Dissent and double standards at ‘Where Peter Is’ (The Catholic Herald): “The thesis that McManaman is suggesting, and that Lewis is promoting, is that even a doctrine proclaimed by the Church to be ‘irrevocable’ and ‘taught infallibly’ may turn out to be wrong.”
Morrissey: Watchman of the West (Spe Salvi Institute): “’I found myself in Paris,’ Morrissey sings on the title track of his new album, Make-up is a Lie, his first in six years. And where else would he be these days?”
Vatican appeal court orders review of financial trial investigation (The Pillar): “The Vatican City Court of Appeal issued a decision Tuesday ordering a review of the investigation and indictment which opened the landmark financial crimes trial in 2022.”
How Catholics Do Political Protest (Catholic Answers):“Recent ICE protests open up the question: how should Catholics publicly air their grievances?”
Trump’s Objectives in Iran and the Fog of War (Providence): “A student asked me the other day what right America had to go to war with Iran. My response to the student was that America’s moral and ethical right was clear, particularly if you date this war to 1979 and the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran.”
Vatican theological commission warns of replacing God with ‘a world governed by machines’ (Our Sunday Visitor): “The Vatican’s International Theological Commission has warned that if humanity places total trust in technology in a ‘world ruled by machines,’ it risks replacing the ‘living God; with a counterfeit ‘virtual God.”
Christendom Alumnus Matthew Walz Named President of Thomas More College (Christendom College): “Walz, a distinguished professor, author, and valedictorian of his undergraduate class at Christendom, has taught at the college level since 1998 and will now bring his deep passion for the education and formation of students to his new role as a college president.”
Further drop in US married households spurs call to action for Church leaders (Our Sunday Visitor): “America finds itself at a proverbial sociological crossroads, confronting a disconcerting question about a millennia-old institution: Does marriage matter anymore?”
The Cuban Mirage: A Revolution Exposed (The American Mind): “Fidel Castro and his Communist epigones have brought only misery and despair.”
(*The posting of any particular news item or essay is not an endorsement of the content and perspective of said news item or essay.)
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“Cuba has long suffered under medical apartheid, with shiny state-of-the-art facilities for the party elite in Havana camouflaging the lamentable state of medical clinics that cater to ordinary Cubans—where even bandages and other minimal essentials are in desperately short supply. Thirty-three percent of Cubans “were unable to acquire the medicine they needed due to price or scarcity,”
******
Poor Cubans today can lack even basic medications like antibiotic salves. We take so much for granted here where we can pick up a tube at the Dollar Store. Minus that, a wound can become life or limb threatening.
@ Further Drop in U.S. Married Households
We read: “What is the Church to do.?” One easy step might be in the Prayers of the Faithful,” the meaning of “vocations” should be extended— alongside the priesthood and religious life— to marriage which also enjoys the full stature of nothing less than another vocation.
In our skittish, careerist, and real-time world, the deeper and permanent meaning of “vocation,” itself, needs to be restored.
JEAN-PIERRE DE CAUSSADE (1675-1751) writes: “So we must recognize that there is no special or singular road leading to perfection but that for most people easily the best thing is submission to all that God will for their particular [!] way of life [….] This is why I preach self-abandonment and not any particular way of life. I love whatever is the state [of life!] in which your grace places souls [!] and have no liking for one more than another” (“Abandonment to Divine Providence”).
In the long term, then, a restored family culture can lead to vocations of all types.
And, on the COMMENT (in the article) that the pending population winter is unmatched in history, how about this not-irrelevant reminder of the ancient world:
“Late marriages and small families became the rule, and men satisfied their sexual instincts by homosexuality or by relations with slaves and prostitutes. This aversion to marriage and the deliberate restriction of the family by the practice of infanticide and abortion was undoubtedly the main cause of the decline of ancient Greece, as Polybius pointed out in the second century B.C. And the same factors were equally powerful in the society of the Empire. . . .” (Christopher Dawson, “The Patriarchal Family in History,” The Dynamics of World History,” 1962).
I read last night the USSCB is going to focus on “climate change”.
What is the Church to do.?”
A reminder Abp Sheen told us change won’t come from the Bishops, but the laity.
Homosexuality was an ingrained part of classical Greek culture in its heyday, too. The Peloponnesian War did Athens in, not their sexual practices. And afterwards, remember the Theban Sacred Band? Alexander and his troops with their pageboys? Older men marrying much younger women was always standard among the Roman upper classes and in the Italian Renaissance, not to mention the Zulu Kingdom. Avoid sweeping generalizations.
@ Dissent and double standards at ‘Where Peter Is’
“Common doctrine is not irreversible and open to debate” (Deacon McManaman Where Peter Is). Feser would definitively correct this citing two Roman pontiffs John Paul and Benedict. Unfortunately Francis I opened it to discussion.
Feser’s proposition is that Lewis [Editor Where Peter Is] is challenging a doctrine that is not merely 8 years old, rather one that reaches beyond to the institution by Christ of hands on ordination exclusive to the Apostles. Apostleship that is exclusive to men.
Whereas, from this writer’s perspective, there’s the more modified, salient proposal that ordination may be limited to women as deacons as permanent rather than transitory and open to Priesthood. Experience in the African missions presented a scenario of African nuns entering the evangelical domain of missionary priests, simply because of the shortage of priests. Women who braved elements and danger from tribesmen. Bringing Christ absent of offering Mass and those sacraments exclusive to priests.
Arguments have swirled around this seeming possibility, whether ordination can be instituted as permanently limited to diaconate. Argument rests on recognition, arguments against that ordination is nonetheless a feature that relates to ordination to the priesthood. Deacons can read and preach the Gospel, officiate at weddings. They cannot anoint, offer Mass, hear confession and absolve.
That a layperson can read the Gospel, preach outside of Mass, baptize, distribute the Eucharist reduces ordination of women as deacons as seemingly superfluous. Taking that into account the singular merit for ordaining women would be to leave the possibility of priesthood open.
@ FURTHER DROP IN US MARRIED HOUSEHOLDS SPURS CALL TO ACTION FOR CHURCH LEADERS
Essayist Kimberley Heatherington quotes David Crawford of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family Catholic U that “Catholics live in a wider social, cultural, political and legal environment, from which they cannot and should not close themselves and their families to their cultural milieu”.
Both agree that married Catholics must witness to a culturally depraved pornographic milieu, pornography now a ‘normalized’ form of entertainment. Read recently that some families children and all consider pornography home entertainment. And worse, parents offering their own children to perform for the equivalent of Judas’ silver coins.
Approach given to the immense issue destroying marriage as ordained by God is good in respect to content and ends. The issue however seems that good ideas are likely not the answer – unless they are strengthened by spiritual dedication of both family and religious – and by consistent clarity upholding to Apostolic doctrine as seems the case with Leo XIV in his directives to Roman Rota on marriage, his similar effort to the Cardinals now on a yearly basis.
Regarding Trump’s Objectives in Iran and the Fog ofWar, the article is nothing but a puff piece with zero objectivity. He seems to credit Trump with great wisdom. The war is poorly planned(what happened to regime change?) and poorly executed by a blustering Secretary of War (Defense?). Who is a combination of arrogance and ignorance, never before seen in his job. Pete Seeger’s song “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” rings true.
It seems like a lot has been accomplished in a short time Mr.William. Let’s pray for the best outcome for the Iranian people and everyone else.
Let’s hope that the Iranian people will be able to throw off the slavish shackles and stranglehold the mullahs have had on them for 45+ years. But they’ll get no help from Democrats, the Vatican, NATO or the EU. But you can be certain that all of the aforementioned will be happy filling up their gas tanks once the fighting is over.
Western folks who further the Iranian regime’s cause seem to be either on the Woke Right or Far Left.
It’s a weird thing but wars can make strange bedfellows.
There will be no regime change without invasion and occupation,involving hundreds of thousands of US troops. The Iranian regime has killed thousands of demonstrators. Simply dropping bombs is not enough. We had air superiority in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. How did they go?
Trump fell for the same fallacy that Lyndon Johnson and George W Bush fell for. That air power alone will do the job. It won’t.
The Pentagon is an echo chamber of ring knockers who tell each other what they want to hear. We are wonderful, air power is supreme,blah, blah blah. Note that Trump put an Air Force General as JCS Chief. Air power’s effectiveness again over sold.
I’m guilty of repeating the same thoughts but I usually don’t copy & paste them.
🙂
Just stop please. You have no idea how things are going to unfold. This is just TDS-inspired speculation.
Regime change will not happen without invasion and occupation. Hundreds of thousands of US troops, thousands of U.S. casualties, and hundreds of billions of Dollars. It would be ugly. Count on it. And with no help from allies since the very stable genius has insulted them.
Waist deep in the big muddy, and the big fool says to push on. Pete Seeger. Dead on for Vietnam and once again, accurate.
Google search terms: how long has the attack on Iran been planned at the Pentagon
AI overview begins:
According to US military officials, the attack on Iran, known as “Operation Epic Fury” (or earlier, “Operation Midnight Hammer”), was the culmination of over 15 years of planning, analysis, and testing, starting around 2009 to target sites like Fordo. The operation was described as involving “months, and in some cases, years, of deliberate planning”.
Absolutely. We didn’t just pull this operation out of a hat.
There will be no regime change without invasion and occupation,involving hundreds of thousands of US troops. The Iranian regime has killed thousands of demonstrators. Simply dropping bombs is not enough. We had air superiority in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. How did they go?
Trump fell for the same fallacy that Lyndon Johnson and George W Bush fell for. That air power alone will do the job. It won’t.
The Pentagon is an echo chamber of ring knockers who tell each other what they want to hear. We are wonderful, air power is supreme,blah, blah blah. Note that Trump put an Air Force General as JCS Chief. Air power’s effectiveness again over sold.
This isn’t the same situation as Vietnam but we should have the same concerns.
Even if we knock back the regime’s ability to do terrorist harm for several years, that’s a lot. Hopefully we can accomplish more, but we do need the Iranian people to join in & Lord willing, the Iranian army. Who knows?
Why can’t all your posts be of this quality?
William writes: “We had air superiority in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. How did they go?”
The distinction is this: in these instances there was no resolve to completely destroy the enemy and then leave. You can never fight a military campaign with your finger in the air to assess which way the prevailing winds are blowing on a daily basis. Go in with the intent of knocking the crap out of your enemy so they cannot get up. War is not waged by Social Workers.
I knew a lot of Marines who served in Vietnam. They were not social workers. Our efforts were doomed from the start by an Administration that had no concept of their goals and the effort needed to defeat North Vietnam.
Lyndon Johnson and W Bush were incompetent and failed.
Tactical brilliance, but strategic not so bright. Waist deep in the big muddy. We’ve seen this movie before. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan.
On the other hand, whatever regime survives will be lacking ballistic missiles, likely nuclear weapons, a Navy, and viable proxy mercenaries. But, yes, a Western-style regime change, especially in a jihadist cesspool masquerading as a nation-state, is a deep subject.
William writes “I knew a lot of Marines who served in Vietnam. They were not social workers.”
Once again, you’re not thinking. When I mentioned “Social Workers”, I was referring NOT TO THE TROOPS but to the politicians, the leftist hippies and peacniks back home, the clergy and the intelligentia ensconced in their safe university ivory (and ivied) towers.
William, stop falsifying what others say.
@ Trump’s Objectives in Iran and the Fog of War
As we address matters of moral conscience a concern is, How far do we commit ourselves to attacking Iran with intent of eliminating it as a threat? As we are now learning, if our intelligence were not aware, Iran has long planned for such a contingency, having modeled its defense and armaments manufacturing after the N Korean model of subterranean networks. Impregnable concrete facilities beneath mountains. Indeed, achieved with N Korean assistance.
We are now considering ground operations – reminiscent of Iraq and Afghanistan. Would it be best to keep Iran contained, checkmated by air and naval power and seek other means of redirecting delivery of oil than through the Strait of Hormuz? Would not such a tactic keep casualties on both sides limited. And be the ground for coming to a workable settlement with Iran?
Additionally, with increasing control over Iran, of its capacity to rearm and deliver diminishing, there’s the real possibility of its collapse, and with that a change in governance.
Yes, please God.
@ VATICAN THEOLOGICAL COMMISSION WARNS OF REPLACING GOD WITH ‘A WORLD GOVERNED BY MACHINES’
“If humanity places total trust in technology in a world ruled by machines,” it risks replacing the “living God” with a counterfeit virtual God” (Vat Inter Theological Commission). Actually, to the extent we already have placed trust in digital ‘machines’ we have replaced trust in God. Especially true when we allow technology, algorithms to make moral decisions – military strikes, serious medical procedures.
We’ve entered the phase of dehumanization, becoming robot like creatures ruled by computerized data, which is why we’re seeing many lower level managerial positions occupied by men and women with good looks, rather than talent.
Theoretically, it would seem the process started with something other than directly related to intelligence. Sensuality and the pill. At that juncture we traded moral apprehension, prudential judgment [deliberation of a moral act] and ceded thinking to how we feel.
Greater the pleasure less the deliberation of outcome. Since that 60s moment the human intellect has been on the path of simple motor function. Roboticism, as absurd as it sounds, is the only honest projection with the development, and continued mismanagement of AI. Again, to be clear, it is the submission of moral decision making to technology, morality, the distinguishing feature of the human person within the animal kingdom, that radically diminishes our humanness.