Asia News: Underground bishop: I joined the Patriotic Association for the good of the Church, by Zhen Yuan
Mgr. An Shuxin says he was not pressured by the Vatican for his choice. In front of the division created in the diocese of Baoding, priests and experts are asking the Vatican and China to free the ordinary Bishop Su Zhimin, , in prison for the past 13 years.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Looking at OKCupid, I have found that the word "sarcastic" show up very often in the profiles of the women who use the website, either as one of the three words they used to headline their profile or in their description of themselves. Young Uhmericans are known for being sarcastic, but why highlight this trait? It's not particularly attractive, even if it is not in excess but only "moderate." If a women were to use sarcasm with her boyfriend, one would wonder if it's a lack of respect, rather than her "normal" sense of humor showing through.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Public Discourse: What Makes a Woman a Woman: The Case of Caster Semenya
Christopher O. Tollefsen, October 30, 2009
Sugar, spice, and everything nice or snaps, snails, and puppy-dog tails? A controversy over a South African runner makes us ask what boys and girls are made of.
Christopher O. Tollefsen, October 30, 2009
Sugar, spice, and everything nice or snaps, snails, and puppy-dog tails? A controversy over a South African runner makes us ask what boys and girls are made of.
Jeffery Tucker looks at John Allen's new book, The Future Church: The Elephant in the Living Room. I don't have the book, and I don't plan on purchasing it, but based on what I've read in Mr. Tucker's post and Mr. Allen's brief description of the book, I think Allen gets the long-term future wrong, even if he is extrapolating based on current trends.
If the elites try to hold on to their political and economic power, in the face of peak oil, resource depletion, and the rest, I believe this will be accompanied by greater attacks on the Church, so that the Church must start operating more like revolutionary cells, than a mainstream social institution.
I believe that the Church, if it is to remain "effective" in the future, must rediscover what it is for the local Church to be local -- only then can there be a complete renewal of Christian spirituality. (And part of that renewal includes a better developed liturgical spirituality.)The book is my attempt to describe the ten most important trends shaping the future of the Catholic Church, on a global scale. My choices are the product of almost two decades of reporting, and hundreds of hours of interviews with bishops, priests, religious women and men, and laity all over the Catholic world. They’re not styled as my personal vision for the future, but rather a reporter’s effort to capture those forces which really are most significant today, whatever I (or anyone else) might think about them.
The trends are:
A World Church
Evangelical Catholicism
Islam
The New Demographics
Expanding Lay Roles
The Biotech Revolution
Globalization
Ecology
Multipolarism
Pentecostalism
If the elites try to hold on to their political and economic power, in the face of peak oil, resource depletion, and the rest, I believe this will be accompanied by greater attacks on the Church, so that the Church must start operating more like revolutionary cells, than a mainstream social institution.
On sale: Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe's The Mystery of Joseph (published by Zaccheus Press). Click on the link to see the details.
Father Marie-Dominique Philippe
More from Fr. Philippe:
Mary, Mystery of Mercy by Marie-Dominique Philippe, O.P.
Father Marie-Dominique Philippe
More from Fr. Philippe:
Mary, Mystery of Mercy by Marie-Dominique Philippe, O.P.
Matthew Simmons: “Global crude oil peaked in 2005” (interview)
Lars Schall, MMnews
Matthew Simmons, Chairman of “Simmons & Company International”, is the world’s largest private energy investment banker. Moreover, he is a leading expert on the crucial topic of Peak Oil. In the following interview, Mr. Simmons talks about the on-going recession, explains why we might have reached an end of growth and gives his reading of last year’s oil price spike.
Lars Schall, MMnews
Matthew Simmons, Chairman of “Simmons & Company International”, is the world’s largest private energy investment banker. Moreover, he is a leading expert on the crucial topic of Peak Oil. In the following interview, Mr. Simmons talks about the on-going recession, explains why we might have reached an end of growth and gives his reading of last year’s oil price spike.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Judith Miller, The Mexicanization of American Law Enforcement
The drug cartels extend their corrupting influence northward.
The drug cartels extend their corrupting influence northward.
Energy Bulletin: Key oil figures were distorted by US pressure, says whistleblower
Terry Macalister, Guardian (UK)
The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying. [excerpt]
Terry Macalister, Guardian (UK)
The world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit, according to a whistleblower at the International Energy Agency who claims it has been deliberately underplaying a looming shortage for fear of triggering panic buying. [excerpt]
Zenit: Papal Message to Seminar on Faith and Sports
"Sport Has a Notable Educational Potential" [2009-11-09]
"Sport Has a Notable Educational Potential" [2009-11-09]
Through sports activities, the ecclesial community contributes to the formation of youth, offering an appropriate ambit for its human and spiritual growth. In fact, when they are directed to the integral development of the person and are managed by qualified and competent personnel, sports initiatives reveal themselves as propitious occasions in which priests, religious and laity can become true and proper educators and teachers of life of young people. Hence, it is necessary that, in our time -- in which we see the urgent need to educate the new generations -- the Church continue to support sports for young people, fully appreciating also competitive activity in its positive aspects, as for example, in the capacity to stimulate competitiveness, courage and tenacity in the pursuit of objectives avoiding, however, all tendencies that pervert its very nature with recourse to practices that are also dangerous to the organism, as is the case of doping. In a coordinated formative action, Catholic leaders, technicians and operators must be considered experienced guides for adolescents, helping them to develop their own competitive potentialities without neglecting the human qualities and Christian virtues which make the person completely mature.
Anglicanorum Coetibus
Zenit: Apostolic Constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus""Jesus Prayed to the Father for the Unity of His Disciples" [2009-11-09]
Complementary Norms for Anglican Constitution [2009-11-09]
Vatican Commentary on New Norms for AnglicansFather Gianfranco Ghirlanda Explains Significance [2009-11-09]
[2009-11-09] 1st British Anglicans Headed to Rome
[2009-11-09] Celibacy as a Rule Still in Force for Anglicans
[2009-11-09] New Avenue Leads to Communion
Some posts at other blogs:
Fr. Finigan
Damian Thompson: Apostolic Constitution: Vatican publishes the details, Apostolic Constitution: the full text, Apostolic Constitution: married ex-Anglican bishops may keep insignia of episcopal office, Pope's historic offer creates an Anglican tradition within the Catholic Church
American Papist
Fr. Z
Complementary Norms for Anglican Constitution [2009-11-09]
Vatican Commentary on New Norms for AnglicansFather Gianfranco Ghirlanda Explains Significance [2009-11-09]
[2009-11-09] 1st British Anglicans Headed to Rome
[2009-11-09] Celibacy as a Rule Still in Force for Anglicans
[2009-11-09] New Avenue Leads to Communion
Some posts at other blogs:
Fr. Finigan
Damian Thompson: Apostolic Constitution: Vatican publishes the details, Apostolic Constitution: the full text, Apostolic Constitution: married ex-Anglican bishops may keep insignia of episcopal office, Pope's historic offer creates an Anglican tradition within the Catholic Church
American Papist
Fr. Z
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Michael Shedlock on living wages:
Living WagesHow about earning enough money to support one's family, secure decent housing, and to enable that at least one parent is able to stay home to raise and possibly even teach the children? Can one do that on $20,000 a year anywhere in the U.S.? Probably not in California. And what of the rights of native Californians to live in the area where they were born and raised, and where family currently resides? If the nature of the job is such that it does not require much skill or thinking, then maybe the problem is with the system for not providing not enough opportunities for people to use the skills that they can and do have, rather than with the people.
The above viewpoint will undoubtedly bring up endless chater about a "living wage". The problems with "living wages" are many.
Somehow a "living wage" has morphed into a new SUV every 4 years, a 4 bedroom 2,200 square foot home (or better), flat panel TVs in 3 rooms, cell phones for every member of the household, etc. etc.
The first problem with "living wages" is unrealistic lifestyle expectations and attempts to live far beyond ones means. A second and bigger problem, as I have pointed out many times, is that concern ought to be how far the dollar goes (not how many dollars one makes).
If government would stop wasting trillions of dollars in needless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, if we could cut out stimulus spending, stop propping up banks at the expense of taxpayers, stop giving handouts to home builders (and everyone else), and in general just get the hell out of the way, wages would fall (but prices would fall even more), and the purchasing power of the dollar would rise.
If the US slashed corporate income taxes and had a genuine free trade policy (regardless of what any other country does), small business hiring in the US would soar.
Instead, sheep scream for the wolves in Congress to protect them while union leaders prey on their own flock. Never before in history have so many sheep begged to be watched by wolves. Yet, this should not be surprising given we live in a world where sheep are taught to be sensitive to the needs of wolves.
Moral rigorism
After reading the piece by Natalie Portman on Jonathan Safran Foer, which also explains what action we should take vis-a-vis factory farming, I was reminded of how some advocates, apologists, and pundits clothe themselves in moral purity, while condemning those who do not live up to their standards of right behavior as being immoral or hypocritical (if they endorse those same standards). Others may claim that moral purity requires someone who believes in x to do y, which they see as the "logical" requirement of belief in x. They then use the failure to do y as an ad hominem argument to discredit the proponent of x and to refute x (which is a fallacious argument).
What they fail to recognize is that there are different kinds of cooperation in evil, and that while formal cooperation in evil is prohibited, material cooperation in evil may be permissible, if there is sufficient reason. I say that this sort of moral position is rigorist because their exacting demands go beyond what is required by reason, and notably what is taught by the Church. Because there can be material cooperation in evil, the moral imperative to do y or avoid z in order to prevent some evil may be mitigated by this, along with other considerations, to the point that there is actually no moral imperative to begin with.
This confusion about cooperation in evil underscores the need for careful reasoning within moral theology/philosophy, and shows that casuistry is an inseparable part of the work of the moral theologian.
Am I in turn guilty of being a moral rigorist in using the lessons I have learned to not only reject a normal academic career, but to judge others who have chosen that course? Perhaps. How many of those who teach at colleges and universities are truly guilty of expanding the higher education bubble, or of benefitting from the financial exploitation of students and their parents? How can I make a living off selling a useless, or at least overpriced product to others?
On a somewhat related note: Some have responded to Katherine Dalton's piece on secession by reminding readers that secession will never become mainstream or acceptable to most Americans, so long as it, like states' rights, is tied to the South, slavery, the Civil War, and racism. Of course they assume that the Yankee narrative of the war is correct, and this seems to be the dominant history in the minds of the majority of Americans. This narrative is often used to condemn those who advocate secession as a solution to the country's problems, or at least as a response to tyranny by the National Government.
I concede that resistance to the idea of secession will persist so long as people associate it with racism and intolerance because of their flawed education. They will also refuse to consider it as a political option while their identity is tied up with a unified nation-state. But this aversion may not be shared equally by all Americans in all regions. Perhaps there is still enough independence of thought in various states that secession can become a viable course of action.
Even if secession were to become acceptable, it seems to me that the sad fact of life is that most Americans do not have what it takes to make secession a long-term reality, as they do not have the desire to struggle for political and economic independence, and to live a simpler life, producing what they need for themselves and their neighbors. They would rather have their luxuries and toys than do without them to make for a more equitable and sustainable social order.
Others think that relocalization is not an option, because if it were to be implemented, millions would starve and die. They do not consider the possibility that those who advocate relocalization are recommending a gradual transition, not a sudden one. In effect, what they are saying is that power should remain in the hands of the corporations, because without them, people would not be fed. But do they consider the possibility that it is because of corporations (and the conivance of government) that people are prevented from growing food for themselves, and adopting sustainable measures? And that to perpetuate industrial agriculture is to make die-off inevitable, as we (1) continue to use natural resources without replacing them, and (2) maintain our dependence upon cheap oil to make industrial agriculture possible. Will not food become more expensive and possibly even scarce once it beocmes obvious to everyone that oil production has hit its peak?
I must say that I find this sort of rejoinder to advocates of relocalization to be rather pointless, since none of the PTB take relocalization seriously. Instead, such criticisms give the impression of moral posturing and lecturing on the part of those responding--some even go so far as to judge those advocates as being indifferent to the suffering or deaths of many, simply because they suggest we look to local, sustainable solutions. Another example of some cloaking themselves in moral purity?
More on cooperation:
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Accomplice
Formal and Material Cooperation
CatholicReference.net : Catholic Dictionary : MATERIAL CO-OPERATION
A Quiet Catholic: Material Cooperation
Remote Material Cooperation with Intrinsic Evil
What they fail to recognize is that there are different kinds of cooperation in evil, and that while formal cooperation in evil is prohibited, material cooperation in evil may be permissible, if there is sufficient reason. I say that this sort of moral position is rigorist because their exacting demands go beyond what is required by reason, and notably what is taught by the Church. Because there can be material cooperation in evil, the moral imperative to do y or avoid z in order to prevent some evil may be mitigated by this, along with other considerations, to the point that there is actually no moral imperative to begin with.
This confusion about cooperation in evil underscores the need for careful reasoning within moral theology/philosophy, and shows that casuistry is an inseparable part of the work of the moral theologian.
Am I in turn guilty of being a moral rigorist in using the lessons I have learned to not only reject a normal academic career, but to judge others who have chosen that course? Perhaps. How many of those who teach at colleges and universities are truly guilty of expanding the higher education bubble, or of benefitting from the financial exploitation of students and their parents? How can I make a living off selling a useless, or at least overpriced product to others?
On a somewhat related note: Some have responded to Katherine Dalton's piece on secession by reminding readers that secession will never become mainstream or acceptable to most Americans, so long as it, like states' rights, is tied to the South, slavery, the Civil War, and racism. Of course they assume that the Yankee narrative of the war is correct, and this seems to be the dominant history in the minds of the majority of Americans. This narrative is often used to condemn those who advocate secession as a solution to the country's problems, or at least as a response to tyranny by the National Government.
I concede that resistance to the idea of secession will persist so long as people associate it with racism and intolerance because of their flawed education. They will also refuse to consider it as a political option while their identity is tied up with a unified nation-state. But this aversion may not be shared equally by all Americans in all regions. Perhaps there is still enough independence of thought in various states that secession can become a viable course of action.
Even if secession were to become acceptable, it seems to me that the sad fact of life is that most Americans do not have what it takes to make secession a long-term reality, as they do not have the desire to struggle for political and economic independence, and to live a simpler life, producing what they need for themselves and their neighbors. They would rather have their luxuries and toys than do without them to make for a more equitable and sustainable social order.
Others think that relocalization is not an option, because if it were to be implemented, millions would starve and die. They do not consider the possibility that those who advocate relocalization are recommending a gradual transition, not a sudden one. In effect, what they are saying is that power should remain in the hands of the corporations, because without them, people would not be fed. But do they consider the possibility that it is because of corporations (and the conivance of government) that people are prevented from growing food for themselves, and adopting sustainable measures? And that to perpetuate industrial agriculture is to make die-off inevitable, as we (1) continue to use natural resources without replacing them, and (2) maintain our dependence upon cheap oil to make industrial agriculture possible. Will not food become more expensive and possibly even scarce once it beocmes obvious to everyone that oil production has hit its peak?
I must say that I find this sort of rejoinder to advocates of relocalization to be rather pointless, since none of the PTB take relocalization seriously. Instead, such criticisms give the impression of moral posturing and lecturing on the part of those responding--some even go so far as to judge those advocates as being indifferent to the suffering or deaths of many, simply because they suggest we look to local, sustainable solutions. Another example of some cloaking themselves in moral purity?
More on cooperation:
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Accomplice
Formal and Material Cooperation
CatholicReference.net : Catholic Dictionary : MATERIAL CO-OPERATION
A Quiet Catholic: Material Cooperation
Remote Material Cooperation with Intrinsic Evil
Mark T. Mitchell, Same-Sex Marriage, Abortion, and the Limits of Localism
He gives a response to a common paleo objection to involvement by the government in deciding the legal question of marriage:
If he is saying that the National Government should be responsible for promoting a culture of virtue, then how is this National Government to be brought into existence? While one may find supporters for the virtue in certain parts of the country, representatives from other parts of the country would oppose these virtues, or at least supporting them through law, in the name of public agnosticism regarding what is good.
Ted V. McAllister, The Romance of Conservatism
He gives a response to a common paleo objection to involvement by the government in deciding the legal question of marriage:
Perhaps the government should simply get out of the marriage business altogether. But that doesn’t look likely, and so we are left with the question of culture. Can a society survive if the vast majority of the populace do not share a common culture and together affirm a collection of common ideas? Is an affirmation of “liberty for all”—where liberty means the freedom from any constraint or authority—an adequate foundation for a society? Or does, in fact, this sort of absolute liberalism consume itself in the very logic of its existence? Can a society exist when all that unifies it is the continual emancipation of desire? The obvious answer, it seems to me, is no. But where can one find a common culture? The affirmation of certain basic rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness devoid of any metaphysical conception of what it means to be a human being falls short. Rights claims without acknowledgment of obligations and ends suited to human beings are little more than emotivist utterances that can be asserted and expanded with ever-increasing shrillness and incoherence. This is precisely where we are today. The same-sex marriage “debate” is the logical outcome of a society steeped in the language of rights where the understanding of rights has been separated from any notion of the human person as more than a bundle of expanding appetites. Such a “debate” cannot be won by either side, for winning a debate implies rational discussion, but in an emotivist context, the only victory is gained by force.
James Madison argued that the political system produced by the constitution of 1787 provided for certain institutional impediments to the demands of the majority but that ultimately the will of the people could not be stopped. As such, he argued that the virtue of the citizens was the primary bulwark against the usurpation of freedom. But a common consensus about virtue (and about freedom) implies a common underlying culture that consists of more than demands for individual rights. If the sole purpose of human existence is to liberate every desire, same-sex marriage is clearly a good thing so long as it is desired. If, on the other hand, there are ends and means proper to human persons and we are obligated to conform our actions to these norms, then same-sex marriage may not be within the realm of that which is morally good for human persons. It’s a question of culture that, as these questions do, goes to the heart of what it means to be a human. It is a question that cannot adequately be answered by recurring simply to competing rights claims.
Madison could imagine a national community united by a robust conception of virtue. As we have grown larger and more diverse in our thinking, that is no longer the case (if it ever was). We may generally agree on abstractions such as equality and individual rights but that is not enough to form a coherent community. So we are left with an incoherent national community (did such a thing ever exist?) and the possibility of more or less coherent communities of a smaller scale and even these will be difficult to maintain, for we all drink deeply from the fount of a popular culture where the liberation of desire is the first fundamental of the faith.
If he is saying that the National Government should be responsible for promoting a culture of virtue, then how is this National Government to be brought into existence? While one may find supporters for the virtue in certain parts of the country, representatives from other parts of the country would oppose these virtues, or at least supporting them through law, in the name of public agnosticism regarding what is good.
Ted V. McAllister, The Romance of Conservatism
Zenit: On Paul VI's Marian Devotion
"He Placed his Priesthood Under the Protection of the Mother of Jesus"
"He Placed his Priesthood Under the Protection of the Mother of Jesus"
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