Car problems again -- I hope it is not too serious; might just be a broken hose, but repairs will still be costly.

More Alternate Views on Commemorating 9/11

Lewis McCrary, Why We Should Forget 9/11

Tom Engelhardt, Let’s Cancel 9/11 (via TAC) - TomDispatch

Patrick Buchanan, What 9/11 Wrought: The Bush Legacy

Mel Gibson's next movie?

What happened to the Viking movie? He's writing the script for and producing the Maccabees movie. Will it be in Hebrew?

Hitfix: Warner Bros. sets up Mel Gibson, Joe Eszterhas drama about Jewish hero
JoBlo

Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia: Installation Homily

Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia: Installation Homily from Rocco Palmo on Vimeo.

Items of Interest, 8 September 2011

Peak Oil, Peak Debt, and the Concentration of Power (EB)

Reality TV’s “Stories of Stuff” by Sarah Byrnes (EB)

Welcome to the Post-Growth Economy by Richard Heinberg

Tom Whipple, The peak oil crisis: a billion vehicles

Sandra Postel: Water World, Uncut

The Economics of Happiness - SF Showing
International Society for Ecology and Culture
September 15th 8pm
Woman's Building
3543 18th St. #8 San Francisco
$5-20 sliding scale

David Korten, The Path to Real Prosperity
Sarah van Gelder, Jobs: What Will It Take?
Creating Jobs by Revitalizing Local Manufacturing

Free the Animal: A Conversation with Frank Forencich, “Exuberant Animal”
Richard Nikoley Interview 2: Free-ing the animal


Five Questions with “Paleo Comfort Foods” Authors Julie & Charles Mayfield

In Praise of the Rule of St. Augustine

Medievalists.net: Mary Magdalen and the mendicants: The preaching of penance in the late Middle Ages

The Chant Cafe: Melismatic Gregorian Chant from Japan

Archbishop Chaput: Homily: Mass of Installation as Archbishop of Philadelphia (Catholic Philly)
Fr. Z and this

The British are coming! Foreign actors playing American characters

NPR: St. Vincent Takes Your Questions
official and MS

In promotion of the proposition nation...

Zenit: Archbishop Dolan's Statement for 9/11 Anniversary
"A Time for Remembrance, Resolve and Renewal"

Not just intended for the archdiocese of New York, but all of the United States, since it was published by the USCCB?

We also remember how our nation responded to the terrifying events of that day -- we turned to prayer, and then turned to one another to offer help and support. Hands were folded in prayer and opened in service to those who had lost so much.

Why is mention of God postponed until the end, and then He is addressed in the form of a prayer?

We resolve today and always to reject hatred and resist terrorism. The greatest resource we have in these struggles is faith. Ten years ago our Conference of Bishops issued a Pastoral Message, Living with Faith and Hope after September 11, which drew on the rich resources of our Catholic faith to minister to our nation and world. The truth of that Pastoral Message still resonates today.

Faith, and not charity? Not even Catholic faith, perhaps, if this is intended as an ecumenical statement.

A decade later we remain resolved to reject extreme ideologies that perversely misuse religion to justify indefensible attacks on innocent civilians, to embrace persons of all religions, including our Muslim neighbors, and to welcome refugees seeking safety. We steadfastly refrain from blaming the many for the actions of a few and insist that security needs can be reconciled with our immigrant heritage without compromising either one. Gratefully mindful of the continuing sacrifices of the men and women in our armed forces, and their families, we also resolve to bring a responsible end to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

So the problem is the few, and not with Islam. There's no problem with Muslim immigration -- after all, we should embrace our "immigrant heritage" and obliterate the colonial heritage and culture.

This tenth anniversary of 9/11 can be a time of renewal. Ten years ago we came together across religious, political, social and ethnic lines to stand as one people to heal wounds and defend against terrorism. As we face today's challenges of people out of work, families struggling, and the continuing dangers of wars and terrorism, let us summon the 9/11 spirit of unity to confront our challenges. Let us pray that the lasting legacy of 9/11 is not fear, but rather hope for a world renewed.

In remembering the fateful events of September 11, 2001, may we resolve to put aside our differences and join together in the task of renewing our nation and world. Let us make our own the prayer of Pope Benedict XVI when he visited Ground Zero in New York in 2008:

One people united by... what? A human reaction to tragedy? That's an exaggeration of what unity really involves, don't you think? After all, how many were actually impacted by the attacks of 9/11? Calls to unity, when real divisions that cannot be surmounted exist are fanciful and ultimately not pastoral. But they sound good, right? Everyone wants to talk about building bridges without dealing with the nature of the divide.

There is no renewal without Christ. And Catholics need better direction from their bishops if they are going to be the leaven of the world. Temporal society can be elevated, but until the vital questions of culture and community are addressed properly, nothing will happen.

Is this the best our bishops can do? They have not assimilated the best of Anglo-American culture in order to defend it, nor have the learned from the Catholic intellectual tradition. Might it be that the appointment of "conservative" bishops will blind us to God's judgment upon us?

[Star Date] Interview with lovely, glowing actress Ha Ji-won (하지원)

Video for The Catholicism Project

Fr. Robert Barron's The Catholicism Project - trailer and YT channel.



(via Mark Shea)



Again, Fr. Barron's new book.

Items of Interest, 7 September 2011

Medievalists.net: Female Prosecutors in Thirteenth-Century England

Secessionist hamlet takes stroll down memory lane
Hamlet of Town Line marks its unique role in the Confederacy

Andrew Bacevich, An End to Empire

WINSLOW T. WHEELER, What Has Been the Real Costs of the Post-9/11 Wars?

Jason Peters, How the Bar Jester Would Fix America (Warning: It Involves Coercion)


An economy beyond jobs: the new normal

The Economics of Happiness blog: In Response to Jeffrey D. Sachs

An interview with Warren Farrell: The Need to Create a White House Council on Boys to Men(via GL Piggy)

Moniales OP:
Interview With Our Master General, Fr. Bruno Cadore, OP

Liturgiam Authenticam - Trailer
A New Documentary from Kindly Light

Is a documentary on the new English translation really necessary?

The Chant Cafe: "Da Pacem, Domine" 9/11 Anniversary this Sunday

The USCCB overestimating the significance of 9/11 by capitulating to the spirit of the times, rather than using it as a teaching moment? The USCCB is just too Uhmerican.

NCRegister interview with Archbishop Chaput (via the Napa Institute)

Does a Christian bishop need to do publicity in this manner? (Even if it is for a Catholic publication?)
An interview for the local CBS affiliate: Exclusive: Philadelphia’s New Archbishop Speaks Candidly About His Goals

An interview by John Allen, from July.


Anonymous 4, November 18 at Grace Cathedral

Ana Moura

website and MS

Musings during the drive yesterday

1. Catholic religious orders, institutions, and organizations are used to a national base for soliciting financial contributions. This is understandable, in so far as with a larger pool of potential donors there is potentially more money available. And it seems likely that fervent Catholics are more likely to contribute than lukewarm Catholics. The potential donor base is probably smaller for orthodox groups, as they are unlikely to appeal to those who are not orthodox in belief. Unfortunately, this also adds to an increase in junk mail, as their campaigns rely heavily on mailings for solicitations.

Orthodox groups must compete with other orthodox groups for support from the same core of orthodox Catholics. Is such a national support base too diffuse for many Catholic groups to be supported financially, especially in bad economic times? Those groups that are tied to service to a local community should see themselves as being part of a local economy and therefore dependent upon it, instead of reaching out for help beyond the community?

Sustainability is a problem that Catholic organizations will have to face -- can they do anything about it? Those monasteries that seek to be somewhat self-sufficient may be better off, though they may have to scale back their plans for construction. What about mendicants and others who rely on surplus wealth?

I do not that we should be praying for God to create more oil to keep us going.

(Do the problems of scale affect the spirituality of the members of these groups, and the observance of the order of charity? Should religious especially be praying for a particular community, being familiar its members? This can be done with the "nation" in the abstract, just as one can pray for all of mankind, but is there something missing with regards to human affections? There is something to be said for a fixed litany or intercessory prayers of the faithful, like in the Byzantine rite.)



2. Someone advanced the claim a while back that there were no charismatics in the Eastern churches because the liturgy provided an outlet that rendered the charismatic movement unnecessary. (I can't remember if this was at Christendom, with the claim being made by one of the theology professors there, or if it happened somewhere else.) The liturgy becomes a channel for the emotions (and can inspire them).

Or, one can look at it with respect to active participation instead of the emotional benefit. There are the gestures used and the litanies present in the Byzantine rite. The texts of the Roman rite are noted as being sober and restrained, but should this be an apt description of the way Latins pray as well? Liturgical worship should engage the senses and Christians should worship not just with the mind and the heart, but with the body as well. Is the Byzantine rite (and its worship culture) better able to satisfy the desire on the part of the laity for greater participation in the liturgy?

BBC: A mass from the church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, Cambridge, marking the introduction this year of the new English translation of the Roman Missal. (available until Sunday)
Some comments on this over at NLM and The Chant Cafe.

I have to say that the improvement in the English translation did not solve the other issues I had with the liturgy. It is a start, but it may not be enough, given how prominent the other issues are to the senses.

Sam Shepherd BTS of Blackthorn

Exclusive: Sam Shepard Talks BLACKTHORN In This Behind-The-Scenes Featurette



With 6 reviews already, its rating at RT is only 50%. If it increases I will see the movie in the theater.

More Items of Interest

Medievalists.net: Queen’s and Princesses’ Political Function at the end of the Middle Ages (14th and 15th Centuries)

There was a live webchat with Fr. Robert Barron today, on the occasion of the publication of his new book Catholicism. If an archived video becomes available, I will post it.

HanCinema: Chuseok and the Rise of Traditional Markets

Distributist Review: Labor Rights, Addendum

From crushing distance to opening space - a meditation on speed and local consciousness
by Clifford Dean Scholz (EB)

Visualizing a plenitude economy by Juliet Schor (EB)

New Dream Mini-Views: Visualizing a Plenitude Economy from Center for a New American Dream on Vimeo.

Marginalizing Marriage By Father John Flynn, LC
Why This Trend Threatens Society

Notre Dame: New chair endowed in Byzantine Theology

Chris Masterjohn, Gary Taubes on Cherry-Picking and Paradigm Shifts (A Brief Thought on Science)

Anthony Bourdain sounds off on the U.S. obesity epidemic


Counterpunch:
GARETH PORTER, The CIA and the Drones
DAVE LINDORFF, War Spending and Paul Krugman

SFEMS this weekend: About Catacoustic Consort and Wildcat Viols

Tim Ferris will be speaking in San Francisco on September 14. A profile in The New Yorker.

Glock has a new website

Team Glock

News about the Gen4 from Gear Scout: Glock offers Gen4 owners updated recoil spring


Part 2
Part 3

Tithing for Catholics

While driving back to Oakdale, I switched to Immaculate Heart Radio (1230 AM in that part of , California) for the benefit of my mother and her friend, but they ended up taking a nap instead. Since it was Labor Day, Catholic Answers aired a special pre-recorded program on Catholic Literary Giants (mp3) and rebroadcast the episode (mp3) with Gregory Jeffrey about providing financial support for the Church and its place in lay spirituality. He is the author of Why Enough is Never Enough: Overcoming Worries about Money. It may be that American Catholics do not contribute enough to the Church, in comparison with their Protestant counterparts. This criticism may be more appropriate of your typical suburban-dwelling Catholics, who have just two or three children. How much financial planning is necessary, especially for "big-ticket expenses" like houses and college?

Lay American Catholics should certainly be learning to cultivate a spirit of sacrifice and discerning what they can do without. But making financial contributions to support the parish or diocese is not a proper substitute for participating in parish life, learning about the Faith and sharing it with others. I also disagree with him regarding giving bishops the benefit of the doubt when it comes to diocesan programs. If one has good reason to criticize certain programs, one should communicate this to the bishop, as is his right and duty.

A priest told me once that one could specify how donations were to be used, and that a pastor was obligated to respect the wishes of the benefactor. Is this also true of bishops? We do have an obligation to provide a living for bishops and priests. But giving money for programs that give a poor education or even worse, spread heterodoxy? I disagree with Mr. Jeffrey who seems to think the professionalization of the works of mercy is generally a good trend for the Church. Then there is the ideal he promotes: taking 10% off the top for God. Our Lord should be the priority -- is it right though to give without first determining how much needs in order to provide for one's obligations? In a contracting economy, Americans need to learn to save more and to rebuild the network of the extended family in order to render assistance to one another. (And then re-build local communities.) I do not think being thrifty and saving -- being prudential in that respect -- goes against the supposed injunction of Matthew 6:34. What do the Church Fathers say?

Unfortunately American wage slaves cannot take a pay cut in return for working less hours so that they can spend more time with their families and parish communities.

The American Church is primarily an immigrant Church, and it may have been better if it had remained in the mission stage. Immigrants tend to form communities -- this sort of cultural life and solidarity may have been laudable and even necessary, there was also the pressure to assimilate in certain areas. Alas, what sort of American culture was adopted? Escaping poverty and aspiring to a more affluent way of life may be an understandable human desire, but it isn't the same as the desire to join a political community for the sake of becoming one with the people. How many Catholic immigrants adopted the specific mores and culture of a place rather than becoming good "Americans" in a general and vague sense (the historical beginnings of the proposition nation ideology)? But at least they understood the importance of learning English! Were Catholics more likely to assimilate to a historical community in the South than in the North?

While there are problems confronting the Church in the West as a whole, I think there are also problems that are specific to the Churches in places that are dominated by the immigrant experience coupled with multicultural/multiethnic mixing. Hence, the American Church has certain issues peculiar to it that are not to be found in the Churches of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, for example. (Although as Canada becomes more wedded to the cult of multiculturalism the Church there may be starting to be affected by the same problems.) And yet our bishops tend to ignore the question of proper assimilation in favor of multiculturalism combined with the proposition nation.

What is a proper label for this post? The American Church? The Church in the U.S.? Or the Churches in the U.S.? American bishops may have memories of a parish or "home" but how many of them are really rooted to a place and its people? Are bishops whose family never assimilated properly to some American people qualified to dictate national policy regarding immigration and the like? What part do Catholics moving around the country play in the destruction of local communities and cultures?

I suspect bishops are not transferred to other sees in Ibero-America, but stay in their country of origin, and even though they may have a shared language. (But local cultures probably differ to some degree.)  This is certainly true of Europe, where the languages and cultures are different. But has this ever been the case in the united States, where the states are supposed to be sovereign and the local cultures were arguably different at the time of independence?


More info:
A review of the book at National Catholic Register.
Legatus

Misc:
Oxygen

Alamire records the Trinity Carol Roll

AlamireSkinner

Items of Interest, 6 September 2011

Rod Dreher returns to blogging -- he is now at TAC.
Thomas Fleming, Idling, Week 1
Patrick Buchanan, How Capital Crushed Labor

Distributist Review:
The Debt Ceiling Deception
Does Property Have a Purpose?

John Robb, HOLLOW STATES and a CRISIS OF CAPITALISM

Medievalists.net: The Death of the Knight: Changes in Military Weaponry during the Tudor Period

Peak Oil: No laughing matter by Brendan Barrett (EB)

NPR: The 'Top Secret America' Created After Sept. 11
Dana Priest and William Arkin, Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State

Sen. Jim Webb: Editorial: Webb puts troops ahead of profits

TED

Every new invention changes the world -- in ways both intentional and unexpected. Historian Edward Tenner tells stories that illustrate the under-appreciated gap between our ability to innovate and our ability to foresee the consequences.

Music:
Q&A: Bela Fleck on banjo, storms

Scott Horton Interviews Kirkpatrick Sale

From April of this year: AntiWar.com. (mp3)

(An interview from January 2010. Antiwar, 2010 [mp3]. Vermont Commons, 2008.)

New CD from Heiligenkreuz to be released?

Is it being produced by Decca again? The monks have a MySpace page.

Items of Interest, 5 September 2011

A Future for English Chant

Practical tips for living sustainably: an interview with Joel Salatin (part 5 of 5)

Off the Battlefield: The Civilian’s View of Late Roman Soldiers

For Labor Day:
Transition Voice: Wage Slaves Unite! General Strike!
Paul Craig Roberts, Happy Corporations Day!
Labor Day is an anomaly in the anti-labor US
Scott Richert: Celebrate Labor Day With Saint Joseph the Worker

Portland:
Jack Donovan, A Totem Pole for Our Time

Garbage in, garbage out by Tom Murphy (EB)

Fabius Maximus: One of the top questions for our time: how will Peak Oil affect the economy?

Depression in women doubles since the 1970s as they 'try to have it all'




Fan-made COD video

Think he'll lask Ron Paul a question about the Constitution?

MoJ: Robby George at GOP Debate in South Carolina

Off to Oakdale today, be back this afternoon.

Went to the Byzantine Divine Liturgy yesterday; Fr. M was the celebrant because Fr. A had to go to a meeting (for the eparchy?). Are the Byzantine tones different from the Roman ones? The liturgy was rather quick -- finished in just a little over an hour.

The Red Stick Ramblers

They were featured in the season finale of No Reservations - Anthony Bourdain in Cajun Country.

MySpace






another performance

Anthony Bourdain, David Simon and Valcour

New EWTN series on the Martyrs of China

Insight Scoop: EWTN series, "Saints of China", offers personal view of Catholicism, Catholic saints in China

It is hosted by Anthony E. Clark, who has spoken on Matteo Ricci. His most recent book.

Naomi Schaefer Riley on Barbara Simpson's show right now

She has some accurate criticisms about American higher education. Her website.

A review of her book, The Faculty Lounges, by Stanley Fish.

Faculty Lounges: Naomi Schaefer Riley (Author Interview Series)
Between the Covers (mp3)
Interview with Naomi Schaefer Riley, author of The Faculty Lounges
Why unions hurt higher education
How to Succeed in Teaching Without Lifetime Tenure

Trappist Moines Vêpres Citeaux

(via NLM)

Transcript for a Conversation with Rob Hopkins

A conversation with Rob Hopkins (and hosted by Richard Heinberg) - transcript (EB)
Rob Hopkins, Post Carbon Institute

audio

9/11

VFR: Why one should avoid the September 11th commemorations

Mr. Auster links to a piece by Edward Rothstein, Amid the Memorials, Ambiguity and Ambivalence. Mr. Rothstein poo-poos the idea of blowback and criticizes Americans for their attitude of self-blame, looking at polls which indicate that this has only increased in the years following 9/11.

The Jeffersonian Conservative Tradition by Clyde Wilson

pdf (via The Imaginative Conservative)

Department of Education "Necessary and Proper"?

No - Time for Another Smackdown by Tom Woods

NPR: King Creosote And Jon Hopkins: Tiny Desk Concert by Stephen Thompson

NPR: King Creosote And Jon Hopkins: Tiny Desk Concert by Stephen Thompson

Interview

But is it a problem for the Federal Government under the Constitution?

The Public Discourse: End Child Pornography: Enforce Adult Pornography Laws
Patrick A. Trueman, September 01, 2011
Ending child pornography is as much a matter of vigorously prosecuting those who distribute adult pornography as it is a matter of prosecuting child pornographers. Presidential candidates should pledge to initiate adult pornography criminal cases and fund research into the adult-child pornography link.

What should be used to curb the power of the corporations or revoke their charters? The Federal government or the state governments?

[Star Date] Kim Ha-neul (김하늘)

Katie Melua - Mary Pickford

Mateo Flecha - La justa