The World According to Oatney: 02/20/2005

Thursday, February 24, 2005

John Paul back in hospital

All over the morning headlines today (and posted about an hour ago on the Reuters wire) was the news that His Holiness Pope John Paul II is back in the hospital with a relapse of the flu. No real word on whether the Pope is experiencing the breathing problems that plagued him during his first visit to the Gemelli Hospital.

As I have stated in my earlier posts, I do not believe God will allow John Paul to leave the Petrine Chair until God decides it is time, and as such, I believe it is futile (and just plain rude and disrespectful to God and the Church) to speculate about whether the Pope will resign or when he will leave this transitory life. That said, however, there is no denying that a second trip to the hospital cannot be good news, which would explain why the Holy See Press Office is so tight-lipped this morning.

Whether God chooses to take the Pope from us within the next week or leave him with us for many years to come is not our decision, or even rightly the Pope's to make. We must leave the Church in the care of God through the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, and ask that whenever the conclave should take place, that the right man to lead the People of God into the depths of the 21st Century is chosen. We must also be disposed to pray that God's will, whatever that may be, is done.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Why Muslims can be an example to us

We often hear of the pronouncements of radical imams and mullahs, the fatwahs condemning America, and even issuing sentences of death upon American soldiers. One thing that can't be denied about these people, however, is their fanatical zeal for their faith, and willingness to spread that faith to the uttermost parts of the earth.

As a devoted Catholic Christian, obviously I believe the theological basis for Islam is pure rubbish. Indeed, I am amazed when studying the religion how much is taken from our tradition and twisted. Hagar is not Abraham's slave, she is his wife. He sacrificed Ishmail on the mountain, not Issac. "The comforter" Christ spoke of...that was the Prophet Muhammed. (I learned this from a former roommate of mine who was a Palestinian Muslim. Among other things, he showed me a video on Islam narrated by the infamous Cat Stevens.) Considering that Islam is the youngest of all the major faiths (7th Century A.D.), it is safe to say that it is a copy-cat religion for a people who have been without Christ since the 6th Century, and some of them never had him historically as a group.

However, when you listen to many Muslim leaders' rants against America and the West, as I have done, there are some recurring themes:

Media. Many Imams argue that America is filled with sex and violence in its television and media.

Worldliness. Many Muslim leaders openly complain that Americans are concerned more with their own pleasure and enrichment than with service to others, or with pleasing God.

Haughtiness: Many Muslims see Americans as proud and haughty. Rather than feeling blessed and humbled that God has chosen to bless our nation with great wealth and power, something that might otherwise be viewed as a sign of Divine favor, we are overly proud and think ourselves better, forgetting that God can take away as sure as he can give.

Cultural decay: Some Muslim leaders even say that Americans have little respect for their own cultural heritage.

Family decline. American families are never kept together and Americans often artificially limit their number of children. This is often seen as greedy.

Is it any wonder why many in the Muslim world DO view America with such disdain? Not only do their religious leadership tell them these things about America, but by and large, on the social and moral questions at least, those leaders are telling them the truth.

I have heard from multiple sources more familiar with the Middle East than I am that one of the most popular shows on Arab television is Dallas, a program about oil barons, no less. Let us see what American things the Muslim world sees from JR and Bobby:

Promiscuous fornication or adultery.
Deceit in business and public life.
Hatred for other members of one's own family.
Immodest dress.
Foul tongues.
Drunkenness.

And we wonder why the mullahs hate America...

Although I believe the theology of Islam to be misguided, I find no surprise in the fact that Islam is gaining many converts in America. It offers a belief system that sees things in black and white, and offers many in America's predominately poor black inner-cities a way out of a cycle of poverty, illegitimacy, and moral bankruptcy. Islam is a "new way" for many because Christians have not risen to the challenge. Muslims want to convert the world, and they answer a call to prayer five times a day.

Every morning at 6 am all over the Muslim world, Muslims are called to prayer. Part of that invocation "There is no God but Allah [God] and Muhammed is his Prophet" are added the words "prayer is better than sleep." Oh the zeal in such a statement...oh for the followers of Our Lord and Savior to have such unquenchable zeal!

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

The Bush/FDR alliance

It seems the President has an old ally in his plan to reform Social Security: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Donald Lambro of the Washington Times recently did a search of the archives to find out exactly what it was that the New Deal Patriarch had to say about the program that was originally begun as a pension program in people's old age. From Lambro's report:

In an address to a joint session of Congress on January 17, 1935, here's what FDR had to say: "For perhaps 30 years to come funds will have to be provided by the states and the federal government to meet these pensions."After that, Social Security's financing door should be fully opened to "voluntary contributory annuities by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age," FDR said."It is proposed that the federal government assume one-half of the cost of the old-age pension plan, which ought ultimately to be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans," FDR told Congress.

Memo to Democrats: That is precisely what the President is proposing should occur. Congress never acted on FDR's proposal then because Congress wanted a huge "trust fund" that they could raid at will. (Congress in those days was controlled by Democrats.) If Democrats went along with the President's plan today, they would be collectively admitting that they have robbed the Social Security Trust Fund over the years in order to serve their own political needs. Perhaps most importantly, they would be admitting that they have done little or nothing over the years to save Social Security. While Democrats conjure up the ghost of Roosevelt, FDR would likely be supporting the President on this particular issue.

Donald Lambro of the Washington Times is the party responsible for the quotations in this post.

Monday, February 21, 2005

The gathering sports gloom

The fate of baseball may be foreshadowed in the outcome of the NHL strike. As many readers may be aware, the National Hockey League has called off its 2005 season because of a lockout. The issues on the table have included a salary cap and revenue sharing, among other things.

In Canada, hockey is the national religion. The NHL is the High Church of the Hockey Faith. The Church has lost the confidence of its laity.

Baseball is under much the same sort of strain. I sincerely hope that both the owners and the MLBPA are watching the NHL situation very closely, because if both sides do not reach a workable agreement on a reasonable salary cap and revenue sharing, baseball is headed to much the same fate as the NHL: National doom.

Canadians may be willing to forgive the NHL when there is a season next year (we hope there will be one, anyway). Americans are far less likely to be as forgiving of their national pastime. People here will merely take their time and their dollars elsewhere, and won't care to leave the Major Leagues to rot. I have to believe that both the owners and the players are well aware of this, and that another strike or lockout would be the sporting equivalent of a nuclear war with mutually-assured destruction. It may be that the prospect of Baseball MAD will be what prevents the owners and players from ever having another strike or lockout, especially after watching what has happened in the NHL. Don't you believe for a minute, however, that Bud Selig and Donald Fehr don't have their respective "nuclear footballs" at the ready, complete with launch codes.

Friday, February 18, 2005

The interdict of St. Stanislas Kostka

Some people outside of the Catholic community might have heard of a parish in St. Louis called St. Stanislas Kostka, and their struggle to maintain their parochial independence from the evil Archbishop Burke, who would take their parish assets and sell them off. This is the story their "Board of Directors," as well as the St. Louis media would have people believe.

As is usually the case, the media isn't telling the whole side of the story. St. Stan's was founded with a unique parochial structure in 1880, one that allowed the parish to have a board of directors independent of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, but whose bylaws provided for union and authority with the Archdiocese of St. Louis as a Roman Catholic parish operating under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese, and therefore under Canon Law.

In 1917, the Holy See outlawed the notion that parishes could operate with any Board of Directors independent of the Archdiocese. Archbishop Burke's predecessor, Justin Cardinal Rigali, first approached the board of St. Stan's in an attempt to rectify the issue and bring the parish into alignment with Canon Law. Instead of willful obedience, the members of the 'board" changed the by-laws of the parish so as to take the Archdiocese out of the equation entirely. While the rest of the Catholic world must obey their Bishop, St. Stan's "board" apparently thinks themselves immune from ecclesiastical law. They have rightly incurred an interdict and are being denied the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity, because they are not in union with the whole Church.

In studying the relevant documents relating to the St. Stanislas case, I have learned that among other things:

1. The St. Stan's board of directors obtained a liquor license over the objections of both the pastor and parents of children undergoing religious education. The purpose was so that drinks could be sold on Sunday after the 10:00AM Mass when children of the parish were being given religious instruction. Both pastor and parents objected, but the board applied for and received a liquor license from the City of St. Louis and continue to operate a bar on church grounds after Mass over the objections of many parishioners.

(A note here: I like an ice-cold Budweiser as much as the next man, and as long as it is taken in moderation, there is no problem with that. Opening a bar on church grounds for use on a Sunday, however, shows immense disrespect for the Church, for the Lord, and for the Blessed Sacrament. Just because those involved have Polish heritage doesn't mean it entitles them to disrespect Our Lord in this way.)

2. Archbishop Burke has removed priests from the parish because the "board of directors" has made life intolerable for priests there, and for the ecclesiastical order of the Church.

3. Bishops have been trying to bring St. Stan's into line with the Church since 1917. The latest conflict actually began when Justin Cardinal Rigali was Archbishop of St. Louis, and it has merely carried over to Archbishop Burke's tenure. Considering the hardness of head and heart of these people, I think the Church has been unusually lenient and very merciful with them.

These people have GOT to be brought into line.

Check out some of the relevant documents here. Especially this Question and Answer document.

Interdict may be too mild a form of punishment for these lunatics.