Speaker of the House Pelosi, self described “ardent practicing Catholic,” decided to speak on behalf of the whole universal Church in an interview Sunday morning.  She explained in an interview with Tom Brokaw that she has studied a great deal and over the centuries, the doctors of the Church have not been able to define when life begins, but that regardless, it shouldn’t have an impact on a woman’s “right to choose” (read “right to kill.”)  Going on, she explained that the Church has been trying to figure this out for centuries.  Challenged by Brokaw that the Church today has a very clear position on the issue, she explained that this position has really only been in existence for the last 50 years or so.  Over the whole history of the Church this has been an issue of controversy.  (many commenters on the YouTube video decided to research the Church’s position.  The first statement made on the subject outside the Bible?  AD 70 by Tertullian.)

Here’s the video clip - you have to see and hear it to believe it.

And here’s Archbishop Chaput in yesterday evening’s homily:

“If you’re Catholic and you disagree with your Church. What do you do? You change your mind.”

What the Speaker has done here is essentially decided to speak on behalf of all Catholics and in fact for the hierarchy based on her alleged research.  The Great One made a great point on his talk show today - that a person’s historical frame of reference begins with their birth - hence the Speaker believes that this hardcore pro-life position on the part of the Church has only been around the last 50 years or so, when in fact even 2 minutes of googling will show you that the position has been completed unchanged for the entire history of Christianity.  She’s made herself an arbiter, and a doctor of the Church, by stating not only that the scholars of the Church have never taken a firm position on when life begins, but that since they haven’t she can (even though she still didn’t actually take a position.)  Her concern, and therefore the Church’s concern, is not when life begins, but rather that nothing should interefere with a woman’s “right to choose.”

Meet Nancy Pelosi, newest member of protestantism.  No, never mind, she’s been a protestant for decades.  Oh for her bishop to be as loving and concerned for her as Kansas City Bishop Naumann was toward Governor Sebelius.

The “other Catholic” at my place of work mentioned today that another of our coworkers had voiced a loud objection of the use of a crucifix as opposed to a simple empty cross.  I figured it had been a while since I had pulled together some apologetics resources on a particular topic, so, here goes.

First, the objection itself is simple.  Fundamentalists (remember, these are the people who think that if there’s an image of anything within the walls of the church building then we must be worshipping the image, which creates a logical problem if they have an empty cross displayed anywhere) say that Catholics are stuck on Good Friday while they’ve moved on to Easter.  That is, Catholics think Jesus is still on the cross, whereas Protestants don’t.

Karl Keating points out the fallacy to this contention.  And empty cross is not the symbol of anything, because every person who the Romans ever crucified was eventually taken down from the cross.  And empty cross means the ghastly business is done and the executioner is awaiting his next victim.  Keating suggests that a better symbol if the claim of “we’ve moved on to Easter” is to hold true would be a depiction of an empty tomb.  Have you ever seen a depiction of an empty tomb attached to a steeple or displayed within the walls of a church all year round?  Another point - the Mass is the re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice (which the Catechism tells us was a one time thing, thus it’s an unbloody re-presentation) therefore the crucifix is a logical image of that event.

Apologist John Martignoni has a brief piece on this topic in his 2-minute apologetics repertoire, and I will just quote it directly here:

check out 1st Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 23. Paul says, “…but we preach Christ crucified…” Why does Paul preach Christ crucified? Doesn’t he know Jesus has been raised from the dead? Of course he does! But, he knows that it is through the power of the crucified Christ on the cross that the bonds of sin and death are broken. As Paul says in verse 24, Christ crucified is the “power of God”.

1 Cor 2:2, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Again, didn’t Paul know that Jesus had risen from the dead? Of course, he did.

Paul preaches Christ crucified because an empty cross has no power. The cross that bears the beaten, battered, and bloodied body of Jesus Christ, however, that cross is the “power of God”. This is why, we “keep Jesus on the cross,” because we, too, preach Christ crucified. The Crucifix reminds us not only of God’s power, but also His love for us - giving His only begotten Son up for suffering and death.

Also, here in this life we do not share so much in the glory of the Resurrection, as we do in the suffering of Jesus on the cross; after all, we must take up our cross daily if we are to follow Jesus, as it says in Lk 9:23.

And, we must die with Christ in order to live with Him as Romans 6:8 tells us. Where did Christ die? On the cross. The Crucifix serves to remind us of these things.

I happen to really like Martignoni’s style.  He’s a little stinging and sarcastic.  It comes across as almost a bit “mean” in his writing, but if you hear him speak, his delivery style makes it so conversational and disarming.  And besides, you have to be careful not to take yourself too seriously when set upon by uninformed anti-Catholics…the humor he uses helps you maintain sanity.  The piece-de-resistance:

One other passage to keep in mind is Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” Did you catch that? Jesus was publicly portrayed, before their “eyes”, as being crucified. Sounds kind of like they may have been looking at a Crucifix, doesn’t it?

Phil Thompson is in the Orthodox Church, a Church which is united with Rome in her understanding of the Eucharist as well as Sacred Tradition.  He makes several good points.  He explains that the cross isn’t a symbol of the resurrection, because there are already icons of the ressurection in the Orthodox Church.  This applies to the Catholic church as well (at least the ones that haven’t been turned into stark, ugly bunkers by the likes of Vosko.)  At my local parish, the stained glass depicts Christ the King, for example (as well as the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Good Shepherd.)  Christ couldn’t be king if we still thought he was stuck on the cross.  Another point made by Mr. Thompson is that we worship Christ, not the cross.  An empty cross is like an empty flagpole.  People don’t salute the flagpole, they salute the flag.  Kind of like Keating’s point about how an empty cross doesn’t tell a specific story, and Martignoni’s point about how an empty cross has no power (straight from the Bible!)

Mary Beth Kramski of Catholic Answers echoes several of the aforementioned points, but she also mentions that Protestant films graphically display the crucifixion.  She also says,

If the suffering and work of Calvary are, as some Protestants claim, past history, leaving nothing for us to do, then maybe using only a plain cross might make sense—maybe. But when we know that Jesus is inviting each of us to join him at Calvary, the value of the crucifix in helping us respond to him becomes obvious. This call to suffer with Christ is an invitation to transforming love. Through the experience of the cross, we touch the inner heart of God. The saints tell us that’s where joy and power reside.

Although not explicitly stated as a tenet of faith, in many Protestant denominations the work and suffering of the crucifixion are seen as being fixed in the past. Now is the time to reap the fruits—-salvation, healing, deliverance. The suffering is over; the work is done. (The “health and wealth” teachers take this idea to the extreme. No suffering for us—just the perks.)

And a “zinger” of sorts with which one can wow any non-liturgical Protestant:

The Catholic Church celebrates Easter for 50 days—not including each Sunday of the year, which are seen as “little” Easters. The Mass never fails to proclaim the resurrection of Christ. And the Church’s daily prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours, is filled with Scripture and prayers rejoicing in the resurrection.

I count at least 100 celebrations of Easter in the liturgical calendar…versus Protestantism’s celebration of Easter once a year.  As the kids on the ‘net say, Catholic Church FTW!

Seriously though, the whole point is that this is a pretty easy objection to debunk…a little bit of Scripture to show that there’s no power in an empty cross, and a logical look at the Catholic Church’s record when it comes to celebrating Easter.

Nonetheless, if you are hungry for more, you can’t miss with Steve Ray’s treatment of the issue…he looks at the history of crucifixes and crosses, and sets everything in proper order (and no, I didn’t drag myself through all 14 pages.)

Amazing what you’ll find on Facebook. An old acquaintance of mine who happens to be a “friend” on Facebook posted a rather lengthy manifesto after her experience at the Passion Conference this past weekend. For the uninitiated, the Passion Conference has been going on for some years now, led by Louie Giglio (whom I am told is quite a speaker in the church growth movement) which features a lot of rock-type “praise” music, powerful preaching, and so on. Never been to one, but this is the impression I get from folks who have been there. My boss says the music is all 7-11 songs. The same seven lines, sung eleven times. Anyway, here’s what she wrote:

This weekend was Passion Regionals in Atlanta and I had the opportunity to volunteer. It was an amazing weekend of renewal mixed with personal challenge. Speakers included Louie Giglio and Francis Chan and worship leaders Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall and David Crowder. God was certainly glorified!

So today I started reading Francis’s new book, Crazy Love, which I picked up at the conference. I’ve only read the first chapter, and already I’m starting to remember the untruths I believed about God, Christians and the Church when I was growing up. I’m not blaming my church; without them I wouldn’t have necessarily experienced the fundamentals that I now take for granted (I’m learning that over and over, and repenting for it!). Don’t get me wrong; my parents never taught me these things overtly, nor did the church. However, here are the top 5 myths about God, Christians and the Church that I came up with:

1. God is big and powerful, and he lives up in Heaven, but is somewhat disconnected from us.

2. To be a Christian, there are all kinds of rules to follow, most of which involve a long list of things not to do.

3. Church is where Christians go on Sunday and if you don’t go, you’d better be hospitalized or gravely ill.

4. Don’t hang around people who don’t go to church because they will be a bad influence on you.

5. Worship = Hymns (verses 1, 2 and 4) or Latin Songs that nobody understands.

Now this may all seem absurd to some of you, but how many of us are still living as if these “myths” are reality? For example, how many of us have meaningful relationships with people who aren’t believers? Or how many feel that God takes attendance at church every Sunday and if you’re not there, you’ll be punished? And I’d venture to say that lots of believers say that they have a relationship with God, but still feel at times, really disconnected from Him.

I’m confessing now with a repentant heart that I do not believe these lies anymore. God is very near to my heart now, and having a relationship with Him isn’t about what NOT to do, but rather how to ENJOY His love and all He can do through me. I missed church today, but still had fellowship with Him and other believers. I am intentional in developing relationships with those who don’t yet know the love of Christ. And I know worship can involve singing, clapping, jumping (as demonstrated by the students at Passion!), or…watch out now…raising your hands! Who would have known?!

Ok, now for the record, she and I are on exactly the same page with regard to having friends of different beliefs. I have lots of non-Catholic friends and family members and try to be a good representation of the Faith without ramming the Truth down their throats (and the last part of that statement was written with tongue planted firmly in cheek.) Taking her “lies” on a one-by-one basis:

1. She’s right - we shouldn’t consider God to be “disconnected” from us. But, by the same token, too many folks take the “accepted Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior” thing too far, to the exclusion of all else - like what you DO as a result of that relationship, for example. I have a co-worker who, whenever I speak of anything liturgical with Methodist of Presbyterian co-workers, says “I just love Jesus.” Something there about babies who aren’t ready for solid food. Of course there’s more to it than just loving Jesus - there’s work you do following him, the sacraments, and so on. Sanctification. Shouldn’t place so much focus on the “personal relationship” that we forget about serving Him.

2. This is like #1 - if you’re so wrapped up in the personal relationship aspect of the faith, you miss out on the fact that you are supposed to “do” and “not do” certain things. No, the rule book is not the primary focus of the faith, but it is there, and it’s there for a reason. Sanctification. Of course, coming from a sola fide mindset it’s hard to consider that one might have to do anything at all (except believe, which is a work itself, and I’ve gotten into the convoluted thought processes behind this in previous posts. I’ll spare you now.)

3. Well, Jesus is there at Church. He asks an hour a week. He wants to be physically present to us and in us. He gave us the Eucharist. If you miss that, then obviously, going to church on Sunday would be a matter of personal preference. If you’re just going to hear someone preach, you can do that equally well on the sofa at home or at a rock concert masquerading as a worship service.

4. Personally, I think it’s a good rule for teenagers to follow, not to hang out with people of a different value system, as they will be a bad influence on you. Teenagers of course think that they have it all figured out (though for some reason I never really had that feeling as a teenager, I have known enough to know that most do) and that they can avoid negative influences. Or, they excuse it with “I am sharing the gospel with them so I should spend time with them.” Simple fact is, to a teenager, the things that teens of a different value system tend to do are a heck of a lot more fun that the things that a solid Christian teenager tends to do. And, being exposed to such stuff as a teenager can result in developing a greater sense of moral relativism and “tolerance” (2007 definition, not the dictionary definition) which will make the liberals very happy but which results in someone ultimately drifting away from their faith because, hey, what’s the point?

5. In college I went through a period of thinking that rock music could be a legitimate part of a church service. Then what I realized was that the rock music was creating an emotional high that felt good but had no real depth or impact on my faith. Now I have gone back the other way…I have seen how Life Teen music done in the most flamboyant of ways waters down the awesomeness of what happens at Mass (and thankfully, many teen and college types are seeing the same thing,) and essentially, rock music at Mass insults the intelligence and spiritual depth of the communicants, because it says “you need to be attracted by this music because nothing else that’s going on here would interest you.” All that said, I still to this day think that “praise choruses” have a legitimate place in worship services/concerts which are separate from Mass or any other formal church service for that matter. As for Latin songs that no one understands, it’s very easy to find out what the Latin means if you’ll go to the trouble. Latin’s part of the universality of the Church which has been rejected for 500 years by Protestants.

And as the father of 2, let me first say that there are times when it feels like a punishment…

Barack Obama was campaigning recently and explained how he would educate his daughters…he said he’d teach them values and morals, but if they made a mistake, he didn’t want them punished with a baby or an STD.  Apparently, he isn’t interested in teaching them the value of personal responsibility or natural consequences.  They need to have an “out.”  Hmm…think that you might repeat the same mistake over and over if there’s no consequence?  Also telling is that he considers a baby and and STD to be on a similar plane.

Don’t believe me?  Here’s your video clip.

From the Georgia Bulletin this week, a story on a Methodist family that sent their kids to Catholic schools…and when the 8-year-old decided she wanted to receive first Communion along with her fellow second graders, Mom and Dad decided to join the Church:

The Halls traveled to China twice to adopt their daughters. Their second journey was the focus of a 2004 National Geographic program.

Their recent spiritual odyssey was also one the entire family took, and it was prompted by their older daughter, a second-grader at “St. Joe’s” School.

“I know most of the time it’s usually parents who make the spiritual decisions for the family,” said Denise. Not so for the Halls, as it was Marissa who wished to receive first Communion along with her second-grade classmates.

Denise and Rich, both raised Methodist, “did not want the family to be divided,” and so they began the Order of Christian Initiation for Adults.

Only one problem in the whole article…

In addition to the Easter Vigil, they had a profound moment on Holy Thursday when Father Paul Berny, pastor, washed Marissa’s feet.

Oh well. What can I say?  My wife and her brother are ridiculed by the rest of their family for being too “old fashioned” and “too Catholic” even though they’re the ones who raised them to be Catholic…and that’s directly responsible for the fact that I am Catholic.  Guess I should just overlook the profound misunderstanding that exists when the foot washing rite includes women.

Full article 

Several weeks ago I wrote on Allen Hunt. The Georgia Bulletin (Atlanta’s diocesan newspaper) finally saw fit to do the same thing:

The 44-year-old also finds himself on Sundays in the pews at Mary Our Queen Church, Norcross. He is one of the newest members of the Catholic Church in the Atlanta Archdiocese.

“I’m home and glad to be home. I have a deep, deep sense of interior peace,” said Hunt about joining the church. “It’s where God wants me to be. I have no doubt.”

Full article

So, now that a prominent former-Muslim has been baptized Catholic, the Vatican is having to do damage control and distance itself from what the convert says.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Pope Benedict XVI welcomed into the Catholic Church a Muslim-born journalist often critical of Islam, it was not a sign that the pope accepts everything the journalist believes, said the Vatican spokesman.

The Italian journalist, Magdi Allam, “has the right to express his own ideas. They remain his personal opinions without in any way becoming the official expression of the positions of the pope or the Holy See,” said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi.

Basically, the “Muslim world” is saying that the Pope shouldn’t have publically baptized this guy, because he is guilty of hate speech against Islam.

Nayed questioned the pope’s decision to baptize Allam March 22 during the globally televised Easter Vigil from St. Peter’s Basilica.

“It is sad that the intimate and personal act of a religious conversion is made into a triumphalist tool for scoring points,” Nayed said.

“It is sad that the particular person chosen for such a highly public gesture has a history of generating, and continues to generate, hateful discourse,” he added.

Naturally, one must remember that hate speech against Islam means disagreeing with Islam. The man has every right to make the comments he makes, because essentially there’s a price on his head. The Vatican’s being accused of not recognizing human dignity and freedom of choice somehow by publicly baptizing the man…fortunately, the Vatican spokesman got a dig in about that too:

Father Lombardi said the Catholic Church today does not deserve an accusation that it lacks respect for human dignity and freedom, but there are many situations in the world where such respect is lacking and which need attention.

“Maybe this is why the pope accepted the risk of this baptism: to affirm the freedom of religious choice which derives from the dignity of the human person,” he said.

more

Standing for the processional hymn this morning, for the 6th year in a row, we sang “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.”  Once again, I thought to myself about the many years of singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” in the Baptist church, and how these lyrics still seemed weird to me, though I love the music (though the parish I attended this morning is utterly stuck in funeral dirge mode…we wouldn’t want an up-tempo, joyous (but reverent) hymn on the most important day on the calendar, now would we?  Seriously - the mass would have been 15 minutes shorter if the hymns had been sung at a comfortable tempo.  We’re talking painfully slow.  Sort of like this painfully long parenthetical.)

Anyway, as I was singing from the Gather hymnal, I figured this was one of the many hymns butchered by the Oregon Catholic Press for being “too Catholic” or “too gender specific.”  I’ve come to be greatly annoyed with some of the hymns in Gather, due to sometimes arbitrary butchering of hymns.  Many are “gender neutralized.”  Others just have weird changed in them.  “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” comes to mind - I am used to “were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a ransom far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life my all.”  Gather has us sing “were every realm of nature mine, my gift would still be far too small…”

And in my home parish, about half the folks know one set of words and sing them by habit…and the other half sings what’s printed on the page.  It can be messy.

So anyway, I figured this was just another situation where OCP decided to edit the hymns to make them more cosmopolitan.

Good news is, I was wrong.  Catholics have been singing “Jesus Christ is risen today” for 700 years in Latin, and for 300 years (300 years this year in fact) in English.  “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” has only been around since 1739, originating the John Wesley’s hymn book. Interestingly, at least one website I found lists the 3 original verses of “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” as the last 3 verses of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”

So, I learned something new today - that Gather can do some things right…and learned more about the authenticity of the Catholic heritage.

For those of you who’ve never seen “Christ The Lord Is Risen Today,” check out the link.  You can read over the words.  I like many of them myself.

Wonder if they had to insert apostrophes into the original Latin texts in order to fit syllables to the music?  After all, we have to sing “risen” as a single syllable in order for it to fit.  “ris’n.”  Wonder if every time a hymn writer does that, God kills an English teacher?

“Jesus Christ is Risen Today”

“Christ the Lord is Risen Today”

(important to note that at least in the USA we use the “Easter Hymn” melody for both versions.)

Here’s a good piece of news this Easter Vigil.  What do you bet there’s a price on this guy’s head now?

Italy’s most prominent Muslim, an iconoclastic writer who condemned Islamic extremism and defended Israel, converted to Catholicism Saturday in a baptism by the pope at a Vatican Easter service.

As a choir sang, Pope Benedict XVI poured holy water over Allam’s head and said a brief prayer in Latin.

“We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another,” Benedict said in a homily reflecting on the meaning of baptism. “Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close.”

Vatican Television zoomed in on Allam, who sat in the front row of the basilica along with six other candidates for baptism. He later received his first Communion.

More 

Y’know how only a third of Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist?

Well, apparently this factoid is based on faulty survey techniques…and Jimmy Akin explains it, along with a new survey revealing that some 81% of Catholics believe in the Real Presence!