13 December 2011

Coffee Cup Browsing

Cardinal John P. Foley has died at 76.  R.I.P.  I had the privilege of meeting him once in Rome at a North American College dinner.  Great man!

Nobody's going to the movies anymore. . .and Hollywood is blaming everything under the sun except its own obsession with anti-American propaganda and scenes that would make rapists in Sodom and Gomorrah blush.

Speaking of Hollywood. . .have you heard about the pervasive culture of pedophilia out there?  No, I didn't think so.  The Old Media has nothing to gain from spreading that news.  It's not like a priest is abusing a kid or anything!

Ahhhh. . .the Glories of a People's Socialist Republic! Where income equality and opportunity are guaranteed.

Speaking of the Glories of a People's Socialist Republic. . .fear of Big Gov't is at an all time time.  There's hope for America yet, folks!

But shouldn't we fear Big Business more than Big Gov't?  No.  Big Business doesn't have a police force, a military, prisons, and it cannot make laws.  

Should the Italian church pay taxes on its commercial property?  Seems fair to me. 

Can/should extraordinary ministers of holy communion give blessings?  No.  The proper thing to do is say to the person, "May God bless you." 

Riots:  First World Problem version.

I don't know why. . .just laugh and move on.

Titanic: the Movie. . .economy version.

I wouldn't sleep if I were you. . .

Meanwhile at the Burger King. . .



  1. About movies, if you can see it in 3D, "Hugo" is a wonderful exception. Dazzling, engaging, surprising, moving, and not a cynical bone in its body.

  2. Okay, this may be theological nitpicking, but ...


    Two questions:

    If blessing a person who refrains from receiving communion is one of the blessings reserved to the ordained, then shouldn't the EM refer the person to the ordinary minister?

    If this is not a reserved blessing, then why would an EM not be able to offer a blessing?

    Second question:

    How is "May God bless you" not "giving a blessing"?

    After all, if I understand the nature of blessing, a priest does not give a blessing as if it were something of his own that he bestowed by his own power. Nor does a parent when blessing his/her child.

    Rather, certain offices have the authority to bestow God's blessing, a sort of stewardship of grace. Being baptized authorizes blessings, confirmation strengthens this, marriage and parenthood introduce new stewardships, and the Church reserves some blessings to the ordained.

    Even within this authority, though, I don't think I have ever heard a blessing spoken as anything other than a request: May God bless you and keep you, etc. In other words, this is not an act of the priest in persona Christi, as when he says "I absolve you."

    So it seems contradictory to me to say both "An EM should not give a blessing" and "the proper thing is to say 'May God bless you.'"

    I hope I'm not picking at too many nits here. I'm simply seeking clarity.

  3. Bristling By The Bay1:38 PM

    I just had the very unpleasant experience of reading a piece on the OP website by the new Master. Out of respect for your affiliation, I will not write what I actually felt here.

    In the irritating and bloviating style so typical of churchly types, where without naming names but with perfect clarity, he praises the (Islamist) Arab Spring and the (adolescent/Marxist) OWS movements as indications of the human thirst for justice and "signs of hope for a habitable and sustainable world for all." There is the obligatory tsk tsk handwringing over (unnamed) capitalism, of course.

    It is nothing but arrogant EuroLefty pious platitudes baptized by sprinkling.

    I have known OP "Justice and Peace" types and this is both typical and moreso. And the original in French, being in French, was therefore even worse.

    I thought Veritas included Realitas.

    I doubt you will publish this. Aside from being unkind, it is off topic. But hey, I get to blow off steam. Part of my human desire for agency, freedom and justice.

    I don't know how you stand it.

  4. Bristling, why wouldn't I publish your comment? Fr. Bruno is a big boy. . .he didn't get to be Master of the Order w/o hearing a few critical remarks directed his way.

    The Master is no doubt speaking out of his own "'68 Experience." He's very much part and parcel of his generation of justice/peace Euro-Catholics, though I think he's probably more sensible than most. I haven't read the piece but keep in mind that the euro-media paints the Tea Party/GOP as only barely more tolerable than Nazis. So, he's likely springing off what most euros believe to be accurate portrayals of the OWS movement. I've found that even the most sensible euro OP's can't get their heads around anything other than left of center social democracy. American-style republican democracy with a healthy does of capitalism is beyond them.

    Anyway, most younger friars read the Order's justice/peace stuff and then promptly ignore it...most of the J/P types in the Order studiously avoid pro-life issues so we generally think that their rallying cries for bottled water and recycling are hollow.

  5. Regarding blessings, my pastor used to say: "if you want a blessing, just wait a few minutes and don't leave early; you'll get one at the end of Mass."

    Regarding Hollywood and abuse, back in the early eighties I remember watching a Jack Lemmon movie, "Mass Appeal", about an idealistic seminarian (deacon) who the (evil) Church hierarchy wanted to keep out of the priesthood. One of the reasons was his sexual experimentation earlier in his life. When you look at the movie now, he was the poster child of the future abuser priest. Of course, the movie's point of view is that he should have been ordained and celebrated.