Inflatable Churches ... I wish I was joking.

Pontifications has a post on Inflatable Churches.

Yep, nothing says "till death do us a part" like a portable, filled-with-air, foundationless, impermanent, flimsy, easily-blown-over-by-moderate-gusts-of-wind, readily-mistakeable-for-a-kids-jumping-playland, cheap, chuck-e-cheese-like, pathetic assembly of made-in-china prefabricated collection of poorly-stitched-together sacks of compressed air.

I love this modern age. Talk about the epitome of that whole "what can the church do for me?" attitude. What I really what to know is what kind of "priest" or "minister" would marry someone in an inflatable church. Probably the same kind of minister that will (for $2o) marry your two cats together (provided their is no impediment of consanguinity and the cats can be proven to be in their right minds and be capable of giving full, complete and adult consent...)

The Amazing Alito Dance!

Alito has been elected to the Supreme Court 58-42.

To celebrate the occasion, Jeff Miller has created this page:

LAUGH OUT LOUD - THE AMAZING ALITO DANCE!

Spread the good word, folks.

Becoming a Reservoir

I believe it was Eldredge who said that Christians must "become reservoirs of grace, not canals." (it probably appears elsewhere - I can only remember this instance). Anyway, a reservoir gives water from its overfill, a canal just passes on what it only recently acquired.

I think the same idea can also apply to how we should approach growing in "knowledge" as well as "grace". It can take a reservoir a long time to fill, and it can take a long time to grow in wisdom - but that's the only way you can truly give to others without depleting your own supply.

This concept of the "overflow" is at root a Pauline metaphor: "May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you." (1 Thess. 3:12)

If you liked Eldredge's quote, this fellow has a nice post reflecting on the concept.

Around the blogs

Too busy to really post today, so here's some other people to keep you entertained:

Jimmy Akin looks into John Paul the Great's (possible) first miracle

Domenico Bettinelli thinks the SSPX might get re-unified with Rome!

Curt Jester continues to be hilarious: "hide your light under a basket!"

Via Dappled Things, The very intellectual "Scientific Cultural Theory Test"

Via Insight Scoop, Fr. James Schall talks about "Deus Caritas Est"

Via AmyWelborn (and everywhere else): Jesuit Leadership To Change Soon?

Finally, Rocco has some excerpts from Pope Benedict's Lenten Message

Three hour documentary of German Carthusian monks a hit!

Zenit runs the following short article:

BONN, Germany, JAN. 29, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A three-hour documentary about the silent life of Carthusian monks is making a splash at the German box office.

"Into Great Silence" is the brainchild of director Philip Gröning, who waited 17 years for the permission to film inside La Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps, reported Deutsche Welle.

In 2002 he joined the cloistered monks for several months to capture unprecedented images of life inside the monastery. The documentary, which the director says gives you the experience of living in the monastery, is currently playing to packed cinemas in Germany.

Here is the film's website (in English).

Be sure to watch the trailer!

Italian premier seeking re-election vows to abstain from sex

Brietbart is running a story on an Italian premier who is currently running for re-election, and apparently has vowed to not have sex until April 9th (election day).

The pledge was made to some religious figure, though the article leaves it somewhat ambiguous as to who this figure was - calling him alternately a TV preacher, clergyman, priest, and "father"... (just to cover all the bases?)

This is so stupid.

For one thing, the premier couldn't make this kind of vow without his wife's permission (gee, I hope he is married). Also, St. Paul says (1 Cor 7) you should only give up sex through mutual permission for the sake of prayer - I doubt running an election campaign counts. Basically all this guy is proving is that he leads a very unbalanced life. Hedonism isn't best fought with puritanism.

oh yeah, apparently this is the good guy for the election, because if the "[other side] wins it will be the moral end for this country."

(finally, this decision could have detrimental effects on his public speaking skills. )

Your Sunday morning picture of the Pope

"What's that? You want me to write another encyclical? already? ... oh fine.

So much for that nice long breakfast I was looking forward to this morning."

photo credit.

Incredibly moving story about a Pro-Life mother

Amy Welborn points to this article about a mother who chooses to give birth to both her twins: one healthy, and one anencephalic (born without a developed brain). The article is extremely moving (I'll be honest - it brought me to tears) as it describes the grace, suffering, pain and beauty experienced by everyone surrounding the birth.

The article is very long, so one might want to skip to the paragraph that begins, "Danielle was afraid to fall in love with her son, but he had such a way about him" etc.

1 in 10,000 births in the U.S. are anencephalic. I can only imagine how many of these "little angels" are aborted. Anyone contemplating this decision should read this article. Just look at that picture.

There are several webrings of parents who have lost children to anencephaly, as well as an Anencephaly Support Foundation for parents to help them choose to bring their child with anencephaly to term.

Oremus pro innocenti!

Let's play "Caption the Photo" - Benedict Style

Piero Marini: "And you see your Holiness, your portrait will go right next to John Paul the Great on this wall."

Pope Benedict: "Hmm, - that's all very well, but what about that spot right over the altar? Is that free?"

Add your own in comments. :-P

Photo credit: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060125/481/gb11901251901 (Yahoo News/Associated Press)

Pope Benedict to visit the United States next year?!!

WHOA.

Rocco has a big news - apparently Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore (why have I never heard of this guy?) has been lobbying to get Benedict out to Baltimore for their 200th anniversary as a Primatial See. Well, it might actually happen it seems.

Here is the story:

http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=40138

Listen to Cardinal Keeler claim it: http://wbal.com/stories/articlefiles/40138-Cardinal%20Keeler%20says%20Pope%20is%20coming%20%2050%20in.mp3

Now, this could be a huge gaff on the Cardinal's part ... perhaps there is indeed a plan in the works, but if there is it is probably in the very early stages and I really doubt that Pope Benedict himself would have approved of the announcement being made this way.

Time will tell.

GodSpy excerpt and interview on Opus Dei

GodSpy is hosting an excerpt from John Allen's book on Opus Dei, as well as an interview with him (the fine folks at GodSpy have a tendency to host amazing content like this - I highly recommend adding them to your favorites if you have not already).

As I understand it, Opus Dei is one of the religious groups targeted and vilified extensively by the Da Vinci Code - so it's nice to know that there is also a competant and honest look at the order available.

Robert George on Embryonic Human Beings

Pontifications is hosting Dr. Robert George of Princeton's short article on Embyronic Human Beings - it is a fantastic overview and concise presentation on the subject:

A human embryo is not something different in kind from a human being, like a rock, or a potato, or a rhinoceros. A human embryo is a whole living member of the species Homo sapiens in the earliest stage of his or her natural development. Unless severely damaged or denied or deprived of a suitable environment, an embryonic human being will, by directing its own integral organic functioning, develop himself or herself to the next more mature developmental stage, i.e., the fetal stage. The embryonic, fetal, infant, child, and adolescent stages are stages in the development of a determinate and enduring entity—a human being—who comes into existence as a single cell organism (zygote) and develops, if all goes well, into adulthood many years later.

A human embryo (like a human being in the fetal, infant, child, or adolescent stage) is not properly classified as a “pre-human” organism with the mere potential to become a human being. No human embryologist or textbook in human embryology known to me presents, accepts, or remotely contemplates such a view. The testimony of all leading embryology textbooks is that a human embryo is—already and not merely potentially—a human being. His or her potential, assuming a sufficient measure of good health and a suitable environment, is to develop by an internally directed process of growth through the further stages of maturity on the continuum that is his or her life.

Read the rest. (includes a thoughtful comments page)

Busy day - Back tomorrow

I had a busy (good) day - should be back tomorrow.

Dad named "father of the year" for protecting daughter

NOR points to (in my opinion) the feel good story of today:

Dad punches out teacher's aide accused of molesting daughter

TAMPA -- An angry father who marched into a classroom and punched a teacher's assistant in the face said Wednesday he was protecting his 15-year-old daughter, who had accused the man of inappropriately touching her.

Dave F. Swafford, 42, was charged with felony battery on a school employee after he hit the 35-year-old aide in front of a class full of students at Lakewood Ranch High School near Bradenton Tuesday morning, authorities said. He was also named "Father of the Year'' by a local radio station for his actions.

"I'm not real proud of what I did,'' Swafford told The Associated Press Wednesday. "You have to protect your children, and my daughter does not lie to me.''

Read the rest.

Five Fantastic Pope Benedict XVI Wallpapers

I'm in a wallpaper posting mood.

Click on a picture for full-size version!

Local Adam Cardinal Maida on Deus Caritas Est

Our own Cardinal Archbishop Maida published the following statement on Pope Benedict's Encyclical today:

“Retrieve the Full Meaning and Dignity of Love”

“Short of an infallible statement, papal encyclicals are the highest form of papal teaching and the first encyclical issued by a pope at the beginning of his pontificate has always been significant; it offers a general vision and sense of direction regarding his priorities and perspective. We are, therefore, most grateful for our Holy Father’s first encyclical— ‘God is Love.’ It is interesting that our Holy Father wants to emphasize the primacy of God’s love, the source sustaining energy for all life and for the Church. The very reason that we have a capacity and desire to love God and one another is because ‘God first loved us.’

“As we all know, ‘love’ is one of the most over used words in our culture today. Our Holy Father’s encyclical helps us to retrieve the full meaning and dignity of love—not just as a word but as a way of living. He reminds us that natural human love between a man and a woman is a beautiful and sacred thing but it needs discipline and maturity lest it lose its true dignity and purpose. Love needs to become ‘ecstasy’ in the sense of moving out of one’s self, drawing one toward the other in self sacrifice. Our Holy Father uses two well-known Greek words to describe two kinds of love—eros and agape; eros refers to our human love which always looks for a response. Agape refers to a selfless love which has no agenda. Our human love needs the complement of God’s divine love.

“The Holy Father’s encyclical is also helpful because he reminds us that love for God and the love of God must express themselves in acts of Christian social justice and charity. By this he means something much deeper and more profound than philanthropy of generosity; he is speaking about a love which looks for the face of Christ on every other person, especially those most in need.”

Archdiocese of Detroit website

Picture of Pope Benedict signing Deus Caritas Est

Courtesy of Yahoo News: "Pope Benedict XVI(L) signs his first encyclical at the Vatican City."

That is Archbishop Leonardo Sandri on the right, the Vatican's Secretariat of State.

Deus Caritas Est - the Release

(like everyone I'll have my comments to make once I've read it... I'll be focusing - in keeping with the purpose of this blog - on what the Encyclical teaches the Catholic youth of today. Considering the topic, I'm sure it teaches plenty)

In the meantime, read it yourselves - it is only 25 pages!

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

DEUS CARITAS EST

OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF

BENEDICT XVI

TO THE BISHOPS

PRIESTS AND DEACONSMEN

AND WOMEN RELIGIOUSA

ND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL

ON CHRISTIAN LOVE

INTRODUCTION
1. “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words from the First Letter of John express with remarkable clarity the heart of the Christian faith: the Christian image of God and the resulting image of mankind and its destiny. In the same verse, Saint John also offers a kind of summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us”.

Read the rest of the Encyclical (25 pages).

Deus Caritas Est - cover art revealed!

Judge a book by its cover! Here's what Pope Benedict XVI's first Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, will look like.

Catholic outsider has the story.

(H/T Amy Welborn)

*sigh* I'm going to miss the fun of pre-release coverage.

Quickie post on the Da Vinci Hoax

The fine folks over at Ignatius Scoop are hosting an excerpt from The Da Vinci Hoax:

Exposing the Errors in The Da Vinci Code

Da Vinci Code controversy is only going to get more widespread as the movie premier nears. I'd say it is about time for us all to do a little reading on the topic so we're more prepared to answer the standard questions ...

be ye informed! :-)

Tuesday Morning Photo

"In this photo released by Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI, in white robe at left, is clapped on by participants to a symposium on Christian charity, as he arrives in the Vatican's Clementine hall, Monday Jan. 23, 2006. The pontiff again talked up his forthcoming encyclical Monday, saying he chose the theme of 'love' because the word today is so spoiled and abused that it needs to be purified. He said the word love today 'is so spoiled, so consumed and abused that you almost fear to utter it.' But rather than abandoning the word, he said, 'we must take it back, purify it and bring it back to its original splendor so that it can illuminate our lives and take them on the correct path.' (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano)"

Benedict XVI's Address on Forthcoming Encyclical:
"I Wished to Show the Humanity of Faith"

(notable for his reflection on the Divine Comedy of Dante - go see our Dante post below and get on the same page with the Pope!)

Not so fast, Michael Schiavo

Well, here's something that should make some waves.

Michael Schiavo, who petitioned the lawcourts in Florida to murder his wife, Terri Schiavo, last March (and succeeded), has just married his live-in girlfriend of 10 years (herself divorced with kids) in ... get this ... a Catholic Church in Florida.

But not so fast, Mikey.

As canon lawyer Ed Peters explains, Michael Schiavo can't get married in the Church - so his marriage is probably invalid.

Papal copyright claims revisited and clarified

Looks like my hunch was right, and that as earlier reported (see: "Copyrighting truth?") the assertion of copyright by Libreria Editrice Vaticana is "not to limit access to the Pope's words, but to prevent "premature" publication of leaked documents, and to guard against exploitation of the Pope's name."

Catholic World News goes on to say:

"Some English-language reports on the dispute in Italy have suggested-- innaccurately-- that the Vatican would forbid quotations from the encyclical, or charge fees to journals that reproduced passages from the work."

The Italian daily La Stampa wasn't pleased:

"In a January 21 editorial, the Italian daily La Stampa charged that the Vatican publishing house, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, was seeking to squeeze a profit by limiting access to the Pope's statements. The Italian paper charged that the Vatican wanted to "terrorize" editors and publishers with the threat of charging heavy fees for use of the Pope's written work."

But the Vatican was ready to play hardball too:

"Libreria Editrice Vaticana shot back with a public statement released on January 23, saying that the Vatican was not limiting access to the Pope's work, but merely protecting against "piracy" of papal statements. The Vatican publisher stressed that Italian publishers were well aware of the rules governing reproduction of papal statements, and that those rules have been essentially unchanged since 1978."

Seriously, La Stampa has no excuse to be doing stuff like this:

"The dispute with La Stampa began when Libreria Editrice Vaticana sent a bill of 15,000 euros (about $18,400) to the publishers of a book entitled The Dictionary of Pope Ratzinger, which was advertised as coming from "the pen or the voice of Joseph Ratzinger." The journalist who compiled that book wrote the first article in La Stampa criticizing the Vatican policy."

AmericanPapist Final Judgement:

Libreria Editrice Vatican - 1, La Stampa - 0.

Florence's mosaic of Christ wallpaper addition!