https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/distinctly-catholic/revived-abuse-crisis-newfangled-simony-dominated-churchs
The problem of the Church is not going to be solved by theology. An attempt to do so is the blind leading the blind. While clericalism is a cancer eating at the Church, the clericalist problem is that we look at it as us vs them. From the top, us is the clergy with the people as them. The laity has the same problem. They see the hierarchy as the "them" that must be reformed. Clericalism is boogeyman, the same way that modernism were the boogeyman for Popes Pius IX and X. Their answer was authoritarianism, including the creation of a network of informants that would leave Fidel Castro and the East German Stasi impressed.
Archbishop Rembert Weakland documented how this authoritarianism continued under St. John Paul when Cardinal Rigali managed the culture of information during his Vatican days. The target of the modern version were homosexuals like Weakland although he never bothered children. If McCarrick had been able to live his truth, he would not have either.
The culture that sought to find homosexual scapegoats is designed to preserve the celibate norms of the Church, which have their roots in a Neoplatonic asexuality, not some imaged holiness. Such holiness lacks the humility to move forward. It also deathly afraid of the ordination of women, who would surely break the awkward boys club now running the Church. That culture gave us the bad old days when the Church was rotten on the inside but a pillar of holiness on the outside during the height of Catholic influence in the 1950. It did not last.
Holiness will not get the Church out of this problem. A warm and fuzzy culture in the clergy, in essence an escape into modernism, is as wrong headed as the Syllabi of Errors, Qudra Cua and Pascendi Dominici Gregis. The modern solution is not Gaudium et spes or Evangelii Gaudium. The only document that gets us close to a solution is Dignitatis Humanae, which utterly rejects the anti-modernists, not that it helped change the clerical culture, it simply drove it underground.
The Church's mission is to look for a savior. When the problem of child sexual abuse came to the fore, the hierarchy found its savior in its lawyers, which restricted information on the scandal to save the Church's reputation and preserve attorney-client privilege. This type of Omerta was comfortable not just in the American Church, but world wide.
What Michael Sean calls Libertarianism allows him to maintain the myth that there is only one form of libertarianism. There are, in fact, three. One is the purist libertarianism of Ron and Rand Paul. It is so fringe, that it is not a worry. There is also the social libertarianism (or left-leaning libertarianism) that is akin to social liberalism. It seeks individuality over hierarchy. It rejects regulation of homosexuals, abortion and feminism from the culture and the Church. It (we) would ordain women.
Right-wing or economic libertarianism seeks an end to government regulation over private authority. The other word for it is Capitalism. It's major innovation is a strong CEO which is legitimized by a Board of Directors that is accountable only to itself. Under capitalism, the shareholders are the Them in much the same way that the Clergy treats the Laity. It is dangerous because it is almost exactly in line with the Church's usual authoritarian culture. This would be jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
Neither spiritual renewal among the clergy and continued shielding of responsibility through capitalist structures. In much the same way that employee-ownership is the answer to capitalism, democracy in the Church is the answer to its structural-function problems (to borrow a term from sociology for what is a social problem). I am not talking about the Congregationalism that emerged from the Puritans, which threw out both the hierarchy and the patrimony of the Church.
I seek to preserve much of our patrimony, although the sexism and crypto-asexuality should be laid bare as abnormality rather than holiness. Adding a female matriarchy to the patriarchy still preserves the division of the Church into as and them. Rather, I would, as stated before, have the people elect lay (meaning non-celibate) deacons to mange parish and charitable affairs while leaving the clergy in tact (although women would be included, as well as the married and the gay). Both clergy and laity would then elect the local Ordinary as Pastor, not governor. The Church will not be fixed by the Papacy from above, but from responsibility from below.
The Clericalists did not cause our problems. We did, both clerical and lay, in seeking the divide between us and them. All of the faithful must take responsibility for sexual abuse. The people in the pews let it happen. The victims went along with preserving the reputation of the Church. The lawyers did nothing to them,they were willing participants to preserving the reputation of the clergy. Ending the clergy v. lay divide the answer. We must end Medievalism in the Church and take responsibility for it, with the bishops rather than blaming them for this crisis. If Francis can pull that rabbit out the hat next year, there is hope. If not, we must act from below, but not by trading episcopal authoritarianism for the capitalistic kind.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Friday, December 28, 2018
Taking stock of the political life of 2018
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/taking-stock-political-life-2018
Trump is a one trick pony. Even when he is not in trouble, he goes to the wall and the Wall to play to his racist base, which includes himself. 'Even though the Democrats said that they were focussing on healthcare, they only did so because Trump was lying about it and because everyone who would vote for him knew that this was all about defanging Trump and eventually removing him from office. The Democrats were defending a huge number of seats. That they only lost four rather than the expected twelve or so (almost half) shows how much Trump is loathed by most people. This also shows that Bernie spawned the political revolution he promised. Young Bernie voters went to the polls in the midterms when usually that demographic stays home.
The Trump economy is now becoming visible, not because of the Tax Act but because just after the Act passed, the Congress made a two-year budget deal with huge increases to the deficit to make up for spending deferred during the Obama Administration. Even with low spending, because he had higher taxes, there was still growth. Spending causes growth, not tax cuts. Tax cuts for the wealthy spur asset inflation, not economic growth - even a sugar high. When offset by more spending the economy grows because government spending spurs household spending by government employees, contractors and the commercial sector, which spurs non-government investment, usually funded with debt, not stock sales.
Tax cuts are just Monopoly money (quite literally). This year the target was a Bitcoin boom. When the tax cuts were less then realized, Bitcoin went down by 80% and the stock market, which had overvalued the coming tax cuts, fell as well. The smart money got out when the budget deal was announced, buy bonds before interest rates rise. Trump is correct that the recent Fed rate hikes will damage the economy - except for investors who now must compete with corporate investment to get money. Never forget that the Fed works for the banks, not the people. Higher interest rates are also needed because consumers need more money for higher prices due to Trump tariffs, further taking money out of the stock market.
Trump is a non-entity on the military front. The Pentagon knows that it can and must ignore orders transmitted by Twitter. Trump does not. It's a good system as long as the Pentagon is fighting tyranny rather than being its instrument.
The Federalist Society is a dying breed. It, like most lawyers, is shifting away from the Scalia view of the world. Few of its members would favor a judge or justice just because he was pro-life or even pro-states rights. That ship sailed long ago. That Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, who were Kennedy proteges, were their top picks shows that they are more interested in capitalism than overturning Roe. Until the Right to Life movement champions a much higher family income for all via tax credits, it will be seen as the useful idiots of the dying Republican Party.
One wonders if Trump is pulling a Herman Cain to help kill it. Of course, the sloppy capitalism of Trump in his whoring for Russia makes that possibility less likely. Trump is going down, sooner than later. The only question is whether he will take Pence with him. Time is running out to indict Pence and get Trump to resign too to install Ryan as President. A missed opportunity for the GOP. This makes Pelosi queen or king maker if she does not take the Presidency herself. When I addressed her last year as Madam Future President, she smiled, so you never know.
For the last time, Bush Sr. did not win because of Willie Horton. Dukakis was a lousy candidate. He did not win the next time because, while he was a good President, he was out emoted by Bill Clinton. Bush only raised taxes on the highers income (the donor class). He lowered them on the upper middle from 33% to 31%.
Capitalism marches on. That it is ready to dump Trump is icing the only saving grace for the year.
Trump is a one trick pony. Even when he is not in trouble, he goes to the wall and the Wall to play to his racist base, which includes himself. 'Even though the Democrats said that they were focussing on healthcare, they only did so because Trump was lying about it and because everyone who would vote for him knew that this was all about defanging Trump and eventually removing him from office. The Democrats were defending a huge number of seats. That they only lost four rather than the expected twelve or so (almost half) shows how much Trump is loathed by most people. This also shows that Bernie spawned the political revolution he promised. Young Bernie voters went to the polls in the midterms when usually that demographic stays home.
The Trump economy is now becoming visible, not because of the Tax Act but because just after the Act passed, the Congress made a two-year budget deal with huge increases to the deficit to make up for spending deferred during the Obama Administration. Even with low spending, because he had higher taxes, there was still growth. Spending causes growth, not tax cuts. Tax cuts for the wealthy spur asset inflation, not economic growth - even a sugar high. When offset by more spending the economy grows because government spending spurs household spending by government employees, contractors and the commercial sector, which spurs non-government investment, usually funded with debt, not stock sales.
Tax cuts are just Monopoly money (quite literally). This year the target was a Bitcoin boom. When the tax cuts were less then realized, Bitcoin went down by 80% and the stock market, which had overvalued the coming tax cuts, fell as well. The smart money got out when the budget deal was announced, buy bonds before interest rates rise. Trump is correct that the recent Fed rate hikes will damage the economy - except for investors who now must compete with corporate investment to get money. Never forget that the Fed works for the banks, not the people. Higher interest rates are also needed because consumers need more money for higher prices due to Trump tariffs, further taking money out of the stock market.
Trump is a non-entity on the military front. The Pentagon knows that it can and must ignore orders transmitted by Twitter. Trump does not. It's a good system as long as the Pentagon is fighting tyranny rather than being its instrument.
The Federalist Society is a dying breed. It, like most lawyers, is shifting away from the Scalia view of the world. Few of its members would favor a judge or justice just because he was pro-life or even pro-states rights. That ship sailed long ago. That Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, who were Kennedy proteges, were their top picks shows that they are more interested in capitalism than overturning Roe. Until the Right to Life movement champions a much higher family income for all via tax credits, it will be seen as the useful idiots of the dying Republican Party.
One wonders if Trump is pulling a Herman Cain to help kill it. Of course, the sloppy capitalism of Trump in his whoring for Russia makes that possibility less likely. Trump is going down, sooner than later. The only question is whether he will take Pence with him. Time is running out to indict Pence and get Trump to resign too to install Ryan as President. A missed opportunity for the GOP. This makes Pelosi queen or king maker if she does not take the Presidency herself. When I addressed her last year as Madam Future President, she smiled, so you never know.
For the last time, Bush Sr. did not win because of Willie Horton. Dukakis was a lousy candidate. He did not win the next time because, while he was a good President, he was out emoted by Bill Clinton. Bush only raised taxes on the highers income (the donor class). He lowered them on the upper middle from 33% to 31%.
Capitalism marches on. That it is ready to dump Trump is icing the only saving grace for the year.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Links for 12/27/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-122718
Kolfage is yet another in a string of Republican operatives going back to the Birchers and the Nixon error who created Fox News and gave us the vast right-wing conspiracy against Clinton (and his wife who helped take Nixon down), became the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the Tea Party and the MAGA movement. Luckily for America, it is losing more members to old age and death than it is adding,
Opposition to the Gaza Genocide or the unilateral wall on the West Bank and the continued second class status of Palestinians who get work release from behind the wall to do the dirty jobs in Israel is not anti-semitism. Last I checked, Palestinians are Semitic. Neoconservatives like Michael Sean do not appreciate that fact. Neoconservatism is all about Israel, not MAGA or No Trumpers.
There are few new cases of clergy abuse of children. The new focus is to open the files, even in cases long since settled for which the statute of limitations has expired. Reopening old wounds does survivors no good and it is more grandstanding than reform. Reform would be choosing to have the Vatican either backstop settlements, using the artistic patrimony to actually help its victims. The other option is to go to local election of bishops by lay deacon parish administrators (no promise of celibacy or obedience to anyone but the parish) and the local clergy. Many would not mind doing both. Archbishop Gregory is spot on, but the jury is out on he and Francis, who must be more radical than the USCCB or any bishops want.
World trends are better internationally, although real wins against Capitalism are few and far between. The generosity of Buffett and the Gates Foundations are nice bandaids, although the logic of having fewer brown people around as a side effect is unfortunate at best and eugenic at worst. Even NFP substitutes the same ZPG bias when a living family wage is the better path. Brooks also misses what both Marx and modern scholar Michael Harrington said about social welfare movements, which is that it helps save capitalism from itself and enables its hegemony.
The First Amendment protects against the regulation of speech by the government only. It does not protect Capitalists. Boycotts are not only not control of speech (as the Capitalists have greater resources) but they can be effective in getting consumers involved in reform, as Marion Barry and Operation Push found out when they employed this tactic to desegregate much of non-official Washington. Concurrent picket lines worked as well, but are harder to do against a mega-corp.
The Notorious RBG is not as far off on abortion being about the rights of women as Michael Sean thinks. She is not far from the herd in preserving Roe, which was upheld in the Partial Birth Abortion case, joining Kennedy, Roberts and Alito. They are likely joined by Kavanaugh and Gorsuch in considering Roe settled. It is dirty ball to single her out. Indeed, it proves her point. Catholic Social Teaching requires employers (especially Catholic ones) to pay a family wage which is sensitive to family size, with intervention by the State when the free market cannot do this alone. Run this view by most Republican pro-lifers and they will respond by saying that they don't want their tax money subsidizing the sexuality of women who would otherwise have abortions (who should face a pelvic police state instead). So yes, abortion rights really are about the rights of women in general.
Kolfage is yet another in a string of Republican operatives going back to the Birchers and the Nixon error who created Fox News and gave us the vast right-wing conspiracy against Clinton (and his wife who helped take Nixon down), became the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the Tea Party and the MAGA movement. Luckily for America, it is losing more members to old age and death than it is adding,
Opposition to the Gaza Genocide or the unilateral wall on the West Bank and the continued second class status of Palestinians who get work release from behind the wall to do the dirty jobs in Israel is not anti-semitism. Last I checked, Palestinians are Semitic. Neoconservatives like Michael Sean do not appreciate that fact. Neoconservatism is all about Israel, not MAGA or No Trumpers.
There are few new cases of clergy abuse of children. The new focus is to open the files, even in cases long since settled for which the statute of limitations has expired. Reopening old wounds does survivors no good and it is more grandstanding than reform. Reform would be choosing to have the Vatican either backstop settlements, using the artistic patrimony to actually help its victims. The other option is to go to local election of bishops by lay deacon parish administrators (no promise of celibacy or obedience to anyone but the parish) and the local clergy. Many would not mind doing both. Archbishop Gregory is spot on, but the jury is out on he and Francis, who must be more radical than the USCCB or any bishops want.
World trends are better internationally, although real wins against Capitalism are few and far between. The generosity of Buffett and the Gates Foundations are nice bandaids, although the logic of having fewer brown people around as a side effect is unfortunate at best and eugenic at worst. Even NFP substitutes the same ZPG bias when a living family wage is the better path. Brooks also misses what both Marx and modern scholar Michael Harrington said about social welfare movements, which is that it helps save capitalism from itself and enables its hegemony.
The First Amendment protects against the regulation of speech by the government only. It does not protect Capitalists. Boycotts are not only not control of speech (as the Capitalists have greater resources) but they can be effective in getting consumers involved in reform, as Marion Barry and Operation Push found out when they employed this tactic to desegregate much of non-official Washington. Concurrent picket lines worked as well, but are harder to do against a mega-corp.
The Notorious RBG is not as far off on abortion being about the rights of women as Michael Sean thinks. She is not far from the herd in preserving Roe, which was upheld in the Partial Birth Abortion case, joining Kennedy, Roberts and Alito. They are likely joined by Kavanaugh and Gorsuch in considering Roe settled. It is dirty ball to single her out. Indeed, it proves her point. Catholic Social Teaching requires employers (especially Catholic ones) to pay a family wage which is sensitive to family size, with intervention by the State when the free market cannot do this alone. Run this view by most Republican pro-lifers and they will respond by saying that they don't want their tax money subsidizing the sexuality of women who would otherwise have abortions (who should face a pelvic police state instead). So yes, abortion rights really are about the rights of women in general.
Monday, December 24, 2018
God with us: In Catholic faith, the Incarnation is not an abstraction
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/god-us-catholic-faith-incarnation-not-abstraction My response is cross posted to my column at https://xianleft.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-choices.html
The story of Emmanuel (God with Us) is more a series of choices than hagiography. Whether the story happened as described or portrayed by the modern Church is immaterial to the deeper reality of the story. In reality, the Magi came first because their journey was longest. They chose to believe in Jesus as something more than an earthly king even before he was born and not because they received an angelic message.
To understand the Magi, we must admit that they were Astrologers and that they would have sought the transformational King of the Jews based on what they understood from the planetary positions of the day, including both conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn and a solar eclipse on the appropriate day. Reverse engineering their calculations places Jesus' birth day at April 17, 6 BCE.
The reason the Church placed Christmas where it is was to counter the Saturnalia of the Winter Solstice (which fell on December 25th due to the progression of the equinoxes, which was corrected by Pope Gregory). The Church failed in its endeavors. Saturnalia is still with us at Yuletide as a natural human reaction to the longer nights. It need not be suppressed. Indeed, it should not be. While we celebrate Christmas because Christ is our light, one season of Masses does not overcome a very human need for revelry. That revelry at the solstice was still happening in the England of the Seventeenth Century (and beyond). It is why the Plymouth colonists banned the celebration of Christmas and why the Jehovah's witnesses still do. Only marriage is celebrated by the Witnesses, which is why many marriages occur on Christmas day or New Years.
The real first choice, because it was made by God beyond time, was to come and personally experience human suffering (from the changing of seasons to death on a cross). Both the Incarnation and the Passion and Resurrection are essential elements of this choice.
The next choice is Mary's, who consented to be the vehicle for the incarnation. She could have said no or it would not have been an authentic choice. Then Joseph chose. He was more a poor itinerant laborer than a carpenter, according to alternate translations from the original Greek. First, he chose not to kill the child and his mother when she came back from Jerusalem pregnant by someone else. Second, he chose to believe his dream and took Mary into his home, which resulted in the birth of Salome, Thomas and Simon, Salome's sons James and John who were partners with Andrew and Peter. This is half of the Twelve. In modern times, an itinerant laborer would not have such a household, but Joseph did.
Jesus chose a life of poverty, at least for his birth. A reading of the story of the Baptizer shows that he may have been a Pharisee (as in one among you will be the chosen one). He was born to a poor family in Bethlehem in either Judah or Galilee. St. Helen directed the building of a church on the reputed site of the nativity, but Galilee has a good claim too. That the site of that ancient church is now buried under the highway to Tel Aviv actually speaks to its authenticity. Jesus choice to live among the poor also led to his discovery by shepherds. who were tending the spring sheep and lambs in the countryside. Jesus was born in a stable, but that stable was likely in a family compound. Jesus was born downstairs with the animals because childbirth was regarded as unclean.
Herod reputedly chose wrongly (although there is no evidence of the slaughter of the innocents). In the story, he rejected the infant king which was not his son. That anyone but his son had a claim to the throne, especially of the house of David, would put a crimp in his cooperation with Rome. The child must be eliminated and Herod was sure he had been. The reputed flight to Egypt (or elsewhere) of Jesus and his family to be foreign migrants (including older siblings James and Joseph) has a different meaning today, as foreign migrants in America still depend on the day labor that Joseph had to endure.
The important choice again falls to Mary. The most accurate piece of information is that she remembered all of these things and kept them in her heart. She then told Jesus, which was his first knowledge of his divinity. Being both fully human and fully divine means he was no hybrid, so his mind could not have held all of the knowledge of God. Rather, he was a man of absolute faith in what was told to him by his mother. His miracles were by faith, not power. Even the healing of the woman with constant menstrual bleeding was an act of faith on her part.
This leads us to the Cross. When Jesus gave his mother to the care of John without commissioning John to save the world, he emptied himself of both the divinity that Mary told him about as a child and the mission he had chosen. This led him to the abandonment which we feel in our lives today as he called out to Elijah in despair. That he drank the fruit of the vine in John's Gospel shows that he died in the Father's kingdom, transforming even the abode of the dead into Paradise. When we accept that divine journey, bookended by the Incarnation and the Passion, the Incarnation makes sense.
The subsequent triumph of the Resurrection is central to our faith. Despite all evidence to the contrary, we believe Jesus defeated death and that we shall rise again. That choice we make, based on what Paul relates about real people seeing a real Jesus, is the central fact of our faith. Rejecting that fact turns the Incarnation into a nice fairy tale. We believe it is not.
The story of Emmanuel (God with Us) is more a series of choices than hagiography. Whether the story happened as described or portrayed by the modern Church is immaterial to the deeper reality of the story. In reality, the Magi came first because their journey was longest. They chose to believe in Jesus as something more than an earthly king even before he was born and not because they received an angelic message.
To understand the Magi, we must admit that they were Astrologers and that they would have sought the transformational King of the Jews based on what they understood from the planetary positions of the day, including both conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn and a solar eclipse on the appropriate day. Reverse engineering their calculations places Jesus' birth day at April 17, 6 BCE.
The reason the Church placed Christmas where it is was to counter the Saturnalia of the Winter Solstice (which fell on December 25th due to the progression of the equinoxes, which was corrected by Pope Gregory). The Church failed in its endeavors. Saturnalia is still with us at Yuletide as a natural human reaction to the longer nights. It need not be suppressed. Indeed, it should not be. While we celebrate Christmas because Christ is our light, one season of Masses does not overcome a very human need for revelry. That revelry at the solstice was still happening in the England of the Seventeenth Century (and beyond). It is why the Plymouth colonists banned the celebration of Christmas and why the Jehovah's witnesses still do. Only marriage is celebrated by the Witnesses, which is why many marriages occur on Christmas day or New Years.
The real first choice, because it was made by God beyond time, was to come and personally experience human suffering (from the changing of seasons to death on a cross). Both the Incarnation and the Passion and Resurrection are essential elements of this choice.
The next choice is Mary's, who consented to be the vehicle for the incarnation. She could have said no or it would not have been an authentic choice. Then Joseph chose. He was more a poor itinerant laborer than a carpenter, according to alternate translations from the original Greek. First, he chose not to kill the child and his mother when she came back from Jerusalem pregnant by someone else. Second, he chose to believe his dream and took Mary into his home, which resulted in the birth of Salome, Thomas and Simon, Salome's sons James and John who were partners with Andrew and Peter. This is half of the Twelve. In modern times, an itinerant laborer would not have such a household, but Joseph did.
Jesus chose a life of poverty, at least for his birth. A reading of the story of the Baptizer shows that he may have been a Pharisee (as in one among you will be the chosen one). He was born to a poor family in Bethlehem in either Judah or Galilee. St. Helen directed the building of a church on the reputed site of the nativity, but Galilee has a good claim too. That the site of that ancient church is now buried under the highway to Tel Aviv actually speaks to its authenticity. Jesus choice to live among the poor also led to his discovery by shepherds. who were tending the spring sheep and lambs in the countryside. Jesus was born in a stable, but that stable was likely in a family compound. Jesus was born downstairs with the animals because childbirth was regarded as unclean.
Herod reputedly chose wrongly (although there is no evidence of the slaughter of the innocents). In the story, he rejected the infant king which was not his son. That anyone but his son had a claim to the throne, especially of the house of David, would put a crimp in his cooperation with Rome. The child must be eliminated and Herod was sure he had been. The reputed flight to Egypt (or elsewhere) of Jesus and his family to be foreign migrants (including older siblings James and Joseph) has a different meaning today, as foreign migrants in America still depend on the day labor that Joseph had to endure.
The important choice again falls to Mary. The most accurate piece of information is that she remembered all of these things and kept them in her heart. She then told Jesus, which was his first knowledge of his divinity. Being both fully human and fully divine means he was no hybrid, so his mind could not have held all of the knowledge of God. Rather, he was a man of absolute faith in what was told to him by his mother. His miracles were by faith, not power. Even the healing of the woman with constant menstrual bleeding was an act of faith on her part.
This leads us to the Cross. When Jesus gave his mother to the care of John without commissioning John to save the world, he emptied himself of both the divinity that Mary told him about as a child and the mission he had chosen. This led him to the abandonment which we feel in our lives today as he called out to Elijah in despair. That he drank the fruit of the vine in John's Gospel shows that he died in the Father's kingdom, transforming even the abode of the dead into Paradise. When we accept that divine journey, bookended by the Incarnation and the Passion, the Incarnation makes sense.
The subsequent triumph of the Resurrection is central to our faith. Despite all evidence to the contrary, we believe Jesus defeated death and that we shall rise again. That choice we make, based on what Paul relates about real people seeing a real Jesus, is the central fact of our faith. Rejecting that fact turns the Incarnation into a nice fairy tale. We believe it is not.
Friday, December 21, 2018
People's Pastoral from Appalachia is subject of new documentary
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/peoples-pastoral-appalachia-subject-new-documentary
Christ came to sew division, not unity. We must do more than simply serve the poor, we must radicalize them into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom seeks justice for the poor in this world. It cannot be the opiate of the masses, looking only to the next or to give the saved an opportunity to serve. They must lead rather than stay in their comfort zone. We must give the power a reason to crucify us.
Christ came to sew division, not unity. We must do more than simply serve the poor, we must radicalize them into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom seeks justice for the poor in this world. It cannot be the opiate of the masses, looking only to the next or to give the saved an opportunity to serve. They must lead rather than stay in their comfort zone. We must give the power a reason to crucify us.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Links for 12/20/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-122018
Mark is always a fun read. Tax incentives do not work perfectly, but outright bans can lead to the violence of the Civil War, as did the Fugitive Slave Act, which gave the southern states the right of violence on northern soil. An inelastic tax elasticity of supply and demand can avoid a higher price, but producers will only eat so much tax before it gets passed on. Carbon taxes are, like other regulation, a way for producers to keep producing with incentives to develop cleaner means. They are a way to avoid tougher direct enforcement, which could mean plant closings or the mandatory adoption of new technologies and the use of government research to find them, funded by fines rather than taxes. Of course, the political power of energy companies can keep any solution from happening.
Economic incentives do work, however, in regulating personal, rather than corporate behavior. This is especially the case with social prohibition. Alcohol taxes work when shutting down bars only leads to organized crime. Cigarette use is down because of high taxes. Abortion prohibition did not work, it merely led to illegal abortion, travel to Mexico where abortion was legal but corruption allowed it, while giving money to families to actually support their children will surely work to end their incentives to abort, regardless of the blood lust of pro-lifers whose real goal is regulating female sexuality.
Judge Sullivan later apologized for his outrage. He put it above the need of the government to send a quick message to Trump that they will not be stopped. After the judge walked his comments back, he could have had a meeting in chambers with council and walked back the continuance as well, ratifying the deal and ending this part of the drama.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez loses nothing by being the standard bearer of the Democratic Socialists in seeking a position in the leadership. Without our boldness, the election might have been very different. The youth brought in by Bernie Sanders have awakened. We deserve a place at the table, and not for demographic reasons.
The cause of Jakelin's death is known, but whether official malfeasance was part of it is unknown. She has become a cause celeb, as have the unborn. The truth in both issues is a bit more complicated. This is another instance where the Bishops are again bowing to the impulse to read, fire and aim, rather than acting judiciously. This shows how fall prey to group dynamics rather than waiting for the Lord.
Shapiro is best ignored before he gains prominence For him, any press is good press if you spell his name right. Spend more time promoting truth rather than giving attention to silliness.
I am not sure how the governor or the financial authority can prevent a mud slide in Puerto Rico or on California. The best they can do is evacuate ahead of time so that we don't make more graves. Finding graves is secondary.
Let me add the emergence of democratic socialists in the U.S. midterms to the list. The youth vote has awoken and it will be the yeast that turns the world from isolated acts of resistance to transformation.
Never Trumpers were the rare example of reactionary right-wingers against the radicalization of the conservative movement. No one could have predicted the success of Trump or his idiocy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixgc_FGam3s
Mark is always a fun read. Tax incentives do not work perfectly, but outright bans can lead to the violence of the Civil War, as did the Fugitive Slave Act, which gave the southern states the right of violence on northern soil. An inelastic tax elasticity of supply and demand can avoid a higher price, but producers will only eat so much tax before it gets passed on. Carbon taxes are, like other regulation, a way for producers to keep producing with incentives to develop cleaner means. They are a way to avoid tougher direct enforcement, which could mean plant closings or the mandatory adoption of new technologies and the use of government research to find them, funded by fines rather than taxes. Of course, the political power of energy companies can keep any solution from happening.
Economic incentives do work, however, in regulating personal, rather than corporate behavior. This is especially the case with social prohibition. Alcohol taxes work when shutting down bars only leads to organized crime. Cigarette use is down because of high taxes. Abortion prohibition did not work, it merely led to illegal abortion, travel to Mexico where abortion was legal but corruption allowed it, while giving money to families to actually support their children will surely work to end their incentives to abort, regardless of the blood lust of pro-lifers whose real goal is regulating female sexuality.
Judge Sullivan later apologized for his outrage. He put it above the need of the government to send a quick message to Trump that they will not be stopped. After the judge walked his comments back, he could have had a meeting in chambers with council and walked back the continuance as well, ratifying the deal and ending this part of the drama.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez loses nothing by being the standard bearer of the Democratic Socialists in seeking a position in the leadership. Without our boldness, the election might have been very different. The youth brought in by Bernie Sanders have awakened. We deserve a place at the table, and not for demographic reasons.
The cause of Jakelin's death is known, but whether official malfeasance was part of it is unknown. She has become a cause celeb, as have the unborn. The truth in both issues is a bit more complicated. This is another instance where the Bishops are again bowing to the impulse to read, fire and aim, rather than acting judiciously. This shows how fall prey to group dynamics rather than waiting for the Lord.
Shapiro is best ignored before he gains prominence For him, any press is good press if you spell his name right. Spend more time promoting truth rather than giving attention to silliness.
I am not sure how the governor or the financial authority can prevent a mud slide in Puerto Rico or on California. The best they can do is evacuate ahead of time so that we don't make more graves. Finding graves is secondary.
Let me add the emergence of democratic socialists in the U.S. midterms to the list. The youth vote has awoken and it will be the yeast that turns the world from isolated acts of resistance to transformation.
Never Trumpers were the rare example of reactionary right-wingers against the radicalization of the conservative movement. No one could have predicted the success of Trump or his idiocy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixgc_FGam3s
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
In times like the trials of Cardinal Pell, media needs to check itself
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/times-trials-cardinal-pell-media-needs-check-itself
The Pell Affair is mostly a local issue. I am not sure why it needs to be addressed in the American press to the extent it has been (except that it involves sex and power - the media cares nothing for the Australian victims or the Australian Church). American media comes in blurbs. Any real coverage is on the BBC, unless they are respecting the gag order. As for the implications on the C9, the Church as a hierarchy expects rising through the ranks to be adequate vetting. It turns out that it is not. This also shows the need for married priests and bishops of all sexual orientations (although the asexuals won't marry - but they should be outed and kept away from the children). I could care less about how the right-wing commentariat views this issue. They are best ignored in their stupidity and cupidity.
The Pell Affair is mostly a local issue. I am not sure why it needs to be addressed in the American press to the extent it has been (except that it involves sex and power - the media cares nothing for the Australian victims or the Australian Church). American media comes in blurbs. Any real coverage is on the BBC, unless they are respecting the gag order. As for the implications on the C9, the Church as a hierarchy expects rising through the ranks to be adequate vetting. It turns out that it is not. This also shows the need for married priests and bishops of all sexual orientations (although the asexuals won't marry - but they should be outed and kept away from the children). I could care less about how the right-wing commentariat views this issue. They are best ignored in their stupidity and cupidity.
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Links for 12/18/18
Today's Links from MSW MGB:
We do not know the justice of God either way, although I would rather be on the deceased boy than on the priest on certainly of Heaven. Of course, I also favor compassionate endings for those sure to suffer with no hope of recovery (although that is a moving target with gene therapy - which can thank fetal stem cell research for getting us to adult cell therapy).
People hate America because of Trump. They also hate capitalism, although most nations use its fruits with their eyes shut to its horrid mechanisms in China and elsewhere. The CCP needs to change the second C from Communist to Capitalist.
Oddly, the tax on church workers lays the groundwork for a later Net Business Receipts Tax on employee salaries, although parking would probably still be exempt - the parking structure would pay more tax and this would impact the price, which would lead to higher salaries (as making the tax indirect would lower gross pay, but not the net). The GOP base does not care as long as they can still demonize brown people. Repealing the Johnson Amendment would be a good corrective if anyone really notices. Better that Priests and Bishops give their biennial abortion letters and after Communion talks by actually endorsing the Republican so that we know where they stand and can ignore them appropriately (57% do anyway unless someone like Clinton tries to justify partial birth abortion rather than citing its illegality and her opponent's stupidity).
Neoconservatism is all about support of Israel. Magazines dying is about the Internet as a substitute. The Standard is likely losing out because more and more Americans see Israeli treatment of Palestinians as extremist. Ignoring genocide in Gaza in response to them shooting off bottle rockets in Israel is not a proportionate response. Neither is a Soviet style wall prior to boundary negotiations.
Mulvaney is good capitalist. He and Trump are made for eachother. Sadly, he will likely land on his feet rather than in jail after Trump is ousted, probably in the near term. The more they delay the more likely Pence will be removed with Trump while Biden, Clinton or Pelosi serve out Trump's term, with Nancy as king or queen maker.
Pope Emeritus Benedict was correct in letting evangelization grow, however we can do some weeding before we plant. While the effect of the abuse of minors must be rooted out, so must be the Medieval organizational structure and the unacknowledged asexuality of half the clergy - the half more likely to abuse and to spout nonsense as sexual doctrine for the rest of us. They need to be outed, first to themselves, starting from Francis on down. An entirely gay clergy would be better.
Monday, December 17, 2018
Puppet media claims Christian identity; it's wrong
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/puppet-media-claims-christian-identity-its-wrong
Fox News was created by Roger Ailes because no one in the main media took Nixon's side. It was meant to be GOP TV. They have succeeded in their quest and have dumbed down the GOP with propaganda rather than news. The sad part of this situation is that the current President believes the propaganda more than his "deep state" government staff. He needs to. He is an amoral businessman in a moral job that he was unprepared for. It is a sad thing that someone who should be setting the moral agenda let's a partisan news organization to tell him how to think.
As for Arroyo, he is simply part of the pro-life movement's hand in glove relationship with the Republican Party. He is a manifestation of that relationship. Sadly, the bishops are the source of this corruption and hold enough sway over Catholic voters to provide the GOP with winning margins while doing nothing for the unborn when in power. Arroyo is the symptom, not the disease.
Fox News was created by Roger Ailes because no one in the main media took Nixon's side. It was meant to be GOP TV. They have succeeded in their quest and have dumbed down the GOP with propaganda rather than news. The sad part of this situation is that the current President believes the propaganda more than his "deep state" government staff. He needs to. He is an amoral businessman in a moral job that he was unprepared for. It is a sad thing that someone who should be setting the moral agenda let's a partisan news organization to tell him how to think.
As for Arroyo, he is simply part of the pro-life movement's hand in glove relationship with the Republican Party. He is a manifestation of that relationship. Sadly, the bishops are the source of this corruption and hold enough sway over Catholic voters to provide the GOP with winning margins while doing nothing for the unborn when in power. Arroyo is the symptom, not the disease.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Black Friday and bodybuilders: Bishop Barron's crass tactics mimic the culture
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/black-friday-and-bodybuilders-bishop-barrons-crass-tactics-mimic
St. Paul told us to be all things to all (men). That he reaches beyond traditional boundaries is probably a good thing. I expect he is selling the Church as Jesus ate with sinners and cured anyone, not just fellow Jews. Barron is confident that once he gets people in the door others like him will catechize them.
Asking for money from social media is akin to sending the 72 out without money or the Jesuit practice of sending candidates for the priesthood out on a bus and with nothing with the instruction to get back on their own. It is like field survival training in ranger school without the need to kill small animals.
I am sure that Barron has hired outside help for his fundraising. He uses it because it works. My inbox gets requests for support year round, including from Catholic organizations like America.
The use of body builders is troubling, as the message that one must be beautiful is the path to self loathing. One can argue that the practice of frequent Confession does the same thing. It is faux holiness and self absorption.
Worrying about going to Hell is the heart of conservatism. It is also why we have celibacy, which is the same kind of faux holiness. It is also why abuse by priests gets more attention than incest.
People like Barron because they want both answers and certainty. They want the bottom line, not the questions or the open ended challenge that faith and Francis demands of us.
I am not a fan but I know people who are. Not all of them are conservatives.
Like most clergy he does not think outside the box. In America he compared gay marriage to marrying a relative so one could get the benefits of marriage. Of course, this ignores the sexual component of marriage. Not surprising for a celibate who is likely asexual. He also ignores the fact that family members already have kinship while marriage is created kinship and separation from the natal family.
It is that kind of rule based spirituality that is dangerous to the soul, which is my concern with Barron and those like him.
St. Paul told us to be all things to all (men). That he reaches beyond traditional boundaries is probably a good thing. I expect he is selling the Church as Jesus ate with sinners and cured anyone, not just fellow Jews. Barron is confident that once he gets people in the door others like him will catechize them.
Asking for money from social media is akin to sending the 72 out without money or the Jesuit practice of sending candidates for the priesthood out on a bus and with nothing with the instruction to get back on their own. It is like field survival training in ranger school without the need to kill small animals.
I am sure that Barron has hired outside help for his fundraising. He uses it because it works. My inbox gets requests for support year round, including from Catholic organizations like America.
The use of body builders is troubling, as the message that one must be beautiful is the path to self loathing. One can argue that the practice of frequent Confession does the same thing. It is faux holiness and self absorption.
Worrying about going to Hell is the heart of conservatism. It is also why we have celibacy, which is the same kind of faux holiness. It is also why abuse by priests gets more attention than incest.
People like Barron because they want both answers and certainty. They want the bottom line, not the questions or the open ended challenge that faith and Francis demands of us.
I am not a fan but I know people who are. Not all of them are conservatives.
Like most clergy he does not think outside the box. In America he compared gay marriage to marrying a relative so one could get the benefits of marriage. Of course, this ignores the sexual component of marriage. Not surprising for a celibate who is likely asexual. He also ignores the fact that family members already have kinship while marriage is created kinship and separation from the natal family.
It is that kind of rule based spirituality that is dangerous to the soul, which is my concern with Barron and those like him.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Links for 12/13/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-121318
The bottomless Pinocchio is for Harry Mudd, Cardinal Burke and Trump. Anyone who believes their own propaganda.
The Puerto Rican Authority was flawed from the start
The President should have picked all members st the recommendation of the Delegate and the Governor. It does not help that the Governor is an idiot.
Racism and classism are part of the reactionary tool kit. To them it is a feature, not a flaw.
Both Santa and the fence show how conservatives, especially those who came of age in the fifties, want their world tied up with a bow. They can't help themselves.
Liberalism is all things to all people, although at heart it is humanism that animates liberalism. It is a polite form of radicalism, which has existed as long as hominids left the trees, if not earlier. It is fegianve of authority. Indeed, without radicals there would be no need for reactionary authority or tradition as its champion.
As for Commonweal, it takes deep dives into issues, like Rachel Maddow does. The Church needs that.
The Curry story is important because it shows that talented athletes get inferior education if they play well.
The world's poor by the shore need inland shelter and the means to evacuate worldwide. Those who serve the rich will follow them inland. To get the rich to move or to advocate for doing something about warming simply end flood insurance for beach properties. Of course the real issue for the working class is that the rich have the money to stop this from happening until it is too late.
The great thing about the video is that Jesus is wearing Franciscan robes under his white garment.
The Puerto Rican Authority was flawed from the start
The President should have picked all members st the recommendation of the Delegate and the Governor. It does not help that the Governor is an idiot.
Racism and classism are part of the reactionary tool kit. To them it is a feature, not a flaw.
Both Santa and the fence show how conservatives, especially those who came of age in the fifties, want their world tied up with a bow. They can't help themselves.
Liberalism is all things to all people, although at heart it is humanism that animates liberalism. It is a polite form of radicalism, which has existed as long as hominids left the trees, if not earlier. It is fegianve of authority. Indeed, without radicals there would be no need for reactionary authority or tradition as its champion.
As for Commonweal, it takes deep dives into issues, like Rachel Maddow does. The Church needs that.
The Curry story is important because it shows that talented athletes get inferior education if they play well.
The world's poor by the shore need inland shelter and the means to evacuate worldwide. Those who serve the rich will follow them inland. To get the rich to move or to advocate for doing something about warming simply end flood insurance for beach properties. Of course the real issue for the working class is that the rich have the money to stop this from happening until it is too late.
The great thing about the video is that Jesus is wearing Franciscan robes under his white garment.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Backlash is not welcome; let comedians push, be funny
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/backlash-not-welcome-let-comedians-push-be-funny
Note to MSW. Puritanism is not about sex. They had plenty of that. It was about a purer faith in reaction to increasing Romanism in the Church of England. As a Plymouth descendant, I take umbrage at the misuse of the term in a derogatory manner. It is no more appropriate than using INNA (Irish Need Not Apply), or at least by someone non-Irish. Getting your Irish up is a similar phrase. Humor is tribal and for some jokes non-members need to watch themselves, especially if the tribe undergoes persecution or is still sensitive to it. By the same token, only married people can tell jokes about marriage and they must do so with no hint of misogyny.
On the Oscars, I would love to see Kevin Hart and Neil Patrick Harris co-host. It would be a clever way to deal with this.
Above all, humor cannot be spiteful. Donald Trump's humor is mean. This has signaled the MAGAts that they can follow suit. This has coarsened society.
Poking fun at the powerful is still OK. Indeed, it is necessary to shame them, especially if they abuse their power. Kenny Bruce was known for his jokes about the Catholic Church at a time that it was acting as moral gatekeeper for the larger society. I suspect many bishops pine for that age, but it was abusive to outsiders and itself. Indeed, the term puritanical is often used in reference not to the seventeenth century but in association with the post-war Catholics.
Note to MSW. Puritanism is not about sex. They had plenty of that. It was about a purer faith in reaction to increasing Romanism in the Church of England. As a Plymouth descendant, I take umbrage at the misuse of the term in a derogatory manner. It is no more appropriate than using INNA (Irish Need Not Apply), or at least by someone non-Irish. Getting your Irish up is a similar phrase. Humor is tribal and for some jokes non-members need to watch themselves, especially if the tribe undergoes persecution or is still sensitive to it. By the same token, only married people can tell jokes about marriage and they must do so with no hint of misogyny.
On the Oscars, I would love to see Kevin Hart and Neil Patrick Harris co-host. It would be a clever way to deal with this.
Above all, humor cannot be spiteful. Donald Trump's humor is mean. This has signaled the MAGAts that they can follow suit. This has coarsened society.
Poking fun at the powerful is still OK. Indeed, it is necessary to shame them, especially if they abuse their power. Kenny Bruce was known for his jokes about the Catholic Church at a time that it was acting as moral gatekeeper for the larger society. I suspect many bishops pine for that age, but it was abusive to outsiders and itself. Indeed, the term puritanical is often used in reference not to the seventeenth century but in association with the post-war Catholics.
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Links for 12/11/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/politics/distinctly-catholic/links-121118
Providence needs to sell a piece of itself to the District.
The left wing is simply flexing its muscles to let everyone know that the Sanders wing is not going away. Once the GOP implodes and a Wall Street coalition forms this wing will become a new majority party.
Ditto for some of the gay community. Once the Second Circuit case says that gay rights are already covered under protection based on sex in the civil rights act, this muscle will be used to demand real enforcement.
Fox News is exhausted and going after Soros is part of its death rattles.
Patrick is showing his ability to be Vice President, although Booker or Harris may be better choices sometime next month for either Pelosi or Clinton (unless Harris is at the top of the ticket in 2020).
Let us hope that when the caravan arrives they are greeted by a new president.
The prosperity gospel is another form of cheap grace which puts profession over reads. We have a few bishops like that. Quite a few.
I suspect that Francis has a few big ideas that will make this meeting more interesting than expected. Structural changes long needed. Trads will hate them.
Providence needs to sell a piece of itself to the District.
The left wing is simply flexing its muscles to let everyone know that the Sanders wing is not going away. Once the GOP implodes and a Wall Street coalition forms this wing will become a new majority party.
Ditto for some of the gay community. Once the Second Circuit case says that gay rights are already covered under protection based on sex in the civil rights act, this muscle will be used to demand real enforcement.
Fox News is exhausted and going after Soros is part of its death rattles.
Patrick is showing his ability to be Vice President, although Booker or Harris may be better choices sometime next month for either Pelosi or Clinton (unless Harris is at the top of the ticket in 2020).
Let us hope that when the caravan arrives they are greeted by a new president.
The prosperity gospel is another form of cheap grace which puts profession over reads. We have a few bishops like that. Quite a few.
I suspect that Francis has a few big ideas that will make this meeting more interesting than expected. Structural changes long needed. Trads will hate them.
Monday, December 10, 2018
Is our democracy more fragile than we were taught?
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/our-democracy-more-fragile-we-were-taught
As long as we have elections controlled at the local level by non-partisan volunteers and ballot counting is honest with an independent judiciary, our democracy is safe. This keeps the republic intact. Partisanship is a feature of single member districts and proportional representation at the national level would give us more gridlock, not less.
Republican hyperpartisanship will be punished by the voters, which brings progressive change followed by conservative reaction. That interplay keeps us both safe and free, preventing violent uprisings a d one party rule.
The GOP knows it has a Trump problem and will lose too many senators to have any say if they wait for 2020. They need the Mueller report ASAP so that if Pence is implicated too they ha e cover to get rid of them both and make Ryan President before the new Congress convenes. They will still hurt in 2020 but may survive. The alternative is Pelosi as queenmaker for Hillary. That may or may not hurt them in 2020, but they are not smart enough to take the hit now. They will do what is best for them, which eventually satisfies the voters. Democracy is safe.
As long as we have elections controlled at the local level by non-partisan volunteers and ballot counting is honest with an independent judiciary, our democracy is safe. This keeps the republic intact. Partisanship is a feature of single member districts and proportional representation at the national level would give us more gridlock, not less.
Republican hyperpartisanship will be punished by the voters, which brings progressive change followed by conservative reaction. That interplay keeps us both safe and free, preventing violent uprisings a d one party rule.
The GOP knows it has a Trump problem and will lose too many senators to have any say if they wait for 2020. They need the Mueller report ASAP so that if Pence is implicated too they ha e cover to get rid of them both and make Ryan President before the new Congress convenes. They will still hurt in 2020 but may survive. The alternative is Pelosi as queenmaker for Hillary. That may or may not hurt them in 2020, but they are not smart enough to take the hit now. They will do what is best for them, which eventually satisfies the voters. Democracy is safe.
Friday, December 7, 2018
Bush funeral blended symbols of church and state, seemed non-communal
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/bush-funeral-blended-symbols-church-and-state-seemed-non-communal
Neither Anglican funerals or weddings have Eucharist, nor do Catholic mixed marriages. As do their Eucharist, it is not that different than the Mass and has the same effect. Their senior bishop even carries a cross rather than a crook, like any other Catholic patriarch. The only thing I find off putting is the music, but I can say the same thing about many Masses.
As for the National Cathedral, I prefer it to the Bassilaca of the Immaculate Conception. The Jesus fresco behind the altar is too buff for my taste.
The Cathedral is high church so maybe they did not do it because it was a state occasion. Also their practice of open communion would have put the cardinal and the othodox patriarch in a touchy position as they would have been asked to concelebrate. Since at least one EP has said that the anglicans are a Church and not a western sect it could have been an incident.
Neither Anglican funerals or weddings have Eucharist, nor do Catholic mixed marriages. As do their Eucharist, it is not that different than the Mass and has the same effect. Their senior bishop even carries a cross rather than a crook, like any other Catholic patriarch. The only thing I find off putting is the music, but I can say the same thing about many Masses.
As for the National Cathedral, I prefer it to the Bassilaca of the Immaculate Conception. The Jesus fresco behind the altar is too buff for my taste.
The Cathedral is high church so maybe they did not do it because it was a state occasion. Also their practice of open communion would have put the cardinal and the othodox patriarch in a touchy position as they would have been asked to concelebrate. Since at least one EP has said that the anglicans are a Church and not a western sect it could have been an incident.
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Links for 12/6/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-12618
Income inequality is about the distribution of nice stuff, but it is much more about the distribution of power, which is why the Catholic notion is called distributism, although this concept ignores the economies of scale that larger employee-owned organizations can provide. Currently, no one is doing it right - but this can change in almost an instant. I have a book that literally is a step by step guide to doing so, but it is for client consumption only and it does not come cheap. Thus is the dilemma of fighting capitalism, you must have resources to do it.
Mulvaney is the Trumpster's Trumpster. He is only a bit more obnoxious than Clintonians like Larry Summers. Again, the problem is capitalism, not party. The Neo-Libs are only an improvement because they try to avoid capitalism destroying itself. I am not sure which is better, saving it or letting it spin out of control. This is why the left considers both options bad. Of course, collapse usually becomes an excuse for authoritarianism, so capitalism must be defeated from within, starting with unionized and employee-owned businesses. See above.
Being Latino is not monolithic. Cubans love their Republicans, especially Trump. In Florida, the GOP is more crooked than most and the state has a nasty racist streak. Running an African American candidate gets the black vote out, but is a big ask for those on the borderline. A black Panamanian might have won or might have alienated everyone. It's not the Democrats, it's Florida.
Preventing such bosses from making such demands is why we have non-discrimination laws. To ignore these laws, just have Republicans be the enforcers, or neo-liberal Democrats. This is an area where the Church's moral voice on Life is strongest. Some judges require poor women to get birth control implants as well. That is also repugnant, as is a parish priest telling an employee with lots of kids to use Natural Family Planning because he can't pay a higher wage (or a bishop for that matter).
It takes a while for a movement to begin to govern sensibly. Democratic Socialism is not used to holding power in the country. Naivete only wears off with experience - in which case the radicals think you have lost your edge.
Saint Ambrose is the father of the substitutional theory of salvation that must devolve into God being an Ogre to be bought off with blood sacrifice. This gave rise to indulgences, the belief that one must continue a pregnancy or avoid contraception if having a child would kill the mother or that one must avoid suicide if life was surely to be horrible. The philosophy of Abrose makes atheism possible.
Trump will not be President for long and the rumor mill is saying Pence is also at risk. The question is whether Ryan is put in before January or who Nancy Pelosi wants to be President. I am thinking Hillary, since she would not put in Sanders and does not seem to want the job, however last I saw her and addressed her as Madam Future President, she (Nancy) laughed. Anyone who could not see this coming has a deficit of imagination or is simply a rookie.
The neo-liberal Council on Foreign Relations, which publishes Foreign Affairs, is wrong on several points. Client change will collapse certain industries, but many will adapt or die (let us hope coal ala the Kochs are on the die list). Cars will adapt and beach front property will move inland, displacing the poor whom are employed by the rich beach goers. Deficit spending on both remediation and alternative sources (fusion is big science and big science can be done quickly if you throw enough money at it). Indeed, big deficits take money away from the capitalists who, when they have too much money, drive up asset prices without providing for a larger economy.
Income inequality is about the distribution of nice stuff, but it is much more about the distribution of power, which is why the Catholic notion is called distributism, although this concept ignores the economies of scale that larger employee-owned organizations can provide. Currently, no one is doing it right - but this can change in almost an instant. I have a book that literally is a step by step guide to doing so, but it is for client consumption only and it does not come cheap. Thus is the dilemma of fighting capitalism, you must have resources to do it.
Mulvaney is the Trumpster's Trumpster. He is only a bit more obnoxious than Clintonians like Larry Summers. Again, the problem is capitalism, not party. The Neo-Libs are only an improvement because they try to avoid capitalism destroying itself. I am not sure which is better, saving it or letting it spin out of control. This is why the left considers both options bad. Of course, collapse usually becomes an excuse for authoritarianism, so capitalism must be defeated from within, starting with unionized and employee-owned businesses. See above.
Being Latino is not monolithic. Cubans love their Republicans, especially Trump. In Florida, the GOP is more crooked than most and the state has a nasty racist streak. Running an African American candidate gets the black vote out, but is a big ask for those on the borderline. A black Panamanian might have won or might have alienated everyone. It's not the Democrats, it's Florida.
Preventing such bosses from making such demands is why we have non-discrimination laws. To ignore these laws, just have Republicans be the enforcers, or neo-liberal Democrats. This is an area where the Church's moral voice on Life is strongest. Some judges require poor women to get birth control implants as well. That is also repugnant, as is a parish priest telling an employee with lots of kids to use Natural Family Planning because he can't pay a higher wage (or a bishop for that matter).
It takes a while for a movement to begin to govern sensibly. Democratic Socialism is not used to holding power in the country. Naivete only wears off with experience - in which case the radicals think you have lost your edge.
Saint Ambrose is the father of the substitutional theory of salvation that must devolve into God being an Ogre to be bought off with blood sacrifice. This gave rise to indulgences, the belief that one must continue a pregnancy or avoid contraception if having a child would kill the mother or that one must avoid suicide if life was surely to be horrible. The philosophy of Abrose makes atheism possible.
Trump will not be President for long and the rumor mill is saying Pence is also at risk. The question is whether Ryan is put in before January or who Nancy Pelosi wants to be President. I am thinking Hillary, since she would not put in Sanders and does not seem to want the job, however last I saw her and addressed her as Madam Future President, she (Nancy) laughed. Anyone who could not see this coming has a deficit of imagination or is simply a rookie.
The neo-liberal Council on Foreign Relations, which publishes Foreign Affairs, is wrong on several points. Client change will collapse certain industries, but many will adapt or die (let us hope coal ala the Kochs are on the die list). Cars will adapt and beach front property will move inland, displacing the poor whom are employed by the rich beach goers. Deficit spending on both remediation and alternative sources (fusion is big science and big science can be done quickly if you throw enough money at it). Indeed, big deficits take money away from the capitalists who, when they have too much money, drive up asset prices without providing for a larger economy.
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Et tu, Michael Sean?
Excuse me, but what about Willie Horton? by MSW.
MGB: While for historical figures, you may eventually speak ill of the dead, but it is uncouth to do so before their funerals and even before they are in the ground. Yes, George H.W. Bush went along with his campaign staff (likely including George W. Bush and Lee Atwater - who later regretted his race baiting as he lay dying). Did it besmirch his character, may. Was it a sign of endemic racism? Probably just a tone deafness to how it would sound which is more endemic to his generation and those following (see MAGA) that is hopefully on the way out.
I would put it down to putting loyalty over moral courage. As a loyal Republican, he did make compromises because that is the nature of electoral politics. Some make the choice to go dirty, some do not,. It goes to who you surround yourself with and why. There has never been a time when everyone would play nice,. Indeed, most of America has a history of nasty political discourse. That Willie Horton and MAGA are seen as aberrations rather than the norm are a good side that the game is improving. It is also usually the reactionary side that goes negative because liberal and radical politics put their power and wealth at risk. They are also more likely to lie.
Blaming Bush's reversal of his "no new taxes" pledge was not the cause of his defeat in 1992. It was the perception that he could not relate or was not relateable. The fact that he had to state that he cared was evidence that this was a major problem, especially when running against the future Emoter in Chief, Bill Clinton. Indeed, Clinton's record was no model of political courage either. He went along with Gingrich in ending welfare as we know it and in supporting "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" which President Obama finally junked.
The prosperity that Clinton enjoyed started with Bush. The economic troubles on Bush's watch had more to do with the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget cuts than anything else. His tax policy was the start of the recovery, although Clinton's further increases fueled it. It is always good to raise taxes on the very wealthy because it takes money away from asset inflation (stocks, oil futures, speculation on bad mortgages, Bitcoin) and puts it into both governmental and family spending. This is why Bush called Reagan's policies Voodoo economics. He was right, but as a loyal soldier he backed his running mate, although his running mate was wrong. Blaming Bush for raising taxes is both bad economics and revisionist history to promote bad economic ideas. In the end, courage overcame partisanship. History will be kinder and gentler to President Bush than even his own party was.
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Links for 12/4/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-12418
What Graham is saying is that the pander must be maintained at all costs. Williamson is banking on an alternative pander. What is sauce for the goose...
Trump partisans are useful idiots for capitalists, as are the neoliberals at the DLC.
Ryan may have one last hurrah if Mueller releases his report next week and it forces both Trump and Pence to resign before the next Congress meets.
The way to change philanthropy is to occupy capitalism and enable charitable contributions as an offset to a subtraction VAT.
Gay priests should not have to have a double life. Married lesbians et al should be eligible for ordination. Reform has taken long enough.
Bigness does not always indicate badness. Amazon is better than Wal-Mart which is better than Starbucks.. Facts are funny things. Polling does not measure truth, only perception.
What Graham is saying is that the pander must be maintained at all costs. Williamson is banking on an alternative pander. What is sauce for the goose...
Trump partisans are useful idiots for capitalists, as are the neoliberals at the DLC.
Ryan may have one last hurrah if Mueller releases his report next week and it forces both Trump and Pence to resign before the next Congress meets.
The way to change philanthropy is to occupy capitalism and enable charitable contributions as an offset to a subtraction VAT.
Gay priests should not have to have a double life. Married lesbians et al should be eligible for ordination. Reform has taken long enough.
Bigness does not always indicate badness. Amazon is better than Wal-Mart which is better than Starbucks.. Facts are funny things. Polling does not measure truth, only perception.
Monday, December 3, 2018
This Advent, remember the second coming
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/advent-remember-second-coming
I wrote about this topic yesterday at http://xianleft.blogspot.com/2018/12/first-sunday-of-advent-2018.html I dealt with how Advent is an evironmental Holiday. The human heart responds to the season, at least for those with mental illness and alcoholism/addiction. While many get the holiday blues, most do not. Those who do are often the ones with other issues. This is why there are more sobriety events this time of year. It is a preventative to suicide. Many of these are spiritual and not religious. That they are not religious is not on them, but on the Church of their upbringing who offered a punishing God who required that you confess your sins or burn in Hell. Most people in recovery do discuss their faults with a sponsor, although some include their priest or minister in the loop.
I take a slightly different approach to what is essential to the season. It is not so much using the season for dealing with personal sin but for doing works of justice and charity. This might stars with taking the bus even though it is cold to experience what it is like to be homeless this part of the year. We do agree that the season is about Jesus coming right now. The question is, where do we find him. To elaborate on yesterday's post, do we find him in Church or in solidarity with the poor this season.
I wrote about this topic yesterday at http://xianleft.blogspot.com/2018/12/first-sunday-of-advent-2018.html I dealt with how Advent is an evironmental Holiday. The human heart responds to the season, at least for those with mental illness and alcoholism/addiction. While many get the holiday blues, most do not. Those who do are often the ones with other issues. This is why there are more sobriety events this time of year. It is a preventative to suicide. Many of these are spiritual and not religious. That they are not religious is not on them, but on the Church of their upbringing who offered a punishing God who required that you confess your sins or burn in Hell. Most people in recovery do discuss their faults with a sponsor, although some include their priest or minister in the loop.
I take a slightly different approach to what is essential to the season. It is not so much using the season for dealing with personal sin but for doing works of justice and charity. This might stars with taking the bus even though it is cold to experience what it is like to be homeless this part of the year. We do agree that the season is about Jesus coming right now. The question is, where do we find him. To elaborate on yesterday's post, do we find him in Church or in solidarity with the poor this season.
Friday, November 30, 2018
History comes up short in the face of this president's caprice
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/history-comes-short-face-presidents-caprice MGB:
To accept responsibility allows one to take action. Trump is a coward who knows any action he takes will likely be wrong, but is afraid to make decisions from his better informed advisers. He is no moral leader. CEOs are trained to take personal advantage, which makes them amoral (although they do resign if they break the 11th Commandment - Don't Get Caught). That is exactly the opposite of what a President needs to be.
British PMs can quit easily. Their party will simply replace them and the Queen affirm them (even if in her heart she knows better). President's resigning will give a like-minded VP the office, but will due long term harm to his party. Groups never take responsibility, whether the Tories or the Republicans (or their opponents). That is why the leader is the scapegoat, although in this case the leader is the whole problem and the GOP is the scapegoat. He has no love for his party.
Donald Trump is probably considering exit strategies. Not to think so is a failure of imagination. He might stay in Argentina, since they do not extradite. He just needs to resign when the Secret Service is not there. If his children are with him, it is even more a possibility. If were sure that Mueller will not touch Pence, or that the Senate would not remove the VP, he may wait until January 20 at noon to allow Pence to run for a second term (as if the could even get a first term - even without pardoning Trump, he has no chance of election in his own right). If Pence can't dodge his responsibility for lying to the American people and covering for Flynn, et al, then Pelosi or Clinton become POTUS after January 4th. Ryan would become POTUS up until that point. That would really be an accidental presidency.
To accept responsibility allows one to take action. Trump is a coward who knows any action he takes will likely be wrong, but is afraid to make decisions from his better informed advisers. He is no moral leader. CEOs are trained to take personal advantage, which makes them amoral (although they do resign if they break the 11th Commandment - Don't Get Caught). That is exactly the opposite of what a President needs to be.
British PMs can quit easily. Their party will simply replace them and the Queen affirm them (even if in her heart she knows better). President's resigning will give a like-minded VP the office, but will due long term harm to his party. Groups never take responsibility, whether the Tories or the Republicans (or their opponents). That is why the leader is the scapegoat, although in this case the leader is the whole problem and the GOP is the scapegoat. He has no love for his party.
Donald Trump is probably considering exit strategies. Not to think so is a failure of imagination. He might stay in Argentina, since they do not extradite. He just needs to resign when the Secret Service is not there. If his children are with him, it is even more a possibility. If were sure that Mueller will not touch Pence, or that the Senate would not remove the VP, he may wait until January 20 at noon to allow Pence to run for a second term (as if the could even get a first term - even without pardoning Trump, he has no chance of election in his own right). If Pence can't dodge his responsibility for lying to the American people and covering for Flynn, et al, then Pelosi or Clinton become POTUS after January 4th. Ryan would become POTUS up until that point. That would really be an accidental presidency.
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Ascension Health commits structural sins of income inequality, capitalist excess
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/ascension-health-commits-structural-sins-income-inequality MGB:
The Lord said that evil done in the dark will not survive the light. Surely this applies to this story. Kudos to MSW for highlighting this issue. Publishing these salaries to a larger audience may well shame Ascension Health's Board of Directors to cut executive salaries. Missouri is unlikely to do anything because it wants businesses to locate there. Until the Sisters who allow them to maintain their non-profit status, Catholic Health, or the USCCB demands a reduction, nothing will happen. The capitalist labor market for CEOs will never do so.
The root problem is not Ascension, it is Capitalism, not as free market but as the despotic rule of executives over workers, their ability to control prices and to give themselves high wages with only boards filled with their suggested membership to stop them. The answer is employee ownership, with executives bidding for positions in open auction (leading to lower compensation)/ Al wages would be paid at living wage rates with additional compensation for families, likely with government support through tax policy. The free market for wages won't do this, although cooperatively owned systems where consumption is internalized can do so without such assistance.
The Lord said that evil done in the dark will not survive the light. Surely this applies to this story. Kudos to MSW for highlighting this issue. Publishing these salaries to a larger audience may well shame Ascension Health's Board of Directors to cut executive salaries. Missouri is unlikely to do anything because it wants businesses to locate there. Until the Sisters who allow them to maintain their non-profit status, Catholic Health, or the USCCB demands a reduction, nothing will happen. The capitalist labor market for CEOs will never do so.
The root problem is not Ascension, it is Capitalism, not as free market but as the despotic rule of executives over workers, their ability to control prices and to give themselves high wages with only boards filled with their suggested membership to stop them. The answer is employee ownership, with executives bidding for positions in open auction (leading to lower compensation)/ Al wages would be paid at living wage rates with additional compensation for families, likely with government support through tax policy. The free market for wages won't do this, although cooperatively owned systems where consumption is internalized can do so without such assistance.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Links for 11/28/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-112818 MGB:
Until the Mueller Report is revealed, the future of Donald Trump is in doubt. The question is whether Pence is implicated or if the Senate allows Trump to be removed but lets Pence ascend as part of the deal. Impeachment is a political question, not a question of justice. Of course, if Pence is implicated then it is best for the GOP if he and Trump to resign and make Ryan President before Pelosi takes the Speakership. Neither Pence nor Ryan can win against any Democratic contender, provided that contender attacks the Pro-Life movement as a Republican fraud rather than defending abortion.
Christ the King is no longer counter-nationalistic in the same way that the Prayer for Peace in order to end World War I (it did not unless the US was the answer to their prayer) rather than having anything to do with St. Francis. Bosnia is not about nationalism anyway. It is about religious differences being inflamed by reactionary voices, although that is close enough to be nationalism not to matter.
Big money in politics helped the Democrats gain the House, while the lack thereof doomed the Republicans. The problem is not campaign finance or Democratic hypocrisy, it is Capitalism. Until Capitalism is occupied by workers demanding both democracy and economic security at all levels,which will start in employee owned firms, campaign finance will not change.
If memory serves from my ex-wife-s time in Catholic Charities USA, most of the social justice organizing at the parish and charitable levels are bi-national. It makes sense that the reactionaries will attack them in both countries.
The judicial and legal cultures in the United States is moderate conservative, including the Republican and Democratic appointees from the Supreme Court to the Districts. This is why Republican appointed judges ruled in favor of gay marriage and against efforts to outlaw abortion. They all stand on precedent and the Constitution. Only aberrations like Roy Moore depart from this culture. The problem is that because the law is capitalistic, so are judicial rulings regulating it. The one place where there is still partisan is over voting rights and affirmative action, although this is mostly a problem of bad legislation.
Voting Rights law was allowed to slide in mock consensus. It is past time to renew the prior clearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Any state that practiced voter suppression, which should include both Pennsylvania and North Dakota, must be included in that group. As for affirmative action, the only realistic solution is random selection of those on the wait list. All Stars should always be admitted or promoted and the unqualified referred to Community College (legacies and the boss' children included). If that were the culture of the workplace, we would never have had Donald Trump as President.
Because Trump, Ryan or Pence are such easy targets in 2020, everyone with an ego and pulse is running on the Democratic side, assuming that the Republican Party even survives its internal divisions and the Democrats hold together rather than splitting into Wall Street and Socialist camps. In that case, the question of where ethnic and female voters will go. I suspect Abortion and Gay Rights will be non-issues in this division. If this happens, an anti-Capitalist may win, especially one who successfully occupies Capitalism (see above).
I will not argue the point that there are many reactionaries in the pews and the donor class who keep the despots in the USCCB in power. The rest of us, however, have both the Holy Spirit and Francis on our sides. The Church will renew as it always has, this time rejecting Medievalism and going toward more democratic norms of governance. We will occupy the Church as well. This will forever silence reactionary voters on both homosexuality and legal abortion, though resistance to abortion using economic means will cleanse the Pro-Life movement in the Church.
Until the Mueller Report is revealed, the future of Donald Trump is in doubt. The question is whether Pence is implicated or if the Senate allows Trump to be removed but lets Pence ascend as part of the deal. Impeachment is a political question, not a question of justice. Of course, if Pence is implicated then it is best for the GOP if he and Trump to resign and make Ryan President before Pelosi takes the Speakership. Neither Pence nor Ryan can win against any Democratic contender, provided that contender attacks the Pro-Life movement as a Republican fraud rather than defending abortion.
Christ the King is no longer counter-nationalistic in the same way that the Prayer for Peace in order to end World War I (it did not unless the US was the answer to their prayer) rather than having anything to do with St. Francis. Bosnia is not about nationalism anyway. It is about religious differences being inflamed by reactionary voices, although that is close enough to be nationalism not to matter.
Big money in politics helped the Democrats gain the House, while the lack thereof doomed the Republicans. The problem is not campaign finance or Democratic hypocrisy, it is Capitalism. Until Capitalism is occupied by workers demanding both democracy and economic security at all levels,which will start in employee owned firms, campaign finance will not change.
If memory serves from my ex-wife-s time in Catholic Charities USA, most of the social justice organizing at the parish and charitable levels are bi-national. It makes sense that the reactionaries will attack them in both countries.
The judicial and legal cultures in the United States is moderate conservative, including the Republican and Democratic appointees from the Supreme Court to the Districts. This is why Republican appointed judges ruled in favor of gay marriage and against efforts to outlaw abortion. They all stand on precedent and the Constitution. Only aberrations like Roy Moore depart from this culture. The problem is that because the law is capitalistic, so are judicial rulings regulating it. The one place where there is still partisan is over voting rights and affirmative action, although this is mostly a problem of bad legislation.
Voting Rights law was allowed to slide in mock consensus. It is past time to renew the prior clearance provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Any state that practiced voter suppression, which should include both Pennsylvania and North Dakota, must be included in that group. As for affirmative action, the only realistic solution is random selection of those on the wait list. All Stars should always be admitted or promoted and the unqualified referred to Community College (legacies and the boss' children included). If that were the culture of the workplace, we would never have had Donald Trump as President.
Because Trump, Ryan or Pence are such easy targets in 2020, everyone with an ego and pulse is running on the Democratic side, assuming that the Republican Party even survives its internal divisions and the Democrats hold together rather than splitting into Wall Street and Socialist camps. In that case, the question of where ethnic and female voters will go. I suspect Abortion and Gay Rights will be non-issues in this division. If this happens, an anti-Capitalist may win, especially one who successfully occupies Capitalism (see above).
I will not argue the point that there are many reactionaries in the pews and the donor class who keep the despots in the USCCB in power. The rest of us, however, have both the Holy Spirit and Francis on our sides. The Church will renew as it always has, this time rejecting Medievalism and going toward more democratic norms of governance. We will occupy the Church as well. This will forever silence reactionary voters on both homosexuality and legal abortion, though resistance to abortion using economic means will cleanse the Pro-Life movement in the Church.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Weigel sustains intellectual whiplash under Francis' pontificate
https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/distinctly-catholic/weigel-sustains-intellectual-whiplash-under-francis MGB:
First of all, anything Weigel says or writes is not news. Second, he is a reactionary looking with nostalgia at the time of St. John Paul (when he got more attention). They also defend the capitalist status quo against all things liberal, especially Pope Francis. He may or may not be neoconservative. Neoconservatives are reformed liberals who now favor a muscular foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly in support of Israel. You can find them in The National Review and Peter Berkowitz of Real Clear Politics. Michael Sean Winters quotes them approvingly and, in fact, is one. Finally, the reason for anti-American rhetoric, both in Rome and elsewhere in the world is Donald J. Trump. I could list all the ways he is a dangerous moron, but by now only his reactionary sycophants would argue the point.
First of all, anything Weigel says or writes is not news. Second, he is a reactionary looking with nostalgia at the time of St. John Paul (when he got more attention). They also defend the capitalist status quo against all things liberal, especially Pope Francis. He may or may not be neoconservative. Neoconservatives are reformed liberals who now favor a muscular foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly in support of Israel. You can find them in The National Review and Peter Berkowitz of Real Clear Politics. Michael Sean Winters quotes them approvingly and, in fact, is one. Finally, the reason for anti-American rhetoric, both in Rome and elsewhere in the world is Donald J. Trump. I could list all the ways he is a dangerous moron, but by now only his reactionary sycophants would argue the point.
Monday, November 26, 2018
Was Rome wrong to block U.S. bishops from voting on sex abuse proposals?
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/was-rome-wrong-block-us-bishops-voting-sex-abuse-proposals MGB:
It is interesting that more than a century ago, Rome was leery of an Americanist heresy, which was not about modern foreign policy but about the fear that our democratic habits would affect how the bishops dealt with the moral issues of the time. The bishops went to great pains to disabuse the Pope of that notion. Perhaps, in light of current events, they were not so wrong. Indeed, the USCCB probably has its roots in answering Rome's suspicions.
As an Argentinian, the Pope likely knows full well about the cultural dominance of America on modern culture, especially the export of both our capitalism and our media - how it evolved from sheltering the Church from criticism to being its chief critic. More importantly, he has to have noticed the fissures in the American episcopate, as they include the strongest dissidents against his papacy and against the government taking real action to help the poor. Caritas meets in Rome and I am sure the Pope is interested and that Catholic Charities USA likely shares how some bishops hinder their response to poverty through their Republicanism. The nuns on the bus likely underline that view, as well as their action to oppose health care reform and their petty response to the sisters who broke with their opposition. The BBC does a very good job of covering the world, especially the United States. It may be more trustworthy than the American corporate media.
The fact that the proposals presented in Baltimore were a compromise with some of the bishops and resulted in what must be characterized as weak tea was not lost on the Holy Father, who was likely informed of these by the Nuncio and some American Cardinals (both Cardinal Sean and Cardinal Blaise, both of whom are close advisors to Pope Francis). That many nations would follow the American example is a justified fear. The cravenness of the worldwide hierarchy is not just an American phenomenon. Rather than let them do an end run around his authority, he is taking control over the conversation.
He is justified in doing so, which is better for the cause of the victims, who thrive on this as an unresolved issue. An action in Rome that ends debate is not good for those who have made continuing victimhood their life's mission. They do not like to be told that forgiveness is the only thing that will solve their continuing attempts to keep themselves in the center of the conversation, especially when they are so good at doing so. At least they have taken abortion off the table.
I suspect that Cardinal Cupich has proposals for change that are much stronger than those he made to his audience in Baltimore. Additionally, this Pope likely believes that cultura. change is not enough to resolve this issue. I expect organizational changes from the coming gathering. I am quite sure that the American conservatives will not like the results coming out of this meeting, nor the Church advocating that Rome not be exempt from the responsibility for its part in the scandal. Francis lives simply. For such a priest, being surrounded by masterpieces that could be sold to compensate victims and make diocese whole would be an abomination. so the Curia will not be happy with the result either. Those who do not expect such things are suffering a failure of imagination. Wake up!
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
'Fake news' is not new, but Catholic media needs to avoid it
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/fake-news-not-new-catholic-media-needs-avoid-it MGB:
Fake News is in the eye of the beholder. Generally, it is any news that challenges cultural biases or politics. Despots believe that only what they say is news and what others say is false or sinful. That applies to many bishops. Egalitarians believe that the establishment is lying to protect itself. Libertarians believe you make up your own mind and that lying is permissible. Hierarchists rely on the party line.
On the other scale, Reactionaries truly believe that we are better off in the past, which is almost always a lie (although some of us yearn for the time of Obama). For the Catholic Press, this means everything since Vatican II, with the exception of their favorite counter-revolutionary, St. John Paul, who was a dissident at the Council. Reactionaries believe that stretching the truth is fine if it helps the cause. So do radicals. Conservatives believe that things are fine now and if they are reactionary, hide it by speaking the language of change (see St. John Paul again). Indeed, discordant information cannot be true, so anything bad in the papacy of JP had to be related to Francis. Moderates are either no one or both the conservative and liberal sides.
Reality has a liberal bias because some change is always required, albeit they draw the line at radicalism. Radicals will shade the truth by demonizing the reactionaries and those who oppose them. Some radicals are more radical than others. True revolutionaries speak out against religion. Others simply avoid it unless it opposes them. It is not mentioned in the far left journal Jacobin, or at least I have not seen it. Regardless, MSW ignores them back, although it might spice up his analysis to read them occasionally.
The tragedy of Donald Trump is that he tries to control the narrative, but he also believes in it. This presents a quandary for Fox News, since they want to advise the President and possibly inform him, although real information would ruin their brand identity. The most inconvenient ideologue is one who believes his own propaganda, which fits Trump to a tee. It also fits many bishops and their staffs.
Fake News is in the eye of the beholder. Generally, it is any news that challenges cultural biases or politics. Despots believe that only what they say is news and what others say is false or sinful. That applies to many bishops. Egalitarians believe that the establishment is lying to protect itself. Libertarians believe you make up your own mind and that lying is permissible. Hierarchists rely on the party line.
On the other scale, Reactionaries truly believe that we are better off in the past, which is almost always a lie (although some of us yearn for the time of Obama). For the Catholic Press, this means everything since Vatican II, with the exception of their favorite counter-revolutionary, St. John Paul, who was a dissident at the Council. Reactionaries believe that stretching the truth is fine if it helps the cause. So do radicals. Conservatives believe that things are fine now and if they are reactionary, hide it by speaking the language of change (see St. John Paul again). Indeed, discordant information cannot be true, so anything bad in the papacy of JP had to be related to Francis. Moderates are either no one or both the conservative and liberal sides.
Reality has a liberal bias because some change is always required, albeit they draw the line at radicalism. Radicals will shade the truth by demonizing the reactionaries and those who oppose them. Some radicals are more radical than others. True revolutionaries speak out against religion. Others simply avoid it unless it opposes them. It is not mentioned in the far left journal Jacobin, or at least I have not seen it. Regardless, MSW ignores them back, although it might spice up his analysis to read them occasionally.
The tragedy of Donald Trump is that he tries to control the narrative, but he also believes in it. This presents a quandary for Fox News, since they want to advise the President and possibly inform him, although real information would ruin their brand identity. The most inconvenient ideologue is one who believes his own propaganda, which fits Trump to a tee. It also fits many bishops and their staffs.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Links for 11/19/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-111918 MGB:
It seems that at least half the older voters wanted the government's hands off their Medicare - the government being the Republicans. The remarkable thing about this election is that the younger voters are solidly Democratic, which is a generational change that dooms the GOP.
It is not NARAL that swings the election. They are a rather small organization, even with grass roots support. It is the NEA which has sway in the Democratic Party, which is why the Church does not let teacher's organize (as if joining the union suddenly makes one pro-choice). Again, the Church goes for appearance over reality.
Pelosi is unchallenged. Until someone runs against her, say a pro-life Democrat, the opposition to her is largely theoretical. I suspect that this particular faction wishes to stay hidden. The Bernie forces need to wait their turn. The only possible option, and only if Pence is dead to rights in the Mueller probe, is Hillary Clinton. Of course, if that is the case, Trump and Pence may both resign before the new session, making Ryan the President. Clinton or Sanders would make the GOP squirm, but there will be no pro-life hero.
In both cases, the bailout and the hurricanes, it is an incompetent Governor that is the problem.
Corporate structures would be good for the Church - at the parish and diocesan levels. The days of episcopal lordship have passed (as well as the influence of the sheriff as local lordling in certain southern states). Capitalism is not objectionable because of markets, but because it is authoritarian. Letting the economic libertarians take over would be Animal Farm.
I could think of worse things than a Wuerl - Cupich plan, although the plan must be for the whole Church, not just the USCCB, and it should involve selling some paintings to capitalists.
On Silk, there seem to be many ways to be born again. Maybe they should ask about infant baptism or authoritarianism - although the latter may move Catholics into the evangelical column. I am not sure that the religious estimate even matters anymore. Only the hardest core Southern Baptists are anti-Catholic, save for pro-choice NEA members who see funding parochial schools as union busting, which it probably is.
It seems that at least half the older voters wanted the government's hands off their Medicare - the government being the Republicans. The remarkable thing about this election is that the younger voters are solidly Democratic, which is a generational change that dooms the GOP.
It is not NARAL that swings the election. They are a rather small organization, even with grass roots support. It is the NEA which has sway in the Democratic Party, which is why the Church does not let teacher's organize (as if joining the union suddenly makes one pro-choice). Again, the Church goes for appearance over reality.
Pelosi is unchallenged. Until someone runs against her, say a pro-life Democrat, the opposition to her is largely theoretical. I suspect that this particular faction wishes to stay hidden. The Bernie forces need to wait their turn. The only possible option, and only if Pence is dead to rights in the Mueller probe, is Hillary Clinton. Of course, if that is the case, Trump and Pence may both resign before the new session, making Ryan the President. Clinton or Sanders would make the GOP squirm, but there will be no pro-life hero.
In both cases, the bailout and the hurricanes, it is an incompetent Governor that is the problem.
Corporate structures would be good for the Church - at the parish and diocesan levels. The days of episcopal lordship have passed (as well as the influence of the sheriff as local lordling in certain southern states). Capitalism is not objectionable because of markets, but because it is authoritarian. Letting the economic libertarians take over would be Animal Farm.
I could think of worse things than a Wuerl - Cupich plan, although the plan must be for the whole Church, not just the USCCB, and it should involve selling some paintings to capitalists.
On Silk, there seem to be many ways to be born again. Maybe they should ask about infant baptism or authoritarianism - although the latter may move Catholics into the evangelical column. I am not sure that the religious estimate even matters anymore. Only the hardest core Southern Baptists are anti-Catholic, save for pro-choice NEA members who see funding parochial schools as union busting, which it probably is.
Monday, November 19, 2018
Change is not the enemy of theological truth but its companion
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/change-not-enemy-theological-truth-its-companion MGB:
The key question in moral theology, which the review and likely the theologians cited ignored, is who is the beneficiary of natural law? The evolution of this question, which is the ultimate in theology, is how our concept of God has evolved. For that, you need Hegel and Theodicy (which could be renamed TheOdyssey for its mythical implications) The punishing God of the Old Testament is replaced by Jesus, who identifies with and as a Man, as well as being divine.
Our understanding of Jesus has evolved. The view in Hebrews (whose authorship is not known - my guess is Peter) is likely the source of St. Anselm's view of Jesus as bloody sacrifice to a Father whose Justice must be satisfied. That view is abhorrent to many in the current generation. The Nones simply fled the Church, where many still hold that view. The modern view (or at least my view) from a look at both the Synoptic and Johnian text is that the Crucifixion was and is a vision quest that culminated in the call to God of abandonment,, This is completed by drinking the fruit of the vine (I thirst), which the Last Supper says will only happen in the Father's kingdom. The alternative view can only be that Jesus sinned by consuming the fruit of the vine and that Emily Litella wrote the Gospels (Never mind).
For the purposes of moral theology, the new understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus is in his teaching that he is gentle and humble of heart. His yoke is easy and his burden light. Translated into ethics, that means that whatever moral law there is must come from an understanding of man, not God, and that the moral law is for this world, not the next. No impossible choices to please God are necessary.
This turns our sexual teaching on its head, as well as the teaching on late term abortion when the fetus has no chance of surviving until birth (so it has no interest in not being aborted for the sake of his mother's health) or that of the cancer patient who will die horribly and seeks a compassionate end. Homosexuals need not stay pure to satisfy a divine demand for chastity, although avoiding promiscuity is still very current, not just because of HIV but because it tears at the soul.
Contraception is complicated. Evolving doctrine is that it is a symptom of inequality and poverty rather than (or in addition to) being an evil in and of itself, as Caritas in Veritate makes clear. In a more humanist morality (which can include both modern science and Jeremy Bentham's good for the greatest number), the woman who needs sterilization because she has congestive heart failure so that pregnancy would kill her can undertake the procedure and still have a sex life. The answer for most people, however, on both contraception and abortion is to end poverty by fighting for a just family wage (which is more than a living wage and the fight for $15).
At some point, we must also ask how the schosticist moral law came about. The answer must be in the ontology of those who promulgated it, which brings us to the question of eunuchs, some of whom are born this way and some who chose it. Of course, the reality is both. While the modern clergy is said to be half homosexual (although this will decline with gay marriage), we can no longer assume that the other side is hetrosexual. It is more likely that they are asexuals who personally shrink back from adult sexual relatedness to either gender (and who are more prone to pederasty due to their absent sexual development).
Asexuals in the clergy consider their state of life as holy and set apart, rather than outside the norm or as Benedict would say in his non-PC way, objectively disordered). They believe gives them a superior view of human sexuality. It also is the key to understanding the resistance to the ordination of women and the married of all gender identities. There is no natural law reason not to do so and every reason to proceed to clean our moral house.
Humane Vitae has shown that this view is distorted, not privileged. Modern media showed what had previously been hidden to most before modern communication. Most never had access to papal encyclicals and their wider circulation showed how out of touch they had always been. An aspect of this distance from reality is the view of women as unclean which comes, not from the Gospels, but from the Neoplatonism which St. Augustine brought to Catholic doctrine, leading to Sacred Continence. There has been no evolution of sexual doctrine - it was mere hidden from view. Now that it stands naked before the world, like the emperor of childhood stories.
Historicism is not needed, merely history. This yields better fruit than a simple review of theologians that most have never heard of (outside of Fr. Curran) in an analysis which is truly inside baseball.
The key question in moral theology, which the review and likely the theologians cited ignored, is who is the beneficiary of natural law? The evolution of this question, which is the ultimate in theology, is how our concept of God has evolved. For that, you need Hegel and Theodicy (which could be renamed TheOdyssey for its mythical implications) The punishing God of the Old Testament is replaced by Jesus, who identifies with and as a Man, as well as being divine.
Our understanding of Jesus has evolved. The view in Hebrews (whose authorship is not known - my guess is Peter) is likely the source of St. Anselm's view of Jesus as bloody sacrifice to a Father whose Justice must be satisfied. That view is abhorrent to many in the current generation. The Nones simply fled the Church, where many still hold that view. The modern view (or at least my view) from a look at both the Synoptic and Johnian text is that the Crucifixion was and is a vision quest that culminated in the call to God of abandonment,, This is completed by drinking the fruit of the vine (I thirst), which the Last Supper says will only happen in the Father's kingdom. The alternative view can only be that Jesus sinned by consuming the fruit of the vine and that Emily Litella wrote the Gospels (Never mind).
For the purposes of moral theology, the new understanding of the sacrifice of Jesus is in his teaching that he is gentle and humble of heart. His yoke is easy and his burden light. Translated into ethics, that means that whatever moral law there is must come from an understanding of man, not God, and that the moral law is for this world, not the next. No impossible choices to please God are necessary.
This turns our sexual teaching on its head, as well as the teaching on late term abortion when the fetus has no chance of surviving until birth (so it has no interest in not being aborted for the sake of his mother's health) or that of the cancer patient who will die horribly and seeks a compassionate end. Homosexuals need not stay pure to satisfy a divine demand for chastity, although avoiding promiscuity is still very current, not just because of HIV but because it tears at the soul.
Contraception is complicated. Evolving doctrine is that it is a symptom of inequality and poverty rather than (or in addition to) being an evil in and of itself, as Caritas in Veritate makes clear. In a more humanist morality (which can include both modern science and Jeremy Bentham's good for the greatest number), the woman who needs sterilization because she has congestive heart failure so that pregnancy would kill her can undertake the procedure and still have a sex life. The answer for most people, however, on both contraception and abortion is to end poverty by fighting for a just family wage (which is more than a living wage and the fight for $15).
At some point, we must also ask how the schosticist moral law came about. The answer must be in the ontology of those who promulgated it, which brings us to the question of eunuchs, some of whom are born this way and some who chose it. Of course, the reality is both. While the modern clergy is said to be half homosexual (although this will decline with gay marriage), we can no longer assume that the other side is hetrosexual. It is more likely that they are asexuals who personally shrink back from adult sexual relatedness to either gender (and who are more prone to pederasty due to their absent sexual development).
Asexuals in the clergy consider their state of life as holy and set apart, rather than outside the norm or as Benedict would say in his non-PC way, objectively disordered). They believe gives them a superior view of human sexuality. It also is the key to understanding the resistance to the ordination of women and the married of all gender identities. There is no natural law reason not to do so and every reason to proceed to clean our moral house.
Humane Vitae has shown that this view is distorted, not privileged. Modern media showed what had previously been hidden to most before modern communication. Most never had access to papal encyclicals and their wider circulation showed how out of touch they had always been. An aspect of this distance from reality is the view of women as unclean which comes, not from the Gospels, but from the Neoplatonism which St. Augustine brought to Catholic doctrine, leading to Sacred Continence. There has been no evolution of sexual doctrine - it was mere hidden from view. Now that it stands naked before the world, like the emperor of childhood stories.
Historicism is not needed, merely history. This yields better fruit than a simple review of theologians that most have never heard of (outside of Fr. Curran) in an analysis which is truly inside baseball.
Friday, November 16, 2018
Links for 11/16/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-111618 MGB:
When Vigano' was appointed as Nuncio, I thought he would fire the offenders who did not implement the Dallas protocols, largely because of his work cleaning up Vatican finance. He went the other way and jumped into the political web of Chaput and others. I am glad he was removed. As for his family troubles, it is none of our concern.
Paul VI was probably not gay. Instead, he was probably asexual. Ottaviani surely was, given his eagerness to tell the rest of us how to have sex while recoiling from it himself.
With margins this thin in Congress, the pro-life Democrats have outlived their usefulness as the useful idiots of the pro-life movement (sorry Michael Sean), since the movement is about Republican politics and certainly not the seamless garment, which would demand a family wage level Child Tax Credit. This is a bridge way to far for the Republicans in the movement.
The Mueller Report will kill the Republican chances for 2020, even if they dump Trump. Pence is about as attractive for POTUS in his own right as the bucket of warm spit his current post is worth. At least people liked Gerry Ford. Expect a repeat of 1974 and 1976. Auditions are now open for the Jimmy Carter role.
Melinda is only scratching the surface. I disagree with her decision to leave. I prefer to stay and fight. Sadly she is beating a dead horse. The current scandal has no new information, although the demand for more public records is not new, but newish. There are better reasons to leave the Church. Her article is not the 95 Thesis of Luther. Start with the hidden asexuality in Catholic sexual teaching and how it prevents the ordination of married, out and proud gay and female priests (and combinations of the above). We need a married lesbian as the American Matriarch installed in a Latin Mass. A demand for anything less is about the same bucket of warm spit that Pence is.
Temporary Protected Status is what immigrants who are currently working in slavery at Tysons Food et al can get by proving they were trafficked. Sex workers have the same right. That Trump would favor the employer side in both cases is no surprise.
New Ways does good work and the article is spot on. The LGBT side is not wrong nor are their grievances at the hands of the hierarchy not minor (and stem from the hidden asexuality mentioned above). Sadly, without funding, no one seems to listen to my argument outside of a few of my fellow commentators on the NCR Facebook page.
When Vigano' was appointed as Nuncio, I thought he would fire the offenders who did not implement the Dallas protocols, largely because of his work cleaning up Vatican finance. He went the other way and jumped into the political web of Chaput and others. I am glad he was removed. As for his family troubles, it is none of our concern.
Paul VI was probably not gay. Instead, he was probably asexual. Ottaviani surely was, given his eagerness to tell the rest of us how to have sex while recoiling from it himself.
With margins this thin in Congress, the pro-life Democrats have outlived their usefulness as the useful idiots of the pro-life movement (sorry Michael Sean), since the movement is about Republican politics and certainly not the seamless garment, which would demand a family wage level Child Tax Credit. This is a bridge way to far for the Republicans in the movement.
The Mueller Report will kill the Republican chances for 2020, even if they dump Trump. Pence is about as attractive for POTUS in his own right as the bucket of warm spit his current post is worth. At least people liked Gerry Ford. Expect a repeat of 1974 and 1976. Auditions are now open for the Jimmy Carter role.
Melinda is only scratching the surface. I disagree with her decision to leave. I prefer to stay and fight. Sadly she is beating a dead horse. The current scandal has no new information, although the demand for more public records is not new, but newish. There are better reasons to leave the Church. Her article is not the 95 Thesis of Luther. Start with the hidden asexuality in Catholic sexual teaching and how it prevents the ordination of married, out and proud gay and female priests (and combinations of the above). We need a married lesbian as the American Matriarch installed in a Latin Mass. A demand for anything less is about the same bucket of warm spit that Pence is.
Temporary Protected Status is what immigrants who are currently working in slavery at Tysons Food et al can get by proving they were trafficked. Sex workers have the same right. That Trump would favor the employer side in both cases is no surprise.
New Ways does good work and the article is spot on. The LGBT side is not wrong nor are their grievances at the hands of the hierarchy not minor (and stem from the hidden asexuality mentioned above). Sadly, without funding, no one seems to listen to my argument outside of a few of my fellow commentators on the NCR Facebook page.
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Amateur hour at the bishops' conference
https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/distinctly-catholic/conclusion-meeting-question-remains-bishops-credibility
MGB: I suspect that the wiser bishops gave those who spoke nonsense enough rope to hang themselves. The Nuncio was surely taking notes. They won't become Cardinals anytime soon,except under the anti-Papacy of Ray Burke, a dubious honor. I won't argue the insanity of their drivel, but will say that the charitable thing would be to out many of them as unconscious Asexuals, first to themselves. Then we can safely remove them from teaching the rest of us about a sexuality that they know nothing about, except through Scholasticism, which was penned by the greatest asexual of them all, Thomas Aquinas. (Yes, I know this troll bait).
MGB: I suspect that the wiser bishops gave those who spoke nonsense enough rope to hang themselves. The Nuncio was surely taking notes. They won't become Cardinals anytime soon,except under the anti-Papacy of Ray Burke, a dubious honor. I won't argue the insanity of their drivel, but will say that the charitable thing would be to out many of them as unconscious Asexuals, first to themselves. Then we can safely remove them from teaching the rest of us about a sexuality that they know nothing about, except through Scholasticism, which was penned by the greatest asexual of them all, Thomas Aquinas. (Yes, I know this troll bait).
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Day 2 of US bishops' meeting: Institution still trumps the mission
https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/distinctly-catholic/day-2-us-bishops-meeting-institution-still-trumps-mission
MGB: Claude Rains has the best quote for both the bishops meeting and MSW's reaction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME
The abuse of children is endemic to asexual clergy. While we think there are sufficient safeguards, no one seems to be sure, as the bishops are policing themselves. What is also endemic is the culture of asexuality in the priesthood (which invites abuse) and the secrecy in the hierarchy of the Church, from parish to palace.
Part of secrecy is self-delusion, including Vatican II's contention that bishops are not Vatican employees. This makes the Vatican art fair game in demanding settlement from the Church. Indeed, two of the three pictures hanging behind the dias at the meeting are culturally relativistic and the originals should be sold. Jesus and his family were not white and a Church professing sacred poverty (which is more radical than sacred continence) should not hold onto such things.
Regardless, neither procedures and policies nor conversion will have the desired result for any issue facing the Church. Localizing authority and an openness to both realistic sexuality (including by priests and bishops) are the radical changes the Church needs, especially the ordination of women. An openly gay Bishop McCarrick could not arrange the sleeping arrangements at a retreat, but could have a relationship with a seminarian if all is in the light. Admitting the misogyny behind all of the Church's sexual teaching is also essential. Such honesty is necessary to clean the inside of the cup.
MGB: Claude Rains has the best quote for both the bishops meeting and MSW's reaction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjbPi00k_ME
The abuse of children is endemic to asexual clergy. While we think there are sufficient safeguards, no one seems to be sure, as the bishops are policing themselves. What is also endemic is the culture of asexuality in the priesthood (which invites abuse) and the secrecy in the hierarchy of the Church, from parish to palace.
Part of secrecy is self-delusion, including Vatican II's contention that bishops are not Vatican employees. This makes the Vatican art fair game in demanding settlement from the Church. Indeed, two of the three pictures hanging behind the dias at the meeting are culturally relativistic and the originals should be sold. Jesus and his family were not white and a Church professing sacred poverty (which is more radical than sacred continence) should not hold onto such things.
Regardless, neither procedures and policies nor conversion will have the desired result for any issue facing the Church. Localizing authority and an openness to both realistic sexuality (including by priests and bishops) are the radical changes the Church needs, especially the ordination of women. An openly gay Bishop McCarrick could not arrange the sleeping arrangements at a retreat, but could have a relationship with a seminarian if all is in the light. Admitting the misogyny behind all of the Church's sexual teaching is also essential. Such honesty is necessary to clean the inside of the cup.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Bishops' meeting bombshell: Vatican says no voting on abuse crisis
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/bishops-meeting-bombshell-vatican-says-no-voting-abuse-crisis
MGB: The Pope is as smart as he is holy and this act is the best way to shut up his critics in the USCCB. It also will serve to create a worldwide solution to this affair, or at least publicity about what may be largely historic abuse. The traditionalists cannot fight back, as at heart they are untramontainist and cannot publicly resist the office for much longer.
The question is, what will happen in February. What you project depends upon where you sit. Rome could decide to control the situation more (including how it appoints bishops). This would mean,however that it would have to start selling the artistic property it now considers held in trust for future generations (even though, while beautifully composted, is culturally relativistic - and not in a good way).
It could go the other way and behave more like the Anglicans (not the congregational protestants) and give local clergy and the people not only a say, but control over the election and elevation of bishops and archbishops. Even further, it could let the bishops of a province elect their own metropolitan, as well as letting the metropolitans elect a local autocephalic national or linguistic patriarchs, further eroding the papacy to just another such patriarch. He could also do both. I would not put it past him.
MGB: The Pope is as smart as he is holy and this act is the best way to shut up his critics in the USCCB. It also will serve to create a worldwide solution to this affair, or at least publicity about what may be largely historic abuse. The traditionalists cannot fight back, as at heart they are untramontainist and cannot publicly resist the office for much longer.
The question is, what will happen in February. What you project depends upon where you sit. Rome could decide to control the situation more (including how it appoints bishops). This would mean,however that it would have to start selling the artistic property it now considers held in trust for future generations (even though, while beautifully composted, is culturally relativistic - and not in a good way).
It could go the other way and behave more like the Anglicans (not the congregational protestants) and give local clergy and the people not only a say, but control over the election and elevation of bishops and archbishops. Even further, it could let the bishops of a province elect their own metropolitan, as well as letting the metropolitans elect a local autocephalic national or linguistic patriarchs, further eroding the papacy to just another such patriarch. He could also do both. I would not put it past him.
Monday, November 12, 2018
What's left of bishops' moral authority is on the line this week
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/whats-left-bishops-moral-authority-line-week
MGB: Just on the title, it is bizarre that Friday's column was about constitutional legitimacy being based on democracy, while today we are worried about the moral authority of the leaders in a despotic system. The latter is the last place to find moral authority, since that comes from seeking the truth, not in preserving the organization, which leads to moral consistency, the enemy of the search for truth. Sadly, MSW and our anachronist commentators can't appreciate the irony. Indeed, they think that pointing this out is a scandal.
Moral authority would be to seek the truth about homosexuality and the end of mandatory celibacy, including for LGBT priests (male and female). It would also be renouncing the 13th Commandment (don't get caught). Experience has shown that the USCCB and its staff can do neither. It would be organizational heresy to even consider these questions. Neither will their staffs, who actually write their immoral screeds, thus protecting the party line. To even run for bishop, you have to be more self-righteous than the Pope (holiness is off the table). Not even Ivereigh goes far enough. Indeed, what he proposes is deaf to the culture of the bishops and all despotisms. Unless the structure is changed, the error will persist. Conversion is not enough.
The Church will not die. The bishops have been trying to kill it for 2000 years and have not succeeded. This crop is not nearly that talented. The question is when, not if, the Holy Spirit will prompt the rest of us to insist on change. It will not come from the bishops of any nation.
MGB: Just on the title, it is bizarre that Friday's column was about constitutional legitimacy being based on democracy, while today we are worried about the moral authority of the leaders in a despotic system. The latter is the last place to find moral authority, since that comes from seeking the truth, not in preserving the organization, which leads to moral consistency, the enemy of the search for truth. Sadly, MSW and our anachronist commentators can't appreciate the irony. Indeed, they think that pointing this out is a scandal.
Moral authority would be to seek the truth about homosexuality and the end of mandatory celibacy, including for LGBT priests (male and female). It would also be renouncing the 13th Commandment (don't get caught). Experience has shown that the USCCB and its staff can do neither. It would be organizational heresy to even consider these questions. Neither will their staffs, who actually write their immoral screeds, thus protecting the party line. To even run for bishop, you have to be more self-righteous than the Pope (holiness is off the table). Not even Ivereigh goes far enough. Indeed, what he proposes is deaf to the culture of the bishops and all despotisms. Unless the structure is changed, the error will persist. Conversion is not enough.
The Church will not die. The bishops have been trying to kill it for 2000 years and have not succeeded. This crop is not nearly that talented. The question is when, not if, the Holy Spirit will prompt the rest of us to insist on change. It will not come from the bishops of any nation.
Friday, November 9, 2018
Constitutional legitimacy needs democratic legitimacy to survive
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/constitutional-legitimacy-needs-democratic-legitimacy-survive
MGB: The Democrats in the House will be doing there job, checking the power of an out of control executive. This may include impeachment if the Mueller investigation goes where it must - or has already gone. So far, Mueller is keeping his powder dry, but it is likely there is at least a draft report ready to go. All it needs is pushing the send button.
If Trump does survive to 2020, he will likely be primaried, removing him or at least dividing the GOP base. Either way, social libertarian issues will take a back seat to corruption. Pelvic politics, like GOP racial code, are a get out the vote strategy. While health care may go stale, corruption is the gift that keeps on giving, even after the offending POTUS is gone. Just ask the ghost of Gerry Ford. Corruption includes gerrymandering and frustration over it certainly drove the activists, if not the voters.
The representation in the Senate is a rising meme, but in national politics the only way around it is regional government - with each region of equal electoral vote strength sending two (maybe five) members to a national caucus while retaining the current members in a regional one. Unless the large states are to dominate the small ones in reach region, we still will have use of the Senate. The straw man regional map I set up has a northwest region that goes from Minnesota to Washington and down to Missouri.and Kansas. There are no really large states but there are 22 Senate seats, isolating the problem of rural states having an outsized influence.
Such a proposal does not need a convention or an amendment. Indeed, it should first be tried out without one. It will only take some party or POTUS candidate making it an issue so that Congress cannot resist going along by having regional caucus boundaries match the executive one, which were put in, not by law, but by an executive order by Richard Nixon.
MGB: The Democrats in the House will be doing there job, checking the power of an out of control executive. This may include impeachment if the Mueller investigation goes where it must - or has already gone. So far, Mueller is keeping his powder dry, but it is likely there is at least a draft report ready to go. All it needs is pushing the send button.
If Trump does survive to 2020, he will likely be primaried, removing him or at least dividing the GOP base. Either way, social libertarian issues will take a back seat to corruption. Pelvic politics, like GOP racial code, are a get out the vote strategy. While health care may go stale, corruption is the gift that keeps on giving, even after the offending POTUS is gone. Just ask the ghost of Gerry Ford. Corruption includes gerrymandering and frustration over it certainly drove the activists, if not the voters.
The representation in the Senate is a rising meme, but in national politics the only way around it is regional government - with each region of equal electoral vote strength sending two (maybe five) members to a national caucus while retaining the current members in a regional one. Unless the large states are to dominate the small ones in reach region, we still will have use of the Senate. The straw man regional map I set up has a northwest region that goes from Minnesota to Washington and down to Missouri.and Kansas. There are no really large states but there are 22 Senate seats, isolating the problem of rural states having an outsized influence.
Such a proposal does not need a convention or an amendment. Indeed, it should first be tried out without one. It will only take some party or POTUS candidate making it an issue so that Congress cannot resist going along by having regional caucus boundaries match the executive one, which were put in, not by law, but by an executive order by Richard Nixon.
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Links for 11/8/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-11818
MGB: The Democratic Party has its tribes too. We have ethnic Democrats (Black and Latino), Wall Street Democrats and Social Democrats. Social and Ethnic would gladly unite with populist Republicans were it not for the whole racism thing. Of course, not all Republicans are racist, but they seem to be comfortable in a party which has a racist undertone. The answer to bringing them in is cash and prizes - but to do that, the Social Democrats must Occupy Capitalism - literally subvert it from the inside, making war with the Wall Streeters from the Democrats and GOP and winning. As for the Republicans who actually are racist and take that racism to church? Let them languish outside of politics and any ecumenical efforts. Devil take them, because the rest of us don't want them. (Actually, he has them already)
Exactly what do Asexuals like Barron have to do with masculinity? Methinks I see some wannabes. They are in the closet, even to themselves. Now how would anyone know I would go there?
Too bad that legally the military cannot arrest the militias. It may be time to test that law for sanity.
MSW knows nothing about Texas politics. The Democratic base is entirely unmotivated, or was, because they have lost so badly they do not bother. It was a self-fulfilling prophesy, until now. Note that Beto's strength was in the border counties. How does that square with abolishing ICE being a bad meme?
The target at Tree of Life was Jews, but in particular Jews who helped migrants. This was a MAGA hate crime. Color me not surprised that MAGA can easily be both anti-semitic and migrant without difficulty. Ditto for Acton. They are not worth covering.
Gun politics is driven by the useful idiots who support gun manufacturers. A DoD policy that prevents such firms from selling AR-15s or handguns commercially if they want to sell to the military would take care of this problem nicely. Suddenly the toxic funding for their view of the second amendment would vanish overnight.
MGB: The Democratic Party has its tribes too. We have ethnic Democrats (Black and Latino), Wall Street Democrats and Social Democrats. Social and Ethnic would gladly unite with populist Republicans were it not for the whole racism thing. Of course, not all Republicans are racist, but they seem to be comfortable in a party which has a racist undertone. The answer to bringing them in is cash and prizes - but to do that, the Social Democrats must Occupy Capitalism - literally subvert it from the inside, making war with the Wall Streeters from the Democrats and GOP and winning. As for the Republicans who actually are racist and take that racism to church? Let them languish outside of politics and any ecumenical efforts. Devil take them, because the rest of us don't want them. (Actually, he has them already)
Exactly what do Asexuals like Barron have to do with masculinity? Methinks I see some wannabes. They are in the closet, even to themselves. Now how would anyone know I would go there?
Too bad that legally the military cannot arrest the militias. It may be time to test that law for sanity.
MSW knows nothing about Texas politics. The Democratic base is entirely unmotivated, or was, because they have lost so badly they do not bother. It was a self-fulfilling prophesy, until now. Note that Beto's strength was in the border counties. How does that square with abolishing ICE being a bad meme?
The target at Tree of Life was Jews, but in particular Jews who helped migrants. This was a MAGA hate crime. Color me not surprised that MAGA can easily be both anti-semitic and migrant without difficulty. Ditto for Acton. They are not worth covering.
Gun politics is driven by the useful idiots who support gun manufacturers. A DoD policy that prevents such firms from selling AR-15s or handguns commercially if they want to sell to the military would take care of this problem nicely. Suddenly the toxic funding for their view of the second amendment would vanish overnight.
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
2018 Midterm Elections: A blue sigh of relief
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/2018-midterm-elections-blue-sigh-relief
MGB: Democrats held their own in the Senate, despite having the most at stake. The right of donors to make fiscal policy has ended and progressive Democrats in the House will not let it return, which is a repudiation of the Clintons. The House showed that politics can be both local and national, as the freedom caucus increases from 30 to 45 (give or take). We will see if they toe the line set by Leader McCarthy, since now they really have no choice.
Trump will be checked by the new House, but the Mueller report will be the biggest check of all. McConnell knows that Trump in the White House is an albatross around his party's neck, especially as they have many seats to defend in 2020 and will not keep the presidency if Trump is the nominee. The only question is whether he can get Trump to resign, have Pence declare him incompetent or vote with the Democrats on impeachment. He must know he is in a world of hurt, because any ruling by the DOJ General Counsel on impeaching a sitting president has no impact on prosecuting his children or pursuing civil asset forfeiture. Once his kids realize that, they may be on the first flight to Moscow. Of course, Moscow will have no use for them either.
Abortion is a non-issue, except for electoral politics. The Democrats get as much as the GOP, because both NARAL and the NEA are as reliable foot soldiers for them as the right to life movement is for the GOP. A younger crop of bishops will defuse this issue once they realize that if they don't they will be Republican paws. Abortion is not going anywhere and bans never stopped it, but did hurt women. In modern times, we are at the status quo. Any other answer is pipe dream. The old joke is that the Democrats will do nothing about restricting abortion while the GOP will do nothing to help the unborn. It is quite true.
Attacking Pelosi also and old saw for Pro-Life Democrats. It will have no effect on the outcome of the Caucus vote and they dissidents will fall in line on the official vote. They are not stupid. Pelosi will leave on her own terms and if Steny as Speaker for a new generation will move up. Any leadership list that does not put Adam Schiff at the top is unrealistic.
This is the beginning of the drams, not the end, as how Trump will exit is the issue of the day. There are no more pressing problems. We live in interesting times.
MGB: Democrats held their own in the Senate, despite having the most at stake. The right of donors to make fiscal policy has ended and progressive Democrats in the House will not let it return, which is a repudiation of the Clintons. The House showed that politics can be both local and national, as the freedom caucus increases from 30 to 45 (give or take). We will see if they toe the line set by Leader McCarthy, since now they really have no choice.
Trump will be checked by the new House, but the Mueller report will be the biggest check of all. McConnell knows that Trump in the White House is an albatross around his party's neck, especially as they have many seats to defend in 2020 and will not keep the presidency if Trump is the nominee. The only question is whether he can get Trump to resign, have Pence declare him incompetent or vote with the Democrats on impeachment. He must know he is in a world of hurt, because any ruling by the DOJ General Counsel on impeaching a sitting president has no impact on prosecuting his children or pursuing civil asset forfeiture. Once his kids realize that, they may be on the first flight to Moscow. Of course, Moscow will have no use for them either.
Abortion is a non-issue, except for electoral politics. The Democrats get as much as the GOP, because both NARAL and the NEA are as reliable foot soldiers for them as the right to life movement is for the GOP. A younger crop of bishops will defuse this issue once they realize that if they don't they will be Republican paws. Abortion is not going anywhere and bans never stopped it, but did hurt women. In modern times, we are at the status quo. Any other answer is pipe dream. The old joke is that the Democrats will do nothing about restricting abortion while the GOP will do nothing to help the unborn. It is quite true.
Attacking Pelosi also and old saw for Pro-Life Democrats. It will have no effect on the outcome of the Caucus vote and they dissidents will fall in line on the official vote. They are not stupid. Pelosi will leave on her own terms and if Steny as Speaker for a new generation will move up. Any leadership list that does not put Adam Schiff at the top is unrealistic.
This is the beginning of the drams, not the end, as how Trump will exit is the issue of the day. There are no more pressing problems. We live in interesting times.
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Links for 11/6/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-11618-0
MGB: I suspect you will need briefings on both sides - one for prep and one to cover the Dolan crowd shifting toward the Democrats, leaving a few Anachronist true believers alone with themselves.
Second trimester abortions are violent and are likely covered under the exceptions for health after it is known that the baby has no chance of survival. First trimester abortions are all too sanitary. Regardless, most abortions are paid for in cash. You are more likely to fund them by going to the movies or a fast food restaurant as at least a portion of your dollar will fund taking care of an inconvenient pregnancy, paid for by either the father for his girlfriend or the pregnant teen herself. Of course, the matter that is as important is the disaster of letting voters decide on taxes and expenditures. Direct democracy has its limits.
Pro-life Democrats should take the hint that the entire movement is about electing Republicans. When margins are so close, the fiction that this is not true is the only clue you need to know that pro-life Democrats were a prop to show that the issue was not entirely political. This is because, even if such officials could be the margin of victory in Congress to vastly limit abortion, actually doing so is not on the GOP's agenda. They like the issue for electoral purposes, they don't really want it resolved on either side. You have to be a political hack to know this. It was never about saving the unborn.
Suburban voters is another way to say non-white trash voters who would rather not leave Donald Trump unchecked, or even in office. The Democrats are focusing on health issues because they know that the anti-Trump vote is already in the bag.
To know why Certiorari was granted, look at the Justices who signed off on it. They may be close to solving the thorny issue of religion in the public square. It should be easier without Nino on the Court. Comments from the peanut gallery on ancient lawgivers are irrelevant.
Arroyo is part of the Republican movement. He is a propagandist, not a journalist. Don't let him in the room in Baltimore unless you want to create a spectacle.
Sirico was a convert singly loudly in Church. I also know of know promise of chastity for priests. The promise is to not get married, which is now an issue because gay priests could. That may be the final straw in killing priestly celibacy and the fascination of asexual priests with everyone else's sex lives. Sadly, St. John Paul was a member of the latter, raising sexual issues to credal status, or rather leaving them there. The long term trend to do so is a cancer in the Church.
Congrats on the Quiz show mention. The only way to be sure it will be included is to write the obit yourself, unless you trust that whomever is has all the facts. More topical is the Rachel Maddow show's election night bingo, where vulnerable Republicans are the squares and are covered if they lose. Of course, this is a stunt to keep people watching MSNBC tonight, as if anyone will be watching Fox News. Carl Rove wandering around the studio looking for different numbers on the Obama win was good theater, but embarrassing after the fact. On CNN, no one can watch Wolf Blitzer for the seven hours coverage will go on.
MGB: I suspect you will need briefings on both sides - one for prep and one to cover the Dolan crowd shifting toward the Democrats, leaving a few Anachronist true believers alone with themselves.
Second trimester abortions are violent and are likely covered under the exceptions for health after it is known that the baby has no chance of survival. First trimester abortions are all too sanitary. Regardless, most abortions are paid for in cash. You are more likely to fund them by going to the movies or a fast food restaurant as at least a portion of your dollar will fund taking care of an inconvenient pregnancy, paid for by either the father for his girlfriend or the pregnant teen herself. Of course, the matter that is as important is the disaster of letting voters decide on taxes and expenditures. Direct democracy has its limits.
Pro-life Democrats should take the hint that the entire movement is about electing Republicans. When margins are so close, the fiction that this is not true is the only clue you need to know that pro-life Democrats were a prop to show that the issue was not entirely political. This is because, even if such officials could be the margin of victory in Congress to vastly limit abortion, actually doing so is not on the GOP's agenda. They like the issue for electoral purposes, they don't really want it resolved on either side. You have to be a political hack to know this. It was never about saving the unborn.
Suburban voters is another way to say non-white trash voters who would rather not leave Donald Trump unchecked, or even in office. The Democrats are focusing on health issues because they know that the anti-Trump vote is already in the bag.
To know why Certiorari was granted, look at the Justices who signed off on it. They may be close to solving the thorny issue of religion in the public square. It should be easier without Nino on the Court. Comments from the peanut gallery on ancient lawgivers are irrelevant.
Arroyo is part of the Republican movement. He is a propagandist, not a journalist. Don't let him in the room in Baltimore unless you want to create a spectacle.
Sirico was a convert singly loudly in Church. I also know of know promise of chastity for priests. The promise is to not get married, which is now an issue because gay priests could. That may be the final straw in killing priestly celibacy and the fascination of asexual priests with everyone else's sex lives. Sadly, St. John Paul was a member of the latter, raising sexual issues to credal status, or rather leaving them there. The long term trend to do so is a cancer in the Church.
Congrats on the Quiz show mention. The only way to be sure it will be included is to write the obit yourself, unless you trust that whomever is has all the facts. More topical is the Rachel Maddow show's election night bingo, where vulnerable Republicans are the squares and are covered if they lose. Of course, this is a stunt to keep people watching MSNBC tonight, as if anyone will be watching Fox News. Carl Rove wandering around the studio looking for different numbers on the Obama win was good theater, but embarrassing after the fact. On CNN, no one can watch Wolf Blitzer for the seven hours coverage will go on.
Monday, November 5, 2018
Sr. Carol Keehan, retiring next year, is irreplaceable
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/sr-carol-keehan-retiring-next-year-irreplaceable
MGB: Sister Carol is fearless. She will be missed in progressive Catholic leadership. I hope they have saved a seat for her on the Bus with the other nuns. Her testimony has always been powerful. I am sure that my ex-wife, who was the Director of Membership for Catholic Charities, USA has some good Sister Carol stories. I hope that in her lifetime, sisters can be ordained and that she is. She has earned the titles of both priest and bishop - and maybe Mother or Matriarch. The Church is a poorer place for not considering doing so.
MGB: Sister Carol is fearless. She will be missed in progressive Catholic leadership. I hope they have saved a seat for her on the Bus with the other nuns. Her testimony has always been powerful. I am sure that my ex-wife, who was the Director of Membership for Catholic Charities, USA has some good Sister Carol stories. I hope that in her lifetime, sisters can be ordained and that she is. She has earned the titles of both priest and bishop - and maybe Mother or Matriarch. The Church is a poorer place for not considering doing so.
Friday, November 2, 2018
US bishops are not rushing to Francis-led agenda
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/us-bishops-are-not-rushing-francis-led-agenda
MGB: I would hope that the assembled bishops would protest the process and take nominations from the floor, but that would be too much to ask. Maybe if they indicate that they reject both on their ballots, it might wake the leadership up. They need a constitutional crisis. Eventually God will sort it out, because the old steers will age out or die and the Francis bishops will have a majority. Until then, expect the same kind of drama.
Some of the old steers are hoping that they have a chance to make Burke pope. Francis is too healthy to consider that and more likely to make major changes, making such an election a vote for an anti-pope. I prefer an American patriarch and that it be Sean Cardinal O'Malley, OFM, but only when the Cardinal electors (probably all Metropolitans) are sane.
MGB: I would hope that the assembled bishops would protest the process and take nominations from the floor, but that would be too much to ask. Maybe if they indicate that they reject both on their ballots, it might wake the leadership up. They need a constitutional crisis. Eventually God will sort it out, because the old steers will age out or die and the Francis bishops will have a majority. Until then, expect the same kind of drama.
Some of the old steers are hoping that they have a chance to make Burke pope. Francis is too healthy to consider that and more likely to make major changes, making such an election a vote for an anti-pope. I prefer an American patriarch and that it be Sean Cardinal O'Malley, OFM, but only when the Cardinal electors (probably all Metropolitans) are sane.
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Links for 11/1/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-11118-0
MGB: All Saints day is supposed to mark not only our future sainthood, but our current membership in the body of Christ, with no part of the body being more or less important than the other parts. Recovering Catholics, like Rosie Perez, do not disagree on Dogma. Rather, it is the sexism and flawed sexual teachings that they find particularly upsetting. They should because they are not based on Natural Law, at least as far as non-asexuals are concerned. God is not the Ogre many in the Church make Him out to be, from St. Anselm to St. John Paul.
Fox News walked back the Smallpox part, but left in play the rest with the caveat "that some believe," which is what they say when they are caught lying. The Hope Border Institute has the facts, although they are apparent from any real news program. Working Class Perspectives reveals that the families of crime victims are also smarter than Fox News and their ilk in the White House.
There are divides in the Democratic Party based on race, gender issues and economic status. When the GOP finishes blowing itself up, the Wall Street Democrats and Republicans will find common cause, with the rest of us adopting a more radical path. How the other divides play out in this context is anyone's guess. I suspect that they will break by age, although the Black Church may go ahead and break bread with those who focus on pelvic issues.
MGB: All Saints day is supposed to mark not only our future sainthood, but our current membership in the body of Christ, with no part of the body being more or less important than the other parts. Recovering Catholics, like Rosie Perez, do not disagree on Dogma. Rather, it is the sexism and flawed sexual teachings that they find particularly upsetting. They should because they are not based on Natural Law, at least as far as non-asexuals are concerned. God is not the Ogre many in the Church make Him out to be, from St. Anselm to St. John Paul.
Fox News walked back the Smallpox part, but left in play the rest with the caveat "that some believe," which is what they say when they are caught lying. The Hope Border Institute has the facts, although they are apparent from any real news program. Working Class Perspectives reveals that the families of crime victims are also smarter than Fox News and their ilk in the White House.
There are divides in the Democratic Party based on race, gender issues and economic status. When the GOP finishes blowing itself up, the Wall Street Democrats and Republicans will find common cause, with the rest of us adopting a more radical path. How the other divides play out in this context is anyone's guess. I suspect that they will break by age, although the Black Church may go ahead and break bread with those who focus on pelvic issues.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
There it is: Synodality
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/there-it-synodality
MGB: Synodality is a process rather than the end product, which frightens those who want morality to be an absolute statement on what has always been true. Such a belief is anachronistic, a golden age view of a consensus that never was. On the other side, people who want change are willing to use the process, In the end, however, they also want the Church to outline definitive teaching on sexuality. This includes all people, even if it means forcing less developed nations to proceed farther than their elders are willing to go. We cannot only focus on what the truth is, but why it is so. Of course, there may not be agreement here either because then we are arguing about the underlying relationship between God and Man, whether morality is for God's sake or man's.
Every generation teaches doctrine anew as the language of reason evolves. Traditional societies mist accept change with the march of each generation into its own modernity. Traditional cultures simply allow more latitude to the elders of the Church than those who are called modern. The traditionalists are ultimately right about the human heart being universal - going beyond the relativism of authority to decide what is true regardless of the facts at hand. These facts exist in an intellectual context that favors science, including human development, over tradition in order to seek new absolutes. It does not repudiate the idea of truth.
Until all sides accept this, growth will be a difficult process Those who feel left behind will throw up obstacles for change. Synodality may help that process as long as it is not simply the latest gimmick. We must remember that unless we love one another, no one will recognize our discipleship.
MGB: Synodality is a process rather than the end product, which frightens those who want morality to be an absolute statement on what has always been true. Such a belief is anachronistic, a golden age view of a consensus that never was. On the other side, people who want change are willing to use the process, In the end, however, they also want the Church to outline definitive teaching on sexuality. This includes all people, even if it means forcing less developed nations to proceed farther than their elders are willing to go. We cannot only focus on what the truth is, but why it is so. Of course, there may not be agreement here either because then we are arguing about the underlying relationship between God and Man, whether morality is for God's sake or man's.
Every generation teaches doctrine anew as the language of reason evolves. Traditional societies mist accept change with the march of each generation into its own modernity. Traditional cultures simply allow more latitude to the elders of the Church than those who are called modern. The traditionalists are ultimately right about the human heart being universal - going beyond the relativism of authority to decide what is true regardless of the facts at hand. These facts exist in an intellectual context that favors science, including human development, over tradition in order to seek new absolutes. It does not repudiate the idea of truth.
Until all sides accept this, growth will be a difficult process Those who feel left behind will throw up obstacles for change. Synodality may help that process as long as it is not simply the latest gimmick. We must remember that unless we love one another, no one will recognize our discipleship.
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
Links for 10/30/18
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-103018
MGB: No one is shocked that a Trump supporter on an anti-immigrant binge shot up a synagogue that helped HIAS efforts to resettle refugees. Trump gave them permission to consider themselves in his class and do so, even though he has no class to speak of. A billionaire racist is still a racist.
Whether competition between disabled peers and abled peers makes sense depends on the character of the competition and the assists available. On the school level, it might make sense. In big time international competition, it would be a distraction, although such competitions are becoming more and more toxic as they become professionalized. Spending one's youth to be better than an entire world-wide generation for an audience of equal size is a poor trade.
In the ancient Church there were two main offices (aside from other ministries), pastor (also bishop or overseer) and apostle - one who had seen the risen Lord. There was one congregation per city. If every pastor is considered like a bishop in witnessing the resurrection, I can think of no higher office.
Impeachment is a political question as well as a juridical one. There is plenty to go after in the Trump Administration that has nothing to do with the Mueller probe. Once the Republican leadership sees the report, the only question will be whether Trump resigns before or after January 20th (so that Pence can run for two terms, as if electing him for one is at all realistic). The only stupid option is to not pursue impeachment at all in the face of Trump's ties to the Oligarchs in Russia, including money laundering. Given Trump's performance this week, any Republican keeping his Senate seat may be considered a long shot.
As I said yesterday, the best thing that the Bishops can do is what they are likely to do, shift with the wind as the Republicans are annihilated in the upcoming election and through episcopal retirements. Like judges of a certain age, bishops will more and more understand Roe and the obligation to fight abortion economically, which the GOP will never do. Expect Granola to be served in Baltimore.
If the GOP is decimated or if the Democrat wins in Georgia, what matters is how the government deals with voter suppression. I would hope that a Democratic Congress will redo the Voting Rights Act preclearance list and put every state where voter suppression occurred or was attempted on it. This won't be limited to the South this time.
Silk is acting under the impression that Gorsuch and Kavenaugh are somehow closer ideologically to Scalia than the Kennedy. I don't see it. Nino was one of a kind. No one who went to any Ivy League law school in the modern age will reverse privacy rights based on sexuality. If anything, the Court will hear the case in the Second Circuit to nationalize the proposition that sex discrimination provisions in the Civil Rights Act already protect LGBT workers and renters. If that occurs, the Human Rights Campaign will be able to fold up its tent, as there will be nothing more to pursue in terms of gay rights. As the money in the Church in America is now with the parents of Millenials, who believe that there is no moral difference between gay and straight relationships, it is the Church that will have to change - and will once the money moves that way.
The trend will be to free tuition, so the question of legacies will not matter, although fundraising will be important. Admission of a rich idiot on economic grounds offers only a semester of advantage, especially if our entitled student is caught cheating. In college admissions, there are obvious yeses and obvious noes. Everyone else can go into a lottery after the first choices are admitted and the incapable rejected.
MGB: No one is shocked that a Trump supporter on an anti-immigrant binge shot up a synagogue that helped HIAS efforts to resettle refugees. Trump gave them permission to consider themselves in his class and do so, even though he has no class to speak of. A billionaire racist is still a racist.
Whether competition between disabled peers and abled peers makes sense depends on the character of the competition and the assists available. On the school level, it might make sense. In big time international competition, it would be a distraction, although such competitions are becoming more and more toxic as they become professionalized. Spending one's youth to be better than an entire world-wide generation for an audience of equal size is a poor trade.
In the ancient Church there were two main offices (aside from other ministries), pastor (also bishop or overseer) and apostle - one who had seen the risen Lord. There was one congregation per city. If every pastor is considered like a bishop in witnessing the resurrection, I can think of no higher office.
Impeachment is a political question as well as a juridical one. There is plenty to go after in the Trump Administration that has nothing to do with the Mueller probe. Once the Republican leadership sees the report, the only question will be whether Trump resigns before or after January 20th (so that Pence can run for two terms, as if electing him for one is at all realistic). The only stupid option is to not pursue impeachment at all in the face of Trump's ties to the Oligarchs in Russia, including money laundering. Given Trump's performance this week, any Republican keeping his Senate seat may be considered a long shot.
As I said yesterday, the best thing that the Bishops can do is what they are likely to do, shift with the wind as the Republicans are annihilated in the upcoming election and through episcopal retirements. Like judges of a certain age, bishops will more and more understand Roe and the obligation to fight abortion economically, which the GOP will never do. Expect Granola to be served in Baltimore.
If the GOP is decimated or if the Democrat wins in Georgia, what matters is how the government deals with voter suppression. I would hope that a Democratic Congress will redo the Voting Rights Act preclearance list and put every state where voter suppression occurred or was attempted on it. This won't be limited to the South this time.
Silk is acting under the impression that Gorsuch and Kavenaugh are somehow closer ideologically to Scalia than the Kennedy. I don't see it. Nino was one of a kind. No one who went to any Ivy League law school in the modern age will reverse privacy rights based on sexuality. If anything, the Court will hear the case in the Second Circuit to nationalize the proposition that sex discrimination provisions in the Civil Rights Act already protect LGBT workers and renters. If that occurs, the Human Rights Campaign will be able to fold up its tent, as there will be nothing more to pursue in terms of gay rights. As the money in the Church in America is now with the parents of Millenials, who believe that there is no moral difference between gay and straight relationships, it is the Church that will have to change - and will once the money moves that way.
The trend will be to free tuition, so the question of legacies will not matter, although fundraising will be important. Admission of a rich idiot on economic grounds offers only a semester of advantage, especially if our entitled student is caught cheating. In college admissions, there are obvious yeses and obvious noes. Everyone else can go into a lottery after the first choices are admitted and the incapable rejected.
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