Discerning Truth in Popular Culture

The bulletin insert from last week, obviously timed to coincide with the release of The Golden Compass.

How Do We Discern Truth in Popular Culture?

“It is not, then, that we hold the same opinions as others, but that all speak in imitation of ours. Among us these things can be heard and learned from persons who do not even know the forms of the letters, who are uneducated and barbarous in speech, though wise and believing in mind; some, indeed, even maimed and deprived of eyesight; so that you may understand that these things are not the effect of human wisdom, but are uttered by the power of God.”

St. Justin Martyr, The First Apology*

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The Da Vinci Code. The Chronicles of Narnia. The Golden Compass.

These are just the latest in a long string of controversial works that often make Christians mount massive boycotts sight unseen. If the book or movie is for children the result is often that the works are forbidden, also sight unseen, by worried parents. This often has the result of making that forbidden fruit seem all the sweeter. An unintended consequence of such behavior is to confirm to the secular world that a Christian’s basic behavior is to condemn something.

Conversely, there always are plenty of “gurus” ready to direct our minds and take our money. Most recently this is evidenced by The Secret, which promises to reveal “the Law of Attraction” which has been passed on through the ages to make all our dreams come true. Promises such as these are often offered with the “Christian” label on them and just as often are swallowed hook, line, and sinker without a second thought.

We know that not everything good must be called “Christian” in order to have value, as St. Justin Martyr reminds us above. Essentially he is pointing out that, whatever the source, truth is from God who Himself is all Truth. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to name but a few, would not have been able to mine Greek philosophy for the nuggets of truth that contributed so richly to the bedrock of Catholic theological understanding if that were not the case.

Likewise, not everything presented in the secular world as “Christian” is always true. Where there is money to be made, there are people who will trade on good will to take hard earned dollars. Even when something is reliably “Christian” it does not necessarily contain the full truth that is found in our Catholic faith.

How do we discern what is harmful and what is not? There is one simple solution in both situations. We need to know our faith. We need to consider the world around us through the lens of that faith. If one is already in the habit of considering advertisements, television, movies, books, news, politics and more in a Catholic context, then assessing new material is a matter of course.

We must be educated, find trustworthy information, weigh opposing opinions, ask questions, and possibly review the actual material in question. Only then should we reject or accept stories and ideas, whether fully or in part. In short, it means taking responsibility and teaching our children to think and discern just as responsibly.
This can be quite a challenge. However, it is a challenge that is rewarded richly and that becomes easier and more enjoyable with time.

A side benefit is that you will have some fascinating conversations with your children or friends that may be broader and deeper than ever before. This not only educates us but adds to the richness and interest of everyday life. You can’t lose!

Our faith does not reject stories and ideas simply because of so called code words like “magic.” Our faith does not embrace hollow promises which come without the basic truth of Christ. God has given us Christ and the truth, the Church and her teachings, and our hearts and minds to use in His service. Let us put them all to good use in discerning true from false in popular culture.

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* St. Justin Martyr’s First Apology was written around 155 A.D. in Rome to the emperor as a defense of Christianity.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

MEMORIAL

The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego on Tepayac hill near Mexico City on the 9th of December 1531 to ask for the construction of a church there in her honour. After the miraculous cure of his uncle, Bernardo, this Indian peasant brought to his Bishop some roses that he received from Our Lady as a sign of her request. As the flowers fell from his cloak to the ground before the astonished Prelate, the image of the blessed virgin, which is venerated in the Basilica of Guadalupe to this day, was miraculously impressed on the simple garment before their eyes.

In Conversation With God Vol 7: Feast Days, July-December

What has always fascinated me is the symbolism of the image that was on the cloak. TSO says:

One of the interesting things about the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is its teaching potential. Though she looks glorified, with stars and rays of sun coming from her as was predicted in Rev. 12, she is no goddess. Her hands are folded in supplication, her posture indicating that she is interceding for us at the throne of the God.

Indeed, he is right. There is so much in that image that speaks to Catholic hearts through symbolism.

However, there is much more to Our Lady of Guadalupe's image than that. As with all good Catholic images there is abundant symbolism that was specifically designed to speak to the hearts of the people to whom she brought her message ... the Aztecs. I remember when our priest put out a flyer about this and I was just knocked out at how meaningful every single thing in the image is. I really like this explanation.

The miraculous image produced on the apron or tilma of Blessed Juan Diego is rich in symbolism. The aureole or luminous light surrounding the Lady is reminiscent of the "woman clothed with the sun" of Rev. 12:1. The light is also a sign of the power of God who has sanctified and blessed the one who appears. The rays of the sun would also be recognized by the native people as a symbol of their highest god, Huitzilopochtli. Thus, the lady comes forth hiding but not extinguishing the power of the sun. She is now going to announce the God who is greater than their sun god.

The Lady is standing upon the moon. Again, the symbolism is that of the woman of Rev. 12:1 who has the "moon under her feet". The moon for the Meso-Americans was the god of the night. By standing on the moon, she shows that she is more powerful than the god of darkness. However, in Christian iconography the crescent moon under the Madonna's feet is usually a symbol of her perpetual virginity, and sometimes it can refer to her Immaculate Conception or Assumption.

The eyes of Our lady of Guadalupe are looking down with humility and compassion. This was a sign to the native people that she was not a god since in their iconography the gods stare straight ahead with their eyes wide open. We can only imagine how tenderly her eyes looked upon Blessed Juan Diego when she said: " Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief -- Am I not here who am your Mother?"

The angel supporting the Lady testifies to her royalty. To the Meso-American Indians only kings, queens and other dignitaries would be carried on the shoulders of someone. The angel is transporting the Lady to the people as a sign that a new age has come.

The mantle of the Lady is blue-green or turquoise. To the native people, this was the color of the gods and of royalty. It was also the color of the natural forces of life and fecundity. In Christian art, blue is symbolic of eternity and immortality. In Judaism, it was the color of the robe of the high priest. The limbus or gold border of her mantle is another sign of nobility.

The stars on the Lady's mantle shows that she comes from heaven. She comes as the Queen of Heaven but with the eyes of a humble and loving mother. The stars also are a sign of the supernatural character of the image. The research of Fr. Mario Rojas Sanchez and Dr. Juan Homero Hernandez Illescas of Mexico (published in 1983) shows that the stars on the Lady's mantle in the image are exactly as the stars of the winter solstice appeared before dawn on the morning of December 12, 1531.

The color of the Madonna's dress is rose or pale-red. Some have interpreted this as the color of dawn symbolizing the beginning of a new era. Others point to the red as a sign of martyrdom for the faith and divine love.

The gold-encircled cross brooch under the neck of the Lady's robe is a symbol of sanctity.

The girdle or bow around her waist is a sign of her virginity, but it also has several other meanings. The bow appears as a four-petaled flower. To the native Indians this was the nahui ollin, the flower of the sun, a symbol of plenitude. The cross-shaped flower was also connected with the cross-sticks which produce fire. For them, this was the symbol of fecundity and new life. The high position of the bow and the slight swelling of the abdomen show that the Lady is "with child". According to Dr. Carlos Fernandez Del Castillo, a leading Mexican obstetrician, the Lady appears almost ready to give birth with the infant head down resting vertically. This would further solidify her identification with the woman of Rev. 12 who is about to give birth.

Source

You can read about this apparition of Our Lady in more depth here.

Some more about conditions in Mexico at the time Our Lady appeared as well as a prayer for abortion victims can be read at Ave Maria. She also provides a link to further symbolic information as well as details about the images seen in Mary's eyes.

UPDATE
The Curt Jester has some myth-busters about this apparition, which he hastens to assure us he does regard as a miraculous event. However, it is a good reminder that it is just too tempting sometimes to make a miraculous thing even better by embellishing ... tch, tch, tch.

Speaking of Pop Culture

Rev. Lovejoy: Wait a minute! That sounds like rock and/or roll.

The Simpsons

Sympathy for the Devil is Abp. Chaput's header for his review of The Golden Compass.

Nice...

Now I've got that bluesy-rock sound rollin' round in my head for the drive home.

Again. Nice...

Thanks Abp! (No wonder I love that guy!)

The Story So Far: The Golden Compass and The Bishops

For anyone who is new to this situation, which I have been watching with some bemusement since The Golden Compass debuted last week, here's the scoop.

First...
... the USCCB (a.k.a. Catholic Bishops) prints a "rave review" of The Golden Compass. Which I actually don't have a problem with as long as they also note the moral complexity, ambiguity, and problems inherent in the movie (which they didn't ... yep, it's Brokeback Mountain all over again ...).

Then ...
... New Line sees the review, does a "chop shop" on the wording, rearranging it to make it really strong and puts out an ad.


Next ...
... many pithy and ironic comments are made by many observant bloggers (go team!), et al and the ad is pulled.

Meanwhile ...
... much complaining and questioning is done to the USCCB by practically everybody reading their movie review.

(A Word from the Fringe)
A side commentary: I am not sure who is reading those reviews ... I haven't for years as they are not usually even decent movie reviews. Certainly there is not what I would call good moral guidance often available which is what I would expect from Catholic bishops. If I have a question on that front I turn to either Decent Films where Steven Greydanus is primo or to Christianity Today reviews (an evangelical publication ... I think ... which is doing the job that the bishops should be doing).

Back to the story ...
... so now the USCCB has pulled the review altogether.

Without comment.

Which is a comment in itself.

For more info and links ...
... this story is all over the place, but I enjoy this story by Christian movie critic Jeffrey Overstreet because he has the outsider's point of view. He's also got a link to the Google cache of the original USCCB movie review if you want to take a look.

I'm ... Speechless ...

... and we know that's pretty rare.

The Anchoress completely stunned me with this very kind post. Talk about a wonderful gift. Christmas has come early. (I'm also pretty flattered that her little brother Thom stops by ... I hear he's got high standards.)

Thank you so much, Anchoress!

(Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go reread that post and figure out how to live up to it!)

Let It Snow Baby, Let It Reindeer

What's a partridge?
And what's a pear tree?
I don't know so please don't ask me
But I can bet those are terrible gifts to get.

Refrain for The 12 Days of Christmas

Rose just got Reliant K's Christmas album and I have to say it is not bad, not bad at all. Of course, this is also coming from a family where Ringo Starr's Christmas album is consistently in the top 5 on the CD player at this time of year...

The Twist in This Adventure-Thriller is Catholicism

The Secret Cardinal by Tom Grace

After distributing the bread of the Eucharist, Yin offered the wine, reenacting a ritual that originated with the Passover Seder Jesus shared with his closest friends on the eve of his crucifixion. The simple act brought Yin and his congregants into communion with a billion other Roman Catholics around the world and with God.

Yin had prayed in beautiful churches, but nowhere did he feel closer to the Creator than with those clinging to their faith against immense hardship. It was in ministering to his endangered flock that Yin truly fulfilled his calling as a priest and became, in the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, a channel of Christ's peace.

"This is the blood of Christ," Yin said reverently as he offered the blood to a boy just old enough to make his first communion.

The boy bowed his head respectfully and replied, "Amen," but barely allowed the scorching liquid to touch his lips. Yin suppressed a smile.

As Yin took the glass from the boy, he heard a metallic sound, the bolts on a heavy door pulling open. It was a sound he knew well, but not from this place.

"Wake up, old man," a voice barked.

Light flooded in and the sacramental scene faded, erased from his mind's eye by the intrusion. In an instant, the clandestine mass withdrew into his precious trove of memories. ...

A thick steel door and a small air vent were the only suggestion of a world outside the cell. In a tamper-proof fixture recessed into the ceiling, a lone dim bulb provided the only illumination to reach Yin's eyes in thirty years. He had long ago lost all sense of day and night, and of the larger passages of time--temporal disorientation being but one of the techniques employed against prisoners like Yin.

"I said wake up!"

Thus we are introduced to Chinese Cardinal Yin, not known to the world as such because Pope Leo XIV has named him a cardinal in pectore (in his heart, in secret) to keep the Chinese from killing him. As it becomes evident that diplomatic measures to free Yin have permanently failed, the aging pope sends ex-Navy Seal Nolan Kilkenny to extract Cardinal Yin from China and bring him to Rome. This sets off a race against time across Asia which is set against the action in Rome where forces inside the Vatican itself are working to discover the cardinal's identity and reveal it to the Chinese.

I like this sort of thriller which tends to be straight forward between good and bad guys, full of action, and in praise of the dedicated military man's prowess. Recent books I've enjoyed of this genre include Empire by Orson Scott Card and Karl's Last Flight by Basil Sands. I hadn't come across Tom Grace's books before but this book is singularly of interest to Catholics who also enjoy the genre. Grace became aware of the struggle between the church and the Chinese government when he read a transcript of Sen. Joseph Lieberman's tribute on the death of Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei. This sparked Grace's further investigation into the situation which in turn led to this book. Not only is there the action of rescuing the Cardinal, but of a papal conclave which has a mole in its midst leaking news about Yin's escape.

Of course, I not only appreciated the adventure but the Catholic flavah' throughout. Y'all will too.

Dear Rose: Congratulations!

Upon the recommendation of the Columbia College Chicago Trustee Award Committee, I am pleased to tell you that because of your exceptional academic achievement you have been selected to receive a 2008 Trustee Award. The amount of your reward is $2,500 for the Fall semester and $2,500 for the Spring semester ...

Exciting, eh?

We sure are excited ... and proud, very proud, needless to say.

This part is exciting also:

Renewable up to four years

Back Seat Riot ... I'd Buy It

And not just because I know Max's mom. The song's good and I like the vid ... the contrast between the goofy boys that they are and the talented musicians that they morph into. Check it out.

My Three Sons Saints

On Advent Eve The Pious Sodality of Church Ladies began assigning "patron" saints for the liturgical year of 2008. This is a special chance to get a new look at a need either in your own life or of the Church's. They explain:

2008 is going to be a year of great changes for many people. Some will get married, others will discover more fully the meaning of their religious or sacerdotal vows. Many people will face major life changes. Therefore, this year each recipient will recieve two patron saints who were spiritual companions, in keeping with St Thomas More's wise counsel about knowing a man by the company he keeps.

My special saints are: Sts. Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, & Louis

Pray for orthodoxy of Catholic universities

"Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you." [Aquinas]

Now that's a good idea and one I never would have thought of, although extremely apt for my interests. In addition, I have never felt especially close to St. Thomas Aquinas (though always appreciating his many gifts), I know only slightly of St. Bonaventure, and know virtually nothing of St. Louis (though I believe I just heard a quick synopsis of his life on a history podcast). So this is a good opportunity to get better acquainted with three of my "big brothers" in the cloud of witnesses.

You can ask for saints in their comments boxes. I believe they are still graciously passing them out.

A side benefit of this is that I discovered a fascinating blog, Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family. This is what the Church Ladies referenced in terms of the "saint of the year" idea. The concept behind the blog is this:

In 1955, Maria Augusta Trapp—the real Maria portrayed in The Sound of Music—wrote a book celebrating the customs and seasons of the Catholic Church’s liturgical year. Such customs, she wrote, are “an expression of a deeply Catholic feeling, and they have grown out of times and from people who found it natural to carry over their beliefs into the forms of everyday life.”

Her aim in writing was to help “make Catholic home life more warm and expressive of our religion, and above all [to] bring children and parents closer together.”

Unfortunately, Around the Year with the Trapp Family is no longer in print, and copies are expensive and hard to find. The entire text is available in document form at EWTN’s library.

In this blog, we will bring you selections from Maria’s book in accordance with the current liturgical feasts and seasons. We will also excerpt from her other books when appropriate to the liturgical season. We encourage you to share your own faith-filled customs in the comments sections of each post.

This is something that I know many are interested in and there are many interesting posts about Advent. So hurry on over and check it out.

Many thanks to the Church Ladies for my special saints of 2008!

I Don't Think I'm a RadyTrad ...

... but still am proud to be listed on the banned list at Spirit of Vatican 2 (a tongue-in-cheek blog y'all will like).

Chuck Norris's Favorite Facts ...

Looking up the Chuck Norris facts list for a friend who hadn't heard of it, I see that Chuck himself has chosen his favorite lines which, natch, I put below.

(I was reminded of the list by the Mike Huckabee ad and if you missed that go look right now ... we'll wait ...)

• When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.


• Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.


• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.


• Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.


• Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.


• Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.


• Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.


• There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.


• When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.


• Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.


• Chuck Norris’ hand is the only hand that can beat a Royal Flush.


• Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.


• Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.


• Chuck Norris gave Mona Lisa that smile.


• Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.


• Chuck Norris does not get frostbite. Chuck Norris bites frost


• Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching a DeltaForce marathon on Satellite TV.


• Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Chucktatorship.

What Everyone Knows ... Turns Out to Be False Once Again

John C. Wright's investigations show him that there is more to Christian dogma than can be found in our "reasonable" philosophy.

It has always struck me as unjust in the Christian dogma that virtuous pagans are consigned to hellfire. Nothing could be more obviously an affront to reason than to condemn a man for eternity to punishment when the means of salvation were not and could not be known to him, and to call it just.

I discovered just today that this is not the Christian dogma at all.

M Francis writes and tells me this:

"…the Church always recognized something called "Baptism by Desire." The neo-Platonists like Augustine were much taken by the life and death of Socrates and saw in it a pagan parallel to the life of Christ - both unjustly executed by authorities for preaching virtue. Hence: the "naturally Christian man," Homo christianis naturalis, iirc. They supposed that, not having known Christ, the "virtuous pagans" would not receive the beatific vision complete but, being virtuous, a "limb" of heaven was reserved for them: a place of perfect natural happiness. This became "limbo" in common speech.

The Roman Catholic position can be summed up in Art. 1260 of the Catechism:"Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery."

I also came across this quote by Billy Graham (actually, I came across John Derbyshire quoting David Aikman's biography of the great preacher):

“I used to think that pagans in far-off countries were lost — were going to hell — if they did not have the gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them. I no longer believe that. I believe there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God — through nature for instance — and plenty of other opportunities, therefore, of saying yes to God.”

... Ever since my conversion, I found the same thing over and over again: that the illogical or unfair parts of the Christian Dogma I was being asked to accept on faith, upon closer inspection, turn out to say, not what the world told me the Church said, but something more like what natural reason and supernatural love would be likely to say. If the Roman Catholics and the Southern Baptist Billy Graham agree on a point, it is safe to say it is a mainstream Christian teaching.

For those of you who think faith is some sort of willful blindness or deliberate affection for absurdity, please consider instead the cases like this: imagine that, more that once, you found your unaided opinion, the act of resting only on what you know yourself turned out, upon inspection, to be nothing more than finding a popular prejudice lodged in your mouth, something "everyone knows" but no one, not even you, actually checked.

Everyone knows the Church is the enemy of science, right? Look at the trial of Galileo! But then you read a history book or two, and it turns out that the Galileo affair was not about geocentrism, it was about Galileo insulting the Pope. ...

Everyone knows the Church is the enemy of law and justice! Look at the Spanish Inquisition! But it turns out the Inquisition was smaller than reported, handled with more legal safeguards, and was the actions of a national church operating independently, and sometimes in opposition to, the ecumenical episcopate. ...

Go read it all. I know well how he feels having gone through the same period of discovery myself. I was flabbergasted at some of the things that "everyone knows" (including me) that turned out to be dead wrong once I actually consulted the facts about Christian dogma.

An Inspirational Story Acts as Hinge for Two Truths

This inspirational story of a young Muslim woman who is converting to Catholicism is making the rounds and with good reason. She is attracted to Jesus because of the mercy he shows, and by extension, through the mercy she has seen U.S. medical personnel demonstrate by treating wounded enemies. (The story is reported by a journalist in Iraq who spent time with Fr. Bautista, found via Deacon Greg.)

As Fr. Bautista continued speaking with us, he described the fascinating story of a young Muslim woman who was entering the Church under his guidance through the RCIA process. Her story was moving. While working with Americans, this woman, who must remain anonymous, was touched deeply when she realized that the U.S. medical personnel not only treated wounded Americans and Iraqi civilians, but also treated wounded enemy combatants, including one who was known for having killed U.S. Marines. As she put it, “This cannot happen with us.”

This dramatic extension of mercy even to enemy soldiers caused her to take the next cautious step. She asked Father Bautista to “tell me more about Jesus.” As Father described Jesus and his life in the Gospels, one thing stood out among the rest for the Muslim woman he called “Fatima” (not her real name) and that was how kindly Jesus had related to, as she put it, “the two Mary’s.” Fatima was moved to see how Jesus deeply loved Mary, his mother, who was sinless, but also how Jesus deeply loved Mary Magdalene, who was “a great sinner.” As these discussions continued, Fatima reached a point where she said to Father Bautista, “I want to become a Christian.”

Since Father Bautista sees himself as a chaplain for all troops, not just Catholics, he decided to introduce Fatima to other chaplains from Protestant and Orthodox backgrounds. After some time had passed, Fatima returned to Father Bautista and said, “I want to become a Catholic like you.” When Father asked her the reason for her decision, she said, “You were the only one who told me about the other Christians, so you left me free to decide for myself. That’s how I knew this was the right decision.”

As their catechetical lessons developed over time, Fatima’s family discovered her plan and was warned sternly by her father that if she continued on this path, she would be disowned by the entire family and would never have contact with them again. At this point, Father Bautista became concerned for Fatima’s well-being and cautioned her to look carefully at the consequences of her decision and to think seriously before continuing her path into the Church.

Fatima paused for a moment and then looking intently at Father Bautista asked, “Do you give up so easily on Jesus?” The question took Father aback for a moment, but then he thought, “This is incredible; this Muslim woman is already bearing witness to me about how important my own faith is!”

Read the whole story here.

This morning, catching up from a missed day of devotional reading, that story was instantly called to mind when I read this quote and thought of how the demonstration of mercy beyond plain justice moved Fatima to ask, "tell me more about Jesus."

We should meditate on the life of Jesus because Jesus is a summary and compendium of the story of the divine mercy ... Many other scenes of the Gospel also make a deep impact on us, such as his forgiveness for the woman taken in adultery, the parables -- the prodigal so,, the lost sheep, the pardoned debtor -- and the raising to life of the son of the widow at Naim. How many reasons based on justice could Christ have found to work as great a wonder as this last one! The only son of that poor widow had died -- he who gave meaning to her life, he who would help her in her old age. Jesus did not perform His miracle out of justice, but out of compassion, because his heart was moved by the spectacle of human suffering.

St. Josemaria Escriva, quoted in In Conversation with God:
Daily Meditations, Vol. One: Advent and Christmastide

I was moved again to think of Fatima and her attraction to the truth when reading an email this morning with a press release for an upcoming book about interacting with Islam.

I am thrilled to bring your attention to a new book, Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism by George Weigel, a Catholic theologian and Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center. In his bold manifesto, Weigel calls all Americans to confront and recognize the religious passions that fuel Islamic Jihadism. Weigel claims that, in order to do this, we must begin to:

1. Realize that the great human questions, including the great questions of public life, are ultimately theological
2. Demonstrate acknowledgment that the greatest achievements of the West are works of spiritual grace
3. Retire the idea that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are the three Abrahamic faiths
4. Stop trying not to offend. Truth-telling is the essential prerequisite to genuine inter-religious dialogue
5. Try to bring about a non-violent regime change by engaging with the Iranian people, NOT their oppressors ...

Reading "stop trying not to offend" instantly recalled Fatima's question, "“Do you give up so easily on Jesus?” I will be curious to see what the book says. I found it interesting that I so well understood the chaplain's back-pedaling in an attempt to keep "Fatima" safe. He had forgotten what many of us have, here in the West. Speaking the truth may offend the hearer, even if done in charity and kindness. However, as long as we truly are speaking with charity and kindness then it is not a service to backpedal, but a grave disservice to the hearer. What they do with the truth is then up to them.

An Avowed Tim Burton Hater Swoons Over Sweeney Todd

All my life I've loved -- worshipped -- what Stephen Sondheim's music can do for the human heart. Blend this with a tragic, grand guignol metaphor about how we're all caught up with some issue of the past -- needing on some level to pay the world back for the hurt and the woundings. Add to this Burton's exquisite visual panache and precision, the drop-dead beautiful, near monochromatic color, the ravishing production design and...pardon me for sounding like a pushover, but this movie pushes over.

At times it melted me like a candle. I was lifted, moved. I was never not aroused. Every frame is a painting.

Johnny Depp is fantastic as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street -- he has to be a Best Actor candidate as of this moment. It grieves me to admit this, but bully-boy David Poland predicted that Depp's Todd would be a major contender early last year. Helena Bonham Carter can't sing very well but she's great anyway. Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower (a major new arrival), Jayne Wisener, Sascha Baron Cohen...everyone fills the bill.

That doesn't sound like someone who has been disappointed in Burton's films for a long, long time, but Jeffrey Overstreet on whose blog I saw the link, assures us this is so. Read the whole review and get ready ...

Special MP3 Advent Reflections

EWTN is featuring reflections that will change weekly throughout the Advent. They also have other special seasonal listening to be downloaded. This week it is an International Rosary. Scroll down to the bottom of the page each Monday to see what's offered.

I am about halfway through Father Saward's reflection for this week and can wholeheartedly endorse it. He talks about just what it means to "wake up" and has some good ideas for us to incorporate in our routines.

Here's a thought ...

Elliott sez:

Christians shouldn't refrain from criticizing Pullman, but they should reflect on the fact that they already have the theologically-freighted young adult fantasy worlds of four self-professed Christians: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, and J.K. Rowling. (I recently came across a Ph.D. dissertation in which a grown woman (who seemed to be a non-Christian) enthusiastically described L'Engle's impact on her and the inspiration which L'Engle's theological ideas of 'chronos' and 'kairos' gave to the dissertation itself.) The impact of these four has been enormous. So don't get too intimidated by one blustering late-comer who wants to compete.

True enough.

Where Do We Look to Find Jesus?

This insert was in our church bulletin last week and I thought that y'all might like it as well. The new liturgical year is a good time to start afresh and this begins a series that will take us back to basics in looking for Jesus.

Where Do We Look to Find Jesus?

“ This is the context in which we need to read the conclusion of the prologue to John’s Gospel: “No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart who has made him known” (Jn 1:18). It is in Jesus that the promise of the new prophet is fulfilled. What was true of Moses only in fragmentary form has now been fully realized in the person of Jesus; He lives before the face of God, not just as a friend, but as a Son; he lives in the most intimate unity with the Father.

We have to start here if we are truly to understand the figure of Jesus as it is presented to us in the new Testament; all that we are told about his words, deeds, sufferings, and glory is anchored here. This is the central point, and if we leave it out of account, we fail to grasp what the figure of Jesus is really all about, so that it becomes self-contradictory and, in the end, unintelligible. The question that every reader of the New Testament must ask—where Jesus’ teaching came from, how his appearance in history is to be explained— can really be answered only from this perspective. The reaction of his hearers was clear: This teaching does not come from any school. It is radically different from what can be learned in schools. It is not the kind of explanation or interpretation that is taught there. It is different; it is interpretation “with authority.” …

Jesus’ teaching is not the product of human learning, of whatever kind. It originates from immediate contact with the Father, from “face-to-face” dialogue—from the vision of the one who rests close to the Father’s heart. It is the Son’s word. Without this inner grounding, his teaching would be pure presumption. This is just what the learned men of Jesus’ time judged it to be, and they did so precisely because they could not accept its inner grounding: seeing and knowing face-to-face. ”

Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger

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Last Sunday we celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King. This Sunday, we begin Advent and a new liturgical year. How fitting that we begin and end the year with our eyes fixed on Christ as he is the center of our faith and the Church’s reason for existence.

Yet, often that very task can be more difficult than one might imagine. There are many interpretations of Christ presented in books, on television, and in movies. Newly unearthed “Gospels” told by Thomas, Peter, or Judas are not found in the Bible but flourish on store bookshelves. Popular thrillers such as the Da Vinci Code are sold as fiction but claim roots in older nonfiction texts. Ancient heresies are dusted off, given a new name, and taught as spiritual truths. We are told that there is no such thing as an absolute truth in this relativistic age and that all of the world’s main religions are basically the same. In other words, we continually have new, misleading information given to us with an authoritative tone. No wonder we are confused.

As Catholics we do not have to look for Jesus all alone. The Church has written down her teachings to help us understand Holy Scripture and Tradition in one handy book: the Catechism. If you haven’t opened your Catechism lately, take a look the next time you have a question. Use it for daily meditative reading. There is a wealth of over 2,000 years of cumulative Christian wisdom between those covers.

More recently, “Jesus of Nazareth” was written by Pope Benedict precisely to help us fix our eyes firmly on the real Jesus shown in the Gospels. No one sees the swirl of confusion, misinformation, and flawed scholarship to which we are subjected more clearly than one who carries the papal shepherd’s crook. He takes us back to Scripture in order to show us Jesus Christ clearly, as well as providing much good material for meditation.

In the weeks to come, we will look for the real Jesus using these books as well as other informed sources. We will also consider occasionally some of the difficult questions of modern times in the light of Church teachings. We will fix our eyes on Christ together.

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Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) is available at the St. Jude Library.

Love That Spe Salvi ... Christ, the True Teacher

Reading the encyclical ... and I am only about a third through it ... some things are just hitting me right in the face. So simple and yet so unrealized until I read what Pope Benedict says. For instance, try this on for size ...

... Philosophy at that time was not generally seen as a difficult academic discipline, as it is today. Rather, the philosopher was someone who knew how to teach the essential art: the art of being authentically human—the art of living and dying. To be sure, it had long since been realized that many of the people who went around pretending to be philosophers, teachers of life, were just charlatans who made money through their words, while having nothing to say about real life. All the more, then, the true philosopher who really did know how to point out the path of life was highly sought after. Towards the end of the third century, on the sarcophagus of a child in Rome, we find for the first time, in the context of the resurrection of Lazarus, the figure of Christ as the true philosopher, holding the Gospel in one hand and the philosopher's travelling staff in the other. With his staff, he conquers death; the Gospel brings the truth that itinerant philosophers had searched for in vain. In this image, which then became a common feature of sarcophagus art for a long time, we see clearly what both educated and simple people found in Christ: he tells us who man truly is and what a man must do in order to be truly human. He shows us the way, and this way is the truth. He himself is both the way and the truth, and therefore he is also the life which all of us are seeking. He also shows us the way beyond death; only someone able to do this is a true teacher of life. ...

Saved in Hope: Pope's New Encyclical Released

Pope Benedict XVI released Spe Salvi (Saved in Hope) today. The very word "encyclical" seems intimidating but I often have found encyclicals to be surprisingly easy to read and understand.

So now the Pope has written about love and hope. Can an encyclical on faith be far behind?

John Allen reports "Benedict wanted this encyclical to appear in the Christmas season, since Christmas is the great feast of the Incarnation, traditionally understood as the principal symbol of Christian hope. On Saturday, the church enters the period of Advent, pointing towards Christmas."

Get the Vatican's English translation of Spe Salvi.

John Allen has two articles about it already which I will be reading after I have read the document itself.

• Spe Salvi a 'Greatest Hits' collection of core Ratzinger ideas
• Benedict XVI offers the second in a possible triptych of encyclicals: 'Saved by Hope'

"God bless America and I mean it."

These were words uttered by Rosalie Schiff last night at a talk she and her husband, William, gave at Rose's school. As they are Holocaust survivors telling their stories, attendance yielded students an extra credit in history (a worthy lure). We also were grateful for their talk as Rose retold it throughout dinner last night. It was touching, inspiring, much was sorrowful, and the sheer evil described was incomprehensible. However, it is important to keep this reminder in front of us that we may attempt to keep history from repeating itself.

Interestingly, when we looked up their book (find it here) Tom remembered hearing that the Schiff's live in Dallas and their co-author goes to our parish. Sometimes it is a very small world.

I completely missed the fact that the Dallas Morning News was publishing excerpts, for which you can find links here and here.

Ready for Some Latin?

Or perhaps I should say, ready to help ME with some Latin pronunciation?

Here it is:

"Flammascat igne caritas accendat ardor proximos ..."

May the fire of love burn ever bright, enkindling others with its flame."

11-1, How Sweet It Is!

How 'bout those Cowboys?

I also was happy to see how well the second string Packers quarterback played when he got the chance (as long as he didn't play so well that they won the game, that is). Working in Brett Favre's shadow must be fairly unsatisfying and I could imagine his family's delight at seeing him doing so well last night..

So Many Movies, So Little Time

We watched so very many movies over Thanksgiving that I was astounded. However, it was great fun. I already reviewed American Gangster and mentioned The Prestige. Here is a very quick rundown of the others:

• My Best Friend (French): a nice little story about a man who suddenly realizes that he has no friends at all and sets about making some. The surprise that happens to the taxi driver in the end of the movie had us laughing in appreciation of the familiarity. You'll know it when you see it.


• Reign Over Me: I was surprised at how very much I liked this movie. It had the potential to be a real downer as it examines grief from several angles, but thanks to the strength of friendships and comedy the movie wound up being uplifting.


• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: spoofing noir at the same time as BEING a noir movie. Hard to do but this is great. It is also great fun watching Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer in this movie.
  


• Citizen Kane: Tom and I hadn't seen this for (mumble, mumble) maybe 20 years? Rose wanted to see it and it was fascinating to watch for the many techniques that Wells did for the very first time and that are now common. As well, the final shot of the movie hit me like a slap in the face ... I just didn't see it coming. (And, no, I'm not talking about Rosebud.)


• Amelie: (we actually watched this the weekend before Thanksgiving). This was a delight to me simply for its sheer Frenchness. It is difficult to see how any other culture would have made this movie with its mix of whimsy, sex, romance, and ... well ... Paris. It also is a celebration of friendship, love, and connectedness.
  

Bringing the Saints to the Streets

... the streetwise lingo represented the playwright's attempt at what theologians call an "inculturation of the Bible--that is, a translation of the Gospel texts not simply into a different language but for a different culture.

For Guirgis, that culture is contemporary urban life. Hence, his saints and apostles speak (and often shout) as if they were standing on a crowded subway platform at rush hour. Freed from the need to provide historically accurate quotations for his characters, Guirgis deploys such language to reveal the essential nature of his characters in surprising ways.

For example when the defense attorney in Judas faces difficulty in getting Judas's case heard before a judge in the afterlife, she appeals to Saint Monica, the fourth-century woman whose relentless prayers are credited for the conversion of her wayward son, Augustine. In the biography Augustine of Hippo, church historian Peter Brown describes Monica as an "all-absorbing mother, deeply injured by her son's rebellions."

In Guirgis's world, a fiery Monica is a self-described nag who encourages the audience to seek her intercession: "I got a calling, y'all--you should try giving me a shout if ya ever need it, 'cuz my name is Saint Monica ... and ya know what? My ass gets results!"

Among some Jesuits, Guirgis's approach got results, too. After one performance, a friend said to me, "Maybe I should start praying to Saint Monica again."

A Jesuit Off-Broadway turned out to be one of my favorite books of the year. I am not alone as the book made Publishers' Weekly list for best books of the year (noted here along with a link to a chapter pdf). Father James Martin wound up acting as theological consultant for the Off-Broadway play, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot when Sam Rockwell, the actor portraying Judas, and the playwright, Stephen Guirgis, were directed to Father Martin for background and insights. Later, as the cast somewhat adopted him, Father Martin wound up acting as a unofficial chaplain to the group.

Father Martin leads a diverse group of actors in theology "classes," gives them biographies of saints, and helps them dig deeper into essential questions of faith in everyday life. In return, he finds their fresh approach to the Gospels and the main characters therein to be thought provoking. It can be enlightening for us as well to see how well the playwright encapsulates characters to give us fresh insights.

In Stephen's play, the defense attorney questions the high priest about his decision to hand over Jesus to the Roman authorities. Caiaphas responds with growing impatience:

Our Torah has six hundred thirteen Sacred Laws--I can't even count how many Jesus broke or treated with wanton disregard and disdain! He broke the laws that came from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! He violated the word of God. He violated the laws of Moses. He consorted with the Unclean, and women, and prostitutes. He performed Miracles on the Sabbath. He proclaimed himself Messiah! He forgave sin! Who was he to forgive sin?!Only God can do that! If that's not crossing the line, then I don't know what is!

..."Sometimes," explained Jeffrey [the actor portraying Caiaphas], "I would feel such rage on his behalf. Rage to the point of tears. Having to answer questions from the lawyers suggested that Caiaphas was less of a man, less of a human being, and even suggesting that he was evil."

As the play script develops and production begins, he not only takes us behind the scenes with him but shares how this all affects the actors with distinctly different religious backgrounds who are living their faith on widely differing levels. I especially liked the fact that Father Martin did not pass judgment on these people whatever their backgrounds but simply engaged them in conversation about the topic of the moment. Granted, those topics were generally Jesus, the saints, and Christianity. However, it gives us a good pattern for remembering how best to share our faith in our own lives, as Madeleine L'Engle put it:

We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.

I also really enjoyed the way Father Martin uses the inspirations he realizes to make side trips into other, related subjects such as Jesuit theater, celibacy, Mary of Magdala, and the historical Jesus. I was also delighted when, after teasing us with snippets of the play throughout the book, Father Martin gives us a synopsis at the end. This is a play that I would have wanted to see and one in which I was deeply interested after reading about the actors and process.

Perhaps the best tribute to this book comes in the forward from the playwright who says that he didn't read the book as it is difficult to be a "character in someone else's story." That just made his testimony the more valuable.

... And along the way, Father Jim accomplished that thing that I hoped, and hope, to accomplish with the play itself: he got good people thinking about God again, and even got some back to the church. Even me.

Highly recommended to do that very thing, get us thinking about God in a new way. Christmas is coming. Get it for a theater lover you know.

Update:
Busted Halo features a book excerpt focusing on the play's director, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Read it here.

What a difficult, annoying religion!

To those of you who think religion is a self-delusion based on wish-fulfillment, all I can remark is that this religion does not fulfill my wishes. My wishes, if we are being honest, would run to polygamy, self-righteousness, vengeance and violence: a Viking religion would suit me better, or maybe something along Aztec lines. The Hall of Valhalla, where you feast all night and battle all day, or the paradise of the Mohammedans, where you have seventy-two dark-eyed virgins to abuse, fulfills more wishes of base creatures like me than any place where they neither marry nor are given in marriage. This turn-the-other cheek jazz might be based any number of psychological appeals or spiritual insights, but one thing it is not based on is wish-fulfillment.

An absurd and difficult religion! If it were not true, no one would bother with it.

No freaking kidding. John C. Wright says a bit more on this, amusingly and correctly. Read it all.

More on The Golden Compass ...

... since I seem to be on a linking roll on this subject.

I thought that I had linked to Jeffrey Overstreet's writings on this, which came out a week ago, but perhaps I didn't. In any event, it's worth linking to again. Anyone who has read Through a Screen Darkly knows that Overstreet loves movies and doesn't require them to toe the Christian party line to convey a message that is worthwhile. He also has written an excellent fantasy, Auralia's Colors which shows among other things that he has a deep understanding of the genre.

Specifically, he has read all three books and has some intelligent commentary and also answers people's questions, including how to approach this subject with your children. Read it all here.

Okay, so we shouldn’t start boycotts and complain.
But what should Christians do?

These recommendations come from my humble opinion, and you’re welcome to disagree.

• Educate yourselves. And equip your kids with questions… lenses, so to speak… that will expose the problems in these stories.
• Respond with grace and love. And truth.
• Worried about putting money in Pullman’s pockets by investigating the books? Fair enough. Here’s a little secret I’ve discovered: The Public Library!
• Admit that, yes, Christians have committed grave sins in the name of Christ, and that those shameful misrepresentations of the gospel have made many people fearful of, and even repulsed by, the church. But Christians have been called to serve the oppressed, proclaim freedom for the captives, bring healing to the sick, to seek justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly, and to bring good news of “great joy.” And by God’s grace, many are living out that calling. They paint quite a different picture than what Pullman has painted.
• Encourage the artists and storytellers in your church. If you see talent and imagination, provide resources and opportunities for those artists. We don’t want visionaries abandoning the church because they are tired of being misunderstood or having their talents exploited for the sake of evangelism.
• Do not get hysterical, mount massive boycotts, or behave in ways that the Magisterium in Pullman’s books would behave. You’ll just make Pullman’s stories more persuasive, and you’ll confirm for the culture around us that Christians only really get excited when they’re condemning something.
• Equip yourself and your kids with sharp questions that expose the lies of this story. Here are a few examples:- If we cast off all “Authority” and set up “free will” as the ultimate source of guidance, where will that get us? Has the world shown us that the human heart is a trustworthy “compass”? Does free will lead us always to the right choice?- If the heroes accept the “truth” of the aletheometer (the compass itself), aren’t they letting themselves be guided by just another source of truth… another “Authority”? But wait a minute… the movie told us that “Authority” is bad and we should only follow our own hearts, didn’t it?- If there are “many truths,” then aren’t these heroes being as self-righteous and wicked as the oppressors by demanding that their version of the truth is better than others?- What is so inspiring about the battle between the bears? Hasn’t this story led us to a place where it’s just “survival of the fittest” all over again? Should we really hope that the world falls into the hands of the strongest fighter, rather than into the hands of love?
• Finally… pray for Philip Pullman. Pray about the influence of his work. And pray for humility and wisdom in your own response.Pullman is just a man who, somewhere along the way, got a very bad impression of the church.I also cannot help but note a detail from biographies published online: Pullman’s father died in a plane crash in the 1950s, when Pullman was only seven years old. I don’t know if that had anything to do with his view of God… but I do know that many of the men I know who have struggled with the idea of a loving, caring, benevolent god are those whose fathers abandoned them or died while they were young. Boys without fathers often grow up with deep resentment, and having no focus for that pain, they target God.I want to be careful here: I am not explaining Pullman to you, because I don’t know him. But that detail made me stop and think about how little I know about his experiences and motivations. Shouldn’t I be praying for him instead of condemning him? Shouldn’t I be looking for ways to show love and respect to the man, even as I look for ways to expose the flaws in his work? Pullman’s not likely to reconsider his notions about God if those who believe in God organize a full-scale assault against him and his work.

He also gives us as much of a hint as an ethical movie reviewer can as to content without breaking promises about not jumping opening dates with a review.

Today, I saw the movie. And I’m not going to change a word of what I’ve written as a result. If the filmmakers tried to “tone down” the anti-religious content, they pretty much failed. “The Magisterium” is not a term invented by Philip Pullman. It’s a reference to the Catholic church. And it isn’t hard to see that in the film.

But by professional film-critic standards, I cannot publish a movie review until the day the film opens. (That doesn’t mean that scores of critics won’t break the rules and post their own in order to win readers. But I’ve agreed to play by the rules.) So you’ll hear from me about the movie when it opens.

God's Not as Fastidious as We Are

... Odd, she [Philippa] had thought, I never seriously visualized coming out of Brede again; it had not occurred to her, but in those minutes it occurred painfully. She could have blushed to think how once she had taken it for granted that, if she made enough effort -- steeled herself -- it would be settled. "I know," Dame Clare said afterwards. "I was as confident. Once upon a time I even thought God had taste, choosing me!"

Dame Perpetua had been more blunt. "Weren't you surprised that God should have chosen you?" a young woman reporter, writing apiece on vocations, had asked her. "Yes," Dame Perpetua had answered, "but not nearly as surprised that he should have chosen some of the others -- but then God's not as fastidious as we are," said Dame Perpetua.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden

Great Moments in the History of Technical Services

537 B.C.
The National Library of Babylon, finally switching to papyrus, ceases maintaining its clay tablet shelflist, but is unable to discard it for nostalgic reasons. Two years later, under seige by the Persians, the city finds a new use for the old tablets and manages to inflict severe losses on the beseiging army by pelting them from the ramparts with large quantities of shelflist tablets.

43 B.C.
First attested use of an ISBN (for the special collector's edition of Caesar's Gallic Wars with an introduction by Marc Anthony): IXIVVIIXVIIIVIIIVIVII.

81 A.D.
Second gospel of the Christian New Testament becomes the first document written in MARK format.

427 A.D.
The Library at Alexandria decides to contract out its annual weeding project; Vandal hordes are the lowest bidder.

The geek-index is high for this one. Read the whole list here. Via Catholic Bibliophagist.

Shaped to Have Meaning

The statue seemed to emerge almost naturally from the stone, though again, statue seemed the wrong word, it was so alive. "He's uncovering it," said Dame Gertrude, marveling.

After the novitiate had watched him, Sister Constance had said, "It's like us. We come as a rough piece of stone and have to be carved and shaped to have any meaning."

"But he can only shape," said Cecily. "He can't put anything there that wasn't there before."

"Still more like us, "said Philippa ...

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden

Dishonesty in Homilies

Two people came into Church to pray, one was a Roman Catholic Cardinal in Charge of Church doctrine who prayed "I give you thanks oh God that I am not like others - greedy dishonest or like those living in Africa where AIDS is killing everyone even there we can never allow condoms to be used."

The other was an African widow dying of AIDS who stood off to the side and prayed "Oh God, be merciful to me for not refusing the advances of my husband without a condom, soon I will follow him to the grave and leave our six children orphans.

Jesus concluded – the last person went home more worthy in God's sight than the first.

The Curt Jester tells us that this was a real-life example from a homily given by a parish priest who was scoring points for a topic close to his heart. As he points out this is dishonest to the congregation and is an extremely simplistic sort of rhetoric that is all to easy to flip the other way. Sheez. Give the congregation some credit. Go read it all.

I haven't been following the story that this all illustrates but I am highlighting the homily because I absolutely despise people who put words into Jesus' mouth.

Isn't there enough in three readings, plus the psalm of the day, to craft a homily? I submit that there is. To sink as low as the example above is to show a horrendous lack of imagination, study, and scholarship. Not to mention displaying oneself as a tower of pride and disobedience.

It is true that sticking to what Jesus said might not give you the building blocks for the message that that the homilist wants to deliver. However, that probably is for a very good reason and there just might be another message there that both the homilist and congregation need to hear even more.

It's About Honesty: American Gangster

The movie is also able to traffic in a large quantity of moral ambiguity but never lose sight of the human costs of what its characters do for a living. Frank Lucas is successful, intelligent and sympathetic, but the film takes pains to show the end result of people using his product. On the other hand, in many ways Frank is preferable to the corrupt narcotics detectives who attempt to shake him down. At least he is not betraying the same kind of trust that they are. He is exactly who he says he is and providing a product that people have always been willing to buy. Franks treats his own people, at least the ones he perceives as loyal, far better than Richie Roberts’ people treat him for the crime of being a good cop.

Celluloid Heroes has a very accurate review of this movie.

I can say that because Tom, Rose and I went to see this excellent movie yesterday. (Hannah was sleeping off the 5:00 a.m. sale at Best Buy and passed on the annual Friday-after-Thanksgiving-movie.) I knew it would be gritty. I knew it would be violent. I knew it was about a crime lord who was unsuspected for most of his career. Not my usual sort of movie, to be truthful. (I was pulling for Lars and the Real Girl.) However, Rose won and I am happy that she did.

Certainly I also knew that we would be seeing two actors at the top of their form, Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. What I didn't know was that it is directed by Ridley Scott and stars a gaggle of high talent "hey, it's that guy ... the one whose name I never remember" starting with Chiwetel Ejiofor, known to our family as "The Operative" from Serenity.

Outwardly respectable gangster, Frank Lucas (Washington), makes an excellent living by selling low-priced, high quality heroin on the streets, and surrounding himself with family members who he can trust. He and his entire organization are largely anonymous to the law. Meanwhile, the parallel story of Richie Roberts (Crowe) shows someone who is basically a loser, right down to the point that his extreme honesty has made him anathema to all the other cops. Assigned as the head of the local arm of a federal effort to stop the drug trade at its source, Richie eventually stumbles across Frank Lucas.

This is a very complicated story but the viewer has no trouble following it, which says a lot for the skill and talent of the director, editor, and screenwriters. There is not a big moral to slap us in the face in large part because this is based on a real story and real stories don't always have an easily seen message. However, in thinking the movie over, it seemed to me that at the base it came down to honesty. Frank Lucas never lies to himself about what he does. He insulates himself and those he loves from it but that isolation is different from lying. This is seen in subtle things such as his stillness for a moment when his nephew tells him that he is giving up his lifelong dream of becoming a professional baseball player because, "I want to be like you, Uncle Frank." It is subtle, but it is there. Frank knows that is not a worthy goal. Another telling point about honesty is made when Richie's ex-wife confronts him with an unpalatable bit of truth about him. His reaction is quite telling. Similarly, the end of the movie (which I will not mention for fear of spoiling it) is only possible because Frank at last comes up against a completely honest man in Richie Roberts and that is the one quality that they can appreciate about each other.

Highly recommended.

Columbia College Here She Comes!

Rose got her admittance letter from Columbia College yesterday! Woohoo! (We had gotten a hint since the letter to parents arrived two days ago, telling about all the ways that they work to make sure students leave school employed ... no fools they.)

Not only is she excited about that, but she's also very happy not to also have to do the admissions essays to UT as a backup school. She'll be majoring in film editing.

And I'll finally get to visit Chicago.

This has so many upsides to it.

We're not gonna borrow trouble and think about how far away from home Rose will be. Yet. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Making Christmas Shopping Easy

For the patristically-minded, Mike Aquilina has a list of books that surely cover most anything you ever wanted to know. I highly recommend the ones that say "by Mike Aquilina" for full satisfaction.

The history of the Christmas Card is set out for us by Ian.

Actually, if you look carefully at the card you will see some unhappy figures on the edges. Sir Cole was very concerned about the poor in England and wanted to remind his friends to do something charitable during the Christmas season so he had these cards sent instead of handwriting individual letters. (This is true).

As for the shopping aspect, check out Ian's online Catholic store, Aquinas and More. Not only will you avoid the crowds, but you will be supporting a family run business, and that is always close to my heart.

Update: Can't believe I forgot to mention this, but Ian reminds me that everything is 15% off through Monday evening. Let your fingers do the shopping, cheaply!

Speaking of family run businesses, if you want to see an example of Tom's design work and my layout production, then get the latest edition of Letter & Spirit. Scott Hahn is the editor, David Scott is the managing editor (and a nicer guy you'll never meet) and this is full of essays that dig deeper theologically than you are wont to find in Hahn's regular books (you know, the ones that I read ...). They've scored thought provoking writing about "The Hermeneutic of Continuity: Christ, Kingdom, and Creation" by Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Dulles, and Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, to name just a few among the erudite authors. Some of the topics are the biblical basis of indulgences, feminine and maternal images of the Holy Spirit in early Christianity, and the "image of God" doctrine in St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings. (We also worked on the second edition ... always the insides not the outside ... but as y'all know it's what it says, not how it looks that is important. Check out all three editions.)

All I Want for Christmas Is ...

... a really great calendar. (Though, truth be told, I'm a calendar junkie ...) Order this one, and see more photos of it, at Confessions of a Pioneer Woman.

And, now, if you'll excuse me ...

A Glass of Rioja by Edward B. Gordon

I'm off to do some Thanksgiving cooking and celebrating all the many things that I am so thankful for, including every single person who stops by here.

I Leave Footprints. How About You?

Mama T asks:

How many of us write notes in our books? Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist?

She is a Preservationist but, luckily for me, Smock Mama takes notes in books so I'm not alone. I used to feel terrible about writing in books but got over it. This is usually marking paragraphs or sections of interest, especially in any theology books I have on hand. Otherwise I'd never find anything again.

Praying for the Souls in Purgatory

During November the Church especially prays for all who are in the purifying fires of Purgatory, waiting for the day when they will join the company of the saints in heaven. We are getting toward the end of the month but I wanted to direct everyone to The Lion and the Cardinal where Daniel Mitsui has been unearthing some truly amazing art to help us keep that prayer goal in mind by focusing as he says "on the appropriately morbid." Above is one of the more eerie and striking examples but there is also the very beautiful to be found as seen below. Do go look around through his November posts.

Joe's Old Clothes

Joe had not been a sight. When Admiral Twiss took Kissy to him, he was lying peacefuly in the grass. Kizzy held the Admiral's hand.

Nat came out, took Kizzy's other hand, and together the three of them stood looking at the big still body, at Joe's head with the white blaze on his nose, his eyelashes -- Nat had closed his eyes -- his great legs and mighty hooves that were split and grey -- it was a long while since he had worn shoes. His bay coat still shone. Nat had given it many a rubbing. Joe seemed as if he were asleep, but a deep, deep sleep.

Kizzy went nearer. "Careful," said Nat. "He's getting stiff."

"Will -- will the knacker, the hounds, get him now?"

"They can't," said Admiral Twiss.

"Can't?" Kizzy's head came up.

"Joe's safe," said the Admiral, "because this isn't Joe. He's not here."

Kizzy broke from him and put her hand to Joe's nose, not touching. "He doesn't huff," she said.

"Of course not. He isn't there."

Kizzy looked at the Admiral as if weighing what he had said and put her hand again to Joe. "The warm is gone."

"Yes." Admiral Twiss came to her and gently touched Joe's body. "This is just his old clothes, Kiz. He doesn't need them any more."

"Where is he?"

Mrs. Blount might have said, "In the horse's heaven," but Admiral Twiss was plainer. "We don't know. Nobody knows, but I believe we shall find out."

"When we're dead?"

"Perhaps. It seems to make sense, doesn't it?" said the Admiral. "If Joe isn't here, he must be somewhere. Come. We'll leave his body to Nat."

Rumer Godden, The Diddakoi

What do you think people are?

"I never know how to place Olivia Brooke," Mrs. Cuthbert had to admit. It was annoying as usually, given half an hour, she had people clearly and properly labelled, "As if we were all tidy glass jars," said Miss Brooke.

"Glass jars? I never said that." Mrs. Cuthbert was nettled. "And what do you think people are?"

"More like caves to explore," said Miss Brooke. "Mysterious caves. One never gets to the end of them."

The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden

Even in a children's book, she just hits that nail on the head.

Rose and Friends Give Beowulf Six Thumbs Down ... Way Down

Overall, I found Beowulf to be like the product of multiple personality disorder. Sometimes it wants to be taken seriously; sometimes it seems to aspire to be little more than a cartoon. I guess I’d describe it as uneven. There are scenes, like the dragon fight near the end, that are visually spectacular. Other scenes, like the fight with Grendel (in which a running gag is the number of ways a nude Beowulf’s privates are obscured by foreground objects), seem pointlessly contrived.

Past the Popcorn review

This sounds like a synopsis of Roses diatribe of faults for this movie.

It also probably doesn't help that her Literature class just finished reading the book. They said that they managed to wait until the end credits before bursting out laughing. A favorite mocking point was turning the sea hag (Grendel's mother) into a luscious babe (Angelina Jolie).

This is the same girl who, after seeing The Count of Monte Cristo starring Jim Caviezel, stretched and said, "The book, the sandwich, the movie ... all completely different and yet I love them all." So we know it isn't the lack of accuracy she's objecting to (at least not wholly ...).

Getting better with age

Age is a strictly limited reference in terms of the current television season, of course. Moonlight and Journeyman, however, have been quite rewarding in terms of beginning character development and complications that form a larger story arc than a simple story that lasts one show. (Please keep in mind that we're running a week or so behind on everything, due to our extreme work schedule and Rose's plethora of special projects for school.)

Moonlight remains largely a romance (which is just fine with Rose and me, natch!) but suddenly has a much needed layer of depth and interest with the addition of his former wife who somehow has become human after he thought he had killed her (when she was a vampire ... oh, it's complicated folks!).

Journeyman has not only the complications of simply disappearing into the past and trying to figure out what he's supposed to do, but that of constantly running into the sweetheart he thought long dead, and of a brother who has an understandable lack of faith in him (due to a heavy duty previous gambling problem). Oh, and then there's the mysterious think-tank professor who keeps showing up with comments about tachyons and quartz (both supposedly good for time travel) and shows no surprise at all when Dan suddenly disappears into time practically in front of his eyes.

If they begin running reruns due to the writers strike, give them a try (not that Moonlight would be that difficult to pick up now ... Journeyman, on the other hand, is getting to the point where you are having to factor in past hints to keep up with current developments).

A Beautiful Tribute Framed Around the Hail Mary

This has some of my favorite art of Mary and Jesus highlighted. From Love to Be Catholic.

"God's the ultimate scientist ..."

Via First Things' good article about Stephen Colbert comes this classic moment of truth.

... bioethicist Lee Silver from Princeton visited the show. Colbert told him he believed that science and spirituality could go hand in hand and that all people, embryos included, have souls. Silver begged to differ. He told Colbert that, in the shower, we scrub off thousands of skin cells every day, and that the cells on his arm are human life in the same way that embryos are. To which Colbert responded: “If I let my arm go for a while and didn’t wash it, you’re saying I’d have babies on my arm.”

Click on the link in the quote to see the 5 minute clip from the show. Colbert doesn't give an inch and sets a good example. There's a Simpsons ad first but its short.

"Some men just want to watch the world burn."

The Dark Knight

Click through above for the first trailer for the sequel to Batman Begins. I have a feeling we're going to see a whole new side of Heath Ledger as The Joker.

Courtesy and Respect

Rose and I were talking this weekend about something that Hannah has mentioned before as well ... the fact that Tom's father was a true gentleman. Both have brought this up more than once and it is a true tribute to a man who was a gentleman no matter how he felt on a subject. You could not doubt it if he disagreed with you but he did it with such politeness.

Good manners depended on paying moral attention to others; it required one to treat them with complete moral seriousness, to understand their feelings and their needs.

... How utterly shortsighted we had been to listen to those who thought that manners were a bourgeois affectation, an irrelevance, which need no longer be valued. A moral disaster had ensued, because manners were the basic building block of a civil society. They were the method of transmitting the messege of moral consideration.

In this way an entire generation had lost a vital piece of the moral jigsaw and now we saw the results: a society in which nobody would help, nobody would feel for others; a society in which aggressive language and insensitivity were the norm.

The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith

This goes hand in hand with respect, actually for both sexes, but what Hannah and Rose have gone on to discuss after good manners is that Grandpa respected women and showed it by treating them with courtesy. They both long for and admire guys who treat them in this way. Certainly, that is usually mentioned when they talk about qualities they want in the man they will marry.

John C. Wright wrote about this just last week. Go read it all but here is a bit for you.

I am the only person I know who stands up when a woman enters the room, the only one who offers women my chair when the room is full. I am not bragging, I am complaining. It is so wrong that it should be this way. Courtesy should be unnoticed; it should be a background detail; it should be subliminal.

Courtesy should be like an aura: an invisible field surrounding every man, so that when she steps near, she turns into a lady in his eyes. Why? You put a woman in a culture where every man gives off unconscious and unselfconscious signs of respect for womanhood, your young women will naturally absorb an impression that their femininity is worthy of respect. You put a woman in a culture were every man gives off the unconscious signs of hostility all men feel for rivals and the contempt for eunuchs, your young women will absorb an impression that their pseudo-masculinity is worthy of disrespect. Women of low self esteem and weak willpower are easier for ruthless Lotharios to victimize. It is merely a matter of economics: what men hold at low esteem, they value lightly. That is true for self-esteem as for other estimations of value.

Grandpa had that aura and my girls picked up on it without anyone ever mentioning it. It is too bad that they noticed it because it is such a rare commodity. However, at least they have had his example and know what to look for.

Of course, the flip side of this is that women should show men the respect and courtesy they deserve, first and foremost by stopping showing men in ads, movies and television as "fat, sloppy, stupid, lazy, sex-obsessed and unable to function without the help of the fit, very together, stylish, driven, educated and sex-sensible woman." That quote is from The Anchoress' son Buster and for more on that subject do go read her wise post on the subject.

But no matter how stupid young men are in these ads, or sitcoms, their fathers are always stupider, and in some commercials, both parents are completely vapid and need to be set straight by their lecturing, Superior Lifeforce Children.

“Don’t buy stuff from those advertisers,” Buster would tell me. “Don’t patronize businesses that make men look like bums and idiots. I’m all for women and girls being portrayed respectfully, but I’m tired of it being at the expense of men. And don’t buy stuff that uses kids to lecture at you.”

This is a trend we have followed with dismay in our household. As Hannah and Rose will tell you, they need not take classes in evaluating media or advertising. We've always been the sort who are interested in the "subtle messages" of all media and they have absorbed that as they grew up. So for those guys out there who understand about treating women with respect and courtesy, we're sending a couple of girls who understand about treating respectfully in return.

Thank You to Our Veterans

In great appreciation of your suffering and sacrifices on our behalf, thank you to veterans as well as to those who are serving now.

Coming Soon ...

Mark Windsor is turning the raft around to chart a new course in a different current of the Tiber. (Wow, that confused even me. He's changing direction slightly on his blog.)

Over time, I’ve come to see the Bible itself as the raft. What other raft could there possibly be? The Bible is our common language and common heritage, the God-breathed gift that all should know and love. To that end, this site will be rededicated to a bible-based understanding of Catholicism. I certainly am not the first to do this, and I’ll likely not be the last, but I hope that visitors will find something unique here anyway.

In addition, I really hope that this new format will be of serious interests to Catholics as well as potential converts. Why? Well, the simple fact is that many Catholics really are biblically illiterate. This is through no fault of their own – modern Catholic catechesis is pretty miserable in general, and particularly when we talk about the Bible. But I’ve recently noticed a real hunger amongst Catholics that want to understand the Bible more deeply.

Read more here. It will be a couple of weeks before he's got it up and running but I look forward to this direction. There are plenty of people out there who have questions about Catholicism that would be interested in seeing where the scriptural base is. While listening to the Understanding the Scriptures podcast I have been blown away time after time seeing various Church teachings threaded throughout the Old Testament. (I'm still working my way through, being on episode 17.) I can't wait to see what Mark writes (but then, I'm a fan).

Theme for the Day: Guilt

Lois: For crying out loud, that's no monster, that's your conscience. Be thankful God gave you one. It's a gift. And you know what most people do with theirs? They keep 'em in the closet all year, and only bring it out when they think he's coming to visit. You're not like that. Good for you.

Malcolm in the Middle

Over neglecting a dear daughter

Over not reading a review book

Ah, guilt. The Catholic's friend ...

Pet moments ...

This morning, I was letting Daffy (our boxer) eat the oatmeal off the serving spoon. Of course, it is stuck onto the bowl of the spoon in such a way that she can't lick it off and she doesn't have long enough teeth to really bit it off. Though she's trying. After a while I started laughing. She stopped for a second, looked up at me and began wagging, then went back to her attempts still wagging. Yes, we were laughing together at the absurdity of it all.

So I am calling the other dog to help with this oatmeal treat. He never hears me. The cat, however, sits down ready for her share. I tell her, "You will hate this." She looks calmly at me, "I will love it." So I am going to prove it by giving her a bit off my finger. She sniffs, delicately tastes, then yanks off a bit and takes it away to savor. And came back for seconds. Dang. She was right.

(And yes this post is for Hannah ... and any other random pet lovers out there...)

Ok, you know what I really hate?

When I am so lost in thought but also determined to push ahead with my routine so that I get to work.

And then I wash my hair (in the kitchen sink as is my wont ... really short hair, y'all) ... but never brought my towel into the kitchen.

I am telling you, my hair may be short but there is no way a kitchen towel wraps around my head!