Happy Feast Day of St Augustine

I am working on moving today, so I don't have a lot to offer here other than to thank the Lord for St. Augustine, whose "Confessions" led me to the Catholic Church. That which the heart desires he found, as so many have, and he so eloquently pointed out the narrow way.

St. Augustine, pray for us!
God bless you today.
mark

Lies, lies, and damn lies

Where goes truth?

Human Rights Watch Incorrectly Charges Argentina with Treaty Violations over Abortion
By Seana Cranston, J.D.


NEW YORK, August 19 (C-FAM) A report released last week by the human rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch promotes abortion in Argentina and criticizes Argentina for not complying with international law. The report, “Illusions of Care: Lack of Accountability for Reproductive Rights in Argentina,” charges that “[i]n Argentina, nationalistic interests combined with an orthodox Catholic discourse on ‘family values’ have historically underpinned some of the most anti-contraception and pro-population-growth policies in the region.”

The report erroneously cites several international human rights treaties and committees, including the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), for its claim that international law requires Argentina to provide abortion-on-demand. In fact, no international human rights treaty contains a right to abortion. When CEDAW and ICCPR were negotiated, many of the negotiating countries had pro-life laws on the books that still remain in place today.

“Illusions of Care” further suggests that two other international treaties—the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)—require that Argentina allow adolescents the right to contraception or an abortion without the consent of their parents. These two treaties do not mention abortion or contraception, and while the committees that oversee them can issue advisory opinions, they do not have the authority to make binding interpretations of treaty provisions.

The CRC specifically contains a “right to life” provision, which states that “every child has the inherent right to life . . . . States Parties shall ensure . . . the survival and development of the child.” The preamble of the CRC calls for “appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth” for the child. The ICCPR states, “every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”

“Illusions of Care” also appears to suggest that one of the newest international treaties ratified by Argentina, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), requires Argentina to allow abortion-on-demand for its citizens with disabilities. For example, the report cites language in CRPD that states that persons with disabilities are entitled to the same standard of health care as provided to other persons, “including in the area of sexual and reproductive health.” The word abortion is not mentioned in the CRPD, however, and more than a dozen countries made explicit statements upon the adoption of CRPD by the UN General Assembly that nothing in the treaty could be interpreted to establish any new rights, including a right to abortion.

Peter Simon visits St. Dominic

Boise's own Peter Simon visited St. Dominic's Basilica in Bologna, Italy. He attended the August Chapter meeting and presented pictures he took, along with a brief presentation. Following are his pictures, and below that his written presentation.

Thank you Peter, well done!


Bologna, Italy.

Front of St. Dominic Basilica.

Exterior of St. Dominic Basilica.

Exterior of St. Dominic Basilica.

Exterior of St. Dominic Basilica.

High altar of St. Dominic Basilica. Note the white interior - "Lily of Purity."

Another view.

Mysteries of the Rosary side altar

Sacred Heart side altar

Mysteries of the Rosary

Tomb of St. Dominic/altar & ceiling

Ceiling above tomb

Tomb/altar. Carving by MichaelAngelo

Reliquary containing head of St Dominic located behind tomb

Photos in original church during visit of John Paul II. Basilica is built over original church which is preserved within and accessed from main church

In original church are various relics and items of historical note:

Bull of canonization of St. Dominic, bearing papal seal

Page from St. Dominic's breviary(?)

Papal bull establishing the Order of Preachers

table (altar?) on which miracle of loaves occurred. plus two unidentified relics in case.

St. Dominic

Founder of the Order of Preachers, commonly known as the Dominican Order; born at Calaroga, in Old Castile, c. 1170; died 6 August, 1221.

That Dominic and his companions might possess a fixed source of revenue Foulques made him chaplain of Fanjeaux and in July, 1215, canonically established the community as a religious congregation of his diocese, whose mission was the propagation of true doctrine and good morals, and the extirpation of heresy. During this same year Pierre Seilan, a wealthy citizen of Toulouse, who had placed himself under the direction of Saint Dominic, put at their disposal his own commodious dwelling. In this way the first convent of the Order of Preachers was founded on 25 April, 1215.

In November, 1215, an ecumenical council was to meet at Rome (The Fourth Lateran Council) "to deliberate on the improvement of morals, the extinction of heresy, and the strengthening of the faith". This was identically the mission Saint Dominic had determined on for his order. With the Bishop of Toulouse, he was present at the deliberations of this council. From the very first session it seemed that events conspired to bring his plans to a successful issue. The council bitterly arraigned the bishops for their neglect of preaching. In canon X they were directed to delegate capable men to preach the word of God to the people. Under these circumstances, it would reasonably appear that Dominic's request for confirmation of an order designed to carry out the mandates of the council would be joyfully granted.

Returning to Languedoc at the close of the council in December, 1215, the founder gathered about him his little band of followers and informed them of the wish of the council that there should be no new rules for religious orders.

This done, Saint Dominic again appeared before the pope in the month of August, 1216, and again solicited the confirmation of his order. This time he was received more favourably, and on 22 December, 1216, the Bull of confirmation was issued.

(St. Dominic arrived at Rome with a copy of his rules in September, 1216. He found access to his Holiness difficult for some time but was encouraged by a vision recorded by Theodoric, and copied by Fleury. * Pope Honorius III confirmed his Order and its constitutions by two bulls, both dated on the 26th of December, the same year.)

St. Dominic went again to Rome in 1217 and the Pope desiring that his Order should have a house in that city, gave him the church of St. Sixtus.

On his return to Rome, towards the end of December of 1219, Dominic sent out letters to all the convents announcing the first general chapter of the order, to be held at Bologna on the feast of the following Pentecost. In December of 1219  Pope Honorius III, by a special Brief , had conferred upon the founder the title of Master General, which till then he had held only by tacit consent.

Towards the end of 1221 Saint Dominic returned to Rome for the sixth and last time. Here he received many new and valuable concessions for the order. In January, February, and March of 1221 three consecutive Bulls were issued commending the order to all the prelates of the Church. The thirtieth of May, 1221, found him again at Bologna presiding over the second general chapter of the order. At the close of the chapter he set out for Venice to visit Cardinal Ugolino, to whom he was especially indebted for many substantial acts of kindness. He had scarcely returned to Bologna when a fatal illness attacked him. He died after three weeks of sickness, the many trials of which he bore with heroic patience. In a Bull dated at Spoleto, 13 July, 1234, Gregory IX made his cult obligatory throughout the Church.

On August 6, 1221, Dominic died, only fifty-one years old.

We are not surprised, therefore, that, after signing the Bull of canonization on 13 July, 1234, Pope Gregory IX declared that he no more doubted the saintliness of Saint Dominic than he did that of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Getting real

This is some remarkable footage from the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. One needs to confront the reality of what is going on.

The Message of Fatima

Copied from Friar's blog:

A New Documentary about the Jesuits at Hiroshima




Finding Fatima is a documentary that opens on Hiroshima August 6, 1945. Eight Jesuit priests living just a few blocks from the blast site not only miraculously survived but had no effects of the radiation. Everyone else within a radius of roughly 1.5 Kilometres was reportedly killed instantly, and those outside the range died of radiation within days. However, the only physical harm to Fr. Shiffer, S.J., was that he could feel a few pieces of glass in the back of his neck. the priests have been examined over 200 times by scientists. Each time the priests repeated the same explanation for their survival: "We believe that we survived because we were living the message of Fatima."


Click here for to for more information.

hat tip to the Dominican Friars of the Eastern Province

Sheen on peace

I remember in preparation for an Easter broadcast writing into the text, "Poland was crucified by two thieves; the two thieves being the Nazis and the Soviets." I received a telegram from one of me censors telling me that I would not be permitted to say that over the readio. I sent the censor a telegram saying, "Would it be all right to call Russia the good thief?" He did not think it a bit funny.

If true peace is to be won, it must first be won in our own hearts. Let us turn back to God and establish justice in our souls. Russia will perish because it is anti-God; but we shall not survive if [] we are Godless. If we put ourselves on God's side, then who shall be against us? May God keep our minds clear and our hearts pure, that we may never be deceived by the false peace []. as Dante put it, "In Thy Will, God, is our peace."

"Life Is Worth Living", Fulton J. Sheen, 1953

O.P.L. defined

Thank you Christopher, for the lovely definition I found at your link
Ite ad Thomam

O.P.L. = "Out of Print Library"

I suppose a Lay Dominican of the faith is a walking out-of-print library today.
Now I thought that was fairly humorous, and figured you might need a humor-check today!

Quotable Alice Von Hildebrand

"God has set limits on man's intelligence, none on his stupidity.."

from the essay which follows below

Clash of the Titan

From "The Moynihan Report" - Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand takes on Christopher West and the serious problems in the way he presents "Theology of the Body." Since "The Moynihan Report" is currently offline, I've provided a link to the article. Dr. Moynihan has done an excellent job of providing background for this sensitive discussion.

A Theological Debate Heats Up
By Robert Moynihan


What is the right relationship between sex and sanctity? That's what many Catholics in the US are asking as a simmering theological debate over the "Theology of the Body" threatens to boil over and further test the unity of the Church in the US. The debate touches on issues ranging from the doctrine of original sin to the legacy of Pope John Paul II. And the hierarchy itself seems divided...

Click to read full article.

and yes, I know that the movie title is "Clash of the Titans" but there is only one deserving the title here. not to give away my position, but her initials are Alice Von Hildebrand.

Happy feast of St. John Vianney

Finding shoes to fill...

New film about Josemaría Escrivá

Definitely one to watch for! Click to view the teaser trailer.

hat tip to Anita at V-ForVictory

Free books at the priory

The following caught my eye; someone has an exquisite sense of humor!



hat tip to Anita (V-for Victory) who took the picture

Baptizing the dead?

The question of the Mormon practice of proxy baptism of the dead came up in response to 1 Corinthians 15:29 at the chapter retreat on Saturday. Below follows Marilyn Wilde's excellent commentary after looking into the Greek.

Q: Is St. Paul is giving evidence for the Mormon practice of baptism by proxy for the dead when he says: “Otherwise, what will people accomplish by having themselves baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they having themselves baptized for them?” (1 Cor 15:29)

A: The Greek does not say that people are baptized in the place of the dead -- it says they are baptized for the sake of Old Man Death. The preposition used is "Hypo" which literally means "under" like Hypodermic -- under the skin. When it takes an abstract noun in the genitive case -- the case used in this instance it personifies the abstract noun. If Paul had meant what Joseph Smith said he meant, he would have used the preposition "hyper" which literally means over, i.e. hyperactive; and one of its many figurative meanings is "instead of" or "in the place of."

Marilyn Wylde, Bl. Margaret of Castello Chapter

Intellectually vacuous thoughts

Mark Shea hits a homerun with his Jul 16 column in NCR, "Science Works. Religion Doesn't" What Does that Even Mean?

That said, however, I will not go further since, as I say, slogans like “Science works/Religion doesn’t are a total waste of time until critics of religion get a clear and workable definition of what they mean. In the case of that empty piece of cant, each and every word needs to be carefully defined. But there is a direct inverse proportion problem at work that makes it sure such a project will never happen. Namely, those who are most inclined to worship the intellect anre least inclined to use it—and vice versa. “Science works, religion doesn’t” is a bumper sticker that Intellect Worshippers slap on their cars. It is not something that anybody who is actually serious about thinking would ever say.

For Better or Worse - Sheen

The followins is an excellent instruction from "Life is Worth Living", by Fulton Sheen, 1953.

For Better or Worse

Now we come to difficulties peculiar to some marriages. For example, there is a marriage in which the husband may be an alcoholic or the wife a spendthrift, or the husband unfaithful or the wife always nagging, or he is a “beast” or she is “impossible.”

What is going to be done in a case like that? Stick it out! Remain faithful! Why? Suppose the husband, instead of being an alcoholic, had pneumonia. Would the wife nurse him and care for him? If he is a sinner he has moral pneumonia and is spiritually sick; why abandon him? A mother has a child with polio; does she give up the child? St. Paul tells us that “The believing wife sanctifies the unbelieving husband; the believing husband sanctifies the unbelieving wife.” There can be a transfusion of power from one to the other. Sometimes the condition for making the other better is perseverance and love.

A young German girl, at the close of the last World War, who was very learned and had read Homer at seventeen, was courted by one of our American GIs in Berlin. She married him, and they came to this country, where she discovered he wanted only to read Western stories while frequenting saloons and refused to work. While supporting both of them she wrote to me, saying, “I was thinking of divorce, but I know that if I divorce him, I am contributing to the ruin of civilization. It does not mean very much if I pull my own individual finger out of that dam; just a little water will come through. But if every women in the world in a similar situation does the same, then the floodtides will sweep over he world. So I am going to stick it out; but I cannot do so without faith, and you must help me to get it.” We gave her instructions, and God gave her the gift of faith. The husband is now an officer in the Army, a different kind of man, and both are raising a fine family.

Certain things which we have in us, once they are given out, are never meant to be taken back. One is the air we breathe; if we take the air back upon ourselves, it poisons us. Love is another. When love is breathed out to another human heart, it is never meant to be taken back. If it is taken back, it suffocates and poisons us.

It may well be that the sacrificial devotion of a wife in such an hour of crisis is the condition of the husband’s recovery. Where fleshly love may not heal, sacrificial love may well work the miracle. All suffering endured with love of God profits our families and even the world. Where there is alcoholism, disgruntled tempers, the burdens of others become as impediments to one’s own happiness, but where there is true charity, they become as opportunities for service. When carnal love breaks down, then Christian love must step into the breach. The other person is then regarded not as the condition of one’s happiness but as the condition of one’s salvation.

Many a marriage may be a living martyrdom, but at least to the one who practices it can be sure that he is not robbing his own soul of honor and fidelity. Why should we expect our soldiers to be faithful to their country in the muck and mire, when the husbands and wives desert the cause at the first bursting of a shell? A soldier when drafted does not accept the sentence of death, but he is prepared to face death rather than lose honor. An unhappy marriage is not a condemnation to misery, it is a courageous bearing of the burdens of another rather than denying the vow to “Love until death do us part.”

It is not so much the trials and sufferings in certain marriages that make the marriage unbearable; it is how we react to the sufferings. If the trial is regarded as the canceling out the ego and its pleasures, it begets an inferno within; if it is regarded as permitted by God for a greater good, it can positively create an inner joy. When either husband or wife gives up because of the trial, there is just that much less love and heroism in the world. The refusal to love is hell. Though love is not returned, this is not reason for not loving. Rather it is reason for loving: “You love those who love you. What reward is there in this?” But to go on loving in the midst of hate, to sow seeds of kindness where there is no hope of harvest, to forgive when hands are being pierced with nails is not only to diminish the hate of others by localizing marital infections and thus preventing them from becoming epidemics; it is also to purchase the recovery of others through love, for some souls can be purchased only by sacrifice. The government does not abandon soldiers on the battlefields because they can no longer fight; fathers do not disown their sons because they have a period of foolish immaturity. In each case, there is respect for the other, because the other is a person having value in himself independently of whether he earns of fights, or does not earn. Let there be in the home a respect for the partner, not on the basis of whether the partner gives pleasure, but because the partner is a person, and a gift of God to be loved as one’s own flesh. Then there will be less cowardice and surrender, more courage and more faith and a better America. But to love another for God’s sake, we must really believe in God.

Unfortunately, too few listen to such wisdom, instead seeking the shallow and fading pleasures in marriage, and tossing it aside when it fails to meet expectations.

“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

Roman blessings

Paul O'Leary and his bride, Alane Cleven, traveled to Rome to have their marriage blessed by the Holy Father.



a wider view:



The doors:



The Holy Father arrives:




The participants gather:



The Holy Father seems genuinely excited to see the guests!



The arrangements were made by Fr. David Kammler O.P., Promoter General for the Dominican Laity. This picture shows Father and Paul in St. Dominic's cell at Santa Sabina. Not many better places to offer mass!



a little bit broader view:



and Santa Sabina from outside:



Santa Sabina is the world headquarters for the Dominican Order. It's built upon ancient Rome, which you can visit underneath!



And then there is modern Rome!



The Idaho Dominicans offer our congratulations and prayers to Paul and Alane! May the Lord bless your union! And many thanks to Fr. Kammler for his gracious assistance!

Magdalen retreat - this weekend

====================================
Mary Magdalene Retreat
July 17, 2010
Blessed Margaret of Castello Chapter,
Third Order of St. Dominic
Map: http://www.dominicanidaho.org/map.html
====================================

Update from the Sub-Prioress, Stephanie DeNinno:

There will not be mass and adoration on Friday night.

Everyone bring a sack lunch on Saturday and the Meeting/Retreat will begin at 9:00am and end at 3PM.

We'll provide water and coffee.

This event replaces the regularly scheduled Chapter Meeting at Our Lady of the Valley, Caldwell.

Philosophies at war

Is there place for an absolute in American Democracy? There are those who say that democracy by its nature is relative - indifferent to all ideas, as equally valid and therefore it can have no absolute. This is not true. Democracy is based on a political and economic relative, but on a theological absolute. That is to say, it tolerates all political and economic policies and suggestions which contribute to democracy, but it is intolerant about the foundation of democracy.

If you doubt this we need only read the Declaration of Independence, which affirms that the "Creator has endowed man with certain unalienable rights." The state is not autonomous, but subject to a higher law. Power thus becomes responsibility. God is the absolute in democracy. Democracy will rest on this Divine Foundation, or it will be laid to rest. There are no rights of man without duties to God, and if we doubt it, then point to any totalitarian system which denies the rights of man and I will show you they also deny duties to God. Democracy, the value of a person, liberty and the like, are fruits that grow on the tree of belief in God.

-Fulton Sheen, Philosophies at War, 1943

Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; by they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks...

Onl the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I felt a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.

-Albert Einstein, quoted Philosophies at War, 1943

Sheen Gem

The Church, like Our Blessed Lord, advocates charity to all persons who disagree with her by word or by violence. Even those who - in the strictest sense of the term - are bigots, are to be treated with the utmost kindness. They really do not hate the Church, they hate only what they mistakenly believe to be the Church. If I believed all the lies that are told about the Church, if I gave credence to all the foul stories told about her priesthood and the Papacy, if I had been brought up on falsehoods about her teachings and sacraments, I would probably hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.

Fulton Sheen, Moods and Truths, 1932

The body of Christ

The following is from Monday of the 14th Week of Ordinary Time, Office of Readings:

From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement, pope

Seek the good of all, not personal advantage

The command has been written: Cling to the saints, for those who cling to them will be sanctified. There is a passage in Scripture as well which states: With the innocent man you will be innocent, and with the chosen one you will be chosen also; likewise with the perverse you will deal perversely. Devote yourselves, then, to the innocent and the just; they are God’s chosen ones. Why are there strife and passion, schisms and even war among you? Do we not possess the same Spirit of grace which was given to us and the same calling in Christ? Why do we tear apart and divide the body of Christ? Why do we revolt against our own body? Why do we reach such a degree of insanity that we forget that we are members of one another? Do not forget the words of Jesus our Lord: Woe to that man; it would be better for him if he had not been born rather than scandalise one of my chosen ones. Indeed it would be better for him to have a great millstone round his neck and to be drowned in the sea than that he lead astray one of my chosen ones. Your division has led many astray, has made many doubt, has made many despair, and has brought grief upon us all. And still your rebellion continues.

Pick up the letter of blessed Paul the apostle. What did he write to you at the beginning of his ministry? Even then you had developed factions. So Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote to you concerning himself and Cephas and Apollos. But that division involved you in less sin because you were supporting apostles of high reputation and a person approved by them.

We should put an end to this division immediately. Let us fall down before our master and implore his mercy with our tears. Then he will be reconciled to us and restore us to the practice of brotherly love that befits us. For this is the gate of justice that leads to life, as it is written: Open to me the gates of justice. When I have entered there, I shall praise the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the just shall enter through it. There are many gates which stand open, but the gate of justice is the gateway of Christ. All who enter through this gate are blessed, pursuing their way in holiness and justice, performing all their tasks without discord. A person may be faithful; he may have the power to utter hidden mysteries; he may be discriminating in the evaluation of what is said and pure in his actions. But the greater he seems to be, the more humbly he ought to act, and the more zealous he should be for the common good rather than his own interest.

This reading seemed very appropriate as I head out tomorrow for our Dominican Lay Provincial Council meeting! What, you thought we were paragons of charity with one another? Well, I suppose it might look that way...

Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum

The following is from Robert Moynihan's Newsflash. Robert is editor of "Inside the Vatican."

Today is the Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum


Three years ago today, Pope Benedict XVI, after long hesitation, published Summorum Pontificum, allowing wider celebration of the "old Mass." The day is easy to remember because it was on the 7th day of the 7th month of the 7th year of the new millennium = 777. An antidote to another, slightly smaller number...

By Robert Moynihan

=====================================

A Song of Solomon


Iam enim hiems transiit;
imber abiit, et recessit.
Flores apparuerunt in terra nostra;
tempus putationis advenit:
vox turturis audita est in terra nostra;
ficus protulit grossos suos;
vineæ florentes dederunt odorem suum.

"For now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers have already appeared in our land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread forth their fragrance."

(The Song of Solomon, 2:11-13)

An Anniversary to Celebrate

Three years ago today, Pope Benedict XVI promulgated the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum" ("Of the Supreme Pontiffs," from the first words of the original Latin text), allowing the "old Mass" (the Tridentine Mass of Pope St. Pius V, codified and promulgated in 1570, 440 years ago) to be more freely celebrated throughout the Catholic Church.

And so one period in history of our Church came to an end.

(Some would say that one winter, and that a severe one, came to an end.)

A new springtime had come.

The Pope had long hesitated. In the months before the official promulgation, when the text was known to be already finished, but the date for its publication had not yet been set, officials in Rome close to the Pope confirmed to me that the opposition to this document was intense, and that the Pope was hesitating.

"You must pray for him," I was told.

And then, the Pope took his decision, and issued the document.

I still believe, three years later, that it was one of the most important moments of his pontificate thus far, perhaps the most important one.

And so, today, there should perhaps be a moment of reflection, and prayer, and thanksgiving, for what Pope Benedict decided to do on July 7, 2007.

Today is also the anniversary of the execution of St. Thomas More, though his Feast Day is July 9.

Neo-Nazi invasion of Idaho - Know your enemy

Kathryn Tucker, legal counsel for the formerly named "Hemlock Society" has apparently moved to our fine state in order to sink it to the same barbaric level of Oregon, Washington, and Montana have sunk. Actually, what she is promoting is more old school Nazi than neo-Nazi. yeah; Nazi-classic.



On July 17, this "little woman" will give a presentation to the Idaho Medical Association at their annual meeting, the purpose of which is to promote the introduction of assisted suicide legislation in Idaho (program here).

Make no mistake. The legislation promoted by "Compassionate Choices" has NOTHING TO DO WITH TERMINAL PATIENTS, it is about turning doctors into executioners and preserving them from liability.





Now, documenting a less subtle approach, there is an excellent new movie just out from Life Dynamics:




OK, yes, it's direct to video. No studio would release such a move! So go get informed and get yours at http://www.maafa21.com/

Bill Murray's great line in "Ghostbusters"

The previous post (first part) made me think of a great line from "Ghostbusters." would that it were so easy...

Prayer request

The following is from Fr. Bart de la Torre OP, currently serving the Dominican mission in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico:

Dear Dominicans,

Mr. Michael Ryman is a dedicated Lay Dominican of many years in the Chapter that meets at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. He sent me the following today, and the religious response seems for me to ask you for your prayers too.

Now that I have your attention, let me mention that here the 4th passed unnoticed, except for the elections in Baja California that drove out the PAN, the party founded some 80 yrs. ago to defend the Church, and put in the PRI party, founded some 180 years ago with U.S. money and arms to delete the Church; regime change is nothing new to American foreign policy. Both parties have mellowed, with the result that the Church is still somewhat oppressed. The PAN does not mind, and the PRI in Baja California does not want to make it worse. The PRI in the Federal Congress about a year ago amended the Constitution to say explicitly that religious principles cannot have any influence in politics, and then legalized homosexual marriage in Mexico City. As though nature itself is not clear about the oxymoron. Neither the Church nor logic have ever had it easy in Mexico .

I am currently reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War. He says, "There has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited." (2.7) And this was written 350 B.C. History since then has repeatedly proven the maxim further. Most relevantly, the Soviet Union spent 9 years fighting in Afghanistan and shortly afterwards collapsed. We have now spent 9 years in Afghanistan ourselves. Bullets shot in a battle between drug cartels in Juarez yesterday hit City Hall in El Paso. In Texas next to the border there are swaths taken over by the Mexican cartels and the US border guards find it too dangerous to enter. This is what is called annexation. What the heck are we doing in Afghanistan when our southern border is constantly violated?

Well, hoping all of you had a patriotic, happy 4th,
Fr. Bart, O.P.



Please ask the men of the House [meaning the priests who live here with me] to pray for my intentions . . .tomorrow at the campaign HQ of Brian Murphy (R), candidate for MD Governor, at 11am he will announce his selection for Lieutenant Governor running mate—me.

Brian is pro-life and a very successful MD business from Easton, MD and a man of faith.

Check it out on his website: www.brianmurphy2010.com.

SPND

Mike
240-476-2235

P.S.

Please tell your friends in MD about this . . . we need plenty of support . . .not just $$$, but it is the “mother’s milk of politics” . . . we to get a “buzz” going with Pro-lifers, home schoolers, and Catholics to understand their obligations as disciples of Our Lord in the culture and politics of our country.

Truth Be Told issue #11 - Newsletter of the Laity of the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

The nineth issue of "Truth Be Told," the newsletter of the Laity of the Province of the Holy Name of Jesus has been posted to the web.

The newsletter is available for download at the provincial web page here:
http://laydominicanswest.org/newsletter/

Updated CV for Prof. Peter Kwasniewski

A few years back the Bl. Margaret of Castello Chapter had a visit and presentation by Prof. Peter Kwasniewski of Wyoming Catholic College. At that time I posted links to some of his writings, which are excellent!

here are links to his current CV and appendix of his publications. Some excellent reading to be had there!

Give man a chance - Sheen

in the 30s Sheen saw clearly where the world was going, and when the world went to war, he saw clearly the deeper level of that war.

The Revolution of Man

The post-war planners are still assuming with Marx that man is essentially economic, or with Darwin that he is essentially animal, or with Freud that he is essentially sexual, or with Hitler that he is essentially political. Hence they think that all we have to do is to change an economic system, or form new parties, or give more sex instruction, or greater license to the break-up of the family and we will have peace.

These planners think they are practical, because they talk in terms of money, trade, international police and geographical areas of influences and federated states. The truth is they are just as impractical as men who might legislate for squirrels by passing laws about nuts. Squirrels eat nuts, and man lives economically; but, as nuts do not explain squirrels, so neither does production explain man. Because the planners do not understand the nature of the one from whom they are planning, their plans are going to lead us into a phase of history where “…eldest Night and Chaos, Ancestors of Nature, hold Eternal Anarchy, amidst the voice of Engless Wars” (Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II).

Given the errant impulses, the frustrated selfish existences, the distorted human goals which these partial views of man engender, there is only one way to arrest that chaos, and that is by organizing it, and the organization of chaos is Socialism. The individualism and egotism which a distorted concept of man begets leave him alone and isolated, and to overcome this isolation there is only one non-Christian solution possible: the subordination of these rebellious atoms to a compulsory principle in the hands of the State. Socialism is the secularized, atheized version of a community and a fraternity of man which Christian love alone can engender. It is the new form into which man will bring his tortured and isolated personality, in vain quest for peace. By abusing his freedom under Liberalism, man, unless he returns to a knowledge of his true nature, will fall under the compulsion of Socialism. He will think less and less of freedom, though he may talk much about it, for a man talks about his heath when he is unhealthy. His end will be the trading of his freedom for a false security from the wet-nurse of the State.

The old order of Liberal Individualism is dead. Man will either become the subject of a non-divine evil will embodied in socialistic bureaucracy, or he will submit himself to the higher Divine Principle for Whom he was made and in Whom he alone can find his peace. He no longer will be free to decide whether he will or will not live under authority. From now on it is a question of under whose authority he will live, the authority of a socialistic State, or the authority of God reflected in a State which recognizes each person as endowed with rights and possessed of a value which no power can disinherit.

The Western World must learn that Totalitarianism cannot be overcome by Socialism, by laissez-faire Capitalism, by Individualism, or by any combination of these, for what has gone wrong is not the means of living, but the ends. The economic and political chaos of he modern world can be overcome only by a non-political, non-economic, non-Marxian, non-Freudian concept of a man and society. This does not mean that politics and economics are of no value; they are. But it means they are of secondary value for, unless we know the nature of the creature for whom politics and economics exist, it is just as useless to meddle with them as it is to fool with a blast furnace unless we know its purpose. Unless we restore the Christian concept of man, ant thus build a human rather then an economic order, we will be forced into a Totalitarianism in the hour we are doing our most to combat it.

What is the objection tot the basic Christian principal, that we build for the whole man as a creature of God instead of for the Darwinian, Freudian, Marxian man? The answer is on the tongues of all the reactionaries: “Christianity does not suit the modern man.” Certainly it does not. And for the reason that the modern man is not man; his part-man, a dissected man.

But Christianity does however suit man in his entirety, or human nature as it is, composed of body and soul and made in the image and likeness of God, with horizontal relations to the right and left in space and time, and yet never wholly explained by these, because identified with something prior and more fundamental, namely vertical relations with God, His Creator and Redeemer in Whom is his Peace and his Joy.

Up to know it has been said Christianity does not suit the modern man, therefore scrap Christianity. Now let us say, Christianity does not suit modern man, therefore let us scrap modern man.

Maybe there is nothing wrong with Christianity after all; maybe – may we dare suggest it – there is something wrong with us. Maybe there is something wrong with John Dewey and nothing wrong with St. John; maybe there is something false about H.G. Wells, and nothing wrong with Vincent de Paul; maybe there is something wrong with Gertrude Stein, and something right about St. Gertrude; maybe there is something wrong with Progressive Education and nothing wrong with the Light of the World Who said: “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Maybe science cannot be a substitute for morality; maybe morality is not identical with self-will; maybe the goal of life is not to get seven percent on mortgages; maybe the goal of economics is not for management to be responsible to bondholders, but to be responsible to the common good; maybe self-expression raised to a national form could end in Nazism; maybe we have been wrong. Maybe, we had better get back to God! We have given the Darwinians their chance; we have given the Marxists their chance; we have given the Freudians their chance; we have given the Hitlerites there chance. Now, let us give man a chance.

Fulton Sheen, Philosophies at War, 1943