in its entire history. Planned Parenthood operates the nation's largest chain of abortion clinics and almost 80 percent of its facilities are located in minority neighborhoods. About 13 percent of American women are black, but they submit to over 35 percent of the abortions.

What exists now is a negative birthrate among African Americans. If this rate continues, there will be no way for the African American community to replenish itself in future years. Are you listening, Barack Obama?

Abortion, no more

Check out this article from the UCSB Daily Nexus. UCSB's campus Planned Parenthood club (aka "VOX") had a quaint little rally in Isla Vista over the weekend, apparently visited by "a few students scattered throughout the park." Apparently one of the signs read, "Not Every Ejaculation Deserves A Name". That's right, your unwanted child is really just the result of a wasted sperm. Speaking at the rally was the pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church from downtown Santa Barbara, the Rev. Mark Asman, who extolled the virtue of legal genocide. Rev. Asman represents "Clergy for Choice" and also sits on the board of Planned Parenthood in Santa Barbara.

Planned Parenthood doesn't get it. After so many years, they continue to spew the same euphemistic lies about "reproductive freedom" and "healthy choice", etc... Here is another example of the same tired rhetoric. It's silly because we know the lies already; we're intimately familiar with them now. We know better. There is nothing "safe" about abortion; abortion clinics aren't even medically regulated. Most abortionists don't even have hospital admitting privileges should they need to admit a woman for care. And there is nothing "pro-woman" about abortion. Asking a woman to cut out her own child from her womb and toss it aside like trash is a woman-centered solution? Asking a woman to destroy the fruit of her own natural gift of fertility. The early American feminists certainly never believed that lie. They fought against it. They knew that abortion did not help women; it destroyed them. Abortion was a sign that society had failed to meet their needs - that women were being wronged.

When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society - so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged.

Mattie Brinkerhoff, early feminist, writing in The Revolution, 4(9):138-9 September 2, 1869

Alice Paul, author of the original Equal Rights Amendment, referred to abortion as the "ultimate exploitation of women". Yet we're supposed to listen to modern feminists who say that abortion is the "ultimate emancipation of women"?

Of course, the answer does not only mean eliminating abortion. It means providing real options for women. Real opportunities, particularly in education and employment. No woman should ever have to feel that having a child and completing an education, or having a career, are mutually exclusive. We also need to be about challenging men to be responsible, honest men. It's a big job. But women deserve better than the BS solution society has given them.

Who am I to speak about abortion? My peers and I are survivors. We were born in the years since our mothers were granted the "right" by our national government to have us killed. Today, much of my own generation is dead. Over 47 million brothers and sisters since 1973. Yet, my mother chose life. Life liberates.

The Decameron Web

Speaking of Giovanni Boccaccio, check out the Decameron Web, "a growing hypermedia archive of materials dedicated to Boccaccio's masterpiece," courtesy of the Brown University Department of Italian Studies.

The Decameron has elicited throughout the centuries fundamental discussions on the nature of narrative art, on the tenets of medieval versus modern morality, on the social and educational value of any form of artistic and literary expression. A true encyclopedia of early modern life and a summa of late medieval culture, the Decameron is also a universal repertory of perennially human situations and dilemmas: it is the perfect subject for an experiment in a new form of scholarly and pedagogical communication aimed at renewing a living dialogue between a distant past and our present.

Pope Joan Movie??

Yes, my friends, it's coming in 2008. About.com says this:

There has never been any real evidence of a woman pope, but that hasn't stopped some folks from insisting it must have happened. Now a film is in the works, based on the novel Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross. It may make for a great movie, especially if you pay no attention to historical errors and misrepresentations (which, in my view, is the only way to watch most historical films).

Apparently the failure of The DaVinci Code isn't enough to stop the anti-Catholic movie machine from churning out more... I'm not sure it surprises me, since the story of the mythical Joan makes for quite a tale of cover-up and conspiracy, and with a woman in the center of it all -- it must be true! But "It's only a movie!", other people will say.

I remember when I was a student at the university, I went into the sacristy of our university parish to prepare for mass that day (as a liturgical minister) only to come upon a copy of Cross' Pope Joan, just laying around. I don't know who put it there. One of the lectors said to me, "It's a pretty good book; a little on the heretical side, but really good!"

I think one of the best accounts of the story of Joan is handed down to us by the infamous Giovanni Boccaccio (of Decameron fame) from his Renaissance work, Famous Women, written in Latin. Boccaccio asserts that Joan was an Englishwoman, but I think Cross asserts she was German (at least in the movie). Boccaccio says many things about the story in his book, but I thought that this excerpt was most interesting (in both Latin and English)

Iohannes, esto vir nomine videatur, sexu tamen femina fuit... Que tamen non verita ascendere Piscatoris cathedram et sacra ministeria omnia, nulli mulierum a christiana religione concessum, tractare agere et aliis exhibere, apostolatus culmen aliquibus annis obtinuit Christique vicariatum femina gessit in terris. Sane ex alto Deus, plebi sue misertus, tam insignem locum teneri, tanto presideri populo tanque infausto errore decipi a femina passus non est et illam indebita audentem nec sinentem suis in manibus liquit.

Roughly translated (from Virginia Brown's translation),

From her name John would seem to be a man, but she was nevertheless a woman... She was not afraid to mount the Fisherman's throne, to perform all the sacred offices, and to administer them to others, something that the Christian religion does not permit any woman to do. For a few years she occupied the highest apostolate and a woman acted as Vicar of Christ on earth. Then from on high God took pity on his people. He did not suffer a woman to hold so eminent an office, govern so great a people, and deceive them with so inauspicious a misapprehension. He abandoned to her own devices [hands] this person who boldly persisted in doing what should not have been done.

Notice the point of view from which Boccaccio writes this. He writes it almost as though it were a biblical story, using biblical imagery to convey the wittiness of evil, the foolishness of man, and the justice of God. Virginia Brown's translation of the Latin doesn't emphasize this as much, but what I found interesting is right where he begins to describe the action God took. He starts by saying, in Latin,

Sane ex alto Deus... passus non est...
(Sensibly, God, from on high, did not suffer [allow]...)

In Boccaccio's account, Joan duped the Church and fooled the people, and it was God who essentially struck her down (God, ex alto, no less!). Later on, when He describes Joan becoming pregnant, Boccaccio exclaims,

O scelus indignum, o invicta patientia Dei!
(O shameful crime, o how invincible is God's patience!).

And after she gives birth in public, Boccaccio writes, using more biblical imagery,

Et hinc a patribus in tenebras exteriores abiecta, cum fetu misella abiit.
(And hence, she was cast into the outer darkness by the fathers, and the wretched woman went away with her child).

And how does Donna Woolfolk Cross write the tale? Is Joan turned into some sort of feminist heroine of her day, following her true vocation from God, all the while persecuted by an evil institution?

Harrius Potter Et Camera Secretorum



Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second Harry Potter book in the series, is now available in Latin. Check it out at amazon.com. The first book, Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis, was released a few years ago, along with the Ancient Greek and Irish Gaelic translations.

Peculiar...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Most Noble and Honourable Alan the Clement of Featherstonehaugh St Fanshaw Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Respect Life Mass

This morning, we headed to downtown Houston to participate in the annual diocesan Respect Life Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church, celebrated by our archbishop, Daniel DiNardo. Very good. Several other pro-life events will be taking place over the next couple of weeks surrounding the anniversary of the infamous Roe Vs. Wade decision. These events are necessary to renew our spirit and strengthen our resolve to fight for life and respect for human dignity, especially that of the unborn and of women.

Before mass began, we heard a very moving testimony from the father of two aborted children. It was a good message for men, in particular, to hear. Men aren't absent from the issue of abortion. To paraphrase his message, whenever there is an abortion, there's a man in the equation somewhere. A true man does not sit back or otherwise encourage the death of his own child, for whatever excuse. A true man loves and respects women and children and works to protect them and walk with them, as hard as it is. Therefore, to say that abortion is solely a women's issue is horribly wrong. That's fundamentally why the early feminists opposed abortion - abortion was the best way a man could cast aside responsibility for his actions at the expense of everyone around him, most especially the woman he impregnated and their child.

Home Wizard

Those of you who own homes, especially those who are new at this game, check out:

Home Wizard Interactive Home Maintenance Guide

Recommended by home inspectors. Useful information on basic home and yard maintenance, including an automatic email reminder service to remind you of the all of the various things that need to be done throughout the year. We'll try it and see how it goes!

Quincey P. Morris, an American from Texas

In the course of my reading of Bram Stoker's Dracula, I couldn't go without commenting on a character whom I feel is one of the most interesting in all literature: Mr. Quincey P. Morris, the great world traveler, loyal friend, suitor to Miss Lucy Westenra, and homegrown Texan. Okay, I'm sure many of you will immediately think of more interesting literary characters, but it's fascinating to me to find such a well polished, distinguished, and uniquely Texan gentleman in late 19th century England, whose sole pleasure was to seek the heart of the wildly flirtatious Lucy, only to find himself bound by loyalty to her and to his friends to battle the infamous vampire Count (with the aide of his trusty bowie knife); and, in so doing, ultimately to give his life.

In the novel, Lucy describes one of the more memorable scenes involving Quincey in a letter to Mina Murray. In particular, Lucy is describing how she received Quincey's marriage proposal, the 2nd marriage proposal received that day, which she of course refused in anticipation of the 3rd marriage proposal later that day, which was offered by Quincey's good friend, Arthur Holmwood.

He is such a nice fellow, an American from Texas, and he looks so young and so fresh that it seems almost impossible that he has been to so many places and has had such adventures... Mr. Quincey P. Morris found me alone... I must tell you beforehand that Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang -- that is to say, he never does so to strangers or before them, for he is really well educated and has exquisite manners -- but he found out that it amused me to hear him talk American slang, and whenever I was present, and there was no one to be shocked, he said such funny things... Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me and looked as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see all the same that he was very nervous. He took my hand in his, and said ever so sweetly:

Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to regulate the fixin's of your little shoes, but I guess if you wait till you find a man that is you will go join them seven young women with the lamps when you quit. Won't you just hitch up alongside of me and let us go down the long road together, driving in double harness?

Well, he did look so good-humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward, so I said, as lightly as I could, that I did not know anything of hitching, and that I wasn't broken to harness at all yet.

Poor Quincey, how could someone refuse such a marriage proposal as that? Well, in my opinion, he was better off without Lucy! I'm sure I'll write more about Quincey another time.

La Chapelle Royale

La Chapelle Royale du Château de Versailles, France

The Execution & other thoughts

I haven't had much time to collect my thoughts, but I want to jot some thoughts down. I support Church teaching regarding capital punishment, and in this context I also agree with the thoughts of our late holy father, Pope John Paul II, particularly in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae. His thoughts concerning the prudence of the death penalty are also recorded in our current Catechism. The Catechism discusses the death penalty in the general context of the larger section: Respect for Human Life. Of course, this isn't accidental. Paragraph 2266-2267:

2266 The State's effort to contain the spread of behaviors injurious to human rights and the fundamental rules of civil coexistence corresponds to the requirement of watching over the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict penalties commensurate with the gravity of the crime. The primary scope of the penalty is to redress the disorder caused by the offense. When his punishment is voluntarily accepted by the offender, it takes on the value of expiation. Moreover, punishment, in addition to preserving public order and the safety of persons, has a medicinal scope: as far as possible it should contribute to the correction of the offender.

The traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude, presupposing full ascertainment of the identity and responsibility of the offender, recourse to the death penalty, when this is the only practicable way to defend the lives of human beings effectively against the aggressor. [From Evangelium Vitae:]"If, instead, bloodless means are sufficient to defend against the aggressor and to protect the safety of persons, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. Today, in fact, given the means at the State's disposal to effectively repress crime by rendering inoffensive the one who has committed it, without depriving him definitively of the possibility of redeeming himself, cases of absolute necessity for suppression of the offender 'today ... are very rare, if not practically non-existent.'"

I agree with all of this. Actually, there is a lot packed into those few lines, and much to consider. As a citizen of the United States, I want to mention that I oppose the modern application of the death penalty in this country and would like to see it abolished. Because of the apparently general decrease in the value of life, I tend toward the position that the modern use of the death penalty is more likely an offense to human dignity rather than an affirmation of it. This is not because I think there are no circumstances that warrant it in theory, but because I feel it may be of no practical use today. I am not sure I'm convinced that, as a punishment, it is necessarily "just" in every case, and I don't believe it is necessary to protect society or deter crime, as perhaps it once was. In most cases, at least to me, it seems overly anti-climactic for a society that has grown more adapted to it and perhaps takes it for granted. And of course, there are looming questions of misapplication. That being said, the Church clearly acknowledges the authority of civil authorities to impose it, that in some circumstances it may be considered "just", and I recognize that Catholics disagree with me in good conscience about abolishing it in this country.

I have struggled with my opinion regarding the Iraqi execution of Saddam. I think that executing Saddam may have been one of those rare cases that most likely did serve the best interests of the world and Iraq. He clearly had enormous influence among Iraqis and terrorists alike, both in Iraq and all over the world. However, I'm not ready to say that I know what Iraq should've done. It wasn't my decision to make; it was theirs. I recognize that. However, I can't rejoice in it. It was tragic, and why shouldn't it be? Perhaps not because it wasn't just, but tragic perhaps because it's sad that human beings, sinners, with limited understanding, have to be put in a situation to judge whether another sinner's death may be necessary for some "greater good" of society or for some punishment that appears "just". Just as in some cases, war may be necessary and even just - that doesn't mean war isn't any less hell.

So what about the Vatican's statement regarding the execution of Saddam? Their response seems perfectly consistent with what I would expect. Did nobody cringe when Pope John Paul II appealed to President Bush for the life of convicted mass murderer Timothy McVeigh, or when the pope publicly opposed the war in Iraq? I don't see any repudiation of the Church's actual teaching, but I do see a shift in the way the Church engages these important issues with the modern world, a world that seems to devalue basic human dignity in each succeeding generation. And so the Church has clearly taken a radical position on what constitutes prudence when seeking to apply the death penalty. It is radical to insist that even notorious murderers have a basic, innate human dignity. Of course, this means that human dignity is of immense value. What I see seems perfectly in line with what the Church said about its attempts to engage the modern world with the Gospel in Gaudium et Spes from the Second Vatican Council. I am quite frankly puzzled why a few bloggers find the Vatican's statement and leanings so troubling. What few answers I have received from these bloggers have been less than satisfactory, and the more I attempt to probe this question, the more questions I have. Again, from Gaudium et Spes:

Therefore, this sacred synod, proclaiming the noble destiny of man and championing the Godlike seed which has been sown in him, offers to mankind the honest assistance of the Church in fostering that brotherhood of all men which corresponds to this destiny of theirs. Inspired by no earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ under the lead of the befriending Spirit...

To carry out such a task, the Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics.

Man's questions about this present life and the life to come remaining perennial, and Church teaching remaining consistent, do we really expect the Church to engage the world in the same fashion it did 500 years ago?

Pray for grandmother

Tonight, I found out that my paternal grandmother suffered a massive stroke this morning near her home in Indiana, with internal bleeding in her brain. She's alive, but she's in grave condition. Please pray for her!

R.I.P. Gerald Ford

Happy New Year

We just returned home from spending the weekend with family in Abilene, TX. We chose to take a shortcut from Houston using Texas' many intersecting highways, passing through many interesting small towns. But what we thought was the most direct route turned out to be a fairly long, 7-hr drive, longer than we expected -- which is saying a lot since my family and I have crossed Texas end-to-end by car many, many times over the last 28 years. We had no illusions about the size of Texas, but next time, we'll contemplate taking the less direct, but still slightly faster and more efficient interstate system!

However, it was a fun trip. We spent the early evening of New Years Eve watching a showing of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on the original film at the restored 1930's Paramount Theater in downtown Abilene, and then we spent the rest of the night watching the Twilight Zone marathon with family. And yet, the trip was not without its frustrations... including a minor auto accident and an overflowing toilet in our hotel room. Grr... but such, at times, is life and sanctification. It was great to see family.

Traffic Waves

An interesting research article by Electrical Engineer William Beaty. Beaty spent a lot of time evaluating traffic flow in terms of fluid dynamics and came up with some interesting ideas concerning how just one car can dislodge a traffic jam. Be sure to check out the FAQ as well. Some if his observations are pretty obvious, while others are pretty insightful. If you spent a lot of time in traffic (hello, Houston!), check it out.

Merry Christmas

This year marks our first Christmas in Texas away from our respective families. We're making the best of it by cooking a plump goose this year.

Since becoming Catholic, Midnight Mass has been somewhat of an annual tradition for me, and my wife has joined me in me in this. We went last night and experienced an incredible midnight liturgy. My wife sings in our parish choir, and so last night I experienced the fruit of their many weeks of practice as they sang, as a choral prelude to the mass, Antonio Vivaldi's setting for the Magnificat, complete with chamber orchestra. The new, most dignified and awesome tabernacle in our newly renovated sanctuary was flanked by flowers, with the blessed sacrament now reserved there for the first time. The Christmas liturgy was magnificent. It's good to be home here in Texas.

I could go on and on, but let me just say that I was also pleased that, at the very beginning of the liturgy, our pastor chose to read from a sermon given by 5th century Pope St. Leo the Great on the meaning of Christmas, a reading also taken from today's Office of Readings, which I had only just read privately before the mass! Here is the text, and this is all I will say today:

Sermo 1 in Nativitate Domini, by Pope St. Leo the Great

Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.

No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.

In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God's wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with its creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the origin of death, in that very nature by which he had overthrown mankind.

And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy: "Glory to God in the highest", and they proclaim, "peace to his people on earth" as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvelous work of God's goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?

Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, "and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ", so that in him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh.

Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God's own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God's kingdom.

Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for your liberty was bought by the blood of Christ.

Merry Christmas to all.

It's the small realities...

From The Richness of Ordinary Life, a homily by St. Josemaría Escrivá.

... Certainly our goal is both lofty and difficult to attain. But please do not forget that people are not born holy. Holiness is forged through a constant interplay of God's grace and the correspondence of man. As one of the early Christian writers [St. Mark the Hermit] says, referring to union with God, "Everything that grows begins small. It is by constant and progressive feeding that it gradually grows big." So I say to you, if you want to become a thorough-going Christian -- and I know you are willing, even though you often find it difficult to conquer yourself or to keep climbing upwards with this poor body of ours -- then you will have to be very attentive to the minutest of details, for the holiness that our Lord demands of you is to be achieved by carrying out with love of God your work and your daily duties, and these will almost always consist of small realities.

Hayrides, Carols, and Lights

Every year about this time (as we are told), various folks in our neighborhood put together elaborate trailers and structures for their trucks for the sole purpose of hauling boatloads of screaming kids around the neighborhood at night, singing carols and looking at Christmas lights. Our neighborhood is pretty big, so each trip could last about an hour.

Some friends on our street built a pretty impressive little ride... complete with two generators mounted on the front of the truck, a blasting stereo system with speakers attached to the top of the cab, and a six foot long trailer filled with hay in tow -- all covered, and I mean covered, with Christmas lights. It was 80 degrees outside today, and the night air was cool and breezy - how could we not go along for a ride? It's not my usual gig, but it was spontaneous and fun. Frequently during our little journey around the neighborhood, we would pass other trucks with trailers, filled with kids.

California vs. Texas

Honor the Texas flag;
I pledge allegiance to thee,
Texas, one and indivisible.

That is the pledge of allegiance to the flag of Texas, and I am told that children are even taught this pledge in elementary school here along with the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States. And did you know that the lone star featured on the flag of California refers to Texas, which, like California, did once exist as an independent republic before it eventually became part of the United States.

On that note, I would like to draw your attention to a post written by my beautiful wife concerning some of our observations: California vs. Texas.

Most people wouldn't put Texas and California in the same sentence, unless noting how opposite they are supposed to be. I've lived in both states, and find that they have a few things in common:

1. Both were once part of Mexico
2. Both were independent republics before joining the US.
3. Both have fabulous historical sites reflecting items 1 & 2.
4. Both states are huge, geographically speaking.
5. Residents of each state think they live in the best of all possible places, not just on this planet, but possibly in the known universe. Ask them. Neither can fathom why anyone would want to live in the other state.

Texas, however takes its state pride to a slightly different level than California. Furniture stores in Texas often feature pieces with the Lone Star emblazoned proudly upon them. You don't see many Californians looking for furniture with the Bear on them. Texas even has its own pledge of allegiance... I did a Google search, to see if California has its own equivalent. All I got was references to news articles and court cases about people in California trying to ban the national Pledge of Allegiance because of the words "under God". A similar Google search for the Texas pledge got notably different results.

Ah, California... Ah, Texas.

Parish Mission with Scott and Kimberly Hahn

We just got back from an advent parish mission at our parish, which included mass this morning followed by speakers Dr. Scott and Kimberly Hahn... Very enriching... and standing room only. I'm sure that folks benefited very well from having such articulate speakers come to visit us and talk about the beautiful truths of our Catholic Faith.

I was pleased when Kimberly Hahn referred to the conciliar document Gaudium et Spes, from the Second Vatican Council, to underscore her point about the life giving nature of the marital union as being a union with the life creating power of God Himself; this God who is Love and pours out love (as Love can only do) in the creation of new life. Also the important fact that just as children benefit from the love and education given by their parents, parents also benefit from the love and education given to them every day by their children. Gaudium et Spes (paragraph 50) says it this way:

Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and educating of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents. The God Himself Who said, "it is not good for man to be alone" (Gen. 2:18) and "Who made man from the beginning male and female" (Matt. 19:4), wishing to share with man a certain special participation in His own creative work, blessed male and female, saying: "Increase and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). Hence, while not making the other purposes of matrimony of less account, the true practice of conjugal love, and the whole meaning of the family life which results from it, have this aim: that the couple be ready with stout hearts to cooperate with the love of the Creator and the Savior. Who through them will enlarge and enrich His own family day by day.

Made in Santa Barbara

From the SB Independent, courtesy of Goleta pastor Billy Calderwood. All of these items (and there are many more) started in Santa Barbara, California:

-Earth Day
-Balance Bar
-Shortboard
-Motel 6
-Sex Wax
-Sambo's
-Big Dogs (clothing)
-Kinko's (in Isla Vista)
-Ranch Dressing
-Egg McMuffin

Although I dispute the assertion that Tri-Tip is a Santa Barbara invention. Santa Maria has held claim to that for lo these many years.

Maria, Gratia Plena

The Magnificent Event of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through a singular grace of God, in view of the merits of her Son, Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from the stain of original sin from the first moment of her presence in her mother's womb. This was to prepare her as a sinless vessel, the immaculate ark of the new and everlasting covenant, through which God would take human flesh upon Himself and be born as a human being, human like us in all things but sin.

It does not refer, as many Catholics have been erroneously taught, to the conception of Christ in Mary's womb, although it does anticipate that reality. And whatever special grace Mary has that others do not have is there because of God. Mary's sinlessness can only be a work of grace, of being perfected and made whole. For Mary, God did this at the moment of her conception, though she still had the freedom to cooperate with that grace. For the rest of us, however, God does this throughout our ordinary human lives, so that all who enter Heaven are perfect as God is perfect.

In mense autem sexto missus est angelus Gabriel a Deo in civitatem Galilaeae, cui nomen Nazareth, ad virginem desponsatam viro, cui nomen erat Ioseph de domo David, et nomen virginis Maria. Et ingressus ad eam dixit: "Ave, gratia plena, Dominus tecum". Ipsa autem turbata est in sermone eius et cogitabat qualis esset ista salutatio. Et ait angelus ei: "Ne timeas, Maria; invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum. Et ecce concipies in utero et paries filium et vocabis nomen eius Iesum. Hic erit magnus et Filius Altissimi vocabitur, et dabit illi Dominus Deus sedem David patris eius, et regnabit super domum Iacob in aeternum, et regni eius non erit finis". Luke 1:26-33

The angel Gabriel came down to her and said to her, "Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with you.... Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bare a son, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the seat of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His Kingdom will have no end."

Through this we know that 1.) Mary was "full of grace", 2.) God chose her out of all the women of the world, and 3.) because she was to carry the Son of the Most High in her womb, God in the flesh.

Giving thanks and Richard Dawson

We've been pretty busy lately; we spent much of last week preparing for family visits during the Thanksgiving holiday, which we were very blessed to have so soon after moving out here to Texas. We spent a lot of time eating all the food we prepared and touring the city and surrounding areas.


Sometimes when I relax, I like to tune in to reruns of old Match Game episodes on Game Show Network. This show epitomizes all that was nutty about the 1970's, complete with groovy music, polyester fashions, historical trivia, and tacky attempts at humor. Gene Rayburn, my muse. But, if I see Richard Dawson kiss one more woman on the lips, I'll...

Two brothers...



Last week while in Turkey, Pope Benedict XVI spent a good amount of time with Patriarch Bartholomew I (Eastern Orthodox) of the very ancient and venerable city of Constantinople (Istanbul). It is certainly refreshing to see them together, like the two brothers Peter and Andrew. While it's clear that Benedict and Bartholomew aren't quite ready to join hands and sing Kum Ba Ya, one hopes that this visit will further dialog and strenghten the hope for future reconciliation between much of the Eastern Orthodox world and the Roman Catholic church... after 1000 years of schism. Ut unum sint...

Here they are giving a common blessing, courtesy of YouTube.com... Benedict pronounces the blessing in our cherished Latin, while Bartholomew pronounces the blessing in Greek.



This was only one of many memorable moments that occurred during this visit. Go here for more videos of the visit between Benedict and Bartholomew.

UPDATE: Joshua Treviño posts a very moving piece about his experience of the Patriarchal liturgy with Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Benedict. Read it!

On the twofold coming of Christ

Taken from today's office of readings, by St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom.

In general, what relates to our Lord Jesus Christ has two aspects. There is a birth from God before all ages, and a birth from a virgin at the fullness of time. There is a hidden coming, like that of rain on fleece, and a coming before all eyes, still in the future. At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels. We look then beyond the first coming and await the second. At the first coming we said: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." At the second we hall say it again; we shall go out with the angels to meet the Lord and cry out in adoration: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord."

The Savior will not come to be judged again, but to judge those by whom he was judged. At his own judgment he was silent; then he will address those who committed the outrages against him when they crucified him and will remind them: "You did these things, and I was silent." His first coming was to fulfill his plan of love, to teach men by gentle persuasion. This time, whether men like it or not, they will be subjects of his kingdom by necessity. Malachi the prophet speaks of the two comings. "And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple": that is one coming. Again he says of another coming: "Look, the Lord almighty will come, and who will endure the day of his entry, or who will sand in his sight? Because he comes like a refiner's fire, a fuller's herb, and he will sit refining and cleansing."

These two comings are also referred to by Paul in writing to Titus: "The grace of God the Savior has appeared to all men, instructing us to put aside impiety and worldly desires and live temperately, uprightly, and religiously in this present age, waiting for the joyful hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Notice how he speaks of a first coming for which he gives thanks, and a second, the one we still await.

That is why the faith we profess has been handed on to you in these words: "He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end."

Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new.

Christ came first to be judged; When He comes again, He will come to judge us. As St. Cyril connects to the prophet Malachi, quoting him, he comes like a refiner's fire, a fuller's herb, and he will sit refining and cleansing... Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on us.

Let Them Say, "I Regret My Child!"

Janet A. Morana, associate director for Priests for Life and co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, makes a very good point in her article, When Pro-Aborts Say, "I Do Not Regret My Abortion."

More and more women, as part of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, hold signs at public events saying "I regret my abortion." The pro-abortion side, in response to this effort, is trying to give visibility to women who say, "I had an abortion and I don't regret it at all." ... Here's the point. We are saying abortion is hurtful, and they are saying childbirth is hurtful... The alternative experience to killing an unborn child is giving birth to that child -- not killing the child and then saying it was OK. The point of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign is that what the other side defends and promotes (that is, abortion) has a negative side that is being hidden and denied. To round up a group of women to continue denying it only proves our point, not theirs. The denial, in other words, continues, and most of the women who now hold "I Regret my Abortion" signs once said that their abortion caused them no problem at all.

If the other side really wants to try to mount a counter-campaign, they need to do what we have done, namely, take what we promote and show the negative side of it. We promote childbirth. The true reverse of our campaign would be to have women publicly come out and say, "I regret my child."

These groups that put forth abortion as the emancipation of women simply do not have a good response to these women who have found each other and are coming out to tell other women that their abortions have hurt them profoundly. Planned Parenthood, NOW, and NARAL have been trying to ignore them, passing them off as simply anti-woman... yeah, right...

Please check out Silent No More.

Marie Antoinette: La Reine Martyr



Just wanted to point out www.emvidal.com, which is the blog of Elena Maria Vidal (aka Mary Eileen Russell), author of Trianon, a historical fiction novel about the life of Queen Marie Antoinette of France, and Madame Royale, the sequel concerning the life of the Queen's daughter after the French Revolution.

Russell also reviews Sofia Coppola's recent film about Marie Antoinette. Christina and I went to see this film a few weeks ago. While I loved the film's use of scenary and costume, I agree with Russell's review for the most part, particularly this:

The Coppola film ends when the Revolution begins, at the moment when as Marie-Antoinette came into her own as the daughter of a great empress and as a queen who would not forsake her husband or her duty, even when to do so cost her her life. The new generation of movie goers will be deprived of such an inspiration that would be so powerful on screen. Antoinette's Christian fortitude is ignored and her personal tragedy is trivialized amid a movie of froth. Without the spiritual depths, the depiction is shallow and incomplete. I do not begrudge people their enjoyment of an art film about decadent adolescents romping at Versailles, surrounded by pastries and champagne, but the real Marie-Antoinette seems to be missing.

I guess the bloody details of revolution, courage, and martyrdom are too much real history for today's adolescents to appreciate...

Dogma is a Progressive Good!

As an addendum to my previous blogpost on the necessity of dogma, I submit this additional quotation from G.K. Chesterton, offered by Dr. Thursday of the American Chesterton Society blog:

People talk nowadays of getting rid of dogmas and all agreeing like brethren. But upon what can they all agree except upon a common dogma? If you agree, you must agree on some statement, if it is only that a cat has four legs. If the dogmas in front of you are false, get rid of them; but do not say that you are getting rid of dogmas. Say that you are getting rid of lies. If the dogmas are true, what can you do but try to get men to agree with them? Nevertheless there is something deeper behind the rather vague attack on dogma which is widespread in our world. I think what the honest anti-dogmatists really mean about dogma is something like this: it is quite true that when one is talking to simple people such as children or the very poor, one does not repeat theoretic dogmas in their very theoretic form. One does not use frigid and philosophical language. One does not, in short, define the dogma. But let no one suppose that one is any the less dogmatic. For the simple truth is that, instead of defining the dogma, we simply assume the dogma. A mother does not say to her child, "There is a personal God, the moral and intelligent Governor of the universe". She says, "God will be pleased if you are good". She is quite as dogmatic as a college of theologians. Nay, she is more dogmatic, for it is more dogmatic to assume that a dogma is true than to declare that a dogma is true. But she is certainly simpler and better adapted to looking after babies than a college of theologians would be. And from this fact flows a singular consequence. It does often happen that the more good or innocent a man is, the more he imagines that he is undogmatic. The truth is that, so far from being undogmatic, he believes his dogmas so implicitly that he thinks that they are truisms.

[GKC Daily News Feb 13 1906 quoted in Maycock, The Man Who Was Orthodox]

Remembrance Vespers, this week in Sugar Land

If you live in the Houston area, check this out. The Sugar Land choirs of St. Laurence Catholic Church and St. Theresa Catholic Church will be presenting an evening concert for Remembrance Vespers, featuring:
The Mass in G by Franz Schubert
with organ, orchestra, and soloists
conducted by Kevin Klotz

Thursday, November 9th, 7:30pm
at St. Theresa Catholic Church
115 Seventh St. in Sugar Land, TX
Admission is free, with free-will offering.

Don Giovanni, a cenar teco m'invitasti e son venuto!

Christina and I went downtown last night to experience Mozart's Don Giovanni, a production of the Houston Grand Opera at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts. We had a great time, and we of course loved the opera. Not bad for our first time! We had seats up in the loge section, which afforded us with a really great view of the stage as well as the orchestra below. And surely, the cultural and historical significance of this opera was not to be missed. So much fun!!

If you're interested, here is a Playbill Arts article about this production, with some photos of the performance.

St. Catherine of Genoa, Treatise on Purgatory

... from the Treatise on Purgatory, by St. Catherine of Genoa, a most beautiful devotional read concerning purgatory and the holy souls embraced in God's perfect, divine love.

I perceive there to be so much conformity between God and the soul that when He sees it in the purity in which His Divine Majesty created it He gives it a burning love, which draws it to Himself, which is strong enough to destroy it, immortal though it be, and which causes it to be so transformed in God that it sees itself as though it were none other than God. Unceasingly He draws it to Himself and breathes fire into it, never letting it go until He has led it to the state whence it came forth, that is to the pure cleanliness in which it was created.

When with its inner sight the soul sees itself drawn by God with such loving fire, then it is melted by the heat of the glowing love for God, its most dear Lord, which it feels overflowing it. And it sees by the divine light that God does not cease from drawing it, nor from leading it, lovingly and with much care and unfailing foresight, to its full perfection, doing this of His pure love. But the soul, being hindered by sin, cannot go whither God draws it; it cannot follow the uniting look with which He would draw it to Himself. Again the soul perceives the grievousness of being held back from seeing the divine light; the soul's instinct too, being drawn by that uniting look, craves to be unhindered. I say that it is the sight of these things which begets in the souls the pain they feel in Purgatory. Not that they make account of their pain; most great though it be, they deem it a far less evil than to find themselves going against the will of God, whom they clearly see to be on fire with extreme and pure love for them.

God is merciful. His grace brings about our sanctification and salvation in Him, and it proceeds to complete the job even after death, so long as we desire, moved as it were by Him, to live in that grace and love here on earth.

Feast of All Saints, Feast of All Souls

These two great feast days have grown to be immensely important to my general spiritual life. Ever since becoming a Catholic in 1997, my appreciation and understanding concerning the mystical reality of the Communion of Saints and, indeed, the communion of all the baptized in the grace of Christ has grown in leaps and bounds. The realization that has most fostered my devotion to the holy souls in Purgatory is the realization that the connection we share with them and with the saints in heaven is not unlike that connection that all the baptized share, particularly those of us living here on the earth. We are all baptized into the same Christ, into His death and resurrection.

Sometimes it's easy to take our connection with the saints for granted. Our divine patrons and protectors, unceasingly offering prayer for us before God's throne. They behold the beatific vision, truly. And also those at God's doorstep, being purged of whatever remains of their sinful, selfish, and earthly inclinations after death before being able to completely behold the fullness of God's beauty and embrace. We have a connection with these souls that transcends the flesh. And our connection with each other really is no different. Yes, we interact with each other in the flesh, and though we do not yet behold the beatific vision, we should live with an appreciation of the profound spiritual unity we share in Christ. And so, knowing this connection, what is there to fear when one of us dies in God's grace? Yes, we can no longer behold one another in the flesh, but the spiritual reality is not destroyed since we know and believe that Christ conquered death.

So let us always and unceasingly offer prayer for both the living and the dead... and let us ask the dead, those who have new life in Christ, to offer prayer for us.

UCSB Daily Nexus & California Elections

Some interesting things...

My opinion of the UCSB Daily Nexus is not very high... and this is largely due to many, many reasons, not the least of which is their recent embrace of obscene and pornographic writing over the past couple of years. But I want to comment on a couple of their reflections of some of the California issues in next week's election.

First, it's interesting that they are endorsing Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's the first time I've seen them support a Republican of any stripe... not that it's saying much.

But here's what they say about Proposition 85, which will require parental notification for minors seeking abortions in the state:

This proposition puts unnecessary pressure on young pregnant girls and could lead these individuals to seek illegal abortions. While it would be nice if all parents could be involved in their children?s lives, certain exceptions prove parental notification to be dangerous. Prop 85 does not account for abusive parents who would kick their daughters out of their homes or for victims of incest.

Well, that's just it, isn't it. If a girl lives in an abusive situation at home, what is the alternative? Why it would be the status quo. Give the girl the (dangerous, unsafe, medically unregulated, yet legal) abortion she seeks, and then return her back into that abusive living environment... no questions asked. Not a chance - that solution is not sufficient. If a young woman is in an abusive situation, then she needs to be removed from that harmful environment. I believe Prop. 85 actually facilitates this rather than protecting the status quo. Yes, it involves the law. But protecting children often does -- that's why we have the law and child protection.

(Of course many of us already believe, as the early American feminists believed, that abortion, even when it's legal, is the ultimate form of oppression of women).

The Nexus then endorses Diane Feinstein (no surprise there), saying this:

Feinstein has, for the most part, championed everything that Californians believe in. She is for education, the environment, a woman?s right to choose and embryonic stem cell research. Meanwhile, Mountjoy does not embody California?s generally liberal attitude.

Is California really that liberal? It may surprise you to know that Kerry won California by only 55%. Would you call that a landslide victory? It is true that California's largest cities generally come out in favor of abortion. But it isn't generally true for California as a whole. Of course, if you oppose abortion and embryonic stem-cell research, you must oppose education and the environment as well, right? ;p Of course, those of us who endorse medically proven stem-cell research that doesn't involve the destruction of human embryos are told to "Shut up! There's no room for discussion, here!" Bleh...

Count Dracula goes to Washington



Last week we were flipping channels on the television and landed on some show about vampirism... Apparently folks in Transylvania are upset with Bram Stoker for ruining the reputation of their national hero, Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. And they don't like the whole vampire-lore popular culture surrounding Dracula that Americans seem to perpetuate. "How would you like it", they say, "if we made George Washington into an evil vampire?" Well, I'd have to say, that'd be totally awesome! Of course, can you really compare George Washington to a man known for impaling vast enemy armies on a pike? Either way...

Have a happy and fun Eve of All Hallows! In whatever you do, don't forget that this day means nothing without the Feast of All Saints, Nov. 1st.

Pope Benedict wants "for many"

According to Fr. John Zuhlsdorf at the WDTPRS blog:

Three different well-placed sources I trust in Congregations here in Rome confirmed for me that the Holy Father made the determination that the words "pro multis" in the consecration of the Precious Blood will be properly translated, "for many", in the upcoming English text now in preparation.

So if we use one of the original drafts of the upcoming new English translation of the mass, I guess the words will fit into Eucharistic Prayer I something like this:

Who on the day before he was to suffer took bread into his holy and venerable hands, and with eyes raised to heaven, to you, God, his almighty Father, giving you thanks, he blessed, broke, and gave it to his disciples, saying:

Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body, which will be given up for you.

In the same way, when supper was ended, taking also this noble cup into his holy and venerable hands, once more giving thanks, he blessed and gave it to his disciples, saying:

Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the cup of my blood of the new and everlasting covenant; it will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.

I don't object to the change; but I had heard good arguments that "for all" was a fairly accurate translation of the inclusive sense of the original language, transliterated into Latin as "pro multis". But nonetheless, "for many" more closely reflects the literal Latin, and doesn't necessarily destroy the sense of the text (in a way not unlike how our English bibles translate the phrase). Certainly, if this report is true, the Holy Father believes it is significant.