Do you love the Lord... or just his stuff?

Yesterday I read a posting on Deacon Greg Kandra's blog The Deacon's Bench reacting to a Slate article on the "Prosperity Gospel" and Joel Osteen one of its gurus. The article takes a look at how Osteen's message is being received in light of the recession.
What most intrigued me was that as I was reading this piece that pointed out "...the belief in 'positive confession,' or the idea that the faithful can 'name it and claim it'—even Waikiki timeshares or Rolls-Royces with corn-silk leather trim—and God will provide it," I was listening to Fr. Richard Simon's homily for the 15th Sunday of Ordinary time in which he makes the point that we tend to ask God for things, but God wants to give us himself.
It may be unkind, but it struck me that those who follow the "Prosperity Gospel" tend to approach God in the same manner as a spoiled child approaches his parent -- more concerned with the gift than with the giver, and seemingly unconcerned with the love for which the gift can only be considered a poor substitute.
Deacon Kandra wonderfully summed up Osteen's theology as "...all crown and no cross." When Our Lady offered Maximillian Kolbe a choice between the two in a vision, the future saint and martyr asked for both. That is a more authentic Christianity to my way of thinking.

We need to keep down the numbers of those people...

Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is one of the best at confronting issues in society as they impact Catholics in America. Today he justifiably calls upon Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg to explain remarks she made in an interview with the New York Times in relation to abortion. See news release here.
Justice Ginsburg is quoted as saying, “Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”
That attitude is certainly in tune with eugenicists such as Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood.
Isn't it amazing that $300 million a year of taxpayer money goes to this organization whose effect, if not intent, is to reduce the population of what Nazis had termed "inferior races"?

If it's not normal, where do babies come from?

LifeSite News reports that researchers at the University of Michigan have concluded that the love stories told in classic Disney and other G-rated children's films - such as the Little Mermaid - are partially to blame for the pervasiveness of what they label "heteronormativity."
Apparently this term is intended to describe the misguided belief that "normal" sexuality consists in the the interaction of one man and one woman.
I must confess, I have been one of those misled by this apparent heresy. However, I am confused because it is still my understanding that the preservation of the species essentially depends upon such relationships. Obviously that can't be correct... maybe babies really do come from cabbage patches.

(with thanks to The Deacon's Bench)

Roman version of "Who is buried in Grant's tomb"

When I was a wee child, I recall my father many times posing the question, "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" I was never startled by the answer. However, there is a good deal more excitement to the disclosure that scientific testing points to the authenticity of the tomb of St. Paul.
In many respects I believe that this announcement bolsters confidence that other shrines which have a similar long and unbroken tradition of belief of authenticity -- such as the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity -- may well be the actual sites of historical events. The living memory of believers passed from one generation to the next is quite persuasive and more reliable than many tend to believe..

College administrators: "Will no one rid us of these meddlesome bishops?"

The Cardinal Newman Society has reacted to the call of the directors of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities for the bishops of the United State to, in essence, leave them alone.

...yesterday the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, which represents more than 200 Catholic institutions, released its summer 2009 newsletter including a report on the ACCU’s board of directors meeting last week. The ACCU directors concluded “that it would be desirable for the [U.S. bishops] to withdraw” their 2004 policy, according to the newsletter.

Worse still, the ACCU leadership suggests “that juridical expressions of bishops’ or universities’ responsibilities should be kept to a minimum” in order to maintain a good relationship between the bishops and educators.

In other words, Catholic colleges and universities would prefer that there are no clear rules to govern their conduct. Their statement also implies that they believe that the bishops, not college leaders, are responsible for tensions arising from scandalous activities on Catholic campuses.

It appears that the educators consider themselves to be separate from and at least equal to the bishops in determining what it is to be authentically catholic. Moreover, it would appear that they deem themselves free of any responsiblility for moral leadership in terms of catholic values.
Patrick J. Reilly, president of The Cardinal Newman Society commented, "The lesson of the Notre Dame scandal is clear: even our leading Catholic universities have lost their way."

Newman Society statement here. ACCU summer newsletter here.

Ogden, you make a good point

Always in ministry there seems to be a tension between trying to remain orthodox, and the desire to be pastoral. Perhaps it was this type of situation that led Ogden Nash to pen the following...

I often wonder which is mine:
Tolerance, or a rubber spine?

After decades of defamation, is the tide turning?

A couple of items of interest appeared were reported by Zenit pertaining to Pope Pius XII.
First, it reported a statement by the director of the Vatican's daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in which he contends that the Black Legend surrounding Pope Pius XII and Nazism has two causes: Communist propaganda and division within the Church.

Giovanni Maria Vian affirmed this when he talked with ZENIT about a book that he edited titled "In Difesa di Pio XII: Le Ragioni della Storia" (In Defense of Pius XII: The Reasons of History).

In a second article, they reported that the Pave the Way Foundation, announced that it has more than 2,300 pages of original documents illustrating Pope Pius XII's efforts to help Jews in the face of Nazism. The Foundation describes itself as "a non-sectarian public foundation, which identifies and eliminates non-theological obstacles between the faiths."

The papers give clear evidence of the Pope's support for and efforts to save Jews from Nazi tyranny. These records seem to run counter to the myth that has been perpetrated in recent years by such works as John Cornwell's book "Hitler's Pope" which, despite haven been largely debunked, still sticks in the mind of the public.

An extensive range of documents and videos regarding Pope Pius XII may be found here.

I certainly hope that the availability of the documents might lead the public to an honest reassessment of Pope Pius, however I am very aware of how ardently people cling to other anti-catholic myths in regards to such things as the Inquisition and the trial of Galileo. Facts are too often inconvenient when a belief is deeply held.