To say the least, I am quite confounded by what's becoming known as the "Notre Dame Scandal." It amazes me sometimes how short-sighted people can be. Looking ahead, I want to be able to say to my students that I never compromised in defense of life. I never said that it would be OK if we just reduced abortions, but wouldn't stop fighting until they were illegal in our country. How will Catholics be judged when hearts are changed and abortion is nonexistent in the United States? I want to be on the side of those who prayed and publicly advocated for change, not those who sat around making excuses.
Will this turn out to be an embarrassing blip in ND's history? Will our children and grandchildren ask how anyone could ever justify this?
Of course, there are dozens of opinions circulating online. Ed Peters talks about what Bishop D'Arcy can't do canonically.
I am impressed by Bishop D'Arcy's statement and think he really identifies the root of this problem: "Indeed, as a Catholic University, Notre Dame must ask itself, if by this decision it has chosen prestige over truth."
Amy Welborn posts this wonderful excerpt from Walker Percy's speech when he accepted the Laetare Medal in 1989:
My two friends had the peculiar custom--at least it seemed peculiar in that medical school at that time--of going to church--attending Mass, they called it--every Sunday. As for me, I believed in science, period. So I accepted their strange behavior as yet another Yankee eccentricity.
I didn't think no more about it. Yet, it must have stuck in my mind. To make a very long story quite short, later I found myself a Catholic and a writer, writing novels, articles about philosophy and science and religion and such, and had, of course, long since discovered that this strange name, Notre Dame, referred to a community of scholars, a great university.
Perhaps there are advantages to being an outsider. An insider gets too accustomed to names. At any rate, I found it extremely touching and still do that a university, a community of scholars as well as a great football team, should call itself quite simply, and by the two lovely words, 'Our Lady.' I still find it so. And it's one of the many reasons that I'm so pleased to be here.
The motto of the Laetare Medal is, I understand, 'Magna est veritas et prevalebit,' 'Truth is mighty and shall prevail.' I like to think that it applies even to the humble vocation of a novelist.
In my last novel, The Thanatos Syndrome, I tried to show how, while truth should prevail, it is a disaster when only one kind of truth prevails at the expense of another. If only one kind of truth prevails, the abstract and technical truth of science, then nothing stands in the way of a demeaning of and a destruction of human life for what would appear to be reasonable short-term goals.
It's no accident that I think that German science, as great as it was, ended in the destruction of the Holocaust.
The novelist likes to irritate people by pointing this out. It's his pleasure and vocation to reveal, with his own elusive and indirect way, man's need of and openings to other than scientific propositions.
The novelist, I think, has a special calling to truth these days. The world into which you are graduating is a deranged world. It is his task to show the derangement. My characters are a little strange. In my last novel, there was a priest and not your ordinary priest. He climbed a fire tower and refused to come down. Yet, from his tower, he saw a great deal more than brush fires.
In another novel, there are two unusual lovers. One is a man who achieved every material goal in life, yet he was subject to strange fits and takes to falling down in sand traps. The other is a young woman who escapes from a mental hospital. Her obsession is that ordinary language is worn out. So she invents a new language.
The point is that through their sufferings, symptoms if you will, that they begin to see what has gone wrong and where the truth lies. So the novelist is one of the lowliest handmaidens of the celebration of the truth of the Good News. But if he, or any of us, succeeds even a bit in this task, then I say laetare indeed. Let us rejoice. Thank you.
After thinking about it for a few days, I decided to sign the petition.
Mount Saint Mary's University has unearthed a chapel from 1824 while doing dorm renovations. Fox DC has the story.
On the campus of Mount St. Mary's, construction workers uncovered a part of the University's history that had remained a secret for more than 200 years.
During a dorm renovation project, workers uncovered the original campus chapel dating back to 1824. No one even knew it was there.
Once the plaster was removed, University officials could clearly see the brick walls, windows, alcoves and original pillars.
Officials had planned to turn the area into a dorm lounge but will now restore the original chapel so future generations can enjoy it.
Our Scriptural tradition has many stories of dancing—but the kind of dancing that comes out of ordinary, everyday people. David danced before the Lord, Miriam danced on the seashore, the women took up garlands and danced at Judith’s victory, and even John the Baptist did a little jig in his mother’s belly at the voice of Mary’s greeting.
And in our ritual, all of us dance—I mean, all of us, trained or not. When we dip our hand into the font, make the sign of the cross, bow low in reverence, raise arms in prayer, extend hands in peace and blessing, we are dancing. We are doing choreographed movement; we are expressing our faith, our joy, through our bodies.
This is what we do at our local Rite of Election, but just turned up a notch. The joy that our Rite of Election elicits—and the dancing that comes out of that joy—is often surprising for both the many long-time Catholics and “newbies” who come to our cathedral expecting a long, sober, restrained lenten ritual. Let me explain.
In our Rite of Election, after the homily, we present our catechumens to the Bishop in chant, in English and in Spanish. Then after he questions the godparents, asks the faithful for their affirmation, and confirms the catechumens’ desire to be initiated, the names of every catechumen are proclaimed by representatives from each parish. As the names are called, the catechumens and their godparents are led by their Book of the Elect to stand as a group before the Bishop. After he has accepted the proclamation of their names, the Bishop bows to the catechumens and godparents who bow to him in return.
Once all the names have been announced, those carrying the parish Book of the Elect stand around the altar (our cathedral is in the round) holding their books open high above their heads. Parish by parish, the catechumens are called to stand as the Books and the catechumens are blessed with incense filling the air.
Then at the climax of the rite, the Bishop standing at his chair proclaims with great solemnity: “I now declare you to be members of the elect, to be initiated into the sacred mysteries at the next Easter Vigil!”
With that declaration, the entire assembly roars into a jubilant sung acclamation—“Thanks be to God!”—repeated over and over, handclapping and all! And the Books dance! The people holding the Books are swept up by the joy of the assembly that they can’t help but move—some can’t even wait for the acclamation to begin! Up and down, side to side, twirling around in circles, the names of God’s chosen ones fill the space. The assembly, amazed at the sight, sings and claps even louder. Thanks, indeed, be to our good and gracious God!
Can you believe that the pope is against using condoms to stop the spread of AIDS? Yes, I can. He's made no secret about his feelings. If he said the opposite, I think it would be quite newsworthy.
Well, of course, I'm not being fair. People are not writing about this, really. They're writing about how he said condoms contribute to the AIDS epidemic. SHOCKING!
Well, obviously the pope is an idiot. He sits in an ivory tower all day, surrounded by black/purple/red-clad celibates who spend their days kissing his butt, telling him every piece of good news he wants to hear. He's so disconnected from the "real world," choosing instead a fantasy life of ideals worthy of Plato himself.
It couldn't possibly be that the man is correct or that we should stop for a minute and consider his actual comments. The pope is not unscientific and he is not being dogmatic. He's not saying condoms themselves don't stop the spread of AIDS because he knows that they can when used correctly. Perhaps he means that the "condom mentality" is exacerbating the problem. It's so easy for Westerners to assume that other cultures think and act just like they do (the liberals were quick to point this out to the Bush administration concerning the Middle East, and rightly so). If condoms are available, do those infected even bother to use them? Are the pope's comments relevant to those who are infected? If people are committing adultery, I doubt they could care less about the pope's opinion on condoms!
There is more to what the pope is saying than just mere dogmatism. He knows that people are not animals, that they have a dignity and worth and are endowed with the faculty of reason. He's one of the few people in the world not talking out of both sides of his mouth: Don't have sex if you're infected... well, if you must, make sure you use a condom. How hypocritical!
Of course, there's more to the story than the mainstream media is willing to pursue. The America blog has this interesting perspective from one of their myriad SJs:
We learn as we go along that AIDS is very complex. H.I.V. is a virus that reduces and destroys the immune system. But it’s also a cultural, familial, communal and spiritual reality. The fight against AIDS has to be carried forward on all those fronts....
Westerners feel very strongly that the condom is the minimal responsible thing to do. But this is to make sexuality into a very individual choice: the exercise of sexuality is not embedded in marriage, much less in the larger cultural context. It comes instead from the idea that I am the sovereign of my behavior and I can do what I want, with whom I want, when I want, as long as I don’t involve children or use violence. Within that range of choices, which is practically infinite, I am also responsible for using a condom....
In Africa, sexual expression is rarely consensual and often coerced. Also—this is very important and why I feel the condom is not the answer—much of the propagation of H.I.V. is older men giving it to younger girls. It’s not boys and girls who “can’t keep their pants on,” though today people like to project that image. It’s what we call sugar daddies, and to a certain extent sugar mommies, adults who are “buying” sex with younger people and spreading H.I.V. When you’re a very poor girl and an older man is horny, and he’ll give you a blouse or money for your cellphone, which you desperately need, what are you going to do?....
AIDS is part and parcel of a whole syndrome of injustices. Let Africa find its rightful place in the world economy, and AIDS will go away. Make international agricultural policy favorable to Africa, for example, and Africa will blossom. AIDS will fade away because people will be able to earn their living and feed themselves properly...[AIDS is] a disease of poverty and of hopelessness, of conflict, of suffering, of all the things that happen because we are countries that cannot produce, cannot export, cannot run ourselves well, are often at war and full of refugees, full of corruption. Africa’s woes are complicating factors when it comes to AIDS....
We explained, in Grace Candiru’s recent story about Uganda:
Edward Green is director of the AIDS Prevention Research Project at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. He wrote Rethinking AIDS Prevention: Learning From Successes in Developing Countries and reported that, between 1989 and 2001, the average number of condoms per male ages 15 to 49 in African countries skyrocketed. So did the number of those infected with HIV. South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe had the world’s highest levels of condom availability per man. They also had the world’s highest HIV rates.
Norman Hearst is a family physician and epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, asked Hearst to do a scientific review to see if condom promotions had reversed HIV/AIDS epidemics. His review found the contrary was true. Countries with the most condoms per man tended to have the highest HIV rates. UNAIDS refused to publish Hearst’s findings.
“Condom promotion in Africa has been a disaster,” Hearst said.
Nearly every country on the continent has vigorously promoted condoms to stem the tide of the AIDS epidemic there. But the epidemic has only grown larger.
Uganda, on the other hand, has experienced the greatest decline in HIV prevalence of any country in the world, according to the Heritage Foundation. The Ugandan public education campaign against AIDS mentioned condoms, but emphasized abstinence.
Studies show that from 1991 to 2001 HIV infection rates in Uganda declined from about 15% to 5%.
“The Ugandan model has the most to teach the rest of the world,” said Green. “This policy should guide the development of programs in Africa and the Caribbean.”
Jeff Spieler, chief of the research division in the U.S. Agency for International Development population office, said, “It just happens to be where the evidence is pointing."
There are so many perspectives. What a rich problem to have on such a complex life/death issue. It's sad that people are so quick to condemn Pope Benedict's comments and dismiss him as a pedophile-sheltering, closet case who wouldn't know reality if it jumped up and bit him in his white-robed butt (I've read a lot of MSM coverage and the comments that go with them). Our Holy Father is very wise to remind us of the cultural milieu in which this epidemic has thrived. Time is certainly of the essence since millions are dying, but a morally bankrupt solution is not going to bring the parents of orphans back. Thank God for Benedict and his ilk who are advocating for authentic solutions to a horrible plague. I am convinced that someday his comments will be publicly vindicated and considered to be prophetic.
I know we have confessions coming up at school in a week or so and this video will serve as a great conversation starter with the kids. It's from my home diocese and it was made to introduce a diocesan-wide campaign but it's general enough to be helpful to anyone.
In the spirit of the good Cardinal, I just wanted to give you an idea of what's been going on and what will be happening.
The week started with a snow day on Monday which was ridiculously inconvenient since our school's production of "Bye Bye Birdie" is next weekend and we lost a rehearsal day. The director of the show has been sick so much of the work has fallen on my shoulders, so it was a relatively busy week of trying to arrange the orchestra, rehearsing, organizing the program, making posters, and finishing last minute prop and costume issues. As an added bonus, one of our spotlights and two of our stage lights burned out so we have to call on Monday to be sure they are in stock in Pennsylvania then have them overnighted. Say a prayer for that. Overall, I'm excited about the show but cautiously so... we still have a lot of work to do. Thankfully, Monday is an in-service day so we're bringing the kids in for an extra rehearsal.
This week, the juniors finished the saints competition I hold every year. I will have a separate post on this along with pictures sometime during the week. Now if I can only find time to finish grading them! The seniors are now halfway through Father Joe by Tony Hendra and loving it.
The parish had an Evening of Renewal for those involved in liturgical ministries planned for last Monday night but it had to be canceled because of the storm. It was to have included sung Evening Prayer then a chance for each group of ministers to meet and talk about procedure and why their ministry is important. It has been rescheduled for March 30. I've been working on this event since December and was a bit disappointed it was postponed, but at least all the work is already finished when it does come around!
The choir is continuing to progress nicely. We've rehearsed most of our Lenten music so now we can begin working on Holy Week. I'm meeting with the pastor on Monday to go through all of Holy Week so I can start planning. I'm actually a bit late getting that together. The life of a parish musician is one of advanced preparation, something colleagues in the parish don't always understand. The remaining Lenten program consists of Return to God (Haugen; I don't usually like Haugen's music but this one works reasonably well. I'm not sure if I will program it again next year though), God so Loved the World (Stainer; an English-language classic that the choir hated at first but has warmed up to although they don't love it), Let My Tongue Be Silenced (Lynch; beautiful refrain and second verse but the first verse is not wonderful. I explained to the choir on Thursday the longing in the hearts of the exiles that led to the writing of Psalm 137). This afternoon at the 4:00 we're singing a relatively new piece called There Is No Greater Love by Scialla. It's quite an elegant piece in 6/8 that I rather like and it came with the latest GIA choral subscription.
There is much more excitement to report, I can promise you. But we'll leave it here for now.
