Catholic Digest Poll on DaVinci Code

Strange one...Catholics not "fazed" by it, mainly because those polled haven't read it or only read part of it.

From USA TODAY, today:

But most Catholics view the brouhaha with a big yawn, according to the survey released Tuesday by Catholic Digest, the 70-year-old monthly magazine.

Most (73%) say The Da Vinci Code has had "no effect on their faith."

And 92% say they don't know of anyone leaving the church after reading the book, says the March 23-27 survey of 443 Catholics, by Yankelovich Inc. Margin of error was ±4.7 percentage points.

"Catholics know this is fiction," and they're "smart enough and strong enough not to let a book or movie bother them," says Dan Connors, editor-in-chief of Catholic Digest.

Other findings:

• 28% have read all or part of the book; 63% did not read it, chiefly, they say, because they lack time, interest or inclination to read fiction.

Bonnie Owens RIP

Four weeks after the death of Buck Owens, her one time husband. Married to Merle Haggard and to a third husband, divorced all...had Alzheimer's for the past six to seven years.

From the LA Times:

Bonnie Owens, a cocktail waitress-turned-singer who was married at different times to country music giants Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, died Monday in Bakersfield after a lengthy struggle with Alzheimer's disease. She was 76.

Her death came four weeks after that of Buck Owens, but she may have been too deeply gripped by Alzheimer's to know that he was gone, according to Jim Shaw, a close family friend.

WHAT?

I think someone is pulling John Allen's leg, can you imagine Father counseling the unrepentant mob boss thus?

"Hey Vito, don't kill him--just rough him up, and while your at it Vito wear a condom when you're out on the town--it's self defense you know!"

From NCR:

Traditionally, confessors and pastors have long been permitted to counsel a "lesser evil" to prevent greater harm. For example, if a mob boss tells a priest he intends to kill an enemy, and if the mob boss can't be persuaded to change his mind, the priest could advise him to beat up the enemy instead. Under those circumstances, the priest is not approving the beating, merely tolerating it to avoid an even worse outcome.

Da Vinci Code Resources

Give Answers about the book and the movie!

Tradition Lives

From the Pope's General Audience today:

Ecclesial communion, in the words of Benedict XVI, “does not only extend to all believers in a given moment in time, which unites all believers in all parts of the world (synchronic communion); it also embraces all times and all generations of believers in the past and future (diachronic communion).”And so the “experience of the Risen Lord of the apostolic community at the beginnings of the Church, can always be lived by successive generations, in that it is transmitted and actualized in faith, in worship and in communion of the People of God, pilgrim in time. The apostolic Tradition of the Church consists of this transmission of the virtues of salvation, which makes the Christian community the permanent realization of the original community, in the strength of the Spirit. It is called so because it was born from the testimony of the Apostles and of the community of disciples at the beginning, it was handed down under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the writings of the New Testament and sacramental life, and the Church continually refers to it as its foundation and norm through the uninterrupted succession of the apostolic ministry.” And it is the Spirit who “actualizes” the “saving presence of the Lord Jesus through the ministry of the apostles – leaders of the eschatological Israel (cfr Mt 19:28) – and through the life of all the people of the new covenant”.

“This permanent actualization of the active presence of the Lord Jesus in his people, by the work of the Holy Spirit and expressed in the Church through the apostolic ministry and brotherly communion, is what is meant, in a theological sense, by the term Tradition: it is not the simple material transmission of things and words, of what was given to the Apostles at the beginning, but the effective presence of the Lord Jesus, crucified and risen, that accompanies and leads the community gathered around him in the spirit”.

Magister Gives Full Text of Cardinal Martini Interview

Calls it the "first great act of opposition to this pontificate from the upper levels of the Church."

A conversation between Carlo Maria Martini and Ignazio Marino

We Visited This Church--DaVinci Controversy

It is one I couldn't find the name of when doing my travelogue, but I recognized it immediately:


From Christianity Today:

The advertisement was an enormous poster which featured the Mona Lisa, arguably Da Vinci’s most famous painting. The poster, which has the title of the upcoming film on it, has been up already for a few weeks outside the St Pantaleo Church in Rome.

Rev. Marco Fibbi, a spokesman for Rome’s Vicariate reported that the poster was “causing a problem.”

He added, “This movie is not reputed to be particularly appreciated by ecclesiastic circles.”