Saturday, July 30, 2011
Why the Peace Corps Hates The Free Market
Friday, July 29, 2011
If You Show Me Yours...
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Creation Ex Nihilo
...the tuition-scholarship relationship to the higher-versus-lower-school choice constitutes an allocation matrix that uniformly funnels wealthy applicants to the higher school, securing the attendant advantages, while people with less financial means divide between higher and lower. Multiply this out by tens of thousands of like decisions each year and the effect is large. The pricing structure of law schools thereby helps the wealthy in America further consolidate their grip on elite legal positions.
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Languages of God
Now, I will concede a point early on and agree with the many people, especially the Extraordinary Form Catholics, who like to point out that Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church. In fact, the documents of Vatican II require that all priests be well-versed in Latin, a requirement bishops mostly honor by completely ignoring it:
13. Before beginning specifically ecclesiastical subjects, seminarians should be equipped with that humanistic and scientific training which young men in their own countries are wont to have as a foundation for higher studies. Moreover they are to acquire a knowledge of Latin which will enable them to understand and make use of the sources of so many sciences and of the documents of the Church. The study of the liturgical language proper to each rite should be considered necessary; a suitable knowledge of the languages of the Bible and of Tradition should be greatly encouraged.Alright, now that we've taken care of that bit, let's think a bit more. Latin isn't the only language that springs from the heart of the Church. Take English, for example.
We are all familiar with modern English, but do you realize that modern English is an invention of the Catholic Church?
It is.
Old English was developed by Anglo-Saxons and used between about the mid 5th and the mid 12th centuries. It was the language used by the Catholic poet St. Caedmon and by the Venerable Bede, doctor of the Church, the man who wrote the first history (an ecclesiastical history, no less) of the English people. Old English eventually transforms into Middle English, which became popular between the 11th and 15th centuries. Middle English is, of course, famously the language of Chaucer.
Where's the Catholic Church?
Germany's evangelization began about the same time, but took quite a bit longer, but was essentially Christian by the year 1000. Scandinavia, Russia and Kiev would also see their rulers baptized by roughly that year.
It isn’t over the top to point this out. Language molds itself to express the dominant thoughts of the culture. The dominant culture in Europe for over a thousand years was the Catholic Faith.
Realize that even simple words, like “cell” and “person”, exist only in European languages. Robert Hooke called the unit of living material a “cell” because the nucleus inside the membrane reminded him of a monk sitting in his cell. The word “person” was invented by Catholics to describe the three “persons” of the Trinitarian Godhead.
If you go to a non-Christian language, like Swahili, there is no corresponding word for “cell”. African culture had no similar monastic institution. Similarly, when Americans tried to explain the Declaration of Independence to the Chinese and Japanese, they discovered those languages could not express the idea of “individual rights” because neither one even had a real way to express “individual”, much less the rights of such an entity. Many Pacific island languages have trouble expressing the idea of “mercy” because the concept of NOT pursuing revenge is so damned weird.
The very word “religion” assumes Christian theology. “Re + Ligare” - to tie back together again - assumes an original Paradise, followed by a Fall, followed by Christ putting the pieces back together. Properly speaking, only Christianity is a “religion”, because it is the only theological system that teaches all three pieces. Nothing else does. These examples could be expanded almost endlessly.
And Modern English is not alone in being a thousand-year work of the Church. In fact, there is no modern European language which can deny that it was essentially developed by Catholics.
The language that drives individualism, science, technology, commerce, economics, the great engines of our secular economy, is a language created by the Faith. Keep that in mind the next time someone says, "We need to keep religion out of the classroom." or "We need to keep religion out of politics."
Yes, we could do that. We could snuff the Faith out of our discourse entirely. But in order to discuss the merits of the proposition without the influence of Catholic Faith, we would first have to dispense with using any modern European language. Only then could we begin to discuss the idea. And that might hobble the discussion a bit, nicht wahr?
Friday, July 22, 2011
Very Polite Of Him
A Facebook page matching his name and the photo given out by the police was set up just a few days ago. It listed his religion as Christian, politics as conservative. It said he enjoys hunting, the video games World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare 2, and books including Machiavelli’s “The Prince” and George Orwell’s “1984.”
It's just incredibly convenient.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Some Things Don't Change
The Declaration of Indulgence and the Test Act
Charles II's proclamation in 1672, suspending by his royal prerogative the penal statutes against Nonconformists (known as the Declaration of Indulgence), was seen by many Members of Parliament as evidence of both the King's sympathy for Catholicism and his preference for absolutist rule.
Their opposition was so fierce that Charles II was forced to cancel it in 1673 and instead to agree to Parliament's Test Act. This required all those wishing to hold office to swear an oath to the King and the Protestant English Church and to sign a declaration denying the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.
Charles II's younger brother and the heir to the throne James, Duke of York, made his Catholic faith publicly known later that year and resigned all his offices under the terms of the Test Act.
The history of the Catholic Church in America, however, has much deeper and less triumphant roots. Most American Catholics are aware that the spirit of New England's North American settlements was hostile to Catholicism. But few are aware of the vigor and persistence with which that spirit was cultivated throughout the entire colonial period. Few Catholics realize that in all but three of the 13 original colonies, Catholics were the subject of penal measures of one kind or another during the colonial period. In most cases, the Catholic Church had been proscribed at an early date, as in Virginia where the act of 1642 proscribing Catholics and their priests set the tone for the remainder of the colonial period.
Even in the supposedly tolerant Maryland, the tables had turned against Catholics by the 1700s. By this time the penal code against Catholics included test oaths administered to keep Catholics out of office, legislation that barred Catholics from entering certain professions (such as Law), and measures had been enacted to make them incapable of inheriting or purchasing land. By 1718 the ballot had been denied to Catholics in Maryland, following the example of the other colonies, and parents could even be fined for sending children abroad to be educated as Catholics.
In the decade before the American Revolution, most inhabitants of the English colonies would have agreed with Samuel Adams when he said (in 1768): "I did verily believe, as I do still, that much more is to be dreaded from the growth of popery in America, than from the Stamp Act, or any other acts destructive of civil rights." (3)
The New York government’s recognition of “gay marriage” has caused a religious town clerk to resign because she cannot in good conscience sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that those who cannot recognize “gay marriages” should not hold those positions.
“When you enforce the laws of the state, you don't get to pick and choose the laws,” the governor said at a July 12 press conference. “You don't get to say, ‘I like this law and I'll enforce this law, or I don't like this law and I won't enforce this law’ -- you can't do that.”
“So if you can't enforce the law, then you shouldn't be in that position,” Cuomo said, according to the New York Daily News.
There's really no problem.
Bachmann and the Anti-Christ
Four to five million people spent hours in line to file past his body and pay their last respects, and 1.1 billion people claimed him as their spiritual father. Catholic and non-Catholic, Christian and non-Christian alike sang his praises. Even English Prince Charles’s wedding was postponed one day for his funeral. Only a few detractors were to be found. The world had lost a truly great man.
I’m speaking of Pope John Paul II and the days following his death. Some clearly have overdone their adoration for him. A Mexican immigrant, after he had seen John Paul in person on one of the pope’s 104 trips abroad, said, “Holy God came to us today.” Similarly, a 44-year-old Ohio woman opined, “I don’t know if you’re going to get any closer to God on earth.” And one archbishop now has prayed, “From heaven may he look over us always and help us to cross the threshold of hope.”
That kind of awe begs questioning. However, much of the hundreds of tributes paid by religious and political dignitaries around the world were right on. This pope was a man of “transparent integrity,” “unselfish compassion,” “love and courage,” “friendship and understanding.” He was a champion of world peace, human freedom, morality, justice, and life. He loved the youth, the poor, the suffering. He is credited with helping cause the fall of communism, defending human rights, opposing anti-Semitism, serving the cause of Christian unity. He has been called “The Gladiator” and “The Great.”
All of this and more John Paul was and did.
This teaching that the Papacy is the Antichrist is not a fundamental article of faith. . . . It is not an article on which saving faith rests, with which Christianity stands or falls. We cannot and do not deny the Christianity of a person who cannot see the truth that the Pope is the Antichrist.
Yet it is an important article and should not be side-stepped or slighted. It is clearly revealed in the divine word, and there is nothing needless and useless in the Bible; God wants us to know about the Antichrist. . . . This article is clearly expressed in the Lutheran Confessions; whoever denies it does not stand in one faith with his fathers; he is not a confessional Lutheran.
Now, was Bachmann aware of this teaching? WELS spokesman Joel Hochmuthsaid in an interview the anti-papal doctrine is “not one of our driving views, and certainly not something that we preach from the pulpit.’"
Monday, July 11, 2011
On Obedience
"On the night of 2 December 1577, John was taken prisoner by his superiors in the calced Carmelites, who had launched a counter-program against John and Teresa's reforms. John had refused an order to return to his original house." "He managed to escape nine months later, on 15 August 1578, through a small window in a room adjoining his cell. (He had managed to pry the cell door off its hinges earlier that day)." St. John of the Cross disobeyed his superior's order because it was unjust, therefore, immoral. For disobeying he was imprisoned, but then escaped since he knew the actions of his superior was not God's will for his life."
St. Thomas Aquinas refused his parents will for his life.
On the other hand, Savonarola was excommunicated by Rome, then imprisoned and burned by a mob for refusing Rome's request that he come and explain himself. Martin Luther refused to obey as well.
So...
Where does Father Corapi fall in this spectrum?
I have no clue.
I don't really have any passionate attachment to Fr. Corapi, nor have I had any interest in his talks or work for years and years.
On the other hand, there's a lot of people who seem disproportionately angry with him. Passionately angry with him.
You can argue that Corapi is being irresponsible and I won't disagree, but I can't see how SOLT is acting in a responsible fashion either.
2) As for other commentators, like those who say that there MUST be a big file on Corapi because that's just how the Church works... well, tell it to Padre Pio, who was forbidden to say Mass publicly for ten years.
Apart from a wild attempt to grab part of Corapi's audience, what are their respective beefs, exactly?
Friday, July 08, 2011
What Dolan Didn't Do
And since when is the archbishop of New York a Third World potentate, whose will will be done owing to his mere presence? Anyone who thinks Andrew Cuomo would have made an about-face at the sight of Dolan skipped over the laughter and patronizing disdain in his recent conversation with Maureen Dowd.
Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, said the controversy did not arise during the governor’s “cordial” lunch with the bishops.
“Thank God it didn’t,” Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan told reporters after the meeting, “because it was a bit of a tempest in a teapot.”
And since when is the archbishop alone in this? What about the rest of us?
It was befuddling to gay-rights advocates: The Catholic Church, arguably the only institution with the authority and reach to derail same-sex marriage, seemed to shrink from the fight.As the marriage bill hurtled toward a vote, the head of the church in New York, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, left town to lead a meeting of bishops in Seattle. He did not travel to Albany or deliver a major speech in the final days of the session. And when he did issue a strongly worded critique of the legislation — he called it “immoral” and an “ominous threat” — it was over the phone to an Albany-area radio show.
This is not North Korea, as Archbishop Dolan now famously blogged. And Andrew Cuomo isn’t torturing anyone. But he, and everyone who voted to redefine marriage, is torturing the truth.