Pope John Paul the Great, RIP

Karol Józef Wojtyła, May 18, 1920 — April 2, 2005.

The bell in St. Peter's Square is being tolled even now, the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday.

.... Et dixit mihi: "Sufficit tibi gratia mea, nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur". Libentissime igitur potius gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis, ut inhabitet in me virtus Christi.... Ego autem libentissime impendam et superimpendar ipse pro animabus vestris.... (Nova Vulgata, Ad Corinthios Epistula II Sancti Pauli Apostoli 12:9,15a)

.... But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.... I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your sakes.... (New American Bible, 2 Corinthians 12:9,15)

Prayers for a Deceased Pope

Roman Missal

God our Father, you reward all who believe in you. May your servant, N., our Pope, vicar of Peter, and shepherd of your Church, who faithfully administered the mysteries of your forgiveness and love on earth, rejoice with you for ever in heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Father, in your wise and loving care you made your servant, N., Pope and teacher of all your Church. He did the work of Christ on earth. May your Son now welcome him to eternal glory, where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Father, eternal shepherd, hear the prayers of your people for your servant, N., who governed the Church with love. In your loving mercy bring him, with the flock entrusted to his care, to the reward you have promised your faithful servants. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Order of Christian Funerals

O God, from whom the just receive an unfailing reward, grant that your servant N., our Pope, whom you made vicar of Peter and shepherd of your Church, may rejoice for ever in the vision of your glory, for he was a faithful steward here on earth of the mysteries of your forgiveness and grace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

P.S. G. Thomas Fitzpatrick has posted texts from the traditional Office of the Dead: Vespers through Lauds.

Here is the statement by President George W. Bush:

Laura and I join people across the Earth in mourning the passing of Pope John Paul II. The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd, the world has lost a champion of human freedom, and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home.

Pope John Paul II left the throne of St. Peter in the same way he ascended to it — as a witness to the dignity of human life. In his native Poland, that witness launched a democratic revolution that swept Eastern Europe and changed the course of history. Throughout the West, John Paul's witness reminded us of our obligation to build a culture of life in which the strong protect the weak. And during the Pope's final years, his witness was made even more powerful by his daily courage in the face of illness and great suffering.

President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush walk into the Cross Hall prior to the President giving remarks on the death of Pope John Paul II at the White House on Saturday April 2, 2005. White House photo by Paul Morse All Popes belong to the world, but Americans had special reason to love the man from Krakow. In his visits to our country, the Pope spoke of our "providential" Constitution, the self-evident truths about human dignity in our Declaration, and the "blessings of liberty" that follow from them. It is these truths, he said, that have led people all over the world to look to America with hope and respect.

Pope John Paul II was, himself, an inspiration to millions of Americans, and to so many more throughout the world. We will always remember the humble, wise and fearless priest who became one of history's great moral leaders. We're grateful to God for sending such a man, a son of Poland, who became the Bishop of Rome, and a hero for the ages.

The president also ordered the American flag to be flown at half staff through the day of the pope's burial:

As a mark of respect for His Holiness Pope John Paul II, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half staff at the White House and on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset on the day of his interment. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half staff for the same period at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 04/02/05 03:35:47 PM
Categorized as Pope John Paul the Great & Religious.

Blogworthies LX

Because The Blog from the Core simply can't cover everything.

Noteworthy entries @ little green footballs, Inkwell, Anchor Rising, Power Line (twice), Idle Mendacity, Two Sleepy Mommies, The QandO Blog, ut unum sint, Michelle Malkin, JunkYardBlog, The Anchoress, Summa Mamas, Insight Scoop, Discriminations, Eutychus Fell: Becoming Catholic, Marine Corps Moms, and Canis Iratus.

Ward Churchill Is Not Alone @ little green footballs:

Ladies and lizards (and lizards who are ladies), I’d like to introduce you to associate professor at North Carolina Wesleyan, Jane T. Christensen....

Here is her faculty web page, proudly reeking of antisemitism and conspiracy mania.

Here is the course she’s teaching for the Spring 2005 semester: (POL 495) 911 The Road to Tyranny....

Terri Schiavo and the Feminist Elite @ Inkwell:

As readers of this blog know, the IWF has no official position on the "right to die" a la Terri Schiavo. If someone wants to write a living will indicating a desire to undergo a prolonged and gruesome death by starvation and dehydration for the crime of being mentally disabled although physically healthy, we consider that decision to be outside our purview of women’s issues. (Of course, I can’t help noting that Terri, now [Thu. Mar. 31] in her 14th day without food or water, is putting up one heck of a fight against the Grim Reaper for someone who’s been described by many as having "died 15 years ago.") ....

Limited Government to Protect Equal Rights @ Anchor Rising:

When Mac Owens first signed on as a contributor to Anchor Rising, he sent me a speech that he had given on February 23, 2002, at the North Kingston Town Committee's Annual Lincoln Dinner. The current collection of issues, both nationally and in Rhode Island, makes it particularly appropriate for posting now. (I'm told, by the way, that Lincoln Chafee, in attendance, blushed when Owens suggested that Republicans should aspire to be more than merely pale imitations of the Democrats.) ....

Is the Post Ducking Responsibility? @ Power Line:

We have written extensively about the fake "talking points memo" on the Schaivo case that ABC News and the Washington Post publicized, beginning on March 18. We have pointed out, most comprehensively in the Weekly Standard, that there is no reason whatsoever to believe that the memo originated with the Republicans, and considerable reason to think it may be a Democratic dirty trick. Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post followed up on our critique here; he interviewed Post reporter Mike Allen, among others. Allen, like ABC News, took the position that it was all a misunderstanding: the Post had never meant to suggest that Republicans authored or distributed the memo, but only that some Republicans had received it....

Talking Points Story Goes Up In Smoke @ Power Line:

For more than a week, the mainstream media have been beating up the Republican Party over an alleged "GOP talking points memo" that, they argue, proves the Republicans took up the Terri Schiavo case in hopes of political gain. We, on the other hand, have questioned repeatedly whether the memo was authored by Republicans at all, and have raised the possibility that it is a Democratic dirty trick....

Terri Schiavo, Pope John Paul II and Tod Browning's Freaks @ Idle Mendacity:

When I first started this blog it was as an excuse to write. Even if it was something inconsequential. Then came the court-mandated murder (for I believe it to be such) of Terri Schiavo and any of my own carefree thoughts seem so meaningless in comparison....

No More Apologizing @ Two Sleepy Mommies:

With every major moral dilemma that comes up lately, the media always blasts the "conservative, religious right". Like many of us, I am tired of it. For a very long time, I have felt the need to distance myself from the image of some of the stranger Christian fanatics that I know. Kind of like "Hi, I'm Pansy. Yes, I'm a pro-life Catholic, but I am not weird. Yes I homeschool, but I am not weird. I am open to life and have 5 kids, but I am not weird." I think I felt so strongly because I know some really strange people through either homeschooling groups, the Latin Mass or the Internet who fit the bill of the fanatical, non-charitable, judgemental fundamentalist. I wanted so badly to distance myself from that image because there is such a stigma against being too far right. But you know, I spent much of life around many far left people, and from my experience the far left people I know mostly at some point in time personally contributed to the death of another whereas people I know who are too far right are just kind of anal and annoying....

The Imperial Judiciary @ The QandO Blog:

Bert Brandenburg writes in Slate that there is a movement afoot to limit the power of the Judiciary. But, he says it like it's a bad thing.

He notes that the Schiavo case may be seen as a watershed for the movement to restrain the judiciary....

Reassessing Apocalyptic @ ut unum sint:

As many of you know, I was raised Seventh-day Adventist, rejecting the teachings of that denomination when I was in college. I was headed toward Catholicism, but that was a radical leap; I took a smaller step, became a Lutheran, and then a Lutheran pastor, and then became a Catholic a dozen years ago....

Child Porn And P2P: A Reality Check @ Michelle Malkin:

The Supreme Court weighed in today on the pros and cons of file-sharing.... Record companies and movie studios have sued to shut down peer-to-peer software makers such as Grokster and Morpheus, arguing that the millions of songs and movies copied each day over these networks have cut into sales....

MEMO @ JunkYardBlog:

To: The Schindler Family, assorted supporters and hangers-on
Re: Michael Schiavo's less than human wife....

Paul Krugman takes a gift and runs with it @ The Anchoress (ellipsis in original):

So, here we are... this strange story takes yet another turn. Terri Schiavo has now officially lived long enough without her feeding tube for some of her supporters — the more emotional ones — to give the press and the left a gift. And I am afraid it's going to be one of those gifts that keeps on giving....

How Death Became Life @ Summa Mamas:

Death was born on a flaming day. At least that is how she remembered it. She came alive on a day lit up by a blazing fire, a fire that came from an immense sword held by an angel. The angel was guarding the door to a place she, Death, never saw. At first, Death felt like a stranger, roaming around, feeling lost. Then she saw a beautiful white bird. She stroked the feathers on the bird's back But as soon as she touched the bird, it fell at her feet, cold and still. That's when Death discovered her terrible power....

Maureen Dowd: Dan Brown is Vatican's ally @ Insight Scoop:

One danger of thinking you are clever is that you might not be. Maureen Dowd excells in misjudging her catty, caustic cleverness, although it's apparently the lone talent her career rests upon. Take, for example, her most recent column, "The Vatican Code," which is filled with all sorts of clever nastiness directed at Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and his criticisms of The Da Vinci Code....

Conservatives, Liberals, Inconsistency, And Judicial Supremacy @ Discriminations:

A good friend recently wrote:

You must be enjoying the Schiavo festivities. Those true principled states rights advocates must be spinning in their graves. The President flies back to DC so he can ceremonially take an issue out of the hands of the state courts and give it to the feds.

I think this is a fair point, probably a 5 or 6 on the "Gotcha!" scale. Conservatives, principled and otherwise, generally do favor states rights, and many of them did seem to place a higher priority on attempting to save Terry Schiavo than honoring federalism.

Fair, but limited....

Easter Vigil 2005 @ Eutychus Fell: Becoming Catholic:

Our Easter Vigil began by a bonfire, outside. The weather was cool and cloudy, but not too cold, and the fire chased away the cool. The upbaptized Elect were in brown robes with old clothes or sweats underneath. We Candidates (already baptized) wore our normal Sunday best. We were all in the front row of the fire-watchers and the rest of the congregation huddled further out where the shadows danced around the darkness. We all caught the eyes of loved ones out in the crowd and watched embers rise from the burning logs to float on air above our heads. Father blessed the fire, said prayers over a four-foot tall Easter candle and cut figures into the wax: the Cross, Alpha and Omega, the year of the Lord 2005....

Update on Salem-Keizer School District @ Marine Corps Moms:

Two weeks ago, Shea Riecke took a picture of her active duty USMC brother, Cpl Bill Riecke who graduated from McKay high school, to her high school social studies classroom to share with other students.

In order to display it, the school district told her that it would have to be altered to remove the gun....

The Angel of Death, and What Junior Told Him @ Canis Iratus:

When Junior was a young man, he fell in love. And she loved him, and together they made plans to marry, raise a large family, and prosper to the end of their days.

But events intervened, and plans were changed beyond recognition, and time took the color out of their dreams. In the end Junior married another, and tolerated fifteen years of unhappy coexistence and financial misery. When this union went asunder, Junior thought he would get a second chance at everything he had hoped for.

But he never got everything he hoped for. He got as much as he could get, but he never recaptured the happiness and ambition of his younger days, and he never reunited with the woman he loved. Yet, he never gave up thinking that he might. But time marched relentlessly on, and life dwindled, and one day the Angel of Death came to get William “Junior” Kay....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 04/02/05 07:42:45 AM
Categorized as Blogworthies.

"Al Qaeda's Grand Strategy"

At TigerHawk, Mar. 31:

Monday evening I attended a public lecture on al Qaeda's grand strategy by Michael Doran, Asst. Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton. Professor Doran was rather famously passed over for tenure last spring, quite possibly because he does not hold to the prevailing academic dogma about the Iraq war and American policy in the Middle East. At the time, the Daily Princetonian quoted an anonymous professor in the History Department as having said "we don't want him" with the pregnant implication that the reason had little to do with the quality of his scholarship.

In any case, the popular interest in Doran's lecture was such that it overflowed Bowl 16 in the lower level of Woody-Woo, so it moved to the auditorium upstairs. There still weren't enough seats. I got one, though, and typed up seven pages of notes during the 90 minutes that Professor Doran spoke and took questions. The following is a summary of the lecture, essentially a cleaned-up version of my notes with some of my own commentary woven in....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 04/02/05 07:06:22 AM
Categorized as More Than Blogworthy.