3 meme

1) If you had to give one million dollars to any 3 charities, which ones would you choose and why?

Catholic Near Eastern Welfare Association because I have a passion for Eastern Christianity. At heart I am more Eastern than I am Latin, but always in communion with Rome, despite the shabby way our Eastern Catholic sisters and brothers have sometimes been treated by the Western Church (thank God for JPII and now Benedict XVI). These ancient communities are the presence of God's kingdom in the midst of much strife. I'd love to be a Chaldean or Syrian deacon!

Pink Cross Ministries because I think the work that Shelley Lubben does exemplifies what it means to love, to be always ready to assist, and not judge. Further, she exemplifies what it means to start from a positive hypothesis. She knows what it means to daily strive to usher in God's kingdom by showing people who really need to see, through her actions, that God is love. This is an opportunity to draw attention to a great post by Laura Bramon Good on Image's Good Letter blog entitled Elliot Spitzer Makes a Porno, Part I. In this post Ms. Bramon Good highlights the all too easily overlooked aspect of this case. I find it heart-breaking that Ms. Ashley Alexandra Dupré, the escort with whom Spitzer consorted, is the only one who has publicly apologized, saying she was sorry to Mrs. Spitzer through the media. I, too, think Spitzer should be prosecuted. It is a simple matter of justice for women like Ashley Dupré.

The Cathedral of the Madeleine, half of which would go to establish a religious education and formation endowment, the rest would go to the Cathedral Foundation.

2) If you could only ever read 3 books again, which books would you choose and why?

The Gospel of St. John, or the whole Bible- because it is the best book to understanding myself and the world and helping me to connect to the world.

A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin- It is probably the best story I have ever read and teaches me a lot about what it means to be human in what is very often an absurd world and the joy of being alive.

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky- Because Alyosha is the best Christian in all of literature and Ivan is the most passionate person in all of literature. Besides, Ivan's telling of The Grand Inquistitor in the novel is so devastatingly true, not about the church as an institution, but about some people, like me, who are often mistaken about what it means to be Christians. My reason for choosing this novel is the same reason I share in the charism given to Don Giussani.

3) If you could somehow incorporate 3 people (living or dead) into your family who would you want to be realted to?

I honestly cannot answer this question. It is too speculative. While there are many people I would love to meet (see my MySpace profile), there is no one, living or dead, I would want in my family who is not already in it.

Okay, I tag Rebecca at Faith's Mystery, Fred at Deep Furrows, and Alex at Vitus Speaks.

The one whom the Lord approves

"Thus says the Lord:
The heavens are my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house can you build for me;
what is to be my resting place?
My hand made all these things
when all of them came to be, says the Lord.
This is the one whom I approve:
the lowly and afflicted man who trembles at my word
(Isaiah 66:1-2).

A humane view of "Of Human Life"

Building on something posted by Fred last evening over on Cahiers, The Inhumanity of the Megachurch Sex Marathon and a subsequent discussion, it is important to address, if briefly, an overlooked aspect of Humanae Vitae, namely that birth control, which deals with both the numbering and spacing of children, is seen as a moral duty. It is pretty clearly taught in this much maligned teaching that no couple is obligated to have as many children as they possibly can. On the contrary, HV was written at the time when dire predictions about overpopulation were widely, if uncritically, accepted. So, birth control, which is best achieved, according to HV, through abstinence, is seen as important by Paul VI. This can be verified by reading his remarkable encyclical Populorum Progresso. As to what many mistakenly refer to as "grave" reasons, the criteria are outlined by Paul VI in no. 10:

"Married love, therefore, requires of husband and wife the full awareness of their obligations in the matter of responsible parenthood, which today, rightly enough, is much insisted upon, but which at the same time should be rightly understood. Thus, we do well to consider responsible parenthood in the light of its varied legitimate and interrelated aspects.

"With regard to the biological processes, responsible parenthood means an awareness of, and respect for, their proper functions. In the procreative faculty the human mind discerns biological laws that apply to the human person.

"With regard to man's innate drives and emotions, responsible parenthood means that man's reason and will must exert control over them.

"With regard to 1) physical, 2) economic, 3) psychological and 4) social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time" (I added the numbering of the reasons couples can use to make decisions about whether to have more children, as well as emphasis on the words serious reasons).

The take away here is that the judgment as to how many children a couple has is theirs alone to make on the basis of the criteria set forth. It is nobody's business to judge whether a couple who is striving to live their faith in this difficult area, especially given that only about 3% strive to do so in the U.S., and making judgments on the basis of the criteria set forth by the Church, our Mother and Teacher, has sufficiently serious reasons to "decide not to have to additional children for either a certain or indefinite period," except maybe their pastor's, assuming they have a good and supportive one. So, while couples make a vow to "accept children lovingly from God" and marriage is ordered to the procreation and education of children, in addition to the good of the spouses, a couple makes no commitment to have as many children as they physically can, or to have a fixed number (Canon 1055.1). Hence, rigorists who tell people things like, You should be having sex at least three times a week," etc., and that NFP is for wusses are pastorally way out-of-line. It is very much akin to what Fred writes about, but with the procreation bit added in for good measure. Such a rigorist view, too, is inhumane.

Corrected paragraph:
It is important to point out that in English we are working with a translation from editio typica, which is in Latin. So, in number ten, the Holy See translates "seriis causis" as "serious reasons," not grave reasons. In any case, using the word grave is a distortion that has the effect of reducing what we are taught. It is too easy to become ideological about this issue. I prefer using the word ideological to Pharisaical because the Pharisees with whom our Lord took issue were those who were ideological about strict observance of the mizvot.

The rigorist reduction, as with the reduction that occurs among those who reject this teaching, fails to account for the progressive nature of HV by dismissing the encyclical and seeking a return to what the received understanding and teaching of the church was prior to this landmark exercise of the magisterium. HV represents a faithful, organic, and deeper understanding of marital sexuality than had been previously articulated in such magisterial teachings as Casti Connubii. The latter encyclical was the Holy See's response to the Anglicans permitting couples to have recourse to artificial methods of contraception under certain circumstances. The Anglican teaching, set forth in the 1930 Lambeth Conference, was a sudden and dramatic break with Christian tradition and with what had been, at least up to that point, the Christian consensus on what Pope John Paul I called, while still bishop of Vittorio Veneto, "this most delicate matter".

We have no business upping the ante by correcting church teaching, or adding to it. In my own ministry, I strive to always be cognizant of the fact that I am a deacon, not the pope or the bishop. Furthermore, one cannot read HV and not get that abstinence from sexual relations within marriage has a spiritual value. This seems to me to be very much in concert with what St. Paul sets out in 1 Corinthians 7:1-7.

While I am on the subject of human the human subject, I also recommend Sharon's post A Rare Partnership. Suzanne reminded me of a great article by Angela D. Bonilla, published in Homiletic & Pastoral Review. The article is Humanae Vitae: Grave Motives to Use a Good Translation. For the record, I always use the Vatican translation for documents promulgated by the Holy See. If I do not, I state where I got the translation.

Sacred Scripture: "the prayer above all prayers"

The Holy Bible, according to Parthenios of Kiev, a nineteenth century Orthodox commentator, "is the mother of all books, just as it is the prayer above all prayers, and the guide to the Kingdom of heaven. It leads men on earth to the understanding of the Truth, and enables one to see God with the heart while still in the flesh, and in time to come allows one to enjoy face to face the sweet vision of the Holy Trinity"

"I remember something you once told me..."

The evening before my birthday, I was sitting with my 3 year-old son. He noticed a circular sore on the back of my hand, and the base of my left thumb, a burn from working. He said: "Daddy, you have a hole in you." I replied silently, I have a lot of holes in me.

Anyway, this song is about home. I have posted it before, but it is worth another traditio. It is by Gram Parsons, a songwriter I admire greatly and is called Return of the Grevious Angel. This version is sung by the always lovely EmmyLou Harris and Ryan Adams:

Last evening, over on Cahiers, I posted a long post-election take on things- Political ambivalence unleashed. While long, it is not too rambling and does cohere. I prefer to think of it as comprehensive. I could easily break it into three separate posts, but that is more work than I care to do right now. I posted something else on the same blog- Debt. My comprehensive Cahiers post reminded me of one of my early election posts Huckenfreude!

The Memorial of St. Martin of Tours

This Memorial marks my birthday. Along with St Stephen, by virtue of the fact I was born on his feast, St. Martin of Tours is my patron. Have you ever been in a Mexican restaurant and seen the image to the left, or one closely resembling it, just behind the front counter? That's my patron, known as San Martín Caballero, the horseman! I love him. With these two patrons, no wonder I enjoy the comedy of Steve Martin, a fellow Philosophy major, so much!

When I think of my patrons, Sts. Stephen & Martin of Tours, a corny song comes to my mind. The song is from the movie Toy story (I am a hardcore Woody guy, as opposed to Buzz Lightyear, for whom, like Woody, I have a lot of affection) and is Randy Newman's You've Got a Friend in Me. My patrons, for whom I constitute their purgatory, have seen me through many tight spots and difficult stretches. I want to be the kind of friend to others that they are to me. It's hard, but only love can make me so. Nonetheless, this is the song I hear them sing with me.:

This version from the 2005 Stuttgart Jazz Festival. Never heard of it? Well, neither did I 'til a few months ago when I found this song. So what! Judging from their reaction, I don't think the Germans have an appreciation of Randy Newman.

A litany for my birthday:

Holy Mary, Mother of God- pray for us
St. Michael the Archangel- pray for us
St. Joseph- pray for us
St. Mary Magdalene- pray for us
St. Nathaniel- pray for us
St. Stephen- pray for us
St. Timothy- pray for us
St. Athanasius- pray for us
St. Ignatius of Antioch- pray for us
Sts. Perpetua & Felicity- pray for us
St. Augustine- pray for us
St. Martin of Tours- pray for us
Sts. Francis & Clare- pray for us
St. Dominic- pray for us
St. Catherine of Siena- pray for us
St. Rose of Lima- pray for us
St. Peter Julian Eymard- pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross- pray for us
St. Gianna Molla- pray for us
Bl. Franz Jägerstätter- pray for us
Bl. John XXIII- pray for us
Bl. Teresa of Calcutta- pray for us
Papa Wojtyla- pray for us P
Papa Montini- pray for us
Papa Luciani- pray for us
Don Giussani- pray for us
All holy men and women- pray for us

Starting from a positive hypothesis: marriage is unity

In their recent statement on marriage, Married Love and the Gift of Life, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops observed that couples "considering marriage yearn for certain things". At root their longing is the human longing for unity, for completeness, for happiness. The object of their desire, whether they know it or not, is well-expressed by the Psalmist: "As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God" (Ps. 42:1). In his Exposition on Psalm 42, St. Augustine opines that the one yearning for the face of God is not "one individual," but the "One Body,", which is "Christ’s Body," the church. Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete asks how do we see the church’s unity "with our eyes" and "grasp it with our hearts as a reality, as a verifiable fact of life, as a unity that makes us long so strongly for a vision of the face of God"? The answer, taking its cue from Genesis 2:24, which, along with Genesis 1:27, comprises the architectonic foundation on which the biblical view of marriage is constructed, is found in the fifth chapter of St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians: "'For this reason a man shall leave (his) father and (his) mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church" (5:31-32). It is through holy matrimony that "the unity between God and His people becomes a visible reality in this world" (Albacete "Marriage as Witnessing to Christ," Traces October 2008: 51).

The mystery of the unity of the triune God is also grasped in reality by the sacramental union between man and woman. In no way is this unity made more visible than by having children. The Christian tradition has long seen in the natural family (i.e., husband, wife, and children) as an icon of the Trinity. The church teaches that raising children, at least as much as having them, is why Christ has raised marriage "to the dignity of a sacrament" (Canon 1055.1). So, a couple who, through no fault of their, own are unable to bear children, need not be discouraged because a valid sacramental marriage is open to them, too.

Perhaps the biggest challenge to couples seeking to live marriage as a sacrament is faithfully living what the church teaches regarding sexuality and its necessary link to procreation. Nowhere more than here, at a significant crossroads where faith meets life, have so many Christians taken the worldly road. The term "birth control" is important because not only is the church not opposed to birth control, it teaches that limiting the number of children is a moral responsibility of all married couples. In his encyclical, Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI wrote that married couples need to arrive at a "full awareness of their obligations in the matter of responsible parenthood, which today, rightly enough, is much insisted upon, but which at the same time should be rightly understood" (par. 10). So, taking into account the "physical, economic, psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time" (par. 10). "From this it follows," the encyclical continues, "that they are not free to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life, as if it were wholly up to them to decide what is the right course to follow. On the contrary, they are bound to ensure that what they do corresponds to the will of God the Creator" (par. 10). The nature of Christian marriage as set forth in scripture "makes [God’s] will clear" and "the constant teaching of the Church spells it out" (par. 10). What the constant teaching of the church spells out is that the regulation of births, either by way of spacing or number, cannot be done morally by using artificial methods of contraception.