More on Catholics and the American Supreme Court

The extra-smart Robert Miller weighs in at First Things on the growing trend to point out that 5 of the assenting judges in the Gonzales v. Carthart decision are practicing Catholics. Miller takes issue mainly with what he sees as the trend beneath the trend, the trend that is to entirely dismiss the opinions and decisions of others, rather than engaging them, on the mere basis that they do not agree with your own opinions and decisions.

There's a lot of that going on these days, and Miller is right on point when he calls this trend out as the real culprit, rather than anti-Catholicism, which by the way is a growing phenomenon in the West once again. Up here in the wild and wintery climes of Canada, we socially conservative and Christian folk are used to such dismissals-sans-debate. The perfect example of course is the non-debate which 'occurred' during the same-sex summer of 2005. Perfectly ordinary Canadians like myself were simply told that a debate had occurred and the issue was settled and closed. Where, who, how and when were not acceptible questions - the debate had happened and the issue was closed. Nothing to see here, folks.

And so it is with the PBA ban in the US. Pro-choice commentators have spent little energy actually discussing the procedure, probably because they spent all than enery in 2003 during Congressional discussion on the ban. Back then it was shown to the entire nation that no scientific or moral evidence exists which necessitates the availability of PBA. So perhaps that defeat is in the mind of pro-choicers when they voice their disgust to the Carthart decision, and hence the lack of discussion.

But anyway, I still think it's an interesting phenomenon. The pro-choice comments, with precious few exceptions, have instead run along these lines: The ban is wrong because it goes against the unlimited abortion license and anyone who disagrees with that is wrong. Why? Because abortion is sacrosanct and modern woman requires its availability. Paint me unconvinced.

Female Deacons

My friend Charles has an excellent post over at the Catholic Explorers blog on the recent article by Phyllis Zagano on the possibility of a female diaconate. Check it out.

Charles asks, drawing upon the Zagano's arguments, whether or not there are duties which a deacon performs that could be done by a woman. I think there are, but they all seem to be the ones that any lay person could perform regardless of sex. And then there's the issue of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, of which the permanent diaconate is a part, which requires a male recipient to be licit and valid. Obviously the Catholic Church does not redefine sacraments, and even though the Second Vatican Council did allow for the return of the ancient practice of the permanent diaconate (as opposed to the transitional diaconate), this minor alteration was simply a renewal of a practice which simply fell by the way side in the early middle ages.

All in all, I think the argument Zagano tries to advance is juvenile, optimistic, dishonest and purely academic. There will never be female deacons in the fashion Zagano wants - especially since she seems to view the diaconate as a halfway house to priesthood. So what could a girl like Zagano do in this crazy Church of ours?

Anti-Catholic Blogger Resigns...

... but not before getting a few parting shots off at Catholic League president, Bill Donohue.

Dononhue, according to Marcotte, isn't a Christian. In fact anyone who pounced on Marcotte's idiotic diatribes against Catholics isn't a Christian either. In fact anyone who disagrees with Marcotte's attacks on Catholics isn't a real Christian.

Once again we find another non-Christian expert on Christianity. Thank goodness we have them - there would be so little laughter in the world if we didn't.

Anti-Catholic Bloggers

What does it take to be an Anti-Catholic? I would think that you would have to exhibit strong, baseless prejudices against Catholics/Catholicism, and show no inclination for moderation. It has to be more than 'I disagree with their beliefs'.

As it happens, the 'head bloggers' for John Edwards (he was the guy who ran with John Kerry. No, I didn't remember him either) are two token leftist anti-Catholics. What makes them anti-Catholics? Well for starters, both have recently published foulmouthed tirades against the Pope and Catholics in general on their respective blogs and refused to apologize for them.

Amid strong protests from the Catholic League and other American groups interested in respect for religions, John Edwards has done the noble thing and fired the pair.

No, wait, he didn't.

Instead, Edwards said he was 'personally offended', but refused to fire either of them.

A blogger for a chance to be president? Or maybe Edwards knows he doesn't have a Jew's chance in Iran to win party nomination and decided, in the words of his bloggers, to f*ck it?

Island Catholic News and Impartiality

Just this morning I stumbled across a free 'c'atholic newspaper while dropping off some mail. It was the Island Catholic News, a living relic of 20th Century Canadian Catholicism. In all honesty, I cannot say that I approached the newspaper with an impartial lense. I had heard stories of it being one of the few remaning 'Catholic newspapers' that had a parish circulation of zero, similar in a way to the group Catholics for a Free Choice, which also suffers from a subscription deficit in its own way.

Some gems from this issue:

'George Weigel Reviled by Progressive Catholics for Pro-war Imperialist Writings' - The sub-title to the linked article.

'The deeper question is the rise of right wing politics and theology in the Catholic church here in Victoria and worldwide, since the election of Pope Benedict XVI.' - Ah, yes, the seizure of the Church by Ratzinger and his army of neo-cons. I hadn't seen that one in print for a while.

'The very choice of Edith Stein as the patron of the group is polemical. A Jewish convert to Catholicism is hardly a sensitive choice in an era of interfaith possibilities. ' - An Era of Interfaith Possibilities... You can't make this stuff up.

'He [George Weigel] is also not an entirely honest intellectual.' - Oh my! Proof?

'John Paul II may have manifested various sorts of inconsistencies and contradictions in his era as pope but he was consistently if not radically strong in his critique of what George Weigel is more than fond of pushing: War making and American capitalist imperialism.' - Oddly enough, Weigel and JP2 were good friends. Methinks this author hasn't left the island in quite some time.

'Have they been taken advantage of or are they fellow travelers of this Opus Dei style of spirituality?' - I'm not sure what's worse: The sentence or the Dan Brown influence.

'His current program is to ride the coattails of the present pope who is probably more to his liking politically, although Benedict too opposes the American policy in the Middle East. It will be interesting to see how Weigel manipulates all that to his own perspective.' - Yes... because his ulitimate plan is to rule the world.

'As I ponder the barbarity, criminality and foolishness of the execution of Saddam Hussein, I wonder why the notorious American Catholic neo-con dissenter George Weigel was invited by a group headed by the Rector of St. Andrew’s Cathedral to speak in September. ' - ICN reader number 2 of 7 Greg Hartnell 'weighs' in. Apparently Weigel is 'notorious' and Hussein is not?

Watch this space for more in the future.