'Gaudete et Exsultate': Francis puts 'exhort' back into exhortation

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/gaudete-et-exsultate-francis-puts-exhort-back-exhortation
MGB:_We do not do works of mercy to find joy, we do them because we are sharing joy. We are not grateful because things are good, we seek gratitude in the Lord to acknowledge the good done for us and thereby feel Grace. Gratitude is an action, not a feeling, as any recovered drunk will tell you.

This is not smug encyclical. It requires we move forward, not defend the powerful. It is a warning to Catholic Capitalists and Calvinists. It should make Mr. Sensenbrenner a bit uncomfortable. As for abortion, there is no conflict on the left except for the lazy who would not move more forcefully toward a tax supported living wage. We cannot ban our way into a culture of life.

A teacher of mine looked at Newman’s work and said that the next evolution of the Church was a call for holiness. It looks like we are getting there.

Trump drives the news cycle like a hurricane

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/trump-drives-news-cycle-hurricane
MGB: Donald Trump is Being There's Chauncy Gardner on a diet of FoxNews.  That his supporters watch the same claptrap insulates him from losing any of them.  The reality is that he prefers his network to his military briefers, so he has deployed the National Guard to stop asylum seekers from Honduras sneaking across the border, even though they were going to the official CIS asylum window anyway, with no risk of anyone being raped except by bandits. Not even human traffickers will touch these people, who have a protective detail of media watching them.

FoxNews is telling our President how good his outfit looks (how the Russia probe will soon collapse) when that information is not helping him.  He is naked as the Emperor in the face of Mueller, but the news he believes will never let him know it.

College of the Holy Cross theology firestorm has core values at stake

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/college-holy-cross-theology-firestorm-has-core-values-stake
MGB: Liew's piece seems like more of a parody of queer theory than a real attempt at it. Before anyone is "allowed to resign" the professor should get a chance to explain what is hopefully a strawman. If he is serious, then it could be his trying to be "all things to all men" in the example of St. Paul. If that is the case, he probably took it a bit too far, as he has offended more than attracted. Finally, his making a metophor of the spear is incorrect, as the wound was post-mortem, therefore necrophilia rather than sodomy, making the entire analogy fall apart.

Links for 4/5/18

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-4518
MGB: To put it crassly, propaganda is always the first step in radicalization.

The Left is certainly not a dead end. It just needs to express its goals in terms of the cash and prizes the working class wants and needs, to wit, workers controlling the means of consmption. Once we effectively propogate that idea, we win.

Every modern Muslim accepts an Israeli homeland, and every enlightened person demands freedom for the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.

Until much of the vacation property on the Gulf Coast is under water, global warming will remain a wedge issue on both sides.

Gates' show is a hidden gem because it is on PBS. Luckily, they do reruns and are on demand. Looks like something to do after Sunday Mass.

50 years ago, we lost a great American and a genuine Christian prophet

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/50-years-ago-we-lost-great-american-and-genuine-christian-prophet
MGB: Like most children of the sixties, I learned much of what I know about Dr. King from television, specifically the miniseries in 1978 starring Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson.  It still holds up, especially regarding the treatment of both Viet Nam and FBI surveillance, although it leaves out some of those details.  The PBS Series Eyes on the Prize filled out this knowledge and of course working on the staff of Marion Barry added flavor.  Walter Fauntroy and Marion had set up office space at 14th and U, NW above the People's Drugstore in preparation for King's imminent arrival to work on the Poor People's March AND desegregating DC.  There are those who think that this is the reason he was killed and that it had nothing to do with James Earl Ray.  I will remain agnostic on that point, but I can appreciate where it is coming from, especially as some of the work Dr. King would have undertaken in DC is still not finished.  Indeed, if you look at some of the towns within a few hundred miles of the Gulf coast, there is quite a bit of unfinished business, and that is before we get to winning hearts and minds.  As long as being black and male carries the implication that one is armed and dangerous, there is still work to be done in the world of law enforcement.  I am not sure how King can rest in peace with such atrocities continuing so many years later, but I can assure you we will be marching come August. Our victory lap five years ago was a bit too early.

Links for 4/3/18

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-4318
There is nothing like a live musical, even on TV. Superstar did not go too far. It would be a bit different if written now.  We are ready for Mrs. Superstar.

Francis is the world's parish priest. If only everyone gave homilies like his.

Voters like issues, but they also like biographies.  If only issues were important, the Green Party would hold the Speakership.

Whether you soft pedal the social issues depends on how competitive the congressional district is. I see no reason to ever not support gay marriage. It's common law, not a legislative issue. Not overturning Roe is like that too.  It will never happen. You can say that and not endorse abortion. Those that won't are scary.

Disaster aid is an entitlement, giving enough to one does not prevent the other from getting more. Puerto Rico needs to have the infrastructure to absorb the money.  That their disaster pros were in an air conditioned convention center rather than in the field right away speaks volumes.

Taking Koch money is easy for many Catholic schools because it comes with a dose of pro-life activisim.  I can see where Wellesley would not go along with that.

Kudlow is perfect for Trump, it is Trump who we need to get rid of.  No decent main-stream economist would ever pass is Fox & Friends test.

Exaunt Ms. Audran.

Fourth CNN 'Pope' episode examines Reformation, with uneven results

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/fourth-cnn-pope-episode-examines-reformation-uneven-results
MGB:_MacCulloch has a great explanation in his books for the theory behind indulgences, which was consolidated by Pope Clement VI in the bull Unigenitus. Had Garry Wills been invited to participate, he would have attributed Indulgences to the transactional view of the Passion taught by St. Anselm, as opposed to St. Augustine and Plato’s view of an unmoveable God.

Of note is also Luther’s belief that the Pope is the anti-Christ, which some Protestant sects still hold onto and which is a central theme to the tune Now Thank We All Our God, which is occassionally sung, with great irony, at Mass by unaware music directors.

St. Augustine’s role in the theology behind Twelve Step recovery programs should also be noted.

After Trent, the logical jump would have been to Pius IX and Pius X and their Crusade against all things Modernist, then ending there or Jumping to Vatican II, whose noisiest dissident was a polish priest named Karol.