Lincoln and the pro-life movement?

On this President's Day, observing (among other silly things) Lincoln's 200th birthday, shall we consider what the pro-life movement can learn from Abraham Lincoln?

1. Never let your movement be coopted by someone with a different agenda. The abolitionist movement gave itself over as a vehicle for the agenda of an ambitious man who, when it played well, decried the injustice of Negro slavery, but really was out to centralize power in Washington and replace a federation of sovereign states with a single central ... even imperial ... government, and who made it clear that if he could "save the Union" without freeing a single slave, he would do so.

Everything worked out fine for his cabal of generals and railroad owners and other industrial interests, which within a few years were pushing the Indians out of (or underneath) the western territories. But for the southern Negros, slave and free, the result was resentment and racial tensions which are a political factor to this day, and which contrast to the relative racial harmony which one finds in the dozens of countries Western Hemisphere which simply ended slavery peacefully, without an internecine war.

And today, we have seen the Bushie neocons use pro-life voters and pro-life election manpower to launch their own agenda of building a new empire of coerced global democracy. The pro-lifers should wonder if they've been had like the abolitionists, in that the neocon politicians and their war profiteering backers paid their lip-service and got what they want, but abortion on demand is still the law of the land, and the pro-lifers must now operate in the Obama backlash.

2. Read the Fine Print. It's commonly believed that Lincoln freed the slaves. Nonsense. He simply pulled a propaganda stunt by purporting to free slaves in unconquered Confederate territory. If you'll read the Emancipation Proclamation, you'll see he didn't free a single slave in territory Northern invaders controlled.

Likewise, pro-lifers today should pay attention to what really was written, in Roe and Doe, and their precedents, as well as what has happened since (and didn't happen) in Casey and other cases. Pro-lifers should also be sensitive to the federal Constitution. Justice Scalia is constitutionally correct, even as he's pro-life: this is not a federal issue. The way these cases are most likely to get rolled back is to establish that the subject of abortion, like almost all other regulatory and criminal matters, is properly the business of the states, which have plenary power.

If some post-natal person is chopped to pieces, it's a state crime, not a federal offense. So it should be. And so it should be, if some pre-natal person gets chopped to pieces.

Some dream case which rules a fetus has "personhood" will be no more sound Constitutionally than Roe or Doe (however morally sound). It will be a house built on the sand of inconsistent and incomprehensible due process jurisprudence, certain to be washed away by the next leftist wave. Pro-lifers should understand the constitutional issues, and be prepared to take their battle out of Washington to their own statehouses and state courts, where it properly belongs.

3. Don't turn monsters into martyrs. Before John Wilkes Booth's appearance, the balcony at the Ford Theatre was occupied by a man whose refusal to abide by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution caused over 600,000 deaths, who burned and looted massive swaths of his supposedly-beloved nation, and who destroyed a humane and thoughtful form of government that was founded on the Catholic notion of subsidiary (albeit by Protestants and Deists). With the pull of a trigger, Booth had suddenly created the secular saint we see in that hideous William Chester French sculpture.

And a few years ago, some loner idiots--not the organized movement--were popping off abortionists. Even if there's no sin against justice in using all necessary means, including deadly force, to stop the murder of an innocent, more harm than good is done when one raises such a vile person to to the altars of the pro-death crowd. Even for the organized movement that abhors such tactics, though, there's still a lesson here: Should we gain victories here and there, we must treat the vanquished pro-aborts with care, lest we cause a backlash and undo what we've accomplished.

And now back to the outrage...

Pennsylvania Judges lining their own pockets by sending teenagers to jail:

Using the government's monopoly on the use of force to intentionally and wrongfully imprisoning someone is something that deserves summary execution, in the Curmudgeon sentencing guidelines.

But of course, it's really not that big of a deal to the government---a few years at most:

Conahan, who along with Ciavarella faces up to seven years in prison, did not make any comment on te case.

The only hope is that they get sent to some prison where there's a once-innocent teenager, ruined by these bastards, with an axe to grind (yes, a literal axe).

But of course their buddies on the bench will look our for them. Maybe a few hours of picking up trash will be all they get.

But Curmudgeon how can you and a Christian say such things? How dare you suggest we (and the incarcerated kids) do anything but turn the other cheek! Christians are supposed to be merciful and forgiving!

I'm reminded of a scene from Henry V:

The mercy that was quick in us but late,
By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,
As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.

But of course, we aren't governed by a conscience any more...either a good one like Shakespeare's King Henry or a bad one. We're governed by the mob, and by the corrupt men who are its master. So we can expect these guys to get off with a weekend of picking up trash all the same. It will be curious to hear if this gets meaningful attention in this age where government is good.

On the other hand, it would be delightful if perhaps we could imprison 1,000 to 2,000 judges for parking tickets, minor offenses and arrogant behaviour. Turnabout's fair play!

A little break from the outrage....

We're about to go on vacation next week. We've been having trouble with the cassette adapter that we use to get our iPod sound into the radio in our (pre-iPod ready) van. It's cirtical on trips, because otherwise we're stuck listening to Western Kansas radio twang or lugging our CD library with us (if we can find our CD's, of course) We thought it was a problem with the casette adapter, so Mrs. Curmudgeon bought a new one at Target.

$18. Ouch.

Mrs. Curmudgeon suggested that we test to be sure it's the adapter and not the cassette player itself. How? I asked. She suggested I put a tape in and see if the player worked normally.

"Do you have a cassette?" she asked

"Umm of course I do...somewhere."

So I went down to the basement and pulled open a box that has been sealed for years. You know...a box containing remnants of our former worldly life.

The first cassette I pulled out was Van Halen II. One I didn't particularly enjoy even when I bought it in high school, and one which Mrs. Curmudgeon had never even endured. We agreed that it would be no loss if the cassette deck ate it. It was serving no purpose other than waiting for a more dramatic end in an old fashioned book-burning or TV-smashing party.

Well sure enough, there was a problem with the deck. It's stuck.

It won't play...God is merciful. The Curmudgeons wont be listening to "Dance the Night Away" over and over on a 15 hour drive. But it just keeps clicking and clicking.

I could not get the tape out. So, I got on the internet, looking for ideas.

As I searched, I ran across this:

$10
Metro on Craigslist. Project car, anyone? - Fuel Economy ...
Radio has "William Shatner Christmas carols" cassette tape stuck in deck, enjoy. ... must tow (preferably on a trailer with a solid deck and sides to avoid ... MPG - 2006
Toyota Corolla automatic. Latest project: pedal power bike 12v ...ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/10-metro-craigslist-project-car-anyone-671.html - 58k - Cached - Similar pages

Up until that point, I couldn't imagine anything worse than a minivan with Van Halen II stuck in it. Now I can. An '06 Corolla with Captain Kirk singing "Silent Night."

Beam me up, Scotty!

USCCB Collections Plan - sample letters

In yesterday’s post, I raised the issue of the many, many national special collections that the USCCB and our local Bishops subject us to, and I explained how and why we tradition-minded Catholics can be heard by our own Bishop and the USCCB about the importance of spreading access to the traditional Latin Mass. I hope you’ll spread the word (not for promoting my blog…I could care less…but for promoting our common cause).

In that post I went so far as to outline a strategy that readers can use part or all of, and I’ve already received a couple of comments, and a couple of email requests, for sample letters to use in the campaign. So see below, and remember that what matters here isn’t getting into an argument, but in helping the larger Church and getting your Bishop and the USCCB National Collections Office to start thinking about helping our fellow Catholics who are attached to tradition in less-fortunate parts of the world.

Sample Letters:
For the Parish Collection:
(remember to skip this one on subsequent collections if your parish returns it to you the first time. We don’t need to tick off our own pastors and collection counters)

This special collection contribution is to be used solely for the [support of traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) apostolates in Central and Eastern Europe]. Please forward it to the diocese and the USCCB subject to that restriction. If you are unable to do so, please return it to me.

For the Diocesan Letter
(send this one every time unless you are specifically told not to by the Bishop)

JMJ
Date/Traditional Feastday

Most Rev N. [Cardinal] N.
Bishop/ Archbishop of X
Chancery Address
Chancery City, State/Province

Your Excellency (Your Grace, Your Emminence):

Enclosed please find a check in the amount of $____ which I am sending for the diocesan special collection for [the Church in Central and Eastern Europe], which I was unable to contribute in our parish collection last Sunday. I am mindful of our duty to support the wider Church beyond our own parishes and communities, and I want to do so in a way that directs my contribution to an important apostolate that is often neglected by the larger Church.

Therefore I am directing that my contribution be used solely for the support of an a traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) apostolate in Central and Eastern Europe, and for no other purpose.

Please note this purpose as you forward my contribution to the appropriate recipient, in accordance with Canon 1267. If you cannot comply with my these directions, please return the check to me.

You are in my prayers, and in those of my family.

Sincerely Yours,

K.C. Curmudgeon

For the USCCB special collections office
(each special collection has its own director...imagine that bureaucracy. These directors are priests...some even Jesuits. If you want to send one directly to that collection's director, locate the name at this web page. Otherwise, send it to the head honcho below, Mr. Markey)

JMJ
Date/Traditional Feastday

Mr. Patrick Markey
Executive Director, Office of National Collections
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street NE
Washington, D.C. 20017

Dear Mr. Markey:

Enclosed please find a check in the amount of $____ which I am sending for the national special collection for [the Church in Central and Eastern Europe], which I neither my parish nor my diocesan collections office was able to accept. I am mindful of our duty to support the wider Church beyond our own parishes and communities, and I want to do so in a way that directs my contribution to an important apostolate that is often neglected by the larger Church.

Therefore I am directing that my contribution be used solely for the support of an a traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) apostolate in Central and Eastern Europe, and for no other purpose.

Please be sure that my contribution reaches an appropriate recipient, in accordance with Canon 1267. If you cannot comply with these directions, please return the check to me as soon as possible.

Sincerely Yours,

K.C. Curmudgeon

Finally, if the USCCB bureaucracy has fails you, go direct:

(Find an organization with offices here in the US and apostolates in the appropriate place if you can, especially if you want the tax deduction. I’ll make some suggestions in another post.)

JMJ
Date/Traditional Feastday

Contact Name
Organization Name
Address
City State ZIP

Dear X:

Enclosed please find a check in the amount of $____ which I am sending for the support of one of your organization’s apostolates in Central or Eastern Europe. [Here mention the specific apostolate if you know of it]

During the national special collection for Central and Eastern Europe in February, I attempted to make a contribution targeted to traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) apostolates there, but neither my diocesan Bishop nor the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Collections Office was willing to accept my contribution.

Therefore, I am sending it to you, knowing that you have apostolates in [______ ]. Please contact me if you have any difficulty in honoring my directives.

We are grateful for the work your institute does here in the US and in Central and Eastern Europe, and you and your priests are in our prayers.

Sincerely Yours,

K.C. Curmudgeon

cc: Your local bishop & the USCCB Collections Person you contacted above.

USCCB Collections -- A plan of action!

Many of us who are in canonically-regular traddie communities are burdened with almost two dozen extra envelopes in our collection packets over the course of the year. These are "national" collections that are mandated by the Bishops who tow the USCCB boat, and in a couple of cases, they may just be extra diocesan slush fund collections. A PDF file listing the national collections can be found HERE.

They are:
For the Church in Latin America (January)
For the Church in Eastern and Central Europe (Early February/ around Ash Wednesday)
Rice Bowl (mid-February)
For Black and Indian Missions (late February)
Bishops' Overseas Appeal (mid March)
For the Holy Land (Good Friday)
Priesthood - Present and Future (mid-April)
Home Missions Appeal (late April)
Catholic Communications Campaign (mid May)
Peter's Pence (early July)
Mission Coop (mid July)
Catholic University of America (September)
World Mission Sunday (October)
The [notorious] Campaign for Human Development (mid-November)
Retirement Fund for Religious (mid-December)

Most of us ignore these envelopes, because we know we'd be contributing to just another high-overhead USCCB operation and semi-pagan, commie Maryknollers at best, or at worst (in the case of the Campaign for Human Development) directly supporting political organizations which undermine the Church. We think the Bishops and their diocesan and national bureaucacies are just after our checkbooks, as it seems they are. We know that if we give to these collections, even the evil Campaign for Human Development, our pastors and chaplains are bound to transmit the offerings to the diocese (Canon 1266).

But here's a quandry. We really can't just not give anything outside our parish...ever. We do have an obligation to support the wider Church...not just our own community. Many of us do just that...by supporting faithful religious orders, for instance. But is that enough? Canon 1262 provides that "The faithful are to give support to the Church by responding to appeals and according to the norms issues by the conference of bishops."

Now let's acknowledge that checkbooks can be wielded as effective weapons. Wealthy leftist individuals and wealthy leftist foundations often use the checkbook as their weapon of choice. While we can't perhaps write such big checks and wield such big weapons as these guys (they've got .45s; we've got .22s), we can make ourselves heard using our checkbooks.

Think about it. If an average Bishop gets an angry letter from a traddy about waste and corruption and modernism and special collections, what will he do? He'll probably never see it, because his secretary will screen it. If he does see it, he'll probably ignore it. If you're lucky, he might dictate a curt reply to you ... but that's only if you're lucky. I tried that once myself, complaining to Bishop Finn's predecessor about the irresponsible and downright heretical activities that were being funded by the Diocesan appeal. Instead of assuring me he'd clean things up (which I expected him to do...heh...heh), Bishop Boland practically told me to go find a parish in Kansas and hassle Abp. Kelleher instead.

But what if you send the Bishop a check? Even a small check? What will he do then?

If you send a Bishop a check, he'll probably cash it,and he'll probably read the letter it came in...even if it's for $25 or so. In fact, he has an obligation to cash it. Canon 1267, sec. 2, provides that offerings "cannot be refused except for a just cause..."

And what if you send the Bishop a check with specific conditions as to how it's to be used? What will he do them?

If you send a Bishop a check with conditions, he'll have to use it for the purpose stated in giving the gift, or if he can't, he'll return it. Canon 1267, sec. 3, provides that "Offerings given by the faithful for a certain purpose can by applied only for that same purpose."

So what's your point?

If we want to be heard in the matter of all these special collections (or if you want to make a point about anything else), you can use your checkbook and canon law to be heard...even by the Bishop.

Nobody notices an envelope that's dropped into a trash can at home. Nobody even notices an envelope that's put into the basket empty (except perhaps the poor old guys that are counting the collection while you're enjoying coffee and doughnuts after Mass). But if there's a check in the Chancery or the USCCB office...eventually someone at the Chancery or the USCCB office has to deal with it.

How would you do it?

The method I'll propose will involve some stamps. You'll have to be willing to spend a couple bucks per collection on stamps, as well as be willing to put out $20 or $50 or more in a special collection.

• Step 1: Write a check and a very short note (not a long missive...less than 50 words) stating that you want your contribution to this collection to be used solely for X, and if it cannot be, it should be returned to the donor. In the case of the Latin America collection, "X" should be "solely for the support of traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) apostolates in Latin America." For the "mission" collections, "X" would be "solely for the support of the missionary activities of institutes regularly providing the traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) to to those they serve." For the Catholic Communications Campaign, it should be "solely for the communication of information and resources on the traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form)." You get the idea. The only problem is the Campaign for Human Development...I'll cover that later.
• Step 2: Put that check and note in your special collection envelope and drop it, like an obedient Catholic, into the basket at the Offertory on the appointed Sunday.
• Step 3: Wait for your chaplain, pastor or parish office manager and call to complain that you're making their job harder, and then have them either forward the check and the note to the Chancery or return it to you so you can direct it to the Chancery yourself. If you get the check back from the parish, skip Step 3 on future collections and go directly to Step 4.
• Step 4: If your chaplain, pastor or parish office manager returns it to you, then mail a check for the same amount, payable to the Archdiocese, directly to your local Bishop with a polite short letter stating that you want to contribute to the collection, but you also want to make sure your gift is targeted to what you see as a critical need in the Church. Don't go beyond that (except perhaps in the case of the Campaign for Human Development, which I'll address below). Don't mention your own community or your own priest. Don't criticize the new Mass or the Vicar General's toupe. Don't even say you're a traddie (trust me...they'll know). Just keep the message focused on how they're to use your check. If you want, you might ask them to confirm with you that the check will be properly directed.
• Step 5: If the Bishop's office calls you (which is unlikely), then be prepared to state your reasons why you did what you did (here, use less candor and more prudence than you would with your own priest, except in the case of the Campaign for Human Development, where you can be candid). Just state that there's lots of money flowing to people who have the New Mass (Ordinary Form), and you want to make sure that those attached to the Extraordinary Form get something, too, because you worry that they might otherwise be neglected by the USCCB. Remind them that it's your right and their obligation under Canon 1267. But I would recommend that you not use the opportunity to bash the new Mass or comment on the Vicar General's toupe. Save that for another letter on another day.
• Step 6: if the Chancery returns the check to you, then send a check directly to the USCCB. I think you can probably get the address from one of the collection links above. The same principles apply to the accompanying letter.
• Step 7: if the USCCB returns the check to you, then send a new check in the same amount directly to an appropriate group (in the case of the Latin American collection, the Campos prelature would be a good one). In the letter, let the recipient know that this is a check you tried to give through a national collection, but that your local Bishop and the USCCB refursed to accept it for the purpose you intended. Copy your local Bishop and the USCCB collections office on the letter.
• Step 8: be happy that you helped the traditional Catholic cause by (a) getting money to a traddie group who can do some good with it and (b) letting the Bishop and the USCCB collections office that you're out there, and you're not stingy...just focused.

What about the Campaign for Human Development?

As for the Campaign for Human Development, I wouldn't use the above strategy at all. In this one case, I would suggest simply returning your empty CHD envelope to the Bishop about a month before the collection, with a polite letter stating that you cannot in conscience provide support to organizations which are enemies of the faith (perhaps enclosing a short, sober article you find online which details CHD wickedness). State that you're giving $x to a specific worthy organization that actually relieves poverty (outside your own parish or community) in lieu of giving anything to the CHD. Also ask him to stop permitting the CHD collection to be made in his diocese.

How's that for a curmudgeonly strategy for dealing with special collections? I'm open to refinements; please comment below, and forward this idea to all your friends (I don't have many readers now that I've quit blogging, so I could use some help disseminating the idea).

If this idea catches on, I'll try to rough up some sample letters for the steps above.

What's important at the USCCB?

When visiting the USCCB website for information on another post, I couldn't help but notice the LEAD article on the website. Now at a time when lots of important things are going on that will strengthen Holy Mother Church (the potential regularlization of the SSPX and the potential reunion of a large group of Anglicans), the USCCB won't have any of it. Instead, it features this:

Ch’an/Zen Catholic Dialogue Spreads ‘Welcome Table’ at Retreat

(I linked the permanent article, not the front page, above because I assume that it will all change in a day or two when they come up with some other goofy thing to put up.

"Rev Victoria" and "Rev Heng" must be loving all the attention they're getting, as must Sister Mary Ann (Sisters of Charity---surprised she's not an IHM or and RSM). I see we had a Bishop there, too. Bishop Wester of Salt Lake City. Well, I supppose Bp. Wester is used to hanging around people with some really strange religious beliefs, given where he's from.

Aren't you glad our Bishops are paying for this stupid stuff....excuse me...this EVIL stuff....while we're closing parishes and schools and convents around the country?

Sign me up!

The Regensburger Catholic theology professor Wolfgang Beinert classifies the SSPX as "reactionary and anti-democratic".

Dow Jones with 15 minutes 'til the bell.

We're gonna spread happineeeeeeeeessssss! We're gonna spread free-ee-dom!
Obama's gonna fix it...Obama's gonna change the world!

^DJI 3:43pm ET 7,872.71 DOWN 398.16 DOWN 4.81%

Seems the stimulous package he rammed through the Senate today is having an effect.

Eurotrash? Euroclerics?

Continually amazed at the nonsense coming from European Bishops these days. Gillibrand at CathCon is doing yeoman service translating it on the fly.

Now we see the fruits of Vatican II, eh? These guys make even Cardinal Roger Mahoney sound Catholic!

Doing the right thing

Imagine a Bishop or a seminary rector who said something scandalous to the faithful and harmful to the faith.

Now imagine his superior taking decisive action within a matter of days to distance himself and those under his authority from the source of scandal.

Now imagine the source of scandal promptly and publicly apologizing for all the trouble within a week.

Now imagine the source of scandal dropping into the background, and consistently with his promised apology, letting himself be cast into the sea and surrendering his post.

Also imagine a superior throwing a different, unrepentant source of scandal out of his order entirely....again within a few days of the violation.

Hmmmm. Maybe the "regular Catholics," Jesuits and several U.S. Bishops included (not to mention the entire German episcopate), could take a lesson from all this.

I could be proven wrong over the next few weeks, but at present, it seems that the "disobedient" and arrogant" Society of St. Pius X, from its actions so far, does have something to teach us "regular Catholics" about obedience and humility after all.

Of course the people that would benefit can't hear all this over their own shrill PC screams. But wouldn't it be something if scandal within the institutional Church handled is such a decisive way?

Pray for the Holy Father, that he might overcome his enemies inside and outside the Church, for Bps. Fellay and Williamson, and for everyone in or attached to the SSPX!

Quiz on remission of SSPX excommunications

So much stupidity in the Catholic news these days! Here's a one-question quiz to see if you're keeping up:

Identify the person who published the following statement:

A few years after the Second Vatican Council, a French [A]rchbishop, Marcel Lefebvre ... judged that the Council had taken the Roman Catholic Church too far in a progressive direction, so far that no [P]ope since Pius XII has been validly elected and served as [P]ope.

Was it
(a) the Editor in Chief of the National Catholic Reporter?
(b) an anonymous commenter on the "Lost Lambs" blog?
(c) the Roman Catholic Bishop of Buffalo?
(d) internet canonist and anti-SSPX crusader Ed Peters?
(e) Bill Tammeus of the Kansas City Star?

If you picked (c), you win.

Was it because he is ignorant, or because he's devious? Honestly, I cannot bring myself to believe that a sitting Bishop would be so poorly informed about an ecclesiastical matter. Which means I'm assuming the latter.

Shame on me for having so little respect for the man. But if you respect the office, it's that much harder to respect the man.

The Kansas City Star falls another notch?

From the Kansas City Business Journal (and not the Kansas City Star)

(intro music by Roger Miller:)

Kansas City Star....that's what I are!
Yodileedila-ye ya' oughta see m'car
Drive a big ole' Cadillac with wire wheels
Got rhinestones on the spokes
Got credit down at the grocery store and my barber tells me jokes
I'm the number one attraction in every supermarket parking lot
I'm the King of Kansas City...no thanks Omaha...thanks alot.

(fade)

Ahem, from the Kansas City Business Journal:

Kansas City Star will cut more jobs

The Kansas City Star will cut more jobs as part of a restructuring plan its parent company announced Thursday. The McClatchy Co. (NYSE: MNI) plans to cut an additional $100 million to $110 million in costs in the next year, starting later in the first quarter.
* * *
Also on Thursday, McClatchy reported that it lost $21.7 million, or 26 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 28. This compares with a loss of $1.4 billion, or $17.46 a share, a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter was $470.9 million, down 18 percent from $573.4 million the prior year.
* * *

No one could miss (at least no one who doesn't work for McClathy could miss) seeing the causes of this: content that is insufficient, poorly selected, poorly written, in a poorly designed paper.

For instance, Inane columns like this one on the Bishop Williamson matter, involving no research and no original thought...and preceded or accompanied by no actual reporting of the underlying news, even on the once-a-week Faith page. In a vaccuum, I might have wondered why there was no report of the lifting of excommunications here in the very newspaper market where the SSPX is headquartered.

But heck, no one even reports for the Falling Star any more. They've laid off all their reporters. If an event isn't reported over the AP wire, or it isn't visible from an editor's window, or it doesn't involve Mark Funkhouser, it doesn't get reported. They just fill the space where the news used to be with graphics and with guest articles that read like the copy came into the place written in crayon.

The only reason to ever buy a Falling Star would have been for packing dishes or lining pet cages or lighting a woodstove. But now that they've skinnied the paper down to pay for their gazillion-dollar presses, and their glass palace, it's not even useful for that.

The days of the Star are numbered. A few weeks ago, I proposed to a journalist/investigative reporter I know that if a guy had a million dollars or so, he could launch a new general circulation paper in town...a tabloid size paper that came out in print once or twice a week with daily email updates to fill in the gaps (like the KC Business Journal), and actually made some effort to provide real news and informed commentary. Something that was fair and balanced, but was edited for consumption by a reasonably informed and educated, commonsense reader with a Western and Christian worldview. I'm not talking about a highbrow publication, or a special-interest religious publication. And no, I'm not talking about a print version of FoxNews (blech~!) I'm just talking about a decent paper with a staff that sifts and reports general news for intelligent people of good will, rather than a mediocre and incomplete leftist rag like we have now.

Scranton Bishop Wipes Out FSSP parish?

It appears that the Bishop of Scranton is consolidating the FSSP parish in Scranton out of existence. This is, of course, in the diocese where the FSSP is headquartered. The traditionalist world has been very quiet about this. WHY?

Is there any news to post or print on this development?

http://thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2009/02/01/news/doc4985bcaf3b2a2950235456.txt

http://www.saintmichaelsrcc.org/

Pope rehabilitates Holocaust denier, angering Jews

Deo gratias!

Our enemies are the principalities and powers, among them the Associated Press and whatever demon got into that devious Swede's and that idiot Brit's heads to try and torpedo a rapprochement.

As for this little complication...the holocaust questioning thing. I'll not comment and reserve judgement on the substance of it, as I really don't have any knowledge of the event beyond the conventional textbook history (which I distrust) and it would seem hard for anybody who did claim some expertise to question it on the larger points, for it's beyond credulity to hold that anybody could pull off a hoax of such magnitude. The substance of Williamson's stupid comments are not germane to the issue.


Let's consider, though, the shrill argument that we're already hearing in online newspaper comment boxes, and by tomorrow, we'll hear from "more respectable" quarters, who will live only in the present, and cannot consider the past.


1. The question of whether or not this bishop is in communion with the Holy Father is based on his current opinions on an secular subject rather than his part in the unfortunate sequence of events in 1988.

2. Williamson holds a crackpot idea about a secular subject.

3. No one who has crackpot views on secular subjects should be in communion with the Holy Father.

Now, I don't mean to keep Williamson out of the Church, but I'm not so sure I don't find that reasoning compelling or useful if it were applied to the Universal Church, and not just to traddies.

I think the Holy Father should reinstate the excommunication declared in 1988 with respect to Richard Williamson, and in the same decree, he should apply this principle to all Bishops.

Anyone with me?

Browsing at a hospital chapel

I was wandering around Providence Medical Center today (because...I mean....where else would I want to be on a beautiful sunny Labor Day afternoon?), and I started thinking of the devil's latest conquest in Mexico, and I wanted to reread chapter 12 from the Book of Wisdom. Alas, the drawers in the patient rooms all had protty-bibles, placed by the Gideons. No Wisdom to be found in the prots' bible, as you know. They think Wisdom is apochyphal. I didn't hope for a Douay, but there was not even an emasculated RNAB to be found laying about in a Catholic hospital. Where would I look?

Eventually, I found myself in the chapel, where it appeared (from the white electric sanctuary lamp) that the Blessed Sacrament was reserved. Being easily distracted, my reflections passed from Canaanite and modern infanticide to the hospital itself and the religious order that founded it (what each once was, and what each has degenerated to today). It occurred to me then that our Lord, presumptively in the tabernacle, might appreciate a little old-fashioned worship of Himself and honor to His Blessed Mother, so I knelt down and said the five joyful mysteries of the Rosary, in Latin. It seemed unlikely that such a thing was common in that chapel. I cannot know, but I hope He enjoyed the change from his routine of lay-led communion services in English and Spanish.

Afterwards, as I was leaving the chapel, I noticed a pamphlet rack in the back. Even though it was bad form to do so with my back to our Lord in the tabernacle, for some reason I picked up a couple of them, just curious to know what the laymen who ran the chaplain's office were peddling. Expecting to see just the usual kumbaya-Catholicism one finds in such places, I was really surprised to find that about half the space in the rack was literature from the Unity people (you know, those folks who've gotten beyond the idea of a hierarchical church, and gotten beyond the God of Abraham, and who've built the ooh-so-cool temple on the Plaza).

The tracts were full of reflections on sickness, suffering and hope; a few from a version of the Bible I've never heard of, others from random folks I'd never heard of (presumably, they're folks who hang out with Unity types). Some reflections benign or trite. Some reflections assuring me that god (if not God) is within me in a way that...well...seemed to go beyond anything that Pius XI might have said. And at the end of each, there was a phone number you could call to pray with somebody at Unity, 24/7.

And so I thought, "Surely, even for this place, tracts from such a source were not intentionally placed there? I mean, surely, these were put here by someone passing through without asking for permission?"

That must have been it. The Unity tracts HAD to have been left without permission. After all, a Catholic hospital (even one affiliated with enlightened nuns who've kicked the habit) wouldn't promote whatever sort of religion "Unity" is. But I must say that the guy who left those tracts was enterprising. Before he smuggled the tracts into the chapel, he went to the trouble of stamping them all "Providence Medical Center Spiritual Care Office."

At least I could be assured that as soon as the priests or orthodox laymen who staff the Spiritual Care Office noticed, they'd be off the shelf. Right? Right!

Comforted by that thought, I can worry more about the Unity guys than the Providence staff. Perhaps I'll call the Unity prayer line and invite the guy who answers to pray the full version of Leo XIII's prayer to St. Michael with me.

USCCB Summer Games

One of my friends, for whom I've invented the moniker "Kumbaya," has a guest post which I'm happy to put up:

WASHINGTON D.C. (Associate Spoof) -- Nevermind the "real" summer games going on in Beijing; there's a far more interesting set of games going on here in the states: The USCCB Summer Games. Just in case you've never heard of these games, here's a rundown of the most popular events.

Starting with a test of speed, stamina, and strength, the games open with the ICEL Translations Criticism Contest. In short, the contestants vie to see who can complain the loudest, the fastest, and the longest about the translations of the newly proposed liturgical texts. This year's competition looks to be especially interesting as the perennial favorites have been stewing over Cardinal Arinze and Archbishop Ranjith's recent exhortation to toe the line and follow the translations as rendered by ICEL. Cardinal Mahoney is favored to win as long as he's not disqualified for false starts.

Verbal dexterity, creative obfuscation, and use of the diocese legal team will be pushed to the limit in the Abuse Lawsuit Obstacle Course. With the retirement of defending gold medalist Cardinal Law, the field is wide open this year. Speculation among some insiders is that Bishop Brom of San Diego might have an edge but the field is packed with many highly qualified contestants. A record number of requests for press passes have been received for this event.
In the non-clerical events, competition for the gold will be the tight in the Liturgical Dance Competition and the Greet Your Neighbor and Exchange the Sign of Peace individual medlies. Assuming enough traditionalists can be duped into being "catchers," the Javelin Throw should be a real crowd-pleaser at the Olympic Coliseum, as well as the Pick Your Dogmas Archery Contest (which, as in previous years, is only open to "dissenting Catholics").

Two new events have been added to the field thanks to last summer's publication of Summorum Pontificum. The first is Team Weight Lifting, a timed event in which contestants reconfigure a sanctuary from Novus Ordo mode to Tridentine mode and then back again. Also new to this year's games is the Red Tape Relay in which Catholics file requests for a traditional Latin Mass with their local bishop while raising a non-refundable 25% down payment to finance the operations of a part-time community which will be serviced by a bi-ritual priest -- all while preparing an appeal to the Ecclesia Dei Commission in case the request is denied.
Sadly, not all of the planned events will be taking place in this summer's contest. One of casualties was The 100-Annulment Sprint which was nixed when all but two of the contestants were dismissed for "rubber stamping" during the qualification round. Also canceled was the Spirit of Vatican II Road Race because nobody could agree where the race started, where it finished, what path the course was supposed to follow, or who was allowed to take part in the event.

Expect security to be tight at this year's games, as well as possible gender-checks for female contestants attempting to infiltrate the all-male events. Check your local diocesan newspaper for complete coverage.

Boston Post

Updated the Boston Church Closing post below with pictures. Finally got them uploaded.

Diabolical self-storage?

Happy to be back in Kansas, and out of new Sodom, I pulled in to the parking lot at Blessed Sacrament in Kansas City for 11am High Mass, thinking it was great to be back in God's country.

Or was I ?

There it was.

.....The deacon who taught my confirmation class in Texas warned me about it.....

.....I heard a sermon preached on it a few years ago.....

......here it was, the most satanic song ever written, morphed into the most satanic self-storage container ever made, right there in the parking lot of a Catholic parish:

I often wonder about what goes on at Blessed Sacrament when we're not there.

Sometimes I wonder more. And sometimes I wonder less.

The comment box is open.

For Alison

First of all, madam, I think you should start your own blog, if you haven't already. You're much more amusing than I am. Mrs. Curmudgeon thought "Pandas Revealed" far superior to any of my witticisms.

Secondly, a "personal parish" is as follows:

Can 518 (1983 Code of Canon Law): As a general rule a prish is to be territorial, that is, one which includes all the Christian faithful of a certian territory. When it is expedient, however, personal parishes are to be established determined by reason of the rite, language, or nationality of the Christian failthful of some territory, or evn for some other reason.

A parish is a juridic person with some rights (however precarious under the new regime). Many places (e.g., Denver, Rockford, Sacramento, Kansas City Missouri) have traditional communities which are established as personal parishes or their equivalents. Others (e.g., our little group) are mere "chaplaincies," with no rights, but which exist only at the sufferance of the ordinary. That's not to say there aren't risks to personal parishes (see Scranton PA), but they're not entirely a plaything of the chancery as St. Rose Philippine is.

Springtime of Vatican II in Boston

I'm on a business trip, and I had a few hours free last night and found myself in Boston's Chinatown, so I went by and took a few pictures of recently-closed Holy Trinity, a symbol of the wise episcopal governance and collegial papal deference that Boston has enjoyed over the last forty years.

How wonderful the aggiornamento has been! This is the traditional Latin Mass community met for a number of years, and it's my understanding that they were quite prepared to take over responsibility for the historic church(which, judging from the exterior, could stand a little work).

Of course, to allow those traditional folks to have their own place would have been unthinkable; they're not really a part of the larger Church, you know. And besides, Cardinal Sean might be able to make a few thousand dollars to throw at the buggery bill by selling it to some goofy New Agers who would....ironically....have a beautiful place to celebrate gay weddin's.

It was the announcement from the Diocese of Scranton, home of the North American FSSP headquarters, that the FSSP-served traditional personal parish be supressed or merged with a happy-clappy parish "to cope with the priest shortage" when the FSSP is probably the only institute in that diocese that actually produces plenty of religious vocations? I figured, having read that, that I'd venture a little bit and see the wreckage in Boston.

Isn't it something, how incredibly stupid we all are, in the eyes of the evil or incompetent men who've politicked their way into being our shepherds, and in the eyes of their crooked chancery rat handlers? And isn't it something, the money that can be made out of church closings when you team the chancery rats up with guys like Alan Meitler? Church closin' is good business, and business has been good in Boston, and Scranton, as it has been in the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas.