Ubi Petrus

Will Iowa become the new battleground over gay “marriage”? Judge Robert Hanson has ruled the state’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional and at least one “couple” has already filed papers.

House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, R-Sioux City, said the ruling illustrates the need for a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

“I can’t believe this is happening in Iowa,” he said. “I guarantee you there will be a vote on this issue come January,” when the Legislature convenes.

We can only hope and pray that it does and that temporary cultural insanity does not beset this legislature as it did in Massachusetts. And, for that matter, in New Hampshire as well. At some point, not possibly soon enough, the world will see that this race to the bottom of the moral barrel ends in only one place – Hell.

It has long been known that New England in general is a bastion of liberal-think, but to see it spread to the heartland of the country is heart-rending. This is yet again an example of the danger of judges stepping outside their competency and making law instead of interpreting it. Until the judiciary as a whole in this country regains its sanity and stops looking at every single purported “civil rights” case as a potential Dred Scott or Brown v. Board of Education we will have these wild swings of juridicial fancy. For sanity and sanctity, we pray.

If you’re in the greater Manchester area tomorrow, you can tune in to WZID (FM 97.5) to hear my wife participate in their “Cheeseburger in Paradise” cookoff tomorrow (Friday) morning between 7 and 8:00. Just on a whim she whipped together a recipe which we checked out and fine-tuned for competition tonight. There is something very good to be said when your wife can come up with food that good right out of her head. No matter what they say tomorrow, she’s a winner to me. As am I.

Update: It was a grueling competition and Christine finished in second place. Cheeseburgers at 7:00 AM? Why not! We are all quite proud – as they say, “she done good”.

Anthony Esolen has written what I think is a masterful piece at Mere Comments on the mushrooming issue of Mother Teresa’s dark night. It seems everyone has an opinion or three on the matter, and those who haven’t a clue what they’re talking about seem the most willing to bleat theirs out. Esolen calmly, and correctly, points out that arguing over this with such people is an exercise in futility and frustration because it is impossible to argue with someone who can spout arbitrary contradictions with a straight face.

The important part of this piece is not that reminder but rather what follows. Esolen reminds us that a dark night, for a believer, is a powerful witness to faith. Believing is easy when confirmation is frequent, but when that obvious confirmation is taken away true faith blooms. That Mother Teresa suffered a dark night should deepen our appreciation of her deep and abiding faith, one that kept her in a place where no one goes, serving the Christ she could now only long to see.

Even if you do not choose to read the whole piece, and there is no reason to do so, his conclusion simply must be read:

In her love of Christ — and the world does not understand Christ, and is not too bright about love, either — Mother Teresa did not merely take up His cross and follow him. She was nailed to that Cross with him. She was one with Him — it was His greatest and most terrible gift — at the moment when he cried out to His Father, and the worldly Jews beneath mistook the name of God for Elijah. We Christians must trust that she is also one with Him now too, sharing in the glory of His triumph over darkness and the grave. “See,” He says, encouraging us to persevere and be fearless, “I have overcome the world.”

What Your Latte Says About You

You are easygoing and pretty simple to please. You don’t put up a fuss… ever. You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious. Intense and energetic, you aren’t completely happy unless you are bouncing off the walls. You’re addicted to caffeine. There’s no denying it. You are responsible, mature, and truly an adult. You’re occasionally playful, but you find it hard to be carefree. You are deep and thoughtful, but you are never withdrawn.

Yup, that sounds about right. H/T to Puff.

Being but an amateur at this “writing for others” thing, I’m not going to waste words that I’ve invented on my own when another has written exactly what I’m thinking far more eloquently than I am likely to put it myself. Fr. Daren Zehnle has in short order given us a lead we as Christians have no choice but to follow. Read the whole thing – read it slowly and with full focus. Then read it again. Then do something about it.

I refuse to water down the Gospel, because it is not mine to change or alter. I must proclaim the Gospel and I must do so in its entirety, which will sometimes mean that people will not like what they hear.

Would that it were we all claimed that as our principle. Christ has called us, he has given us a command. We can go forward, we can go backward, it’s entirely up to us. Let us not forget, “Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter:15).

I’ve had this thought gnawing at me for a long time and I’m apparently now in a sufficiently cantankerous mood to pull together a post on it. Of course, blogging when cranky is always a dangerous proposition, but we’ll see where this goes.

One day some time last year (see, I told you it was a long time) I was standing outside my kids’ school waiting for the bell. As per the norm at a Catholic school there were a few groups of parents, mostly moms, waiting and chatting with each other. Some were chatting about kids’ TV shows, some about a recent party or sporting event – the usual not-entirely-inane banter that goes on between parents of young kids. Before I go on I should remind you, kind reader, that this is a Catholic school which requires its students to be Catholics or minimally baptized Christians and which sits within shouting distance of a rectory, church and Jesus Himself in the Holy Eucharist in that church. This is a place where holiness, sanctity and purity should be oozing out of every opening. Should being the operative word.

There was one other group of mothers who were wrapped up in quite a different conversation. They weren’t talking about the Wiggles, Thomas the Tank Engine or Saturday’s soccer game. They were comparing the relative benefits of the shot, the patch and the implant. Not the ones to help you quit smoking, no. The ones to help you commit potentially mortal sin any time, for any reason, with any one without any potentially messy consequences. One then chirped in delight at the thought that “they’re coming out with one that makes you only have a period once a year!” I’m sure the Virgin, whose statue looked out the window, was most excited to hear about that little development. After all, why let nature interfere with some good clean hedonism?

I’ll admit – I froze there, partly in shock at what I was hearing. At least, I’d like to think it was more shock than my unwillingness to grasp the opportunity God was placing before me. To this day I still wrestle with that situation – what would have been the right thing to do? Direct confrontation? Silent prayer? Somewhere in between? Feel free to unload in the combox what you would like to think you’d do.

If nothing else, for me this whole situation was and is a reminder of how far we still have to go as a Church and each of us individually to bring the light of the twin pillars of the Culture of Life, Humanae Vitae and Evangelium Vitae, to the very people to whom they were written. It also reminded me that we cannot be a lampshade to the light of that truth – we are called to reflect that light, not stand in its way. I pray the hearts of those ladies are opened to the truth, the gift, that is Life and that they may receive it as a gift and not discard it as a toy they’ve already played with too much. And I pray that I may some day do better than to impersonate a human fly catcher with my mouth hanging agape in stone silence.

I confess I’ve been quite lax these past several days in blogging. Much of it has been work-related, but the past two days I’ve had an additional reason – I’ve been trying to learn what I can of my newly-acquired Logos Bible Study Software for Catholics from Bible and Theology Discount Software. Given the scope of the product and my complete lack of experience using software to do my Bible searching it’s been a daunting task although not because the product is difficult to use.

I can’t given absolutely unqualified support for the product only because I haven’t used it enough yet. I will say, however, that from what I can see it is very well designed – new books or collections of books just plug right in to your existing library and you can search any or all of them from one interface. I just started playing with the “Biblical People” plugin and was immediately impressed with how well it integrated and how easily I could move from person to person including verses where they are mentioned right in front of me which I can then immediately cross-reference in all of the other included books.

I know the set is quite pricey – very pricey, indeed. But if you’re expecting to do a lot of reference work this certainly seems a great way to do it – it might even make a great gift for a seminarian you know. For my part, I have high hopes that this will help me be a greater help to our RCIA members in the upcoming session. They certainly are worthy of anything that can be done for them.

It has been quite a long time since I’ve done a book review. I’ve actually already read Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth but I want to read it again before I offer any insights into it. Since then I’ve also read a few other books but what I want to tell you about is Carl Olsen’s Beginning at Jerusalem.

The book is a collection of five lectures the author gave at the Wethersfield Institute of the Homeland Foundation. Each of the lectures was intended as a “capstone” lecture for its respective timeframe, including: Ancient Christianity, Early Medieval, Late or High Medieval, Renaissance to Enlightenment and at the doorstep of the third millennium. Also included are two Appendices from the author’s lectures on the Catechism of the Catholic Church on Prayer as Relation and Prayer as Covenant Drama.

At a modest 209 pages it is a multi-sitting book for most of us but far from overwhelming. There are times when it is obvious you are reading from a lecture but the author in general has done a good job of minimizing any distraction this might cause. The pace is brisk without running past any significant details and further discussion pieces are referred to in the footnotes.

I would heartily recommend this book if only for the footnotes alone. The collection of books, lectures, papers and articles could keep one busy for a lifetime it would seem. While the author does have a habit of referring to other works of his quite heavily in the footnotes I don’t find it particularly problematic as they are usually used for “further discussion” rather than as providing an evidentiary basis for a claim. Aside from some (to be expected in an academic setting) argumentative comments in a couple of the footnotes they were a positive trove of information. If I have that much to say about the footnotes you can imagine how much I enjoyed the entirety of the book combining history, ecclesiology, theology, christology, liturgy and more it was as if the book was written with my interests in mind.

Denise at Catholic Mom really pushed my buttons with this post. In particular, this part is something that really gets to me:

Right now we are stuck in a cycle of poorly catechized parents that don’t support faith formation at home. Their children are in the parish CCD system where we provide a band-aid fix with classroom style religious education. These children then do their time in CCD and are sent out into the world. However, an hour a week for eight months out of the year cannot make up for a lifetime lacking in family faith formation. These children are very likely to grow up to be poorly catechized parents and the cycle begins anew. I really think the only way to break this cycle is to address the parents directly. Their lack of involvement is more out of ignorance than out of indifference. When was the last time you heard a DRE or a priest tell parents that parents are the primary catechists of their children? It is the parents’ responsibility to form the faith of their children. The parish is here to help but children learn to live the faith when their family lives the faith.

I have been lamenting the complete lack of adult formation in the Church since before I even received a single sacrament. Many will, rightfully, lament how far we still have to go in catechizing our children. While I have no argument at all with the sentiment that we need to find ways other than rock concerts and rock climbing to reach our children, I’m absolutely flabbergasted at the general lack of even that level of effort to catechize our adults.

Certainly there are efforts beginning in some parishes and I absolute commend them for doing this mostly on their own. For the great work of a few, however, we cannot overlook the lack of effort of the many. My own parish has just announced a parish mission which, from what I’m told by parish “old-timers”, is the first in many, many years.

Why is it that we seem to have left adults by and large to fend for themselves? I don’t know. Certainly for many years there was an apathy towards any kind of substantive catechesis for anyone, an apathy whose effects we are still feeling in the uphill battle against felt banner teaching. Perhaps there was a certain cultural momentum that kept kids in CCD so they could “graduate” at Confirmation. One does have to wonder whether, for all the negatives about that phenomenon if it has not simultaneously been a primary force in keeping the catechetical system afloat. While momentum is never a good reason to move toward a sacrament, without it I have to think parishes would have had a very hard time finding teachers for CCD classes that were almost empty. Perhaps that’s an example of God pulling a greater good out of a bad situation.

That momentum, however, does not seem to have existed for adults. When faith is transmitted as “God loves you and that’s all there is to know” why ever would an already busy adult take time out to sit in a church basement to learn the finer nuances of the word “Abba“? With adults away from an active participation (hah! Who’d have thought I could use that term in such a way?) in their faith for so long their momentum is gone and now we have to overcome a significant inertia that has become as cultural as it is personal.

How do we overcome this inertia and generate the kind of momentum that will bring along with it those who may not have a great felt interest in their faith? I think there are two places it starts, and the first must be the pulpit. I’m not talking about flame throwing homilies or anything of the sort but rather a recognition of the fact that people respond better to invitations from clergy than those run out by a lector droning out a series of mostly-irrelevant-to-me announcements. When the priest or deacon takes time out of his homily to promote a lecture or presentation, not just to announce it but to explain why it is important to attend the result is almost invariably far greater attendance. I’m told there are even statistics for this, although I haven’t the first clue of where to look for them.

If I might be so bold as to offer a piece of advice to the clergy as well – if you are not the one making the presentation, be sure to attend it if possible or at the very least stop by for more than a wave. The presence of a priest or deacon at these events adds an immeasurable weight of felt importance to those in attendance. In management (and the military) this is called “showing the flag” although we know it should have a deeper weight than that in this case. And hey, while you’re there, offer a blessing, an introduction or a closing. Your personal involvement shows in another way your commitment not only to the session but to those in attendance; it shows you are actively interested in making sure they get the nourishment they need and not passively acquiescing to someone else’s idea.

The second place we must overcome this inertia is, naturally, in person-to-person contact. That means not only talking to your friends but often enough your spouse. It involves not just talking about a presentation or inviting someone to one but also showing the impact of it in your life. Our response to attending a lecture or presentation should be a radiance akin to that of Moses – we need not, indeed should not, come out as a charging lion but rather show forth the loving grace of the saving Lamb. A lamp set on a stand can light a great area; we should allow those lamps to spread that light and not burn those around them.

So…with all that I’ll make it simple. Do what Denise did and ask to help present on some topic that adults can relate to, something that can expand the spiritual horizons of those around you. Even if you’re turned down, offer again later. We can only offer our services, we cannot impose them. No matter what, above all else, encourage and support your priest when he offers or promotes any kind of learning opportunity. In these small ways we will get this large ball rolling.

While catching up on my blog backlog (okay, say that ten times fast!) I was reading through Alive and Young when he pointed to a new blog. Feeling rather adventurous for some unknown reason I followed on over to Astonished, Yet at Home! So far he’s done a quite nice job with the blog.

Except for one strange thing. He has a list of “All-Stars of the Catholic Blogosphere” and for some as yet unexplainable reason he has this little ol’ blog in it. Okay, I was an All-Star in Little League but somehow I don’t think that counts. Clearly the poor chap has been out in the sun too long! You should head on over and offer up prayers that he regains his sanity. Until that happens, however, I’ll bask in the thought that there may be those who get something out of all this that I put out. Miracles shall never cease.