Madonna Plays Show in Effingham, Illinois

Madonna has been (pun intended) clinging to her controversial twenties with a death grip for the last decade or so. How shocking, then, that she played a recent outdoor show in the downstate Illinois truckstop known as Effingham. The night show, hosted at the sight of the famous 198 foot Cross at the intersection of Interstates 57 & 70 was an unusual choice for the artist more used to arena venues. The cross was erected in the nineties to serve as a beacon of hope to the 50,000 travelers estimated to pass by each day. Adding some ecumenical spice to the normally bare cross, Madonna paid homage to her lapsed Catholic heritage by playing the part of the corpus and creating a crucifix. Observers agreed that the portrayal was her best acting performance since Desperately Seeking Susan.

Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006)

Christ is Risen!

Dr Jaroslav Pelikan, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale University where he served on the faculty from 1962-96, fell asleep in the Lord in the afternoon of Saturday, May 13 after a long battle with lung cancer.

Recognized by many as the most noted historical theologian of our times, Dr Pelikan was a member at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Church in Crestwood, NY from the date of his reception into the Orthodox Church along with his wife in 1998. He is the immediate past president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is one of the world’s leading scholars in the history of Christianity and has authored more than 30 books including the five volume The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine (1971-89).

Memory Eternal!

Torture and Eucharist

William Cavanaugh, Torture and Eucharist: Theology, Politics, and the Body of Christ (Malden, Mass: Blackwell, 1998) 286pp.

William Cavanaugh is a professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. He is one of the leading lights of a new generation of theologians trying to forge a new conversation between theology and politics. Torture and Eucharist is a revision of his 1996 Duke University doctoral dissertation: “Torture and Eucharist in Pinochet’s Chile.”

The book is not really about him but about the embodied theological practices of Chilean Christians under the regime of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte from 1973-1990. Cavanaugh argues that when Pinochet rose to power, the church in Chile was dominated by a disastrous ecclesiology of Pius XI and Jaques Maritain that relegated all political activity to a merely social and secular sphere. Because of this, when Pinochet sought through violence and torture to impose a totalitarian state on Chile, the church was left without a sense of its own resources as an embodied political entity. The shepherd being absent the laity were left to act individually and impotently.

Telling the story of Pinochet’s inhuman regime, Cavanaugh contrasts a regime of torture with the eucharistic community: “[T]orture is a kind of perverted liturgy, a ritual act which organizes bodies in the society into a collective performance, not of true community, but of an atomized aggregate of mutually suspicious (p.12).” As such, torture is “the regime’s strategy to fragment society, to disarticulate all intermediate social bodies between the individual and the state—parties, unions, professional organizations—which would challenge the regime’s desire to have all depend totally on it….Wherever two or three are gathered, there is subversion in their midst (p.38).

Cavanaugh writes that in the early years of Pinochet’s regime, the destructive ecclesiology in which the Chilean church had been formed failed them for it assumed a secular state that the church could then inhabit as conscience or soul. The church had no political sense of itself independent of the state and could not combat the violent fragmentation of society. Over time, however, the Chilean church discovered this political sense by ressourcement in the Eucharist. In 1976, Cardinal Silva formed the Vicariate of Solidarity which boldly reasserted the identity of the Church as a social body. In 1980, seven Chilean bishops began to excommunicate (literally, bar from the Eucharist) anyone who was participating in acts of torture. In 1983 the entire Chilean episcopal conference determined to do so as well. In fits and starts, the church in Chile constituted itself as “contrast society” with the Eucharist being a “counter-politics” to the politics of torture. In urging the use of the church’s unique disciplinary resources—Eucharist, penance, virtue, mercy, and martyrdom—habits and consciences are formed that subvert the totalizing vision of the state and transcend the secular-sacred dichotomy established by modernity.

Hi! I'm Tom Cruise. You Might Remember Me From Such Films As...

Tom is morphing into Troy McClure before our eyes. Last week his cooky self-promotion wandered into insisting that his girlfriend had renounced Christianity in favor of Scientology and would have a completely silent birth (sans medication). Today he announced that he will eat the placenta and ubilical cord after the happy event. How long before we hear about Tom's bizarre behavior at a local aquarium?

The Little Flower: Story of a Soul

John Clarke O.C.D. trans. The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, 3rd Edition (Washington D.C.: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1996) 306pp.

Sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant-Jésus et de la Sainte Face (1873 – 1897) was born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin in Alençon, France. She was the daughter of Louis Martin, a watchmaker, and Zélie-Marie Guérin, a lacemaker. Both her parents were very religious and had aspired to religious life before their marriage. Lacking vocations themselves, they vowed to give all their children to the church. Thérèse was the youngest of nine children (only five surviving to adulthood).
Zélie-Marie died of breast cancer in 1877, when Thérèse was only four years old. Afterwards her father was unable to continue to work and sold his business. The family moved to Lisieux where Zélie-Marie’s brother, Isidore Guérin, a pharmacist, lived with his wife and two daughters.

When Thérèse was nine years old, her sister, Pauline, entered the Carmelite order of nuns. Thérèse too wanted to enter the Carmelite order, but was told she was too young. At 15, another sister, Marie, also became a Carmelite. Thérèse renewed her attempts to join the order, but was prevented the bishop of Bayeux. Thérèse accompanied her father on a pilgrimage to Rome. During a general audience with Pope Leo XIII, she importunately asked him to allow her to enter the Carmelite order, but the Pope stood by the decision of the bishop. Shortly after, Thérèse’s bishop relented and she entered the Carmelite community. Upon the death of her father another sister, Céline, joined the order.

The Story of a Soul was written at the behest of her mother superior. The autobiographical account of her life discloses her so-called "Little Way" approach to spirituality. The pursuit of holiness, she argues, does not require great or notable acts, but only little acts of sacrifice and great love for God:

Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.

The book bears all the marks of a woman religious who was very young. As such, much of the work is tinged by melodrama and, frankly, unworthy approaches to the spiritual life. One such flaw is when she compares herself to a ball to entertain the baby Jesus.

I had offered myself, for some time now, to the Child Jesus as His little plaything. I told Him not to use me as a valuable toy children are content to look at but dare not touch, but to use me like a little ball of no value which He could throw on the ground, push with His foot, pierce, leave in a corner, or press to His heart if it pleased Him; in a word, I wanted to amuse little Jesus, to give Him pleasure; I wanted to give myself up to His childish whims. He heard my prayer.

At other times, however, Thérèse’s determination to serve God in the little details of the ordinary are quite mature and profound. In these places, they suggest a happy affinity with the “sacred ordinary” we also find in Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God.

Reformed and Catholic readers are well reminded that the sovereignty of God is ultimately a pastoral doctrine. The Dutch Calvinist, Abraham Kuyper, once wrote that “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” This confident reality underwrites our ability to abandon the willful pursuit of our own wills in favor of an active, involved, and considered self-offering to him. Nothing that we offer him is truly lost for in saying, “Not my will, but yours” we consummate the gift that is our very selves.

Knute Rockne the Great 1888-1931

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the death of Notre Dame's legendary football coach, Knute Rockne. He was 43 and at the peak of his career, having just coached the Irish to two undefeated seasons. He had a 105-12-5 record in 13 seasons.

In Absentia...The Catacombs

Sorry for the recent dearth of posts. I have had some stuff up over at Reformed Catholicism, but other projects have sucked up my time...



For those unawares, the Catacombs of Rome represent a fascinating window into earliest Christianity. I have never been to Rome and I am suprised at how deeply politicized every aspect of catacomb study has become, but this essay and this presentation represent a non-specialists guide to the state of the questions.

Appalling...

I saw the parents tonight on television. To the extent that the information in this story is true, its hard to imagine a greater desecration of the Eucharist than denying it to an autistic child because he cannot swallow it wholly or entirely. Even on the most literal grounds, some molecules from the consecrated host remain in the child's mouth, but that's not the point.

Church denies Communion to autistic boy

Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 4, 2006 12:00 AM

The Catholic Church has told the parents of a 10-year-old autistic boy that, because the child cannot consume the host, he is not receiving Communion properly. Until he does, church officials say, he cannot partake of the church's most meaningful sacrament.

According to a letter from Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, delivered to the Lake Havasu City family on Feb. 12, the boy cannot accept Communion in the Catholic Church until he can "actually receive the Eucharist, actually take and eat."

Because of his condition, Matthew Moran cannot swallow foods with certain textures.

So Matthew, who received his First Communion nearly three years ago in Pennsylvania, participates in Communion in an unusual way. As his father watches, the boy takes the Communion wafer and places it in his mouth. His father, Nick Moran, then removes it and consumes the host himself.

Otherwise, Matthew would spit it out, his father says.

Moran, who takes only the one host for himself, says it remains in the boy's mouth for several seconds.

He says the bishop's letter has caused anger, anxiety and frustration in his home.

"We are out of our minds over this," said the father, who with his wife, Dr. Jean Weaver, has two other children, one of them also disabled.

Phoenix Diocese officials contend that Matthew has not been prohibited from Communion, only that the bishop is "not able to approve the present practice," according to his letter. He offered assistance, which has come in the form of various hosts for Matthew to try, educational material and other recommendations for the parents, including respite care, in which trained personnel would look after the children while the parents took time for themselves.

"Matthew deserves to be able to take the Eucharist fully and completely," said Isabella Rice of the diocese Office on Disabilities and Pastoral Care. "As long as he is unable to do so, we will keep working with him."

The issue carries extreme importance for Catholics. Communion, a sacrament also known as the Eucharist, is the center of the church's worship life. In his letter to the family, Olmsted says, "The Eucharist is the great treasure of our Catholic faith."

Unlike other denominations with Communion, Catholics believe the hard wafer of unleavened bread, called a host, becomes the actual body of Christ when the priest consecrates a much larger host by holding it up and repeating the words of the Last Supper. The belief in the true presence of Christ results in prohibitions against consumption by those who are not Catholic, those who have not confessed serious sins and those who have not properly prepared.

The church's concern is that the host or wine not be desecrated in any matter. The key rule is that the recipient must "consume" the host before leaving the area of reception. The consumption rule is written in both the directions for the Mass, called the "General Instruction of the Roman Missal," and in a Vatican document called "Redemptionis Sacramentum," the "Redeeming Sacrament."

The bishop is the final authority for matters in his diocese, according to theologian William Cavanaugh of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

The diocese is not questioning Matthew's preparation or understanding of Communion.

"I took my son to CCD (religious education) classes for two years to prepare him," said Moran, a stay-at-home father. "He deserves it."

Moran also said his son realizes that he is doing something special. When he was not allowed to go to Communion on Feb. 26, "it was terrible," said Matthew's mother. "Matt screamed and cried because he did not get his Communion."

Matthew received his First Communion in May 2004 in Pittsburgh. His father says the Pittsburgh parish his family attended both recommended and approved the boy's method of receiving Communion. Phoenix officials say that is not true, based on their talks with Pittsburgh Diocese officials.

Pittsburgh officials declined to return phone calls. The Rev. Patrick Barkey, an assistant pastor at St. Bernard Church in Pittsburgh, where Matthew received First Communion, signed the boy's certificate but says he does not remember the family.

"This is a large parish, with 4,500 families," he said. "We have a large ministry to the disabled."

Moran said the Rev. Michael Deptula at Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Lake Havasu City, religious home to 2,500 families, was fine with the matter until recently.

It is another point of dispute. Moran says that his wife met with a church deacon and the pastor to discuss the question shortly after they arrived in town in June 2005 and that his son received Communion from Deptula many times before.

But diocese officials say the family never met with the pastor and had never approached him for Communion before Jan. 1, when Deptula told the parents that Matthew was not showing proper respect.

On that day, according to Moran, Matthew was not acting unusually. The family says it does not understand why the matter came to the bishop's attention. But Deptula contacted the diocese.

Deptula declined to return calls. Elaine Guitar, parish manager, said parish officials had no comment and referred calls to the diocese. Olmsted also declined to answer questions, assigning Rice from the disabilities office and Roz Gutierrez from the Office of Worship to work with Matthew and answer questions.

Rice said she never has seen a similar case. The closest would be people who are in vegetative states, in comas or near death. In those cases, a tiny flake of the host or a drop of wine often is given.

Matthew will not swallow even tiny amounts of the bread or wine, his father says.

Autism, a neurological disorder, manifests its symptoms in a variety of ways. Verbal skills and social interactions often are affected. Because autism is a spectrum disorder, the symptoms can range in severity, and each individual can be affected in different ways.

Autistic children frequently have difficulty eating certain kinds of food, among other disabilities. Moran says Matthew is extremely sensitive to certain colors and textures, and the boy eats and drinks only specific things.

Matthew has "moderately severe autism," his father said. "In spite of his disability, he is reading, doing math and making friends."

"How terrible, how difficult for the family," said Denise Resnik, board chairwoman for the Southwest Autism Research Center and the mother of a boy who is dealing with autism. "We often seek comfort in our religion, and it would be nice to think the church would support them to the best degree possible." Diocese officials said they are doing their best to accommodate Matthew's needs, including hosts that are thinner than the norm, thicker, even smaller. Moran says none of the hosts has worked. Matthew will not swallow even a tiny crumb of the host or a drop of wine with any regularity, frequently spitting them out, he said.

Rice and Gutierrez say they have had extensive talks and e-mail exchanges with the family. They admit their service to the family is hampered by distance. Lake Havasu City is about 200 miles from Phoenix.

The Morans responded that Deptula has barred employees of the parish, the only one in town, from speaking to them.

"How does the diocese intend to help us when (parish) employees are threatened with the loss of their jobs for speaking with us?" the parents asked. "Where is the effort and support from this church?"

Rice says the diocese is trying to remain true to church teaching on people who are disabled.

A document of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Guidelines for the Celebration of the Sacraments with Persons with Disabilities," says, "Cases of doubt should be resolved in favor of the right of the baptized person to receive the sacrament. The existence of a disability is not considered in and of itself as disqualifying a person from receiving the Eucharist."

Nick Moran said he believes Olmsted is not following those guidelines in the case of his son.

In his letter, Olmsted says, "Just to touch it to one's tongue is not to 'take and eat.' In other words, it is not the reception of Christ in the Eucharist.

"So while your desire is for your son to receive Holy Communion, he is, in fact, only simulating doing so."

Roberto Dell'Oro, a theologian at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, says concerns about whether Matthew is consuming the host miss the bigger point.

"I'm sure God knows that (Matthew) is receiving Communion," said Dell'Oro, whose son has autism.

"The Eucharist is a symbol of deep sharing in love. It seems hypocritical to point fingers at these kinds of nuances. If the father is taking care of the host (so it is not thrown away or destroyed), then what is the big deal?"

That is the question Moran is asking.

"We didn't make this a major issue," he said. "They did."

Old Home Week - Straight Outa Muncie

As I said below, I'm from Anderson, but I actually lived somewhere between Anderson and Muncie. Home boyz can represent! Caution: Not for young ears.

LAZY MUNCIE

First the Bad News and then the Good

I grew up in Anderson, Indiana. At one time it was a huge General Motors factory town and most everyone I knew was employed there. Since the early 80's, however, GM has been in decline and the town has fallen on hard economic times. Yesterday the New York Times did a story on Anderson. This is the bad news...

Company Town Relies on G.M. Long After Plants Have Closed

Now the good news is that Anderson has not been completely depleted of brains. This guy has recently begun to pull victory from the jaws of defeat like Joe Montana in the '79 Cotton Bowl. He's my hero for so many reasons...

Check out the interview:

Indiana Business Spotlight: I Power Energy Systems, LLC

Great point from Chauvet

"The presence of Christ is indeed inscribed in the bread and wine" but "is not circumscribed there"

Chuck Norris Facts

Hillarious site...

http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/

Great Article

Here's a great article from the Japery:

"On the Need for Ecclesiological Education Born-Again Yesterday"

Some choice quotes...

As Noll and many others have noted (confirming my own experience as well), “Most ex-Catholic evangelicals … were not well catechized, and often their Catholic experience was nominal, mechanical, or (in some instances) abusive; by contrast, many ex-evangelical Catholics reasoned themselves into Catholicism from articulate evangelical positions.” In other words, immature Catholics are more likely to become evangelicals, while maturing evangelicals are more likely to become Catholic.

Tradition must become inheritable, or always-already inherited, to be wholly itself. It must become a gift of givenness, given to the point of being so formative it is ineradicable even from minds that turn against it. It must be so given that it is liable to be taken for granted, in need of rethinking and renewal–but without schism and interminable question-filled “conversations.”

Old Testament Survey

After a short hiatus (since July), I am active again teaching in the church. Our rector at Anglican Church of the Resurrection in St. Louis has graciously allowed me to offer a survey course on the Old Testament. I am calling the course, "The Hebrew Bible for Modern Christian Goyim." Fortunately, I have been blessed with what seems to be an excellent group of participants.

I have designed the course on a kind of sliding-scale format. Occasional attendees will benefit from a self contained lesson while more ambitious folks will have collateral reading so that the course will approximate a college-level offering.

Interested folks can check out the syllabus here.

A Cottage Industry...

It never occured me to ask before, but how do seething Muslims manage to come across the National flags they routinely burn? I mean, I would have no idea where to go to buy a Danish flag, but these folks seem to have a ready supply at hand.

This article explains how there's money to be made in protests:

Gaza Shopkeeper Stocks Up

Taking the Bus to Canton

Jerome Bettis said the Bus stops in Detroit at Super Bowl XV. I think there is one more stop in Canton, Ohio.

Thanks for the memories. This will always be my favorite from the '92 Sugar ("Cheerios") Bowl.

Cheer, Cheer for Old Jerome Bettis!!

I'm pulling for Jerome Bettis to win this year's Super Bowl. Cheering for the Steelers was made much easier when the team showed up in Detroit yesterday wearing Notre Dame Green with #6 on them (Bettis' number at ND).

New Audio Sermons

I have just added some new audio sermons from my time in the Peace Reformed Pulpit. These messages seem fairly relevant for these days...

Streaming: Peace, Purity and Unity: A Sermon on 2 Cor. 13:5-14

The download is here for you podcast types.

Streaming: When God Tells You to Jump in the Lake - 2 Kings 5. Download here

Streaming: The Others - Romans 1:1-17. Download here.

It's All About the Christology!!!

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Pelagianism 58% Monophysitism 33% Modalism 25% Socinianism 25% Nestorianism 17% Adoptionist 17% Arianism 0% Apollanarian 0% Docetism 0% Gnosticism 0% Monarchianism 0% Albigensianism 0% Donatism 0% Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

I guess I made it, but I don't know what the heck happened to Wayne.

December 5, 1971

I called the rectory in my home town today. I am somewhat embarrassed that I did not know this before, but the above date is my spiritual birthday. I was baptized on December 5, 1971 at St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Church in Anderson, Indiana.

Many Christians can name the date of their evangelical awakenings. I suppose that I have had such experiences now and again over the years, but I have never been able to bring myself to name one of them as the date of my conversion. I have always said and written that my life as a Christian began with my baptism as an infant. Now I have a real space and time day to go with it.