feminine-genius

Radio clip

Here is a nice clip from Ava Maria radio in which Heidi Saxton tells Teresa Tomeo about Canticle Magazine, a journal for women which she edits. The first half of the clip is an interview with Father Frank Pavone (which is good, of course) and Heidi's portion starts about halfway through. Just slide the button right to move through the show. The writer's blog she mentions is here -- and of course she's always looking for good material to publish.

Mentioned also is the status of Tony Benkovic, husband of Johnnette, who is quite close to death. Prayers for the whole family would be much appreciated.

Cautiously optimistic

The Cranky Professor brings to light the fact that a movie on Hildegard of Bingen will be filmed this summer in Germany by renowned director Margarethe von Trotta. Might be wonderful, might not be. The director has many, many films to her credit, often having to do with the difficult lives of women, but of course dear Hildegard has been a convenient tool used by many to deconstruct the elements of the Church they dislike (despite the fact that the mystic would not have agreed in the slightest with their agendas).

From an interview, she speaks about filming a movie about a German woman who has hidden her past from her daughter:

Trotta: I learned through research about a number of Holocaust survivors who, like Ruth in the film, never talked to their children about their experience. When I shot the scene of Shiva, the mourning for Ruth's husband, at a studio in Munich, a Jewish woman who I hired as one of the extras told me that her husband told their children that the number tattoo on his arm from Auschwitz was the license-plate number of his car. This was a choice not to speak about the past, not to have to reveal. It gave me the possibility of showing in the film how memories work on the mind. I could show two different ways of remembering. The first is Ruth's refusal of remembering, but then the death of her husband brings such a great pain that something is broken or opened. She can't let her past go away. It comes in like a shock. She is invaded by her memories without controlling or willing to have them. Lena's memories, too, are linked to so much pain that to survive she had to hold them away from her. But when Hannah arrives to question her, her memories flow and she's very willing to tell them, even though she says it's anstrengend--arduous, the past is tiring--because in the presence of Hannah her remembrance is linked to Ruth and to a victory, the child's survival.

Another answer in this interview (concerning a line of dialogue she included) reveals more of the director:

Trotta: She said it, and when you are ninety years old and you remember your husband, you can say that. I can never say that things were exactly like that. Memories are always changing. It's very subjective and it's important for me not to take the position of a historian saying, this was the way it happened. There are historians who say, never trust an eyewitness. But for me people are more important than documents. People make me cry and touch me when they tell their stories. There's a jump from being interested to being involved. As a filmmaker you have to be moved.

She is intellectually honest and respectful of the human condition. This could bode well for the upcoming film, but we'll have to see what unfolds. Prayers wouldn't be wasted.

Mourning and weeping in this vale of tears

This is a fallen world. How often do daily [hourly] events remind us of this fact, and yet we hope for more in our encounters with God. Since those encounters usually take place with the Church as broker, we want our Church to be the Spotless Bride that she is called to be. Alas, often this is not the case, as Father Longenecker reminds us.

Oh yes, you come into the Catholic Church and the liturgy is dreary, the music lyrics come from greeting cards and the music from the nursery. The preaching is dire, the youth ministry is downright creepy in its attempt to be 'cool' and the fellowship is non existent.

Remember two things: first, the disappointing human reality does not obliterate the eternal Truth. When we marry most people have high expectations of living happily ever after. Unfortunately, most marriages are not rosy all day every day. People fight. In laws arrive. Kids disobey and rebel. Siblings hate each other. Tragedy happens. Ignorance and vanity and selfishness intrude. Complacency and taking each other for granted grows like a cancer. Relationships break down. It's a mess.

It's also what we call marriage. When it doesn't go as we planned we don't bail out of the marriage (at least we shouldn't) Neither do we dismiss the institution of marriage as ill conceived. We don't throw marriage out and look for some different arrangement. We don't suddenly tell young people not to marry. We stick with it. We hang in there for better or for worse. If we are disappointed the best thing we can do is to examine our expectations. Maybe we are disappointed because we were expecting the wrong thing in the first place.

His point is made in reference to a convert who entered the Church, only to be sorely disappointed with the reality of worship. The union of a soul with its Creator is a marriage indeed, and yet the human representatives of the "institution" are often more of an obstacle than an entree into the Divine.

I'm not sure that we should ever reduce our expectations -- and I'm sure that's not his meaning. Sadly, with the tenor of Masses for the last few decades, our senses have perhaps been dulled as to the True Meaning of the Sacrifice. It would take extraordinary formation for many to ignore the "dire preaching, creepy youth ministries, and nonexistent fellowship" in order to see celestial realities anyway.

Sometimes folks take their own formation for granted. Living with a mother, father, schedule and discipline become such a way of life that we cannot understand the third grader who has none of those in the home. Likewise, Father has probably encountered more beauty and culture in his life than most people on the planet -- which allows him to say, "stick with it."

I began this post with the intention of praising his analogy and commending him on asking the reader to see the convert's lament in a different light, but the more I write, the more I'll have to subtly disagree. Woe to those who scandalise the little ones -- and we're all little. Marriages -- natural and supernatural -- rise and fall together. Those who haven't grown up in a healthy home have that much more difficulty with laying the foundation for the next generation. It's not impossible, but darned hard. (Imagine trusting your new husband daily when all your mother's boyfriends ran out on her over the years...)

I found the Church despite a broken home, nascent anti-Catholicism, a flakey Newman Centre at college, scandalously bad pre-Cana instructions, becoming Catholic in one of the most liberal dioceses in the country, and all the elements mentioned above. It was very hard, and yet the grace was there. Thus I am of two minds over all of this. I want my children's path to be easier -- I want all people to be able to find Jesus through the open arms of His Spouse. I want her without spot or wrinkle, I want her unencombered by the petty nonsense of her ministers. But I know that those who are sincerely persistent, the truth is to be found. John Paul II and the New Evangelisation have seen to that. I would hope that each parish would resonate with truth and beauty so that souls are nourished.

Thus I end seeing both sides. Many use the defects of the Church as an excuse to end their quest for God. And yet the very Bride of Christ is called to a standard which is worthy of her Spouse. The analogy of a marriage is apt in this sense: both are called to perfection, and must bear with the defects of the other. Let the Church be the vehicle, not the obstacle to grace. And that goes for every member as well. It's a long, arduous slog, but heaven is worth it.

Deep thoughts (barely)

I’ve been tagged (swatted more like) by Catholic Pillow Fight in order to name the five blogs that make me think the most. Hmmm. Thinking.

http://vultus.stblogs.org/ : this blog makes me think that I’m not nearly as Catholic as I ought, that I don’t pray nearly as much as I should, or that I’m not even close to being grateful enough for the gift of the Son. Marvelous, penetrating meditations.

http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/ : this blog makes me think that we have the most mighty and awesome of Churches, with a rich heritage, deep theology, and an amazing pope – probably because we do. She is surrounded by errors on all sides, and yet stands firmly in the centre with the Truth.

http://churchofthemasses.blogspot.com/index.html : this blog makes me think I haven’t read nearly enough good literature or understood most of the movies I’ve seen. When I get to about age 55, I’m going back to high school to do all my classes over – up through grad school to catch what I missed!

http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/ : this blog makes me realize that even as a history major, I missed a lot. I can’t go back and redo this because I went to public school and a state college. I’ll just have to read Elena’s excellent writing to fill in the gaps on … “the rest of the story.”

http://joannabogle.blogspot.com/index.html : this blog makes me think I’m way too old and feeble to keep up. Joanna rides about London on her bike, speaks simply everywhere, is interviewed (and intelligent) on every subject, and is as cheerful and joyful as the day is long. I need a nap after reading her.

I think you five folks now carry the day with your five favourites, etc. etc. Cheers!

That all may be one

Like any family, disunity dissipates good will and undermines our ability to love. (Think Thanksgiving feast amidst a gaggle of feuding sibling; or Christmas at the home of a couple whose marriage is on the rocks. Think getting through the year with any number of stray relatives rocking the boat.) In the most important family of all -- which encompasses the children of God, such disunity harms the ability to share affection and resources, to worship God, and it scandalises the rest of the world. Dr. Moynihan of Inside the Vatican points to some promising signs he has seen in recent months:

Sign #1: Jean-Francois Thiry, a Catholic theologian from Belgium who lives in Moscow, heads a small publishing house which publishes Catholic books in Russian in cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow. He is part of the working group for problems between the Moscow Patriarchate and Catholic Church. On January 26, the group met in the Moscow Patriarchate's Pilgrim Center. After the meeting, Thiry said the atmosphere in the relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is "improving."

Sign #2: From September 18 to 25 in Belgrade, Serbia, 60 ecumenical experts met to initiate what Pope Benedict XVI has described as a "new phase in dialogue." Theologians from 10 Orthodox churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church, attended. There was a dispute. Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Vienna and Austria protested against the use of voting instead of consensus. But the meeting did not break down, and another meeting was scheduled for Ravenna, Italy, later this year.

Sign #3: The election of this Pope, Benedict XVI. Many of the Orthodox dialogue experts know him, have read his works and trust him as a theologian. Some Orthodox, for historical reasons, viewed Pope John Paul's Polish background as an obstacle.

Sign #4: The shared reaction to the film The Da Vinci Code" Father Igor Vyzhanov, a Russian Orthodox priest who serves in the Moscow Patriarchate, said: "This is a book that offends Christians. All over the world, we are seeing propaganda for this work. What is this? We (Russian Orthodox) and the Catholics have the same view of such things. Nobody has the right to offend belief. There is freedom, but not freedom to slander others."

Sign #5: Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church’s foreign department, met in Rome on May 18, 2006, with the Pope. After meeting Benedict, he told journalists that Orthodox and Catholic believers need to work together "to preserve Christianity in Europe."

Sign #6: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's book Introduction to Christianity has been published in Russian for the first time. The book, written in 1968 by the man who is now Pope Benedict XVI, includes a foreword by Kirill.

Sign #7: The Catholic Archbishop of Moscow, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, head of the Diocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, says he is certain problems in the Orthodox-Catholic relationship will be overcome. In a November letter to Metropolitan Kirill, he said: "The respect for the little flock of Russian Catholics that you displayed during our recent private conversation strengthens my confidence that the misunderstandings and problems existing in our relations will be resolved."

Sign #8: From May 2 to 6, 2006, in Vienna, Austria, the conference "To Give a Soul to Europe" brought 60 leading Catholic and Russian Orthodox leaders together, including Cardinals Schoenborn of Vienna, Policarpo of Lisbon and Poupard of the Vatican curia. This remarkable gathering revealed a hope for Europe’s future the two Churches share.

Still, deep-seated suspicions of the Vatican still linger in influential quarters of the Russian Orthodox Church clergy and among the faithful. And that is why the last sign is so important.

Sign #9: Bishop Alfeyev, so critical of the proceedings at Belgrade, has now proposed to bring a great Russian orchestra and choir to Rome on March 29 to perform a work of music he has composed on "The Passion According to St. Matthew."

The concert will first be performed in Moscow on March 27, in the presence of Patriarch Alexi II. Then the musicians, conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev, Russia’s most distinguished conductor, will fly to Rome to perform the concert a second time.

If one of the most critical of the Russian Orthodox bishops wants to bring his music to Rome just before Easter -- celebrated this year on the same Sunday in both Churches -- may a spiritual awakening be occurring in Russia which will have incalculable consequences?

I saw a good portion of the concert this afternoon and it was lovely. We must all remember this intention over Holy Week (for the ensuing fragmenting of His Body was a portion of Jesus' passion) and we should rejoice over this opportunity for culture to create a bridge. Like all reunions, there will be heaps of humility required to make it work. So it is with all that is beautiful -- it should point to the One, True God, Source of all that is Good, Exemplar of humility.

UPDATE: Remembering how the question of "building culture" came up in the comboxes below, I would point to this event as a gift of the bride -- a gift that this time happens to be comprised of the talents of men and women, sponsored by the Church, and enjoyed by all.

Keeping Faith

This story is instructive in two ways. It shows that God can do all things, despite the pronouncements of the medical community -- if He so wishes. And secondly, it shows the necessity of good ethicists at hospitals, which will allow good to prosper and mistakes to be avoided.

"I'm almost certain your baby has no chance of living," Taylor remembering what the specialist said. "In fact he used the word zilch, zilch chance. There is no amniotic fluid, there is not a genetic reason to explain this, it just happens. You can either terminate the pregnancy now or you can go through the pregnancy...and the baby will probably be still born or be born alive and die a couple of hours after being born"...."We decided," said Jennifer, "that we thought that was the best option, was to go ahead and induce early. I mean I would have a normal delivery you know and what understood the outcome would be the same, the baby was not going to make it either way. For me I could not imagine carry this baby for to full term."

That early delivery would have happened at Tyler's Trinity Mother Frances Hospital. But because it was so early in the pregnancy, the hospital's ethics committee said no....

All endings manifest God's permissive will, which is necessary, but some endings are visibly breath-taking, when we see His hand so clearly. Imagine all the hearts and minds that have been affected by this clearly miraculous child.

Think: Bride

I trust Barbara Nicolosi. She has an excellent eye and an innate sense of beauty, truth, and irony -- not to mention an ability to translate such into words. Thus I was intrigued and distressed to read her "travelogue" about the Holy Land, esp. her account of Jerusalem:

And I feel guilty to ask the question, but, am I allowed to not like Jerusalem? Because I really didn't like it. I was angry a lot there. And definitely a bit revolted. My Christian friends there keep telling me that the city grows on you and that you begin to love it. But that would be a big stretch for me where I'm sitting now beside the lovely, restful waters of the Sea of Galilee.

What about Jerusalem made me angry? Well, you have to be there to really understand. Because no matter how artful my language, nothing will convey to you the gross incivility, inappropriateness, and intrusiveness of what seems like a gazillion Arab mosques all projecting their whining call to "prayer" on loudspeakers every few hours. It is jolting and HORRIFIC. Like cats screaming in alleys in stereophonic sound. It's the kind of thing I'm sure they do with sound in concentration camps to break the will of the prisoners. And it made me mad.

The minarets screaming everywhere discordantly in Jerusalem are way more than Moslem acts of loving devotion to God. They are clearly provocation in a city which is already tense as the center of focus for several major religions. It is the Muslim version of "We're here and we're queer!"

Now a careful reading of that last line shows that she's not equating Islam with homosexual perversity, but a basic perversity that screams "I!" while ignoring the multitude of "thou's." It's an inability to allow others to think, esp. to think differently or to come to conclusions out of free will that may be conclusions other than those of the noisy masses.

I find it a fascinating parallel, though, with the mysogyny in Islam. The thinking that women are second class partners within marriage, that God can contradict himself in the Koran because he's, well, God, and the bare knuckles approach to law that demands that their privately revealed legal code trump all other cultural conclusions about what is fair. Dare I say that the culture reeks of masculinity gone awry, without the gentling balance of femininity? (I say this knowing the reverse is just as damaging. Only in complementarity will the balance be healthy.)

Barbaba also noted the near irrelevance of Christianity -- in the very places where the salvation of the world was won through suffering and the shedding of blood.

And why was I revolted?

Well, until you have seen the Via Dolorosa you can't understand. Christianity in Jerusalem is really mostly irrelevant from the standpoint of the Jews and Muslims who run the joint. With the notable exception of the Garden of Gethsemane, the sites where the redemption of the world was accomplished are obscured and underemphasized. The Orthodox Jews who run the city consider Jesus anathema. He is a scandal and a horror to them. So, on the main Biblical sites - like the Temple Mount or the Pool of Siloam or the various city gates mentioned in the New Testment - there is no mention of the fact that Jesus Christ walked or stood there. The place where the Son of Man shed his blood on the Via Dolorosa is completely overrun with lines of garrish shops selling every kind of kitsch. The place where Jesus carried his cross is the main shopping alley in the Old City, jammed with hawking and pushy vendors. It's fetid and dirty and beyond weird to see a dirty plaque on the wall reading "Eighth Station" in between a t-shirt stall and a smoking gyro grill.

Now we know that whether the folks selling t-shirts and snacks in that place know it or not, what happened in their midst offers them true freedom -- for every hawker of gaudy wares, for every customer as well as for the pilgrim who wanders about from station to station. That is the mystery of this faith: God is. He saves amidst the hurly-burly, in our families who seem oblivious of the price paid for their souls.

Jerusalem is an icon of the bride -- no doubt bereft without the groom and weeping over the disinterest of their own offspring. Jesus wept over her while there, He took a lash to her temple, and was rejected by her temple priests. She in turn stands as mother of many wayward children as well as the few who take the narrow road of truth. And those roads twist and turn like the alleys Barb followed, maddening and yet having once borne the God-man, sowing the seed for our very life.

This is a joke, right?

Barbara Boxer dug into her "mouldy oldies" and pulled out this hackneyed speech for her evidently clueless audience, which is clamouring for legislators to dig up and pass the [gasp!] Equal Rights Amendment:

"Elections have consequences, and isn't it true those consequences are good right now?" Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) asked a mostly female crowd yesterday at a news conference, as the audience cheered. "We are turning this country around, bit by bit, to put it in a more progressive direction."

The amendment consists of 52 words and has one key line: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." That sentence would subject legal claims of gender discrimination to the same strict scrutiny given by courts to allegations of racial discrimination.

One might gently ask, "what colour is the sky in your world, m'dears?" Perhaps these women have missed the body count attached to thirty years of "progressivism," the raunchy culture in which girls are souped-up and ready to play in equal numbers with boys (whether in the bedroom or lacing up locker rooms decorated on the Title Nine dime), the fact that boys are lagging behind in schools across the country (for one reason or another), the fact that women outnumber men in many distinguished university departments across the fruited plain, or the fact that quotes -- spoken or unspoken -- already have given women a leg up, a corner office, and a hefty advantage in corporations nationwide.

Why it may be a joke is that the wording: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex" may be code words for men who want to be treated fairly, or it may be a game playing into the hands of the transgendered or otherwise non-hetero poplulation.

This cannot be serious -- an early April Fool's prank...?

UPDATE: Call me slow. Call me dense. It appears to be an end-run around possible legislation that in the future will limit abortions. These ERA's are attached to state constitutions where possible to negate such limitations, and it would do so on the national level if the Supreme Court ever reversed all or part of Roe v. Wade. NRTL has the scoop. God bless those stalwart and vigilant souls who stay up to combat this stuff!