Cardinal Sodano's pep talk: Yeah, I thought it was weird too.

Defending the Pope 'to his face'.
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Cardinal Sodano addressed the Holy Father at the beginning of Mass yesterday...
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It was not clear whether this greeting was actually part of the liturgy, as it seemed, coming after the entrance hymn, or was simply a preface to the liturgy, like an announcement at the beginning of Mass -- though such an announcement still ought to come before the entrance hymn.
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If news is something that happens that is "new," this was news.
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And when this cardinal (Sodano) rose to his feet and took the microphone to speak, every newsman within hearing pricked up his ears, thinking, "This is something new."
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What did Sodano say?
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Essentially, that Catholics around the world love and support Pope Benedict XVI, and will continue to do so no matter how fiercely he his attacked by the media.
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Sodano, clearly referring to recent attacks on the Pope from the New York Times and other media outlets which allege that he did not do enough during his many years as an administrator in the Church to halt and punish priests accused of sexually abusing children, said the "people of God" would not be influenced by "petty gossip." - Inside the Vatican
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Evidently, such a gesture is unprecedented - Moynihan says even the Pope looked surprised.  I watched it on the news and I think it was inappropriate and unnecessary to interrupt the Mass for such a display for the person of the Holy Father.
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Don't get me wrong - I love the Pope, particularly this Pope - I pray for him and support him as best I can.  That said, I love the Papacy more, if you will.  Which means, when a Pope dies, I know another will be elected.  The Pope is Peter, he is Christ's Vicar on earth.  I wonder how much Catholics really appreciate that however?  With John Paul II we oftentimes witnessed over the top displays of affection and adulation by the crowds.  Sometimes his 'fans'  seemed to be more animated by the cult of personality which developed around him, rather than devotion for the Vicar of Christ.  I too loved John Paul II, but I wasn't so sad when he finally died after much incapacitating suffering, as I knew we would have a new Pope.  Just as when I was little and Pius XII died, I was thrilled we would have a new Pope.
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I may be off in this, but it seems to me being off about things isn't all that uncommon these days - especially amongst the 'good' Catholics.  Consider how everyone got on Cantalamessa's case on Good Friday, as he attempted to compare the current media assault upon the Pope and the Church to the anti-semitism of Nazi Germany.  After which, self-appointed uber-Catholic bloggers rushed to judgement, along with secular media and the JDL, and criticized the hell out of the guy.  Right or wrong, one wonders just how devoutly some of these more Catholic than the Papal Theologian observed their Triduum, shooting their mouths off online.  Talk about "petty gossip".
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Wanna buy a "Pray for the Pope" water bottle?  Golfshirt?

The most necessary 'call to arms' of all...

The spiritual combat.
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"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." - Ephesians 6:12  (So do not grow slack in your Easter celebration and relaxation.  The devil prowls like a roaring lion.)
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I don't know about you, but it seems to me the real spiritual battle only now begins.  I'm so grateful to my friend who returned my book yesterday.  The title?  Cassian's, Monastic Institutes.  All I can think of is that he reads my blog and realizes how badly I need this instruction.  I opened to the chapter on vainglory, noting in particular the following counsels...
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Of the Spirit of Conceit (or vainglory)
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Chapter 9 - How conceit is more perilous when mingled with virtue.
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Other disorders when they are opposed by their opposite virtues, are engaged in the open like battle in the light of day, and can easily be overcome or avoided: this alone when it is entwined with virtues is far more dangerously deceptive to the unwary warrior, as if battle were joined in confusion, fighting in the thick of night.
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Chapter 14 - How conceit suggests they might rise in the hierarchy.
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Often it instills an ambition for Holy Orders and the priesthood or diaconate.  If a monk has been chosen for ordination, it makes him imagine himself ministering with such piety and correctness that he can give an example of holiness to other priests, and winning many souls not only by his manner of life but also in his teaching and preaching.  Even one dwelling in the desert or in a cell is made to imagine himself travelling round different houses and monasteries, and converting many by the eloquence of his fantasy discourses.
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Chapter 18 - How a monk should avoid women and bishops.
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The consistent and still current teaching of the old Fathers (which I am embarrassed to repeat, I who failed to escape from my girl cousin, or elude the hands of the bishop) is that in all ways a monk should flee women and bishops.  Neither would allow him, once entangled in their company, either to apply himself to peaceful work in his cell, or to cleave to divine contemplation, in the consideration of holy things with undistracted eye. - The Monastic Institutes, John Cassian
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Art: The Holy Communion of Mary of Egypt from the hands of the monk Zosimus.  St. Mary of Egypt's feast is observed on different dates at the beginning of April - I always observe it April 2.

Stalking the Great Easter Fire

Funny thing is, Father Erik never even noticed me there...  Oh - I have more photos - I have more!  Insane laughter...

Chocolate thoughts after Easter Mass...

BREAKfast - at last.
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I can give up smoking, dope, and booze - but not chocolate.  Seriously - I'm letting a piece of Organic and fairly traded VERY DARK chocolate from "small-scale co-ops in Latin America" melt in my mouth as I write this...  Thank God for chocolate!  In moderation of course.
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So anyway - I went to first Mass at St. Agnes this morning - ah!  How I miss attending Mass there.  The church is beautiful as usual, and I will say right now, I don't care how big the statues are - they fit!  The pastor, Fr. Ubel is pretty much the perfect parish priest as far as I'm concerned.  His homilies are excellent and lively, his decorum gentlemanly and elegant, his celebration of Mass ad orientem is faithful and reverent - without ostentation.  He's a wonderful priest and pastor - St. Agnes is fortunate to have such a fine, well-balanced priest.
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I must say a special thanks to Lee, who returned a book - obviously waiting to do so for over a year, since that is how long it's been since I've been to Mass there - and a big thanks and promise of my prayers for his gift of Bishop Van Thuan's book which he included.
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This morning I left the church feeling everything is okay.  How can I say that, what with everything going on in the world, in the Church?  I don't know... but I felt great peace.  There was something reassuring in Father's homily - he was reassuring.  He wasn't railing from the pulpit, condemning anti-Catholics - he spoke of Our Lady, Regina Coeli, of joy and peace... and I don't know what else right now - but his homily seemed to me to have been formulated in prayer, and spoken from his heart.  And his smile was real...  I sensed a wonderful freedom of spirit at St. Agnes today.  It remains the same church, however it felt fresh if you will, or perhaps renewed is a better word.
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I think the cult effect is gone... Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
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Photo: Juliette Binoche, Chocolat

Happy Easter!

Art: Lavinia Fontana "Noli me Tangere"

Some odd goings-on in my garden...

The Saturday before Easter...
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So there I was... seated in my garden room ...overlooking the garden of course... listening to Prokoviev's Lt. Kije Suite.  Suddenly, tiptoeing through the hedges, I noticed a large brownish and henna colored rabbit, dressed in waistcoat, rose colored ascot, and tuxedo collared shirt, smoking a pipe.  I should mention he also was wearing a rather smart pair of midnight-blue and white stripped knickers - his little white tail puffing out the back nicely.  Upon one arm he carried what seemed to me to be quite a large basket for his size, woven from the branches and bark of my hedge.  "Ah, so that is why part of my hedge-row is dying off." - I grumbled to myself. 
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Into the basket - which was really quite lovely - a rather plump female rabbit, dressed in a soft, yellow-pastel schmatta, protected by a lace-trimmed periwinkle print apron, and wearing a little white bonnet nicely fitted with ear-holes, placed what appeared to be gaily colored Easter eggs onto the pastel  grasses, mosses, and lichens which lined the interior.  Amongst these were foil wrapped chocolate bunnies and jelly bean eggs of every color one could imagine. 
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As I rose from my chair to get a better look, I noticed several baby bunnies romping in the still sleeping hosta bed.  My movement must have alerted the adults, as Mr. Rabitowitz quickly took a sip from his flask - which seemed to come out of nowhere - kissed the Missus and hopped away in a flash.  I leapt to the window to see which direction he went, but he was gone, as were Mrs. Rabitowitz and the children.
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"How very odd."  I mumbled to myself.

"Organized moral panic"

This morning Fr. Z posted a really interesting piece from Italian sociologist Massimo Introvigne: Is priestly paedophilia a problem? Yes, says an Italian sociologist. Is it a big problem? No.  I think it is right on the mark.
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Two characteristic elements exist: a fact which serves as a starting point, and an exaggeration of this fact by moral entrepreneurs.

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The current discourse on paedophile priests – considered from a sociological perspective – represents a typical example of "moral panic". The concept was coined in the 1970s to explain how certain problems become the subject of "social hyperconstruction". More precisely, moral panics are defined as socially constructed problems that are characterised by a systematic amplification of the true facts in the media or in political discourse.
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Two other characteristics have been cited as typical of moral panics. First, problems that have existed for decades are reconstructed in the media and political accounts as new or as the subject of a recent dramatic increase. Second, their incidence is exaggerated by statistics plucked from the air which, while not confirmed by academic studies, are repeated by the media and inspire persistent media campaigns. Historian and sociologist Philip Jenkins, of Pennsylvania State University, has emphasised the role of "moral entrepreneurs" in the creation and management of panics whose agenda is not always revealed.
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Moral entrepreneurs (who) organize the panic...
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This at a time when political, juridical and even electoral decisions in Europe and elsewhere are being made about the abortion pill RU-486, euthanasia, the recognition of same sex unions. Only the voice of the Pope and the Church is being raised to defend life and the family. The reading of certain articles in the media shows that very powerful lobby groups are seeking to silence this voice with the worst possible defamation—and unfortunately an easy one to make—that of favouring or tolerating paedophilia. - Read more here.
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We have to be extremely discerning these days regarding the press - I believe this article from Fr. Z is helpful to keep in mind while reading and listening to all the sensationalized hype surrounding the attacks against the Church and the Pope.  I also think Elizabeth Lev's article, In Defense of the Catholic Clergy (Or Do We Want Another Reign of Terror?) compliments the theory of Massimo Introvigne rather well.
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Image:  Nazi Anti-Catholic Propaganda Poster (Click the link and read the caption.)

A great silence...

Thoughts between Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday...
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Technically I am offline - meaning I'm not reading the news or other blogs, neither am I posting - I assembled a few photos for Good Friday, but that is all.  Nevertheless, I thought I would jot down a few thoughts from my observance of these Holy Days - just personal reflections, nothing more, nothing important either.
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Holy Thursday I prayed a rosary late, as if I was with him in the garden, and then like the disciples I went to bed.  I was actually awakened 3 or 4 times during the night, and each time my first thought was his prayer, alone, and I united myself to his prayer, wondering about it, until I fell back to sleep.  The last time I woke up it seemed to me Our Lord would have been arrested by then... at least confronted by Judas and the soldiers.  I wondered why the youth who ran off was wearing only a loin cloth, and in my sleepiness, I began to fixate on that question.
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When I got up, my usual prayer, "Show us your face O Lord, and we shall be saved" seemed particularly poignant, recalling how Jesus looked at Peter after he had denied him 3 times... and naturally, I became distracted by the thought of trying to figure out at what time the cock first crows.
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Later, my prayer focused upon the passage from Isaiah on the suffering servant... watching... following... listening in silence.  Throughout the first hours of the day I kept wondering precisely where Jesus would have been at each moment - unable to recall the exact timeline of specific events.
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Somehow, Holy Week, and especially Good Friday, has always been very real for me - when I've observed it I should say - there was a time I wasn't practicing my faith.  These days seem to me to be timeless moments however - the Sacred Triduum that is.  There is no Mass, and I tell myself it is because we are living it as we solemnly commemorate the Passion, hence every moment is a sacrament, every thought of what went on in Jerusalem so many centuries ago, becomes a sort of transport back in time - as the events are re-presented for the soul.  Certainly the Passion is re-presented liturgically, and if one happens to be a mystic, perhaps they are re-enacted actually, but for the ordinary soul who just tries to pray - to be present to Christ in his sufferings - it seems to me time is suspended - and we are somehow there.  But I don't know how that is.
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Thus, even as we go about our daily duties and occupation, amid all the distractions and diversions which comprise our days, sounded by all the debates and conflicts of our times "as we make our rounds of the city" - as soon as we think of him, we glimpse him looking at us, "standing behind our wall... gazing through the windows... peering through the lattices..." 
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Nothing can separate us from his love...  "Stern as death is love, relentless as the nether-world is devotion; it's flames like the blazing fire of his heart...  Oh garden-dweller, my friends are listening for your voice... let me hear it!" * 
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Art:  Christ Carrying His Cross - Giampietrino
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*Scripture adapted from the Song of Songs

My people, what have I done to you?

How have I offended you?

Answer me! - Reproaches

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? - Ps. 22

They tear holes holes in my hands and my feet... Ps. 22

I am a man who knows affliction...

He has broken my teeth with gravel,

pressed my face in the dust... - Lamentations 3

Like a lamb led to the slaughter...

All who see me deride me... - Ps. 22

For all my foes I am an object of reproach,

a laughingstock to my neighbors, and a dread to my friends;

They who see me abroad flee from me... - Ps. 31

Maundy Thursday: Foot Washing For People On the Go.

That's meaningful, huh?
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Photo credit.

I hate to see Lent end.

Maundy, Maundy...
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St. Benedict wrote in his rule that the monk's life should always have the character of lent - thus as in year's past, I hope to  carry over my Lenten penance after Easter.  (I'm not always successful of course.)  I love Lent and the intense devotion to the Sacred Passion of our Lord it inspires.  One Easter, when I was in the monastery, I remember being surprised to see Dom Philip praying the stations as usual before Lauds in the chapel.  Later in confession, I asked him about it.  He simply said, "Some mystics and pious tradition hold that whenever Our Lady was in Jerusalem, she traced the steps of her Son on his way to Calvary each day after his death and burial.  So I try to keep her company." 
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The Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord's Supper this evening.  It is the holiest time of the year for Christians.  These are the days I especially miss the old liturgy - I find the innovations that have crept into the new rites to be generally distracting.  For instance the big production in many parishes over the washing of the feet.  At Larry's blog, Acts of the Apostasy, I commented on his post dealing with the subject of foot washing, "To be honest, I wish foot washing was limited to the Cathedrals and not the novelty it has become in nearly every parish.  In fact, I wish it wasn't the novelty it has become in some Cathedrals."
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When I was young, the ritual seemed to be conducted with greater decorum and followed the rubrics, today it is often a bad theatrical production.  It's that active participation thing again I guess.  Nevertheless, I am Catholic and I am an obedient son of the Church.
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Links:
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Regulations for Washing of Feet Holy Thursday
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Interesting link to a trad site tracing the history of liturgical reforms.
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I know!

Just to be fair...

Cardinal Mahony went to bat for the Holy Father too.
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It seems to me everyone freely castigates the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles when he does something that doesn't suit their liturgical preferences, but when he gets on board defending the Holy Father, few seem to pay any attention.  That said - the Cardinal recently wrote his own defense of the Holy Father...
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While I have no personal information on some of the specific allegations against our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, when he served the Church of Munich in Germany, I am able to assert without hesitation the action steps which he undertook in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when he served as Prefect of that Congregation.
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Beginning in that dark year of 2002, the then Cardinal Ratzinger responded quickly and affirmatively to all of our requests for assistance here in the United States.
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Recall that Canon 1324, par. 4, states that in Canon Law a minor is a person under the age of 16 years. However, in the civil laws of the United States, a minor is deemed to be a person under the age of 18 years. After we brought this gap to the attention of Cardinal Ratzinger, the canonical age was also raised to 18 years to accommodate civil law in our country and in other countries.
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With respect to the processes of dealing with cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests in our Archdiocese, Cardinal Ratzinger and his Congregation responded swiftly and gave us advice on how to proceed with each of these cases. We never had delays or a lack of proper response.
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Whenever I proposed that a certain priest be returned to the lay state and no longer serve as a priest, the Congregation responded quickly and in accord with my recommendations. Whether the priest petitioned himself for a return to the lay state, or whether I insisted upon his return to the lay state, Cardinal Ratzinger and the Congregation responded in favor of the Church, not of the priest individually.
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Without the proactive and helpful assistance of Cardinal Ratzinger and the Congregation over these years, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles would never have been able to move forward aggressively to remove priests from ministry who were proved to be guilty of the sexual abuse of minors. - Finish reading here.
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As everyone knows by now, many Cardinals and Archbishops and Bishops (Cardinal Levada calls out the NYT) have rallied to the Holy Father's defense.  This is a wonderful sign of unity for the Church.  It makes me think of the prophetic vision of Don Bosco.
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H/T California Catholic Daily

Told ya it was Weakland's fault...

The weakest link.
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Furthermore, under canon law at the time, the principal responsibility for sexual abuse cases lay with the local bishop. Archbishop (Rembert) Weakland had from 1977 onward the responsibility of administering penalties to Father Murphy. He did nothing until 1996. It was at that point that Cardinal Ratzinger's office became involved, and it subsequently did nothing to impede the local process.
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In August 1998, Archbishop Weakland writes that he has halted the canonical trial and penal process against Father Murphy and has immediately begun the process to remove him from ministry. That same month, Father Murphy dies.
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The New York Times flatly got the story wrong. Readers may want to speculate on why. - Read more here.
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Art:  Smoke of Satan

Spy Wednesday

Sycophant
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I was at adoration most of the afternoon - never search through YouTube videos before you go to prayer - I was distracted for the first half hour.  A line from a sit-com segment I watched last night kept surfacing...  it was Karen Walker complaining, "Sheesh!  Ya try to be nice to people!" and I kept cracking up.  (You had to see the episode I guess.)
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Anyway, Aside from the readings and psalms for the day, I was most impressed with the short introduction from Pope Benedict's writings for today's Mass in Magnificat.  (Considering all that is going on these days.)
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"Judas is neither a master of evil nor the figure of a demoniacal power of darkness but rather a sycophant who bows down before the anonymous power of changing moods and current fashion.  But it is precisely this anonymous power that crucified Jesus, for it was anonymous voices that cried, 'Away with him!  Crucify him!'" - Pope Benedict XVI
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It is rather unnerving to ponder the betrayal of Judas...
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Art source.

How to Give a Manicure : How to Prevent Hangnails When Giving a Manicure

I just don't know what to post anymore...

Before you drop me...

I just want to welcome all of my new followers... I've never had so many...  thank you.
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They never stay around for long though - so don't feel bad.

"He walked in peace through the midst of them." - Luke 4:30

Holy Week stuff...
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While at my job, I got to the point where I never minded working on Good Friday (or any other day during Holy Week) as I liked to imagine it was quite in keeping with what went on in Jerusalem during the Passion of Christ, not to mention that it is always the right penance for those who must work for a living - after all, it is the fulfillment of the duties of our state in life which constitutes the penance most pleasing to God.  In Jerusalem it was probably business as usual for most of the residents, save for those interested in stirring things up and causing a riot.  In our day, the situation seems to be much the same.
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Consider how roughly Jesus was treated, amid shouts and cries and accusations; slander, calumny, contempt, buffets and spitting.  Simon was simply coming in from the field - coming into the city after his labors, only to be shouldered with the cross, to help Jesus on his way.  Perhaps I simplify this too much, but I can't help but recall the Gospel passage from the episode wherein the townsfolk sought to throw Jesus over the brow of the hill, and Luke writes, "Christ walked in peace through the midst of them".  Likewise, throughout all the chaos and jostling of his tormentors and the crowd, I believe Jesus carried his cross in peace - through the midst of them.
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I've calmed down now, after the sensationalized headlines across the globe, accusing the Holy Father of this and that as regards the sexual abuse scandal.  This has been business as usual for the secular world, and those who hate the Church - and we ought not to be surprised, yet somehow we always are.  I finally realize at least I do not have to explain anything, or defend any one.  Instead, like the Cyrenean, I will simply shoulder the cross with Christ and his Vicar...
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For good informative posts on the false charges against the Holy Father, as well as background information of the major news stories, I'm providing a couple of links to some very good commentary:
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The Anchoress: Praying for the Pope and for All
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Idle Speculations: 'Calling Cardinal Newman' and 'NY Archbishop Defends Pope'
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Stella Borealis - Ray created a great index with other good articles on the issue.
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Art: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Compassion (1897)

After The Rapture Pet Care

I posted this for Cathy of Alex - she has kids - I mean cats.

Before I forget...

Pier Giorgio's birthday is April 6. 
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Link to the birthday novena here.

Rape of the soul: Sexualizing religious art.

Eidolons.
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A couple of years ago, I happened upon a post on Athanasius Contra Mundum concerning a documentary film by Michael Calace titled, Rape of the Soul.  Calace billed himself as one of the world's few experts on embedded imagery in art - specifically Roman Catholic religious art.  I posted on the subject but removed my post because there was a conflict about copyright or something to that effect.  I received an email from the production company, insisting I correct a detail in my post or face legal action - it is so long ago, I can't recall the exact language.  I responded by taking down the post and assuring them I simply employed the premise on which their documentary was based to discuss my personal observations regarding the subject, although I was rather skeptical about a couple of the examples Calace pointed to in the film.  They seemed to be satisfied I wasn't an enemy, and in turn sent me a complimentary DVD of the documentary and asked if I would share my opinion after I viewed it.  I set the DVD aside and forgot about it.  I only came across it yesterday while organizing my desk.
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I watched it.  I can't believe I endured it to the end.  Portions of the documentary are on YouTube - check it out here.  Calace suggests the existence of varied conspiracy theories (for lack of a better word), such as between Oregon Catholic Press and Catholic illustrator/artist Steve (Br. Martin) Erspamer.  Oregon Catholic Press used many of Erspamer's illustration for their missals and other Church publications.  In the video we see Calace extract eidolons from the backgrounds and penwork of Erspamer's work, which he hi-lights, extracts and manipulates to demonstrate the presence of phallic symbols, the word s-e-x, a swastika, and so on.  The film is so far over the top it makes the Dan Brown novels seem like great literature.
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A 2006 film review by the Boston Globe sums it up better than I have time to do...
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''The Rape of the Soul" is a fear-mongering, small-minded, and pathetically smutty polemic about art and the Roman Catholic Church. Presented as a documentary by filmmaker and self-described devout Catholic Michael A. Calace, the film seeks to discredit ''predatory artists" from da Vinci and Botticelli to anonymous designers of contemporary greeting cards.
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Calace's mission: To reveal all the satanic faces, genitalia, spellings of the word sex, and other evidence of evil lurking in painted clouds, shadows, and designs in art related to the Catholic Church. Freud had an eye out for phallic symbols, but he would have had nothing on Calace, who sees penises everywhere he looks. He could find an orgy in a bowl of oatmeal.
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Calace pits the forces of good, led by himself and a bevy of talking heads he calls experts, against the forces of evil: artists and church officials. Along the way, he lassos in the sexual abuse crisis in the church, vaguely equating his findings -- he calls them ''embeds" -- with that scandal. Unidentified still photos of convicted sexual offenders such as John Geoghan float across the screen as child psychologist Judith Reisman speaks about the damaging effects of child abuse.
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Imagery is often designed to play directly to a viewer's unconscious.  That's the nature of propaganda, and of advertising.  But Calace's suggestion that the Archdiocese of Toronto (to name only one) is intentionally leading its flock down a road of sexual depravity and satanic worship by posting on its website an image rife with phalluses and demon faces is ludicrous." - Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe
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I worked in marketing and visual arts, as a painter myself, I know design can be manipulated to speak to the viewer's unconscious.  Yet as McQuaid suggests, "That's the nature of propaganda, and of advertising."  Subliminal imagery has been popularly known about since the 1960's - it is not a secret.  To suggest that medieval artists were using it to sexualize sacred art is quite a stretch.
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To be sure, genre works such as still life may have been sexually suggestive over the centuries, but the very idea that a naively painted outline of the abdominal muscles on the corpus of the San Damiano crucifix represents a phallus is as ludicrous an idea as the Paschal candle represents a phallic symbol in liturgy.  These are modern concepts, modern interpretations often emanating from people consciously or unconsciously obsessed by such imagery.  Modern art is filled with sexual images - artists such as Picasso, Dali, and Warhol unabashedly wove erotica into their work, based upon Freudian psychological theory.  My guess is that many men and women in the United States have been conditioned by our highly sexualized culture since infancy - especially those who grew up in front of the television and video games.  Michael Calace seems to prove that in his documentary.
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What surprises me about these guys - Calace and those who buy into his crap - is that they are well educated people, devout traditionalist Catholics, and family men.  What went wrong?
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Art:  Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Marriage.
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Near the end, the lunacy reaches a peak when Calace derides Jan van Eyck's 1434 painting ''The Arnolfini Marriage."  No genitalia here, praise be. Instead, Calace observes that the figures eerily resemble Vladimir Putin and his wife. - Boston Globe
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Notice 'Mrs. Putin' has her veil on. 
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Link:
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You also have to watch this clip - Archdiocese of Toronto Embeds Sex & Horror Art Subliminals  - it is lol funny.

Supporting the Holy Father

Though it is all balled up from the wind today, I have the papal flag flying outside my front door in support of the Holy Father.
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“Pray, pray very much for the Holy Father, for he will have much to suffer”. - Our Lady at Fatima

The Sacred Made Real

The exhibition is currently at the National Gallery in Washington, DC

Passion Sunday

Or Palm Sunday.
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Ever since I was little and read the Little Flowers of St. Francis, this day reminds me of St. Francis and St. Clare.  It was after the festivities of Palm Sunday that St. Francis permitted St. Clare* to slip away unnoticed and enter religious life...  Like their founders, the Poor Clares remain especially devoted to the Sacred Passion of Our Lord.
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Art:  "Crucifixion" - Another masterpiece by John Collier.
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Link:
*Legend of St. Clare - Thomas of Celano
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Okay! That did it!

It's not just buttons - it's mugs and t-shirts and golf-shirts... Too much flair.
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Profiteering off the Pope.  Tasteless kitsch.  C'mon!
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Pray for the Pope and don't worry about gaining an indulgence for it either.
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(Go ahead - report me.)

Saturday

I'm at an intervention this morning.

Illumination

Art:  Pompey in the Temple of Jerusalem, by Jean Fouquet


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Interesting how the Holy of Holies resembles the Roman Catholic High Altar - suggesting a deeper understanding of a hermeneutic of continuity perhaps...
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Ad Orientem.
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"Naturally the altar and priest were separated from the faithful, who, as St. Athanasius (Quaest. ad Antioch., 37) and Clement of Alexandria (Stromata VII.7) inform us, were instructed by the Apostles to pray, according to the traditions of the Mosaic Law, facing the East." - New Advent

Pray for the Holy Father

Crises in the Church.
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"I hear the whisperings of many:  'Terror on every side!  Denounce! let us denounce him!'  All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine..." - Jeremiah 20:10 - First reading of today's Mass.
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"On the watch for any missteps of mine."  Media does it all of the time:  journalists, television news, radio talk show hosts, even bloggers.
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Today the meek and humble Vicar of Christ is hounded by his enemies as was his Master.
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Pray very much for The Holy Father.
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(Please note:  I changed my header so as to avoid even the slightest impression of disrespect or levity towards our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI during these dark days.)

Praying for the Holy Father.

I am offering every prayer and sacrifice, my every thought, my simplest works, united to the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the intentions of our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.
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"Real quick like."

[That is what I loved about Napoleon (Dynamite) - he was so articulate. So anyway - just a few random thoughts here.]
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I'm in a much better mood now days - because I have chosen not to think.
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So I was going to varnish a piece I painted last year and noticed a terrible error - I will not tell you what it is - but I was embarrassed, humiliated, and I curled up in a ball on the floor like Basil Fawlty over the fact I had posted the image on my art blog.  I've since pulled myself together after I realized I can correct the mistake - oh, the magic of paint!  I'm just an amateur so who cares, right?
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Last night I was watching the news and I realized Michelle Bachman is sometimes treated unfairly in the press - but I still can't stand her or Sarah Palin.
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Next Wednesday is a sort of feast day for bloggers, "Spy Wednesday" - the annual feast for watchmen, informants, backstabbers, and the like.  Well, it's not so much a feast as a day of penance for us - we are little better than gossip mongers after all - even if it doesn't always show in our posts - we still find ways to twitter away and report on one another.
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One last thing - who started this Weakland as hero bit written about in the NYT today?  Who is the source? 
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"Ah!  I wouldn't be surprised if the old scoundrel (Weakland) did it himself, trying to get Ratzinger again I'd say, Fawlty."
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I believe the Major may have a point - or maybe not.
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"I know nothing... no thing!  I know n o th ing!"  (Manuel)
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Photo:  Basil Fawlty; "Don't mention the war!"

Just like toilet seats.

Facebook 'linked to rise in syphilis' - story here.
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(No wonder so many users have dementia.)

Solemnity

"Annunciation" - John Collier

Blog talk.

So anyway.
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I know.  I've been way too serious again - I should maybe write about homosexuals or something light like that.  Oh!  Oh!  I did come across something!  Something everyone always wanted ask but were afraid of the answer:  "Where did all the gay priests come from?"  Nope, it's not a joke - Archbishop Weakland answers the question in his memoirs...
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"When the great exodus came (priests leaving orders after the council) fewer priests with a homosexual orientation left the priesthood.  Thus the proportion of gays in the priesthood became larger than that found in the general male population, creating in some places signs of a visible gay culture." - Weakland, Pilgrim: chapter 14; page 339.
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That's what she said. 
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Oh, and no, he didn't mention the guys bishops put in charge of recruitment and discernment and seminary.
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Art:  Bosch - "St. Antony"

Listen to your bishops.

A few thoughts on how liberal Catholics and their politicians could consider themselves pro-life while voting pro-choice...
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"At their fall 1989 meeting, the bishops of the United States passed a resolution condemning abortion," writes Archbishjop Weakland in his memoirs.  Remember Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 when abortion on demand became legal.  In 1981 Fr. Paul Marx, considered to be something of a fanatic by some bishops, began the pro-life movement..  Yet the bishops didn't get it together until 1989, despite the fact that the CDF issued a document On procured abortion in 1974.  Why was the resolution so long in coming?
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The Bernardin "seamless garment approach", Weakland, and the USCCB.
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The civil, kinder, gentler approach to the life issue became the official approach, thanks largely to Cardinal Bernardin and those in communion with him.  Cardinal Bernardin "had linked the questions of abortion and nuclear war. “ No other major institution presently holds these two positions in the way that Catholic bishops have joined them.” Bernardin stated at Fordham in 1983, speaking of the U.S. Bishop's pastoral, “The Challenge of Peace,” indicating he would use the letter “as a starting point for shaping a consistent ethic of life in our culture.”
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Well intentioned of course, yet abortion in effect became one of many peace and justice life issues, with the supposition not every Catholic can be working on every life issue at the same time.
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The Catholic moral tradition, he pointed out, “has something valuable to say in the face of the multiple threats to the sacredness of life today, and I am convinced that the church is in a position to make a significant defense of life in a comprehensive and consistent manner.”  
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“I am convinced,” he continued, “that the pro-life position of the church must be developed in terms of a comprehensive and consistent ethic of life.” As the new chairman of the bishops’ pro-life committee, he committed himself to “shaping a position of linkage among the life issues.”
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The cardinal posed two questions about these life issues: “In an age when we can do almost anything, how do we decide what we ought to do?” and “In a time when we can do anything technologically, how do we decide morally what we never should do?”
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“Those who defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us: the old and the young, the hungry and the homeless, the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed worker.”
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On sensitive issues like abortion, the cardinal said, “we should maintain and clearly articulate our religious convictions, but also maintain our civil courtesy. We should be vigorous in stating a case and attentive in hearing another’s case; we should test everyone’s logic, but not question his or her motives.” - Richard P. McBrien, Cardinal Bernardin's seamless garment, NCR
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The Kennedy's had their Jesuit consultants (Rev. Robert Drinan, then dean of Boston College Law School; and three academic theologians, the Revs. Giles Milhaven, Richard McCormick, Charles Curran), the rest of the country had a few prominent bishops who viewed pro-life advocates as narrow minded, single issue fanatics and Christian fundamentalists.
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As Weakland wrote in his memoirs:
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I also tried to answer those in the pro-life movement who felt priests were not supportive of their groups and their aims, would not publicly associate with them in their cause, and did not preach often enough about the evils of abortion.  I pointed out some of the characteristics of their groups and their approaches about which priests felt uncomfortable - lack of compassion, narrowness of vision, ugly and demeaning rhetoric, questionable tactics, and lack of interest in other life issues..." - Weakland, Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church, Chapter 14, Managing Conflicting Models of Church, page 332
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In other words, pro-life advocates were more or less dismissed as radicals (and still are by politicians such as Pelosi and Biden).  Thank God today we have courageous bishops such as Archbishop Chaput who point out that, "Abortion is a foundational issue; it is not an issue like housing policy or the price of foreign oil. It always involves the intentional killing of an innocent life, and it is always, grievously wrong." - Archbishop Chaput  It is not just one of many life issues.
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What I'm trying to suggest here is that many liberal Catholics and their politicians may have been acting in relative good faith - they were just listening to their bishops after all... or following their example in rejecting Rome.

A telling comment...

Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, during an interview about 10 years ago was asked:
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"There are those critics of the ancient Latin Mass who point out that the crisis in the Church developed at a time when the Mass was offered throughout the world. Why should we then think its revival is intrinsic to the solution?"
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Her response:
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"The devil hates the ancient Mass. He hates it because it is the most perfect reformulation of all the teachings of the Church. It was my husband who gave me this insight about the Mass. The problem that ushered in the present crisis was not the traditional Mass. The problem was that priests who offered it had already lost the sense of the supernatural and the transcendent. They rushed through the prayers, they mumbled and didn’t enunciate them. That is a sign that they had brought to the Mass their growing secularism. The ancient Mass does not abide irreverence, and that was why so many priests were just as happy to see it go."
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Yes, the moral problem within the priesthood began before the Council, but unbridled chaos ensued when emphasis on the offering of sacrifice for sin was exchanged for the role of presiding at liturgical assemblies. - Sean - comment left on "The abuse crisis is just a small part of the Vatican II crisis." at Rorate Caeli
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Today my gut tells me everything is going to work out - "All will be well".  The scandals, the Pope's letter, even the role the Healthcare Bill passing in the U.S. played out - an act separating the sheep from the goats as it were, in the Catholic Church in North America - "All will be well."
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As expected, Fr. Z, Fr. Longenecker, and Fr. Blake have terrific commentaries on their blogs, analysing what is going down these days.  Click their names (hi-lighted here) and read what they are saying.
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Defending Roman Catholic Clergy

While trying to make sense of what is going on.
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Bear with me these days as I try to make sense out of all that is going on in the Church, our country, and Europe.  I'm reading articles and blogs I normally do not patronize - I have to hear what other people are saying - especially people outside this little corner of the blogosphere.  I do not listen to talk radio, Limbaugh, Savage, Beck or anyone else.  In fact I suddenly realized why some blogs come off so caustic - they must listen to that type of stuff on the radio, which they in turn emulate on their blogs.  If that's what does it for them, fine - it's not my thing. 
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Anyway.  Sunday I commented on another blog that if I had become a priest, or had persevered in the monastery, of all the times I would have been tempted leave, now would be the worst - in fact I'm sure I would chuck the habit and just walk out the door.  The upside of such a discouraging reflection is that it forced me to consider the extraordinary ordeal faithful priests and religious must be experiencing in these days, as the Church and consecrated life is so vehemently attacked and ridiculed.  How many are tempted to give up or call it quits?  So I decided I need to pray for them more than ever - priests, religious, bishops, and the Pope.
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That said, I stumbled upon an excellent article by Elizabeth Lev at Politics Daily: In Defense of the Catholic Clergy (Or Do We Want Another Reign of Terror?)  Lev reaches back into history to the days of the French Revolution, a time somewhat analogous to our own when it comes to dredging the past for evidence of clerical immorality.
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A little bit of history repeating.
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After the National Assembly diminished the authority of Louis XVI in 1789, anti-monarchical literature dwindled, but fierce accusations against Catholic clergy for misdeeds past and present increased. Isolated cases of clerical immorality were magnified to make depravity appear endemic to the entire priesthood (ironically, in an age where sexual libertinism was running rampant). The French propagandists labored night and day, dredging the past for old scandals whether decades or even centuries distant.
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In his Reflections on the Revolution in France, published in 1790, Edmund Burke, a Protestant, asked the French, "From the general style of late publications of all sorts, one would be led to believe that your clergy in France were a sort of monsters, a horrible composition of superstition, ignorance, sloth, fraud, avarice and tyranny. But is this true?" 
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What would Edmund Burke make of the headlines of the past few weeks, as stories of a clerical sex abuser in Germany a quarter century ago, made front page headlines and top TV stories in US news? What would he think of the insistent attempts to tie this sex abuser to the Roman pontiff himself through the most tenuous of links?
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In 1790, Burke answered his own question with these words: "It is not with much credulity I listen to any when they speak evil of those whom they are going to plunder. I rather suspect that vices are feigned or exaggerated when profit is looked for in their punishment." As he wrote these words, the French revolutionaries were readying for the mass confiscation of Church lands.
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As the present sales of church property to pay settlements swell the coffers of contingent-fee lawyers and real estate speculators, one has to credit Burke for a profound and historical sense of human nature.
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The salacious reporting on clerical sex abuse ( as if it were limited to only Roman Catholic clergy) has been given a prominence greater than the massacres of Christians happening right now in India and Iraq. Moreover, the term "clerical sex abuse" is often misleadingly equated with "pedophilia" to whip up even more public outrage. It doesn't take the political acumen of an Edmund Burke to wonder why the Catholic Church has been singled out for this treatment.
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While no one denies the wrongdoing and the harm caused by a small minority of priests, their misconduct has been used to undermine the reputations of the overwhelming majority of clergy who live holy quiet lives in their parishes, tending to their flocks. These good men have been smeared with the same poisonous ink. - Elizabeth Lev - Read the entire article.
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Makes sense to me.
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Art: Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne

Medjugorje fraud?

You decide.

Reader's comment...

"...outside the camp, bearing the insult he bore..." - Hebrews 13: 13


I received a very good comment from a priest on my post discussing the Irish scandal and the Holy Father's letter.  Father's comment helps put in perspective the problem as it affects the majority of faithful priests and religious.
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Fr Ronan Kilgannon said...
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We are rightly devastated because the crime has occurred, been dealt with poorly, and so is widely publicised. While not in any way excuse this crime among Catholic clergy and religious, it is important to balance the very one-sided reporting of it in the media.
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Those who have committed this crime are a small percentage of all those who have committed their lives to God and His church in the ministry and consecrated life. The per capita percentage is about the same by ministers in all Christian denominations and the various world religions. It is just that it is not publicised. For example, freedom of information reveals that more money has been paid out by insurance companies to victims of abuse in Protestant denominations in the USA than the Catholic Church. But by far, the highest percentage of this crime, horrific to state it, occurs in families.
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Recent statistics from Ireland suggest one in five girls and one in twelve boys suffer some form of sexual abuse at home. If there is an omission in the Pope's letter it is that it never raises this matter.
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The truth is that by far, the highest percentage of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church occurs in Catholic homes not in presbyteries. If we are rightly horrified by this crime we should be demanding of our governments Royal Commission investigations into it so that it will be address not just in the Church but also in society where by far the majority of cases of abuse occur.
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I in no way mean this to excuse what has happened among clergy and religious, it is just that imbalanced reporting and a cover up of the crime in families gives the impression that this is a crime committed exclusively by Catholic priests and religious. This is grossly unfair, and makes life for the great majority of us difficult if not intolerable.
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We need to pray very much for the priests and religious who, though innocent, bear the insults and shame.
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Art: Ecce Homo, Gregorio Fernandez, The Sacred Made Real exhibit, National Gallery, Washington, DC

what is Fatima.mpg

The message of Fatima is very relevant today... look around you.

Finding Fatima trailer

How providential. I just received this in my mail box - it looks good.

Did St. Joseph grant Mrs. Pelosi's prayer and not the others?

The Healthcare Bill passed. 
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It'll be interesting to catch up on the scathing rhetoric many Catholic bloggers will no doubt be hurling at this unfortunate woman throughout the day today.

Fr. Paul Marx

Fr. Paul Marx, the priest hailed as the apostle of the pro-life movement and founder of Human Life International died March 20 at 89 years old.  I'm surprised that most of the bloggers  I read on a regular basis haven't taken note - I'm sure memorials will follow once the work-week gets going.  Fr. Marx began making a name for himself in 1981, at the time I barely gave a second thought to the abortion issue, therefore my first impression of him back then was that he was sort of a traditionalist fanatic.  As it turns out, he was indeed an apostle, as well as a prophet.  May he rest in peace.
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Links:
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Fr. Paul Marx, Founder of Human Life International, Passes Away
HLI's Fr. Thomas Euteneuer: "Because of Fr. Paul Marx, the world has a pro-life movement"

Pondering the Holy Father's letter.

The invisible stigmata.
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One very poignant paragraph of the letter stands out for me.
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"At the same time, I ask you not to lose hope. It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, he still bears the wounds of his own unjust suffering." - Letter
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I have written and painted about this many times, referring to it as the invisible stigmata, which the violence of sexual abuse imprints upon its victims.  No matter how old one gets, how healed one may be, the wounds remain.  The Holy Father recognizes that - he understands that - he 'gets it'.  It can be a very consoling paragraph in his Pastoral Letter - once one is able to come to terms with it...
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Benedict XVI doesn't say, "Get over it, move on."  Not at all.  He recognizes, acknowledges, he actually sees as it were, the stigmata:
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"Like you, he (Christ) still bears the wounds of his own unjust suffering. He understands the depths of your pain and its enduring effect upon your lives and your relationships, including your relationship with the Church." - Letter
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Maybe Catholics shouldn't cover their statues this Passiontide - especially images of the scourged, crowned with thorns Jesus.  Perhaps we will thereby more easily comprehend the machinations of denial and cover-up and the harm it perpetuates.  Maybe it will help us understand that not everyone is immediately consoled simply by an apology. 
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I think the Pope gets that one too.
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Art:  Ecce Homo, Gregorio Fernandez, The Sacred Made Real exhibit, National Gallery, Washington, DC

Fr. Zuhlsdorf in NYC

"I just want you to know no matter what you do, you're gonna die, just like everybody else." - Rose Castorini
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What the hell happened to this guy, huh? So he's in NYC and starts going all Rose Castorini on us. I write this same stuff all of the time, but now suddenly Fr. Z starts...
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"You are all going to die.
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I am going to die. You are going to die.
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There is no way around it.
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When we die, and we will, we will be judged.
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Heaven and Hell are the only alternatives.
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Both of them are never going to end.
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Heaven or Hell are not like going on a really good or really bad cruise.
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So, get ready.
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You could die before you click away from this page.
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Or it could be in a few more years.
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But it is going to happen.
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You might have some warning and lead time.
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You might not.
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One day that funeral procession that blocks traffic and keeps you sitting an waiting at the light is going to be about you.
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Get ready.
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You will have to account for what you have done with your life." - WDTPRS
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"You have such a head for knowing!" - Mona, "Moonstruck"
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Oh wait, maybe that's his 8 minute homily? ;)