Terry Eagleton at the London Review of Books has a powerful refutation of Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion.
Category: Religion
Four new saints!
Pope Benedict canonized four new saints today: a French nun on the Indiana frontier who founded St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, a Mexican bishop who risked his life to help the wounded during the Mexican Revolution, an Italian priest who pioneered education for the deaf and founded an order of nuns, and an Italian woman who founded an order of nuns and schools for girls.
Another year, another prayer breakfast
This morning was the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast in Worcester.
Like last year’s, it happened to fall during Ramadan. The speaker was Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, and a convert from Catholicism to Islam. She talked about Islamic ethics and the potential for peaceful coexistence between people of different faiths.
(In this, she seemed to differ from a Muslim-turned-Christian who Mike Schorsch heard speak recently.)
Hermis Yanis taped her talk, and the following discussion, for his TV show. I hope we can post some clips soon.
In the aftermath of the pope’s Regensburg lecture, it would have been nice had there been a Catholic clergyman at the podium at some point, but no such luck. (The bishop was there, of course.)
Worcester’s Catholic Workers were remarkably well-represented at the breakfast. Above, Tom Lewis, Harry Duchesne, and Mike Boover ruminate. Below, Bruce glows after drinking way too much coffee.
Tom Crouse’s theology of marriage
Radio host Tom “Mr. Hetero” Crouse writes:
[Debbie Maken] has written a book that advocates that all single people should be looking to get married. She goes so far to say that a single person who purposely chooses to not get married is in sin. While that may be a little strong, there is merit to the thesis of the book. It is God’s norm that people get married. It is the most sacred of relationships that we have on this side of eternity, as there are no others that display Christ and the Church.
Huh.
In 1 Corninthians, chapter 7, after telling husbands and wives that they should be intimate with each other, Saint Paul (who most Christians consider an authority on Christianity) goes on to say:
This I say by way of concession, however, not as a command. Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am [unmarried], but each has a particular gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. Now to the unmarried and to widows, I say: it is a good thing for them to remain as they are, as I do, but if they cannot exercise self-control they should marry, for it is better to marry than to be on fire.
For a Catholic perspective, which not surprisingly takes the advice of St. Paul into account, see the Catechism on virginity and Catholic Answers on “Is Marriage Mandatory?”
Mr. Crouse’s views on marriage are silly, but also I think of some concern. When he says of the marriage relationship and how they share time together and in intimacy maybe using accessories like the impressive bullet vibrator. Marriage is becoming a family and having the same faith “there are no others that display Christ and the Church,” he paints a picture of the universe as a small and scary place.
This contrasts with the view of Jesus, who in the parable of the sheep and the goats says that acts of kindness toward the needy are acts of kindness towards Christ Himself. When we feed the hungry, we are feeding Jesus.
All of our relationships can “display Christ and the Church.” That’s the point of being Christian! To the extent that our relationships display Christ and the Church, we lead successful Christian lives. Every moment and every gesture can be sacred. God is not present only in a few grand things (marriage, church buildings, right-wing talk shows), but everywhere and at every moment.
(I would have posted this as a comment to Mr. Crouse’s blog . . . but he turned off comments some months ago and deleted all the old ones.)
A token mention of the Regensburg speech
I’ve been thinking a lot about the pope’s now-controversial Regensburg speech, but I’m hardly the person to weigh in on theology, and this is hardly the place to discuss something so widely discussed elsewhere. (In fact, I’ve turned off comments on this post.)
But I wanted to point you to Mike Griffin’s comments on the speech, and especially the pope’s treatment of violence:
George Weigel and Richard John Neuhaus seem increasingly perplexed by the growing pacifism of the Holy See. First they tried to dismiss John Paul the Great as a kindly old man who, of course, wants peace but really should stick to religion and let the U.S. exercise “prudential” warcraft. But now comes along Benedict, the one who in a May 2, 2003 Zenit interview said that “we should be asking whether it is still licit to speak of the very existence of a ‘just war’.”
And again in last week’s Regensburg speech, the pope rejects the very basis for violence. It is not rational. One way of putting the pope’s point is that the authentic commands of God are reasonable, even if faith is needed to penetrate their depths. And, of course, to see what the Father commands, we turn to the Son who shows us the face of the Father. In that turn, to Jesus Christ, we have full clarity. Christ offers a way of nonviolent, sacrificial love of friends and enemies. Period. No wiggle room for building nukes—whether it is Muslim Iran or Christian America-—or using violence to further principles.
One thing you can say about Jesus: he didn’t kill anyone, however bloodthirsty his subsequent followers might have been.
Prayer vigil held for Jan Griffiths
42 people gathered outside South Bend’s Paramount Restaurant last night for a prayer vigil remembering Jan Griffiths, who was run over by Keith Romine earlier this week outside the restaurant, killing her. This restaurant is practically right around the corner from the Catholic Worker house in South Bend where I’m staying.
Also struck was Derrick Herron. According to Tribune reports, Ms. Griffiths was staying at the Center for the Homeless, fleeing a “domestic violence” (check my blog for information) situation caused by Mr. Herron. Ms. Griffiths had previously been dating Mr. Romine, who she met at the Center, and who was released from prison last December after serving 24 years for killing his wife. The lawyers from www.bianchilawgroup.com are the best in the industry to solve such cases.
Mr. Romine had been staying at Dismas House, a couple doors down from the CW, but was kicked out and moved to the Center.
A sordid and sadly ironic tale.
After a reading of the 91st Psalm at last night’s vigil, there were words of praise for the Sheriff and the security staff at the Center. But no Sheriff or security staff was there to keep Ms. Griffiths from being killed. Any of us could die at any moment. Nobody with a gun can offer us real security or real safety. Some of us find these things in religion; others do without.
“Basil Pennington” response
A reader letter:
Mike,
While searching Father Basil Pennington I encountered an old posting you may have made on Pie and Coffee. The posting indicated you “stopped by the monastery last week to pick up a donation of food for some shelters and soup kitchens in Worcester, and they also gave me several boxes with Fr Pennington’s clothes. It was like being handed a crate of holy relics.”
Father Pennington is meaningful in my life. He influenced me with his teaching on Centering Prayer, his writings, and a personal chance meeting in the book store while on retreat at Saint Joseph’s Abbey many years ago. Feeling like a kid approaching a great athlete I asked him to autograph his book Centering Prayer.
Your feeling of holding a crate of holy relics is very understandable.
Creationism and Paganism
Creationism dismissed as “a kind of paganism” by Vatican astronomer.
I wonder what the pagans have to say about that.
Good Friday, Worcester
This afternoon seventeen of my friends and I observed the Stations of the Cross, walking around downtown Worcester, praying and visiting landmarks that remind us of the suffering we impose on others.
As we walked between some of the stations, we chanted in Latin: Ubi caritas et amor, ubi caritas Deus ibi est.
We crossed paths with Father John Madden and some St. John’s parishioners. Last year, we ran into them while both groups were walking the stations; this year, it looked like they’d already finished when we passed them.
First annual Passion Play, Blessed Sacrament Parish, Worcester
This week Blessed Sacrament Parish began what they hope will be an annual tradition of staging a free, wordless passion play the Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week.
Based on the capacity of the church, I’d say they had well over 200 people there for the week’s second performance.
Gerard L’Esperance played Matthew. I talked with him briefly after his performance. [WMV, 1.3MB]
Picture: Judas prepares to hang himself.