Bunk?

Bill Cork blogs yesterday:

Sorry, but I have only pity on people who see the supernatural in distorted reflections like those in a hospital window. Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi! Why aren't these same people flocking to receive the True Miracle, the Body and Blood of Jesus, in the mass each and every day? Why were they not in a procession today, proclaiming this to the world? Why aren't they reading Scripture, where we are certain he may be found?

One may very well have pity on them. I think that may be going too far, though. And I also think it is going to far to imply that they are not faithful Mass goers, do not worship the Lord truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, and do not read the Bible. I don't see that going to visit an alleged miracle precludes one from doing those other things.

I don't know what those people do with the rest of their time; and neither does any other blogger.

But I know what Bill is getting at, and I agree with him. I recall a story about St. John of the Cross. His confreres wanted to go see a famous alleged stigmatist, who was later revealed to be a fraud. They all went, but the saint thought it better to go to the seashore and read the Sacred Scriptures, and that's what he did. And he was the saint among them.

P.S. Bill adds a most appropriate citation of the Spanish Doctor.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 03:58:19 PM
Categorized as Religious.

"A Too-Hot Topic"?

Peter Steinfels writes a remarkable article on the lack of serious public debate about homosexual "marriage", in The New York Times, June 21:

.... Mr. Blankenhorn quickly sketched out arguments for and against. Same-sex marriage would certainly affirm equal dignity for gay men and lesbians, he said. For those who chose to get married, it would convey a sense of being part of an institution encouraging stability and fidelity. If children were involved, it would give their status greater legal recognition and structure.

On the other hand, he said, authorizing same-sex marriage would mean radically redefining a primary social institution. Even more than at present, he said, marriage would be understood as a domestic partnership of two people linked by genital sex rather than as something associated with a "biological bond between parents and children."

"All that gets blown out of the water, or relegated to a secondary level," he said.

What would be the effect? Mr. Blankenhorn was ready to say that he really didn't know, although he did mention problems that might be created for religious groups that publicly declared a position that was seen as legally discriminatory.

By "radically changing an institution that was thought to be larger than the people going through it," he further suggested, you make marriage "whatever people define it as at any given minute."

What clearly bothered him the most was that "we're rushing into this with about 30 seconds of real debate." ....

Much of Professor Browning's project seems to weigh against same-sex marriage, without being entirely or explicitly closed to the possibility, especially if children are involved. In conversation, he warned, "Once you stray too far from the idea that marriage is child-centered, you're going to get into an endless series of contradictions." But he carefully abstained from taking sides in the current legal debate.

No such reticence affected the Southern Baptist Convention at its annual gathering in Phoenix this week. The denomination overwhelmingly reaffirmed its opposition to same-sex marriage, criticized the media for trying "to mainstream homosexual unions in the eyes of our children" and urged new efforts to convert homosexuals from their "lifestyle."

Between that stance and the opposing view that only ignorance and prejudice could spawn doubts about a foreordained movement toward legalizing gay marriage, what chance is there for Mr. Blankenhorn's "hope for a morally and intellectually richer discussion"?

"This is a big change," said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, who spoke of the frustration of people who have concerns but "don't identify with the religious right or as anti-gay."

"There are important things at stake, but enormous reluctance to discuss them," she said. "The forces arrayed against a serious, thoughtful discussion of what it will do to the institution of marriage ——"

She didn't finish the sentence. Perhaps she didn't think it was necessary....

Would I be too cynical if I declared my amazement that this kind of approach to the subject ever appeared in NYT? and declared my prediction that, once the editorial staff hears from certain kinds of activists, such a thing will be even less likely to ever appear again?

Or was this just a case of We published it on Saturday so we could say we published it, but we published it on Saturday so almost nobody would actually read it? Oh, I guess that might be too cynical, too.

(Thanks, David.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 03:43:17 PM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

Church's Stand on Homosexual Marriage

"Where the hell is the outrage?"

A reader writes again:

Still no word from the Vatican. You were correct that the Church does not have to create a position, also they have known for some time that the left was/is planning this since other countries have created a right to homosexual marriage already.

How long before priests' groups begin finding a theology that permits homosexual marriage? "Compassion" and "being welcoming" being their favorite justifications. Gag, gag.

Three percent of the population, notably abnormal, has undermined one of our sacraments. Where the hell is the outrage?

Maybe we have to wait for African and Asian bishops to speak up.

See Re: Homosexual "Marriage".

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 12:55:49 PM
Categorized as Religious.

"Court Dismisses McCorvey's Request to Reopen Roe v. Wade"

As reported by the Associated Press, June 20:

A federal district court has dismissed a request by the former plaintiff known as "Jane Roe" to reconsider the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion 30 years ago.

Norma McCorvey, who joined the anti-abortion fight 10 years ago, filed the "motion for relief from judgment" Tuesday, asking the court to reopen Roe v. Wade and conduct a wide-ranging inquiry into scientific and anecdotal evidence she says shows abortion hurts women.

The court dismissed McCorvey's request late Thursday, saying it wasn't made within a "reasonable time" after the 1973 judgment....

(Thanks, Anna.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 12:48:27 PM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

Re: Bingo! So To Speak

Francis X. Rocca writes about the impending Anglican Schism and the future of Christianity in the Third World, at Spectator, June 20:

.... Following the authorization of same-sex unions, 13 Anglican provinces (or national churches) declared themselves to be in "impaired communion" with the Diocese of Westminster. They were Nigeria, the West Indies, the Southern Cone of South America, Central Africa, Kenya, India, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Uganda, West Africa, the Indian Ocean, Congo and Sudan. Please note, if you haven't already, that all of these churches are in the so-called Third World.

From this group has emerged the most prominent critic of liberal church policy on homosexuality: the head of the Church of Nigeria. Yesterday Archbishop Peter Ankinola told BBC radio that his church might split with the Church of England if the latter goes ahead and consecrates Canon Jeffrey John, a long-time gay rights activist, as the Bishop of Reading.

"We cannot be seen to be doing things clearly outside the boundaries allowable in the Bible," Akinola said. "This is only the beginning. We would sever relationships with anybody, anywhere... anyone who strays over the boundaries we are out with them. It is as simple as that." ....

See Bingo! So To Speak.

(Thanks, Ryan.)

P.S. See also (Australian Anglican) Bishop 'horrified' at gay appointment and Gay bishop dispute divides (Anglican) church.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 12:40:31 PM
Categorized as Religious.

"The Living Wage is Killing Us"

A column by Adam Sparks in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

.... The living-wage movement has been incredibly successful in large part because it is both well organized and well funded by national groups that come into local municipalities, where they hook up with Greens, liberal church groups and local labor unions to overwhelm city councils. The two prime leaders of the movement are the left-of-center Association of Communities Organized to Reform Now (ACORN) and the Service Employees International Union. Why are union dues funding campaigns to ostensibly help nonunion workers? To protect their own jobs.

With budget deficits looming throughout the nation, cities have been contracting out more and more services in order to avoid expense wrought by heavy costs accruing from unionized labor, with both high wages and frequently arcane work procedures and rules. So, the higher the wage competitors have to pay, the less desirable contracting out appears to the municipalities. That's a win for both the unions and coconspiring policy-reform groups.

Living-wage advocates are not interested in hearing about productivity, supply and demand or anything else having to do with economics. They want a strict command-and-control economy and rigid rent, wage and price controls....

An editorial comment at the bottom says Adam Sparks is a San Francisco conservative writer. I wonder how many "liberal writers" are so identified by the editors at SFC.

See also More From the Latest City Journal: Adding a new word to my vocabulary: Marxoid.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 11:07:21 AM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

You Almost Had to See It to Believe It

I was TV channel surfing for a little bit. On FNC, a reporter was interviewing a young Asian woman (a student, I surmise) who is in favor of the University of Michigan's "affirmative action" policy. The reporter (I forget his name) asked her how it could not be racism if race is taken into account. The woman (I forget her name) replied along these lines: taking race into account is one way of taking into account one's life experiences.

One's life experiences are determined by, or indicated by, one's race? One could hardly concoct a more racist notion. And that is how the woman was trying to explain that taking race into account is not racism.

Like I said, you almost had to see it to believe it.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 09:43:21 AM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

Whiteness Studies

You have probably already read about this article in Friday's WaPo:

Naomi Cairns was among the leaders in the privilege walk, and she wasn't happy about it.

The exercise, which recently involved Cairns and her classmates in a course at the University of Massachusetts, had two simple rules: When the moderator read a statement that applied to you, you stepped forward; if it didn't, you stepped back. After the moderator asked if you were certain you could get a bank loan whenever you wanted, Cairns thought, "Oh my God, here we go again," and took yet another step forward.

"You looked behind you and became really uncomfortable," said Cairns, a 24-year-old junior who stood at the front of the classroom with other white students. Asian and black students she admired were near the back. "We all started together," she said, "and now were so separated." ....

Last time I checked, I'm still white. I could not now, and never would have been able to, honestly take a step forward if that signified that I knew I could get a loan whenever I applied. Naomi must come from the other side of the tracks.

Esquire has a nice blog on this article, but Fred Reed has perhaps the definitive response in his column today.

P.S. Justin Katz chimes in, too.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 08:46:19 AM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.

"Those Pagan Idolatrous Catholics"?

A most worthy blog from a Quaker responding to a fundamentalist anti-Catholic's ridiculous charges against the Catholic Church:

.... MacSwift argues that Catholicism has mingled paganism since the time of Constantine, that one of the key signs of it is the Catholic view of the Eucharist, and that, rather than following their pagan idol-worshipping views of the Eucharist, Catholics should turn to the Bible alone (where, evidently, they would learn that the bread and wine are purely symbols). I have three problems with this line of argument: first, MacSwift, being weak in his knowledge of church history, misunderstands how the change in the legal status of Christianity under Constantine did and did not change the church. Second, MacSwift seems to me to be following a simplistic version of sola scriptura which is unlikely to reflect how God has actually guided the church. And third, I think that the case for the Eucharist being pagan idol worship is considerably weaker than MacSwift would like to believe....

(Thanks, Esquire.)

P.S. See also this hideous letter blogged today by Patrick Madrid at Envoy Encore.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 08:26:20 AM
Categorized as Religious.

Re: More Photography at Ohiopyle

Saturday, it rained all day. :-( Yesterday, though, was warm and sunny. :-) I hadn't seen the sun the previous times I've been there this year, so I didn't quite realize just how gorgeous it is on the river.

I decided to tell the boss that I am really not ready to be out there photographing by myself yet. It's not easy: light conditions change continually, boats come by fast or slow, singly or in groups, and I don't have enough theory or experience to be able to do it well. Yet. He said it may be a problem getting somebody to go out there with me, and he'll let me know when he can arrange it.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/23/03 07:41:22 AM
Categorized as Other.