A CNN commentator says the real reason for the recent CDF document’s release is:

an old man trying to get a little attention.

The guy clearly didn’t even read the document he’s criticizing.

This is nothing but a naked attempt by Pope Benedict XVI to “own” Jesus by virtue of the Catholic Church considering the apostle Peter as its leader. He refuses to acknowledge the reality that Jesus didn’t consider a church to be most important. What was? The Great Commission.

The Bible records in Matthew 28:16 that Jesus called his 11 disciples (the other, Judas, hanged himself after betraying Jesus) to Mount Galilee and decreed, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (New International Version).

Of course, previously, Jesus did give Peter the Keys.

Oh – by the way – this guy can’t resist praising Father Pfelger of St. Sabina’s – the priests who travels with bodyguards, who had Calypso Louis Farrakhan speak at his parish (saying that good muslims are good christians and vice versa) and also threatened to “snuff out” a gun store owner.  That’ll do a number on your credibility…
The Editorial 

How’s that for a headline? Via the Curt Jester, we learn of this article that discusses the results of increased levels of estrogen in the water supply.

When EPA-funded scientists at the University of Colorado studied fish in a pristine mountain stream known as Boulder Creek two years ago, they were shocked. Randomly netting 123 trout and other fish downstream from the city’s sewer plant, they found that 101 were female, 12 were male and 10 were strange “intersex” fish with male and female features.

…

They studied the fish and decided the main culprits were estrogens and other steroid hormones from birth-control pills and patches, excreted in urine into the city’s sewage system and then into the creek.

….

Since their findings, stories have been emerging everywhere. Scientists in western Washington found that synthetic estrogen – a common ingredient in oral contraceptives – drastically reduces the fertility of male rainbow trout.

What does the environmental movement have to say about this? Dave Georgis, who directs the Colorado Genetic Engineering Action Network,

told the Boulder Weekly that nobody needed to consider curtailing use of artificial contraceptives out of concern for the creek.

“You can’t have a zero impact, and this is one of the many, many impacts we have on the environment in everyday life,” Georgis said. “Nobody is to blame for this, and I don’t have a solution.”

Yes, apparently, to this environmentalist, there are some environmental impacts that we just can’t avoid. George Harden, a board member of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, based in Steubenville, Ohio, has this comment:

“If you’re killing mosquitoes to save people from the West Nile virus, you can count on secular environmentalists to lay down in front of the vapor truck, claiming some potential side effect that might result from the spray,” Harden said. “But if birth control deforms fish – backed by the proof of an EPA study – and threatens the drinking supply, mum will be the word.”

“It’s going to start looking funny,” Harden said. “The radical environmentalist won’t eat a corn chip if the corn contacted a pesticide. But they view it a sacred right and obligation to consume synthetic chemicals that alter a woman’s natural biological functions, even if this practice threatens innocent aquatic life downstream.”

Despite growing and nationwide knowledge of birth-control pollution in rivers and streams, leading environmentalists remain unfazed – even in Boulder, where it’s been known about for years.

… <it gets even better!>

Curt Cunningham, water-quality-issues chairman for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Sierra Club International, worked tirelessly last year on a ballot measure that would force the City of Boulder to remove fluoride from drinking water, because some believe it has negative effects on health and the environment that outweigh its benefits. But Cunningham said he would never consider asking women to curtail use of birth-control pills and patches – despite what effect these synthetics have on rivers, streams and drinking water.

“I suspect people would not take kindly to that,” Cunningham said. “For many people it’s an economic necessity. It’s also a personal freedom issue.” (pills cost money. periodic abstinence does not.)

H/T to the Curt Jester for this great story (the comments on his post are great too)!!

More

Some months ago I posted on a couple of articles on how the environmental extremist movement was pushing the perpetual lie about overpopulation, tying it in with the idea that having too many children is environmentally irresponsible. Well, here we have another such article, once again praising the benevolent Chinese government for their “solution” to this problem (never mind that the put out more pollution that anyone else on the planet, and they have worked things so that environmental regulations don’t apply to them, and for that matter that they’re communists and therefore intrinsically evil.)

This one’s specifically about Britons:

The Optimum Population Trust, a UK-based think tank, made the call in a new report unveiled today, saying record growth in Britain’s birth rate was having an adverse impact on the environment.

The report’s author, Professor John Guillebaud, said the Government should introduce “stop at two children” or “have one less” policies.

“Each new UK birth, through the inevitable resource consumption and pollution that UK affluence generates, is responsible for about 160 times as much climate-related environmental damage as a new birth in Ethiopia, or 35 times as much as a new birth in Bangladesh,” Prof Guillebaud’s report says.

“A voluntary stop-at-two guideline should be adopted for couples in the UK who want to adopt greener lifestyles.”

“Optimum population trust” – what an interesting name. Also, note that the word “government” is capitalized?

What about the fear of underpopulation, as in Australia?

In Britain, the think tank argues, economic and political pressures to lift the birth rate “are hopelessly simplistic and should be resisted”.

“Far from panicking about baby shortages, almost every country can welcome fertility rates at or slightly below replacement level,” it said.

China introduced its strict one-child family planning policy in the late 1970s.

The policy is believed to have prevented millions of births.

“Believed to have prevented?”

More

This morning, my parish DRE, Marc Clay, sent me a link to a great article on the Motu Proprio and how the re-use of the Tridentine Rite could indeed be integral to the health of the West.  Written by Charles Coulombe, the article is rather heady (read William F. Buckley-esque.)  Coulombe mentions the reasoning of a group of British thinkers and writers, mostly non-Catholic, who protested the obliteration of the rite back in the 1970s:

We are not at this moment considering the religious or spiritual experience of millions of individuals.  The rite in question, in its magnificent Latin text, has also inspired a host of priceless achievements in the arts—not only mystical works, but works by poets, philosophers, musicians, architects, painters and sculptors in all countries and epochs.  Thus, it belongs to universal culture as well as to churchmen and formal Christians.

In the materialistic and technocratic civilisation that is increasingly threatening the life of mind and spirit in its original
creative expression—the word—it seems particularly inhuman to deprive man of word-forms in one of their most grandiose manifestations. 

The signatories of this appeal, which is entirely ecumenical and nonpolitical, have been drawn from every branch of modern culture in Europe and elsewhere.  They wish to call to the attention of the Holy See, the appalling responsibility it would incur in the history of the human spirit were it to refuse to allow the Traditional Mass to survive, even though this survival took place side by side with other liturgical forms.

Coulombe’s thesis is summed up:

the health of the Catholic Church was and is integral to the health of the West. If our civilization is to withstand its current slate of internal and external foes—throughout Europe and the Diaspora—it must regain its hold on the things that first enkindled its spirit. Restoration of liturgical sanity and unity within the Catholic Church will inevitably have a beneficial “trickle-down” effect far beyond the Church’s borders. Those who prize the health of the West must welcome Benedict XVI’s action, regardless of their own creed.
…
The alleged free nations of the West, apparently intent on suicide, will—should these trends continue—punish Catholic prelates for doing their duty as they believe Christ has called them to do. Nor, in the end, will it only be Catholics so threatened, but anyone who holds to what the West has been, and what it needs to be if it is to survive.

For such as these, then, any and all of Benedict XVI’s efforts at rebuilding the Catholic ethos should be welcomed, and their success prayed for. But all of these things can bring little surprise to students of history. Very often, down through the two millennia of the Church’s history, internal reform has been followed by external persecution—itself usually the prelude to a period of triumph. In this light, July 7, 2007, may well be seen in future centuries to be as momentous a date as September 11, 2001–although, of course, one that points not toward death but rebirth. Whatever the case, keep your eyes on Rome.

Take some time to read and think out the whole thing.  It’s a good piece and well-grounded in history.

More 

So now they’ve done it.  The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith has issued a document with no new information, reaffirming that the Catholic Church is the true Christian Church, even if elements of truth can be found in the other Christian denominations which are not in unity with Rome.  I like what I heard someone explain this to mean at some point in the past: All Christians are Catholics whether they like it or not; it just happens that there are Christians who are not in full communion with the Catholic Church.  Considering some of the over-the-top ecumenical stuff we see sometimes, the intellectual honesty of the document is refreshing.  It says basically that yes, there are difference, and that fullness of the Truth can be found in the Catholic Church; other denominations have elements of the Truth, but not the fullness.

Or as a close friend said to me once, it’s great to stand up and sing in a megachurch, but it’s greater to be sitting at The Table!

Of course, the MSM has decided this is another opportunity to attack the Church.  Via American Papist, here are some headlines:

“Vatican hits ‘wounded’ Christian churches.” – ABC News.au

“Pope: Only Catholics Have ‘Means Of Salvation’”

More from CNS here 

CNS reports some US Bishops’ comments on the motu proprio…

the apostolic letter “Summorum Pontificum” showed the pope’s “pastoral care for those members of the faithful who desire to worship God” with the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal
…
should not be seen “as calling into question the abiding significance of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council” but as a continuation of Pope John Paul II’s efforts to reach out “to those who felt alienated from the church because of the exclusive use of the postconciliar ritual.”
…
“The normal way that we have been celebrating the Mass for the past 40 years remains. What you and I are asked to do is to open our hearts and be more aware of and attentive to those who have a spiritual need for the extraordinary form of celebrating the Mass.” (normal way? 40 yrs is normal, 300+ is not?)
…
the papal letter appeared to be “in response to serious concerns that have been expressed in countries other than our own.”
…
“The issue of the Latin Mass is not urgent for our country,”
…
A statement from the Diocese of Lincoln, Neb., said the document “will probably not have an immediate impact” on the diocese “since many of its provisions are already in place,”
…
“At the same time, due to a severe shortage of priests, the first duty of the bishop and the pastors is to make the eucharistic sacrifice available to as many people as possible, using the rite that is understood by the majority of the faithful in attendance,” (convenient…)
…
Bishop John M. D’Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., said Pope Benedict “has acted courageously and as a good shepherd,”

Where’s my Bishop’s comment?  Surely our good Bishop would have something to say…

A web search reveals that from all indications he hasn’t commented yet.  We’ll see what he says when he does.

More 

The big announcement came out today from B16 authorizing priests to provide Tridentine Masses to the masses (bad pun.)  Now, I haven’t ever seen a Tridentine Mass.  I’ve been Catholic 4 years and have seen the Novus Ordo done well and done poorly.  My lack of experience means that truly I don’t consider myself qualified to speak much on the subject.  However, I do see some much smarter folks commenting, so here goes:

Curt Jester notes these MSM headlines:

• ADL Calls Vatican Prayer for Conversion of Jews ‘A Theological Setback’ and ‘A Body Blow to Catholic-Jewish Relations’
• Church split feared as Pope backs return of ‘anti-Semitic’ Latin Mass
• Latin Mass May Damage Catholic-Jewish Relations
• Will pope reintroduce anti-Semitic mass?
• Pope to revive ‘anti-Semitic’ Mass
• Concerns rise about anti-Semitic mass

Curt Jester offers his thoughts

Gerald offers “Cliff Notes” on what the document says

Jimmy Akin posts on it

This is a breath of fresh air.  A band has stated that they find it ironic that bands promote environmentalist causes:

“It’s a bit patronising for us 21 year olds to try to start to change the world,” said Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders, explaining why the group is not on the bill at any of Al Gore’s charity concerts.

“Especially when we’re using enough power for 10 houses just for (stage) lighting. It’d be a bit hypocritical,” he told AFP in an interview before a concert in Paris.

Bass player Nick O’Malley chimes in: “And we’re always jetting off on aeroplanes!”

And the singer from 80s pop sensations The Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant, attacked the arrogance of pop stars who put themselves forward as role-models.

“I’ve always been against the idea of rock stars lecturing people as if they know something the rest of us don’t,” he was reported as saying by British music magazine NME.

The entire industry, therefore, is not totally stupid…just most of it.

More 

Contrary to popular belief, the name of the holiday is not “July 4,” any more than we celebrate the 4th Monday in May, the first Monday in September, November 11, Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, the fourth Thursday in November, and so on.  Isn’t it interesting how this is the only holiday we refer to by its date?

I got a whole stack of sales circulars in the male yesterday, and every one of them touted “July 4th Savings!”  I didn’t see “Independence Day” referenced anywhere on there.

Why?  Because independence isn’t “sexy” anymore!  Back then it was a revolutionary idea – that a group of colonists could declare themselves independent of the imperial government overseas and a free nation!  Today, it’s codependence and interdependence.  The latter is not a bad thing – but we live in a country where the primary person responsible for me is me, and for you is you; at least that’s what the Founding Fathers (and yes, they were fathers, no matter how politically incorrect that fact is) had in mind.  Today, the nanny state is trying to control more and more of our lives…

But as you have your cookout and watch the fireworks (on TV for those of you in the drought-stricken areas) please at least take a minute to consider the peril those men put themselves in when they signed that document 231 years ago, for you and me to have the right to sit here and tell the world our ideas without fear of reprisal.

Recently, a family with which I and several of my co-workers are familiar experienced the suicide of one of their members.  The family is Jewish.  I immediately commenced prayer for the soul of the deceased.  Hopefully by some extraordinary means this soul ended up receiving salvation at the very end, but I digress.

My co-workers are all protestant, and it disheartened me when one of them said, “well, we couldn’t save him, but maybe we can save his mom and dad.”

First of all, this individual is not under any illusion that we can save anybody; rather they simply meant that we had not effectively evangelized the child, but perhaps we can evangelize his parents successfully.   Had I not been busy, I probably would have gotten into a deep conversation about whether God breaks His covenants…y’know, that whole “God’s Chosen People” thing…but I refrained.