Vegetarianism is one of those subjects on which reasonable people really can’t disagree. An irksome indulgence of the much to be endured urban elites, a mere sigh and head shake answer for the fading big-O bumper sticker crowd. But what of our sisters and brothers in the Faith who admit to joining the frequent tofu tribe? No politeness, be it ever so carefully cultivated, could avoid the private eye roll in reply, but it has begun to strike your scribe that this particular variant of inculturation dips dangerously into thou really ought not territory.

Listen, I know the sputtered well, but really has arisen into the reader’s liberty loving thoughts, yet say honestly: are spitted mushrooms and formed protein patties worthy of a defend to the end treatment? I say no. In the privacy of the home an honest preference for Cain’s gifts to Abel’s may be indulged if it must, but in society it must be — how shall I say it gently? — deplored. Continue reading

Anyone so hearty of spirit still to be visiting this forlorn site so long after its spirit passed into memory and vibrancy into dust is unlikely to be among the dead-eyed minority that I will now briefly criticize, so please join with me in that very human and yet unendorsable activity of shared ridicule of the less fortunate. The object of my objection is a phenomenon, inexplicably still common and most unfortunately chiefly found among the, ah, otherwise wise and tasteful precincts of traditional faithful: the publication of huge, indeed seemingly endless, photographic galleries of liturgical occasions.

When Pope Benedict finally gets around to saying the old Mass, sign me up for a photograph or two; but please do not fool yourselves, oh ye who post such pictures, that anyone of good sense, breeding, and taste is truly interested in viewing yet one more photo of the old Mass said in your local Historic Chapel by a dignitary of moderate fame wearing Really Quite Nice Vestments. One of the glories of the old Mass is that is, you know, pretty much always the same. And while I yield to none in my embrace of finery and pomp in the celebration of the Sacred Mysteries, they really aren’t of the character that lends itself to flickr representation. The Mass is an action. When one is in attendance and praying the Mass, it is a glorious thing. But that puff of incense or liturgical procession you so cleverly captured with your Canon Powershot? Bully for you — I don’t give a damn about seeing it. Even worse, of course, are numerous photos of the backs of the clerics, resplendent though they naturally are in embroidered silk and gilt. Where is the drama that makes a photographic still worthwhile? It is not there.

A photograph stops motion in seeming; the Mass stops time in fact. We fool ourselves and bore to tears our polite and well-meaning friends and fellow Catholics when we make the mistake of thinking that another set of photos is really necessary. Pray the Mass, photograph your kids, and leave the stopping of time to God.

As some of you may know, the American contingent in the annual Chartres pilgrimage flies a flag on which a Sacred Heart and cross are superimposed on the blue field of the American Flag. This sort of thing bothers me severely as it represents a tragic confusion of categories. Basically, a sacred image — the Sacred Heart and cross — are being used to defile the flag. How, you ask, can the Sacred Heart “defile” a flag? Because you can’t add any other element to the American Flag without ruining its symbolism. This isn’t like the flag of the United Kingdom where you can superimpose the crosses of various kingdoms. Rather, the American Flag *needs* to have all 13 of its 13 stripes and all 50 of its 50 stars visible. For every star that the Sacred Heart image covers up, a state of the Union is denied representation in the federal standard. I truly wish that the people who came up with this Bad Idea of adding a Christian symbol to the flag had first considered that there is no room on the flag for any other image unless you wish to destroy its meaning. The flag is over-saturated with meaning and adding any image — even a great and noble one — takes away rather than adds. Furthermore, it’s not as though a country *needs* to have a Christian image in its national flag. Sure, its nice, but there are many Christian countries whose national image is not explicitly Christian.

Before trying to market it in another away, I wanted first to post notice here that I have a Novus Ordo Latin breviary (4 volumes) for sale. These books are completely new, still with plastic slipcovers over the books and in their original cardboard packing boxes. They are a complete set of the editio economica, as the Libreria Editrice Vaticana puts it, which means that they have a vinyl covers rather than one e corio factum (leather). I purchased them in Rome while studying with Reggie, but already owned the old Breviary and I never found any use for them. You’ll find the same books here. The price listed at paxbook.com for each of the four volumes is $87.60. I’d like to sell these books for $300 (no additional charge for shipping). If you’re interested, please contact me at our email address: info – a t – cornellsociety.org.

This brief article in honor of Sir Kenneth Dover (who died this year on March 9) captures so much of what is wonderful about academia while also being indicative of much that is repugnant in it. It’s beyond any question that Dover was a very learned and intelligent man; I’m in awe of the mastery of Greek seen in the anecdote which Nussbaum shares:

What Dover could do without effort, most scholars could not do even with the most painstaking labor. When his autobiography, Marginal Comment, first appeared in 1994, I was visiting Dover and his wife Audrey at their home in St. Andrews. With a mischievous smile, he dashed into his study—to emerge a short time later with an inscribed copy. On the flyleaf was a Greek elegiac couplet in which Dover had managed (1) to use in an apposite and humorous way a Greek word whose meaning we had discussed in a co-authored article, disputing its translation with John Finnis Continue reading

This last week’s Gospel got me thinking: what is the status of the soul that is possessed?

I’ve always found this particular Bible passage (about how the devil that is cast out goes wandering in search of comfort, and, when he can’t find it, gets together a group of his evil buddies and goes back to invade the soul from which he was evicted) quite eerie. It actually seems to give us a bit of insight into demon psychology… but also to suggest that, after the demons are cast from the soul, it is ultimately in even greater danger since they are likely to return in force. Now, allowing one’s soul to be invaded by demons certainly doesn’t seem good. Our priest used this passage as an opening for talking about the importance of giving the devil no quarter, and keeping the door firmly closed to his influence. That doesn’t seem an unreasonable way to expand on the passage, but even so, I have to wonder: are people necessarily blameworthy when they are possessed?
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I’m thinking of writing a country song called “Barack Obama Done Stole My Heart.” And, as you all reel in shock and horror, let me specify that this would not be a loving tribute to the Commander in Chief, but rather a lament that, given our country’s steady saunter towards socialism, I’ve become sadly cynical about any effort that is supposedly aimed at helping “the poor.” (Actually, there might be exceptions, because I do think that the poor in this country suffer greatly, but it is a suffering born primarily out of the totally degraded social conditions under which they live. So I don’t sneer at job training programs or marriage education, but mostly the programs I hear about seem aimed towards offering handouts of one kind or another, many of them no doubt to people who ought to be working.)

A classic example of what I hate cropped up at Mass recently where, at the Archbishop’s request, all the parishes have been playing a recorded message basically asking us to give money to the archdiocese. Now, in the first place, playing a recording seems tacky to me. If you want to send a letter for pastors to read out, fine. But do we have to have a little commercial, complete with cheesy, recorded music? It’s just not dignified.

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Coming out of the last post (on “excessive Mariology), I thought I might pose the question: is it right to think of gender as accidental? When I say this, of course, I am referring to the Thomistic metaphysical language by which the characteristics of any thing are either essential (roughly, an unchangeable part of the sort of thing it is) or accidental (a characteristic of the thing that could theoretically be changed without changing the fundamental nature of that thing.)

Bonifacius, following St. Thomas, contends that gender is accidental, on the way to making an argument that the female gender is (accidentally but still intrinsically) inferior to the male. It is my opinion that this argument is offensive and degrading to women generally and Our Lady in particular; it is a fact that it contradicts the explicit teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You may read more of that discussion in the next thread. Here I just want to ask: how helpful is it to think of gender as an accident?

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I ask for your prayers this Lent.  I desperately need them.  So for 1.) a private intention of mine, 2.) success in the completion of my dissertation (I defend on the Tuesday in Holy Week!), and 3.) good fortune in finding a job, I ask for your prayers.  And I shall be giving up this blog for Lent/dissertation completion purposes.  So please do not respond to this post other than by praying.  All responses in the combox result in an email being sent to me, which will only tempt me to return here.  I wish you all a holy Lent as well!

One of the things that people faulted in Sarah Palin is that she supported the killing of wolves from helicopters. Apparently, the Alaskan government determined that there were too many wolves and that the packs needed to be culled. First off, liberals are going to hate that right there. I think there are two related reasons for this. First, for man to assert himself over nature is to admit that God gave our species dominion over the earth and all that is in it. (Actually, God granted us stewardship for the earth, but the steward is just his master’s vicar, so practically speaking it amounts to the same thing. We act as master — exercise responsible dominion — in God’s place.) That means we are not just animals. Which means that we are responsible for directing our own passions — the wild beast within — in accordance with reason. And as both reason and will have been so severely compromised by original and actual sin, we need to seek grace. If the determination that we have a right to kill wolves is Proposition A,  then fealty to the Pope and the burning of votive candles with gaudily painted pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the side are Proposition Z (I would argue that we actually get there by Proposition H). Continue reading