Catholicae Testudines

Latin in the news

Area pastor reaches people with Mass in Latin (article from the Moon, via Fr. Tucker). 

"The younger people want to do it more than the older people," Fr. McAfee says. "Converts are very open to it...At St. Catherine's [his former parish in Great Falls], I converted two Jews because of that Mass."

"The English Mass is prose, the Latin Mass is poetry.  You need time to enter the words to understand their meaning.
    "If a person's in love, and they have a choice between prose and a poem, they choose a poem. The liturgy is a love song between Christ and His church."

Reporters have a tough life

Religious people: Reporters don't get it about religion!
Scientists: Reporters don't get it about science!
Athletes: Reporters don't get it about sports!

At least they have a sense of humor about it sometimes.  CNN has a piece about all the dumb questions reporters ask football players on Super Bowl Media day (Reporter: "What's your relationship with the football?" Titans DT Joe Salave'a: "I'd say it's strictly platonic.").

Is this just the fate of reporters due to the fact of constantly having to mediate between experts and non-initiates on subjects in which they themselves are inexpert? 

Eros & the encyclical

Many people have become very excited about how the holy father is "rehabilitating" eros, and rightly so.  However, I suspect that where many commentators fall short is by seeing the one dimension of eros, the one that has to do with sex, and stopping there.

While this is certainly an important part of it, it is not the whole story.  If memory serves, eros generically speaking is the word for when one desires or is attracted to pretty much anything.  For instance, "philosophy" may have "phil-" in it, but a philosopher is motivated by his desire for the truth.  According to Plato, Socrates, the one who went around questioning people about things, said that he knew "nothing but the art of love," which is a wordplay because "eros" and the Greek word for "questioning" sound very similar. 

Also we should remember that Pope Benedict is a disciple of St. Augustine, and St. Augustine in his philosophy a student of Plato.  Therefore, if we want to get at the full depth of this eros-talk, we should probably look to see what Plato thought about eros.  For instance, for Plato, one's eros for someone or something beautiful is supposed to lead to a contemplation of beauty or truth itself. 

I don't claim to be an expert on all this, but maybe this will spark ideas in someone who does know something.

Beware of people

My favorite inclusive language moment in the New American Bible is Mt. 10:17, wherein our Lord says "But beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you," etc.

If you take any word and say it over and over again it starts to sound really bizarre, but I think for the word "people" it only takes a few seconds of trying, especially if you're looking at it printed.

Yet another thing to throw out there

I know it's a little early for Easter, but here's a not-that-vital issue to discuss.

In CNN Money's list of 2005's 101 Stupidest Moments in Business, one of them is Russell-Stover's decision to unveil a new line of Easter candy: edible chocolate crucifixes.

Cool or not cool?

The article notes that the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn. has come out against them, saying that to put a chocolate crucifix in an Easter basket next to a chocolate Easter Bunny trivializes the Passion of our Lord.  But other bishops might conceivably have different opinions, if they care at all, so it's up for debate.  Does the Easter Bunny rule the roost?  Is this weird for other reasons?  Not weird?  I mean, after all, we're (well, not necessarily us but Catholics somewhere) are the ones that eat candy that looks like severed breasts in honor of St. Agatha.  A caramel crown of thorns...hmm...maybe not the sort of thing Americans are used to, but I can imagine it being some sort of edible devotional in medieval Europe.  This is how things like candy canes started, remember?  Is the problem only that the symbolism is too heavy-handed? 

I would think that Protestants would be more weirded out (maybe they'd think we were trying to put one over on them [i.e. "hey, wait a minute - eating Jesus!  Next we'll be kissing a chocolate pope toe!]).

Pope to visit Baltimore?

Cardinal Keeler indicates yes, in 2007.

More encyclical-related posting

Fr. Tharp's insights on reading it in Latin.

Maybe Fr. G. needs this for Aloyisius

Yes, that's right, due to the efforts of German ornithologist Rita Olnhauser, there is a dating service for parrots. 

"In the wild parrots search out a life partner and then spend every minute of the day with them, but when they are kept as pets they are mainly alone and get very depressed," Olnhauser reports.  She has played matchmaker for 1300 lonely psittacine hearts.

The Diamondback

Yesterday I picked up a Diamondback and was treated to coverage of all the depressing things that newspapers are obligated to cover such as fatal fires and the like.

But there was a bright spot when I opened it up and was greeted by the smiling face of my good friend Mary C. Schneidau, the Diamondback's new ombudsman.  Please allow me to congratulate her on her new position.

Encyclical coverage

Here's Germany's Der Spiegel on the encyclical.  They can't hold back from a few digs at the Church (e.g. "It may not quite represent the most up-to-date ideas of gender research") but overall it's a pretty good article. I've heard knowledgeable people say that German newspapers are often like that; they may not like the Church, but there's more of an immunity to the "Ginger factor" than with American papers (I'm already cringing imagining how the NYT must have interpreted this).