Pride on Campus

This is the name of the RDC student group that defends and promotes a variety of sexual preferences except, of course, heterosexuality, which need not be defended. The list of "alternative lifestyles" that they support has become so long that I wonder how long it will be before they decide to shorten it to something more reasonable, such as, I don't know... non-heterosexual.

Now, before anyone starts calling me the traditional names for having tried to describe what Pride on Campus is, let me state that I am totally opposed to discrimination against anyone on the basis of what turns them on in the sexual sphere. I am also appalled and disgusted by any act of violence - verbal, physical or of any other type - against individuals, especially when it is motivated by differences of gender, race, culture or sexual orientation. So, if you don't want to look silly, don't say I am a homophobe, whatever that means (Hey, I notice now that Blogspot's spell checker does not even have that word! Is there a conspiracy?)

Of course, as a catholic, I do not share for a minute the idea that all lifestyles are to be equally respected, not that any sexual attraction should be equally considered and valued. If you want to know (really want to know, rather than rhetorically ask) what the Catholic Church teaches in this area and why, there are plenty of documents available, so I will not go further into that.

But I have often wondered why so many non-heterosexual groups, including this one, include the word "pride" in their name. Granted, the word pride is one of those words that has acquired different nuances of meanings over the years and it is often used now to indicate approval and/or satisfaction for certain accomplishments ("I am proud of my students' performance in the last exam." "I am proud of having taken my stats book to a reasonable state" etc.)

But it seems to me that the meaning referred to by "Pride on Campus", "Gay Pride days" etc is of the original sort: "I like myself, I consider what I do as the standard behaviour or even the ideal to strive for and don't you tell me that I am wrong because that is out of discussion." In other words, this is the kind of pride that affected a couple of people in a middle-eastern garden a few years back.

In Catholic theology pride is a sin, in fact the primary sin, to which all others are related and with good reason. Pride turns us within ourselves, makes us focus on number 1 (me) and makes us blind and deaf to any input that others offer to us. As such it leads to death, meaning spiritual, intellectual and personal, if not physical death. Of course this view is shared by many other religious groups, christian and otherwise, and I am sure that non-heterosexuals, many of whom are very smart and well educated, are aware of this. So why do they use that word? Why not "Sexual freedom on Campus" or "Sexual alternatives parade"?

Why so much emphasis on "pride"?

Book suggestion

My son insisted that we get hold of the Space Trilogy by C.S.Lewis, but this is a very difficult task, since it is not in print often and there are few copies available. During a recent trip to the US I happened to visit a bookstore in Portland that touts itself as being the largest in the world, so I put them to the test and, sure enough, they did have used copies of the Trilogy.

Well, am I ever grateful to my son for his insistence! What a beautiful piece of theologically inspired fiction! The first book seems like a standard Sci-Fi story, although marred by its dating to before the technological space revolution of the late 20th century. The second book becomes unabashedly theological, while still telling an engaging Sci-Fi story (complete with violence, nudity and power struggles), and it can be used to understand the answer to the common question "If there are other planets with a spiritually conscious species, and if Jesus is the only son of God, what would happen to those other guys?" While you get an answer to that question, you also are enlightened about other major aspects of Christian theology. I will tell about the third one when I read it...

I continue to have this feeling that C.S.Lewis was sent to RCIA while in Purgatory to be cleaned of his refusal to join the Catholic Church :)

A different perspective on today's reading

Today's Gospel reading (that being Monday, October 5) is the famous parable of the good Samaritan. Famous, well known and well understood by all. In fact it is a parable that even non religious people find inspiring.

And yet, as it so often happens with Scripture, there is always something else to find in it.

We all know that the priest and the Levite who avoid the poor beaten man and walk to the other side represent those who officially take up positions of religious authority, but are mostly interested in their own affairs rather than that of their neighbor. All perfectly correct.

But we can look at a small detail of this story from a different angle. These are two people who made a wrong choice, while the Samaritan (remember, that means someone considered as unworthy by the Jews) showed himself to be the true neighbor. Does that make the priest and the Levite evil? Are they beyond salvation? Should we condemn them for ever and ever?

I think not. I think that our response to people who act in this way should be to pray for them. Not justify their action, not save them from any just punishment they may deserve from the appointed autorities, but not throw the first stone either. Which character reflects the way we would behave in that situation? Are we sure?

I think that we should pray for those who make wrong choices, that they (and we) may realize the errors, repent of them and do better in the future.

As I state this, I am thinking of Bishop Lahey. If, as it looks like, he has done something morally and legally bad, he should pay the price for his actions. But that is up to the state and his episcopal brothers to decide. Our role right now is to pray for him, so that he may spend the rest of his life correcting his mistakes, staying away from sin and turning towards the God who loves him and that (I amd ocnvinced) he loves.

Blind faith or facts?

How do we assess whether what the Church teaches is based on fact or fantasy?

A very interesting article on two famous relics, courtesy of the Shameless Popery blog, begs the question: who is using facts and who is using a blind faith in unsubstantiated claims?

We cannot avoid abortion

And by that I mean that we cannot avoid talking about it. I will most likely post regularly about this fundamental issue, but here is one way to start, courtesy of Mark Shea




Got questions?

And now, for something completely different!

Do you want to have fun with the name of your friends or professors? Try getting their anagrams at this site:

http://www.deanjackson.dj/nameanagram/index.php

Of course, don't forget that being mean and using the results of your search to offend other people is sinful!

Oh, what a reading!

Have you checked out today's first reading? It's from St.Paul's letter to Timothy.
Apart from the continuing inspiration that the name "Timothy" gives me ("the one who fears God", but in the theological meaning of the word "fears"), I saw two very interesting messages.

First:
Whoever teaches something different
and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the religious teaching
is conceited, understanding nothing,
and has a morbid disposition for arguments and verbal disputes.
From these come envy, rivalry, insults, evil suspicions,
and mutual friction among people with corrupted minds,
who are deprived of the truth,
supposing religion to be a means of gain.

Do you know anyone like that? No, not just the many Christians who are stuck in the myriad of protestant groups, but even the many Catholics who claim to not agree withe certain basic teachings of the Church and delude themselves to be doing something great by their dissension.
St. Paul tells us, in not so many words, that they "understand nothing". Wow! Are we in that boat too? Maybe a good examination of conscience can be useful for us here, especially since when we disagree we usually tend to say that we do it because our conscience tells us to. But is our conscience well formed and well informed? Hmmmm.

Second:
For the love of money is the root of all evils

Notice, not "money", but the "love of money". What a difference! Money is a tool and, like all tools, it is up to us how it is used.
Do we acquire it because we love having it? In that case we are probably taking it away from other people who may use it better, or are squandering it in activities that are destructive to us and others.
But if we acquire it as the result of the good work we have done and if we use it for good purposes, then we don't really love it, do we? We are just moving it around and making it do the work it is supposed to do.

So, which one will it be for you and me?

One week down, a few to go...

As the saying goes at our College, "I survived the first week"! Of course, this is an expression of satisfaction for having overcome all the hurdles of the first week.
As students struggle with finding classes, getting to know their teachers - including figuring out their accents and weird ways - and locating that Far Side everyone talks about, teachers struggle with getting their lessons organized, dealing with their new (or old) students, handling their fear of not knowing enough or of trying something new.
There is a lot of excitement and a lot of energy, but a lot of trepidation and anxiety as well.
What has been your experience? What did you find exciting, motivating or frustrating? What are you still struggling with? What do you look forward to in the next few weeks? Share your thoughts with us.

Have you experienced any of these heresies?

There are many more videos by Fr Barron on YouTube (including part 2 of this one) that you may want to explore.

Never attribute to malice...

...what can be explained by ignorance (or stupidity). Or so the saying goes. Yet sometimes one wonders.

Is it really just ignorance that leads people to make untrue statements, or is it an attempt to provide evidence for a position that is incorrect?

I can hear you say "What is he talking about?"

Have you heard anyone say that in 1992 Pope John Paul II, on behalf of the Catholic Church, conceded that Galileo was right and that the Earth rotates around the Sun? Well I have, several times, most recently in a program pamphlet for a new play presented at a major international mathematical conference.

Of course that statement is incorrect and a quick search would allow anyone to get it right. So, why is it made? Why such sloppy "scholarship" by people who should know better? Any workable hypothesis, or just stupidity?

God and dog are spelled symmetrically for a reason!

Have you ever heard the silly remark about the fact that God, spelled backwards, becomes dog? It is often made sarcastically, almost to imply that the idea of God is as stupid as a stupid dog. Well, not only these people don't know God, they don't even know dogs!



By the way, does anyone know how to re-size either the video or the writing space, so that the first will not go outside the second?

Hocus Pocus…

Many common expressions in the English language are due to the great Bard, William Shakespeare, whose words are known even to those who have not seen his plays. (As an aside, we may want to play a game of identifying such expressions)

But other common expressions are rooted in Catholic traditions, even though not always in a conscious or an appreciative way. For instance, you may have noticed how many non-Catholics invoke Mary when they are utterly awed or surprised (Great Mother of God!).

But it seems that “Hocus pocus” also has Catholic roots. Used by many magicians to create the right atmosphere of mystery, there is a strong theory that it originated from a mocking spoof on the Latin words of consecration used during the Eucharistic prayer: “hoc est enim Corpus meum”, which translates to the familiar “This is my body.” The idea that during consecration bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Christ is central to the Catholic Faith and yet considered nonsense by those who oppose our Faith. This, apparently, led to the expression and its demeaning tone, which implies that the consecration is all nonsense.

Maybe this bit of trivia is of interest to you and I will leave to scholars with more time in their hands the task of debating whether this is the actual origin of the expression.

What I would like to know from you is: what experience have you had in fielding the opinions of non-Catholics regarding the consecration? And how did you respond? How can you respond if and when your class mates or teachers will express their hocus pocus attitude?

Enjoy the Serenity Zone

There is a beautiful room in the College that is available to anyone who needs a quiet place to pray, meditate, worship, read and so on.

It is called the “Serenity Zone”, it does not have its own room number yet, but is located just across from room 2401, above the Forum. It is a relatively new addition to the College and the “rules” for its proper use are still quite vague. Certainly, it can be only be used for religious/spiritual/meditation activities, but we are still discussing what his means in practice, whether it can be used for group activities and if or how it can be booked.

For instance, it would be nice to celebrate Mass there on certain weekdays that used to be “days of obligation” and are still of special significance, such as Ash Wednesday, Ascension, St. Joseph’s day etc. Or, of course on days that are special for us at the College, such as the beginning of a new academic year or term, the day before exams begin etc.

What do you think? How would you like to use this room?

In the name of the Father…

They say the familiarity breeds contempt and this may apply to the Sign of the Cross. We Catholics use it so often that sometimes we forget what a great prayer it is and what a simple statement of our Faith.

By using it we ask the Holy Trinity to assist us in what we are about to do, including forming our prayers and listening to them. But we also say that we do what we do on behalf of, in obedience to and under the teaching of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So, as I start this blog, the Sign of the Cross includes all I have to say. May this blog be done “In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”