Catholicism in review, March- May, 2012

Under the heading of "it's been awhile"....

Empty suits, the lot of them.

Anyway, this is what's been happening since last I posted anything about my Catholic Examiner.com articles.

'Anonymous' shuts down the Vatican Website a group of hackers, who are probably six prepubescent delinquents in Europe, got busted. They had a temper tantrum that shut down the Vatican's public website ... because, obviously, they couldn't shut down someone important. File this under "display of impotence."

Pope's brother speaks out in new book. (video) -- you didn't know the Pope had a brother, did you?

Karina Fabian has a book on spirituality she wrote with her father the Deacon. I interviewed them about it for Lent.

Catholics beating Obama in polls -- Obama went after Catholics. Catholics win in polling data. Muahahaha.

'Reason rally' in Washington, DC, because atheists are more reasonable than you. -- seriously, atheists had a "reason rally" to improve their public perception. However, you could say they were screwed, from the start, since, oops, the title sounds like "we're better than yoo--uuu," which always helps.

And then Richard Dawkins, one of the High Priests of atheism, decided to call for mockery of Catholics at the 'Reason Rally' .... which is always a good way of curing the public perception of professional atheists as professional schmucks.

At which point, it was time to ask, Are Catholics stupid?

Then, at Easter time, I decided to have some fun. First, I answer, What happened on Good Friday? -- mostly looking at Jesus from the point of view of, well, everyone else, and answering theological reasons why he was nailed to a set of 2x4s, and why the men with the hammers nailed him.

He is risen: another way of looking at Easter -- okay, I was a little snarky here.

The science of resurrection -- with information from Doctor Who, and the man who wrote The Exorcist.

Interview with 'Live and Let Fly' author Karina Fabian... -- you may remember this. I also had a part one, part two, and part three. and a part four..

Catholic Bishops said they wanted to sue Obama. And then they do -- 43 Catholic orgs file religious liberty suits vs. Obama.  Shortly thereafter, Notre Dame President John Jenkins explained the lawsuit.  And, then, for a comedy portion, we had a note from Nancy Pelosi, as she declares it a fraud to protect religion.  Then the media coverage started by whining that the Catholic church was to investigate "nuns." -- who weren't nuns.  This is while they were busy not reporting the lawsuit for over 72 hours (and counting).

And, then, Catholics have started their own group, Fortnight for Freedom will occupy DC. Muahahaha.

Not long after, President Obama came out for gay marriage.  When Christians objected, Stephen Colbert decided to tell Christians what Jesus said, and missed the point altogether. Who could have guessed.

Then I posted reviews for Karina Fabian's "Live and Let Fly" and  "Neeta Lyffe: Zombie Exterminator.

Looking back on 9/11, ten years later.

[A more clinical and objective view can be found here.]

When I first walked into English class at St. John's University, it was a little before 9am. The professor was one Dr. Robert Forman.  He was always entertaining, and there's something about him that tells you he cares that you learn something in his class.

The first person I saw was my classmate Tony.  I said hello, and he asked, "Did you hear something about a plane running into the World Trade Center?"

And I laughed.  All I could think is what idiot could have missed noticing that there were two rather large buttersticks in the sky right in front of him?

I explained that to Tony.  He agreed, and I gave it no thought at all for the rest of the 90-minute class.

I went from one class to another -- Christian Spirituality and Mysticism, 10:40am, taught by a priest whose name I can't recall right this moment.  He was not only pleasant, but happy.  He was also very Italian, and joked about it often.

When I arrived, the professor wasn't there, and someone came into class saying that classes were canceled.

Huh.  That's odd.

I went to the nearest inter-university phone and called my father -- who was an Assistant Dean at SJU.  I called, told him my class was cancelled, and how are you doing?

"Come to the office."

Ok .... click.

Walking from one building to the other required that I cross from Marillac Hall, past Council and Newman Halls -- a narrow corridor outside that was as well directed as any sidewalk intersection without a traffic stop.

Ironically, it was afforded the best view of the Manhattan skyline that the University had to offer, without going into the university library --- SJU is, for the record, the highest point in Queens.

But, I didn't stop for a second. My pace was quick and even, mainly because there were so few people in my way -- for once.

Though there was one odd bit of business going on at the time, something I found odd even before I made it to my father's office: there were clusters of people with their cell phones out.  After the third such group, I felt like I was in a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

I walked into my father's office at the other side of the library, and before I could even open my mouth, my father said, "Planes have crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.  The twin towers are gone, and the Pentagon is burning."

And I remember this quite clearly, because I had a little red notebook with me at the time ... my first thought was "Didn't Tom Clancy already write this novel?"

My father suggested I go to the library, and observe the skyline.  by the time I got there, the library was locked.  So I walked back to the terrace I had just gone over.

Instead of a skyline, there were ground based storm clouds running from south to north.  I stood there for an unknown length of time, completely focused on it.  I didn't even notice my acquaintance Andy walk up next to me.

"I can't wrap my mind around it," he said.  "I can't believe they're gone."

 If I replied to him, I don't remember.

Much of what I had from that day I have preserved in my little red notebook -- a habitual writer's thing, a notebook.

I thought that Fr. Andrew Greeley was writing a column right that moment ... and he was, one that focused on the calmness of New Yorkers evacuating into New Jersey.

I thought that I had to rewrite my thriller novels, because one of them was a CIA assassin, and at that moment, I knew what she was doing at that exact moment in history.

I also knew that Osama bin Laden was a dead man walking. One way or another, someone was going to hunt him down, and shoot him.  Probably after he was hurt ... a lot.

On the way home, we had to drive around Union Turnpike, since the local park was a great site for emergency vehicles to assemble.

My family could only watch television that day because we had cable.  We must have watched the towers fall a dozen times by the end of the day.  There were theories that Camp David might be a target, because the Camp David accords had an anniversary that day, or soon.  And there was supposedly a car bomb outside of the state department.

The initial estimated dead: 55,000.  By 1pm, it had become 10,000.

At 6pm that evening, I was amused by a report.... four hours after the attacks in New York, parts of Kabul were burning. The Taliban were under attack. I wondered if (1) Mossad moved really fast, or (2), the dissidents wanted to get on our good side.  I would later learn that a leader of the Northern Alliance had been assassinated by the Taliban several days before, and that was their reprisal.

By that evening, there were 200 firemen missing, and 70 cops also MIA.

We had learned that there were people who jumped out of the towers rather than burn.

The next day, there was a pledge of support from Vladimir Putin.  Thousands of pints of blood were on the way from Israel....

And at 7:36 am on the morning of September 12th, the news had a good image of the Empire State building, with smoke in the background...

There was also no looting ... because this is not Los Angeles.  This is New York, where even the criminals were nice enough (or smart enough) to stay home.  There was a seven hour wait to give blood, until there were only those who were turned away.

We had shocking news: The NY Times said something nice about "the nazi," Mayor Rudy Guiliani, calling him Churchill in a baseball cap.

NY Governor Pataki had come down.  He thanked a fireman in critical condition for  his service, and the fireman said, "Well, what to you expect?"

And by night, there were so many who showed up with lit candles, the city looked like it was on fire.

By January 20, 2002, we had a count around 2,900 dead.

Ann Coulter made a statement that many were pissed off about: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

A quote which could be offensive if not for two things .... one: if you ever get a chance to read that article, you will notice that it was about mostly about a friend of hers, Barbara Olsen .... she was on a plane that flew into the Pentagon. So, she was annoyed.

When asked about it later, she told Fox news democrat Alan Colmes "We better convert them to something, even if it's what you call 'real Islam.' "

Which, frankly, converting the 10% of the muslim world that hate us (about 120 million, give or take) to something other than a sharia-variant would be a good idea.

My feelings about it were simple, and summed up by a quote from the tv show West Wing:

“We need to kill them, we need to find them and to kill them. We kill them. Then we find out who sent them and we kill them too. You kill the people who did it. You kill the people who planned it. Then you kill everyone who is happy about it….

I think at the end of the day, more people would rather have Ann Coulter's solution of converting people who want to kill us, even if it's to generic, Atlantic-avenue Islam, would be a better idea than my general feelings on the matter.

But, frankly, I don't think it's a matter of religion. Americans have protests and near riots over any civilian caught in a war zone. Instead, there were people who were having parties over 9-11; if someone feels happy about killing civilians, there is something wrong with that person as a human being. That person is about the same level as the average serial killer.

But, that was ten years ago .....

****

It's ten years later.


The cops and firemen who were there are being locked out of any 9/11 memorial.

They've locked out any and all priests from even showing up.

The cross forged from I-beams of the tower are being threatened by atheists with nothing better to do.

The unions who showed up in force to clear the rubble of the towers have started to turn it into a political freakshow.

Rye play land in New York has a "Muslim Day," and it turns into a riot because they banned all headgear from roller coasters.  This includes a a hijab -- something about not wanting the woman strangled or decapitated.

There are no replacement buildings yet.

And, damnit, I want a WTC with a missile battery.

Everyone likes to say never forget.

I hope this has made some people remember.

Extremists, Atheists, and Jesus Freaks.

In previous articles having to do with politics, I have described myself as apathetic, or left or right depending on where the jury is from. I hate all politics, so I could be summed up as fair and mentally unbalanced.

What about religion? The same rules apply.

If anyone is familiar with the George Carlin routine [link rated R for language] about religion, it involves him talking about the Invisible Man in the Sky, and He Wants MONEY. When I first saw it, I thought it was hilarious. A nice little parody of the Catholic church when he was growing up.

Then I discovered that it's what he believed. Him, Bill Maher, and a whole bunch of other people.

Now, it could be that I'm a snob. My BA in philosophy might as well have been in Catholic philosophy. My father with the PhD in catholic Philosophy taught me more about the faith than my Catholic schools ever did. I get the impression that if my education mirrored George Carlin's, I'd turn out much like him. I would like to think that I could do my own research to learn what was going on, but who knows.

Atheists do not annoy me. Seriously. Two of my friends are atheists. One was my best friend before she went crazy with extremist politics—I was going crazy with PhD studies at the time, so that didn't help either.

My other atheist acquaintance is the primary artist for this website, Matt. He says he's a militant atheist. I disagree. If only because I've met militant atheists, and they have hated my guts for no other reason than I am religious. They couldn't do something reasonable like get to know me and my personality quirks before they hated me.

And I love those hate-filled nutjobs. Truly I do. They're amusing. If only because they spend a lot of them telling me what I think. It's sort of like my political article. I try to tell people what I believe politically, and from one sentence (usually a half sentence) they leap to amazing conclusions about what I think, what I believe, and why I believe it. They're funny as heck.

Then again, I may have a strange sense of humor.

So, what annoys me? If I blame George Carlin on bad education, and Bill Maher on being … himself, really … and I find Anti-Catholic twits a source of amusement, then what exactly would set me off in terms of religion?

1) Anti-Theists: a segment of the population that isn't talked about very often, Anti-Theists are exactly as the title says, they are against believers. My friend Matt may believe that religions are stupid, or that the bulk of religious people are stupid, but he doesn't hate my guts because of my faith. There are folks who have suggested that children should be taken away from believers just because they believe; or that Christians should be charged with child abuse because they tell their children that Jesus Loves Them. Anti-Theists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris believe that those who believe in God are dangerous, even criminal. I congratulate Dawkins, Harris and their ilk on making discrimination and bigotry acceptable.

2) The Politically Correct. The Transportation Safety Authority is on everyone's list recently, so I see no reason to leave them out of my list of irritants. Recently, a front group for the terrorist organization the Muslim Brotherhood had trained the Transportation Security Officers of Los Angeles International Airport in how to be “sensitive” to members of Islam. I particularly enjoyed where “if a woman wears hijab and needs a secondary screening she should be screened in a private area by a female TSO officer.”

I like the headgear on the TSA offical.

However, they can give patdowns to nuns in public.

My main quibble there is that they can either accommodate all religions equally, or they can leave religion out of the equation. It strikes me as racist and bigoted: Why be sensitive to the religious of Islam and not Christians? Are Muslims somehow more sensitive than Christians or even Jews?

Again, it may just be me, but when I'm told “We have to give Muslims special treatment,” what I hear is: “We're going to patronize the poor sensitive little darlings, pat them on the head, and accommodate their ignorance so we can show how enlightened we are.”

Like I said, I find it demeaning and racist. It could just be me.

3) Anti-Christmas people. Fine, you don't like commercialism, good for you, neither do I. If you actually believe that Christmas is the season for love, peace on Earth, etc, and you dislike the crass commercialism of the season, I'm with you. Let's get together and sing Christmas carols down the street.

If you think that my wishing you “Merry Christmas” somehow means that I am demeaning you, you are an idiot. And you are probably looking to be offended. I say Happy Hannukah, and I say Merry Christmas, and I might even be persuaded to say happy Kwansa if I ever find somebody who follows that particular day. If you do not like it, feel free to complain. The complaint department in on the right

4) People who should know better, but lie. Earlier posts in this blog about the origins of the novel have mentioned how I came across people who researched on the Pius XII situation, noted the books they used, and spun a yawn that directly contradict the facts. Liars with an agenda … they tend to irritate me.

5) Jesus Freaks. You know who I mean. The people I mentioned in a previous post, where they're not interested in what you believe in, or what you have to say, they just wish to talk you to death with whatever rote lines of dialogue they have. They start with “Have you accepted Jay-sus Christ your own personal savior?” And, regardless of what you answer, they will push on as though you haven't spoken. Then we whip out the tazer and make them slightly crispy. I prefer atheists like Daniel Dennett. He's at least reasonable. I prefer atheists like Matt, or like my former friend Colleen; they may not like religion, but they usually point at reasonable problems.

In short, I dislike the willfully-ignorant and the mean-spirited. 

But, I suppose it comes down to "Who doesn't?"

A Long Overdue Rant: Sex.

An atheist friend of mine just blamed the Catholic Church for AIDS in Africa.


For anyone who wants a footnote, read Laurie Garret's Betrayal of Trust, where you realize: crap, Africa really doesn't like condoms.  Like men everywhere, they bad mouth condoms as belittling their machismo.  And, in a country where AIDS is as prevalent as it is, that just puts more bullets in the revolver for the Russian roulette.  In Africa, they don't like, want, or use condoms. Which means they're like men everywhere, with a high risk factor.

Africa is also a country where they had a "cure" for AIDS -- they had to sleep with a virgin, the younger the better.  Which led to more babies being sexually abused than in all the Catholic parishes in all the world.  But why bother with little, inconvenient details.

See, North America isn't the only continent that can have whole pockets of a cultural wasteland.

Uganda seems to be the only people who have used anti-AIDS measures to any great effectiveness.  And part of that is .... wait for it ... abstinence!  Gee, why couldn't the Catholic Church think of that?

Oh, wait, it did.

But, no, the Catholic Church is responsible because they're against condoms!

Um, I'm sorry, let's face it, if no one will listen to the Catholic Church badmouth premarital sex, why the hell does anyone think that people will listen about on condoms?

Can't you just see the conversation now?

The Church: "Don't screw around before you're married."
People in general: "Oh, who wants to listen to that crap? Sex is fun!"
The Church: "Don't use condoms, because sex, sanctified within the sacrament of marriage, is for procreation, as well as for an expression of love and for fun."
People in general: "No condoms, got it!"

Do people really think it works like that?  Seriously?  Beuller? Beuller?

And the Pope himself recently mentioned that, if you have an STD, condom use is actually a positive sign: if someone is using a condom while carrying an STD, that means that you are actively being responsible for your condition.

As Pope Benedict said, it's like robbing a bank.  The Church would like you do not do it, but if you're going to do it, carrying a gun without bullets means you at least care about human life, if not human property.

But to screw around and say that you're being a good Catholic because you're not using a condom?  That means you are a hypocrite, and that you will latch onto any doctrine, rumor, or halfway believable "truth" that will let you screw around without protection.

Just wait until they hear about "free love."