"DON'T CRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA...

...Cry For the Catholic Church"

From Mary E. Hunt at Religious Dispatches:

Two women drinking coffee together in a Buenos Aires café during the dictatorship (1973-1983) could have been arrested merely for being together. Today they can marry. What a difference a few decades can make. Eva Peron was right in her address to her people from the balcony, as crooned memorably by Madonna in the movie Evita: “The truth is I never left you/All through my wild days/My mad existence/I kept my promise/don’t keep your distance…”

Argentina delivered same-sex marriage on July 15, 2010 (the bill was officially signed into law on July 21) after a bitter but decisive legislative battle. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s supporters backed it and some commentators have alleged that the 33-27 vote in the Senate was less a sign of major cultural change than a way for the president’s husband, Nestor Kirchner (former president of Argentina hankering to run again), to look liberal enough to be reelected in 2011. That may well be, but it misses an important religious angle; namely, that the Roman Catholic Church was defeated as soundly as the political opposition on this one. Maybe it is a sign of things to come in Latin America—on abortion, for example—and around the world as the institutional church fritters away its symbolic capital.
....

The institutional church was notoriously silent on much of the so-called “Dirty War.” It left to groups like Servicio Paz y Justicia (whose head, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980) to defend human rights. They did so along with the Mothers and the many secular and ecumenical groups that worked heroically to bring Argentina back to democracy. They pressed for the prosecution of those guilty of kidnapping and/or killing many young people.

God calls all Christian churches to be at the forefront of such battles against injustice and oppression. Leaders, take as your example Saint Óscar Romero. Ah, but look what happened to him. The archbishop was martyred for his courageous stand with the poor and oppressed against the government in El Salvador.

Or take as your example the living saint, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, for his brave stand against aparthied, who recently announced his retirement from public life. I will miss his voice terribly, if he does not continue to speak out. The good archbishop says:

“On the whole, I will shut up. Sometimes I m-i-i-ght find I can’t resist,” he said, with his trademark chuckle.

I hope he can't resist.

And the followers amongst us must join the fight and urge our religious leaders on in the battle against injustice and oppression and even goad them, if necessary.

MAKE NO PEACE WITH OPPRESSION!

Thanks to Ann V. for the link.

CARAVAGGIO - "PENITENT MAGDALEN"

Caravaggio, "Penitent Magdalen", c. 1596-97, Doria Pamphilij Gallery

As I searched for a painting to illustrate my post on the feast day of Mary Magdalen late yesterday, I found the painting pictured above. Although Caravaggio is one of my favorite artists in the world, I didn't use the painting, because the Gospel for the feast tells of Mary seeing Jesus at the tomb after his Resurrection, and the penitent Magdalen did not illustrate the story.

But I chose not to use the painting for another reason, because the painting puzzled me. Something seemed to be missing. Was Mary looking down at someone/something that had been painted over? Her pose suggests that of Mary in Michelangelo's "Pietà", and I wondered whether Caravaggio had not painted Mary holding the dead Christ and then overpainted, or perhaps he means to suggest something of the sort.

The source of the picture above is Philolog at Standford University's website. In the commentary which accompanies the picture at the site, no mention is made of overpainting, so I suppose my initial thought is without foundation. And, very likely, I'll never know for certain if Caravaggio meant to suggest something that is not explicit in the painting or what that something was.

Counterlight! Calling Couterlight! Doug's (aka Counterlight) recent post on Caravaggio, with illustrations and commentary, is excellent and well worth a look.

WHO ARE THE WELFARE CHEATS?

From the AP via Yahoo:

The Treasury Department's pay czar said Friday that 17 banks gave their top executives $1.6 billion in lavish payments while they were receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts.

Kenneth Feinberg said he did not have the authority to ask the firms to repay the money that was handed out during the financial crisis. But he said they should develop new rules on compensation that would allow them to slash compensation payments in future crises.

If the federal government does "not now have the authority to ask the firms to repay the money that was handed out during the financial crisis", then before handing out any more of our tax money as welfare for the rich, the feds should damned well get the authority.

FEAST OF MARY MAGDALENE

Noli Me Tangere (1524), by Hans Holbein the Younger

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”

John 20:11-17

Why did Jesus tell Mary not to touch him? In my search for an answer, I found this article in The Smithsonian Magazine, titled "Who Was Mary Magdalene?" by James Carroll, who writes a regular column in The Boston Globe.

The multiplicity of the Marys by itself was enough to mix things up—as were the various accounts of anointing, which in one place is the act of a loose-haired prostitute, in another of a modest stranger preparing Jesus for the tomb, and in yet another of a beloved friend named Mary. Women who weep, albeit in a range of circumstances, emerged as a motif. As with every narrative, erotic details loomed large, especially because Jesus’ attitude toward women with sexual histories was one of the things that set him apart from other teachers of the time. Not only was Jesus remembered as treating women with respect, as equals in his circle; not only did he refuse to reduce them to their sexuality; Jesus was expressly portrayed as a man who loved women, and whom women loved.

The climax of that theme takes place in the garden of the tomb, with that one word of address, “Mary!” It was enough to make her recognize him, and her response is clear from what he says then: “Do not cling to me.” Whatever it was before, bodily expression between Jesus and Mary of Magdala must be different now.

After his Resurrection, Jesus has a body. He is the same Jesus, but, at the same time, he is different, and his physical relationship with his disciples had to be different.

Carroll's entire piece is worth reading as a counter-story to the nonsense floating around about Mary Magdalene.

Reposted from Easter of 2007 late on the Magdalen's feast day.

NADA TE TURBE

Nada Te Turbe

Nada te turbe
Nada te espante
Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta
Solo Dios basta
Todo se pasa
Dios no se muda
La paciencia todo lo alcanza

Let nothing disturb you,
nothing afright you.
Whom God possesses
in nothing is wanting.
Alone God suffices.
All things are passing.
God never ceases.
Patient endurance attains all things.

Spanish lyrics from Margaret and English lyrics from Paul the BB.

Reposted from two years ago, because it's so beautiful.

TROPICAL STORM BONNIE - NOT PRETTY PICTURES

From 5 or 6 days out, it's not possible to predict the path, the intensity, nor the size of a tropical storm or hurricane, but the maps give me the heebie-jeebies. Upon landfall Bonnie will be barely a hurricane of the predictions are correct. But there's the oil. Drilling on the relief well, the only permanent solution to the oil well gusher, has rightly been suspended because of concern about the weather. There are worst-case scenarios and best-case scenarios, but I do not see a good outcome. But perhaps I have a pinched imagination.

Click on the maps for the larger view.



Tracking


5 day forecast


Computer models


Ensemble models

The maps are from Weather Underground, my favorite source for tropical weather watches.

PLEASE PRAY FOR KIRSTIN AND FRAN

Our friends Kirstin and Fran need our prayers. I don't have time to give details, because I'm hurrying off to New Orleans to take my grandchildren to spend the night with their aunt and cousins, but I wanted to post a quick reminder about the needs of our friends. The details are at their blogs.

GOLF PARTNERS

Sam is 90 years old. He's played golf every day since his retirement 35 years ago. But one day he arrives home looking downcast. "That's it," he tells his wife, "I'm giving up golf. My eyesight has become so bad that once I hit the ball I can't see where it went."

His wife sympathizes and makes him a nice cup of tea. As they sit down she says, "Why don't you take your old pal Steve, and give it one more try?"

"That's no good" sighs Sam, "Steve's a hundred and three. He can't help."

"He may be a hundred and three", says Sam's wife, "but his eyesight is perfect."

So the next day Sam heads off to the golf course with Steve. He tees up, takes a mighty swing, and squints down the fairway.

He turns to Steve and says, "Did you see the ball?"

"Of course I did!" replied Steve. "I have perfect eyesight".

"Where did it go?" says Sam.



"I don't remember."


Don't blame me. Blame Paul (A.).

I may have posted the joke before, but, if I did, I don't remember

PS: Have I told you that Paul (A.)'s wife is a lovely woman?

FEAST OF ALBERT JOHN LUTHULI

Albert John Lutuli (commonly spelled Luthuli), also known by his Zulu name "Mvumbi" (c. 1898 – 21 July 1967), was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress (ANC), at the time an umbrella organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa. He was awarded the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the non-violent struggle against apartheid.

James Kiefer at The Lectionary

Readings:

Psalm 122
Numbers 20:9-11
Ephesians 2:12-17
John 16:25-33

PRAYER

Eternal God, we thank you for the witness of Chief Luthuli, Nobel Laureate for Peace, who was sustained by his Christian faith as he led the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Strengthen us, after his example, to make no peace with oppression and to witness boldly for our Deliverer, Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I was much struck by the words in the prayer "Strengthen us, after his example, to make no peace with oppression...."

MAKE NO PEACE WITH OPPRESSION!

Wherever we find it....

Against whomever....

MAKE NO PEACE WITH OPPRESSION!

CONSTANCE MCMILLEN - "IT'S WORTH IT...."

From CNN:

A school district in Mississippi has agreed to pay a recent high school graduate $35,000 in damages and adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to a statement released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The settlement comes after the ACLU sued the school district in Fulton, Mississippi, on behalf of Constance McMillen, a lesbian teen who was told by Itawamba Agricultural High School officials she and her girlfriend would be ejected if they attended the school-sponsored prom.

The agreement, which was filed Tuesday, ends the lawsuit.
"I'm so glad this is all over. I won't ever get my prom back, but it's worth it if it changes things at my school," McMillen said in a statement released Tuesday.

No student should be put through the cruelty that Constance endured, and, as a result of the lawsuit and settlement, no student in a public school in Itawamba Country should have to in the future. Thank you, Constance for standing against bigotry and fighting the good fight.

My other posts on Constance are here and here.