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

-------------------------------------------------------

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.

-------------------------------------------------------

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..