Sustaining American Liberalism in Principle and Practice
One does not need to accept Deneen's ascription of America's founding principles to liberalism in order to agree with some of his suggestions for political renewal. On that point I agree with Muñoz. But I do not agree with Muñoz's characterization of the traditional American political order, nor with his faith in liberalism.
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
40 years of The Tallis Scholars
BBC3 Radio Music Matters - Gallery
The asociated music program - it will be available online for a year.
BBC3 In Tune: Tallis Scholars, Steve Reich, Curtis Stigers (expires in 7 days)
The asociated music program - it will be available online for a year.
BBC3 In Tune: Tallis Scholars, Steve Reich, Curtis Stigers (expires in 7 days)
Mark Sisson Discusses Sitting on the Floor or Ground
Floor Living: Do You Spend Enough Time on the Ground?
I posed a question about ground-based sitting to Gokhale method practitioners about what was better - sitting on one's knees versus sitting "Indian style," i.e. with one's legs crossed. The answer was something like this - sitting in accordance with Gokhale principles is easier kneeling; sitting with legs crossed can be problematic as it can promote bad positioning of the back, so one needs to be careful in that position.
I note that one sees "Crossed leg variation" a lot in Korean period pieces.
I posed a question about ground-based sitting to Gokhale method practitioners about what was better - sitting on one's knees versus sitting "Indian style," i.e. with one's legs crossed. The answer was something like this - sitting in accordance with Gokhale principles is easier kneeling; sitting with legs crossed can be problematic as it can promote bad positioning of the back, so one needs to be careful in that position.
I note that one sees "Crossed leg variation" a lot in Korean period pieces.
Monday, March 04, 2013
And You Thought the Jesuits Were Dying Out
But they're still pushing the neo-modernist agenda. In this case, Paul G. Crowley. Published in the diocesan (SF) newspaper, no less - Jesuit: Transition a chance to address church at ‘impasse’ by Rick DelVecchio
So are the Jesuits continuing to push out malformed, whether it be at the Jesuit School of Theology or elsewhere?
So are the Jesuits continuing to push out malformed, whether it be at the Jesuit School of Theology or elsewhere?
No Turning Back?
Record majority polled in Calif. approves same-sex marriage
Complete reversal in 36 years
While there is cheap energy available, the progressives and their indoctrinated children will be able to continue to push for the destruction of traditional society.
Complete reversal in 36 years
While there is cheap energy available, the progressives and their indoctrinated children will be able to continue to push for the destruction of traditional society.
Special Liturgy for the Deceased at the National Shrine of St. Francis
From the FB page for Our Lady of Fatima Byzantine Catholic Church:
The National Shrine of St. Francis - info about parking.
Related: (Not really.)
From Jan 2012 - Roman Hurko's Divine Work
Latest musical setting of the Divine Liturgy, now in English, brings beauty of Eastern Christianity to a new generation: 'Epiphanies of the Awesome.'
The date draws near...
Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom March 9th at the National Shrine of St. Francis
Share the news.
Press Release:
Our Lady of Fatima Russian-Byzantine Catholic Church will celebrate the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist) at the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi on Saturday March 9th. Choral selections include Russian composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Dmitry Bortniansky and Nikolai Kedrov with chant settings of Kiev and the Russian Imperial Court. This is a special liturgy served twice a year in memory of the faithful departed. Service is at 12:15 and will be sung in English. All are welcome. www.byzantinecatholic.org or follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/#!/byzantinecatholicsf?fref=ts
The National Shrine of St. Francis - info about parking.
Related: (Not really.)
From Jan 2012 - Roman Hurko's Divine Work
Latest musical setting of the Divine Liturgy, now in English, brings beauty of Eastern Christianity to a new generation: 'Epiphanies of the Awesome.'
To Be Released Next Month
Four Courts Press: Benedict XVI and the Roman Missal
Janet E. Rutherford & James O'Brien, editors
Janet E. Rutherford & James O'Brien, editors
Someone said on FB that Fr. Constantine Belisarius had passed away (a while ago), but I couldn't find any official notice on the internet.
For the Miserere by Allegri Enthusiast
Digital download, The Sixteen - COREPSIN01 Allegri Miserere - Its Evolution
Saving Aramaic
How to Save a Dying Language by Ariel Sabar
Geoffrey Khan is racing to document Aramaic, the language of Jesus, before its native speakers vanish
Geoffrey Khan
A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel
Geoffrey Khan is racing to document Aramaic, the language of Jesus, before its native speakers vanish
Geoffrey Khan
A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel
Temple Design
I visited Bing Concert Hall yesterday for a performance by the Stanford Early Music Singers. The auditorium features state-of-the-art acoustics and science. I was impressed, even if the interior was more functional than aesthetic. What would the Divine Liturgy for your average Orthodox or Eastern Catholic parish sound like in such a setting? [Some] Traditional temples may be better acoustically if they lack carpeting and because of other factors (of which I am unaware) - should acoustics be a consideration for the design of temples? At the very least, designs that take into acoustics into account may obviate the pastoral/liturgical need for microphones, which should be generally desirable.
On the other hand, better acoustics may as a consequence require that a choir or schola receive better training. (There was a liturgical singing seminar at St. Seraphim Orthodox Church in Santa Rosa the beginning of February.)
On the other hand, better acoustics may as a consequence require that a choir or schola receive better training. (There was a liturgical singing seminar at St. Seraphim Orthodox Church in Santa Rosa the beginning of February.)
Ivan Illich and Respecting the Culture of Others
Ivan Illich’s Politics of Carnival by Christopher Shannon
His efforts in appealing to the culture of the Puerto Ricans in New York City may have been successful in preserving their ethnic and ecclesial identity and fostering evangelization efforts as a result, but does the success reveal the mentality of those who had been coming here? Were they willing to assimilate into American (i.e. Yankee culture)? Or were they just trying to hold on to their church traditions?
If that is the case, what would be the appropriate strategy of the Church? To remind them of their duties as guests? Or to accept this lack of interest as something that cannot be changed (or even laudable, as resistance to American culture) and to foster it, evangelizing accordingly? Illich followed St. Paul's strategy (and the strategy of the great Christian missionaries) of being a Puerto Rican for Puerto Ricans:
the former Fiesta de San Juan (which had been transformed into the Fiesta de la Comunidad Hispaña) to the secular, nationalistic Puerto Rican Day Parade. While they may have wanted to keep a distinct ethnic identity, can it not also be said that they had very little desire to become a mainstream "American"? What if the duty to assimilate if they sought permanent residence here, much less citizenship?
Things may be much different now with the Puerto Ricans, though the article points out that it may be easier for them to maintain a distinct identity and culture so long as they are connected to the homeland and have access to it through air travel. But how many NY Puerto Ricans have adopted Yankee habits? How much of a distinct culture is left? Still, even if their culture is no longer as strong or different as it once was, so long as a distinct group identity is maintained, one with actual moral consequences with respect to the order of charity, this is a problem, and while Illich's efforts may have been right with respect to protecting their cultus, might they have been wrong with respect to the political common good?
But while the American clergy tried to incorporate Puerto Ricans into the Church according to models of assimilation developed through the pastoral care of earlier European immigrant groups, Illich looked to the indigenous traditions of Puerto Rican Catholicism as the basis for an alternative not simply to Americanization, but to modernization in general.
His efforts in appealing to the culture of the Puerto Ricans in New York City may have been successful in preserving their ethnic and ecclesial identity and fostering evangelization efforts as a result, but does the success reveal the mentality of those who had been coming here? Were they willing to assimilate into American (i.e. Yankee culture)? Or were they just trying to hold on to their church traditions?
In New York during the 1950s, Puerto Ricans provided the most visible face of the Third World; in America, the danger was not communism, but modernism understood as a synthesis of secularism, materialism, and of course, cultural Protestantism.A lot of -isms here. Would assimilating to a Yankee Church be better than no assimilating at all? The article admits:
The Puerto Ricans presented a special challenge to the Church. The earlier model of Catholic Americanization succeeded largely because immigration restrictions drastically reduced the contact ethnic Catholics had with their culture of origin. In contrast, Puerto Ricans were American citizens with access to cheap air travel, which enabled them to move freely back and forth between Puerto Rico and America. They were therefore able to maintain their ties to their native cultural traditions. Spellman’s initial efforts to Americanize Puerto Rican Catholics had been perfectly consistent with the integrationist ethos of the emerging civil rights movement; however, while African Americans conceived their struggle as an effort to reclaim a four-hundred-year-old birthright, Puerto Ricans saw America primarily as a place to work and had no particular interest in assimilating into American culture, or even into the American Catholic subculture.
If that is the case, what would be the appropriate strategy of the Church? To remind them of their duties as guests? Or to accept this lack of interest as something that cannot be changed (or even laudable, as resistance to American culture) and to foster it, evangelizing accordingly? Illich followed St. Paul's strategy (and the strategy of the great Christian missionaries) of being a Puerto Rican for Puerto Ricans:
For Illich, ministry to Puerto Ricans required a complete surrender of one’s own cultural values. He understood this surrender in explicitly Christian terms, equating it with the surrender of the will that precedes the reception of grace in traditional Christian theology. Although he was familiar with modern social theory, Illich nonetheless understood this surrender of cultural assumptions not in terms of objectivity or tolerance, but as “a beatitude of cultural poverty.” Illich spent vacations in Puerto Rico, walking and hitchhiking across the country, performing priestly duties and soaking up the peasant culture of the people; he became convinced that the future vitality of Puerto Rican Catholicism depended on the maintenance of Puerto Rican cultural traditions.But he was not entering a foreign land, where Christianity had no presence. Is it possible, then, to maintain a separate ethnic ecclesial culture while adopting the civic culture of the surrounding community? We find out that Illich's successor was unable to protect the apostolate because he turned it into a social justice movement. As a result, the Puerto Ricans were repulsed, changing their focus from
the former Fiesta de San Juan (which had been transformed into the Fiesta de la Comunidad Hispaña) to the secular, nationalistic Puerto Rican Day Parade. While they may have wanted to keep a distinct ethnic identity, can it not also be said that they had very little desire to become a mainstream "American"? What if the duty to assimilate if they sought permanent residence here, much less citizenship?
Things may be much different now with the Puerto Ricans, though the article points out that it may be easier for them to maintain a distinct identity and culture so long as they are connected to the homeland and have access to it through air travel. But how many NY Puerto Ricans have adopted Yankee habits? How much of a distinct culture is left? Still, even if their culture is no longer as strong or different as it once was, so long as a distinct group identity is maintained, one with actual moral consequences with respect to the order of charity, this is a problem, and while Illich's efforts may have been right with respect to protecting their cultus, might they have been wrong with respect to the political common good?
Four Years of FPR
Mark Mitchell:
Our desire to promote the ideals of place, limits, and liberty through fostering political decentralism, economic localism, and cultural regionalism has touched a nerve. We have been praised in the pages of The New York Times and The New Republic, and we’ve have been dismissed as hopeless romantics (or worse!) by others.
Nevertheless, we remain convinced that human apprehension of the true, the good, and the beautiful through the cultivation of virtue is best realized within a dense web of meaningful family, neighborhood, and community relationships. For decades, if not centuries, a powerful and ever-growing centralized state, along with the cultural and economic institutions with which it exists in a mutually reinforcing network, has eroded these vitally important relationships—and diminished human liberty, community, and happiness as a result.
We believe that we are in the beginning stages of a “new traditionalist” moment that will help revitalize American discourse and community and civic life by reclaiming important aspects of the Western tradition long ignored—or detested—by most Western elites. Even though much in the news suggests that ours is a badly damaged republic, there are hopeful signs. It is our intent to highlight and nurture these good things as we seek to champion human scale, the “little platoons,” respect for the natural world, and reverence to God.
Carl Olson on Theosis
From December 2012: "Theosis and the Role of the Laity"
I've already linked to Orientale Lumen XVI. But I wanted to make a note of this - Mr. Olson writes:
" I'm pleased to say, on a directly related note, that I am currently co-editing, with Fr. David Meconi, SJ. (editor of Homilietic & Pastoral Review) a volume on theosis in the Catholic Tradition, which includes chapters by Dr. Daniel Keating, Fr. John Saward, Dr. Tracey Rowland, Dr. Joan Mueller, Dr. David Fagerberg, and several others (fifteen authors in all). That book will hopefully be available next year, if all goes all."
I've already linked to Orientale Lumen XVI. But I wanted to make a note of this - Mr. Olson writes:
" I'm pleased to say, on a directly related note, that I am currently co-editing, with Fr. David Meconi, SJ. (editor of Homilietic & Pastoral Review) a volume on theosis in the Catholic Tradition, which includes chapters by Dr. Daniel Keating, Fr. John Saward, Dr. Tracey Rowland, Dr. Joan Mueller, Dr. David Fagerberg, and several others (fifteen authors in all). That book will hopefully be available next year, if all goes all."
Sunday, March 03, 2013
The New Dress Code for Umerica
Last Friday some schools were celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday by allowing students to wear pajamas to school. Some of the teachers did this as well. Why encourage the children to develop bad habits they may embrace later in life? Plenty of teenaged and college girls have no problems wearing pjs in public.
Apparently in some schools the practice is tolerated on normal days.
Do I need to explain why wearing pajamas in public is worse than wearing scrubs in public?
Related:
Moms Who Wear Pajamas in Public Have Officially Let Themselves Go
The Pajama Manifesto
Wearing Pajamas in Public - Etiquette
Apparently in some schools the practice is tolerated on normal days.
Do I need to explain why wearing pajamas in public is worse than wearing scrubs in public?
Related:
Moms Who Wear Pajamas in Public Have Officially Let Themselves Go
The Pajama Manifesto
Wearing Pajamas in Public - Etiquette
Kunstler v. North
regarding Walmart - Reply To Gary North
Who's more "conservative" here, the Democrat or the [paleo-]libertarian? I wonder if North could tweak his argument to such an extent (i.e. Wlamart is good for American consumers and Chinese workers) that Michael Sandel would actually agree with him.
Who's more "conservative" here, the Democrat or the [paleo-]libertarian? I wonder if North could tweak his argument to such an extent (i.e. Wlamart is good for American consumers and Chinese workers) that Michael Sandel would actually agree with him.
Old Woman, Old Woman! Old Man, Old Man!
40 is the new 30.
5 Guys today again - while I was there I saw at least two white older white couples with young children. Such families are a common sight here in the Bay Area - white parents who are in their 40s but have children less than 2 years old. Unfortunately for white people, their age is really noticeable. (I have also seen some Asian families that are like this, though.) Maybe some of them married rather recently, or they have been having difficulties conceiving for a long time. But how many of them decided that they were finally ready to have children late in life, after they passed the age of 35, while living it up as a "couple," either married or "single but in a relationship"?
Yeah, I'm quick to judge, but when this is a common sight it does mean something about the moral quality of the people, if the phenomena is due mostly to the last cause.
5 Guys today again - while I was there I saw at least two white older white couples with young children. Such families are a common sight here in the Bay Area - white parents who are in their 40s but have children less than 2 years old. Unfortunately for white people, their age is really noticeable. (I have also seen some Asian families that are like this, though.) Maybe some of them married rather recently, or they have been having difficulties conceiving for a long time. But how many of them decided that they were finally ready to have children late in life, after they passed the age of 35, while living it up as a "couple," either married or "single but in a relationship"?
Yeah, I'm quick to judge, but when this is a common sight it does mean something about the moral quality of the people, if the phenomena is due mostly to the last cause.
ABC: Garbage Central
'Red Widow' review: ABC's answer to 'Breaking Bad'? Not quite
More girl power.
official
Suppose the commercial networks decided that they had to start making shows for men again. How many of them would be willing to take a chance on a show that might be too "manly" and offend certain women, either because men were shown to be competent and dominant over women? What if these feminists started calling for a boycott? Would the networks be willing to put on such a show, for the sake of an uncertain return (I don't think there is much they can do to regain male viewers, at this point) and the strong possibility of losing their core audience, female consumers?
Not that the networks would be willing to consider such a show in the first place - why should they care about male viewers? Worse, some may actually believe their shows are appropriate for both men and women (CBS and its shows like NCIS, for example).
More girl power.
official
Suppose the commercial networks decided that they had to start making shows for men again. How many of them would be willing to take a chance on a show that might be too "manly" and offend certain women, either because men were shown to be competent and dominant over women? What if these feminists started calling for a boycott? Would the networks be willing to put on such a show, for the sake of an uncertain return (I don't think there is much they can do to regain male viewers, at this point) and the strong possibility of losing their core audience, female consumers?
Not that the networks would be willing to consider such a show in the first place - why should they care about male viewers? Worse, some may actually believe their shows are appropriate for both men and women (CBS and its shows like NCIS, for example).
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