It rarely gets as good as this. Last night, on a flight from Detroit to Ithaca, I wound up sitting next to an academic who identified himself as a sworn enemy of the Faith, and who wanted to discuss it with me! It was as if Divine Providence had seen my “Wanted: Atheists” post from a month or so ago, and obliged by sending a juicy one right to me.

Continue reading

Sports, banquets, parties, fine clothes, and stage comedies are all things that, considered in themselves, are by no means evil. They are indifferent acts and therefore they can be neither good or bad. At the same time such things are always dangerous and to have an affection for them is still more dangerous. Hence, Philothea, I hold that although it is licit to engage in sports, dance, wear fine clothes, attend harmless comedies, and enjoy banquets, to have a strong liking for such things is not only opposed to devotion but also extremely harmful and dangerous. It is not evil to do such things, but it is evil to be attached to them. It is a pity to sow such vain and foolish affections in our heart’s soil. They usurp the place of worthwhile interests and hinder the sap of our soul from being used for good inclinations.

– St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life

Nihil vero tam damnosum bonis moribus quam in aliquo spectaculo desidere; tunc enim per voluptatem facilius vitia subrepunt.

– Seneca, Epistulae Morales, 7

Continue reading

This note is intended for the exclusive delectation of those of us here at Cornell (or once here), who know of Sage Chapel and its non-sectarian Sunday morning services. Of course, it may bring a smile to the faces of others as well. The name “non-sectarian” is deceiving: trust me, this group is one very special bunch of loonies with their own ideology. I can’t imagine that Sage Chapel has a regular Sunday morning “congregation”; rather, I suppose that the size of the gathered “faithful” varies with the hipness of the person leading the “meditation”, i.e. sermon. On that note, I should also point out that this Sunday – in case any of you were interested – is the “special annual jazz service”; the “Postlude”, so-called, is “Take the A Train” by Duke Ellington. I think that they would be better off with some of Mozart’s compositions for the Masons, which I am enjoying listening to as I type this post. It’s kinda jazzy in its way.
Continue reading

I recently read a little pamphlet, last published in 1993 by Angelus Press, entitled the Duties of the Catholic State in Regard to Religion, a lecture by Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani. The translation from Italian was done by the Rev. Fr. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. and first printed in 1953. Fr. Fahey explains the occasion of the lecture in the Translator’s Foreword:

On March 2, 1953, the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome celebrated the fourteenth anniversary of Pope Pius XII’s election to the Supreme Pontificate. . . . After the address of homage in Latin to His Holiness, Pope Pius XII, read by the Right Reverend Rector of the University, and the address of welcome in Italian to the distinguished gathering, delivered by the same, the Schola Cantorum of the Roman Seminary sang the Ave Maria of Da Vittoria. His Eminence, Cardinal Ottaviani, then gave his eagerly awaited lecture on “Church and State: Some Present-day Problems in the light of Pope Pius XII’s Teaching.” It is this Lecture, published later in pamplet form by the Pontifical Lateran University, which, by the kind permission of His Eminence, I now have the honor of presenting to readers of English. I am certain that in doing so I am rendering a great service to those who would otherwise be deprived of its luminous exposition of Catholic doctrine. . . .

Luminous exposition, indeed! and not, of course, the type of thing one is liable to read hot off the press of the Pontifical Lateran University today. From the opening paragraphs:
Continue reading

In light of the recent anniversary, I thought our readers might be interested in this article from Human Life Review. George McKenna tracks the attitudes taken towards abortion by the major American political parties, and asks the perplexing question: how did the Democrats become America’s pro-abortion party? As McKenna points out, it’s not what one might have expected in the 1960’s, when the Democrats counted the great majority of Catholics among their voters, and trumpeted the defense of the weak as their primary agenda. Republicans, the historically anti-Catholic and pro-middle class party, flirted with abortion at a time when a young Ted Kennedy was declaring it morally repugnant. And yet, just a few years later, the Democrats were adding a plank to their platform declaring a “universal right” for women to procure an abortion, while Republicans were recasting themselves as the defenders of life. What happened?

Continue reading

Our fearless traddie reporter, sojourning in Mohammedan lands, relates the story of an even more fearless Catholic come from France to Turkey, and thence to the Holy Land.

After Mass this Sunday, at the Jesuit chapel located in the old French chancellery in Ankara, I was eager to talk with a young man whom I easily identified as a traditional Catholic – they tend to stand out at most Masses these days, even here in Turkey.

His name is Armel. He is 28 and has 10 brothers and sisters, including one who is a priest in the FSSP and another brother who is considering the priesthood. Early last year in June 2006, Armel resigned his commission as a captain in the French infantry. One month later, in July, he began a pilgrimage on foot from France to Jerusalem. He had spent Christmas in Istanbul and had recently arrived in Ankara. Armel stayed in our home Monday – and departed Ankara Tuesday morning after morning Mass, continuing his journey across the cold winter mountains of eastern Turkey, and then, God willing, into Syria, Lebanon, and finally Palestine.

Continue reading

St Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!
The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,
And silent was the flock in woolly fold:
Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told
His rosary, and while his frosted breath,
Like pious incense from a censer old,
Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death,
Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith.

Continue reading

Though no profound insights are necessarily contained in them, I always like finding new metaphorical expressions for various moral or philosophical distinctions. They serve as useful mental shorthands, and can sometimes remind us to take the distinction seriously. Last night, when sampling an Opus Dei evening of reflection in our new town, one of the two speakers offered the following analogy, which occasioned this post: the distinction between following one’s conscience and having a well-formed conscience is like the distinction between having a precise and an accurate clock. A conscience that is not attuned to the true moral law is no more useful than an ill-set clock, no matter how closely — how authentically, if you will — it is followed.

As I warned, no profound insight here. And maybe I like the analogy because, as a physicist, the distinction between accuracy (trueness-to-reality) and precision (theoretical limit to accuracy or fineness of measurement scale) is a professional obsession. But in any event, I hope you find it useful, too.

I’ve just been told that there will be a sung Traditional Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of King Louis XVI, the last King of France before the Revolution, at Our Lady of Good Counsel in New York City (located on East 90th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Ave; the closest subway stop is 86th and Lexington on the 6 train). The Mass will be at 1pm this Saturday, January 20th. If you are in the New York area, how can you not attend? I wish that I could be there!

An email discussion of the newest serial-killer flick to hit the theatres got me thinking again about the topic of mental illness. It’s really just the most morbidly fascinating tip of an iceberg of questions about how to reconcile psychology with a moral philosophy that holds human beings responsible for at least some of what they do. But, since it is the most morbidly fascinating bit, I’ll go ahead and say something about it.

Continue reading