Bishop Finn in the War on Porn

Tom Hoopes has an interesting article at OSV on efforts by the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Arlington to get folks off porn. The impetus to do something was from priests frustrated that viewing porn is “the No. 1 sin they are hearing from men in the confessional.”

Alarmed by the constant mentions of pornography by penitents, priests were clamoring for training. “It was no longer enough to say, ‘You’ve made a great confession. Pray and do better,’” . . .

Go read the article to see the concrete ways the two dioceses are dealing with the problem.

One interesting fact the article conveys, and a reason I’m noting it here, is that both dioceses have sought to '”incorporate the wisdom” of Bishop Finn’s 2007 pastoral “Blessed are the Pure in Heart” into their programs. The article says the pastoral:

does not just condemn use of pornography, but reaches out to those who use porn and lists ways for them to become reconciled with the Church. . .

. . .Bishop Finn writes: “While some would say that the opposite of love is hate, [Pope John Paul II] taught that the opposite of love is use. The idea is that if you do not love someone, you will end up using that person.”

This gets to the heart of why pornography is wrong, he wrote. On the one hand, “One may never use another person as an object for one’s own pleasure.” And ultimately, wrote the bishop, “the only proper response to a person is love.”

While the number of men repeatedly confessing this sin is surely a problem, the number of men not confessing it is probably much worse. If you’re dealing with the issue, or have a family member or friend who is, I’d highly recommend taking a look at Bishop Finn’s pastoral. It is also available in Spanish and French.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh's Irony Challenged Moment

So this week, the National Catholic Reporter runs an editorial reflecting on the challenges U.S. women religious face in light of the Apostolic Visitation and a doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Opines the NCR:

The social sciences have a term for the situation of women who feel compelled to be compliant with the men who are bent on demeaning and humiliating them: They call it battered wife syndrome.

If there are battered wives, there have to be wife beaters, and in this instance, the wife beaters would have to be His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI who appointed the Apostolic Visitation, Cardinal Franc Rode whose office is undertaking it and Cardinal William Levada who ordered the doctrinal assessment.

Levada’s investigation is further called a “shameful betrayal of trust,” the Apostolic Visitation described as “a setup” and “The Vatican” is accused of “hypocrisy” and “duplicity”.

In another NCR article this week viciously attacking the entire Vatican and the very Apostolic structure of the Church, Eugene Cullen Kennedy compares the Holy Father to Philippe Petain, Head of State in Vichy France.

Those two articles are only just a taste of a whole smorgasbord of attacks and snide accusations against the whole leadership and traditions of the Catholic Church that can be found this week – or any other week – at NCR.

Enter USCCB Director of Media Relations Sister Mary Ann Walsh. She is asked a question at NCR by Michael Sean Winters:

What does the Shirley Sherrod episode tell us about race and politics and the media in the age of Obama?

And Sister Mary Ann rightly thinks that Sherrod was subjected to “reckless accusations and shoot-from-the-hip responses from leaders you’d think would know better.”

Then she continues:

In recent days, new journalistic hit squads have emerged on the U.S. scene, even in the church. Where once only a few church newspapers engaged in character assassination, today these attacks seem ubiquitous.

And when she says ”where passionate self-righteousness, minus basic journalistic fairness, runs amok,” I’m loving it, cause I can see she’s getting ready to hit NCR right between the eyes. Here it comes:

Many such groups claim the word “orthodox” for themselves. They dismiss those who do not agree with them or their approach as “unorthodox.” People of a different opinion or approach are accused of setting up a “parallel magesterium.” These are serious condemnations in a church which holds fidelity to its teachings as paramount. Despite the fact that theology and canon law are matters of careful analyses, these groups bring the subtlety of a meat cleaver to church discussions.

Take that NCR!

Ummm, wait a minute?

The Disenchantment of Christopher Hitchens

From the upcoming edition of The Catholic Key:

Hitch-22: A Memoir
Christopher Hitchens
Twelve
448 pp./$26.99

Review by Santiago Ramos

If you haven’t read his monthly features in Vanity Fair, you may have read his monthly book reviews in the Atlantic. If you haven’t read his weekly column on Slate.com (“Fighting Words”), you’ve probably seen him on Fox News or MSNBC, attacking anyone from Jerry Falwell to Michael Moore, or promoting his best-selling anti-religious jeremiad, God is Not Great. Christopher Hitchens is ubiquitous because everyone wants him. He can be everywhere because he is quite versatile: a writer and a speaker, a critic and a journalist. But why does everyone want him?

If nothing else, Hitchens’ new memoir, Hitch-22, helps us to answer that question. In it, Hitchens regales his audience with tales of student protests in Oxford, philosophical debates in Havana, and revolutions in Portugal and Poland. The book also contains accounts of his friendships with the literary men of his milieu: Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, and James Fenton, among others. The book is peppered with epigrams (too many) from English poets and Marxist revolutionaries. Hitchens is not as complete or profound a writer as Chesterton, Waugh, Orwell, or Greene, but he certainly falls within the English tradition of literary journalism. Everyone wants him on TV because he is twice as intelligent as any of our predictable, one-dimensional talking heads; everyone wants him in print because his prose has verve and lucidity. Everyone wants him - liberals and conservatives - because he is interesting.

But because so much has already been said about what makes Hitchens interesting, and because, thanks to this memoir, it is so easy to verify for one’s self that this is so, I’d like to spend this review pointing out the one way in which Hitchens has become less interesting in the second half of his life: his loss of faith. Not his faith in God - in his memoir, Hitchens says that he probably never had much of a faith in God to begin with - but his faith in Marxism. Not (as the pundits would have it) his supposed switch from “leftist” to “neocon,” but rather his much more dramatic, and underappreciated, transformation from being a revolutionary to just another voter like the rest of us.

In his memoir, Hitchens writes about his early days at Oxford: learning about Marxist thought, protesting against racism and imperialism, and getting arrested for the cause of revolution. In a way virtually inconceivable to young Americans today, Hitchens was so devoted to his faith in the coming Workers’ Paradise that he stopped worrying about his resumé. Recollecting his thoughts from those days, Hitchens writes: “Did I really think that my examinations in logic and philosophy didn’t matter much, because a revolution was in progress or at least in prospect? I did.”

Hitchens’ politics have probably become saner since he dropped Trotsky as a role model. Let’s bracket that question for now, so we can admire the quaint notion of a man who believes in a certain cosmological worldview which begins with the suffering of the workers’ struggle, and ends with the redemption of revolution and the promise of paradise. Karl Marx was not a prophet, at least not one who heard voices from on high; he claimed, rather, to hear the voice of History, calling from the future, explaining to him its logic and its inevitable conclusion. (In reality, Marx was hearing the voice of another philosopher, G. W. F. Hegel, but that’s for another day.) Hitchens actually believed in this cosmological view, romantic and fatal as it was, and he devoted his early life to it.

But what does he believe in now? In the meandering final chapter of his memoir, “Decline, Mutation, or Metamorphosis?”, Hitchens considers what he lost when he stopped being a Marxist:

I suspect that the hardest thing for the idealist to surrender is the teleological, or the sense that there is some feasible, lovelier future that can be brought nearer by exertions in the present, and for which “sacrifices” are justified. With some part of myself, I still “feel,” but no longer really think, that humanity would be the poorer without this fantastically potent illusion.

Hitchens goes on to say that, in his life, he has seen prisons opened, dictators toppled, countries liberated. There has been no shortage of just causes and victories. But something is lost - something almost palpable - when the world loses its big-picture story, when it becomes disenchanted. History degenerates into a series of episodes when it was once a comedy. For a literary man like Hitchens, this is surely a loss. The loss is not merely of political ideals - we can always have those, because we will always crave justice. What Hitchens lost is a comprehensive view of life that gave it meaning and beauty - a religion.

If these memoirs are useful, they are insofar as they kindle a desire in its readers - religious or irreligious - to crave enchantment, to not settle for a mundane view of life. One wonders, too, whether Hitchens will one day rebel against his own disenchantment.

Santiago Ramos is a graduate of Rockhurst University in Kansas City and has written for First Things (online), Commonweal, The Pitch, Traces, Image Journal and various blogs. He is currently studying toward a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Boston College.

Home Again

A lot of blogs will make helpful posts alerting regular readers that the blogger is going on vacation. Not here. Before we left a couple of weeks ago to see my wife’s folks in Seattle and mine in San Francisco, Mrs. Smith made me promise not to mention on the blog or twitter that we’d be gone. She figures such an announcement is an open invitation to rob your house.

In Mrs. Smith’s defense, our house was broken into a couple of days before we left. Thanks to the over-the-top diligence of the Kansas City Police Department, the perp was caught and all items returned the same day. Thank you KCPD!

So apologies if you’ve bothered to check in here and especially to all my new twitter followers who signed up in response to many kind #FFs on the day I left. I’ll be feeding both outlets regularly again.

Two vacation pics:

When we arrived in Seattle, we stayed a night at the Edgewater hotel near the ferry since we were leaving the next morning to meet-up with my in-laws on San Juan Island. Ever eager to self-parody, the above is what you find in a Seattle hotel room instead of the Gideon bible. The sink in the bathroom also came with a sign explaining that it was a “vessel” and not a sink and not to expect it to drain well, because it didn’t a drain vent. The politically-correct reason for such was not explained. I think these are two details I would not have noticed if I hadn’t been living in the sanity of fly-over land for the last three years.

And speaking of fly-over:

That’s the view of Gas Works Park in Seattle from the window of the 1950s era, six-seater sea-plane we took back from San Juan Island. Moments later we landed right in the middle of Lake Union. That was a highlight, and it was wonderful to see friends and family. But it’s good to be home again in Kansas City.

World Cup Final Post

Santiago Ramos sends in some final thoughts on the World Cup following up on his earlier post of June 15, “The World Cup Preserves Something that America is Losing”:

For those readers of the Catholic Key who may have missed it, here is the goal that decided the World Cup Final, scored by Iniesta, of Spain:

Mind you, this goal came after 115 minutes of play—that is, 90 minutes of regulation time, and 25 of extra time. Before that the score was nil-nil, 0-0. To say that one needed patience to endure this final match understates the case—the game was tight and the defensive on Holland’s part; the relentless passing and build-up on the part of the Spanish midfielders did not create many clear opportunities for a goal in the second half. The Spanish tactic favored creativity and movement, but it couldn’t overcome the violent cynicism of the Dutch. To be fair, the Dutch team didn’t completely sit back to defend and wait for a counterattack, but they did set a decidedly violent tone to the match (Video removed by FIFA).

In other words, the game was a lot like real life.

A few weeks ago, I wrote in this space: “The World Cup this year has its own set of stories which will congeal into the dramatic.” Scandalously, I did not even mention Spain in my subsequent list of stories. But now we can all say that the drama of the final congealed into an allegory: that of good versus evil, of the team which played beautifully and creatively and then defeated the team which played negatively, neglecting its own talents, trying to grind out a win by dint of blunt force. The Spanish team broke with the conventional wisdom which pits practicality against elegance, pragmatism against beauty: the Spaniards were cool and they won. If only they could have scored more goals.

Some good links:

Alan Jacobs (of First Things fame) has a list of dramatic World Cup moments.

My friend Elliott has a nice reflection on the end of the Cup.

Legendary Dutch player Johan Cruyff slams his own National Team for playing ugly.

The Logic of Toy Happiness - Toy Story 3

From the upcoming edition of The Catholic Key:

Both Happy and Sad

By Santiago Ramos

Toy Story 3
DIR Lee Unkrich SCR Michael Arndt
Starring the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, et al.

Restless is my heart until it rests in thee: such is the prayer of every toy. And when a toy rests - in the arms of a child - it doesn’t truly rest: it plays, and is played with. There are only three elements to toy happiness: presence, play and permanence. The child must be there; he must play with the toys periodically; he must promise never to abandon them. If he does abandon them (or threatens to, or appears to), then we have a story.

The first scene of Toy Story 3 is a flashback of sorts, because it begins with a fast-action imaginative play-session featuring Woody (the cowboy), Buzz Lightyear (the astronaut/laser-wielding superhero from the future), Jessie (the cowgirl), and Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead (the most realistic, happily-married couple Disney has produced in twenty years). The play-session is orchestrated by the toys’ owner, Andy. With this scene, we have the quintessential picture of toy happiness. But the story quickly jumps forward in time to a present where Andy is 17 and getting ready to leave for college - and here the story begins. The toys are neglected and haven’t been played with for years. Rumors circulate that they are headed for the trash; Woody, ever faithful to Andy, insists that they are actually headed for the attic. Yet though the attic is better than the trash bin, neither alternative is what a toy actually wants.

With the exception of Woody, who lands a place in the box marked “COLLEGE,” Andy chooses to store all of his toys in the attic. But first he places them in a white trash bag, and this creates confusion for all the toys except Woody, who believe they are being taken to the natural destination of all trash bags, the dump. It also creates confusion for Andy’s mother, who finds the trash bag on the ground and actually believes that it actually is meant for the dump. And so Woody must first rescue his friends from the dump, and then convince them that that’s not where Andy meant for them to go.

The toys end up neither in college nor the trash bin. They make their way back to Andy’s mom’s minivan and into another box which is headed towards a daycare called “Sunnyside.” All of the toys, except Woody, believe Andy to have betrayed them, and wish to start a new life at Sunnyside. Woody, on the other hand, eternally loyal to Andy, wants everyone to follow him in a quest to return to Andy’s house before Andy himself leaves his house for college. But Woody isn’t able to convince the other toys that Andy didn’t actually betray them. The toys instead run into an unexpected reversal at the daycare, which is not as happy a place as its name would indicate. It is a dystopia of toys; it perverts (without negating) all three elements of toy happiness.

To write more about the plot after this point would spoil too much. But there is enough here to explore the movie’s interesting logic of toy happiness. Such happiness depends upon a relationship between the owner and his toys. But the owner is not an owner in the same way that a slave-owner is an owner, and the toys are not “owned” as slaves are “owned.” The toys always remain free, but they cannot act freely for their happiness without an owner who plays with them and loves them. Their owner is something of a cross between a father (or mother) and a friend, and he loves and is loved in return. The relationship is necessary for the fulfillment of the toys.

If you think we are getting too philosophical for a Pixar movie, you’re only half-right. We are getting more philosophical than we need to be, but not more philosophical than the movie’s plot will allow. This is what’s great about the movie: it doesn’t dumb the world down, it merely covers only the parts of the world which children understand, and leaves them with an open view of what is next to explore. Andy will inevitably go to college. While the toys may get a new owner, Andy sets aside the toys of his youth, and will attempt to enter adulthood. The Pixar creators allow a small tinge of nostalgia and sadness to appear on Andy’s face: Must we grow up? Why?

These questions are the threshold between the end of Toy Story 3 and the beginning of another story, Andy’s. They are a source of restlessness; Andy is something like a toy himself, and he will be searching, like the toys, for presence, play, and permanence. But now we have truly ventured beyond the scope of Pixar. These are questions for high art-for films, not movies. It’s enough for Toy Story 3 to be a story that is adventurous and not completely superficial, with an ending that is both happy and sad.

Santiago Ramos is a graduate of Rockhurst University in Kansas City and has written for First Things (online), Commonweal, The Pitch, Traces, Image Journal and various blogs. He is currently studying toward a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Boston College.

Unclaimed Veterans Buried with Honors in Missouri

From the upcoming edition of The Catholic Key:

By Kevin Kelly
Catholic Key Associate Editor

HIGGINSVILLE — At long last, they are at rest.

With full military honors, the cremated remains of 16 veterans and two wives were interred July 1 at the Higginsville State Veterans Cemetery years, and in most cases decades, after their deaths.

The remains had gone unclaimed and stored at Mt. Moriah South Cemetery in Kansas City until passage of a bill last year in the Missouri General Assembly allowed a veterans’ organization to claim them if no family could be found.

“They are veterans,” said Vernon Scott, commander of Veterans’ of Foreign Wars Joel E. Balcolm Post 1738 in Independence. “It doesn’t make any difference what branch of the service. This is what we do. We help veterans.”

The VFW post and American Legion Post 189 in Lee’s Summit claimed the remains of the veterans under provisions of the new Missouri law so that they could finally be given a proper burial.

And it took months of research through documents to determine that the veterans did indeed qualify for a burial with honors, said Rich Carroll of McGilley-Sheil Funeral Home.

Nearly as soon as the legislation was signed by Gov. Jay Nixon last year, McGilley-Sheil assigned staff to pore over death certificates and other documentation to determine if any of the hundreds of unclaimed cremated remains the funeral home had stored were those of military veterans, and thus eligible for burial in a network of five new military cemeteries under the control of the Missouri Veterans Commission.

The 16 veterans identified for the July 1 service are only the beginning, Carroll said. The national Dignity Memorial network is working with the Missing in America Project to identify unclaimed remains of other veterans eligible for military burial, and those numbers could easily reached into the thousands nationally and into the hundreds in the Kansas City area alone.

In addition to the research, McGilley-Sheil also made the arrangements for the burial service without charge.

Carroll said nearly nothing is known about the 16 veterans who, until July 1, were forgotten.

“Their stories are as varied as the individuals themselves,” he said. “Possibly, they had no children or other family to claim them. Or it may have been a financial burden. But it is the right thing to do to find these folks and get this done.”

Carroll also knew who to contact to preside at the service. Father David Holloway, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Kansas City and a Navy veteran with 21 years of active duty service as both an enlisted man and a chaplain, was more than willing.

“I feel a connection, even though I don’t know any of them,” Father Holloway told The Catholic Key. “It is important, especially in our church, to be the spokesman for all who are forgotten. Just because a person died without family doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a family in the church.”

In his brief homily, Father Holloway said he had presided before at military funerals, “but none quite like this.”

“We are grateful for those who served, and for those who continue to serve,” he said.

“They are not forgotten. They are appreciated. They are finally cared for and honored for what they did,” Father Holloway said.

“We did not know them, but what they did continues to shape our country,” he said. “We place our hope in a God who never gives up on us, and we gather to be an expression of God’s love for those who may not have found much love in their lives.”

Missouri National Guard Brig. Gen. Larry D. Kay, who is executive director of the Missouri Veterans Commission, also bestowed state combat medals on 14 of the 16 veterans for their service in wars ranging from World War I to Vietnam.

Like the burials, the medals were also long overdue, he told The Catholic Key. He also expressed the hope that the Higginsville service was just the first in a long line of burial services for once-forgotten veterans.

“This is a debt we owe these veterans, and a debt we can repay,” he said.

“It is our honor and privilege to care for them as they cared for others,” Kay said. “We want to get the word out that we are ready to give a resting place with dignity and honor to these veterans.”

A special military honors unit from Warrensburg, in full dress uniform and under the command of Army First Sgt. (retired) Carla Caldwell, provided the bugler playing taps, the 21-gun salute, and the presentation of the flag, accepted by Higginsville State Veterans Cemetery director Jess Rasmussen in lieu of family.

The crowd that jammed into the cemetery’s small chapel included VFW members, American Legion members, members of the Patriot Guard who provided a motorcycle escort for the hearse bearing the remains from Kansas City, and three special guests.

Charlotte Myers-Dick, Diana Pitts and Jennifer Jackman came as Gold Star mothers who have recently lost sons in military service.

Army Specialist Eddie Myers was killed July 27, 2005, by a pipe bomb in Samarra, Iraq. Army Cpl. David Unger, Pitts’s son, was killed Oct. 17, 2006, also by a pipe bomb, in Baghdad. Marine Lt. Ryan Jackman was killed in an automobile accident as he was returning to Camp Pendleton, just weeks before his deployment to Iraq.

The death of their sons, Jackman said, gave them a link to all who sacrificed for their country.

“One of our (Gold Star Mothers) founding principles is that our sons and daughters are best remembered by our loving current veterans,” Jackman said. “We find comfort that we can go forward by serving others.”

It didn’t matter whether or not they knew the forgotten 16 veterans and their spouses interred that day, said Pitts.

“They were someone’s sons, and now they have become our sons,” she said.

The veterans, with their dates of military service, and spouses who were finally laid to rest are:

- Gervis J. Adney, private, U.S. Army, 1917-19. Adney was awarded the Missouri medal for service in World War I. He died April 28, 1989.

- Mary Adney, spouse of Gervis Adney, date of death unknown.

- Jacinto Ordaz Briones, seaman first class, U. S. Navy, 1943-44. He died Nov. 2, 1998.

- Ralph H. Cruse, technician fifth class, U.S. Army, 1942-45. Cruse was awarded the Missouri medal for service in World War II. He died Jan. 30, 1995.

- Dorothy M. Cruse, wife of Ralph Cruse, who died Feb. 10, 2000.

- Thomas James Head, master sergeant, U.S. Army Air Force and U.S. Air Force, 1942-66. Head was awarded three Missouri medals for service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He died April 1, 2008.

- Harold P. Lederman, lieutenant, U.S. Army, 1917-1919. Lederman was awarded the Missouri medal for service in World War I. He died Jan. 23, 1964.

- Edward Herman Lewenight, private, U.S. Marine Corps, 1918-19, and private, U.S. Army, 1943. Lewenight was awarded two Missouri medals for service in World War I and World War II. He died March 23, 1984.

- William W. Miller, private, U.S. Army, 1942-43. Miller was awarded the Missouri medal for service in World War II. He died March 7, 1990.

- Clifford C. Neuse, private, U.S. Army, 1942-43. Neuse was awarded the Missouri medal for service in World War II. He died Nov. 20, 1986.

- James W. Peer, private, U.S. Army, 1943-46. Peer was awarded the Missouri medal for service in World War II. He died March 4, 1989.

- Verne Lyle Pickens, seaman second class, U.S. Navy, 1918-21. Pickens was awarded the Missouri medal for service in World War I. He died Nov. 25, 1993.

- Alfred F. Scholz, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force, 1961-81. Scholz was awarded the Missouri medal for service in Vietnam. He died Nov. 28, 1994.

- Thomas E. Singleton, eletrician’s mate petty officer second class, U.S. Navy, 1950-54. Singleton was awarded the Missouri medal for service in Korea. He died April 14, 1988.

- Russell D. Stanford, private, U.S. Army, 1976. He died June 28, 1998.

- Earl W. Swesey, corporal, U.S. Army, 1944-46. Swesey was awarded the Missouri medal for service in World War II. He died Dec. 13, 1987.

- David R. Woodhead, lieutenant commander, U.S. Navy, 1966-68. Woodhead was awarded the Missouri medal for service in Vietnam. He died Sept. 7, 1993.

NCR Seriously Misleads on Stem Cell Research

Bill Tammeus has written a column over at NCR titled “It’s easy to be misled on stem cell research,” and he proves the point pretty well himself. It’s hard to tell though whether he’s misled or intending to mislead. At any rate, certainly his editors know he’s factually incorrect.

Tammeus is a Presbyterian who is concerned that the Catholic church has an imprecise understanding of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) or cloning as it is known throughout the entire world except for the Greater Kansas City media market. This imprecise understanding has led to an unjustified moral condemnation of SCNT by the Catholic church, according to Tammeus. So he endeavors to explain the science for us poorly informed Catholics. This is so bad, I have to go line by line.

Tammeus explains that SCNT produces something he calls “early stem cells”. These are cells “which unfortunately, imprecisely and thus misleadingly are usually called embryonic stem cells,” he says. Let’s consult the National Institutes of Health stem cell information center:

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)—A technique that combines an enucleated egg and the nucleus of a somatic cell to make an embryo.

Strike one.

Tammeus again:

I've been writing about stem cell research for much of the last decade, so I know that research using adult stem cells has been going on for more than 50 years. By contrast, the first report of early human stem cells produced by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) was not published until 2004.

That study would be "Evidence of a pluripotent human embryonic stem cell line derived from a cloned blastocyst" by Woo Suk Hwang, et. al. Notice that the scientist does not think it imprecise or misleading to use the term “embryonic stem cells” to describe what he’s working on, nor does he flinch from saying such cells were derived from a cloned (SCNT) blastocyst, i.e., a “preimplantation embryo of about 150 cells,” again as defined by the National Institutes of Health’s stem cell page.

But now the irony of Tammeus’ referencing this study gets even deeper. That study and a subsequent study in which Hwang claimed to have derived stem cell lines from cloned blastocysts were both retracted by Science magazine and Hwang was dismissed from Seoul National University. Reviews of his work found that Hwang had not in fact derived any stem cell lines from cloned blastocysts.

Tammeus continues following immediately on the last quote:

So it's not surprising that some effective therapies that use adult stem cells exist while many therapies using early SCNT stem cells still are in development.

Let’s look at the words “some” and “many” – because the words to substitute if Tammeus’ quote were to be factual are “many” and “zero”. There are more than 70 treatments and therapies for diseases derived from adult stem cell research. There are absolutely ZERO therapies or treatments in development using stem cells derived from SCNT. That’s because to date there have been no stem cells lines derived from human SCNT for anybody to be working on.

Furthermore, SCNT for therapeutic purposes has been virtually abandoned as a research model because of newer discoveries like Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells which are derived from somatic cells without the need for an egg.

I could go on and on through the rest of Tammeus’ piece. Bill Tammeus is a fine writer in his field and I’ve enjoyed his work at the Kansas City Star over the years, but he doesn’t know the first thing about the science he’s trying to explain to us poor Catholics here.

The science of embryonic stem cell research is something that is extremely distorted specifically in the minds of Kansas Citians because of the political manipulation of the Stowers Institute of Medical Research which needed to create that confusion in order to get Missourians to allow them to try therapeutic cloning. It’s pretty clear Tammeus got his misinformation from them as he even quotes their CEO.

I think it’s fair for him and many other Kansas Citians to be confused. What’s not fair is for the National Catholic Reporter’s editors to give space for what they certainly know is false information.

Quote of the Day - Archbishop Wenski

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski has some choice quotes today on CHA and "Obamacare". Explaining the bishops' position, he tells Catholic News Agency:

"we weren't willing to go for health care reform under (just) any conditions. Basically we have said that health care reform means that it should be accessible to everybody and nobody should be killed. And this Obamacare does not make it accessible to everybody and it allows for people to be killed, mainly unborn children at the taxpayer's expense."

See the whole story including the Archbishop's comments on CHA over at CNA.

'WE have a Father. We must never forget it.'

I was going to save this for the Bishop’s column in the paper, but since most of the readers here don’t live anywhere near Kansas City and don’t get the paper, I’m sharing it now. This reflection on the life and message of St. Josemaria Escriva by Bishop Finn is quite inspiring. Even if you are devotee of the Dan Brown version of Opus Dei or think you don’t care for the movement, you’ll benefit from this reflection:

Homily for Mass of St. Josemaria Escriva
June 26, 2010 – Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish
Most Reverend Robert W. Finn
Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph

Dear Friends,

Once again we come together in praise and thanks to God on this Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva, to thank God for the prayers and example of this simple priest – a man of our own time, who nonetheless is a saint for all ages.

I know that one of the primary things that has attracted me to St. Josemaria is his humble devotion, his fidelity to the Church at a time when there was much upheaval, and his simple plan to help us see all of our most everyday tasks and efforts, our daily work, as a path to holiness.

You know so well, you who have read the Way, the Furrow, the Forge, that these little bits of sage wisdom – always consonant with the Gospel, represent a thousand little ways to holiness in the midst of the world. St. Josemaria, as a young priest, prayed fervently, “ut videam!,” Lord, that I may see! And he was given such a profound God’s-eye view of the way that ordinary men and women, lay faithful, family men and women, and diocesan priests as well, could be holy in accord with God’s plan: not by leaving the world but precisely by living close to God in the world – and offering all that happens, and all they do as a gift to God for the end of sanctification.

The unique insight of our saint was that he knew quickly and with a supernatural resolution that all were called to holiness. We need not go to a monastery – though some may indeed be called by God to go there. We need not become ordained, though we ought not resist if God calls us to the clerical state. We can reach heaven surely and safely by being contemplatives in the middle of the world. This is so important because, in fact it is the vocation of probably 95% of humanity!

Yes, understandably we give a lot of prayer and attention to the vocations of priesthood and consecrated life. Please don’t stop praying for these vocations. But what is God’s plan for the spiritual transformation of the world? It is for all of us to live a way, a path, a ‘plan of life’ which constantly reminds us of God’s presence, steeps us in prayer, many small mortifications and loving sacrifices, interior conversion, sound direction, growth in virtue, life of the Sacraments, good reading of Sacred Scripture and other holy books.

Emblematic of the simplicity and depth of St. Josemaria’s vision for holiness is the truth that God is our Father. You recall perhaps the story of St. Josemaria, traveling on the streetcar after a long day with many challenges,

“In mid-October, 1931, while in a streetcar ‘I felt the action of God, bringing forth in my heart and on my lips, with the force of something imperatively necessary, this tender invocation: Abba! Pater! (‘Abba! Father!’). Probably I made that prayer out loud. And I walked the streets of Madrid for maybe an hour, maybe two, I can’t say; time passed without my being aware of it. People must have thought I was crazy. I was contemplating, with lights that were not mine, that amazing truth. It was like a lighted coal burning in my soul, never to be extinguished.’”

Dear friends, Jesus, of course, gave this to the world. One of His greatest revelations was that He has a Father, and that we can call Him “Our Father.” But in this moment the power of this light struck the Founder, and He could never be the same. But this truth is not for a few. It is for all the sons and daughters. It is for you and me. WE have a Father. We must never forget it. We must, again and again, surrender ourselves onto His lap, into His arms.

One of the virtues that St. Josemaria talks about frequently is “naturalness.” It is not exactly in St. Thomas Aquinas’ list of virtues, but it is a combination of humility and joy, detachment and generosity. We should live and work within the world, not thinking it evil, but desiring to make it holy. We don’t want or need any extravagant things, but always beautiful and well-ordered. We don’t cultivate any idiosyncrasies. We don’t want to appear odd or flamboyant. We are just quietly at home in doing our work, in caring for others’ needs, in reaching out in apostolate, in being cheerful and not giving in to self-pity or sadness.

Think about how you can grow in this virtue of naturalness so that God can use you without drawing any attention to yourself. In our holiness we must have zeal and piety, but never in such a way that we want to draw attention to our self. We are, as St. Josemaria said, Like God’s donkey, quietly pulling the load and doing the work.

Pope Benedict has used this same image in the bear tamed by St. Corbinian. An ancient tradition tells that the first Bishop of Freising, St Corbinian (died in 730), set out for Rome on horseback. While riding through a forest he was attacked by a bear that tore his horse to pieces. Corbinian not only managed to tame the animal but also to make it carry his baggage to Rome. Bishop Joseph Ratzinger placed this image on his coat of arms, saying he himself was that bear. The pack saddle is the burden of his Episcopate. You and I must be willing to carry the load for love of God and love of the Church. We are God’s pack animals, his donkey, St. Corbinian’s bear.

Our gathering for Holy Mass this morning is a joyful praise to God for a Godly man who taught so many everyday folks a way to work for God. His name “Josemaria” makes us think of the Holy Family, Joseph and Mary, who, in obedience to God’s plan, made a home for the Savior of the world. With the prayers of Mary and Joseph and of our patron St. Josemaria Escriva, may we persevere in whatever God asks of us. Let us renew our joy in doing always the Work of God.

St. Josemaria, pray for us!

Elena Kagan is thoroughly Totalitarian

I know it's the ultimate redundancy to post something that's already flashed on the front of Drudge, BUT, this cannot be spread far enough. I've been ignoring the SCOTUS nomination because I figure she's gonna get the go ahead no matter what. And even if she doesn't, the president will appoint another pro-abort activist who thinks most power under the Sun is reserved to the federal government.

But with this nominee, Obama has put forward a totalitarian who thinks even the power to decide your dinner menu is absolutely Uncle Sam's. Please watch and urge your senator to reject Elena Kagan:

Bishops Urge Senate to Remove Abortion Amendment from Defense Bill

This just in from the USCCB. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo has written members of the Senate urging them not to pass the National Defense Authorization Act unless a committee amendment authorizing elective abortions at military hospitals is removed. Cardinal DiNardo wrote the Senate on behalf of the USCCB in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities. The full text of his letter follows, emphases original:

June 29, 2010

Dear Senator:

When the full Senate takes up the National Defense Authorization Act for 2011 (S. 3454), it should remove from the bill a misguided committee amendment to 10 U.S.C. §1093 that authorizes the performance of elective abortions at military hospitals in this country and around the world.

Archbishop Broglio of the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services wrote to all Senators on June 17, urging Congress not to impose this tremendous burden on the consciences of Catholic and other health care personnel who joined our armed services to save and protect innocent life, not to destroy it. On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops I wholeheartedly endorse his plea, and want to offer some additional considerations in terms of longstanding government policy on abortion.

First, the committee amendment is titled a “restoration of previous policy” on use of military facilities for abortion. But in fact, the Department of Defense has barred use of these facilities for elective abortions since 1988. President Clinton reversed the policy in January 1993, but in 1995 Congress voted to restore the ban, and it has remained intact for the last 15 years. During the brief period when these facilities were told to make abortions available, scarcely any military physician could be found in overseas facilities who was willing to perform abortions. Proposals for hiring private physicians from outside the system, or for taking a more coercive attitude toward military physicians and nurses, were never implemented because Congress acted in a timely way to restore the morally sound policy.

Second, pro-abortion groups claim that the longstanding current policy somehow treats military personnel differently from other Americans. On the contrary: Other federal health facilities also may not be used for elective abortions, and many states have their own laws against use of public facilities for such abortions. The vast majority of public and private hospitals in the United States do not provide elective abortions, and 88% of U.S. counties (97% of non-metropolitan counties) have no identifiable abortion provider.

Third, and most disingenuously, the claim is made that the committee amendment is somehow a moderate policy, because Sec. 1093’s ban on use of federal funds for the abortion procedure will remain in place – that is, patients will have to pay the facility to perform the abortion. But this is disingenuous, to say the least. Which is a more direct governmental involvement in abortion: That the government reimburses someone else for having done an abortion, or that the government performs the abortion itself and accepts payment for doing so? In fact, the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld bans on use of government facilities and personnel for abortions, on the same basis as it upholds laws against government funding of abortion. In one such decision, citing a consistent line of decisions going back to 1977, the Court memorably observed that “the State need not commit any resources to facilitating abortions, even if it can turn a profit by doing so.” Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, 492 U.S. 490, 511 (1989).

In short, this amendment presents Congress with the very straightforward question whether it is the task of our federal government to directly promote and facilitate elective abortions. During the recent health care reform debate, the President and congressional leadership assured us that they agree it is not. The Senate should not approve this legislation until the original version of 10 U.S.C. §1093 is restored, maintaining the longstanding current policy on abortion as the House version of this legislation has already done.

Sincerely,

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo
Chairman, Committee on Pro-Life Activities
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Missouri Bishops on Federal Healthcare Insurance Mandate and H.R. 5111

In early May, the Missouri Legislature voted overwhelmingly to place a proposition on the State ballot which would reject the insurance mandates passed under the federal healthcare reform bill. The bishops of Missouri have issued a joint statement explaining their neutral stance on the measure and encouraging voters to “exercise their best prudential judgment as they vote on this issue in August.”

Further, the bishops of Missouri join the USCCB in encouraging support for H.R. 5111, the Protect Life Act, sponsored by Congressman Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania. Following is the bishops’ statement:

Joint Statement Concerning Proposition C Addressing the
Federal Healthcare Insurance Mandate

On August 3, 2010, Missouri voters will be the first in the nation to express their opinion about a provision in the new federal healthcare reform law that requires individuals to purchase healthcare insurance or pay a penalty. As passed by the Missouri General Assembly, the statute would state in part that: “no law or rule shall compel any person, employer, or health care provider to participate in a health care system.”[1] On the ballot the proposal will be known as Proposition C.

The Catholic Church in the United States has actively provided health care through its various agencies for the rich and poor alike since the early days of this great nation, and has consistently advocated for access to health care for all citizens and immigrants. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), however, opposed the federal healthcare reform bill in the form passed by Congress, because of its failure to honor existing restrictions on federal funding of abortion and failure to assure protection of the conscience rights of healthcare providers and individuals.

We believe Catholics can differ on whether a federal healthcare insurance mandate is an appropriate means to ensure access to health care for all. We think that the insurance mandate in the new law is flawed, because it fails to respect the right of conscience of individuals to refuse to purchase insurance, if that insurance covers abortion or other unethical medical practices. From that standpoint, we oppose the federal insurance mandate in its current form.

We recognize, however, that Proposition C will not bar federal funding of abortions or address the shortcomings in President Obama’s Executive Order. If the constitutionality of the health insurance mandate is upheld in court, Proposition C will have no lasting legal effect, and Missouri citizens will be required to purchase healthcare insurance. For this reason, we are taking a position of neutrality on Proposition C.

In order to address the pro-life and conscience flaws in the federal healthcare law, additional Congressional action is needed. New federal legislation, H.R. 5111, has recently been filed in Washington to prohibit federal support or funding of abortion. We call on all Missouri Catholics to contact their Congressperson and U.S. Senators and urge support for H.R. 5111.

Some Catholics may view Proposition C as the best means to address the pro-life and conscience concerns in the federal healthcare reform law while other Catholics may conclude the only effective remedy is Congressional action to amend the federal law. We encourage Missouri Catholics to prayerfully consider Proposition C, follow a properly formed conscience, and exercise their best prudential judgment as they vote on this issue in August.

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[1] The official ballot language, as prepared by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, reads as follows:

Shall the Missouri Statutes be amended to:

· Deny the government authority to penalize citizens for refusing to purchase private health insurance or infringe upon the right to offer or accept direct payment for lawful healthcare services?

· Modify laws regarding the liquidation of certain domestic insurance companies?

CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF MISSOURI

Most Reverend Robert J. Carlson
Executive Chairman
Archbishop of St. Louis

Most Reverend Robert W. Finn
Vice Chairman
Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph

Most Reverend John R. Gaydos
General Chairman
Bishop of Jefferson City

Most Reverend James V. Johnston, Jr.
Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau

Most Reverend Robert J. Hermann
Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis

Behind Kansas City's Caravaggio

A lot of coasters are unaware of the cultural treasures which exist in flyover country. A coaster myself, I was quite surprised when I moved here three years ago to find Caravaggio’s “St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness” hanging in Kansas City’s free and excellent Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Our Bishop Emeritus Raymond Boland is quite a scholar of history and recently made an address to the Knights and Dames of Malta on the subject of Caravaggio. “St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness” has surprising significance for the Order of Malta. The Baptist is their patron, Caravaggio was for a short time a member of the Order, and as Bishop Boland explains, the order used to own the painting. I’ve uploaded his full talk and footnotes as a GoogleDoc. Below are excerpts pertaining to the provenance of Kansas City’s Caravaggio:

One of his masterworks currently in Rome is Caravaggio’s “St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness,” now one of the prized pieces of our own Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I have brought along a poster of the painting for you to look at but, of course, no print or poster does justice to the original. And because of who you are, Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta, I want to give you one more good reason why you should be fully acquainted with this significant work of art which depicts the patron of the Order, St. John the Baptist.

Let me explain. I am going to tell you the story, the word most commonly used is “the provenance,” of this painting which, I believe, most of you will find surprising. Accordingly, much as I would like to, I do not have the time to regale you with descriptions of his colorful life and his magnificent body of work all accomplished during his short life of 39 years. If you are interested in knowing more about this artist and his work, then I must refer you to the many books, including biographies, which have been written about him in recent times and, in addition, the anniversary of his death this year has occasioned a whole plethora of fascinating articles.…

Let me return to our “John the Baptist.” After the Reformation and rallied by the Council of Trent, a deeply-wounded Catholic Church struggled to regain its stature in Europe. There were many changes and one of them was in the field of artistic expression and this trend was quite noticeable in the realm of religious art. The conventions of Mannerism were out and Caravaggo, more so than many others of his time, developed a naturalistic style which placed religious events in the contemporary world along with a hitherto unknown interplay of light and shadows. Religious paintings would never be the same again and Caravaggio, after being ignored for decades, is now credited with being one of the most creative and successful proponents of this revolutionary change.

In 1604 Ottavio Costa, the richest banker in Rome, commissioned Caravaggio to do a “John the Baptist” as an altarpiece for the tiny parish church in his home town of Coscente in northern Italy not far from the large port city of Genoa. The family was in the process of building a new and larger parish church and the older building was being relegated to the status of an oratory or chapel. The subject was chosen because the tiny chapel was the home of and was supported by a lay confraternity dedicated to St. John the Baptist. One of their charities was the provision of Christian funerals for the deceased poor whose families could not afford them, an apostolate which gave practical meaning to one of the corporal works of mercy. Some have maintained that the somber appearance of the painting was appropriate for funeral rites which, especially at that time when cholera was so prevalent, were far more somber in nature than may be the case today in our personal experience.

When Costa saw the painting, he decided to keep it himself.† To fulfill his promise, however, he commissioned some unknown artist to make a copy and the latter went to Coscente. The original by Caravaggio was now family property and when Costa died in 1639 his will stipulated that the painting should remain in the family in perpetuity. This provision lasted for a number of generations until it came into the possession of a descendant who happened to be a member of the Order of Malta. At that time membership demanded that, upon death, all possessions became the property of the Order. Some family members sued and the court case dragged on for many years until finally in 1705, the Church’s highest court, the Rota, ruled in favor of the Knights. The painting was shipped to the headquarters of the Order, then on the island of Malta.

Strangely enough, this was almost 100 years after Caravaggio himself spent some time in Malta. I would like to say that he was on vacation but that was not the case! Shortly after finishing his “John the Baptist,” true to form and ever the rabble-rouser, Caravaggio got involved in a street brawl in which a participant was killed. Fingers were pointed at Caravaggio and, whether guilty or not, he fled to Naples, a jurisdiction beyond the laws of the Papal States. He spent the last four years of his life “on the run” but not unemployed. After Naples he arrived in Malta in July, 1607 where he did two portraits of the Order’s Grand Master, Alof de Wignacourt, and, in recompense, he was received into the Order in 1608. He also completed his largest and only signed painting, the “Beheading of John the Baptist,” still to be admired today in the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valetta, the island’s capital. Caravaggio couldn’t keep out of trouble; another street brawl, jail time, an escape from custody, an alleged physical attack on a fellow knight all resulted in his expulsion from the Order and he upped and fled to Sicily, staying on the move from Syracuse to Messina and then Palermo. You may recall that some years ago it was reported in the press that his famous altarpiece entitled, “The Adoration of the Shepherds with St. Lawrence and St. Francis” was stolen from the Oratory of St. Lawrence in Palermo and, to the best of my knowledge, has never been recovered. After Sicily he returned to Naples, reportedly received a pardon from the Pope for his role in the alleged murder in Rome but he died in mysterious circumstances on his way back to the Eternal City. He died not knowing that his work, “St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness” would one day end up in Malta 95 years after his untimely death.

In the 1740s a young English Lord with a Scottish title, Baron Aston of Forfar, was on the Grand Tour and somehow he acquired the painting from the Order of Malta. He shipped it back to England where it remained in obscurity for about 200 years probably on the Constable estate in Yorkshire to which the Aston descendants had moved.‡ In 1951 an Art Dealer in London purchased the painting. It was placed on the international market and both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Gallery in Washington had the opportunity to acquire it. Director Walker of the National Gallery later confessed, “I made a mistake which still haunts me.”

These missed opportunities constituted a stroke of fortune for Kansas City and specifically the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

In the spring of 1952 one of the Museum’s trustees was vacationing in London. Milton McGreevy, his wife Barbara and his daughter Jeanne visited the art dealers’ showroom and there was the “St. John in the Wilderness.” Mr. McGreevy immediately put a reserve on it and that’s how it came to Kansas City and that’s why Kansas City is one of the few cities in the United States which can boast that is provides the home for a Caravaggio. Earlier this year I started preparing this talk with the conviction that the local Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta should be aware that Caravaggio was very briefly a member of the Order and that his “St. John in the Wilderness” was once in the possession of the Order at a time when it owned and governed what is now the independent island nation of Malta.

Image Credit: ArtRenewal.Org

Updated - Helen Osman's Curious Correction Demands Clarification

The by now well-known blog post by USCCB Secretary of Communications Helen Osman accusing Catholic News Agency of fabricating quotes by Cardinal George in their report on the bishops’ Spring meeting raises more questions than it answers.

First it is curious in the extreme. CNA posted their story on Jun. 16. CNA itself gets much traffic, but the story and Cardinal George’s reported remarks additionally spread like wildfire in the Catholic web and to reports by EWTN and CNN. If a news agency fabricates quotes by the president of any major organization and the false quotes spread wide and far, I cannot imagine the reasoning of a communications director who would take five days to respond – and then only in a staff blog post.

Second, while giving the impression that CNA’s entire piece was grossly incorrect, Osman corrects only two minor quotes which don’t remotely change the substance of what was reported and incorrectly corrects a third point which was not in fact a quote from the original story. Let’s look at the accusations:

While the cardinal did present a sequence of events to the bishops, he never used the phrase “so-called Catholic,” accused the Catholic Health Association of creating a “parallel magisterium” or said the meeting of the three bishops with Sr. Keehan had “frustrating results.”

“Parallel magisterium” was not a quote put into Cardinal George’s mouth in the CNA story, but rather a reporter’s characterization. It is an accurate description of how Catholic Health Association acted in the health care debate and it would be a fair characterization of how Cardinal George has described their behavior in other public, published remarks.

For the sake of argument, let’s grant that the Cardinal did not use the words “so-called” and “frustrating results”. What other direct quotes are attributed to him by CNA (excise the red):

“the Catholic Health Association and other so-called Catholic groups provided cover for those on the fence to support Obama and the administration.”

“Sr. Carol and her colleagues are to blame”

“I personally met with her in March to no avail,”

“The bill which was passed is fundamentally flawed. The Executive Order is meaningless. Sr. Carol is mistaken in thinking that this is pro-life legislation,”

“in the end, they have weakened the moral voice of the bishops in the U.S.”

Are these accurate? Osman goes on to criticize CNN for using the CNA report as a source:

For CNN to elaborate even more on what CNA said in error is even more disturbing. If CNN had tried to verify the citations, it would have learned that CNA fabricated quotes. It also would not have made its huge and erroneous assumption that the issue in question was an example of the bishops at odds with the sisters.

But CNN did not, in fact, use any of the quotes that Osman sought to correct. Are the quotes CNN used also false? Osman doesn’t say. What she does say is disturbing and evasive (my emphases):

To honor the bishops’ privacy and confidentiality, we will not be releasing the transcript. It’s unfortunate if someone breached that confidentiality; also unfortunate if CNA tried to take an educated guess at what the cardinal might have said and cobbled together its own fabrication of the session.

The last suggestion is coy and demands a clarification. Osman, who was present and reviewed the tape of the session, knows full well whether CNA “tried to take an educated guess at what the cardinal might have said and cobbled together its own fabrication of the session.” Either it is a substantially accurate transcript (again, granting the exception of four words) or it is not. It is grossly unfair to make such a suggestion when you know the actual facts. Osman can remedy that, as the director of CNA has asked, by releasing the tape, or failing that possibility, by retracting the suggestion.

UPDATE: Michael Sean Winters over at America thinks he knows who the bishops are who "leaked" Cardinal George's comments to CNA are:

It is not difficult to think of who these “several bishops” might be. Go ahead – you can list them. I will only call attention to one telling indication. Yesterday, the blog at the official newspaper of the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, the Catholic Key, ran an item that questioned the veracity of Helen Osman and defended the substance of the CNA report. The editor of the Catholic Key, Mr. Jack Smith, is a man who has made it a habit of attacking Sr. Carol Keehan in the most scurrilous and unchristian manner; he is on my short list of the very few people who warrant an ad hominem attack. Perhaps Mr. Smith is on such a long leash that his master lets him publish whatever he wants, including this blog post which would seem to question the integrity not only of a staffer at the USCCB but of Cardinal George. Perhaps.

There is much wrong in that paragraph, but I'll correct one thing. The Bishop of Kansas City - St. Joseph did not attend the June bishops' meeting and so any suggestion that he leaked the comments is false.

I'm very pleased to be on Mr. Winter's "short list", but any regular reader of his knows he's exaggerating the exclusivity the club.

Cardinal DiNardo Writes FDA on Abortion Drug Approval

The FDA is considering approving Ulipristal (trade name, Ella) as an “emergency contraceptive”. Today, the USCCB’s pro-life chair, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, wrote FDA chair Dr. Margaret Hamburg objecting to the proposed designation. The Cardinal is concerned that the drug may in fact be an abortifacient and labeling it “emergency contraceptive” would deceive many women who “would personally never choose to have an abortion.”

You can read his full text below, but something in his letter really stood out for me:

In fact, FDA approval for that purpose would likely make the drug available for “off-label” use simply as an abortion drug – including its use by unscrupulous men with the intent of causing an early abortion without a woman's knowledge or consent.  Such abuses have already occurred in the case of RU-486, despite its warning labels and limited distribution.

That seems to me a real and frightening possibility. Full text:

Dear Dr. Hamburg:

I am writing because of grave concern over the FDA’s current process for approving the drug Ulipristal (with the proposed trade name of Ella) for use as an “emergency contraceptive.”  The decision to hold an advisory committee hearing on the drug today, without broad public input or a full record on the drug’s safety for women or their unborn children, does not demonstrate an understanding of the new medical and moral issues it presents.

Concerns have been raised over other drugs considered for “emergency contraception,” such as the “Plan B” regimen, because they might act not only to prevent ovulation but also to prevent implantation of the developing embryo in his or her mother’s womb.  However, such drugs were thought to have no post-implantation effects.  Ulipristal is a close analogue to the abortion drug RU-486, with the same biological effect – that is, it can disrupt an established pregnancy weeks after conception has taken place.[i]

This drug is contraindicated for women who are or may be pregnant.  Yet its proposed use here is targeted precisely at women who may already have conceived, as it would be administered within five days after “unprotected” sex or contraceptive failure.  No existing pregnancy test can exclude the possibility that a new life has been conceived in this time frame.  Indeed, advocates praise this drug as an advance precisely because it seems to retain its full efficacy five days after intercourse – that is, after the opportunity to prevent fertilization has passed. 

Millions of American women, even those willing to use a contraceptive to prevent fertilization in various circumstances, would personally never choose to have an abortion.  They would be ill served by a misleading campaign to present Ulipristal simply as a “contraceptive.”  In fact, FDA approval for that purpose would likely make the drug available for “off-label” use simply as an abortion drug – including its use by unscrupulous men with the intent of causing an early abortion without a woman's knowledge or consent.  Such abuses have already occurred in the case of RU-486, despite its warning labels and limited distribution.

For many years, Congress has acted to ensure that the federal government does not fund abortion, and does not endanger or destroy the early human embryo even in the name of important medical research.  This Administration, like many before it, has voiced support for federal laws to ensure that no one is involved in abortion without his or her knowledge or consent.  And the Administration’s support for broad access to contraception has been defended as serving the goal of reducing abortions.  Plans for approving a known abortion-causing drug as a “contraceptive” for American women is not consistent with the stated policy of the Administration on these matters.

Please know that I appreciate any attention the FDA can give to these serious concerns, and I will follow the Administration’s further discussion and actions on this issue with great interest.

Sincerely,

                                                Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo

                                                Chairman, Committee on Pro-Life Activities

                                                United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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[i] Documentation on this and other medical aspects of the issue is cited in FDA testimony submitted to the FDA by the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, available at www.aaplog.org/?page_id=808.

Homily from the World’s First Feast Mass of St. John Francis Regis

Jesuit Saint John Francis Regis is a secondary patron of the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph. But we’ve never been able to honor him here with a proper Mass because he’s omitted from the Roman Missal. The Vatican has made possible now a process that allows diocesan bishops to request Liturgical Propers for locally observed feasts. Bishop Robert Finn commissioned some priests to submit English and Latin texts to the Congregation for Divine Worship for a Mass honoring St. John Francis Regis. The Propers were approved earlier this year and yesterday Bishop Finn celebrated the first Mass using the Propers. Following is Bishop Finn’s homily from the Mass:

Homily for Feast of St. John Francis Regis
On the Occasion of the First Use of Liturgical Propers for the Saint
June 16, 2010 – Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Most Reverend Robert W. Finn
Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph

“I am possessed with such a desire for the missions of the Kingdom of Canada, that I fear I would be … neglecting my vocation if I concealed from you, Most Reverend Father, the feelings I have in this regard. Therefore I … beg you with [all] the prayers of which I am capable to assent to [this] wish.” (St. John Francis Regis, from the Office of Readings)

Dear Bishop Boland,
Dear Father Marcoullier, Provincial Superior of the Missouri Province
Father Vowells, Rector of the Rockhurst Jesuit Community, and pastor-designate of St. Francis Xavier Parish, and all our Jesuit brothers,
Dear Fr. Holder, Pastor of St. John Regis Parish
Dear brother priests and deacons,
Dear Religious, and lay Faithful of the Diocese
Friends in Christ all,

The letters of the young priest, John Francis Regis, inspire us today as we see his persistent desire to carry the saving message of Jesus Christ to the new world. His example and intercessions were active here nearly 200 years ago, when Jesuit Father Hermann Aelen, received permission to name the log cabin church that first occupied this very site after St. John Francis. Since 1839, if not before, the saint’s name and prayers have assisted and inspired a good work of evangelization in Western Missouri.

While the Cathedral of the Diocese of Kansas City would be given the title of the Immaculate Conception, Regis would be held as a valued spiritual friend and patron. His sponsorship continued after the 1956 joining of Kansas City and St. Joseph. Not long afterward, Bishop Cody erected the parish in southern Jackson County that still bears his name.

It is an honor for me to enter into the history of our commemoration of the zealous missionary. Nearly two years ago, two of our priests, Fr. Paul Turner and Msgr. Bill Caldwell, together with Fr. Dennis McManus, who had recently taught at Conception Seminary, requested my permission to undertake a project to construct a set of liturgical texts proper to our patron. It seems that though St. John had been long venerated in the Jesuit Missale, there remained no prayers unique to the June 16 feast. With my encouragement the three gifted priests researched the writings of and about our Saint, and crafted orations, antiphons, hagiography, and a preface in Latin and English. Just about one year ago, we received the approval from the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, that these prayers could be used in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Throughout the Diocese today those prayers have been lifted to heaven. Now it is my turn to offer them for the first time on this spot, on which was built Kansas City’s first St. Regis church.

We are honored by the participation of so many of our Jesuit brothers, whose ministry and apostolic work remains important to Catholicism in our diocese. Particularly I welcome the Very Reverend Douglas Marcoullier, Superior of the Jesuits of the Missouri Province. His presence and this feast give me an opportunity to express my sincere gratitude and esteem for the generations of the Jesuits’ pastoral ministry and, of course, a strong legacy of Catholic education. Rockhurst University, reaching the completion of its first 100 years, is synonymous with Kansas City, Missouri, and contributes inestimably to our community, to the Midwest and beyond.

Father John Vowells, recently nominated by Fr. Marcoullier to serve as Pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish, has ably led the Rockhurst Jesuit Community here. He serves as an active member of our Presbyteral Council, and I continue to count on him as a trusted advisor on my own College of Consultors. Fr. Marcoullier and Fr. Vowells, and all our Jesuit friends, thank you for your ministry and thank you for being with us on this joyous occasion.

St. John Francis was on fire with God’s love. He was alive in love for God’s people, particularly the poor, the sick, and those who had not yet received the Gospel. His asceticism and constant preaching took him all over France. He preached interior renewal, true conversion, and moral integrity. While he unsuccessfully besought his superiors for an assignment to the foreign missions he did not withdraw in any manner from his mission at home. Perhaps he is for us a model of the New Evangelization. His work was among the Catholic faithful of his own place, and he succeeded in re-awakening in them the grace of their baptism. Restrained from the mission “ad gentes,” to the nations abroad, he never tired in his determination to enkindle the faith that might lie dormant and inactive in believers.

I was interested to read about an account of a miracle of Saint Regis whereby he multiplied a store of grain to feed the poor. It is very similar to one I read of another French saint, St. John Vianney, whose biography has become better known in the recent Year for Priests. In the account of the Abbe’ Trochu, it is told of the Cure’ of Ars:

“It was in the course of 1829 that the supply of corn, [necessary to feed the orphans of the Providence] … stored in the attic of the presbytery, was reduced to a few handfuls of grain lying scattered about the floor. .. Sweeping together in one heap all the grains that littered the floor, … [Vianney] hid in it a small relic of St. Francis Regis, the wonder worker of LaLouvesc. After asking the orphans to pray for their daily bread, he, too, set himself to pray. … Presently Jeanne-Marie Chanay appeared on the scene. ‘Go and gather what corn there may be in the attic,’ he told her. … She experienced the greatest difficulty in opening the door of the attic, and as soon as she forced it ajar, a stream of [grain] escaped through the narrow opening. She ran downstairs in all haste: ‘You wanted to test my faith,’ she exclaimed, ‘your attic is full… It is overflowing.’ (Chapter 9)

St. John Francis was a saint’s saint! John Vianney knew of his powerful intercession. Our predecessors here in this spot likewise entrusted their fledgling log cabin church, and their mission, to his care. Indeed, in the few grains of their efforts, they would see today a Church that has grown in depth and breadth: many generations of Catholics who have allowed the good seed of God’s truth and love to take root and grow into something very important, living, and life-giving, in our community and beyond.

We also know, as did our patron, that the preaching of the Gospel has to be renewed again and again. We ask his favor on all our apostolic endeavors: that moral righteousness will be the ground of our decisions and the motivation for our daily work; that humility, prayer, and a thirst for holiness will make us docile to the Holy Spirit; that the Holy Spirit will grant us a renewed trust in God’s providence and strengthen us for a zealous care for the vulnerable: the sick, the poor, the migrant, and the unborn.

Dear friends, You and I must be missionaries after the example of St. Regis. Some may go far away. Others will announce the Gospel here at home. Everywhere we must bring the truth of the love of Jesus Christ to those who long for their Savior. I am happy for this occasion to discover more completely a blessed heavenly friend for our Diocese. I am very thankful to Father Turner, Fr. McManus, and Msgr. Caldwell, for carrying out this meaningful project that gives a new fuller voice to our worship. Because of their good work, each year on this Feast Day, June 16, in your parishes and oratories, we will recall the life of the young Jesuit missionary who wanted to come to us. Do not doubt for a moment that he will join his prayers to ours at any day we seek his help.

Thank all of you for coming to the Cathedral to celebrate the life of St. John Francis Regis, our patron. May the intercessions of Mary the Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph, Guardian of the Redeemer, and St. John Francis Regis, help us all reach our full stature as witnesses to Jesus Christ. Amen.

The World Cup Preserves Something that America is Losing

From the upcoming edition of The Catholic Key:

A World Cup Meditation

By Santiago Ramos

After the game is over, it passes into the realm of theater. After the game is over, we run through great sporting events in our heads a second time like a play, and through recollection, relive the tragedy of a loss or the glory of a championship. This is the reason why one is able to make documentaries about football or basketball teams. All of the elements of tragedy and comedy—the tragic flaw, reversal of fortune, recognition of truth—arise as we mentally scan through the last season, the last tournament, the last match. Some teams or seasons or plays are so dramatic that they become canonical: Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary pass, the 1980 Miracle on Ice, Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal in the 1986 World Cup. Some events are insignificant to history but we hold on to them for our own reasons—for me, the Second Round struggle between my native Paraguay and hosts France in the 1998 World Cup.

We experience sport as a game, and remember it as art. What sport has that Shakespeare lacks are freedom and contingency. There are no actors and the drama is not scripted; the players write the script through a million acts of skill, forged in freedom but under a specific environment. So perhaps sport more than art demonstrates for us more convincingly certain truths about life: that discipline leads to virtue; that it is heroic and sometimes necessary to play with pain; that the most beautiful plays sometimes come out of nowhere, unforeseeably, impossibly.

Unfortunately, American professional sporting culture is destroying all of this. The World Cup, on the other hand, preserves it. The perennial American magazine story “Has Soccer Finally Arrived?” is a cliché but it also hides the real truth: that America needs soccer more than soccer needs America.

The drama of sport is being systematically attacked by the bloated American Pro-Sports-Statistical-Media Complex. I can name you three specific ways that this is happening, but there are doubtless more. First, a universal obsession with statistics. A common criticism of American culture is that it is so technological and empirical that you can’t say anything without backing it with numbers. But I have come to the darker conclusion that most sports broadcasters talk about numbers only because they have nothing else to say. I really don’t care, I really think it is meaningless, that the Chiefs have not succeeded in making a two-point conversion during the third quarter of a post-season game in the last five years. The quintessence of this obsession was illustrated this week by Bob Ley of ESPN, in the halftime analysis during the Argentina-Nigeria World Cup match. “The last time Argentina gave up a halftime lead was in the 1930 World Cup,” he said. “It just doesn’t happen.” This baffled the Spaniard Roberto Martinez, an ESPN commentator and former professional soccer player, who responded: “That was a different team, Bob.” Sports teach us that the possible is greater than the probable; statistics applied to sports is probability’s revenge on possibility.

The second destructive force is the delusion of the Instant Replay. We appeal to the camera when we become afraid of the human element in sport. We think that the precision and justice that the replay can provide for us will defuse the pain that is intrinsic to any competitive sport. In games we see that the best-trained can’t always play their best, and that those with the best eyes don’t always make the right call; the imprecision and the deficiency are also elements in the drama. The Instant Replay is an attempt to quell the drama, as if sports would be better without it. All it actually does is stir confusion about what a game really is, and every time we interrupt a game to watch a video, we strike a blow at the soul that keeps the game moving.

Interruptions, also, is what television commercials are. The fact that basketball and football is structured in such a way as to accommodate for television commercials is a scandal. Who enjoys watching The Godfather Part II when it is sliced and diced by ads for sitcoms and acne medication? The interruptions wake us up from the dream of the drama; basketball and football lose something in this constant interruption.

All of this may sound bleak, but the answer to it is flickering in a billion television screens worldwide this month. As we watch the World Cup this summer, we should be conscious that we are witnessing a sport that is resisting. It resists, if nothing else, the tyranny of television commercials. No commercials interrupt the 45 minute flow of a half of soccer—there are no “TV time outs.” The narrative builds and is resolved within continuous time, and it demands that we reclaim the patience and the attention spans most of my generation lost sometime in the late 1990s.

Moreover, even though every now and then somebody within FIFA—the World soccer organizing body—complains that Instant Replay should be introduced into the game, most fans accept that the game includes injustices. We suffer through them, and we play again the next day. Geoff Hurst scored a “goal” for England in the 1966 Final which actually did not cross the line. Maradona scored a “goal” with his hand against England in the quarterfinals of 1986 (he attributed it to God; five minutes later, he scored the greatest goal in World Cup history). France would not be in the World Cup this year, and Ireland would be, had Thierry Henry not handled the ball during a qualifying match. What can you do? Better to make a sacrifice than to kill the sport.

As for statistics—American soccer broadcasters, too, are beholden to them. But one could always learn Spanish and switch to Univision.

The World Cup this year has its own set of stories which will congeal into the dramatic. The Brazilian squad has betrayed its principles of jogo bonito (beautiful play) and has adopted a pragmatic approach which yields victories without flair. Ironically, the German side looks more playful and creative in attack than Brazil does. Lionel Messi of Argentina will be trying to live up to his reputation of being the greatest Argentine player since Maradona. And there is a tough Paraguayan side you will not want to miss.

Most importantly, there is a drama that you will not want to miss—one that retains certain human elements which are besieged in our hyperactive media age.

Photo is from The 100 greatest World Cup moments at The Independent (UK).

Santiago Ramos is a graduate of Rockhurst University in Kansas City and has written for First Things (online), Commonweal, The Pitch, Traces, Image Journal and various blogs. He is currently studying toward a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Boston College.

Pics and Homily from Kansas City Corpus Christi Procession

A huge crowd of faithful from the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas showed their devotion to the Blessed Sacrament during a Corpus Christi Procession through downtown Kansas City on Sunday. KCK Archbishop Joseph Naumann and KC-SJ Bishop Robert Finn took turns carrying the monstrance through the streets.

The procession began and ended at Old St. Patrick, the beautifully renovated home of Kansas City’s Latin Mass community, and passed by the Federal courts and City Hall.

In his homily at Benediction following the procession, Bishop Finn urged the faithful to commit to prayer for the purity of priests, that priests will be dedicated to the Eucharist and Confession and for more priests in this final week of the Year for Priests. The full text of his homily is below the pictures.

“The bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world.”

Dear Archbishop Naumann, My brother priests and deacons,
Dear Consecrated men and women, Dear Seminarians
Faithful of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
Faithful of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph

Thank you for joining Archbishop Naumann and me in this profound act of faith and witness, by which we have held up and shown forth within our community the very Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. What we have done today is beautiful and powerful. We pray that these Benedictions which we have traced in the streets of Kansas City will extend to all the members of our dioceses and communities: that they will be a source of conversion and renewal, a gift of peace and unity; a cause of a more active charity; a sign of hope in the Risen Jesus, who lives among His people. He is our life: the life of the world.

In the last encyclical he wrote, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, The Church Draws Her Life from the Eucharist, Pope John Paul II reminds us that “The Eucharist is indelibly marked by the Lord’s passion and death, of which it is not only the reminder, but the sacramental representation.” (no. 11)

Friends, let us not fail to grasp the enormity of this reality. The Mass continues and renews the sacrifice. The Pope goes on to say that this sacrifice is “so decisive for the salvation of the human race that Jesus Christ offered it to the Father only after He had left us a means of sharing it, as if we had been present there.” (no. 11)

Listen to what we are taught: Jesus’ Flesh is given for the life of the world. The sacrifice of the Mass is decisive for the salvation of the human race.

Dear friends, how we need the Eucharist! How we need the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! And therefore, How we need our priests!

This month marks the conclusion of a Year for Priests, announced last June by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI. This Friday, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Pope will gather with priests from all over the world to mark the close of the Year for Priests.

My message to you on the Corpus Christi day in 2010, dear friends, is this: Pray intensely – this week especially – for our priests. This has not, in every way been an easy year for our Holy Father. It has not been entirely an easy year for priests; for the Church. We have been tried; perhaps purified in some ways through suffering. The devil still wages war on priests – but the High Priest is infinitely more powerful than the devil. Mary Mother of priests has queenship over men, saints and angels. In these last days of the Year for Priests, let us make a great offering of prayer and love for our priests. Why now? Why today? Today we hold up the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the highest calling of our priests. This is why we are priests: so that we can daily bring to God’s holy people the Bread of Life, necessary to the life of the world. The priest at the altar makes present the very Sacrifice of Calvary.

We need our priests. Pray without ceasing, make sacrifices for our priests, especially this week. I would suggest three particular intentions in this regard, all of which were expressed by Pope Benedict a year ago.

1) Pray for the purity and perseverance of priests: purity, holiness, and life-long fidelity. There are often temptations. We priests need your prayers.

2) Pray that priests will be devoted to the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. In this Year under the patronage of St. John Vianney, may we also be constantly available to our people as wise and merciful confessors. We have to love the Eucharist, which is the font and summit of the whole Christian life, and the source of the priests pastoral love. No priests – no Eucharist. No Eucharist – no Church.

3) Pray for more priests. Pray that your sons, your grandsons, will be called to priesthood. If you young men have been thinking about priesthood, today is a day to ask God to deepen and intensify your desire and the necessary elements that might lead you to seminary. This is a vocation from God and from the Church – both parts are necessary. And we, God’s people must pray and pray and pray, and beg God for more priests. We have had an increase in vocations in both our dioceses. Lord, You know it is not enough. Please give us more priests. Help us take care of them: We ask You this – in the Presence of the Eucharistic Lord, Bread of Life, Eternal Priest, Hope of the World. We beg you hear our prayer that what we do today will be able to be continued until the end of time, in every one of our communities.

For the Purity of our priests; that our priests will be dedicated to the Eucharist and Confession; for more Priests. Let us pray for the granting of these needs at the conclusion of this Year for Priests.

Finally, let us ask Mary, who received our Lord with such purity, humility and devotion, to assist us to do what we do worthily on this Eucharistic day. Amen.