A Seasonal Pleasure

I have XM-Sirius, and they create a channel just for the eight days of Hanukkah. It's a wonderful complement to the Christmas music that's everywhere else. I just can't help but enjoy its mix of religious and pop music, cultural features and bubbling-over joyousness.

Sartre: something that doesn't get much publicity

From Busted Halo:

While serving in the French army in 1940, Jean-Paul Sartre, the existentialist philosopher and playwright, was captured by Germans and placed in a prisoner of war camp. Before Christmas, a fellow-prisoner named Paul Feller who was a Jesuit, persuaded Sartre to write a Christmas play for the Christians imprisoned with them. By 1940, Sartre—who had been baptized a Catholic—was a declared atheist, but he agreed to the request out of a sense of solidarity with the other prisoners. The following is a brief excerpt from the resulting play, called “Bar-Jona,” in which Sartre offers a moving reflection on the Virgin Mother and her newborn son, Jesus.

"The Virgin is pale, and she looks at the baby. What I would paint on her face is an anxious wonderment, such as has never before been seen on a human face. For Christ is her baby, flesh of her flesh, and the fruit of her womb. She has carried him for nine months, and she will give him her breast, and her milk will become the blood of God. There are moments when the temptation is so strong that she forgets that he is God. She folds him in her arms and says: My little one.

"But at other moments she feels a stranger, and she thinks: God is there — and she finds herself caught by a religious awe before this speechless God, this terrifying infant. All mothers at times are brought up sharp in this way before this fragment of themselves, their baby. They feel themselves in exile at two paces from this new life that they have created from their life, and which is now peopled by another’s thoughts. But no other baby has been so cruelly and suddenly snatched from his mother, for he is God, and he surpasses in every way anything that she can imagine. It is a hard trial for a mother to be ashamed of herself and her human condition before her son.

"But I think that there are other rapid, fleeting moments when she realizes at once that Christ is her son, her very own baby, and that he is God. She looks at him and thinks: This God is my baby. This divine flesh is my flesh. He is made from me. He has my eyes, and the curve of his mouth is the curve of mine. He is like me. He is God and he is like me.

"No other woman has been lucky enough to have a God for herself alone, a tiny little God whom she can take in her arms and cover with kisses, a warm-bodied God who smiles and breathes, a God that she can touch, who is alive. And it is in these moments that I would paint Mary, if I was a painter, and I would try to capture the air of radiant tenderness and timidity with which she lifts her finger to touch the sweet skin of her baby-God, whose warm weight she feels on her knees, and who smiles."

Worth saving.

From Rodney Crowell:

The sun comes up tomorrow,
but there are no guarantees;
it can rock you like a baby,
it can bring you to your knees.

Check their shoes.

That's how you know who's been too close to the manure pile. Today's NY Times suggests that Illinois representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., is the "Candidate 5" in the Blago corruption case.

Anatomy of a war

Dennis Prager diagnoses the nature of the conflict now being engineered by the extremist Muslims in the light of the Mumbai events. There is every reason, historically, politically and ideologically, to take seriously what he says--that the war on the Jews is a war on the democracies of the West. What will be our response?

The only guide to a man is his conscience; the only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations; but with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour.

Winston Churchill, 12 November 1940, House of Commons

Justice, love and forgiveness

Rabbi Schmuley Boteach has a very challenging comment on the senseless violence perpetrated by terror agents in Mumbai. He suggests that "forgiveness" is not the pure-and-simple right attitude regarding such actions. I'm not sure that his call for a stern attitude is best and most purely motivated by moral revulsion--although this sense deserves to be acknowledged. Retribution always must come from the positive sense of justice and by the ever-present need of civilized, peaceful society to protect itself from the acts of the truly evil and the merely lawless among us. I always have a right to sacrifice myself. I never have the right to tolerate conditions where the violent will violate the innocent. The Rabbi is correct in saying there is a need for the expression of just anger, and for a determined response; but all such expressions must be rightly motivated.

Happy New Year! Some Advent thoughts....

from Engaging Faith blog:

"Let the world indulge in its madness, for it cannot endure and passes like a shadow. It is growing old, and I think is in its last decrepit stage. But we, buried deep in the wounds of Christ, why should we be dismayed." (St. Peter Canisius)

"Hope always draws the soul from the beauty that is seen to what is beyond, always kindles the desire for the hidden through what is perceived" (St. Gregory of Nyssa)

"God is so good and merciful, that to obtain Heaven it is sufficient to ask it of him from our hearts." (St. Benedict Joesph Labre)

"The time will come when there shall be one flock and one shepherd, one faith and one clear knowledge of God." (St. Birgitta of Sweden)

"If Christ is with us, who is against us? You can fight with confidence when you are sure of victory. With Christ and for Christ victory is certain." (St. Bernard)

Yet more clarity on the life issues

In the latest issue of the Texas Catholic Herald, Cardinal DiNardo summarizes the mood, both optimistic and very, very guarded, of the Catholic community, as it manifested itself in the recent (post-election) meetings of the U.S. bishops:

After much discussion, the Bishops also asked the President of the Episcopal Conference, Francis Cardinal George, to issue a statement concerning the recent national elections. I believe Cardinal George’s remarks are clear and helpful in dealing with some important matters that may come before us in the months ahead. He first recognizes the historical importance of the election of the first African-American President of the United States, and he writes that the bishops look forward to working together with President-elect Obama and the new members of Congress. The Church always looks to cooperate in bringing about the common good and the various goods that underlie it.

The Cardinal then writes:

“The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all. Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law. The danger the bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.”

I share in Cardinal George’s recognition of a present danger. As the statement says, in the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that, if repeated in the next Congress, would outlaw any law that limited providing abortion at will. Any moderate restraints by the States would be annulled. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortions with their tax dollars. Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. FOCA would be disastrous for prenatal human life. FOCA would also have a disastrous effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors and nurses and health care workers whose convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. Further, the passage of FOCA would threaten our Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities.

The bishops are of a single mind on opposing evil, the evil of abortion and those laws and statutes that promote abortion. I am in complete agreement with the Bishops on this and will, no doubt, be asking the commitment and active voice of our Catholic faithful in witnessing publicly to this basic commitment of our faith in the public square. We must all

watch carefully in the next few months to see how this pro-life issue is addressed and be ready to respond clearly and instantaneously.

Cardinal Francis George spoke for all the bishops in his formal statement, delivered upon the close of the conference. His words are even more stark than Cardinal DiNardo's:

FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.

On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.

The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.

This statement is written at the request and direction of all the Bishops, who also want to thank all those in politics who work with good will to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Those in public life do so, sometimes, at the cost of great sacrifice to themselves and their families; and we are grateful. We express again our great desire to work with all those who cherish the common good of our nation. The common good is not the sum total of individual desires and interests; it is achieved in the working out of a common life based upon good reason and good will for all.

If these words aren't a clear message to the new administration and its supporters about who-owes-what, I don't know what is. There needs now to be a national drive to educate the Catholic public and Catholic politicians about the signal role of the life issues in the Seamless Garment doctrine. Certainly there are many types of advocacy collected under this general heading. However, we are ending the era when Catholic spokespersons, politicians, clergy and educators can draw a type of "moral equivalence" that levels out the issues and allows those who would cover their abortion-favoring agendas with this blanket.

Pro-Life's Next Step is Visibility

Now the secret is out: The Church teaches that both abortion AND the death penalty are immoral:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6129597.html

If the battle is to be joined on the life issues, now is the time. Newly-elected public officials ought to take notice that the Church is working to educate its own members, giving witness so that all will know, and acting in order to achieve genuine change. This is a genuine first step, especially considering the willingness of the Chronicle to play the action on page one. Good work all around.

I also note that congregations of other denominations aided in the prayer vigil. All it takes is leadership and initiative--they will come to the cause.

Pro-Life: Some self-analysis within the Church

A wonderful analysis of the Church's current predicament by Fr. Schall:

http://www.thecatholicthing.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=810&Itemid=2

And, an outspoken priest who is shown some love by his parishioners:

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/catholic_stories/cs0340.htm

Sermon on the Mount video

Church inaugurated in 2006:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wZzPXuNl1g

Sanity in education.

The president-elect could do a lot worse than consider the advice of two columnists, Meredith Baker and Mike Feinberg, in today's editorial section.

Ms. Baker's point is that the needs of the nation are currently poorly served in several areas of government policy, one of which is education. Our secondary schools, she says, don't produce graduates ready to lead in the world community; other nations far exceed what we ask of our graduates. Only 13 percent have taken Calculus upon graduation; the ratio of students in American schools who have studied Chinese versus students in Chinese schools who study English is 1 to 10,000. Ouch. She concludes:

My generation won't be able to effectively govern and keep the economy running strong (or at least help it recover) if we don't have a well-educated workforce and technically strong citizenry.

Mr. Feinberg, one of the founders of the KIPP academies, covers the familiar basics of education policy, including a strong appeal for freedom of choice:

Pick a secretary of education committed to accountability and public school choice: When Obama picks his Cabinet, he will make a strong statement about the direction of his administration. President-elect Obama should pick a secretary of education who deeply understands the issues of funding and accountability on the federal, state and local levels, and who is passionate about student achievement and growth. Having one national test with one rigorous set of national standards will ensure our children can compete in the global marketplace as well as help parents know how well their children are progressing in school. The secretary of education must also support the growth of public charter schools, which give educators freedom in exchange for increased accountability. Families will benefit from the healthy competition resulting when multiple high-quality public schools serve the same community.

The proportionality argument

In an e-mail conversation the other day, I allowed that I thought the U.S. Church was correct in its teaching that the life issues were to be taken as primary among the public considerations used by one's informed conscience as one votes. My friend and correspondent wrote something like this: "Well, you know that this terrible war in the Middle East is cutting short some lives and futures, too."

He has a certain point--a war may be a bad thing. I was tempted to buy into this informal equivalence argument. Fortunately, I gave it a moment's thought. There is a significant difference between the personal action of abortion and the decision of a government and its responsible parties to order hostile actions to be conducted in the name of their people.

Further, unless one is using nuclear weapons, the loss of life is grossly disproportionate, and that disproportion falls incriminatingly against abortion. The commonly accepted statistic for 2005 (slightly outdated, but one I recall clearly) is that 1.2 million elective abortions were performed in the U.S. By contrast, 4,191 American soldiers have lost their lives in the Iraq conflict--none last month, by the way. Using a ratio of abortions per day in 2005, that number of 4,191 abortions was performed in about 32 hours, 1 1/3 days, in that year. Granted that there would certainly be other arguments about war and about abortion, the sense that "they both take life" doesn't seem anything but a dodge to me.

Moving on...

Some messages of encouragement and clarity on this day:

First, today's meditation passage on DGO is from St. Therese of Lisieux. Consider carefully what the Little Flower says about the search for the great soul, and the conditions for that search:

Dear Sister, how can you ask me if it is possible for you to love God as I love Him? ... My desires of martyrdom are nothing; they are not what give me the unlimited confidence that I feel in my heart. They are, to tell the truth, the spiritual riches that render one unjust, when one rests in them with complacence and when one believes they are something great... Ah! I really feel that... what pleases Him is that He sees me loving my littleness and my poverty, the blind hope that I have in His mercy .... That is my only treasure...

Oh, dear Sister, I beg you... understand that to love Jesus... the weaker one is, without desires or virtues, the more suited one is for the workings of this consuming and transforming Love. The desire alone to be a victim suffices, but we must consent to remain always poor and without strength, and this is the difficulty, for: "The truly poor in spirit, where do we find him? You must look for him from afar," said the psalmist. He does not say that you must look for him among great souls, but "from afar," that is to say in lowliness, in nothingness.

Ah! let us remain then very far from all that sparkles, let us love our littleness, let us love to feel nothing, then we shall be poor in spirit, and Jesus will come to look for us, and however far we may be, He will transform us in flames of love. Oh! How I would like to be able to make you understand what I feel! It is confidence, and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love. Does not fear lead to Justice? (To the severe justice that people show to sinners but not the justice Jesus will have for those who love him.) Since we see the way, let us run together. Yes, I feel it, Jesus wills to give us the same graces; he wills to give us his Heaven gratuitously.

On a more overt political note, Plato writes in the Republic:

The city where those who are to rule are least anxious to be rulers is of necessity the best managed.

Finally, Victor Davis Hanson, in A War Like No Other, on the character of the most tragic of all conflicts, the Peloponnesian war:

Just think of it: a land versus a maritime power, the starkness of the Dorians contrasted with Ionian liberality. Oligarchy was pitted against democracy, practiced dearth set against ostentatious wealth. A rural hamlet dethroned a majestic imperial city; and a garrison state professed the cause of Greek autonomy abroad even as a humane imperialism killed the innocent.

No one foresaw such carnage in 431. Who believed that in just two years, the majestic Pericles would end up covered with pustules, grasping an amulet as he coughed out his life in the fevers of the plague? [Hanson then discusses the fates of other important figures....] Everything considered wisdom at the beginning of the war would be proven folly at its end.

Circumstances change. Leadership is the critical issue in the search for the better republic, and until great souls emerge the vision of the best polity will continue to take second place to economic revanchism and the moral cynicism that prefers selfish, short-sighted, agenda-driven convenience over the inalienable dignity of life itself.

Work to do.

According to yesterday's Houston Chronicle, "Abortion [is] not main Issue for Catholics." The point of the article is that, according to a recently-commissioned poll, only 44 percent of Catholics consider abortion the main issue when they vote. The piece also notes that

• The Catholic hierarchy is beginning to respond to what has been a pretty laissez-faire sense that there is fundamental moral freedom for Catholics to vote as they please, based on practical political concerns and preferences. A growing number of the bishops, including Houston's Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, have begun to use some definitive language to describe the abortion issue as a genuine and foremost concern, because human life is a foundational right. [The bishops are taking their jobs as shepherds more seriously, responding to the sense of the global Church and a growing segment of the domestic faithful. Other clergy I have seen strong statements from recently are Cardinal Egan of New York City and Archbishop Chaput of Denver.]
• Church-going Catholics are expected to favor Republican candidates, while non-practitioners poll in favor of Democrats. Part of the secret to change, then, appears to be to get the faithful back into the pews on Sunday.
• In the interest of the "choice" position, there are now groups who, with pretense of broad acceptance as well as "legitimacy" within the community of Catholics, promulgate the position that it's OK to place the whole panoply of election issues in an equivalence with abortion. They say that as long as the party or candidate speaks for regulation of abortion access in some fashion (while apparently maintaining a "pro-choice" credibility), it is permissible to vote for that candidate over one who is clearly pro-life. This position purports that the abortion issue is lost anyway, so we should save whatever we can. [Take your pick: is this position venal? disingenuous? manipulated?]
  

Whose funeral are the poll-bearers attending?

Are the outliers the polls showing the 9-point gap in Obama's favor that the cheap--er, free--TV networks are touting or the polls showing the 2- to 3-point difference, with McCain closing intermittently over the last week. On the closer-race end of things, Hewitt's breakdown is here, and Geraghty's is here. If the latter scenario is the one shaping up, then Obama is right where Kerry was in 2004. "Got 'em right where we want 'em," should then be the theme from the McCain campaign.

Opportunity abounds

If I were an investor (or builder) looking to the future, I'd be thinking about these possibilities:

1. Retro-fitting existing homes at modest cost with latest-tech energy-saving features;
2. Doing the same for the condo and townhouse crowds;
3. Building small "luxury" homes with intelligent (IT) systems and conservation technology.

The real election question . . .

... is answered by Saint Fulgentius, a 5th-century bishop:

In order to clarify the role of the servants he set at the head of his people, the Lord spoke this word related by the Gospel: «Who, then is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so»... If we should be wondering in what that food allowance consists, Saint Paul gives us the answer; it is «the measure of faith that God has apportioned» (Rom 12,3). What Christ called an allowance of food, Paul termed a measure of faith to teach us that there is no other spiritual food than the mystery of Christian faith. We give you this allowance of food in the Lord's name every time we speak to you according to the rule of the true faith, illumined by the spiritual gift of grace. As for that allowance, you receive it at the hands of the Lord's stewards each time you hear the word of truth from the mouth of God's servants.

An amazing metaphor . . .

. . . from a talk given last weekend by Archbishop Chaput of Denver. This is political theory at its simplest and clearest:

The ''separation of Church and state'' does not mean - and it can never mean - separating our Catholic faith from our public witness, our political choices and our political actions. That kind of separation would require Christians to deny who we are; to repudiate Jesus when he commands us to be ''leaven in the world'' and to ''make disciples of all nations.'' That kind of separation steals the moral content of a society. It's the equivalent of telling a married man that he can't act married in public. Of course, he can certainly do that, but he won't stay married for long.

A Saturday wrap-up on the economic earthquake

The heads of the EU's four biggest economies - Britain, France, Germany and Italy - held a first crisis meeting last week but were split over the need for a common plan.

It doesn't appear that unified solutions are going to happen quickly, in spite of the hopes of our president and our nation. The Europeans, when it comes down to the real issues--like their money and their long-entrenched banking institutions, won't be a union. They agree on ideology, however:

In the financial district of London, the pubs of Dublin, and on the campuses of Holland, people are citing reckless lending in the US mortgage market, unbridled American consumption, and a lack of government oversight for the financial meltdown that has engulfed Europe. Many dismiss the US bailout as an unwise and hypocritical move that rewards the greedy bankers who caused the crisis and breaches the ideals of the country that pioneered market-driven capitalism.

And it isn't like the finance ministers who met today are doing nothing. Fox News reports this morning that there are some agreements in the works. The "fiddling and diddling," to quote the great Johnny Most, may not be bad thing. The US Fed's current solutions may be starting to kick into gear, as Friday's stock market performance appeared to exemplify. It threatened early in the day to blow downward through the 8000 mark, and did, but pulled up well above the 7000. It wobbled, teetered, steadied itself, and the buyers stepped in at the very end of the day. The pattern was a reverse image of the previous days of the week. One day does not a bottom make for the economy, but I think the weekend will allow a breather, allow folks to reassess, allow the credit markets to absorb the impacts of the Federal rescue plan, allow some of that money to start flowing, and allow some of the stalled businesses to resume operations.

Some problems remain:

• Folks have been saying for a long time that the housing, automobile and speculative financial markets and the trading economy have been overvalued. We don't know if all of the bad trading has washed out of the system. Folks won't invest until there is some assurance about that. Buyers won't buy until there is money available and they feel some confidence about the future (see next point).
  
• There are fears of hyperinflation. There need to be some answers about the real and hidden tax impacts of the rescue spending.
• It appears there are some corrupt financial barons (I'm shocked--shocked!) Some prophylactic prosecutions are in order. (Round up the usual suspects!) This would not be an empty gesture. There needs to be a statement by the country that more is expected from those who would be allowed to manage money for all of us.
• I know that many will say that this horse is long gone from the barn, but we still have to know where to stop the market involvement and regulation. There's now a real danger of "creeping socialism." The federal government should be careful. Having acted decisively, there is now a need for circumspection, restraint, and public education. (Let's be careful out there!)
  
• Neither of the presidential candidates knows what he is talking about. They're flailing around to see what voters will respond to. Give me the person who will actually tell the truth in a reasoned way and commit to market recovery. The more of this the markets do on their own steam, the sounder any recovery will be. (I have a feeling this narrows the possibilities....)
  

Gloomy Gus

Just for the record: It looks like Gustav's forecast track is flattening out to a more East/West plotting, with a slightly more leftward arc on the map. Maybe there was some wisdom to the golden triangle counties' evacuation order. Even here around Houston, we probably need to keep our guard up.

Eureka, I guess

It appears that the New York Times, ever at the cutting edge, has discovered the existence of political blogs at the party conventions. If they had noticed this four years ago, or even some months ago when credentials were being considered by the parties, it might be worth something. However, today it's as fresh as that greenish crust of bread at the back of the bin.

Just for grins, see it now: "The Year of the Political Blogger."

Obama, Obama, Obama...

I'd like to think that there might be some level of integrity to Senator Obama's big-issue positions coming out of his trip overseas. But: he's gone from a fairly clear and consistent progressivism to ... what?

• On Iraq, he's developing a middle-of-the-road position not far from John McCain's. Let's start pulling out the troops, but only as "conditions on the ground" permit; a baseline force will remain; the Surge wasn't a success, but conditions are much better.
• On Afghanistan, he's a hawk because that's the real war on terrorism; we need a Surge there; we have to pay attention to that war, not be distracted, and win it.
• On the Middle East, who knows? An undivided Jerusalem must be Israel's capital. A partitioned Jerusalem may be the Palestinian capital. We should negotiate and use a multilateral approach on Iran (which is what is happening already) but under NO circumstances should they be allowed to have nukes.
• On the domestic side, he's showing similar chameleon-like tendencies on energy, the economy, the banking/mortgage bail-outs, health care, and other matters. We're seeing this taking shape now.

I know that Senator McCain is not the paragon of ideological linearity, but there is a general consistency to his overall positions. This seems to me to be respectable. What Obama is doing is pandering, and one is certainly given to doubt the sincerity of anything he says at this point.

For the Summer I Class

Here are the notes, as we march through them in class:

Intro/Chapter 1--

http://docs.google.com/Present?docid=df8n9qbt_169cv9vtf2n

Chapter 2--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_178c39jbbnk

Chapter 3--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_184cxfcv8dx

Chapter 4--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_185hpg873fk

Chapter 5--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_186c3b7pbcq

Chapter 6--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_187cs56vdgf

Chapter 7--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_195ghn42mdv

Chapter 8--

http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df8n9qbt_209tr5wssfd

Mortality

I've attended three funerals in the last month, all for folks who were not far from my age. The passing of the first was sudden, but not a big surprise: a retired educator who had defeated cancer, was being treated for a series of lesser illnesses, and died of complications from that treatment. He led an educator's life, was a person of service, and the gratitude and good memories were abundant at the rites and after. The second funeral was for a former teacher who had left the profession to take over a private business and do some writing, which she did very successfully. She died very suddenly of a heart attack--no warnings to friends or family. Because of the very special, charitable quality of her life, the service had a lightness and radiance that all seemed to feel. The reception following had the quality of a reunion of prodigals "coming home." Conversations left hanging twenty years ago were resumed without pause. The third demise was of an acquaintance who died under difficult and uncertain circumstances. The funeral appeared strained, almost surreal for the community that was present. I wasn't able to attend the reception, but sensed that the assembly was somewhat uneasy about the whole business. We do prepare our passing by our living.

News Flash: Radicals favor Republicans

Tapes from UBL, the Hezbollah takeover in Lebanon, and more unease from the IAEA about Iran's pre-nuclear mischief all seem to hint that the Al Qaeda and other radicals really do want to provoke the country into a conservative vote in the fall. You would think that these folks would lie low and play very politely in order to cast the impression that their intentions really are peaceful. After all, who wants to believe that they're really bullies?

Either that, or they can't wait.

Pure Propaganda

No wonder the daily papers are having trouble. That this disinformation should pass an editorial board is jaw-dropping:

Palestinians marked the 60th anniversary of their uprooting with rallies, sirens and black balloons today -- an annual ritual made even darker this year by crippling internal divisions and diminishing independence hopes.

... Today's events commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who either fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Palestinians call it their "nakba," Arabic for catastrophe.

The only catastrophe here is this version of events. By the way: who initiated hostilities?

24 hours of interesting developments

As some members of the media have noticed, Senator Obama may be wearing the victor's mantle, but he's having a difficult time holding up his trousers. The West Virginia result is embarrassing--it would have to be to have him stoop to the ploy of soliciting and announcing Senator Edwards' endorsement. By demeanor and pattern of choices, Obama appears far more desperate than Senator Clinton does.

There is still an endgame waiting to be played out here, and while the result appears to be inevitable, I have a feeling that there may be some unpredictability left in this complex and apparently unstable system.

An observation

Politics is the nervous dance between ideology and conscience.

Is Mrs. Clinton finished?

See here. The answer is No. She should (and will, I believe) take her basket (a rather large one) of voters and delegates to the convention and insist on working out a political solution for ending the race formally before a floor fight takes place. With the close margins now existing, she can't be said to have no leverage at all. The Democrats can't afford the luxury of a wrenching fight for the ultimate control of the party, even though that might be a valuable prophylaxis in the long run. They see themselves in a must-win situation, and they want a winning unification ticket in place for the fall. A unilateral withdrawal would not bring this about--it's an acknowledgement of defeat, and with defeat comes the next round of treachery, perfidy, back-stabbing, etc. Withdrawal doesn't push the party's core toward an acceptable middle. Hard-edged negotiation does. I don't see that happening until all the primaries are over. They will be in less than a month, without an official victor. The preliminary rules meetings take place in early June. We'll be able to tell then what the weather will be in Denver.

Well, the results are in.

Obama by a goodly margin in North Carolina, Clinton by a hair in Indiana. I think they both underperformed in their "favored" situations. Perhaps even among Democrats each has a "ceiling." Nothing about yesterday, except for Obama's incremental advance toward nomination, should be satisfying for the Democrat inner circles.

Worth studying: Did Operation Chaos really make the difference? It may not have last time, but the likelihood of an altered outcome in Indiana seems plausible prima facie. Again, this is serious mischief. I'm not sure it helps the Republicans in the fall. At this point they must surely suspect that there might be a law of diminishing returns in sway as the campaign comes closer to resolution. Does keeping these candidates on the front burner of the news help the cause of John McCain in the fall? On the other hand, these two candidates are not at their best as they continue to bicker. The case might be made that the electorate will be so jaded by this uglier sort of campaign that they will just stay home from the general election. Surely Clinton's and Obama's camps will consider this sort of hypothetical situation.

Secondary guesses on the primary

Fox has a pretty steady 53-54% share running for Hilary with 35% of precincts reporting. If that holds, then she's somewhat undershot the punditry's bar for her. Now she and her folks will have to blab it up as a triumph of epic proportions. In fact, they already are. The race goes on. And Barone is now saying that this will give her a very slight lead in total popular vote--a significant benchmark in itself, if you play the right games with Florida/Michigan.

National Review's eye on the exit polls has her getting a 10% bump from cross-registering Republicans. I'd like to see some more corroboration of this, but if true does it mean Ms. Clinton owes her win to Operation Chaos? That's world-class mischief....

Also, saw a pointer to this article on McCain's polling "ceiling" in The Atlantic. I'm not sure that 45% is a ceiling, considering the early date, his "background" status right now, and the unpredictability of independent voting pending the lack of a final Democrat candidate. One might be able to make a case that it's more of a floor than a ceiling. It's just too early.

The team we're supposed to see

Today's 6-4 victory displayed the Astros team we're supposed to see: contributions from hitters up and down, good selectivity by the hitters, getting men on base (Matsui in the 2-spot helps a lot), competitive pitching, and the closer, Val Verde, in something resembling closer form.

Do that again.

Ba-racky vs. Apollo Clinton

Click the title to view this little spoof. No further comment.

Two ugly losses for the Astros

Scores: 10-2 and 11-5. Just when you think something might come together for the local nine, it gets murky. Backe and Sampson looked like they were serving batting practice, and the fielders looked like they were taking fielding practice. It's not hopeless yet, but the team has to maintain focus.

The Holy Father's visit, so far

As I watch the Liturgy from St. Patrick's, one conclusion for sure: this Pope IS what he says, and seems to be a gentleman of transparency and humility. Highlights:

• This visit is a working visit. All those gaps in the public, televised schedule mean, of course, that a great deal of Church and Church-State business is being transacted. Not that that doesn't go on as a matter of course with such visits, but it seems more so this time. And, there are surprises that confound the secular press: the visit with the abuse victims.
• With liturgies at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and St. Patrick's Cathedral, we're also reminded that the visit is to the historic Catholic Church in the United States as well as today's faith family. We have some pretty worship spaces here, new and older.
  
• In the UN address: It is not fitting that a believer should set aside religious conviction in order to participate in the full exercise of citizenship. A truthful, pointed and courageous note in a fascinating exposition of natural right and natural law. He didn't hide his learning here, but gave us a peek into the brilliance of his scholarly insight.
  
• The homily at St. Patrick's: The concluding point was that the clergy and faithful should be models of humility, leaders in resolving and setting aside all ancient sources of conflict. There was something beautiful here. Perhaps those dioceses in the decaying Northeast will find hope and renewal. The Church as a society must rebuild from the ground up in many of these areas.
  
• The Liturgy at Nationals' Stadium: There was an intimacy about it, highlighted by the closeness allowed the faithful as the Holy Father walked the last leg of the processional and recessional parades. He also appears to have a great serenity at these moments, something which requires trust, fearlessness and a love of the faithful.
• A little bit of Latin and "romanism," but graceful and not over-bearing. I think the point is to give a model for the future, and an invitation. There are those who expected something more heavy-handed in this regard. Befitting the environment, there was some incredible classical hymnody and sacred music at St. Pat's.
• Pope Benedict seems to be more at ease as the journey continues. He is a young 81 years old.
  
• The multi-dimensional, multi-faceted complexity of the Catholic Church in this country is on display, reflecting and even providing a paradigm for the carrying forward of the American experiment. The Holy Father did say something about this in the St. Pat's homily. A harmony that is forged out of the creative tension of diverse elements and interests will be better and stronger in the long run.
• Speaking of unity and disunity, his point about the post-Vatican II Church was interesting. I don't recall this tone from anyone else, even John Paul. Both Wojtyla and Ratzinger were very involved in the Council. (There is available on the internet a photo of Joseph Ratzinger and Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner taken at the time of the Council. They're both in secular business suits.) They seem to have different takes on it. Benedict is certainly correct at least in this: it remains a strong and urgent need to find the deeper unity at the heart of the Council's inspired documents, and build from there. As with the facing of the abuse crisis, his honest acknowledgment of the present situation clears the way for an integral, rather than formal, collegiality in the Church. There are seeds for the future here.
• On the point of renewal: the older nuns present are the Vatican II sisters, in their secular "American" dress and intense address to the world; the younger nuns are the ones in traditional habits, serene, joyful and multicultural, yet very purposeful in the exercise of their communities' charisms.
  
• "My answer to all you have given me in this visit is my blessing at the end of the Holy Mass."
• Father Neuhaus: "a real pastoral intervention."
  

"We must move forward together in hope."

Please, please, stop talking about religion.

Goodness. The more these politicians talk about their faith--or anyone else's, for that matter--the deeper the logical, contextual and cultural holes they dig themselves into. It's certainly OK for a candidate to have or not to have an articulate personal faith, but to prate about some religious or moral principles that neither they nor their party currently finds to be anywhere near their core ideology, is just, as the younger folks say, lame. They deserve all the grief they get when they say things that turn out to be completely odious as they pander to whichever group they think is listening at the moment. It would be nice to have time--perhaps before November--to parse some of their current position statements.

By the way, for some competent talk about faith issues and moral principles, follow what Pope Benedict says this week. That's probably not a fair comparison to everyday political discourse, but why not study the best and work to model our principles on that. At least, no one will EVER accuse Benedict XVI of pandering to the audience of the day.

The Veils Are Dropping

One thing about Mr. Obama: his philosophical underpinnings are never far from the surface. Nothing esoteric here--

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And it's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

It appears that religion, respect for the second amendment, and the law of nations are just outdated prejudices, equivalent to racial and ethnic hatred. No cause to take back what I said in mid-February about one of Mrs. O's speeches: "soulless Marxist rhetoric." Save ALL of this for the fall, assuming his nomination.

The Astros' New Beginning...

...again.

Pleasant surprises:
**Tejada's fielding;
**Wandy's good game tonight;
**The starting pitching overall;
**Towles' fielding and hitting;
**Bourn's fielding, speed and savvy.

Concerns:
**Chemistry with Coop;
**Roy O.--what's wrong?
**Relief pitching.

"Nothing is happening as planned."

The words of Olympian Stephane Diagana, one of the torchbearers for the 2008 Olympic torch as it was carried through the streets of Paris. It was apparently more of a daylong scuffle, as protesters of China's violent abuse of freedom-minded Tibetans impeded the progress of the parade and tried to make the point that China's hypocrisy in this matter merited a serious re-thinking of how the world's nations will approach their participation in this summer's Games. Now we're beginning to hear Olympic movement officials speak about their hesitations--at least those concerning the long procession of the Torch around the world. All of this encourages the Tibetans and confounds and embarrasses the Chinese tyrants.

Just saving this... but you're welcome to read

An article by David Gelernter on the future of cyberinfrastructure. It's pretty radical but may have some prescient items. You'll have to scroll down and click to go to the article, then scroll down again to the "Manifesto" itself.

Choosing boys over girls

Jeff Jacoby's analysis in today's Boston Globe is right on the mark, and has (as Secretary of State Kissinger once said) the added benefit of being true--based on some factual study. It is now a given that women around the world are using abortion--sometimes in response to government mandates to limit family size--to gender-select their children. However, they choose boys instead of girls with statistically significant regularity. I don't know the demographic mechanics of this, but it sounds like a disaster in the making. Jacoby worries that American women may be doing the same. I'm sure it proves nothing one way or the other, but I have known more than one family over the years whose sole reason for having that second, third or later child was that the earlier children were all girls.

I'll simply say that humankind's deeper moral intuitions, around which later codes of law are constructed, may embody serious truths. And truths will defeat ideology every time, in the long run. Facts are what remain, no matter how inconvenient they may seem to one's own prejudices or to the prevailing winds of opinion.

Another perhaps random thought: when I was young, the older ladies would say, upon hearing that so-and-so had had a male child, that it seemed there had been a lot of boys born lately. At that point, someone would take the cue and chime in: "Well, it looks like there's going to be a war." Is a tale told by old wives necessarily an old wives' tale?

Asian Cultures Reading Project and List

OK, here's the reading list. Plenty of selection, all readable. Follow your interests. I physically saw a good number of these at Barnes & Noble, but you can get them online and probably at other places, too. The links are to Amazon, where you can find reviews, but use your own judgment about where to buy these.

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriguez and Kristin Ohlson (Paperback - Dec 18, 2007)

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Hardcover - May 22, 2007)

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Paperback - Jan 30, 2007)

Staircase of a Thousand Steps by Masha Hamilton (Paperback - May 7, 2002)

Snakes and Ladders by Gita Mehta (Paperback - April 13, 1998)

Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman (Paperback - Oct 12, 1987)

Red China Blues: My Long March From Mao to Now by Jan Wong (Paperback - May 19, 1997)

The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family by Duong Van Mai Elliott (Paperback - April 20, 2000)

Daughters of the River Huong by Uyen Nicole Duong (Paperback - Aug 1, 2005)

The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan by Eiko Ikegami (Paperback - Mar 25, 1997)

Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World (California Studies in Food and Culture, 11) by Theodore C. Bestor (Paperback - Jul 12, 2004)

The Secrets of Mariko: A Year in the Life of a Japanese Woman and Her Family by Elisabeth Bumiller (Paperback - Oct 29, 1996)

City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi by William Dalrymple (Paperback - Mar 25, 2003)

As I mentioned in class, I'll have the requirements for the written paper available for you when we meet on the 24th.

P.S.--
Meanwhile, I ran across this article in Friday's Houston Chronicle about new demonstrations and a harsh Chinese crackdown in Tibet. There are some interesting comments following the article, too. There have been some updates as of Saturday, 3/15--at least 10 dead, according to the Chinese (which probably translates to 1000 in reality).

Gingrich on Obama's message

Apparently Newt commented this week on Obama's speech. What he says is significant and should be taken seriously by the Republicans, regardless of who is put forward as the Democrat nominee.

Thinking outside the box...

... that the Democrats have put themselves in. Both candidates are working very hard to make themselves unacceptable to the general electorate and--if that's possible--to their party. I wonder which enterprising and nervy party elder will be willing to propose a short-circuit to the system, and call for a third candidate to step in to carry the party banner to the convention and into the fall campaign. I believe that there may be good arguments to be made along these lines, and that it can be done with enough transparency so that it does not have the complete "smoke-filled room" appearance. Surely there are folks already whispering this possibility about...?



UPDATE [3/28]: How odd--
Since I posted that remark on the 18th, all of a sudden there's mention in the blogs and on a couple of the radio shows of the possibility of a compromise involving the former Vice-President. That would be Al Gore. He certainly would be as formidable a candidate as the two epigones now in contention.

Truth is important

The one thing we find bothersome about Pastor Wright's positions on "the government's" historic treatment of African-Americans is not their anger. There is a right to anger, to indignation, and to a sense of radical urgency. These feelings are a legitimate patrimony of those whose history is defined by such a dreadful historical injustice as chattel slavery, forced dislocation and de facto genocide. I think this point has not been appreciated in the media commentary. Many seem to find the anger offensive, in itself. I don't have a problem with the anger. I do question the easy acceptance of the main points of the "radical mythology" whose platform we've heard before: the HIV/AIDS conspiracy; the 9-11 plot that only represents (in self-contradiction) the "chickens come home to roost," and so on. I think Mr. Obama gave some recognition to this problem in his speech. There is a duty to truth: this is one thing that is present above all in the public testimonies of Dr. King. Read a document like the Letter from Birmingham's Jail, or the "Dream" speech. The truthfulness and clarity of thought are what render these great documents. Like Dr. King, Mr. Obama is right that African-American anger and "white fear" must be dealt with in serious dialogue. I think this must be granted.

The heart of the Speech

The speech is here.

It's worth reading.

As usual, when Mr. Obama has time to prepare, his rhetoric is political rhetoric at a level that is higher than that to which we are accustomed. When he thinks, he really thinks, and he has a point of view that is significantly his own and not boilerplate partisan verbiage. He:

• addresses the problem of his relationship with Rev. Wright,
• accepts it as a problem,
• addresses why in his view it is a problem, artfully blaming the critics and the press,
• frankly discusses important negatives in the minister's ideology (which he appears to consider to be true negatives),
• displays loyalty to his own past, which includes a personal relationship with the minister that he is not willing to sacrifice (--this is not a bad trait, in general--),
• makes an effort to use that unique past to show how he understands the common American experience of racial discomfort,
• and makes his case about how this "universal" experience can move the country forward on these issues and their economic consequences.

While it's apparent that many commentators will still carp at this relationship with the radical minister, he's made an attempt to go over their heads to speak to Americans heart-to-heart, and with a degree of intelligent common sense. If he ends up as the nominee for the Democrats, then the race in the fall will truly be formidable, because of the way he can perform when the chips are down.

None of the above is meant to be construed as an endorsement. One would still have to buy the collectivist program of his party--to paraphrase the movie: "he's a Democrat like any other, only more so." One would also have to overlook several very clever rhetorical moments that again show how so many contemporary progressives build their case on a deep moral-equivalence argument. This the Republicans will have to address and expose in the fall.

"An entire orchard..."

Professor Hanson says that Mr. Obama's rebuttal of the newer news coverage of Rev. Wright's views about America, its corporate morality, its culture and its domestic and foreign policies as picking and choosing isolated, unrepresentative comments out of their homiletical context, is disingenous at best. Far from "cherry-picking," Hanson suggests that the media stumbled into "an entire orchard." Sadly, he's probably right. And the minister is probably not alone in his extremism. We know that the press have covered extreme fundamentalists of the general conservative bent who have bizarre views, too. The problem is that Mr. Obama tolerated a long exposure to these views and now is attempting a very inconsistent, self-contradictory denial of his awareness of these views. He did NOT look very good in the interview played on Fox News this morning. Today's New York Times has a long news piece covering the issue, too. I'd say Mr. Obama has to realize that his candidacy is now severely compromised. I'm a little sad, too, because he represented a new voice for the Democrats--something other than the same tired way of defending their party's positions, such as those are.

Apparently, a satisfied customer....

The reporting rules that banks have to live by betrayed him, mainly because he was a repeat customer. He must live with his conscience, his family, and his duty to do what is right by the people of New York. These all demand he resign. It's NOT a "private matter," as he said at his press conference--I'm not sure it would be even if no laws were broken. That sanctimonious attitude that he's always projected is now completely transparent. What we see through the veil ain't pretty.

Deepak Chopra

Dr. Chopra suggests three Christs: historical, theological, cosmological. There isn't a lot of detail in the article, but certainly the idea is not new. From Origen and other early scholars to Teilhard de Chardin, the sense of a cosmic, spiritual, reality of Christ as the Savior/Reconciler of all things has been present. It's not only Pauline, but fully a part of mainstream Christianity. Now the question is whether the presence of the cosmic Christ is recovered within the Christian and Catholic core beliefs or becomes the center of another modern attempt to claim a valid gnosticism.

The Monster vs. The Starr

Fox News is reporting that Mr. Bill is waltzing through Mississippi, saying that a Hillary-Barack ticket (in that order, we imagine) would be "unstoppable." That's wonderful! I'm sure the The Starr's camp is thrilled. At this point, the best assessment of anything Bubba says is that the anxiety and desperation are transparent. If the Monster camp were feeling any sort of assurance about an eventual victory, they'd be acting like the cat that ate the canary, and playing a very coy game. Now, they're closer to mine canaries, sensing real danger. This match is getting more desperate, and the stresses are showing on both sides.

Endgame: for the remaining primaries, it's all about who will blink first. Mistakes, ever more likely with the stresses, could be fatal. The Starr must play smart, hold serve firmly in Wyoming and Mississippi, and organize like a maniac in Pennsylvania. Like it did in Ohio, the race depends on the turnout of his more youthful minions, who somewhat failed him in Ohio, compared to The Monster's blue haired matrons of doom.

[By the way: speaking of coquettish fancies, can anyone explain what, if any, power John Edwards still holds over his delegates? Does their release or relegation have to wait for the convention, or can he assign them at any time? How are they bound?]

Comments

Hewitt had audio of one of Michelle Obama's recent stump speeches. Save that for the fall; that soulless Marxist rhetoric will be a perfect counterpoint to almost anything Mrs. McCain will say.

It appears that Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua has endorsed Mr. Obama. Save that for the fall, too.

I don't blame Rep. Boehner for taking his team from the field over the FISA vote in the House. Even reasonable Democrats, I'd imagine, can't abide what their leaders are up to.

The Hamas State of Mind

See Michael Medved's comment on last week's suicide bombing in Israel. I do not understand why Palestinians will not denounce Hamas' taking credit for this unspeakable act, unless any Palestinians who would denounce the barbarism have already washed their hands of the chaos or simply left the house of Palestine. Surely the opinion is not unanimous, even though Hamas doctrine seems to think so.

And More...

Listening to the President on Fox Sunday this morning, and thinking back on HIS campaign and track record, the only conclusion to be drawn is that Dubya has been as much a maverick as is (pejoratively) John McCain. I believe that the President will strongly support the nominee as the campaign works into more official stages, especially when we know the Democrat nominee. Practical political success, leadership and statesmanship always create the need for an acknowledgement of history as opposed to an adherence, however heartfelt, to a formal political creed. Some polls of Catholics and Evangelicals cited in the past week showed an alarming fluidity on issues. I think "the people" are much more practical than the hard-core activists will let on. Edicts like the classic "No New Taxes" are deadly in politics. It wasn't that GHWB reached a compromise on taxes it was that the polemics were inconsistent with the reality. If the hard-liners insist on purity, they will get what they deserve, and they WILL NOT LIKE IT.

By the same set of tokens, the strategy for one such as McCain in the general election will be to paint either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama as doctrinaire and inflexible.

Bulletin: Just saw that John Edwards is in "pasha mode" receiving honored guests bearing gifts. Apparently Mrs. C and Mr. O have come calling. Stay tuned.

Post Super-Tuesday

Highlights:

• McCain holding serve;
• Romney's graceful and generous exit;
• McCain's very solid response at CPAC;
• Obama's speeches (pick one);
  
• Hilary and Obama find themselves in the real race.

It appears we know the Republican nominee. He's got to get all the factions and their technicians together on the same page, build a Republican coalition and find a party-crossing message, and work like crazy until November.

The Democrat contest is boiling down to who will blink first--or make the first big mistake--and what the price will be. This is getting good.

Evictions

With Giuliani and Edwards out of their races, we're about to get down to basics. This is now the opportunity for the remaining folk, with endorsements and increased attention, to begin to act like grown-ups--in other words, presidential. Romney, McCain, Obama and Clinton now need to start leading their causes rather than assassinating their opposition. If they can't show some kind of quality of public spirit and attention to issues, they don't deserve even one vote.

I'm still a little puzzled by Romney's lack of performance. I think his lack of fire and perceived aloofness are the causes, along with the splintering of mainstream conservatism, but I'm not ruling out a creeping, smarmy anti-Mormonism. Religious prejudice has not expired. It's a shame.

More of the Wisdom Tradition

Early Christianity maintained an enormous respect for both sacred text and "secular" wisdom, and shunned mere obedience and legalism for their own sake. Hence, it was a simple distinction to recognize the importance of spirit over law. Maximus the Confessor, a 6th-century abbot considers the Divine Wisdom, the Word or Logos:

The lamp placed on the lampstand, of which Scripture speaks, is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father’s true light, who enlightens everyone coming into the world, (Jn1,9). As for the lampstand, it is the holy Church. It is upon her preaching that God’s resplendent Word rests, enlightening men the world over as inhabitants of his house and filling every soul with knowledge of God…The Word has no wish to remain under a bushel; it longs to be set well in view, on the Church’s summit. Concealed beneath the letter of the Law, as under a bushel, the Word would have deprived everyone of eternal light. It would have been unable to grant spiritual contemplation to those who try to disengage themselves from the seduction of the senses, which are subject to illusion and quick to see only material, passing things. But if placed on the lampstand of the Church, that is to say, founded on worship in spirit and truth (Jn 4,24), it enlightens everyone…

For the letter, unless it is understood according to the spirit, has only a material and limited value; of itself, it does not allow the mind to grasp the import of the written word…So let us not place the lighted lamp, that is to say the Word of God, under the bushel by means of our thoughts and actions. Let us not be guilty of concealing beneath the letter the incomprehensible force of divine Wisdom. Let us rather set the Word on the lampstand of the Church, at the summit of pure contemplation, which causes the light of divine revelation to shine out for everybody.

It's still early, but...

... the loyalists of every stripe ought to be thinking in the longer term. As Mr. Sager and others seem to be hinting, Republicans have to be thinking about the general election as well as the primaries. Candidate McCain and the "conservative factions," well-meaning and passionate about setting direction for the party, have got to consider from this point on how and with whom to best animate the eventual Republican ticket. Fight passionately for your guy while he may still be in the race--at least another week, following Florida--but be ready to hit the ground running to set an ideological agenda that will unify the larger party tent. That may mean that there are one or two issues and attitudes that must be put aside for the greater political good.

Andy and Roger

Madame observed that if Roger had taken Andy's tone of voice, admitted some participation in taking the illicit chemicals, and moved on, Roger might be having a little less negative attention paid to him. She might be right. Is Roger's intransigence and seeming venality due to a profound arrogance or is it that he has truly been wronged by a lying, extortion-seeking former associate? Can the Congressional inquiry or investigative reporting get down to the facts on this? More to come, I guess.

Muslims and Jews

In preparing for the next Asian Cultures class, I took some time to troll the Islamic religious web--not the radicals, but those who seek to educate about mainstream Islam. Almost all include a list of the prophets, up to "the seal of the Prophets," Muhammad (PBUH). It seems that one conclusion is inescapable from the theological standpoint: Muslims need Jews. The Qur'an says so. The radical Islamists must eventually realize this because, ultimately, to seek to destroy the Jews--even the "Zionist entity"--means to seek to cut off some critical parts of heritage, historical memory, and theological foundation.

Today's Primaries

Well, McCain won narrowly in South Carolina. He's getting conservative support and still reaching to the middle ground of the independents, who appear to be showing no timidity in these primaries. Huckabee reaches to the middle to some degree, as well. Why not Romney or Thompson? They split the other 30 percent, presumably the purer economic conservatives, evenly; one will have to leave the race to unify that group, but if support is already moving to McCain then it seems that there is some process of reflection going on with the voters. Now, is that a trend that applies elsewhere?

Here's another thing: I have a feeling that Romney's Mormon faith is a real problem out there--perhaps Republicans are thinking it will be a problem in the general election, or perhaps the evangelicals can't bring themselves to vote for a Mormon. This is interesting.

Lastly, how long will it take for the "true conservative" talk-show dudes to begin to be a little nicer to Senator McCain?

Faith and Citizenship

Archbishop Chaput has a digest of what it appears are his non-negotiables on faith, voting and citizenship from the Church's viewpoint. It's hard to say that he's not "spot-on" with most of this. I'll come back later to some of the individual points, but here are the 10 observations:

Personal witness is always the best proof of what we claim to believe. And this year, like every other year, with or without an election, we need to apply the idea of Catholic witness in a special way to our public life as citizens. We might find it useful to remember 10 simple points as we move toward November.

1. George Orwell said that one of the biggest dangers for modern democratic life is dishonest political language. Dishonest language leads to dishonest politics — which then leads to bad public policy and bad law. So we need to speak and act in a spirit of truth.

2. “Catholic” is a word that has real meaning. We don’t control or invent that meaning as individuals. We inherit it from the Gospel and the experience of the Church over the centuries. We can choose to be something else, but if we choose to call ourselves Catholic, than that word has consequences for what we believe and how we act. We can’t truthfully claim to be Catholic and then act like we’re not.

3. Being a Catholic is a bit like being married. We have a relationship with the Church and with Jesus Christ that’s very similar to being a spouse. And that has consequences. If a man says he loves his wife, his wife will want to see the evidence in his love and fidelity. The same applies to our relationship with God. If we say we’re Catholic, we need to show that by our love for the Church and our fidelity to what she teaches and believes. Otherwise we’re just fooling ourselves, because God certainly won’t be fooled.

4. The Church is not a political organism. She has no interest in partisanship because getting power or running governments is not what she’s about, and the more closely she identifies herself with any single party, the fewer people she can effectively reach.

5. However, Scripture and Catholic teaching do have public consequences because they guide us in how we should act in relation to one another. Loving God requires that we also love the people He created, which means we need to treat them with justice, charity and mercy. Being a Catholic involves solidarity with other people. The Catholic faith has social justice implications — and that means it also has cultural, economic and political implications. The Catholic faith is never primarily about politics; but Catholic social action — including political action — is a natural byproduct of the Church’s moral message. We can’t call ourselves Catholic, and then simply stand by while immigrants get mistreated, or the poor get robbed, or unborn children get killed. The Catholic faith is always personal, but never private. If our faith is real, then it will bear fruit in our public decisions and behaviors, including our political choices.

6. Each of us needs to follow his or her own properly formed conscience. But conscience doesn’t emerge from a vacuum. It’s not a matter of personal opinion or preference. If our conscience has the habit of telling us what we want to hear on difficult issues, then it’s probably badly formed. A healthy conscience is the voice of God’s truth in our hearts, and it should usually make us uncomfortable, because none of us is yet a saint. The way we get a healthy conscience is by submitting it and shaping it to the will of God; and the way we find God’s will is by opening our hearts to the counsel and guidance of the Church that Jesus left us. If we find ourselves disagreeing as Catholics with the Catholic teaching of our Church on a serious matter, it’s probably not the Church that’s wrong. The problem is much more likely with us.

7. But how do we make good political choices when so many different issues are so important and complex? The first principle of Christian social thought is: Don’t deliberately kill the innocent, and don’t collude in allowing somebody else to do it. The right to life is the foundation of every other human right. The reason the abortion issue is so foundational is not because Catholics love little babies — although we certainly do — but because revoking the personhood of unborn children makes every other definition of personhood and human rights politically contingent.

8. So can a Catholic in good conscience support a “pro-choice” candidate? The answer is: I can’t and I won’t. But I do know some serious Catholics — people whom I admire — who will. I think their reasoning is mistaken. But at the very least they do sincerely struggle with the abortion issue, and it causes them real pain. And even more importantly: They don’t keep quiet about it; they don’t give up their efforts to end permissive abortion; they keep lobbying their party and their elected representatives to change their pro-abortion views and protect the unborn. Catholics can support “pro-choice” candidates if they support them despite — not because of — their “pro-choice” views. But they also need a compelling proportionate reason to justify it.

9. What is a “proportionate” reason when it comes to the abortion issue? It’s the kind of reason we will be able to explain, with a clean heart, to the victims of abortion when we meet them face to face in the next life — which we most certainly will. If we’re confident that these victims will accept our motives as something more than an alibi, then we can proceed.

10. Lastly, the heart of truly “faithful” citizenship is this: We’re better citizens when we’re more faithful Catholics. The more authentically Catholic we are in our lives, choices, actions and convictions, the more truly we will contribute to the moral and political life of our nation.

"No Room at the Inn"

From Benedict XVI's homily at Christmas Midnight Mass:

“The time came for Mary to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Lk 2:6f.). These words touch our hearts every time we hear them. This was the moment that the angel had foretold at Nazareth: “you will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Lk 1:31). This was the moment that Israel had been awaiting for centuries, through many dark hours – the moment that all mankind was somehow awaiting, in terms as yet ill-defined: when God would take care of us, when he would step outside his concealment, when the world would be saved and God would renew all things. We can imagine the kind of interior preparation, the kind of love with which Mary approached that hour. The brief phrase: “She wrapped him in swaddling clothes” allows us to glimpse something of the holy joy and the silent zeal of that preparation. The swaddling clothes were ready, so that the child could be given a fitting welcome. Yet there is no room at the inn. In some way, mankind is awaiting God, waiting for him to draw near. But when the moment comes, there is no room for him.

Man is so preoccupied with himself, he has such urgent need of all the space and all the time for his own things, that nothing remains for others – for his neighbour, for the poor, for God. And the richer men become, the more they fill up all the space by themselves. And the less room there is for others....

In the stable at Bethlehem, Heaven and Earth meet. Heaven has come down to Earth. For this reason, a light shines from the stable for all times; for this reason joy is enkindled there; for this reason song is born there.

At the end of our Christmas meditation I should like to quote a remarkable passage from Saint Augustine.Interpreting the invocation in the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in Heaven”, he asks: what is this – Heaven? And where is Heaven? Then comes a surprising response: “… who art in Heaven – that means: in the saints and in the just. Yes, the heavens are the highest bodies in the universe, but they are still bodies, which cannot exist except in a given location. Yet if we believe that God is located in the heavens, meaning in the highest parts of the world, then the birds would be more fortunate than we, since they would live closer to God. Yet it is not written: ‘The Lord is close to those who dwell on the heights or on the mountains’, but rather: ‘the Lord is close to the brokenhearted’ (Ps 34:18[33:19]), an expression which refers to humility. Just as the sinner is called ‘Earth’, so by contrast the just man can be called ‘Heaven’” (Sermo in monte II 5, 17).

Heaven does not belong to the geography of space, but to the geography of the heart. And the heart of God, during the Holy Night, stooped down to the stable: the humility of God is Heaven. And if we approach this humility, then we touch Heaven. Then the Earth too is made new. With the humility of the shepherds, let us set out, during this Holy Night, towards the Child in the stable! Let us touch God’s humility, God’s heart! Then his joy will touch us and will make the world more radiant. Amen

This Pope's "mining" of Scripture and of the Church Fathers for meaning relevant to today's situation continues to awe. "Heaven does not belong to the geography of space, but to the geography of the heart."