Now, if he'd done this at MoMA, they would have called it "art"

Yes, this is his picture! (Dakota County Sheriff)

Steven Richard Fay, 34, was charged in Dakota County District Court with felony second-degree property damage after he broke into All Saints' Catholic Church in Lakeville, MN during a Saturday evening Mass and poured what appeared to be urine over the altar cloth and the missal. As a parishioner and an off-duty police officer held him pending police arrival, among other things he shouted, "I hate Christians."

According to Maricella Miranda at the Pioneer Press, "Although the estimated damage of $550 usually earns a gross misdemeanor charge, Fay's case was charged as a felony because he targeted a religious institution, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said. 

"'It could be construed as a hate-related crime,' Backstrom said." [But let's not leap to any conclusions.]

"Between 1999 and 2008, Fay faced three mental illness-related civil commitment cases in Dakota County, according to court records. Backstrom said he was in the process of tracking down more details, but at least one of those cases resulted in Fay being committed to a psychiatric facility."  [And they released him because ...?]

Poor man. Please pray for him.

Some updates on guilding and ugly nicknames

Bill Oddie isn't as funny a Catholic blogger as he was a writer and vocal talent on the old BBC Radio program I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again. However, he is worth reading.

About the abominable moniker "Taliban Catholic", he reports:

John Allen, to be fair, isn’t himself entirely happy about having invented the term. This is how he explains himself. At a university meeting in Dallas, he spoke of the existence of two polarities in Catholic opinion: “On the one extreme lies what my friend and colleague George Weigel correctly terms ‘Catholicism Lite,’ meaning a watered-down, sold-out form of secularised religiosity, Catholic in name only. On the other is what I call ‘Taliban Catholicism’, meaning a distorted, angry form of the faith that knows only how to excoriate, condemn, and smash the TV sets of the modern world.’

“Some in the audience chuckled, but others weren’t so amused. One younger faculty member rose during the Q&A period to offer a thoughtful, and heartfelt, challenge:

"‘To say things with clarity is not to be the Catholic Taliban,’ she said, adding that she found the phrase ‘profoundly offensive.’

"‘There are no suicide bombers in the Catholic church,’ she said, ‘but we have had an epidemic of Catholicism Lite for the last 30 years.’ Younger Catholics, she insisted, should not be dismissed as fanatics simply because they seek ‘fidelity and clarity’.”

 Allen is orthodox in his views, though he writes with a remarkable neutrality—probably so that the people at the Fishwrap don't catch on to it and fire him. However, he serves as an object lesson in the perils of coining witticisms: there's a very fine line between "smartass" and "dumbass".

*    *    *

Doctor Oddie also gave mention to an idea that's been floating around on the other side of The Pond for a Guild of Catholic Bloggers. Dylan Parry over at A Reluctant Sinner first floated the idea; as he explains in a comment on Dr. Oddie's post: "The intention in setting it up is to form a society where those who blog could meet up in person, share ideas, organise workshops (on writing, etc) and attend an annual Mass together. If many join, then it might even be possible to invite bishops to address the members, or even hand out a peer-judged award to the best Catholic blog etc."

It's a great idea, though workshops, annual Masses and addresses by bishops are "down the road a piece" ideas for a larger organization, and which might be beyond the reach of poorer bloggers (such as—for now—your humble servant). Right now, I think it would get off the ground more easily with less-formal "blognics" centered around state or regional "cells" (though I'm not happy with that term), with national coordination through the Web until national meetings become more feasible and appropriate. Perhaps, for right now, a website with a provisional statement of principles, a simple registry and some contacts? But I also think we should keep the fun in it as much as possible.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm not an organizer or the first person people look at for getting something off the ground—the most complex and successful things I've gotten done were a picnic and a bowling night for one of my employers. But I'd hate to see this become one of those ideas that a bunch of people say, "Wow, that's pretty cool!" and let die because no one did anything about it. 

So let's rev up the contact lists, my friends—send me some ideas; send links to this post to your blogging friends; send me links to other people talking about this. Let's roll!

Don't let the door hit you on the way out ....

From CatholicCulture.org:

Father Michael Pfleger, the controversial pastor of St. Sabina Parish in Chicago, has said that he would rather leave the Church than accept a position as a high school principal.

“I want to try to stay in the Catholic Church,” he said. “If they say, ‘You either take this principalship of [Leo High School] or pastorship there or leave,’ then I’ll have to look outside the Church.” [In case you weren't aware, this is supposed to be a threat.]

“I believe my calling is to be a pastor,” he added. “I believe my calling is to be a voice for justice. I believe my calling is to preach the Gospel. In or out of the Church, I’m going to continue to do that.” [To "continue" it, Father, you must first start to do it.]

Father Pfleger, who has been a thorn in the Chicago archdiocesan paw for some time, also told told radio show hosts Tavis Smiley and Cornel West that he believes pressure to remove him comes from members of the National Rifle Association: “The NRA … says I’ve been much too vocal about assault weapons and much too vocal about guns being registered and being accountable to gun owners. ... So all that combined and I guess [Cdl. Francis George] didn’t have anything to do one morning and decided he wanted to get rid of me again."

Hmm. "If you won't play the game my way, I'll just have to pick up my marbles and go play someplace else." Ask Tertullian and Martin Luther how well that worked.

Regrets, I have a few ....

This week, the Bright Maidens are discussing saving sex for marriage; you can find their posts here, here and here. Frankly, I think they should go on the college lecture circuit.

In the middle of her post, Julie Robison at The Corner With A View said, “But as we told my baby sister last night, as she was bemoaning the ‘awkward talk’ her teacher was giving the class on chastity, no one regrets saying no and waiting for sex.” This is just the kind of line a drive-by commenter loves contradict. Sure enough, that’s what a person calling himself/herself “ex-Catholic” did: “I, absolutely, and completely regret this.” (Note: this is a cut-and-paste quote ... strange punctuation and all.)

Of course. Because going without sex is such a horrible life, y’know. It’s so repressive, so unnatural. Doubtless once s/he got laid the first time, “ex-Catholic” suddenly had a blinding revelation and lost all faith in organized religion. Kind of like how members of HEMP lost faith in all drug studies after they got stoned the first time.

Then again, perhaps "ex-Catholic" regrets not waiting? Tough to tell; normally this kind of comment isn't so abbreviated. Such hand grenades usually come with long, angry denunciations of repressive, intolerant, dogmatic religions and how sex finally freed the commenter from ... whatever. The lack of detail is as puzzling as the oddly-placed commas; "ex-Catholic" might just as well have said: "NOT!" It's like the Argument Clinic:

Probably the only post I will ever write about Madonna

According to Mirror.co.uk, Madonna has been chatting with Opus Dei!

Why would I want the rights to this?

According to the source, Madonna “has started exploring different religions. Madonna has always been intrigued by Opus Dei. As yet, she’s not a fully paid-up member – she’s just had informal chats.” Not exactly a different religion—with a last name like Ciccione, you would have expected her to be brought up in the Catholic Church, though the story follows the usual fifth-column hype of calling The Work "the secretive Catholic sect made famous in The Da Vinci Code".

I wouldn't put too much stock on it, though. The Mirror is Great Britain's National Enquirer—Twinkies and Ho-Hos for the brain. On the same page for today, you also find links to various ledes: "Startling evidence that Courtney Love is an easier lay than Gwyneth Paltrow" (Really? Who'da thunk it?); "Anyone looking at Katy Perry's hair right now? Us either" (links to an ad picture for a hair product; Perry is lying on her side in an outfit that shows major cleavage); "Blurry picture of Kirsten Dunst naked with surprisingly large boobs? Sure." (Let's not go there.)

In sum, The Mirror reminds me of Joe Cannon's remark about two fellow House members: that neither one could "open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge". And Madonna? I hope she does find her way back to the Faith, that her interest in Opus Dei isn't a search for some rite or system that puts her "in the know" or "in control".

Update: April 13, 2011
Well, that was rather quick for a 'Net meme!  Brian Finnerty, the U.S. communications director for Opus Dei, told John Norton at OSV Daily Take, "We are doing our own checking into this story and it appears to be simply untrue. We are trying to reach the journalist to find out how this got started."

Twinkies and Ho-Hos, ladies and gentlemen. Just how is it that there's even a market for this kind of crap? ... And how did I get suckered into caring whether Madonna was going to go Opus Dei?

Ah, well ... price of being a Catholic. You have to care ... even about silly, self-absorbed megastars.

Senate Democrats collapse on DC abortion funding, Planned Parenthood

From LifeNews.com:

Senate Democrats caved on the issue of abortion late Friday night despite facing enormous pressure from pro-abortion groups to hold the line on taxpayer funding of abortion and Planned Parenthood funding.

Republicans and Democrats agreed to a budget deal with less than two hours to spare before the federal government engaged in a partial shutdown. The deal restores language that prohibits federal taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation’s capital that President Barack Obama and Democrats removed in a previous budget when they controlled both chambers of Congress.

Secondly, the deal requires Senate Democrats to allow a vote on a bill the House Republicans already approved to repeal the pro-abortion Obamacare bill that contains abortion funding and rationing concerns.

The deal also requires something Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said he would never allow — a vote in the Senate on revoking funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

“Those that I focused on are not only no, but hell no,” Reid said previouslyabout whether he would allow a vote on de-funding. “I’m not going to be part of that. I won’t do it,” he said about efforts to cut Planned Parenthood funding on the part of House Republicans.

Tonight, Speaker John Boehner forced him to allow a vote in the Senate on funding the abortion business that provides pro-life advocates an opportunity to further raise points about how Planned Parenthood doesn’t protect women’s health, has covered up cases of sexual abuse, and has used $363 million in annual federal funding from the government to prop up a business that now does more than one-quarter of all abortions in the nation.

 Victory isn't complete yet; both of the other bills have to get through their Senate votes. But this was a critical moment; had it been the pro-life Senators who blinked, another chance like this may not have come for some time.

Laudetur Iesu Christus, nunc et in aeternam!

"Wait, Mr. Mephistopheles, let me see that contract again ...."

From the Associated Press, via Forbes.com:

Internal audit rebukes outspoken US ambassador

By BRADLEY KLAPPER 04.07.11 02:11 EDT

WASHINGTON — An internal investigator has rebuked the U.S. ambassador to Malta for spending too much time writing on subjects such as abortion and his Catholic beliefs to the detriment of American diplomacy.

The report released Thursday by the State Department's inspector general says Douglas Kmiec's "outside activities have detracted from his attention to core mission goals," and his articles distract embassy officials forced to review his writing.

Kmiec (kah-MEK') , a pro-life, Catholic backer of President Barack Obama [in the 2008 election], was confirmed as ambassador to the Mediterranean nation in August 2009.

In the Times of Malta, he challenged the president on the question of abortion: "How can you allow someone to terminate another person's life?"

 I keep thinking of St. Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons: "Douglas, it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world if he loses his soul ... but for Malta?"

Ask Tony: What is the Divine Office?

A reader over at Outside the Asylum, who has been a Catholic for two years come this Easter (OOH-RAH!), has a bit of a problem: he has so many health issues that, for all practical purposes, he lives "almost like a hermit". However, he's on fire for Christ and wants to do more for Him. What to do in this situation?

Monks in choir (I don't own the copyright)

My response: Well, how about praying the Liturgy of the Hours (also known as the Divine Office)?

The Liturgy of the Hours is an outgrowth of the 1st-century Jewish practice of praying four times a day, at the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day and at midnight. Selected psalms were sung and texts from the Old Testament were read. Eventually, readings from the New Testament were added, as were canticles like the Major Doxology ("Glory to God in the highest"), readings from the martyrology and other pious works. Other times for prayer were added until, by the end of the fifth century, there were seven hours; St. Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480-543) added an eighth. Since prayer was the basic work of the consecrated religious, the eremitical and mendicant orders, their prayers and readings grew longer; by necessity, the prayers of laypersons were short.

Over time, the cycle of readings became more elaborate and began to require more books: a psalter for the psalms, a lectionary and a Bible for the scriptural texts, a hymnal, etc. The search to reduce the number of text required resulted in the first breviary, the Franciscan Breviarum Curiae, a one-volume text for travelling. This popular innovation spread throughout Europe and was eventually adopted by Pope Nicholas III (r. 1277-1280). The Office itself went under its first major revision after the final session of the Council of Trent (1563), resulting in the promulgation by Pope St. Pius V (r. 1566-1572) of the Roman Breviary; with minor changes over time, this remained the standard text until after Vatican II.

The current Divine Office stems from Vatican II's extensive look at the Church's prayer life, which is detailed in the constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963). Known as the Liturgy of the Hours of Paul VI (or just Liturgy of the Hours), it consists of three major hours and four minor hours:

• The Office of Readings, which may be read at any time of the day (major);
• The Morning Prayer (Prime), about 6:00 am (major);
• Daytime Prayers (minor), which can be one or all of:
• Mid-Morning Prayer (Terce), about 9:00 am,
• Midday Prayer (Sext), about 12:00 pm, and
• Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Nones), about 3:00 pm;
• Evening Prayer (Vespers), about 6:00 pm (major); and
• Night Prayer (Compline), about 9:00 pm (minor).

In Laudes canticum (1970), his apostolic constitution promulgating the new Liturgy, Pope Paul says:

This prayer takes its unity from the heart of Christ Himself, for our Redeemer desired “that the life He had entered upon in His mortal body with supplications and with His sacrifice should continue without interruption through the ages in His Mystical Body, which is the Church.” Because of this, the prayer of the Church is at the same time “the very prayer that Christ Himself, together with His Body, addresses to the Father.” As we celebrate the Office, therefore, we must recognize our own voices echoing in Christ, and His voice echoing in us.

The Liturgy is required of all priests (including bishops) and transitional deacons (i.e. seminarians ordained to the diaconate in their final year of study for the priesthood), while permanent deacons are either required or strongly encouraged according to their national conference of bishops' mandates (CIC 276 §2, n. 3). Members of religious institutes are bound by the constitutions of their organizations. Laypersons are "earnestly invited" to participate but not canonically required (CIC 1174 §2). In his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI gave permission to priests to use the Roman Breviary of Bl. John XXIII (Art. 10, §3).

Since 1965, many traditional Catholic prayer practices have languished in the doldrums, such as the Angelus prayer. However, in recent years the Liturgy of the Hours has become more popular as younger "JP2 Catholics" have become more interested in the Church's traditional riches. You can buy the four-volume set on Amazon.com or at your local Catholic bookstore. Some websites, including Universalis.com and DivineOffice.org, support the prayers online ... and yeah, iPhone owners, you guessed it: there's an app for that (both Universalis and DivineOffice have one, and I wouldn't be surprised if others offered it). There's plenty of flexibility in the Pauline format for people whose ability to pray the full Liturgy is restricted by work schedules.

Praying the Divine Office daily is an ideal spiritual work for someone whose ability to work in more physical ministries is curtailed by health. We need as many people praying for the Church as we can muster, so the importance of this Office should never be underestimated. 

If your health forces you to live like a hermit, why not pray like a hermit?

Ask Tony: What are "works of mercy" all about?

Over on her fine blog Startling the Day, my friend Elizabeth Hillgrove asked her readers to respond to a question in reference to Matthew 7:1-2 ("Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you" [NAB]). As part of my response, I noted that admonishing the sinner was traditionally considered one of the seven spiritual works of mercy.

I don't own the copyright.

"Works of mercy"? Uh-oh, there's that dirty word "works"!

For my non-Catholic audience, I should give a quick-and-dirty explanation: Catholics do not believe we're saved or justified by works alone. We're saved by the grace of God; we're redeemed by Christ's sacrifice on the Cross; faith allows us to be justified. Works of mercy must be understood as faith in action, or faith given physical expression. What we do as a consequence of our faith does have bearing on our judgment at the End of Days (cf. Mt 7:21; Rom 2:5-8; 2 Cor 5:10, 11:15; 1 Pet 1:17; Rev 20:12-13); as both St. Paul and St. James point out, a faith that doesn't translate into good works is spiritually empty, so much lip-service (1 Cor 13:2; Jas 2:14-26). For that reason, justification goes hand-in-hand with sanctification. (More on faith vs. works at Outside the Asylum.)

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2447:

The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities (cf. Isa 58:6-7; Heb 13:3). Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. the corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God (cf. Tob 4:5-11; Sir 17:22; Mt 6:2-4):

He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none and he who has food must do likewise (Lk 3:11). But give for alms those things which are within; and behold, everything is clean for you (Lk 11:41). If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit (Jas 2:15-16; cf. 1 Jn 3:17)?

Traditionally, there are seven corporal works of mercy, i.e. acts done for another's physical good: 1) feed the hungry; 2) give drink to the thirsty; 3) clothe the naked; 4) harbor the harborless; 5) visit the sick; 6) visit the captive; and 7) bury the dead.

Likewise, there are seven spiritual works of mercy:  1) counsel the doubtful; 2) instruct the ignorant; 3) admonish the sinner; 4) comfort the sorrowful; 5) forgive all injuries; 6) bear wrongs patiently; and 7) pray for the living and the dead.

Now, of these acts, the one most likely to cause a fuss is "admonish the sinner": "Hey, wait a minute! Didn't Jesus tell us not to pass judgment on one another?" Yes, he did tell us not to judge one another. But saying "You did wrong and you should make it right" is not the same as "You're evil and you're going to Hell". 

The focus of the passage in question—Matthew 7:1-5—is on self-righteousness, presuming moral superiority. When we offer correction, we do so humbly, in the knowledge that we're also sinners. As a practical matter, we must admonish children to teach them good behavior and punish lawbreakers to teach respect for the law. In this sense, Jesus was employing rabbinic exaggeration: he no more expected us to quit "judging others" in this sense than he expected us to literally tear out our eyes and chop off our hands to avoid sinning (Mt 5:29-30).

"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. ... Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me" (Mt 25:40, 45). With these words, Christ identified himself with every person that suffers, without regard to the victim's deserts or merits. 

Our treatment of other people is now a reflection of our relationship with the Lord: "A tree is known by the fruit it bears" (Lk 6:22; cf. Mt 12:33). For the sake of that relationship, we must put aside our self-interest and "love our neighbor as ourselves" (Mt 22:34-40; cf. Mk 12:28-34, Lk 10:25-37).

SNAP judgments

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is no longer content with making wild, unsupported accusations against current priests and bishops. Now, they proclaim them guilty by association.

Today the Vatican announced that Rev. Joseph R. Binzer, the current vicar general for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and pastor of the downtown parish of St. Louis, titular bishop of Subbar (a lost town of Mauretania Caesariensis [modern Algeria]) and auxiliary bishop to Most Rev. Daniel M. Schnurr. Auxiliary bishops are normally appointed to sees too large for a single archbishop to effectively administrate; often, it serves as either a jump-off spot for a new bishop's episcopal career or as a holding spot for the incoming archbishop before the outgoing archbishop retires (unlikely, as +Schnurr is only 62 as of this writing).

SNAP responded almost immediately with a short denunciation of Bishop-elect Binzer:

It's distressing that Benedict continues to promote men who have been "church insiders" while child felonies have been ignored and concealed. [You can tell we're righteous because we refuse to call Benedict "Pope". No elementary courtesies from us!]

Many Catholics continue to wonder why church officials continue to act recklessly, callously and deceitfully in clergy sex cases. Here's one reason: because those in power during the height of the church's child sex scandal keep getting elevated by the Vatican to positions of greater prominence and power [Yes, like Cdl. Law, who exercises the very prominent and powerful post of archpriest of St. Mary Major. Such influence!]. The message to church employees is clear: no matter what, even if you closely align yourself with a corrupt archbishop, your career won't suffer if you put the reputation of the hierarchy above the safety of the children. [No details on how Bp.-elect Binzer did that? Oh come on, I thought you folks would be panting to reveal the juicy bits!]

Binzer [Again, no title or even first name, because we're superior to him] was part of Archbishop [Daniel] Pilarczyk's inner circle [Did +Pilarczyk have an "inner circle"?], so it's hard to view his as being part of the solution.

If there's a chance the Catholic hierarchy will ever do more to protect kids, the Pope should be promoting parish priests, not chancery officials, to higher positions. We believe it's almost always better when parish priests, not chancery officials, are promoted. [Chancery employees who are also pastors don't count?] Church employees with close ties [?] to clearly corrupt prelates [+Pilarczyk wasn't "clearly" corrupt so much as he was a foot-dragger] aren't the men who should be elevated.

Note that nothing more substantive is stated of Bp.-elect Binzer than that he was "part of Archbishop Pilarczyk's inner circle". Having an official position within an institution and being part of an inner circle aren't the same thing.

As member of the diocesan tribunal, vicar general and coordinator of victims' assistance and child-protection programs, Fr. Binzer has played a major role in helping the See of Cincinnati clean up in the aftermath of the local predator priest scandals and in implementing changes in handling later charges. If anything in Fr. Binzer's handling was dubious or corrupt, we can be sure SNAP would have been the first to make the charge. Instead, they've contented themselves talk of "inner circles" and "close ties" ... meaningful if you're speaking of mafiosi or politicians, overwrought and ridiculous when applied to ecclesial bureaucrats.

SNAP knows they're asserting guilt by association, but they've never been truly interested in justice ... only in retaliation. "Justice" means giving a person what they deserve. Bishop-elect Binzer deserves more than snipe and smear