For those who wonder where I have been, I have been busy with an annexation treaty. That is to say, I recently bought a house for myself and the future baroness.
A man's home is his castle, so that makes him a king. However I abdicate my kingship to the King of Kings and rule as a Baron Regent.
But if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord, you have your choice: choose this day that which pleaseth you, whom you would rather serve, whether the gods which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house we will serve thee Lord ( Josue 24:15 )
St Joseph, Ora Pro Nobis.
--The Baron
Ceterum autem censeo, Tabulam esse delendam!
President of Notre Dame, Me, and the Woodshed
Posted by Baron Korf in abortion, Catholic, Culture War, Obama, Woodshed
Alright, I was reading a post at the American Papist and now I'm in the mood to take the President of Notre Dame to the woodshed today. I'll be... reviewing his letter to the graduating class in the style of that Illustrious Master of Slavishly Literal Translations, Fr Z. (i.e. My Emphasis, [My Comments])Letter from Fr. Jenkins to Graduating Class of 2009
Look, I'm sure Fr. Jenkins is a real nice guy, but this is too much. He intentionally dodged the bishop to invite him. He invited a pro-abortion president in against the expressed will of the Church and Her directives. Now he continues to excuse it. I don't know if he's stupid, arrogant, racist, a dissenter or what.
University of Notre Dame
Office of the President
5/11/2009
Dear Members of the Notre Dame Graduating Class of 2009:
This Sunday, as you receive your degrees at Commencement, your joy - and that of your families - will be shared by the faculty staff and administration of the University. We have had the privilege of laboring with each of you to inquire & discover, to teach and to learn, and we will send you off with affectionate and fond hopes for the future.
For those of you who are undergraduates, I feel a special kinship. You arrived in your dorm rooms as I arrived in the President’s Office. You have learned much; I may have learned more. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to learn with you, come to know you, and to serve you during our time together at Notre Dame.
During your years here we have endeavored to train you in the various disciplines and urged you to ask the larger questions - discussing not only the technical and practical but also the ethical and spiritual dimensions of pressing issues. I have been proud of you as you have grappled with intellectual, political, and spiritual questions [All with sound Catholic guidance I'm sure...]. But I have never been more proud than I have been watching the way you’ve conducted yourselves over the past several weeks.
The decision [made without the knowledge of Bishop D'Arcy and in flagrant violation of Ex Corde Ecclessia and the USCCB's directive] to invite President Obama to Notre Dame to receive an honorary degree and deliver the Commencement address has triggered debate [Understatement]. In many cases, the debate has grown heated, even between people who agree completely on Church teaching regarding the sanctity of human life [oh really?], who agree completely that we should work for change - and differ only on how we should work for change [I'm sorry, but I don't see how you can completely agree that we are killing 4,000 babies A DAY in the U.S. and not work to ban this scourge from the face of the Creation!].
Yet there has been an extra dimension to your debate. You have discussed this issue with each other while being observed, interviewed, and evaluated by people who are interested in this story. You engaged each other with passion, intelligence and respect. And I saw no sign that your differences led to division [see no evil...]. You inspire me [blech]. We need the wider society to be more like you; [What? More supporters of abortion and those too polite to fight back?] it is good that we are sending you into that world on Sunday.
I am saddened that many friends of Notre Dame have suggested that our invitation to President Obama indicates ambiguity in our position on matters of Catholic teaching [Honorary Doctorate in Law to someone with no real achievements in the field, but whose legal philosophy hinges around Roe v Wade. Ya, real clear teaching there bub.]. The University and I are unequivocally committed to the sanctity of human life and to its protection from conception to natural death [But if a Black President is elected, I'll throw that under the bus for publicity and my own ego.].
Notre Dame has a long custom of conferring honorary degrees on the President of the United States. It has never been a political statement or an endorsement of policy [Honorary Degrees: yur dooing it wrongz]. It is the University’s expression of respect for the leader of the nation and the Office of the President [There is a degree for being President? Does it require a Birth Certificate?]. In the Catholic tradition [hate that phrase, hijacked so often, just like Social Justice], our first allegiance is to God and Christ, yet [WRONG! Not "yet" its "and" there is no contradiction between faith and patriotism!] we are called to respect, participate in, and contribute to the wider society. As St. Peter wrote (I Pt. 2:17), we should honor the leader who upholds the secular order [pushing policies that promote the killing of babies is upholding secular order?!?].
At the same time, and born of the same duty, a Catholic university has a special obligation not just to honor the leader, but to engage the culture [N.B. when engaging the enemy, you fire a few warning shots; you do not give them free ammo!]. Carrying out this roll of the Catholic university has never been easy or without controversy [true, but the controversy should be the culture unhappy with our message, not us compromising the message]. When I was an undergraduate at Notre Dame, Fr. Hesburgh spoke of the Catholic university as being both a lighthouse and a crossroads. As a lighthouse, we strive to stand apart and be different, illuminating issues with the moral and spiritual wisdom of the Catholic tradition [So how are we illuminating the culture by honoring a President who has yet to do a single pro-life action?]. Yet, we must also be a crossroads through which pass people of many different perspectives, backgrounds, faiths, and cultures. At this crossroads, we must be a place where people of good will are received with charity, are able to speak, be heard, and engage in responsible and reasoned dialogue [A commencement speech is a monologue. Must've slept in the day they covered that].
The President’s visit to Notre Dame can help lead to broader engagement on issues of importance to the country and of deep significance to Catholics [How?]. Ultimately, I hope that the conversations and the good will that will come from this day will contribute to closer relations between Catholics and public officials who make decision on matters of human life and human dignity ['Gosh I hope he likes us and listens to us after this!' Bad strategy.].
There is much to admire and celebrate in the life and work of President Obama [Name one]. His views and policies on immigration [open borders is contra to Catholic Teaching and tradition], expanding health care [including massive funding to the abortion and contraception industry, on top of that contra to Subsidiarity], alleviating poverty [there are those for increasing it?], and building peace through diplomacy ['and World Peace' what is this? a beauty pageant?] have a deep residence with Catholic social teaching [actions, not words are what are important]. As the first African-American holder of this office [Dude! He's black, we gotta make exceptions and excuses to honor him!], he has accelerated our country’s progress in overcoming the painful legacy of slavery and segregation [He's done nothing. His election is more evidence than catalyst. Blacks have been in places of honor before him Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Justice Clarence Thomas, etc]. He’s a [un]remarkable figure in American history and I look forward to welcoming [is that the same as engaging? I forget.] him to Notre Dame.
As President Obama is our principal speaker [so much for dialogue], there will be no doubt be much attention on your commencement. Remember, though, that this day is your day. My fervent prayer is that May 17 will be a joyous day for you and your family. You are the ones we celebrate and applaud. Congratulations, and may God bless you.
In Notre Dame [Ora Pro Nobis!],
Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
Some might object "but.. but... but they honored President Bush and he was pro-war/death penalty/torture/etc" None of those are explicitly taught as intrinsicly evil. This is a key distinction. Even if you concede that torture is intrinsicly evil and what was done on Bush's watch was torture, that came to light after he was there. Even then, there are orders of magnitude of differnce in the evil done.
The lack of Catholic Identity in Catholic Schools needs to stop. This is a line in the sand. I have never seen 70 bishops spontaneously come out against anything before in my life time. It's like what Gandalf said in the Two Towers movie "A great power has been resting here for some time. Soon [they] will awake and find that they are strong."
Or Braveheart "Men don't follow titles, they follow Courage... If you would just lead them, they would follow you. And so would I."
--The Baron
Ceterum autem censeo, Tabulam esse delendam!
--The Baron
Ceterum autem censeo, Tabulam esse delendam!
2. What can you tell me about the importance of the remembrance of these saints in the Catholic community?
As you might imagine, there are more saints in heaven than there are canonized, or listed, Saints in the Church. A canonized Saint is someone whose life on Earth has been scrutinized by a specific body in the Church, and whose intercessions in heaven have brought about miracles on Earth. The criterion is very strict and few make it to the official list. The first step is to prove that the person lived a life of “heroic virtue”. This is because the canonized saints are meant to be role models for the church. There are people like Fr. Miguel Pro who defied the anti-Catholic Mexican government and continued to minister to the people and was martyred for it, or like Mother Theresa who gave up a comfortable life to take care of the poorest of the poor in India because she saw our Lord in even the most wretched of them. Then there are some like St Thomas Aquinas whose writings became the foundation for philosophical thought in the Christian world for centuries and continuing today. The variety of their lives and witnesses for Christ shows His many gifts and callings to His people and the memory of their Earthly lives is to give us strength to follow our callings and use our gifts on behalf of Jesus.
--The Baron
Ceterum autem censeo, Tabulam esse delendam!
I was reading a post from the American Papist and it brought back an old question. I have always wondered: How does someone who is pro-abortion console a mother that lost her child to a miscarriage? I know of, remotely, a situation like this and it just makes me wonder. I mean what can you say, really? If you acknowledge the humanity of her lost child, then you must either admit that abortion is the murder of an innocent child, or you have to deny the humanity of the child and, in doing so, deny a large portion of the mother's pain.Going further, how does someone who is pro-abortion grieve for their child if they or their wife miscarry? That is almost easier to understand though. Perhaps it becomes a form of denial, where they don't consider the miscarriage a loss of life.I don't say any of this to be mean spirited or snarky, but out of real concern. It seems to be just another way that abortion hurts women and families. It denies healthy and healing grieving to those who need it.--The Baron
Ceterum autem censeo, Tabulam esse delendam!
This is the first of an 11 part series called Questions from a Baptist. This was originally a series of questions posed to me through a friend for his friend's Humanities class. He asked 11 questions about the Catholic Church, and those are going to be the 11 spots here. I gave the answers to the best of my knowledge and with the understanding that they are not totally complete. Truly a whole book could be written on each one, and it wouldn't surprise me if there are.
- I understand that the Catholic Church is a church based in Christianity. For some time, the people of the Baptist Church have said that the Chatolics are misleading the people of the congregation by teaching them to pray to saints rather than directly to Christ. Do you believe this is accurate or do you believe their view is in error?
The Catholic Church teaches a doctrine of intercessory prayer, which is where someone, in particular the Saints, prays at someone’s request and on their behalf. Often, this is misconstrued as a mandatory intermediate step between man and God. This, however, is simply false. Praying to the Saints, in its simplest explanation, is no different than asking a fellow Christian to pray for you. Saint is the English form of the Latin word Sanctus which means “holy”. It refers to those men and women who died in the friendship of our Lord and now attend Him in heaven. As all Christians believe, those who die as such are not really dead, but are alive in Christ. Not only that, but they are not removed from the community of Christians. As our Lord told us “I am the vine and you are the branches” and St. Paul tells us that we are all part of the Body of Christ. So in a very real way we are still connected to these Holy Souls. This is what the Catholic Church calls “The Communion of Saints.”
The Saints, being in Heaven and in the presence of Almighty God, are now free from all sin and temptation. As such their prayers are much more focused, beautiful and complete than our own, and the prayers of those who follow the Lord are rewarded (Job 42:7-10). There is a two-fold benefit in this: One, we have holy and righteous souls praying on our behalf for our specific intentions. Two, the souls in heaven can continue to do the Lord’s work by praying for us, and such Christian love is pleasing to God.
This in no way takes from the importance of praying to God Himself. Catholics take a both/and approach to this rather than an either/or. Someone may pray to St. Francis of Assisi asking him to pray for a certain intention and then pray to God for the same intention. Then you have 2 people praying for the same thing. This goes to the parable of the unjust judge who keeps turning the woman away, but because she keeps pestering him he finally gives her what she asks for. Now Christ being the Just Judge, how much more will he listen to our petitions?
--The Baron
Ceterum autem censeo, Tabulam esse delendam!
An injustice has occured, and once again the MSM has it all backwards. I'll try to do this while holding back my personal opinions and not taking any well-deserved pot shots at Mr Hilton. I leave that to Tim Jones, who basically expresses my personal view on it.Let's start off with the Question and the Answer. Mr. Hilton asked "Vermont recently legalized same-sex marriages. Do you think other states should follow suit, why or why not?" A loaded question from a known homosexual marriage advocate, which consititues a conflict of interest in my opinion. However lets looks at Ms. Prejean's answer. “Well I think its great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.”Off the bat, a very disjointed response. I can forgive that given the nature of this question. Hot button issues are the kiss of death in these sorts of situations. In subsequent interviews she admitted to dreading that sort of question and so while still a mark against her, it is understandable that it was sloppy. Next there is the issue of choosing. This, whether she realized it or not, is an appeal to federalism. She notes that in different states its allowed and that the states are allowed to govern their own people. This is the very concept of the 10th amendment in the Bill of Rights.10.) The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
As a representative of the United States, a woman who understands state's rights and the constitution would be most admirable. Then she apologetically asserted her beliefs on the matter. So we see in both Vermont and California the state's ability to regulate their own people in different ways. Mr. Hilton got mad at her for being divisive and alienating, yet he asked a question that her home state of California settled on a 52/48 margin. A large number of people were going to be alienated either way, unless she gave a non-answer. So really this was a half-decent answer to a question that either never should've been asked or judged more impartially. --The BaronCeterum autem censeo, Tabulam esse delendam!
To relieve all 2 of you who read this, I am still alive and kicking. I was out for a bit with surgery ("Appendicitis waits for no man" as they say. No? Must be a cultural thing.) And then Easter was upon me with the added bonus of a visit from the future Baroness. Now I intend to get back to blogging.Here's what you can look forward to:
In the meanwhile, its Easter! He is Risen! Alleluia! Go out and celebrate!--The Baron
Ceterum autem censeo, Tabulam esse delendam!
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