Is anyone else bothered by the anti-intellectual slant in the RCC these days? For instance, in the community on livejournal that everyone loves to hate, someone brought up the fact that the extraordinary rite was more theologically rich than the "novus ordo." (Funny how they can't bring themselves to use the term "ordinary rite.") What they really mean by this is, "I'm more refined than you felt banner-loving savages."

I guess what I'm bothered by is the anti-intellectual slant, unless it serves them. Then they bill themselves as intellectuals, when their reading is primarily of apologetics published before 1960 and Chesterton. They wouldn't dream of reading anyone who offends their delicate Catholic sensibilities. They decry the political bias of the university system, yet don't bother to see that they're just as biased as any professor. (Come to think of it, but my chair--who's one of those liberal professors from the 1970's--is a hell of a lot more tolerant of others than I am.)

Do I search out deliberately anti-Catholic stuff? No, but I've taken plenty of philosophy and critical theory courses. I've read plenty of books that would be banned by Opus Dei. I don't agree with everything I've read, and somewhere along the line people confuse appreciating an argument with agreeing with it.

I get the same thing with music all the time. For instance, I can't stand Enya. I think it's vapid trash. My opinions, however, shouldn't matter because I'm sure people will find some music they think is horrible that I absolutely love. Yet somehow people think that just because I'm getting an advanced degree in music that my opinions may matter more than someone else's. Sure, I may be able to articulate why I think Enya is garbage, but in the end I'm not out to convert anyone. I'm only trying to justify why I think the way I do and communicate what my experience is.

Likewise, I think people are disagreeing about aesthetics in liturgy. What our friend in that community is really saying is, "I don't get a high off of the ordinary rite." That's a perfectly valid statement to make, but where he goes over the line is saying that we all should have that experience, if we want to be as theologically sophisticated as he is.



Apologies to those who've seen this twice.

Yah, we'll take him.

So I'm still too wiped out to come up with something huge, and my brain isn't working well in the heat. But I found this take on Batman's religion. Interesting, if you're into obsessive analysis of fanwank. Their support is kind of weak, IMO, but it's something fun to read in air conditioning. And, hell, I'll always take cool Catholic characters. (Although considering the status of the Wayne family, I'd be more inclined to think they were Episcopalian.)

The Hoopy Frood and I saw "Dark Knight" last week and "Batman Begins" yesterday. I didn't expect to actually like "Dark Knight" at all, especially not after seeing it twice. (Once by myself when it came out and once with the Frood.) I'm really not a huge fan of superhero movies, namely because they always portray the superhero's love interest as this weeping princess to be rescued. (Why I hated the Spiderman movie with a passion.) I did like the fact that the token love interest (Rachael) was able to take care of herself in both movies.

So the Frood and I are ready to go a day early. What do we win? While there's nothing in my place, I sure wouldn't want to wish this on anyone. The uncertainty and phantom bug crawlies are worse than anything...

The Hoopy Frood and I have discovered that a better pre-Cana or Engaged Encounter marriage preparation program would entail locking the engaged couple in an apartment building with bedbugs. If they survive a week, they can get married. I'm thinking it would either be a good marriage prep program or new reality TV show. Or both. Pre-Cana is expensive as hell to the broke ass grad student types, and a little corporate sponsorship would go a long way.

That's one of the big reasons I've been so scarce lately. We're cleaning the everliving hell out of my place. *sigh* Neither of us have gotten bitten yet, but we're not taking any chances, either. Landlord knows and is on top of it. Past few weeks have been a nightmare, though.

Edit: They're taking care of bugs Monday. I will say something for my landlord/manager: they take care of catastrophes.

PSA

Catholics, this is a ciborium. It's used to reserve already-consecrated hosts left over from other Masses. Sometimes people will give out hosts directly from it.



Please do not try to drink from the ciborium. You won't like the result much.

Does anyone know anything about the TFP or these people? They look like your garden-variety right wing nutjob. I saw them mentioned in an article over on Vox Nova this morning. Before this morning, I can't say I knew anything about them. After digging a bit, I'm not sure I do. I think it's telling that the people who defended them never offered an apology for what happened to the woman in the article discussed on Vox Nova. Now, if someone of any group I belonged to (grad students, gamers, Benedictine oblates) hurt someone else, I think I'd apologize and make it known that the people who hurt another didn't speak for everyone.

Is anyone else creeped out by the proliferation of right wing groups like that out there? (TFP, Opus Dei, Legionaries of Christ.)

a p.s.

p.s. Tip #5: if you're single and male and don't want to be single? Learn to knit. Seriously. Good way to be a babe magnet, because the cool women won't give you grief about knitting and will actually encourage you. If you're not into women, well, we have gay friends.

This is actually David Demchuk's tip.

Dating do's and don't's for the single Catholic.

Okay, this one's culled from experience. Painful experiences dating.

1.) If you don't believe in the whole dating thing? Don't ask a woman out to dinner. No, this happened to me. I was at CalArts, and a guy there (also a practicing Catholic) and I hit it off. We were friends, and he asked me to dinner. I said what the hey and went. While there, we got talking about the whole grad school application thing. I'd gotten accepted to my school, and he hadn't gotten an acceptance letter yet. He proceeds to tell me that I should withdraw, because I won't need to go on to grad school when I start having his children. I ask him to clarify, thinking I didn't hear him properly. He mentioned that he only dates people he's interested in marrying. Check please.

I think the underlying problem, here, is that there is a segment of the population who doesn't view women as people. That is, they don't think that they should have dreams, ambitions, and goals like everyone else. If a woman is happy with a traditional role? Mazel tov, and I'll fight to the death for her right to be happy in that life. Me? It's not the best use of my gifts and talents. It also makes me wonder what kind of attitude that sort of a man would have towards his wife, should she not wind up being as perfect as he hoped.

2.) Don't belittle your SO, then wonder why he/she won't sleep with you. Come on, people, this is a no-brainer. For instance I just read on a forum where a man is denigrating his wife, shaming her publicly for getting a tubal, then wonders why she won't touch him. God, I have no freaking idea. I mean, wouldn't you really want to sleep with someone like that?

3.) Missionary dating rarely works. I think why the Hoopy Frood and I have gotten on so well is that we aren't out to convert the other. Seriously, if the whole different religion thing won't work out for you, it's probably better to break up than expect your partner to convert.

There will be differences. Every couple has them, it's just a matter of how you deal with them. Some differences are deal-breakers. (I wouldn't ever be happy dating someone who's fundamentalist in their beliefs.) Others aren't. (I can deal with the Hoopy Frood not being Catholic.)

4.) If someone creeps you out, don't feel obligated to be nice to him/her. I'm talking people who aren't weird, but raise your danger sense. I think far too often women (especially) are socialized to be nice all the time, which means being a doormat for those who prey on such people. Stand your ground, make a boundary, stick with it, and be loaded for bear (metaphorically speaking), if that doesn't work. People get killed for thinking they have to be nice to everyone. I think The Gift of Fear should be required reading for most people.

Drive-by posting, here. My life's chaotic (to say the least) with a bunch of things I don't have the time or headspace to deal with at the moment. But I found this response a friend from Livejournal wrote about the whole Cook/Meyers shindig. She's got an interesting take on the whole thing that's well worth reading.

Be the ball...

Okay, not that scene, per se, but I think we could all use some Bill Murray right about now.

Reading about things such as this? Does not make me want to finish my dissertation. I really don't get the hate people have towards the Eucharist. I mean, I don't go out of my way to kick Mormon missionaries and tie-dye their special undergarments. I've defended academe against the likes of the "lace and biretta brigade," as Jeff puts it, but things like what Meyer and Cook are doing aren't making it easy.

Here's hoping the criminal masterminds nieces don't read my blog...

So the two oldest are getting to an age where I thought something more adult would be cool to have. So I'm knitting them something lacy, namely scarves. This one is for Niece #2, who's a bit of a tomboy and likes greens/blues/turquoises:



Specifically it's the seascape wrap from knitty in a handpainted tencel laceweight yarn from Yarntopia Treasures. My stitch markers are from Office Max. (Don't laugh, they work great, and if I lose them, five bucks later, I've got 500 more.) I'm really loving the tencel yarn. I don't think it's going to need as much blocking as the silk or alpaca/merino lace yarns. (Which is good for the niece units, since I don't think they really want to take the time to pin out their things after washing them.) It's also great to work with in the summer, while another thing I've got going in baby alpaca wool is HOT. You wouldn't think yarn the thickness of fine crochet thread would be warm, but it is...

This is going to be another very rare political post from me. I need to get something out of my system. In short, a lot of Catholics on the internet are a bunch of freaks, and not in the good way.

http://rosaryarmy.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9340

And I quote the post verbatim, since i believe one has to register. My comments are in brackets.

...because of my well known political leanings, many might take this as a personal attack on Sen Obama. I mean no such personal attack. [Oh bullshit. The whole post is one big personal attack. See also my comment at the end, that it's OK for "favorites" to post whatever they like.] I'm also not part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy(tm) or the Republican Attack Machine(R). [But he admits to having "well known political leanings," which are almost always right of center.]

As a military officer, I attempt to be as apolitical as humanly possible.[Which he most certainly isn't on the forums.]

The reason I am posting this is because I found it might be a piece of the puzzle about who this man is (and if you believe the polls, already elected), and what he believes, and wanted some other opinions. What he believes in important, because Sen Obama makes decisions based in his worldview and mindset, and presumably his faith.[So? I have a Buddhist mala a friend gave to me that was blessed by a lama. It doesn't mean that I'm suddenly Buddhist. It means that I have a friend, who knows I have an active prayer life and gave me a precious--to her--gift.]

Sen Obama has professed his Christian confession on multiple occasions, and I take him at his word...however, judging by his stance on the life issues and then little items like this...well, lets just say that I'm curious as to how a Christian might reconcile his/her faith with carrying a Hindu idol in his pocket (if not voting against the Born Alive Infant Act).[Yeah, and not every Christian believes what the Rosary Army holds to be gospel, thank God. And there could be a number of reasons why a politician would vote against that act, especially with the Bush administration's fondness for sneaking in pork.]

NRIs back Obama, thanks to Hanuman

WASHINGTON: The support of the Indian Americans to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is steadily rising , thanks to his lucky charm Lord Hanuman, suggests a leading American daily.

REQUEST: please don't flame Sen Obama. He's a United States Senator, and his office deserves respect...[Unlike what the poster has shown.]I request you restrict any and all comments to the issue (mixing religious symbols), and how this particular thing might give a window into the worldview of the man, and not the man personally. [Gasp. I clutch at my pearls that a person would actually show some sort of religious tolerance.]

So...Harmless? Superstitious? [I call bullshit on the original poster.]

First off, the original poster is flatly endorsing a political candidate, and has been for a very long time. Secondly, having something doesn't mean belief in it. But if the original poster could see past his bias long enough to actually google Hanuman, he'd find that Hanuman epitomizes the essence of love and devotion. Yeah, that's a bad quality for a candidate to have. Third, I'm sure it was given to him by someone who sincerely believed he/she was doing something good by giving him that charm. I don't believe in the Hindu pantheon, but it's no different, were I to give a Hindu friend a rosary. (I've made rosaries out of Buddhist malas--a bunch were being sold in a bead store, and it felt wrong that objects once used for prayer would be sold as overpriced baubles. So I bought as many as I could to make rosaries out of, so they'd still be used for prayer.)

OK, we get it. The poster on the forum won't vote for Obama because of his voting record. Fair enough, and I can respect that reason. But to bring a good luck charm into it? Like Catholics don't do the same with various saints medals, miraculous medals, and scapulars? Come on and give me a flipping break. The whole thing reeks of a petty attack.

I wonder if part of the reason why people (read: some white, right-wing males) are so threatened by Obama as a candidate is because they're afraid to give up the white male privilege they've enjoyed for so long. I'd post all of this there, but I'm sure it would disappear, since the person making the post is one of the "favorites." Such people can do no wrong, and anyone who dares question them get censored.

Pair of really great posts about how not to talk to Catholics about religion, if you're from an evangelical tradition.

6 Tips on How Not to Witness to Christians
How not to Witness, Part 2

No clue what was up with commenting earlier. Seems to be back now.

So lately I've been trying to sort out what it means to be a contemplative. I think one of the things I keep running into is the rather Puritan/Protestant notion that one has to always be doing something. What good are the folks, who spend most of their days in some sort of community, dedicating most of their lives to prayer? Why do we need them, anyway?

In A Right to be Merry, Mother Francis discusses how contemplatives are really the backbone of the Church. (I'm holed up in a library on campus because it's air conditioned, so I don't have the reference handy.) She also discusses how they're usually the first under attack by enemies of the Church. Now, I'm not one to pull a Bill Donohue and claim injustice from everywhere, but there are people out there who, for whatever reason, do want to see the Church destroyed. (From both within and without.) Evil does exist, although humans are all too willing to do Screwtape's job for him.

So, yeah, I'm not out there working in soup kitchens or shelters. You won't ever see me out there protesting at a Planned Parenthood, either (for a number of reasons). It's not because I don't think social justice or pro-life issues are important, but it's because that's not where I'm called to be. No matter how I throw myself at those issues, no matter what I do, it isn't enough.

Contemplatives deeply care about other people and their issues, but we recognize that no matter how we throw ourselves at those problems, we aren't called to active ministry. Our lives are primarily one of witness, and by that I mean a a kind of sacred attention. We need to be alone with the Divine, and it isn't selfish longing. It's where our gifts are, and where we are called. It's only through union with the Divine that we can reach out to others.

So Aloysha from Cascadia Catholics forwarded around the following link from the USCCB. It's a study guide from them about torture. Also, this Wednesday and next Wednesday at my parish is a discussion on consequentialism and torture at my parish. I'm going, come hell or high water, on Wednesday, so I'll probably post what I can remember. (I hope they record it.)

Not a slight against anyone, but my link list went the way of the dodo, while I bugfix something.

My blog bookmark list/feed got hosed, so I had to delete it and recreate it. If you don't see me stop by your blog, give me a poke.

I love my friends. One of them just sent me this picture:

Breaking news: Just found this blog. It's starting out, but has the potential to be very, very cool, especially if you're into new music.

And now for something entirely different:



Some highlights: You can see the Pittsburgh goalie scoot the puck into the goal with his behind. I was embarrassed for the guy, honestly. The save by the Detroit goalie in the last 5 seconds of the game was the best save I've ever seen. (Which, given my relative newness to the game isn't much, but it's worth a watch just for that.)