Sanity at Last!

Michigan University student Julea Ward's discrimination lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University will go to a jury.  Ward was expelled from the graduate counseling program due to her religious beliefs against homosexuality.  An excellent opinion by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.  Full text of the opinion can be found here.

The Angelic Doctor

Today, January 28th, the Church honors Saint Thomas Aquinas.  Thomas was born about the year 1225 into the family of the Count of Aquino.  He first studied at the monastery of Monte Cassino and later at the University of Naples.  Afterwards he joined the Friars Preachers and completed his studies at Paris and Cologne, his instructor being Saint Albert the Great.  Becoming himself a teacher, he wrote many learned volumes and was especially renowned for his philosophical and theological studies.  Saint Thomas died near Terracina on 7th March 1274, but his memory is honored on 28th January, the day his body was transferred to Toulouse in 1369.

God Our Father, You made Thomas Aquinas known for his holiness and learning.  Help us to grow in wisdom by his teaching, and in holiness by imitating his faith.  Grant this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Pope Warns of Grave Threat to Religious Freedom in U.S.

The Pope warned visiting American Bishops of "the grave threat to religious freedom" now brewing in the United States due to the policies of the Obama Administration and other radical secularists.  Read the full story here.

Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

Sorry that I've been AWOL for awhile. The demands of professional and personal life have taken their tole on me lately. I'll try to post more often as we enter the new year although the Bad Catholic is going to be VERY, VERY busy with a professional/personal project during the new year. Today, January 1st the Church honors Mary the Blessed Mother of God.

Elvis and Icons of the Blessed Mother, you can't do any better than that! Happy New Year everybody!

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Trouble in the Amen Corner

I just love this song.  I had to sing a solo on the Agnus Dei this morning.  I told our music leader that if I was messing up the choir like Brother Ire in this song don't be afraid to send the committee out to fire me.

Pakistan Bans the Words Jesus Christ in Text Messages

The ruling party in Pakistan is ready to ban the use of the words "Jesus Christ" in text messages along with other "obscene words." Christians see this as merely another ploy to deprive them of religious freedom. Read more here. Thanks to Jihad Watch.

Viva Christo Rey!: Saint Miguel Pro

Today, November 23rd, the Church honors Mexican martyr Saint Miguel Pro. Viva Christo Rey!

Afghani Shari Law: Woman Must Marry Rapist or Serve Prison Setence

Read more here.

Bad Catholic Reading

The Bad Catholic reviews Havah: The Story of Eve by Tosca Lee at The Eclectic Reader.

Why Jennifer is not an Atheist

Very inspiring testimony from former atheist Jennifer Fulwiler on her conversion.

Are the German Bishops Selling Porn?

Interesting commentary from Jimmy Akin of National Catholic Register on the story that the German Catholic Bishops own a publishing house which publishes pornography.

What happened to black vestments?

Interesting post from The New Liturgical Movement about the appropriateness of black vestments.

Why I am No Longer a Tea Totaling Baptist!

Another reason to be happy to be Catholic:  Beer!

Pope Beer

Here is the official Beer Blessing:

V: Our help is in the name of the Lord.

R: Who made heaven and earth.

V: The Lord be with you.

R:  And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

Bless, O Lord, this creature beer, which thou hast deigned to produce from the fat of grain: that it may be a salutary remedy to the human race, and grant through the invocation of thy holy name that, whoever shall drink it, may gain health in body and peace in soul.  Through Christ our Lord.

R: Amen.

The beer is then sprinkled with holy water.

Beer Blessing

Thanks to the Bad Catholic Blog (great name don't you think?) who I shamelessly stole this post from.

Gay Brownshirts on the March!

Enjoy the fireworks care of Mark Shea at Catholic and Enjoying It!

The Persecution of Catholics Continues

Faithful Catholics are no longer qualified to be nurses in public hospitals in New Jersey.  Twelve New Jersey nurses have been threatened with being fired if they refused to assist in performing abortions.  The Alliance Defense Fund has filed suit on behalf of the nurses.  The hospital first scheduled a meeting with the nurses but cancelled it when they arrived with an attorney.  Full story from National Catholic Register.

So this is where we have now arrived in the demon inspired Culture of Death.  Either kill babies or loose your job and maybe even your professional credentials.  We are fast approaching a time when anyone dissenting from the culture (i.e. opposed to abortion, gay marriage, etc.) will be deemed unqualified to hold a professional license of any type.  How long will it be before the signs go up saying "Catholics need not apply" ?

Brother Can You Spare a Billion?

Will the collapse of the Greek economy mean the beginning of a world wide depression?  Full story here.

How Many "Catholics" Are Really Catholic?

A new survey says that a majority of "cultural Catholics" do not believe the religious and moral teachings of the Church.  Read the whole thing here.

Battle In El Paso

Briefly Noted: LITERARY CONVERTS

Joseph Pearce's Literary Converts: Spiritual Inspiration in an Age of Unbelief (Ignatius Press: 2000), is one of those books which I intended to read but has wound up sitting around on the shelf unread for several years. During a brief vacation to the beach a couple of weeks ago, I finally sat down and read it.

My general reaction is that in comparison with the literary intellectuals of the early and mid twentieth century, we live in a world populated by intellectual pygmies.  Like I previously noted with respect to Pearce's book Literary Giants, Literary Catholics, all the usual suspects are here: Oscar Wilde and his death bed conversion, G.K. Chesterton, Robert Hugh Benson, Eric Gill, Siegfried Sassoon, Ronald Knox, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Roy Campbell, Malcolm Muggeridge and others. Pearce does not confine his book to converts to the Roman Catholic Church however, and also includes those atheists or agnostics who became High Church Anglicans like T.S. Eliot, C.S. Lewis and Dorothy L. Sayers.

The intellectual level of these folks was so high that I wonder if there is anybody today of this stature. It seems that although we live in "the information age" we are really dumber than ever. Some of it was the product of the early twentieth century education that these folks received in the British "public schools" (which are really what Americans would call exclusive private schools).   Back then students received instruction in Greek and Latin and read the classics in the original languages. This education laid the foundation for lives of intellectual inquiry.  These people did things which astound us today.  C.S. Lewis corresponded for years with a monk in Italy in Latin which was their only shared language. Mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers spent the last fifteen years of her life studying Dante and translating The Divine Comedy into English. Monsignor Ronald Knox translated the entire Latin Vulgate Bible into English.

Almost all of the literary converts who survived into the nineteen sixties and seventies were appalled at the changes in the Church following the Second Vatican Council. They were especially upset at what they felt was the banal translation of the sacred liturgy from Latin into the vernacular. Many, like Evelyn Waugh, also prophesied that the watering down of the liturgy would lead inexorably to the decay of the faith and moral life of the faithful. There are many who believe that this was a correct assessment.

Literary Converts is a great read and a great intellectual tour de force. The breadth and depth of Professor Pearce's knowledge of twentieth century literature and the history of the Church is truly impressive. Highly recommended.

Professor Joseph Pearce