YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

 

From the Guardian:

He has carried an organ transplant card faithfully for years, but Joseph Ratzinger's election to the papacy has ruled him out as an organ donor, the Vatican has revealed.

Instead of providing a liver or kidney to a needy recipient, pope Benedict's body will belong to the church when he dies, said one Vatican official, who suggested that veneration of the pontiff's remains would be complicated if they were not all in the same place.
....

Vincenzo Passarelli, the president of the Italian association of organ donors, said he was very surprised by the Vatican's decision.

"If he decides to give up an organ, does that mean the rest of his body no longer belongs to the church?" he said. "Organ donation is a noble act and if the pope donated to a Muslim or a Jew, it would become a truly universal act."

Passarelli admitted that if a papal organ was transplanted, the recipient might risk becoming the object of veneration. "But once an organ is transplanted, it immediately becomes part of another person.

"You cannot say that Antonio, for instance, has the pope's kidney – at that point it is just Antonio's kidney."

Down the rabbit hole into Sillyland. Imagine being the walking venerated because of having one of the pope's organs. The whole practice of body-part veneration is beyond ridiculous.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR NEXT WEEK

Here it's cold (for us) and dreary, with occasional mist.

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

ROWAN'S HEART'S DESIRE

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is one of four eminent scholars who today received honorary doctorates from the Catholic University of Leuven. They are awarded once a year to selected individuals of exceptional scientific, social or cultural distinction, on the Patronal Feast of the University, 2 February.

Dr Williams preached the sermon at "the Patronal Eucharist of the Catholic University of Leuven in Saint Peter's Church", but did Dr Williams receive communion at the service? Curious minds want to know. I expect he did not.

In his sermon Dr Williams says:

The intellectual community, and especially the Christian intellectual community, needs always to be engaged in the critique of triumphalism of any kind. That is why it is so significant a disaster when universities become mouthpieces for governments. The theologian may remember the shock felt by the twentieth century's greatest Protestant theologian, Karl Barth, on reading the manifesto in support of German policy in the First World War signed by most of the leading German academics of the day. And – given that the vocation and destiny of Europe is part of the focus of these celebrations – there is here a clue about what the university, Christian or otherwise, has to say to our continent.

But wait! The Vatican State is a government.



I remember my shock at seeing the list of Roman Catholic theologians, writers, and teachers, some of the finest minds in the church, silenced or otherwise disciplined by Pope Benedict when he was better known as Cardinal Ratzinger, the Enforcer, acting on behalf of the Vatican State during the reign of John Paul II.

From the National Catholic Reporter:

Issue Date: February 25, 2005
The List

Editor's note: Following is a list of Catholic theologians and others disciplined by the Vatican during the papacy of John Paul II. Though not an exhaustive list, it is a substantial representation of the range of people subject to papal discipline during the past 26 years. The list was compiled by Tara Harris, assistant to the editor.

Fr. Jacques Pohier: A French Dominican priest, he was the first theologian to be disciplined by Pope John Paul II. In 1979 Pohier, the dean of the theology faculty at the Dominican theological school near Paris, lost his license to teach theology, was banned from saying Mass or participating in any liturgical gatherings. The Vatican objected to his views on Christ’s resurrection. He left the Dominicans in 1984.

Fr. Hans Küng: A Vatican investigation into the writings of this Swiss-born theologian began in 1975. He lost his license to teach Catholic theology in 1979 after the Vatican found fault with his views on papal infallibility. He continued to teach at the University of Tübingen as a professor of ecumenical theology.

Fr. Edward Schillebeeckx: A Belgian Dominican, he was the theologian of the Dutch bishops at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and has endured several Vatican investigations. He was initially investigated in 1968 for questioning the virginity of Mary. The Dutch hierarchy, clergy and laity rallied to his defense, and Fr. Karl Rahner, who himself would be investigated, convinced the Vatican of Schillebeeckx’s orthodoxy. In 1979, a trial or “procedure” was convened to investigate his writings on Christology. In the face of an international campaign of protest against the trial, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dropped the matter in 1980. He has since received several “notifications” from the congregation that his writings remain in conflict with church teaching.

Fr. Charles Curran: Once a professor of moral theology at the Catholic University of America, Curran lost his license to teach theology in 1986 because the Vatican did not approve of his views on sexuality and medical ethics. He currently teaches at Southern Methodist University. He is a member of the NCR board of the directors.

Leonardo Boff: A Brazilian Franciscan and one of the most famous proponents of liberation theology, Boff was investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981. The Vatican objected to his views on Christology and the structure of the church. Boff was silenced for a year in 1985. Boff enjoyed the support of his religious order and two of Brazil’s cardinals, Aloisio Lorscheider and Evaristo Arns, but he was silenced again in 1991. In 1992 Boff left the Franciscans and the priesthood.

Fr. Anthony Kosnik: A priest of the Detroit archdiocese, he was forced to leave his teaching position at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary because he co-authored a Catholic Theological Society study called Human Sexuality. The Vatican disliked the study’s theology and Kosnik was pressured to resign in 1982. Seminarians and faculty threatened to boycott the school’s spring commencement if Kosnik was not reinstated. He got his job back, but was forced to resign the next year.

Fr. Gustavo Gutiérrez: Often called the “father of liberation theology,” Gutiérrez has had to face numerous investigations by the Vatican. In 1983, the Peruvian bishops received a notification from the Vatican containing 10 complaints about Gutiérrez’s writings. They declined the request to condemn them. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued instructions in 1984 and 1986 that criticized certain aspects of liberation theology. In 1988, the congregation began another investigation of Gutiérrez. Nothing came of any of these investigations. In 2001 Gutiérrez joined the French province of the Dominicans in a move that was seen as an attempt to distance himself from the conservative Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, the conservative archbishop of Lima.

Fr. Karl Rahner: Considered one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century, Rahner spent much of his career under Vatican scrutiny. John XXIII had him silenced and was extremely critical of his writings. Under Paul VI, he was rehabilitated and his theology greatly influenced the Second Vatican Council, where he served as an expert for the German bishops. In his later years, he was very critical of the conservative direction the church had taken under John Paul II. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith took issue with Rahner’s views about priestly ordination, contraception and his doctrine of the “anonymous Christian.” After his death in 1984, a gradual reassessment of Rahner’s theology took place, and by the time of his centenary in 2004, the secretary to the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith declared Rahner to be “an orthodox theologian.”

Fr. Matthew Fox: A former Dominican priest, his views on sexuality, original sin, and pantheism attracted the notice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1983. His work was reviewed by a panel of fellow Dominicans and cleared. However, he was silenced by his superiors after the congregation found fault with his views. In 1993 he was expelled from the Dominican order after refusing to return to his community in Chicago. He joined the Episcopal church in 1994.

Mary Agnes Mansour: A Sister of Mercy, she was forced to choose between her job as the director of Michigan’s Department of Social Services and her religious vows. In 1983 after 30 years of religious life, Mansour left her congregation.

Elizabeth Morancy and Arlene Violet: Both were Sisters of Mercy in Rhode Island. Morancy, a Rhode Island legislator, and Violet, Rhode Island’s attorney general, were forced by the Vatican to choose between keeping their jobs and remaining in religious life. They chose to keep their jobs and left religious life in 1983.

Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen: The former archbishop of Seattle found himself under investigation after the Vatican received letters complaining of liturgical abuses. In 1983, Archbishop James Hickey of Washington conducted a visitation of the Seattle archdiocese. His report to the Vatican resulted in the appointment of an auxiliary bishop in 1985, and Hunthausen was stripped of much of his authority. After a wave of complaints and protests from laity, clergy, religious and Hunthausen’s brother bishops, the Vatican restored Hunthausen’s authority and replaced his auxiliary bishop with a coadjutor in 1987. He retired in 1991.

Fr. Ernesto Cardenal: He was a member of the Sandinista party in Nicaragua. When the Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza regime in 1979, Cardenal became the Sandinista’s minister of culture. When John Paul II visited Nicaragua in 1983, he publicly chastised Cardenal for his participation in the Sandinista government. Cardenal and four other priests were ordered to quit their government posts by the Vatican. Cardenal refused and lost his priestly faculties. He remained in the government until 1988. In 1994 he resigned from the Sandinista party, accusing its leadership of corruption.

Fr. Robert Nugent and Sr. Jeannine Gramick: The two spent much of their religious careers working in ministry to homosexuals. In 1984 they were forced to leave their New Ways Ministry. In 1988, they were again investigated and in 1999 the Vatican sanctioned them for not representing authentic church teaching about homosexuality. They received sanctions from their religious congregations that essentially prohibited them from participating in public ministry to homosexuals. Nugent, a Salvatorian priest, accepted the sanctions. Gramick left the School Sisters of Notre Dame and joined the Loretto Sisters in 2004 ( see story).

Dr. John McNeill: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened an inquiry in 1974 into the former Jesuit priest’s view about homosexuality. In 1977, church authorities in Rome officially silenced him. He was no longer allowed to speak about or minister to homosexuals. He disobeyed that order in 1986 and the Society of Jesus began formal procedures to expel McNeill. The expulsion became official in January 1987 and McNeill became a psychotherapist.

Barbara Ferraro and Patricia Hussey: Sisters of Notre Dame de Namour, they left their religious order 1988. They and 91 other nuns and priests signed an ad in a 1984 issue of The New York Times that proclaimed a “diversity of opinion regarding abortion” existed among Catholics. Ferraro and Hussey alone refused a Vatican order to retract their support for the ad. Although their religious congregation supported them throughout their investigation, the two left religious life, protesting the process used by the Vatican against them.

Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre: The leader of traditionalist Catholics was excommunicated in 1988 for ordaining four bishops. Lefebvre rejected the reforms of Vatican II, believing the council opened the church to the negative influences of communism and modernism. He also rejected the “new Mass.” During the reform council, he led a group of traditionalists who firmly opposed anything new or different. After the council, he established his own seminary in Econe, Switzerland. Paul VI suspended him for ordaining the graduates of this seminary. John Paul II made many attempts to reconcile Lefebvre to the post-Vatican II church, but the episcopal ordinations made Lefebvre’s excommunication automatic.

Fr. Tissa Belasuriya: A Sri Lankan Oblate of Mary, he attracted the negative attention of the Vatican with his writings on Mary, the divinity of Christ, and original sin. In 1994 he was notified that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had found errors in his writings. In 1995, he was ordered to sign a profession of faith or risk excommunication. He responded by signing a profession of faith written by Paul VI. He was formally excommunicated in 1997. One year later, after protests and negotiations, Belasuriya was “reconciled” to the church.

Fr. Eugen Drewermann: A German theologian, he was suspended from the priesthood in 1992. He questioned the virgin birth of Christ and the physical reality of his resurrection. He was later expelled from the priesthood.

Ivone Gebara: A Brazilian Sister of Notre Dame found herself under investigation in 1993 for publicly advocating legalized abortion. A yearlong investigation by the Brazilian bishops’ conference ended with Gebara reaffirming her defense of human life in all forms. Although the Brazilian bishops considered the matter closed, the Vatican did not. Citing problems with her theological writings, in 1995 the Vatican pressured her religious congregation to sanction her. The sanctions resulted in Gebara being silenced for two years.

Bishop Jacques Gaillot: He was removed from his position as bishop of Evreux, France, in 1995. The Vatican, and several of his brother bishops, saw his identification with the poor and advocacy of homosexuals and contraception as too unorthodox for a bishop.

There you have it - the Vatican State's "critique of triumphalism".

H/T to John Chilton at The Lead for the link to the story of Dr Williams' honorary doctorate.

Drawing of Dr Williams by Lesley Fellowes of Lesley's Blog.

Photo of Cardinal Ratzinger from Wikipedia.

ALTHOUGH I'M TAKING A SABBATICAL...

OMG! Hegelian Dialectic in Anglican Robes. - Tobias

...from "As the Anglican World Turns", Elizabeth Kaeton at Telling Secrets is not. If the following quote from the post is not enough to get you over to her blog...

Here's but one example of Blessed Rowan's cluelessness: At the press conference at the end of the Primates meeting, Dr. Williams indicated that he is planning a global tour to mend fences to, he said, in his very own inimical way (Are you ready for this? Okay, here we go), "find a synthesis between the thesis of sexual orthodoxy and the antithesis of homosexual practice".

...then there's something wrong with you. Sorry, but it's true. :-)

KEEPING WATCH IN NEW ORLEANS

From Ormonde at Through the Dust:

Murder capital of the US of A

The following have been murdered in the New Orleans metro area this week:

1/27 Justin Martin 26 M Shot Orleans
1/27 Dorian Meyers 24 M Shot Orleans
1/28 Terrill Andrews 26 M Shot Orleans
1/28 Joseph Emilien 35 M Shot Orleans
2/2 Information not yet released (killed last night in Gentilly, Male)

Please pray for the victims, their murderers, and their families.

Lord, have mercy! Prayers for all.

UPDATE ON AILEEN - GOOD NEWS

From Sally Boyd via Ann Fontaine:

Keep reading...it gets better!

From her husband, Mike:

(Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 8:20 p.m.)

How quickly things can change & change again. Yesterday was good, but at about 3:30 a.m. Aileen stopped breathing due to a "mucus plug" that blocked her airway. Thankfully, the nurse was on the ball enough to call a code on her and they were able to suction out her lungs, get it clear, and she was breathing again fairly quickly. She doesnt seem to have suffered any further permanent damage, but it was a horrible call to receive for sure.

(Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 9:00 p.m.)

Aileen has bounced back incredibly well from what we are going to just call a "speed bump". Today when visiting her, as I was leaving to pick up the boys from school I leaned over to kiss her goodbye and she kissed me back. She actually puckered up and kissed me. Amazing feeling! Later I had Kaleb do the same thing, and he screamed so loud the nurses thought something was wrong, but it was Kaleb saying "Mommy kissed me!"

Sally Boyd is the priest who ministers to Aileen and Mike.

May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

O God, give to Mike and all who watch and wait with Aileen strength and courage during this difficult time. Surround them with your presence in the power of your Holy Spirit that they may trust in your everlasting love.

"ONE OF THE TWO THINGS IN LIFE THAT ARE CERTAIN"

From Bill in Portland, Maine at Daily Kos: Cheers and Jeers:

CHEERS and JEERS to one of the two things in life that are certain. (Hint: it ain't death!) On February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment, establishing the beloved income tax, was ratified and became part of the U.S. Constitution. Here is our annual posting of the full text (in italics so it looks old and wrinkled and historic):

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Further, Congress shall have the power to take all tax dollars collected and burn them, eat them, turn them into confetti, light cigars with them, or wad them up and shove them up their butts.

Congress shall also have the power to conspire with giant corporations to use tax dollars to build a war machine that can destroy every planet in the solar system many times over. We want guns. BIG guns! Tanks, planes, nukes, bunker busters, aircraft carriers and a few thousand bullets for every man, woman and child. And bazookas---we need lots of bazookas. Anything that proves to the rest of the world that we've got the biggest penis on the planet must be arsenalized. We are woefully short on lasers---let's fix that.

If the citizenry is paying a reasonable and fair share of taxes in order to allow vital and necessary services to be funded domestically, those taxes must be cut so that these services can be funded properly---with massive loans from China, India and Japan.

At various times, taxpayer-funded corporate bailouts may be necessary. These bailouts will be prioritized in the following order: white collar idiots, white collar dolts, white collar crooks, white collar morons, white collar charlatans, and white collar bloodsuckers.

Finally, Congress shall impose the strictest penalties on citizen scofflaws who fail to pay their income taxes on time and in full without exception. And by 'without exception' we mean except if you're rich and can afford really savvy CPAs and lawyers who can get you out of paying them. Or if you're really rich and you "forget" to pay them, in which case: tut tut.

Okay, that's our amendment. You may now begin stuffing hundred-dollar bills down our pants.

And from the comments to the post comes a cheer for the link to the video of my fellow New Orleanian, Fats Domino, singing "Blueberry Hill".

This was written by Vincent Rose, Al Lewis and Larry Stock for the 1940 Western "The Singing Hill" before they decided it was good enough to be released commercially. The song was used in the movie, where it was heard for the first time performed by Gene Autry.

First sung by Gene Autry in a Western? Dang!




I slow danced to Fats' song on many an evening. Those were the days.

From our friend who signs himself:

Cheers,

Paul (A.)

WHAT WOULD I DO ON A DATE WITH JUSTIN BIEBER?

When the email offer came from my local movie theater, I wondered. "What if I win? What will Justin and I do on our date?"




It seems the date will be planned for us. I will get to watch Justin's latest movie with him and my friends at my local movie theater. Problem solved!

AFTERNOON MOVIE

Another warning: Spoiler commentary ahead.

My afternoon movie yesterday was "The Kids Are All Right" with two wonderful actors, Julianne Moore (again!) and Annette Bening, playing a lesbian couple, Jules and Nic, with two children, Joni and Laser, played by Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson, both of whom were conceived by the same sperm donor, one each by the two mothers.

The kids decide that they want to meet their biological father. Laser is under 18, so the pursuit of the identity of the donor falls to Joni, who has just turned 18 and is getting ready to head off to college.

The children meet their biological father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo), and then their moms agree to meet Paul, and - surprise! - complications ensue. Nic and Jules are going through a rough patch in their relationship, and Jules begins an affair with Paul, and how's that for a complication?

But, we've come a long way, in that the point of view in the film is that the situation is of the sort that could possibly arise in any family with children conceived by donors and is not at all unique to families with same-sex parents. And the kids are all right.

Again, my time was well-spent, with my mind distracted from the Anglican soap, "As the Anglican World Turns", which world continues to turn whether I pay attention, or not.

Hey! I could do this every day, if I had the time, and I found enough good movies.

MY MORNING WITH "A SINGLE MAN"

Warning: Spoiler commentary follows.

Yesterday morning, I watched "A Single Man", a fine movie, in shades of dark comedy. The film is set in the early 1960s in southern California. Colin Firth plays a gay British professor of English literature, George Falconer, who grieves for his partner, Jim, played by the hunky Matthew Goode, who was killed in a car accident. Jim appears only in flashbacks in the film.

Back in the day, before it was safe to be fully out as gay or lesbian in almost any occupation, conversations about a person's sexual orientation were, for the most part, necessarily tentative and suggestive, rather than straightforward, and included meaningful glances and eye contact to convey messages that must not be spoken. The movie captures well the stifling atmosphere of the times of covering up and hiding, which - alas - has not entirely dissipated today.

George, a precise, fastidious type decides he will kill himself. Before going to see his best friend, Charlotte, wonderfully played by Julienne Moore, who can't quite accept that she and George can't be more than friends, he practices his suicide scene. With the unloaded gun in his mouth, he tries out the bed, propped against pillows that won't stay in place, a sleeping bag in the bed, and the shower, none of which turn out to be satisfactory settings for blowing his brains out.

To me, the funniest line in the movie comes in the scene when George accidentally bumps into a gay hustler, Kenny, outside a liquor store. The two begin a conversation, and George tells Kenny the story of his lover's death; the young man says, "My mother always said, 'Lovers are like buses. If you wait long enough, another one will come along.'" (From memory - perhaps not a direct quote.) Not true, of course, but in the context of the scene, Kenny's mama's words made me laugh out loud.

As I finished watching the movie, on a morning with driving rain and heavy wind outside, I thought my 100 minutes were well-spent.

The film is based on a novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood.