I have known the sin of Satan. 

He did not malign

God’s infinity,

His self-sufficiency,

His perfection. 

Rather, he cursed

God’s folly,

the folly of creation,

the admission of things

contingent and limited

into existence,

the admixture of

nothingness

into being. 

A grand paradox:  

Lucifer, were he God,

would have refused

the creation of even Lucifer

lest there be any sharing

of his being, lest there be

any beauty, power, will,

or intellect other than his own. 

Oh, that God should be alone! 

That He might be deprived alike

of His creatures and inner relations! 

That the Father should begrudge

the Son’s begetting,

the Spirit’s procession,

that He should be named

not the Father, but the Absolute –

Uncommunicated,

Unknown,

Unloved.

Coming off of Labor Day weekend and a classic season of outdoor barbecues, I thought it might be interesting to consider the question: is vegetarianism morally defective?

First of all, I should define my terms. For the purposes of this reflection, I regard as vegetarian a person who doesn’t eat meat on the basis of some kind of principle that they would regard as ethical. A person who rarely or never eats meat for pragmatic reasons (because they can’t afford it, because they have digestive problems, etc.) doesn’t count as a vegetarian for this post. I myself, as a Peace Corps Volunteer, was a de facto vegetarian for a time, simply because my apartment had no adequate refrigeration, forcing me to avoid foods that could easily spoil and cause disease. But this was never a moral position, and as a guest in someone’s else’s home, I would willingly eat meat if it was served to me. These sorts of commonsensical cases raise no difficult ethical questions that I can see.
Continue reading

You’re not supposed to use mean words like these anymore to describe bad Catholics, but the past week has shown just how desperately we need them.

Cardinal O’Malley’s recent blog post justifying his participation in Ted Kennedy’s funeral was, in its way, almost as painful as the event itself. Signs of bad faith are everywhere. Consider, for example, his suggestion that many people have been upset about the funeral because Kennedy “did not publicly support” Catholic teaching and advocacy on behalf of the unborn, as though the offense were merely oversleeping through the March for Life instead of a longstanding, public commitment to supporting abortion legislation. Then, after some glowing (but very brief and unspecific) homage to the Senator’s life accomplishments, the remainder of the post is a study in irrelevance as he reminisces about other deceased members of the Kennedy family (apparently we’re supposed to be impressed that not every Kennedy was through-and-through depraved; Rose Kennedy, for example, had a lovely prayer card at her funeral), the beauty of the music at the funeral, and the charm of the Irish generally. He also made some mention of his own record of pro-life activities, as if to prove to the Catholic faithful that honestly, he isn’t pro-abortion.

Continue reading