While in Chicago, we saw something similar in Daley Plaza. There was a display of a crescent moon and there was a creche both seemed to have been put their by private agencies. Good for the Catholic League! Catholics need to aggressively reclaim the Feast of Christ's birth!
CATHOLIC LEAGUE for Religious and Civil Rights:
"The Catholic League has erected a nativity scene in New York’s Central Park. Located on the corner of 59th Street and 5th Avenue, the crèche will be blessed by Monsignor John Woolsey, pastor of St. John the Martyr in Manhattan, at 4:00 pm. It will be up for two weeks.
Catholic League president William Donohue offered the following remarks today:
“Contrary to what some lawyers and urban bureaucrats say, it is not illegal to put a nativity scene on public property. We paid for the crèche ourselves and obtained a permit from the Parks Department of New York City to place it in Central Park. Yet the same city that allows Jews to put menorahs in the public schools, and allows Muslims to do the same with the crescent and star, bans nativity scenes from the schools. That is why we arranged for a lawsuit against New York City: we secured a plaintiff, Andrea Skoros, and the Thomas More Law Center is handling the litigation. We are awaiting a decision by Judge Charles Sifton of the Eastern District Court on this matter.
“By putting a nativity scene in Central Park, the Catholic League is sending a message: Christmas trees and Santa are great, but they are no substitute for a crèche. Just as Jews wouldn’t be satisfied if they were told they could not put a menorah on public property, but dreidels were acceptable, Catholics and Protestants will not settle for secular symbols—we want a religious display.” "
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
And Criticism... for them.
This seems unfortunate. I doubt questiong Ms. Hill's sanity is the way to go. She used this opportunity as a forumn to express the frustration that many have that their voice isn't being heard. It might not have been the right time to do it, but I grant you if the Church was as quick to condemn its own sins as it is to point the finger at others these kind of protests would not happen. What's more is that the Catholic Leaque's statement strikes me as more of an attack than corrective measure.
From the Catholic League:
LAURYN HILL FLIPS HER LID
At a Vatican Christmas concert Saturday night, hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill read a lengthy statement blasting the Vatican for the homosexual scandal in the Catholic Church. “God has been a witness to the corruption of his leadership, of the exploitation and abuses…by the clergy,” she said. Hill told the audience to seek blessings “from God, not men,” adding there was “no acceptable explanation for defending the church.”
Catholic League president William Donohue spoke to this issue today:
“Last year Lauryn Hill stepped onstage at Carnegie Hall and admitted to the crowd that her life was ‘a mess.’ Judging from her latest outburst in Vatican City, nothing seems to have changed. Pathologically miserable, Hill has confessed to taking ‘some lighter fluid and a match and burned everything I had built because the foundation was wrong.’ It is no wonder that in one of her songs, she literally asks God to ‘save me from myself.’
“Hill’s personal problems do not justify her rants against the Catholic Church. After all, Sinead O’Connor isn’t exactly normal, either, and she justifiably paid a price for her stunt on Saturday Night Live when she ripped up a picture of the pope. We expect Hill’s career, already in decline, will continue to head south. Columbia Records should show her the gate.”
From the Catholic League:
LAURYN HILL FLIPS HER LID
At a Vatican Christmas concert Saturday night, hip-hop artist Lauryn Hill read a lengthy statement blasting the Vatican for the homosexual scandal in the Catholic Church. “God has been a witness to the corruption of his leadership, of the exploitation and abuses…by the clergy,” she said. Hill told the audience to seek blessings “from God, not men,” adding there was “no acceptable explanation for defending the church.”
Catholic League president William Donohue spoke to this issue today:
“Last year Lauryn Hill stepped onstage at Carnegie Hall and admitted to the crowd that her life was ‘a mess.’ Judging from her latest outburst in Vatican City, nothing seems to have changed. Pathologically miserable, Hill has confessed to taking ‘some lighter fluid and a match and burned everything I had built because the foundation was wrong.’ It is no wonder that in one of her songs, she literally asks God to ‘save me from myself.’
“Hill’s personal problems do not justify her rants against the Catholic Church. After all, Sinead O’Connor isn’t exactly normal, either, and she justifiably paid a price for her stunt on Saturday Night Live when she ripped up a picture of the pope. We expect Hill’s career, already in decline, will continue to head south. Columbia Records should show her the gate.”
Monday, December 15, 2003
Saturday, December 13, 2003
The Myth of ADHD
Interesting piece. This is a flash point topic for some, sure to enrage a few.
When I was teaching high school, I remember one afternoon we had a presentation by the science department on ADHD. The head of the department, a nice intelligent woman began with her struggles to deal with her brainy son to no avail until the counselors told her that he must be ADHD. She didn't want to believe it (for good reason) but finally they convinced her.
Next up was the Biology teacher who began his presentation with something reminiscent of an AA meeting by declaring that he (in his mid 50's) was ADHD. He recounted how all his life he had been viewed as an odd ball (he was even with ritalin) until finally after studying ADHD and its effects on some of his students he had come to the conclusion that he too was ADHD. His entire childhood had been a disaster because of the unenlightened educators who had expected him to be like the rest of men (people). As an aside this is a constant theme of modern life "Lord, I thank you for not making me like the rest of men!" vs. "Lord be merciful to me the sinner."
As the afternoon went on though and the questions got tougher it was pretty clear from the biologist's own admission that their really was no objective test to give from a chemical perspective. Although it was interesting that the unscientific basis for this disease did not bother the science department at all.
My conclusion--some people are just more active than others and more imaginative. In my experience those often "diagnosed" with ADHD (even the adults) are highly imaginative and interesting folks that most of the pack (read unimaginative and boring) would rather have drugged into submission. Ritalin makes these gifted individuals into zombies.
From Insight Magazine--Baughman Dispels The Myth of ADHD:
"Insight: You've spent 35 years in private practice as an adult and child neurologist, diagnosing real diseases. What spurred your interest in the ADHD diagnosis?
Fred A. Baughman Jr.: Through the 1970s and 1980s the ADHD 'epidemic' began to impact all of us, and the numbers of children being referred to me were increasing dramatically. I'd examine these kids to determine whether they did or did not have real diseases. After giving them thorough examinations, doing such tests as I deemed were necessary, I couldn't find anything wrong with them.
I was becoming more and more aware that something was afoot from the tone with which the diagnoses were being made in schools and by psychiatrists who were part of the school team. And never mind that I could find no scientific basis for the diagnosis. But here were pediatricians and school psychiatrists practicing mental health in ways that did not make sense. Principals and teachers would threaten that if I didn't diagnose ADHD they'd find someone who would. As a neurologist, I'm in the business of diagnosing real diseases, so this attitude on the part of people who should know better was very disturbing."
When I was teaching high school, I remember one afternoon we had a presentation by the science department on ADHD. The head of the department, a nice intelligent woman began with her struggles to deal with her brainy son to no avail until the counselors told her that he must be ADHD. She didn't want to believe it (for good reason) but finally they convinced her.
Next up was the Biology teacher who began his presentation with something reminiscent of an AA meeting by declaring that he (in his mid 50's) was ADHD. He recounted how all his life he had been viewed as an odd ball (he was even with ritalin) until finally after studying ADHD and its effects on some of his students he had come to the conclusion that he too was ADHD. His entire childhood had been a disaster because of the unenlightened educators who had expected him to be like the rest of men (people). As an aside this is a constant theme of modern life "Lord, I thank you for not making me like the rest of men!" vs. "Lord be merciful to me the sinner."
As the afternoon went on though and the questions got tougher it was pretty clear from the biologist's own admission that their really was no objective test to give from a chemical perspective. Although it was interesting that the unscientific basis for this disease did not bother the science department at all.
My conclusion--some people are just more active than others and more imaginative. In my experience those often "diagnosed" with ADHD (even the adults) are highly imaginative and interesting folks that most of the pack (read unimaginative and boring) would rather have drugged into submission. Ritalin makes these gifted individuals into zombies.
From Insight Magazine--Baughman Dispels The Myth of ADHD:
"Insight: You've spent 35 years in private practice as an adult and child neurologist, diagnosing real diseases. What spurred your interest in the ADHD diagnosis?
Fred A. Baughman Jr.: Through the 1970s and 1980s the ADHD 'epidemic' began to impact all of us, and the numbers of children being referred to me were increasing dramatically. I'd examine these kids to determine whether they did or did not have real diseases. After giving them thorough examinations, doing such tests as I deemed were necessary, I couldn't find anything wrong with them.
I was becoming more and more aware that something was afoot from the tone with which the diagnoses were being made in schools and by psychiatrists who were part of the school team. And never mind that I could find no scientific basis for the diagnosis. But here were pediatricians and school psychiatrists practicing mental health in ways that did not make sense. Principals and teachers would threaten that if I didn't diagnose ADHD they'd find someone who would. As a neurologist, I'm in the business of diagnosing real diseases, so this attitude on the part of people who should know better was very disturbing."
Friday, December 12, 2003
Cardinal George Takes on DaVincin Code and Left Behind Series
From The New Catholic World:
Currently exploiting our gullibility for conspiracy theories is “The DaVinci Code” by Dan Brown. This is now a best-selling novel which, because it is engagingly written, is being treated as plausible. Unlike holy Scripture and the doctrines of the Church, “The DaVinci Code” has the advantage of explaining Jesus in terms that seem sensible to many by playing on ever-popular biases against the Catholic Church and advancing an esoteric form of feminism. For the price of one book, you get two theories that pander to prejudices today.
What does the novel say? It portrays Jesus as a wealthy teacher with political aspirations who is married to Mary Magdalene; he is a family man around Nazareth, one of the boys but a particularly enlightened one, a university professor before his time. Mary Magdalene is pregnant with his child when Jesus dies, and the secret of this bloodline is the preposterous story line of the book. For this weird idea, the apostles and martyrs gave their lives? Of course not. How, then, did the martyrs and we come to hold that in faith we encounter not an idea but Jesus himself, Son of God, messiah and risen Lord? From the crafty Catholic Church, of course, which, even though the Church celebrates the feast of St. Mary Magdalene yearly, hid the secret knowledge (gnosticism) about Jesus and Mary Magdalene in order to oppress women.
The second century gnostic writings Brown uses to give a façade of scholarship to his fiction were all written years after the four Gospels that the Church eventually came to judge canonical. The historical writings he uses are all spurious. The legend that Mary Magdalene journeyed to southern France with Lazarus after Christ’s resurrection has long been part of local lore in Marseilles, but this legend has nothing to do with the history of the early Merovingian kings of France, as the novel would have it. It is worth noting that when ABC recently presented an hour long special on “The DaVinci Code,” with a panel mostly antagonistic to the apostolic faith of the Church, the host had to conclude at the end of the program that there was no proof of any kind for the theories that the book espouses. A novel, of course, doesn’t need to rely on proof, unless it makes historical claims.
Prophetic claims are made by the “Left Behind” novels, which depend on a misinterpretation of Christian eschatology, our belief that Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 675). Using the words of canonical Scripture, authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins contort the Advent theme of the Day of the Lord into a theory that the “Rapture” and the Second Coming are two events separated by a time of tribulations and followed by a thousand-year reign of Christ as king of the whole world. This belief is called “premillennial dispensationalism.” It was put together in the mid-1800s by an ex-Anglican minister, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882); in this modern form, it was unknown to any Christian believer during the first 1,800 years of Christianity but is professed in some forms of Protestantism today.
The persuasive force of the “Left Behind” novels comes less from their doctrinal underpinnings about what Christ did and intended than from the fear that one might be left behind at the Rapture, when those who have accepted Christ as Savior will be spirited away by him before the time of tribulations begins in this world. The stories are poignant. Who wants to be left behind? There is a whole federal education program designed to be sure that no child will be left behind! Catholics, who are trapped in what the novels call “Babylonian mysticism,” are prime candidates for being left behind, unless they manage to disentangle themselves from the Church. Once again, the only good Catholic is an ex-Catholic. Since American culture is relentlessly future-oriented, odd religious ideas about the end time have flourished here for two centuries. Those interested in a careful biblical critique of the Rapture theories can consult Carl E. Olson, “Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today’s Prophecy Preachers” (Ignatius, 2003).
If “The DaVinci Code” is a work of bizarre religious imaginings about the past and the “Left Behind” novels are works of sincere but erroneous religious delusions about the future, why be concerned about them in the present? Because they betray in words the one who is truthfully described as “the way, the truth and the life” (Jn. 14: 6), the one we call Our Lord. Christianity is not a parlor game. The faith makes truth claims about who Christ is and what is to be our destiny in him. Both the “Left Behind” books and Dan Brown’s novel, though coming from different perspectives, share a common fallacy. They approach the Christian faith as though its contents were to be found in words and documents alone rather than in the witness and the collective memory of the community Christ himself left behind, his Church. We find salvation through self-surrender in faith to Christ present in the Church, not from personal ideas. Once the anchor of the Church’s authentic witness and teaching is abandoned, gnostic and dispensationalist and other false theories inevitably appear.
The feast of Christmas is a powerful antidote to the gnostic fabrications of Dan Brown and the dispensationalist delusions of the “Left Behind” books. The child born at Bethlehem is the divine Son of the all-holy God. Born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus comes to us truly and fully in a human nature like ours in all things but sin. As the Gospels and St. Paul and the Fathers of the Church have taught, the real flesh of Jesus Christ, not some esoteric secret wisdom, is the means of our salvation. Gnostics were antagonistic to the flesh; and dispensationalists believe that Christians are a “heavenly” people of God, as opposed to Jews who are only God’s “earthly” people. Interestingly, much of the antagonism toward the Church today stems from opposition to her teachings about sexuality, marriage and celibacy and the nature of ordained priesthood, all beliefs that take flesh seriously.
Currently exploiting our gullibility for conspiracy theories is “The DaVinci Code” by Dan Brown. This is now a best-selling novel which, because it is engagingly written, is being treated as plausible. Unlike holy Scripture and the doctrines of the Church, “The DaVinci Code” has the advantage of explaining Jesus in terms that seem sensible to many by playing on ever-popular biases against the Catholic Church and advancing an esoteric form of feminism. For the price of one book, you get two theories that pander to prejudices today.
What does the novel say? It portrays Jesus as a wealthy teacher with political aspirations who is married to Mary Magdalene; he is a family man around Nazareth, one of the boys but a particularly enlightened one, a university professor before his time. Mary Magdalene is pregnant with his child when Jesus dies, and the secret of this bloodline is the preposterous story line of the book. For this weird idea, the apostles and martyrs gave their lives? Of course not. How, then, did the martyrs and we come to hold that in faith we encounter not an idea but Jesus himself, Son of God, messiah and risen Lord? From the crafty Catholic Church, of course, which, even though the Church celebrates the feast of St. Mary Magdalene yearly, hid the secret knowledge (gnosticism) about Jesus and Mary Magdalene in order to oppress women.
The second century gnostic writings Brown uses to give a façade of scholarship to his fiction were all written years after the four Gospels that the Church eventually came to judge canonical. The historical writings he uses are all spurious. The legend that Mary Magdalene journeyed to southern France with Lazarus after Christ’s resurrection has long been part of local lore in Marseilles, but this legend has nothing to do with the history of the early Merovingian kings of France, as the novel would have it. It is worth noting that when ABC recently presented an hour long special on “The DaVinci Code,” with a panel mostly antagonistic to the apostolic faith of the Church, the host had to conclude at the end of the program that there was no proof of any kind for the theories that the book espouses. A novel, of course, doesn’t need to rely on proof, unless it makes historical claims.
Prophetic claims are made by the “Left Behind” novels, which depend on a misinterpretation of Christian eschatology, our belief that Jesus will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead (see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 675). Using the words of canonical Scripture, authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins contort the Advent theme of the Day of the Lord into a theory that the “Rapture” and the Second Coming are two events separated by a time of tribulations and followed by a thousand-year reign of Christ as king of the whole world. This belief is called “premillennial dispensationalism.” It was put together in the mid-1800s by an ex-Anglican minister, John Nelson Darby (1800-1882); in this modern form, it was unknown to any Christian believer during the first 1,800 years of Christianity but is professed in some forms of Protestantism today.
The persuasive force of the “Left Behind” novels comes less from their doctrinal underpinnings about what Christ did and intended than from the fear that one might be left behind at the Rapture, when those who have accepted Christ as Savior will be spirited away by him before the time of tribulations begins in this world. The stories are poignant. Who wants to be left behind? There is a whole federal education program designed to be sure that no child will be left behind! Catholics, who are trapped in what the novels call “Babylonian mysticism,” are prime candidates for being left behind, unless they manage to disentangle themselves from the Church. Once again, the only good Catholic is an ex-Catholic. Since American culture is relentlessly future-oriented, odd religious ideas about the end time have flourished here for two centuries. Those interested in a careful biblical critique of the Rapture theories can consult Carl E. Olson, “Will Catholics Be “Left Behind”? A Catholic Critique of the Rapture and Today’s Prophecy Preachers” (Ignatius, 2003).
If “The DaVinci Code” is a work of bizarre religious imaginings about the past and the “Left Behind” novels are works of sincere but erroneous religious delusions about the future, why be concerned about them in the present? Because they betray in words the one who is truthfully described as “the way, the truth and the life” (Jn. 14: 6), the one we call Our Lord. Christianity is not a parlor game. The faith makes truth claims about who Christ is and what is to be our destiny in him. Both the “Left Behind” books and Dan Brown’s novel, though coming from different perspectives, share a common fallacy. They approach the Christian faith as though its contents were to be found in words and documents alone rather than in the witness and the collective memory of the community Christ himself left behind, his Church. We find salvation through self-surrender in faith to Christ present in the Church, not from personal ideas. Once the anchor of the Church’s authentic witness and teaching is abandoned, gnostic and dispensationalist and other false theories inevitably appear.
The feast of Christmas is a powerful antidote to the gnostic fabrications of Dan Brown and the dispensationalist delusions of the “Left Behind” books. The child born at Bethlehem is the divine Son of the all-holy God. Born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus comes to us truly and fully in a human nature like ours in all things but sin. As the Gospels and St. Paul and the Fathers of the Church have taught, the real flesh of Jesus Christ, not some esoteric secret wisdom, is the means of our salvation. Gnostics were antagonistic to the flesh; and dispensationalists believe that Christians are a “heavenly” people of God, as opposed to Jews who are only God’s “earthly” people. Interestingly, much of the antagonism toward the Church today stems from opposition to her teachings about sexuality, marriage and celibacy and the nature of ordained priesthood, all beliefs that take flesh seriously.
Update on Mother Angelica
From EWTN:
As the Nuns at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama prepare to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ, they can’t help but be reminded it was on Christmas Eve two years ago that Mother Angelica suffered her second major stroke, leaving her with partial paralysis and a speech impediment. As she nears the second anniversary of that incident, the Foundress of EWTN Global Catholic Network has improved greatly while quietly living a cloistered life, according to Sister Mary Catherine, Vicar of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.
"She has shown tremendous improvement since her stroke, although her verbal communication is still difficult. Mother is able to lead prayers and gently encourages her sisters in their daily lives,” she said.
“While she is not as mobile as she once was, using a wheel chair and walker to get around, Mother Angelica herself decided several months ago to stop her rehabilitation and speech therapy sessions," Sister Mary Catherine continued. “Mother is content living her life in whatever physical condition Our Lord wills for her.”
Sister Mary Catherine said that Mother still receives letters, cards and emails from her friends around the world who offer her prayers and good wishes. “Many thousands of people have offered prayers for her in the past two years and she is so grateful for them all,” She said.
Sister Mary Catherine said Mother Angelica takes a very active part in her religious community. “Mother is with us at daily Mass, prayers and devotions. She is with us for meals and community time. And, her sense of humor continues to show itself in unexpected ways,” Sister Mary Catherine exclaimed.
As the Nuns at Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, Alabama prepare to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ, they can’t help but be reminded it was on Christmas Eve two years ago that Mother Angelica suffered her second major stroke, leaving her with partial paralysis and a speech impediment. As she nears the second anniversary of that incident, the Foundress of EWTN Global Catholic Network has improved greatly while quietly living a cloistered life, according to Sister Mary Catherine, Vicar of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.
"She has shown tremendous improvement since her stroke, although her verbal communication is still difficult. Mother is able to lead prayers and gently encourages her sisters in their daily lives,” she said.
“While she is not as mobile as she once was, using a wheel chair and walker to get around, Mother Angelica herself decided several months ago to stop her rehabilitation and speech therapy sessions," Sister Mary Catherine continued. “Mother is content living her life in whatever physical condition Our Lord wills for her.”
Sister Mary Catherine said that Mother still receives letters, cards and emails from her friends around the world who offer her prayers and good wishes. “Many thousands of people have offered prayers for her in the past two years and she is so grateful for them all,” She said.
Sister Mary Catherine said Mother Angelica takes a very active part in her religious community. “Mother is with us at daily Mass, prayers and devotions. She is with us for meals and community time. And, her sense of humor continues to show itself in unexpected ways,” Sister Mary Catherine exclaimed.
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The mystery of Our Lady's eyes....always one of the most interesting caveats about the Guadalupe image and anyone who cast aspersions upon it.
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