Saturday, June 15, 2002
May God Preserve Catholics from their Bishops
... is my basic thought in listening to the EWTN coverage. With the exception of a few glimmers of light struggling to break out here and there, it seemed depressingly political and non-spiritual. (Yes, I know, everything should be done "decently and in good order", but one would hope that the successors to the Apostles ought to know that parlimentary procedure is a servant, not a master.)
Most inspiring moment: the bishop (Abp. Flores?) who rose up and called the entire body of bishops to remember that this is not just a matter of poorly-coordinated policies, but that this is sin that has offended and pained Jesus greatly, like unto his Passion. And called the bishops to enter a nine-month period of pennance, with holy hours and fasting and prayers, to begin to make things right.
Most depressing moment: Although this proposal received an immediate second, it was not part of the approved agenda, and was therefore tabled. Discussion then turned immediately to the utterly mundane and administrative matter of the division of once province into two.
(OK, so the justification of this is that they needed to get the provinces in adminstrative order so that some lay oversight board with reprentation by province could then be filled ASAP. Still. It shouts to the world, to anyone with ears to hear, that most of the bishops Just Don't Get It™.)
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Anne Wilson notes a Washington Post article on "alingual" children.
All I can say is: God have mercy.
No, I can say one more thing: this is not limited to children of immigrants. I have witnessed this myself. The Children of Television are not all the children of immigrants.
I cannot comprehend this. I feel like I spend so little time talking with my children, yet the numbers show that I'm actually way ahead of the national curve, and they are all wonderfully expressive and verbal. (Giving us the "problem" of getting them to stop talking sometimes ...)
Angel Update
We have achieved free-swimming status and survived it for the last day! Three cheers for the smallest small fry at the Frey house!
Monday, June 10, 2002
Weird Juxtaposition
Following a link from Doug's blog, I find RazorMouth and the essay Victory by Infiltration or Isolation? ("Why the impulse to split is wrong and why staying the course is right") by P. Andrew Sandlin. I would normally take this as encouragement to stay and fight the good fight within the Episcopal church regarding our current struggles with the "human sexuality" question and (even more profoundly) the wholesale abandonment of the faith in any recognizable form in exchange for Spongian/Jesus Seminar secularist mushiness.
On the other hand, I'm also reading Steve Ray's book, Upon this Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church. And it occurs to me: Sandlin's essay is practically a Catholic apologetic tract. I mean, if it's a Bad Thing™ to leave and start a new church rather than stay and fight for reform, shouldn't we apply that same logic to the efforts of Martin Luther and John Calvin?
Angel Update
Still alive; still in the "wriggler" phase. Hopefully, they'll be freeswimming in a day or two (and not simply become Protein Pills™ for mom and dad).
