I Vote Good News

I'm talking about this. Excerpt:

Several years ago a good friend sent me a copy of Traveling Mercies, by Anne LaMott. I’m not sure any other book has inspired in me such emotion as that one. I laughed. I cried. Indeed, somewhat embarrassedly while reading it on a plane. It remains one of the best spiritual books I have ever read—brutally honest, sad, funny and inspiring. I continue to recommend it, and am currently without a copy because I insisted that someone go ahead and take mine.

I enjoyed her follow-up to Traveling Mercies, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, though not as much. Her frequent digs at President Bush in essay after essay were distracting, despite the fact that I in large part agree with her opinion of the president. However, there was still many of those unexpected, disarming and deep spiritual insights that made Traveling Mercies so good. I admire her greatly as a writer as well, and count her Bird by Bird among the best books on writing that I know.

However, I must admit being taken aback when I heard about her outburst regarding abortion at an event last year featuring her, Richard Rohr and Jim Wallis. Her angry pro-choice rant didn’t sit well with her co-panelists or the largely Christian audience. Her later remarks, explaining that she didn’t realize that the audience was largely Catholic (or maybe she may not have come?), also struck me as somewhat anti-Catholic.

He's goes on to say that he's not sure Amy Welborn is correct in stating that it is "good news" that a Catholic University cancelled her scheduled appearance.

I do agree with Amy Welborn that the cancellation is good news. Here's the money quote from Creighton U: "After careful review of Ms. Lamott’s most recent writings (which postdated her contract agreement), we have concluded that key points are in opposition to Catholic teaching which, in our judgment, makes her an inappropriate choice for the Women and Health Lecture Series." (emphasis mine)

I know it's hard when someone you really enjoy or look up to says or does something which goes greatly against non-negotiable Catholic teaching. But as Catholics I really think we need to learn how to draw the line on these matters. This seminarian seems really hesitant to leave this writer behind because she has writing talent. But there are key points in opposition here, not just minor disagreements.

I might say to try to emphasize my point, "Hey, Michael Vick is a good Quarterback," but I think this would be lost on Mr. Mossa. That's because I think there is a kind of dispensation given to talented writers by other intellectuals which doesn't extend to non-intellectuals. If a dynamic author is flawed in their thinking, there's a reasonable explanation for it. They are said to be tortured by their intense struggles and such-like, and this is what explains their "different ideas and perspectives".

Since even Mr. Mossa as a big fan of LaMott's is uneasy with her frequent BDS outbursts in her new book and her public pro-choice rants, I think it may be a good time to ask how "spiritual" Anne LaMott really is rather than continue play intellectual twister with her beliefs which are incompatible with Christianity. If I could suggest some scripture verses for this they would be "put not your trust in princes" and "A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.... A time to keep, and a time to cast away." Also, if Mr. Mossa ever does get his wish to sit down with Ms. LaMott for coffee to "talk to her about her love for Jesus", maybe he can introduce her to the "least of Jesus brethern."

Bull

I smiled when I read this post.

I myself have never seen the kind of gross damage described here. A different scenario I have witnessed, however, which I could describe in similar language. Two people wander into a gift shop; one makes a remark about the merchandise, something like "It ain't all that, dude." The other one laughs stupidly. A store clerk gets upset and, over-reacting, she dials 9-1-1. When the cops show up, the "dudes" are gone. Feeling a little embarrassed, she tells the cops she thought they were going to break something. She remembers that one was wearing a Red Bull T-shirt.

Just for the record, I cannot stand that Red Bull stuff. It tastes like it was concocted in a steel bathtub by bored sugar junkies who figured out how to liquefy SweeTarts. It has been explained to me that the sole purpose of this overpriced Kool-aid is to mix with Vodka, but I'll take the O.J., s'il vous plaît. Much cheaper.

Yeah, it sure has...

Simultaneously, Like, Brilliant and Dim

Plenty of people are brilliant in some areas and downright stupid in others. When you're a teenager, it's merely more common. Take George Hotz, age 17, iPhone cracker.

The hack, which Hotz posted Thursday on his blog, is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software. It takes about two hours to perform. Since the details are public, it seems likely that a small industry may spring up to buy U.S. iPhones, unlock them and send them overseas.

"That's exactly, like, what I don't want," Hotz said. "I don't want people making money off this."

But George, dude, don't you know how economics works? People are always trying to make a buck off something. You just handed them a goldmine!

My first IT job in the 1980's saw me soldering at least once every 2 weeks. Now it takes me 2 hours to find my soldering iron at home, and I've never even seen one at any of my clients. And I'm willing to bet the faster you can find a soldering iron at your house the less likely it is that you own, or will ever own, an iPhone.

If Hotz really doesn't want anyone to sell their mechanic services performing this mod, then it's yet another example of how the "livin' out loud on the 'net" mentality can be detrimental to one's goals.

"Listen, people work here, it's up to you."

Jackie Mason on Political Correctness.

Hilarious and devastating.

John Allen: "Evangelical Catholicism triumphant"

Here's a good article by John Allen, I included the ending below.

In the United States, evangelical Catholics may be a minority, but an undeniably dynamic one. Sociologists Rodney Stark and Roger Finke published research in the mid-1990s suggesting that dioceses with a strong emphasis on traditional Catholic identity generate more priests. Comparing 10 dioceses identified by a cross section of experts as either “traditional” or “progressive,” they found that traditional dioceses outperformed progressive ones in terms of ordinations by a factor of about three to one.

Anecdotally, one could cite multiple eruptions of evangelical Catholic energy, from the Communion and Liberation meetings in Rimini, Italy, which annually draw more than 700,000 Catholics committed to challenging secularism, to World Youth Day, an international Catholic youth festival centered on the pope that routinely draws crowds in excess of a million and is one part liturgy and one part rock ’n’ roll. The expansion of evangelical-tinged Catholic media and an ever-growing host of Catholic blogs reflect this trend, as does the proliferation of Catholic schools and colleges marked by evangelical fervor. Former Domino’s pizza magnate Tom Monaghan is building an entire Florida town, Ave Maria, that might be described as the world’s first planned evangelical Catholic community.

In a 2004 Communio piece, Portier of the University of Dayton argued that a disproportionate share of undergraduate and graduate theology students and parish ministers are drawn from the evangelical camp.

Evangelicals may not drive other views out of the church anytime soon, but the impulse is clearly more than a top-down phenomenon radiating out from Rome.

With this one-two punch of grass-roots ferment and official support, the Vatican’s latest expressions of evangelical Catholicism feel less like the dying ripples of a wave that has already crested and more like harbingers of things to come.

As Catholics we're supposed to be evangelical as a result of being baptized. It seems that some Catholics let other Christian groups "steal" titles and attributes of the faith. I have a Catholic friend who lived in Utah for awhile. He said there were some Catholics he knew, especially among the younger folk, that had some looser morals than they should have had as a kind of reaction against pervasive Mormon strictness. Some of them literally didn't realize that the Church taught a lot of the same stuff.

That reminds me of a joke. Moses comes down the mountain with the Ten Commandments and said, "Well, I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I talked Him down to ten. The bad news is that the prohibition on adultery still stands."

Hey, that reminds me, haven't heard from Jackie M in awhile....

Weigel on the "Ripken Ethic"

It's about baseball, not Church teaching, but that doesn't mean George Weigel's latest article doesn't qualify as some of the Best Catholic Writing 2007.

I've seen this more than twice

I have noticed that when people who are Christians cannot or do not want to engage the substance of an attack on the actions of a Christian friend that they often say things like "I don't think attacks should be made against [this person]. After all, he/she is a brother/sister Christian. We should show them respect and love."

Sure I'll buy the love part, but hold the mayo and the respect. It's always good to have respect and love for people as humans, but do I have to have respect for, say, Jesse Jackson as a Christian when he engages in extortion against other human beings? Or consider that many people have big problems with the actions of President Bush and they claim he should be tried for war crimes, etc. I myself would never say "Lay off the guy, he's a Christian, dammit!" I mean, if a Christian commits a crime he should do the time, right? And though most of the regular readers know that I'm being facetious here I use that example to accentuate the grounds on which I would not defend the President.

I have gone around and around with people on the whole issue of cutting Christians an extra break for screwing up, the practice of -- aside from any merits -- giving business people your patronage just because they go to your church, etc. I totally recoil from this type of ghetto behavior which really should be seen as alien to the Gospel.