Orbis in orbit.

STOP THIS MAN!
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John Sonnen is threatening to eliminate his blog - Orbis Catholicus.
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John's blog is one of THE most entertaining and informative Catholic blogs on line, as well as a sharp eye on Rome and Roman Catholic culture. Please visit him here and encourage him to work something out to maintain his delightful and oftentimes edifying blog.
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For those who may not know, John Sonnen is a gentleman and a scholar of the highest calibre from St. Paul, Minnesota who studies at the prestigious Angelicum in Rome. He also conducts excellent tours of the holy city to help finance his studies. Please support him in any way you can.

Edward Kennedy's funeral Mass.

The Franciscan brothers who served the funeral Mass for Senator Kennedy are the Little Brothers of St. Francis, whose hermitage is not far from the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Roxbury. Their website here.
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Prayer for the dead.
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Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord,
And let perpetual Light shine upon him.
May his soul
And the souls of all the faithful departed
Through the mercy of God
Rest in peace.
Amen.
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As I said elsewhere, I watched all of the funeral coverage except for Obama's eulogy. Aside from the prayer of the faithful, I was very impressed - I paid no attention as to who received Communion, instead I prayed in spiritual Communion through that part of the Mass.
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The only thing I can say is that Ted Kennedy was a better man and Catholic than I ever could hope to be.
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May God have mercy on us all.

The mirror has two faces...

“On one of my visits to the missions, I went to a leper colony in Buluba, Africa, where there were 500 lepers. I brought with me 500 silver crucifixes, intending to give one to each of the lepers-this symbol of the Lord’s Redemption. The first one who came to meet me had his left arm eaten off at the elbow by the disease. He put out his right hand and it was the most foul, noisome mass of corruption I ever saw. I held the silver crucifix above it, and dropped it. It was swallowed up in that volcano of leprosy.
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All of a sudden there were 501 lepers in that camp; I was the 501st because I had taken that symbol of God’s identification with man and refused to identify myself with someone who was a thousand times better on the inside than I. Then it came over the awful thing I had done. I dug my fingers into his leprosy, took out the crucifix and pressed it into his hand. And so on, for all the other 499 lepers. From that moment on I learned to love them.” –Servant of God Fulton J. Sheen
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Taken from Catholic Eye Candy blog.
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Pray for our seminarians and future priests.

Local saints.

Fr. Darin Didier
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Last evening, CBS affiliate, WCCO News ran an interesting story on a very holy priest, Fr. Darin Didier who died just weeks before his 33 birthday from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Fr. Didier died just under 4 years ago, having been ordained for the diocese of Fargo just 3 months before his death. Ever since, miracles and answers to prayers have been attributed to his intercession. Here is the story:
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For the past few years people from across the country have made the trip to a small western Minnesota cemetery. Most have never met the man they are there to talk to. Darin Didier was priest for just three months. He died three weeks before his 33rd birthday. His parents, Len and Bonnie Didier, said growing up their son was a little shy. He was every bit the athlete in Alexandria and was a track and cross-country star through college. He went to the University of North Dakota to be a physical therapist. Before he started his last year at UND, he changed his mind about being a physical therapist. He wanted to be a Catholic priest. Darin started seminary and a few years later he was at home for a visit.
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"He was just walking around here and I noticed a spot on the back of his neck. I just thought it looked a little different," Bonnie explained.
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In 2003, Darin was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. He went through chemotherapy, radiation and a stem-cell transplant. "Everything that they did for him his cancer rebelled and came back worse," said Len. "He was very accepting. I think that made it easier because if I was down he would actually lift me up. I have to remember that," said Bonnie.
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His parents had him buried in the back of St. Mary's Cemetery. It's a small area on the west side of Alexandria. They were not prepared for what happened next. - Read more
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From a priest who knew him:
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"I got up the courage to ask him about his disease and prognosis and he was equally brave in responding--and realistically idealistic. He said: 'I pray that God allows me to make it to priesthood, if it be His Will, but if not, then to help people in Heaven. Whatever His Will is, it's a win-win situation.'" - Memorium by Fr. John Lombardi
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Though I did not know him personally, I was fortunate to have met Fr. Didier once or twice - he was a wonderful man. I pray for his intercession today.

The Friday Breviarium

Just some brief thoughts...

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Whatsabreviary anyway?

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Breviary - that is what the book containing the Divine Office was once called, and many still call it that. I'm not sure, but I think the origins of the word breviary denote the fact that the secular priest's office is shorter than the monastic office - at any rate, it must have meant that early on. You see, the monastic offices were much longer, and the priest's offices were abbreviated due to their diocesan schedules and so on.

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At least that is how Mr. Peabody explained it to me: "Yes Sherman, in brief, the diocesan priest's prayer book was called a breviary because it was the abbreviated form of the monastic Opus Dei, or Divine Office."

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A happy death.

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I wasn't going to write about Edward Kennedy, simply because everyone - from media personnel to taxi drivers to beauticians to their clients, carry on way too much about celebrities and famous people when they die. Emotions run rampant - I get like that too - but I'm trying to be wiser and keep my mouth shut, which is obviously impossible for anyone with a blog. But I digress.

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Anyway. I hope I can die like Teddy. I read an interview with a priest who assisted at his deathbed, it certainly sounds as if the Senator had a happy death. He had the consolation of the sacraments and a priest - in other words, Christ himself was there assisting him as he prepared to die. Kennedy said he was ready - what more can one hope for?

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Venomous attacks.

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I haven't been a fan of the Kennedy's for decades - the last one I cared about was John Jr. - otherwise I think I saw the family for what they were, most of us did, in a way that wasn't possible when John was president and who for many became a 'martyr' in his assassination. Years later all the skeletons came out of the Kennedy closet and the world knew... The dad was a philanderer, a crook, a Nazi sympathizer, and so on. I suppose it doesn't mean they were bad people since Rose went to Mass everyday. But the family was obviously screwed up, and many people were not quite as enamoured with them as they had been.

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Nevertheless, reflecting upon the reaction of many bloggers to Ted Kennedy's death and eternal judgement, I have to say once again - accusing myself first, we are quite a mean lot. I know, I know, people have been genuinely scandalized by Catholics in public life supporting anti-Catholic policies such as abortion and gay marriage, but many of us really went for the stake in the heart with the dead senator. I know, it happens, as Howard Beale always said, "We get mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore!" We all have our faults and prejudices and make our mistakes, and hopefully we can all die like Teddy - with all the means at hand for repentance and forgiveness, assisted by the sacraments and a priest - indeed, to die in the presence of Christ.

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Hecklers and gossips.

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It struck me however, that we civilized people on the web are frequently little different than the crowds who followed the wagons of the condemned to the guillotine, or the audiences in Shakespeare's time who hurled garbage at the actors whose performance they didn't like, or even the Roman spectators in the Colosseum screaming for more bloodshed. Yes, the most respectable amongst us who discreetly hide their nasty little criticism and rumor mongering behind their elegant painted fans, facades of piety, or most deeply enclosed closet; everyone takes their swipes from time to time. And none of us are without sin.

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Woe to us, hypocrites. We cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside we are full of plunder and self indulgence... we are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside but inside are filled with dead men's bones; envy, greed, lust, and every kind of filth. Outside we appear righteous, but inside we are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.

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"Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour." - Matthew 25:13

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Let's pray for one another's conversion and happy death. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Learning how to compromise.

Archbishop Sheehan decries 'combative tactics' of a minority of U.S. bishops...
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“I believe in collaboration,” he said. “I worked under Cardinal Bernardin and he taught me how to collaborate, how to consult. So I am very committed to the concept called shared responsibility. I think involving people in the process all the way along – my priests, my lay people, I am open to talking to them, working with them. Consultation, collaboration, building bridges not burning them. And you can get so much done when you have collaboration and you build the bridge with other people, whether it’s priests or laypeople, deacons, whoever.” - Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan
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In an interview, Archbishop Sheehan said the Catholic community risks isolating itself from the rest of the country and that refusing to talk to a politician or refusing communion because of a difference on a single issue was counterproductive. He described such actions as a “hysterical” reaction. - Story

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I seem to recall collaborators with evil regimes were never treated very well after the fall of those regimes. I think of the Nazi collaborators, and the silence of various clergy... Hopefully the Archbishop knows the definition of collaboration.

nothing compares

Teddy and the free pass to pro-choice.

So if priests and theologians and maybe even a cardinal or two tell you something that is a sin is not a sin, and you take their word for it and go ahead and do it, is it still a sin? And whose sin is it? Most of the Kennedy's were at one time pro-life - even when one of them forgot and left a woman in the car to drown - but it turns out some of the better minds in the American Catholic church were able to convince them otherwise.
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"Even Ted Kennedy, who gets a 100% pro-choice rating from the abortion-rights group Naral, was at one time pro-life. In fact, in 1971, a full year after New York had legalized abortion, the Massachusetts senator was still championing the rights of the unborn. In a letter to a constituent dated Aug. 3, 1971, he wrote: "When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception."
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But that all changed in the early '70s, when Democratic politicians first figured out that the powerful abortion lobby could fill their campaign coffers (and attract new liberal voters). Politicians also began to realize that, despite the Catholic Church's teachings to the contrary, its bishops and priests had ended their public role of responding negatively to those who promoted a pro-choice agenda.
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In some cases, church leaders actually started providing "cover" for Catholic pro-choice politicians who wanted to vote in favor of abortion rights. At a meeting at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, Mass., on a hot summer day in 1964, the Kennedy family and its advisers and allies were coached by leading theologians and Catholic college professors on how to accept and promote abortion with a "clear conscience."
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The former Jesuit priest Albert Jonsen, emeritus professor of ethics at the University of Washington, recalls the meeting in his book "The Birth of Bioethics" (Oxford, 2003). He writes about how he joined with the Rev. Joseph Fuchs, a Catholic moral theologian; the Rev. Robert Drinan, then dean of Boston College Law School; and three academic theologians, the Revs. Giles Milhaven, Richard McCormick and Charles Curran, to enable the Kennedy family to redefine support for abortion.
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Mr. Jonsen writes that the Hyannisport colloquium was influenced by the position of another Jesuit, the Rev. John Courtney Murray, a position that "distinguished between the moral aspects of an issue and the feasibility of enacting legislation about that issue." It was the consensus at the Hyannisport conclave that Catholic politicians "might tolerate legislation that would permit abortion under certain circumstances if political efforts to repress this moral error led to greater perils to social peace and order."
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Father Milhaven later recalled the Hyannisport meeting during a 1984 breakfast briefing of Catholics for a Free Choice: "The theologians worked for a day and a half among ourselves at a nearby hotel. In the evening we answered questions from the Kennedys and the Shrivers. .
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Though the theologians disagreed on many a point, they all concurred on certain basics . . . and that was that a Catholic politician could in good conscience vote in favor of abortion." - NYT (January 2, 2009)
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Some Catholics today seem to be bending over backwards trying to excuse the Kennedy's for their erroneous beliefs regarding faith and morals, blaming instead the bad priests the family surrounded themselves with. Perhaps covering up the bad stuff just because they are Catholic.

Dana Scallon

Dana and friends.
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Dana was on EWTN Live last evening, speaking about her new show on the network, as well as her new rosary recording dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. I think Dana is a wonderful woman, very talented, and an excellent Catholic witness and worker for pro-life issues - my goodness, she has been a member of the European Parliament. I'm just not a fan of her music style - especially in liturgical situations.
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Her new show will host a variety of singers and musicians - sort of like a religious variety show - from music ministries throughout the United States, with an emphasis upon good liturgical music I guess. I'm not fond of contemporary liturgical music, music ministries, or any performance up front and center at Mass. No piano bar players, jazz ensembles, stringed quartets - none of that for me. That said, I'm afraid Dana's new show will be an attempt to demonstrate how to do all of this right.
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How insipidly Protestant.
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Angela is back from her National Lampoon family vacation and mentioned that the music ministry in the church they attended for Mass last Sunday performed the Gloria to the tune of Eidelwiess. I know! Schmaltz-o-rama!

Bishop Tobin on Archbishop Weakland.

The Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church.
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"It strikes me that critics of Archbishop Weakland should be at least a little restrained in their umbrage, for after all there are many redeeming qualities of the Archbishop’s life and ministry. He responded willingly to the Lord’s call to the consecrated life; he has served the Church generously in a variety of difficult leadership positions; he has shown a determined commitment to the progress of the Church and the implementation of the Second Vatican Council; and he has consistently reached-out to the poor, the weak and the disenfranchised members of the Church and society. If his service has been marred by human imperfections, so be it. So is mine, and so is yours.
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On the other hand, supporters of Archbishop Weakland should also be able to recognize the self-serving inconsistencies and contradictions contained in his story.
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For example, although the Archbishop always took pride in his liberal theological tendencies and his public pronouncements on controversial issues, he seemed to be genuinely puzzled, even hurt, when others labeled him a dissident.
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He passionately promoted the dignity of the laity and their role in the governance and ministry of the Church, but had little hesitation about quietly using their money to cover-up his egregious sexual offense.
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He disparaged the secrecy of the Holy See but for twenty years hid his own indiscretions behind the walls of the chancery, indiscretions that were not just a matter of personal behavior but also profoundly affected the reputation and welfare of the Church.
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He railed against what he considered the authoritarian pontificate of Pope John Paul II, but clearly used his own persona and authority to impose his vision of the Church upon his own fiefdom in Milwaukee, easily dismissing those who opposed him as conservative, right-wing nuts.
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In short, like many dissidents in the Church, throughout his life Archbishop Weakland benefited generously from the support of the institutional Church, but never hesitated to criticize the Church whenever it served his own purposes to do so." - Source
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"Like many dissidents in the Church" - indeed.

Three days later

What?

Get this!

So anyway, I was checking out Fr. Z's blog - he has been having troubles you know - Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

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I know.
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Okay. So then I click back onto my blog and my computer crashed! No kidding! Now I'm scared to go back there! First you have to go through a security check just to comment, and now this? Save your computer and don't go near the bird feeder.
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Oh! Oh! And I'm not really a fan of Dominick Dunne. (Man, some days I just can't wait for the Year of the Priest to be over and I can get back to normal. Geez!)

Omigosh! Dominick Dunne died today.

The end of an era... the end of Camelot... the Lion is dead!

Dominick Dunne, a best-selling author and special correspondent for Vanity Fair, died today at his home in Manhattan. He was 83. In memorium.

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RIP

3 of 14-Francesco - Francis of Assisi -Mickey Rourke

I never realized Mickey Rourke played St. Francis until Western Confucian mentioned it in his post about the actor crediting his Catholic faith for his 'second chance'.

Fat naked kids.

Putti.

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Putti is the Italian word for little boys, putto singular, putta for little girls - although it is rarely used because it is also short for puttana - which means whore.
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Anyway - Christian art still uses putti, with or without diapers, to represent little angels, or cherubs. Proper Christian puritans have taken offense at their nakedness for centuries. Today is no exception. I think women especially are upset by poddies - as my brother and I called the male appendage when we were little. The fear isn't limited to women however. I once knew a Mexican fellow, a sacristan in Boston, who painted sashes over the naked crotches of the little putti rendering their assistance to the Madonna in a painting of her Assumption into Heaven. The pastor never noticed.
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The depiction of putti in art dates back to pagan times, as does Christian iconography in general - early inculturation accommodated representation of pagan myth to accord with Christian revelation. The pagans considered putti to be the souls of children who died in infancy - pure, chaste little spirits, rollicking in the eternal bliss of paradise, watching over men and inspiring love and pleasure, helping them in their needs. Christians used them much in the same way - those depicted with wings were angels and even saints - those without were the souls of the unbaptized. (As St. Therese once said, "little children are never damned".) Their bodies, uncorrupted by the sins of the flesh, are gloriously represented in the perfect innocence of little infants... even if they are sometimes mischievous little cupids.
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The French and Victorians are responsible for turning these little spirits into insipid, sweet, little sentimental Hallmark cards - all modestly covered up with pink and blue baby blankets, ribbons, or fluffy clouds - or - yuck - hearts.
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Nevertheless, putti are more than all of that... they represent the souls of little children - even those millions upon millions who were never allowed to be born - many people call them fetuses - no form or figure or sex or personality...

Leaving the Church.

The Pope on those who reject Catholic teaching.
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"The fourth Evangelist - explained the pope - relates the reaction of the people and disciples, shocked by the words of the Lord, to the point that many, after having followed him until then, exclaim: ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?' (V. 60). And from that moment on ‘many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him' (v. 66). Jesus, however, does not lessen his claim, indeed, he directly addresses the Twelve saying: 'Will you also go away?' (V. 67).
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"This provocative question - continued the pope - is not only addressed to listeners of the time, but to believers and men of every age. Even today, many are 'shocked' by the paradox of the Christian faith. Jesus’ teaching seems too 'hard', too difficult to accept and put into practice. As a result there are those who reject and abandon Christ; those who attempt to 'adapt' his teachings to the fashions of the times distorting its meaning and value. 'Will you also go away?'. This unsettling provocation resounds in our hearts and awaits a response from each one of us. Jesus in fact is not contented by a merely superficial or formal belonging, an initial and enthusiastic adhesion is not enough for Him; on the contrary, we must take part in 'his thinking and his will' throughout our entire life. Following Jesus "fills hearts with joy and the full meaning of existence, but it also brings difficulties and sacrifices because very often it means going against the trend”. - Source

The Secret

I painted Sunday.
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You aren't supposed to work on Sunday, you say?
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It isn't work.
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In fact it is prayer,
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which is why the painting will never be any good.
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I woke up during the night - several times - as if I was painting.
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Blood all over - in the dream.
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Other stuff I see but can't describe or account for - not in words or images.
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My thanksgiving after communion is enveloped in the painting...
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the painting is absorbed in communion.
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I have no control over it,
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which is why the painting will never be any good.
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No one understood before
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or after the secret was revealed...
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and they won't understand the painting.
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"And he took up his position by the shore of the sea." - Revelation 12: 17

Not dealing with a full deck...

What blogger am I referring to? (No not me.)

Live at home nun...

Or hermit in a garden.

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St. Rose of Lima was a third order Dominican, who like St. Catherine of Siena was a lay contemplative who lived her religious life at home. See, I always have to eat my words when it comes to criticizing contemporary hermits and nuns and monks who do not enter established religious orders but do their own thing - in a house, a cottage, an apartment - there were saints who did the exact same thing.

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I better get to the doctor - that log in my eye is getting bigger every day.

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August 23 is the feast of St. Rose of Lima. Read about her here.

Good habits...

There.

Bad habits...

What?

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David S. - This one's for you! ;) Also, I have a new email: tj.nelson@hotmail.com