Comedian sued by mother-in-law

More evidence that society has become entirely too litigious. Now I see that comic Sunda Croonquist is being sued by her mother-in-law because of her jokes. Ruth Zafrin says Croonquist’s mother-in-law jokes spread false, defamatory and racist lies. The jokes have become a staple of Croonquist’s routine.
Depending on the outcome of this case Don Rickles may be spending the remaining years of his life in court.

We're not reforming the reform...

Apparently there are sufficient rumors circulating that Pope Benedict XVI wants to "turn back the clock" on the liturgical reforms of Vatican II that the Vatican felt compelled to issue a statement denying those rumors. Story here. One such rumor is reported here.
I suppose such speculation is to be expected in light of the issuance of the Apostolic Letter "Summorum Pontificum" in July, 2007 which made the "extraordinary form" of the Roman Mass following the following the Roman Missal of 1962 (Tridentine Mass) more readily available to the people. However, Pope Benedict has made clear that he considers the Mass of Paul VI to be "...the ordinary expression of the 'Lex orandi' (Law of prayer) of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite." It is apparently little noted that both forms of the Mass are generally available and the existence of one form is not particularly threatened by the other.
As the Church is facing attacks for its stances on sexuality, a male priesthood, opposition to abortion, support of basic human rights, etc., there is no need for one more thing to muddy the waters. One extreme would apparently like to declare everything that came out of Vatican II null and void, while another extreme wants to use the "spirit of Vatican II" (which apparently has little to do with the actual documents of the council) as a license to pursue personal agendas. People like me can only try to remain faithful to the actual teachings of the church and continue to pray "Lord, teach me your ways."

Report: Science can't explain Guadalupe

Zenit reports on a presentation made at the International Marian Conference in Phoenix in which Adolfo Orozco, a physicist who for years has studied the tilma bearing the image of the Blessed Virgin, affirmed that there is no scientific explanation for the image.
Another presentation was made by an engineer who studied the eyes of the image on the tilma using digital imagery and discovered 13 figures in the cornea of the image corresponding to the persons who were present when Juan Diego presented his tilma to Bishop Juan Zumarraga in 1531. The report is fascinating.

Homily 21st Sunday Ordinary Time -- Choices

(below is the text of a homily delivered Sunday, August 23. An audio version of what was actually delivered may be found here.)

The following advertisement appeared in a London newspaper in 1912.
MEN WANTED FOR HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. SMALL WAGES, BITTER COLD, LONG MONTHS OF COMPLETE DARKNESS, CONSTANT DANGER, SAFE RETURN DOUBTFUL.
HONOR AND RECOGNITION IN CASE OF SUCCESS.
This was Ernest Shackleton’s ad to recruit members for his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. More than 5,000 men applied to join that expedition. They knew the hardships, but the reward seemed worth the risk.
Today’s gospel concludes the Bread of Life discourse from John’s Gospel which we have been hearing proclaimed for the past six weeks. Things have built up to a time of decision.
Like Shackleton, Jesus asks those who would follow him to make a choice to do something difficult. In this case to believe in Him. As a reward, he offers eternal life. The choice is left up to them.
God always leaves it up to us. We are the ones who have to choose, and the choice isn’t easy. As Fr. Simon continually reminds us, the root meaning of the word “faith” is trust. Faith cannot be instilled in us, it does not come from the outside, but it comes from within. Faith is a conscious choice to put our trust in something other than ourselves, in this case to put our trust in God.
It seems logical that we should do that. Even a pagan would recognize that, by definition, God is that being, greater than which nothing else exists. It would seem logical to trust in that which is greater. If that is true for a pagan, then to a Christian who believes in a God who is not remote, but imminent and infinitely loving, how much more should we be willing to trust God completely and to submit to his will?
But we seldom do. We prefer to rely on that little bit of control we delude ourselves into thinking we have over our lives. We can’t control the weather; we can’t control our appetites and desires; we can’t control our children; we can’t control our hair color without chemical help; yet we hesitate to turn control of our lives over to a God who loves us. We have our plans, we’d rather do it ourselves.
There is the wonderful line… do you want to hear God laugh? Tell Him what you’ve got planned.
We don’t wish to subordinate our wishes to those of God. But this is what God asks of us. This is what Paul is telling us in that second reading. You know the one that we feel uncomfortable about reading because of the line about wives making themselves subordinate to their husbands. We tend to overlook the fact that he asks us all to “be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
It is out of reverence for Christ that Paul is asking us to put our selfish desires second to the good of the ones we love.
To trust him. This is the same thing that was being asked of the Hebrew people in the first reading. Joshua asks whom will you trust? Whom will you serve? To whom will you make yourselves subordinate? Will it be to the nations and powers of the world, or will it be the God of Israel?
This choice set the Hebrew people apart from the rest of the world. It is a choice that sets us apart from the rest of the world. It is increasingly an uncommon choice.
In 1958, about 74% of Catholics attended weekly Mass. In its Data Composite Book for 2008, the Archdiocese of Chicago reports the "October Count" Mass attendance at 474,000 a week. That is just 20% of the reported Catholic population of 2,338,000 in the Archdiocese. The largest single religious denomination in Lake and Cook County, Illinois is non-practicing Catholics. That indicates what the popular choice is.
What Jesus asks is that we make a conscious choice to trust him, to follow him. This is a choice we are being asked to make not just once, but today, and again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.
Our life is to be a constant turning to, subordination to, and reliance upon God. The choice is not easy. It sets us apart. Those who are not here this morning have reasons. They work hard and this is their only chance to rest; or the kids have a soccer game; or Mass is something they don’t get much out of; or the people in church are hypocrites; it is too hot, too cold, too rainy or too sunny to go; or the homily is just too boring.
There are thousands of reasons not to come to Mass. There is, in my mind one compelling reason to come. That is because The Holy Eucharist, as Vatican II tells us, is "…the source and summit of the Christian life". This is the normative way in which we encounter Christ and join in intimate union with the God who loves us. This is a unique act of faith, of trust that unites us with God.
In a few minutes we will be invited to come forth, to express our faith in the Christ who, through the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon our gifts, makes himself present to us ─ body, blood, soul and divinity. Our response is to be a fully conscious decision to trust the Lord. We affirm that decision with our “Amen!”
We place our trust in Him. In return he offers eternal life.
I choose to trust Christ. In the course of the week there will come a time when I am faced with the choice between what I want and what the Lord wants. Sometimes I choose my own desires. It is then that He will ask if I too will leave. Then I pray I have the courage to say with Peter, “Master, to whom shall I go? You have the words of eternal life."
Jesus, I trust in you.

The Visitators are coming!! The Visitators are coming!!

Two somewhat related stories caught my attention this morning. The first was NPR's Morning Edition story about American Women Religious reacting with suspicion in light of the apostolic visitation of the 340 religious communities that had been announced in December, 2008. The story also addressed a request from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asking the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to clarify its stand on three doctrinal issues: that only men can be priests; that homosexual practice should not be sanctioned; and that the Catholic Church provides the way to salvation. (Their discomfort reminds me of a bumper sticker that read, "Jesus is coming... look busy!")
The second item was the story from Zenit reporting that vocations in the United States are attracted to traditional religious orders whose members tend to live and pray in community and "...wear a religious habit, work together in common apostolates, and are explicit about their fidelity to the Church and the teachings of the Magisterium."
Putting it into terms that are not particularly helpful but commonly used, the liberals are nervous, but it is the conservative orders that are growing. While one group sees a threat to the "spirit of Vatican II", the other finds strength in faithfulness to the Church.
I fully expect the secular media to cast a negative light on the apostolic visitation, to avoid stories on the growing orders which are more likely to welcome the visitation and to make interminable references to the Inquisition (which is maligned for its false portrayal of as part of the "Black Legend", but which in fact was welcomed by much of the populace and saved perhaps millions of people from arbitrary summary judgment by secular authorities). However, as was the case with the apostolic visitation of the seminaries a couple of years ago, this may well prove to be a wonderful opportunity for self-examination, renewal and improvement on the part of women religious.

East is East... but is East best?

I noticed on the Deacon's Bench and on Catholic Culture News Briefs that Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa has announced in the diocesan publication The Eastern Oklahoma Catholic that when he is celebrating Mass at the cathedral he will do so ad orientem, or facing in the same direction as the people.
While he recognizes some benefits of the celebrant facing the people as has been standard following the Second Vatican Council, Bishop Slattery sees a problem in that "... it can give the appearance that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God."
I believe many others will follow Bishop Slattery's lead (my pastor may well be one of the early adopters of this return to the traditional orientation) but I am not quite sure how I feel about it. Nowhere in the documents of Vatican II was the change in orientation from ad orientem to versus populum mandated, but it has been a part of my lived worship experience for the past 40 years.
Many a lively discussion will result from Bishop Slattery's initiative, but that is part of the reason I enjoy church work so much. As the great philosopher Roseanne Roseannadanna said, "It's always something!"

The Deacon's Bench: You have never seen anything quite like this. Really.

The Deacon's Bench: You have never seen anything quite like this. Really. An amazing video and a moving remembrance.