they’re reading Catholic apologetics in their spare time just out of a (seemingly random) zeal to refute the Church of Rome.

Sorry I’ve been MIA lately. I’ve had a major project that’s really been tying me up. Actually it’s not just the time that keeps me away from the blog… it’s more that this particular project, being of an intellectual nature, sucks my mental energy so dry that writing is about the last thing I want to do in my spare time. People with more physically demanding jobs sometimes like to scoff at these sorts of complaints, but seriously, not every kind of exhaustion is physical.

But I did want to post a note about some enjoyable conversations that I’ve been having with one of my students of late. He’s a Protestant. I’ve made no secret of being a Catholic. A lot of the students (though by no means all) are Catholic themselves, though I expect many have learned more about Catholic moral philosophy from me than from their years of CCD classes. Anyhow, this particular student has taken to frequenting my office hours to confront me with various criticisms of the Church. He’s not exactly friendly about it… I don’t mean to say that he’s abusive or rude, but there’s definitely an air of defensiveness, or maybe just intensity, to the whole endeavor. Which I (call me patronizing, but I can’t help it) find utterly endearing. Probably I identify some, because I was a lot like that in an earlier period of life.

Not that I’m counting on any immediate life transformations… people move at their own pace. I should know. But seriously. When you’re reading Catholic apologetics (ostensibly just to familiarize yourself with the weaknesses of the enemy) and coming back for repeated bruisings from your Catholic philosophy professor, you’re pretty much begging to be reeled in.

Who knows if this is true? but it’s certainly an interesting anecdote:

Nearly twenty five years ago, a Pole was dining in my college in Cambridge. He told us that he had been an altar boy in Poland, and had often served the masses of the Archbishop of Cracow. A year or two after that prelate, Karol Woytila, had been installed in the See of Rome, he decided to visit him, for John Paul II never became too grand for his old Polish friends. The Pope (so he told the story) strode up to him, punched him lightly in the chest, and began: Introibo ad ad altare dei … to which our guest responded: ad Deum qui laetificat iuventutem meam. (“I will go unto the altar of God”, “To God who giveth joy to my youth.”) This was the opening exchange between priest and server of the old “Tridentine” Latin mass, abolished in the early 1970s, and the two continued it right down to the Confiteor. Then the Pope shrugged his shoulders and said: “Well, that”s no use to us anymore.” His old altar boy replied: “No, Holy Father, and that’s why I no longer go to church.” To which the Pope (he said) instantly rejoined: “Don”t blame me. Blame that maniac John XXIII!”

If you haven’t looked through this article by John Casey, a fellow of Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge, it’s worth a read.

I wish that I could be there! From the Detroit Latin Mass community:

For the first time in approximately 40 years, St. Josaphat Church will celebrate All Souls Day according to the old tradition: At 6:00 PM Two Low Masses will simultaneously be celebrated at each of the two side altars inside the sanctuary. Then, at 7:00 PM, a Solemn High Mass with Deacon and Subdeacon will be celebrated at the high altar, to be followed by Absolution at the Catafalque, in commemoration of all of the faithful departed. This All Souls Day tradition is one of the topics covered in this weeks Tridentine Community News [PDF warning].

Is the “simultaneously” bit supposed to be part of the tradition, or just coincidental to what the essential element of the tradition, i.e. three Masses on a non-Sunday? And it gets more interesting: Continue reading

The Cornell Society for a Good Time is very pleased to share with our readers this thoughtful and engaging interview with Dr. John Rao, associate professor of history at St. John’s University in New York City. Dr. Rao very kindly agreed to answer questions by email from three of our contributors. As academics and traditional Catholics, our questions for Dr. Rao were mostly about the interaction of the academy and traditional Catholicism; but we also asked him to comment on modernism and American political life. (One note: I have changed the text Dr. Rao submitted to me by the addition of some links where I thought that they might be helpful.) Enjoy!

In your experience as a professor of history, what historical insight or set of historical facts have you generally found to be most surprising to your students, educated as they have been by teachers ignorant of, or hostile to, the Catholic faith and a Catholic understanding of history?

Quite frankly, most of the students whom I have taught over the past 29 years at St. John’s University have never expressed surprise or, for that matter, any opinion whatsoever regarding the material that I have presented to them. The most enlightening (and depressing) thing that I can tell you in this regard is that, even despite their terror concerning grades in my courses, almost all of my students completely ignore the pro-Catholic, record-straight-setting information I give them, and recite the dominant errors and mantras aimed against the Faith on tests. As far as I can determine, this is in no way due to deeply-rooted conviction on their part. Rather, it merely indicates the power of the propaganda fed them from practically every social channel since early youth. They simply cannot expel the erroneous and hostile words from their heads, just as I cannot purge the theme songs of situation comedies on television (like “Car Fifty Four”) remembered from my own youth.
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So Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Hussein Obama for president. There’s a big surprise; one liberal endorses another. But people should pay attention to the reason Powell gave for his endorsement: “I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that’s what we’d be looking at in a McCain administration.” Exactly. Which is why we Catholics have to pray that we’ll be spared an Obama presidency.

About two weeks ago, I realized that Barack Obama was going to be elected as our next president — and, indeed, that we’re soon going to see the advent of the most liberal government that the United States has ever had. It was a bitter thought for a few hours. I reserve the right to get bitter about it again sometime before election day, but mostly I think I’m over it. I mean, yes, this probably does mean that the laws protecting the legal slaughter of innocent children will be extended for a considerable period in the future. It’s also likely to mean a slate of policies of a sort that will further the dissolution of community and family life, particularly among the poor where the effects of this are most grim. These are great tragedies. And I haven’t so entirely given up that I’m not planning to cast my (swing state!) vote on election day, but frankly, at this point, I don’t want to dwell on this more than I have to. The world is full of pain and sin, and we’d drive ourselves crazy if we took it all personally.

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This is old news by now, but it recently came to mind when it was mentioned in one of Judith Martin’s columns. I expect most people have read already about Sally Quinn, the atheist journalist who received Communion at Tim Russert’s funeral, “transubstantiation notwithstanding”, claiming that it would have made him “so thrilled” to see her do it. The incident created a bit of a stir at the time. Personally, I thought that the thing that reflected badly on Quinn was no so much her receiving Communion in the first place, as her refusal to apologize afterwards. Obviously the act itself was wrong, and on one level she did really know better; Judith Martin gives her credit for wanting to “show respect for the dead and his religion,” and I expect she did to some degree, but there was also a nastily patronizing side to it. For an atheist to receive Communion apparently seemed to her like making the deceased Russert some kind of concession, acknowledging that his religion wasn’t complete idiocy (though, of course, she still doesn’t believe in it.) Well, thanks, but no thanks. Please realize that receiving the Body of the Lord is a Catholic’s highest honor and privilege, not a favor that we do for the Church. Nobody should ever think of it as a concession, least of all to another human being.

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ROME, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) – France has settled on an envoy to represent Paris at the Vatican after the Holy See rejected a gay candidate, a French diplomatic source told AFP on Monday. France had earlier decided against proposing author Denis Tillinac for the post because he is divorced, sources close to the dossier said. Instead, Stanislas Lefebvre de Laboulaye, currently France’s ambassador to Moscow, is to take up the post, the diplomatic source said. The Beirut-born Lefebvre de Laboulaye has represented France in Moscow since November 2006, following stints as ambassador to Madagascar and consul general in Jerusalem in the 1990s. The last French ambassador to the Holy See, Bernard Kessedjian, died in December 2007. The gay man whose candidacy to replace Kessedjian was rejected is a career diplomat who is in a civil union with his partner, the sources said. The Roman Catholic Church condemns both divorce and active homosexuality, and strongly opposes legal rights for gay couples. The Vatican is rarely placed in the position of opposing potential ambassadors on personal grounds. However, Argentina has also had difficulty naming a new ambassador, having withdrawn the candidacy of divorced former justice minister Alberto Iribarne, who is divorced and living with another woman.