VaticanWatch: B16 at Auschwitz

For all his pathetic attempts to be another John Paul the Great, B16 got a bit of celestial assistance on this weekend's trip to Auschwitz.

It's great that he is extending JPII's outreach to Jews and making it crystal clear that the persecution of Judaism must be eradicated from the tool kit of Christianity.

So whether the rainbow was a divine sign or a fortuitous meteorological phenom, let us hope that the Church's tolerance and welcome for our Jewish brothers and sisters is long-lasting.
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Image by Andrew Medichi/Associated Press) from http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/05/29/at_auschwitz_pope_confronts_the_past/

The Da Vinci Load: New fad -- Lose pounds the Da Vinci Way!

It never ceases to amaze me how people can latch onto any really bad (yet lucrative) trend and manage to make it even more ludicrous than it was.

Now we are being treated to "The Da Vinci Diet," supposedly based on phi -- the esoteric ratio the is said to underlay Da Vinci's work.

According to a story in ABC News,

A baker who lost half his business to the low-carb craze has written a book based on the mathematical principles of the Golden Ratio, a formula used by Leonardo Da Vinci and made popular in the best seller, "The Da Vinci Code."

Stephen Lanzalotta created what he called the "Da Vinci Diet" in response to the decline in bread consumption brought on by the popularity of the Atkins Diet. The diet consists mostly of Mediterranean foods, including bread, fish, cheese, vegetables, meat, nuts and wine.

And now, the kicker:

He signed a deal last year with Warner Books, a division of Time Warner Book Group, that included a six-figure advance.

Warner announced this week that the book, "The Diet Code: Revolutionary Weight-Loss Secrets From Da Vinci and The Golden Ratio," will be the first in its new line of books called Warner Wellness, which will focus on health, fitness, relationships and similar topics.

Don't say you weren't warned.
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Image from www.csudh.edu/ dearhabermas/botero02.jpg

In the News: Kissy Lips gets the big kiss-off

Little late on blogs due to family obs, but there is good news from the ArchD of Boston, finally,

Once the news got out on May 22 that Cardinal Sean was going to give serial kisser "Kissy Lips" Haddad a stern talking to about having harrassed 4 women employees of Caritas Christi hospital, big changes. 10 more women came forward to tell of having been kissed and leered at by Our Boy. Once that news hit the streets, Cardinal Sean took action. No more plying the hospital board with slanted reports from Church-friendly lawyers. No more buying the nonsense that Haddad was just being "Mediterranean" and no more silence from hospital managers who had warned Haddad repeatedly in the past.

In the span of two days (practically instantaneous in the way the Church measures time) Haddad had been given two options: resign or be fired. Word was that he was trying to hold the Church over a barrel for a $3 million severeance package But when the offer came down, absurdly generous by the standards you and I live by, it was a slap in the face: $800K. Frankly, you can slap me in the face with that kind of package anyday, but for an executive of Haddad's stature and experience, this was slim pickings.

Anyway, congrats to Cardinal Sean for stickin' it to the bad guy and for ignoring his realpolitik advisors who have always gone along to get along, to the detriment of Church membership and reputation.

In the News: Christ on Crist

Just when you thought electoral politics couldn't get daffier, Jesus Christ, Eternal Word of the Father and Redeemer of the World has weighed in on the Florida gubernatorial contest. On the side of the Republicans. And through his favorite medium: a dream to a holy pastor.

Thanks to Americablog or this tidbit:

The Rev. O'Neal Dozier said that before the dream he did not know Crist, nor had Crist made known his plans to run for governor.

"The Lord Jesus spoke to me and he said 'There's something I want you to know,'" said Dozier, pastor of the Worldwide Christian Center in Pompano Beach. "'Charlie Crist will be the next governor of the state of Florida.'"

Since then, Dozier has spent time with Crist and talked with him at length about policy. He told the group that Crist would be uncompromising in his Christian faith.

"I introduce to you, as the Lord Jesus has said, the next governor of the state of Florida, Charlie Crist," Dozier said.

Holy crap! Dozier didn't know Crist, nor that he was running or guv? That's our Jesus, miracle man at the polls! Of course, Dozier could be a big fat liar, couldn't he. But naw -- a pastor lie? Or be nuts? lie? Unthinkable! Must be Jesus.

In the News: Right in the Kisser

You might think that after the recent shakeup at the ArchD of Boston, that saner heads would prevail. After all, with Auxilliary bishop Richard Lennon bringing his "talents" to Chicago, Cardinal Sean would be able to bring a more human face to the Church's affairs.

Well, that was not to be.

Accordining to today's Boston Globe, O'Malley had to deal with "Caritas Christi Health Care System's president, Dr. Robert M. Haddad, for multiple instances of kissing and other physical touching involving four women employees, despite an investigation by senior Caritas Christi officials that concluded that Haddad should be fired..."

So, faced with the overwhelming wish of the hospital's board to fire "Kissy Lips" Haddad, Cardinal Sean did the only thing a man in his position could do: he decided to keep the offender on but only after a stern talking to.

Characteristally, Kissy Lips said he'd never, ever do it again.

Now you might think that just a few years after dealing with the last batch of infamous abusers (who also said they would never, ever do it again) a bit of wisdom might have accumulated in the dusty corners of the Lake Street chancery. Guess not.

Not only did O'Malley blow off the hospital board members, but Helen G. Drinan, senior vice president for human resources at Caritas as well. Who's Helen Drinan? She's no powder puff, but was "president and chief executive officer of the Society for Human Resource Management, the world's largest human resources professional organization. Before that, she was executive vice president for human resources at BankBoston. She is also a member of several boards, including those of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Simmons College."

Is this a lady you want to tick off with a bonehead personnel decision?

So much for the Church relying on the lay experts to guide its decisions. When it comes to sexual predation, the Church is all about second (and third and fourth and fifth) chances.

Here's Drinan on the foreseeable fallout of the Kissy Lips episode: "[She] sent an e-mail Thursday to the board members in which she declared: ''I know what will befall this organization when the public learns that the Church in Boston has once again put the powerful predator ahead of the powerless victim."

Ouch.

You can bet the Globe is gonna play this up for days.

Meanwhile, for the 4 women who brought the complaint, life is going to be miserable. Imagine trying to work with a newly-enraged Kissy Lips Haddad roaming the halls. Imagine the ire of a certain kind of Catholic co-worker whose idea of "being good" means putting up with intolerable behavior from priests and men -- and punishing those who don't go along. Imaagine the lawsuits coming down. Imagine the Feds deciding whether to intervene in a situation that breaches federal employment law. Will it be enough for O'Malley to trade his cardinal's red or prison orange? Probably not. But let's just say that it won't be just the folks on Lake Street who see red when they think of the cardinal.

The Da Vinci Load: 82% rotten!

Well, who woulda thunk it? "The Da Vinci Code" movie is being almost universally panned as a bad film! Ron Howard evidently didn;'t know how to hqandle this hot potato of a movie -- from a book that had "Film me!" written all over it.

For those of you not familiar with the Rotten Tomatoes website, it gathers film reviews from dozens of sources, then provides a freshness measure. Only 18% of the "TDVC" reviewers gave it a "fresh (i.e., positive) rating. The rest O Lord, thy ways are marvelous!) rated it "rotten."

Some of my favorite reviews:

"I'll say it: It is anti-Jesus and anti-Catholic. Unintentionally though, it is a recruiting film for Opus Dei. Where do I sign up?"
-- Victoria Alexander, FILMSINREVIEW.COM

"The script explains everything twice, spelling out the big words three times, so that even if you've never heard of Jesus or Mary Magdalene you can still figure out this story."
-- Jeffrey M. Anderson, COMBUSTIBLE CELLULOID

""The Da Vinci Code" is essentially just another average Hollywood thriller. Nothing more."
-- Angela Baldassarre, SYMPATICO.CA

"Every time Langdon starts to educate Sophie, the urge to tune out is overwhelming."
-- Josh Bell, LAS VEGAS WEEKLY

"As for the film's entertainment virtues, forget it. This is one of the most talky and pretentious major films in memory."
-- Steve Crum, VIDEO-REVIEWMASTER.COM

"Way too long and duller than watching Da Vinci's paint dry...takes away the book's little credibility and makes the flaws more obvious."
-- Edward Douglas, COMINGSOON.NET

"You know a movie's a dud when even its self-flagellating albino killer monk isn't any fun. "
-- John Beifuss, COMMERCIAL APPEAL (MEMPHIS, TN)

"Ron Howard plays it too safe keeping fans of the book in line, objectors at bay and alienates anyone coming into the hype with thoughts of 'that's what everyone is up in arms about?'"
-- Erik Childress, EFILMCRITIC.COM

"... a jigsaw puzzle [that] turns out to be a lot less fun than you hoped it would be when you started piecing it together."
-- Carol Cling, LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

"I cannot vouch for the novel, but the movie is a remarkably underwhelming experience."
-- David Cornelius, EFILMCRITIC.COM

"For people who insist that the movie is never as good as the book, your case just got stronger."
-- Matt Pais, METROMIX.COM

"Ron Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman struggle mightily to cram as much as possible of Dan Brown's labyrinthine thriller into a 2-hour-28-minute running time, resulting in a movie both overstuffed and underwhelming."
-- David Ansen, NEWSWEEK

"The movie is so nervous about offending anyone that it's hardly any fun."
-- Jami Bernard, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

"Absent is the pure guilty joy of sequential puzzle-solving; instead of participating in the hunt, we're shoved off to the side as a couple of crashing boors do it for us."
-- Amy Biancolli, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

"... it's not very good -- long (2hr.32min.) and mostly inert."
-- Richard Corliss, TIME MAGAZINE

"Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's bestseller is punishingly long, dramatically overwrought and fatally short on the thrills we demand from summertime blockbusters."
-- Colin Covert, MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

"On film, The Da Vinci Code is not so much a fascinating puzzle as a prolonged slog through material that resists the screen."
-- Robert Denerstein, DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

And there you have it folks. Now let's see how much money it makes.

In the News: God sending tsumanis to US!!!

Orlando TV station WFTV is reporting that Pat Robertson has been talking to God again,. And the Deity must must be all het up, cuz he's sending some deep water this-a-way!!

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Rev. Pat Robertson says God has told him that storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America's coastline this year.

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson said May 8.

WFTV doesn't report what is getting God mad. Maybe he dropped his popcorn at a sneak peek of "The Da Vinci Code."

Anyway, after his recent goofs -- calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was a GodSlap for pulling out of Gaza -- one wonders whither come those voices in Pat's head.
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Photo of Pat Robertson, courtesy AP via WFTV. Pat is crazy in this photo.

The Da Vinci Load: The Day before screening

Tomorrow is D-Day -- Da Vinci Code movie day.

I think I have decided not to bother with the movie. I hate the idea of giving Ron Howard, Tom Hanks and Dan Brown $7.50 of my hard-earned money to tarnish the Church I love and the Saviour I worship and adore.

There are indications that the movie is not going to be quite as explosive as the book. According to the NY Times review, "Ron Howard handles the supposedly provocative material in Dan Brown's best-selling book with kid gloves." By which I hope is meant that the book's idiotic historical and religious claptrap have been pared to a minimum. Which leaves us with a badly-written, trashy murder mystery. Which means the movie may flop once word of mouth gets around.

Meanwhile, back at the Boston Globe, Ethan Gilsdorf blames the media for making us stupid. We are treated to ever-more-clever video alternatives to reality, we chomp down reality TV programs that are really highly-scripted and edited, and our legislators swim from one side of the business/legislative pond to the other with hardly a ripple.

All true, but we make it dreadfully easy for them by our overinvolvement with fantasy worlds (TV, movies, games and even books) without bothering to look out the window. In a 21st century of "Bread and circuses" as long as the entertainment keeps coming, we don't care about the refugee, the immigrant or the victim of genocide -- or whether our way of life is being dismantled.

We're not stupid or misinformed. We're just too busy keeping up with our favorite sitcom or game or thriller.

But "The Da Vinci Code" controversy shows that there is life in us after all, perhaps just enough to trip the EEG above the flatline. Scholars and religious institutions and even the media are reacting with uncomforatble vigor to this latest assault on the truth. The only question is whether the flicker of life will be enough to revivify the bloated corpse-in-waiting that is more at home with glutting itself on comfortable lies and flickering controversies.

Darfur is Dying -- a game that is not a game

"Darfur is Dying" is a slogan and a website and an accusation. The "game" (free and playable right from your home computer) consists of using adults and children from a Darfur family to try to stay alive. Family members must obtain water and rebuild villages while "Janjaweed" militia roam the desert. The difficulty of the game highlights the perils that is faced by those in this troubled region. The site also includes informatio on the region and ways to help.
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Image from the video game section of www.darfurisdying.com. 12-year old "Abok", foraging for water, hides from Janjaweed militia.

In the News: Moussaoui gets life

Is it crazy to want to kill a crazy terrorist wannabe? A jury in an Alexandria, VA courtroom evidently thought so, ignoring the prosecution's request to execute Zacarias Moussaoui for being the "20th hijacker" on September 11.

Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Slate.com, published a terrific piece today on the jury's deliberations.

This case was about a conspiracy, about some factual connection, however attenuated, between Zacarias Moussaoui's jihadi heart and the events of 9/11. And although the government has steadfastly stood by its legal claim that it was enough for Moussaoui to have wanted to be on those planes on 9/11, enough for him to have delighted as those planes went down, the jurors recognized this afternoon that a conspiracy to aid in a terror plot requires more than just a bad heart, and more than mere willingness to participate in the next one.

This decision, which will doubtless bring with it some serious national fallout, is more subtle, and more courageous, than the prosecution itself. Acting as a check on a runaway state, these jurors refused to allow a government needing a scapegoat and a man wishing for martyrdom to stand in the way of the facts. These jurors understood that for this country to kill a terrorist for his ideas, hopes, and dreams is not much different than the terrorist's desire to come here and kill us for ours.

One of the best arguments against the death penalty is the phrase, "a government needing a scapegoat." Prosecutorial zeal doesn't just happen in the Third World or in communiest regimes. The lust for revenge, unfortunately, is a human preoccupation the world over. And is it possible for governments in the Free World to be wrongheaded or just plain wrong? Of course. It's just a matter of record. As the all-white juries that convicted Emmett Till and the ecclesiastical courst thgat condemned Joan of Arc.

By the way, three lashes of the scourge for that notorious cafeteria Catholic, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Failing in his attempts to inflame the jury toward a death verdict during the trial's penalty phase, he carped, "I certainly believe the verdict should have been death."

Let the bishops remember this blood lust the next time they are looking for politicians to bar from the Eucharist.
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Image from http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-04-moussaoui_x.htm, by AP artist Dana Verkouteren, captioned, "An artist's rendering shows Moussaoui celebrating as he is taken from the courtroom after the verdict of life in prison was read on Wednesday." Barring a Barbara Walters interview, these will be Moussaoui's "famous last words" spoken in public. Ever.

In the News: BC faculty says "No more Rice. Thanks!"

Two theologians at Boston College have found their Catholic cojones and are speaking up about BC's plan to have Condoeeza Rice speak at graduation. From today's Boston Globe:

Two leading theologians at Boston College have written a stinging letter objecting to the college's decision to invite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to speak at graduation and to give her an honorary degree.

Nearly 100 faculty members have signed the letter...

Kenneth Himes, chairman of the department of theology, and the Rev. David Hollenbach, who holds the Margaret O'Brien Flatley chair in the department, titled their letter ''Condoleezza Rice Does Not Deserve a Boston College Honorary Degree," and sent it to the entire faculty inviting members to sign on. The writers said they were distressed with the university's decision to invite Rice to commencement May 22. Her selection was announced Monday.

''On the levels of both moral principle and practical moral judgment, Secretary Rice's approach to international affairs is in fundamental conflict with Boston College's commitment to the values of the Catholic and Jesuit traditions and is inconsistent with the humanistic values that inspire the university's work," the letter said. It pointed out Pope John Paul II's opposition to the war in Iraq.

''I have no objection to her coming here to speak -- I am in favor of free speech -- but I don't believe we should be honoring her with an honorary degree," Hollenbach said.

What's this? A Catholic college dinging a conservative for flouting Catholic teaching? I thought only liberals were "cafeteria Catholics"! It's about time that the other side has to suffer with having their Catholicism attacked.

Let the games begin!
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Image from http://www.banzuke.com/chanko-nabe/ showing Japanese sumo wrestler Kotonowaka serving rice to his son, Masakatsu. Is BC trying to force feed Rice to its young charges?

Desperate Deists: I, me, mine

Snopes.com ran an expose on another of those "miracle in the midst of disaster" pieces this week, this time about the supposed selflessness of the miners in January's Sago mine disaster.

...I work in Buckhannon and the lady who cleans our office was in here late last night as I was still working. She came in very excited that someone was still here so she could share some good news surrounding this incident. I though it was incredibly inspiring, touching, and worth sharing as a testament to God's purpose in all things.

She had a couple relatives who died in the accident, and she knew the family and young man who survived. Randall McCloy apparently has a young family and small children, and those fellow miners who were trapped with him made the decision at least in part to give their oxygen to this young man so he could survive to raise his family. According to her there are notes in several of the deceased miners lunch boxes describing their decision. Her comment was that she knew several of them and that some weren't right with the Lord, but her belief is that the Lord, working in ways we cannot comprehend, opened an opportunity for them to open their hearts to God, and then make an extreme sacrifice of love for another.

Problem? None of this is true.

Continues Snopes:

Final messages in the form of scribbled notes to loved ones were found on some of the miners, but none of their contents (as released to the media) made mention of oxygen being donated to McCloy.

Several months after the accident, when Randal McCloy was sufficiently recovered to release a statement, the story he told was the opposite of the one presented above: At least four of the miners' air packs did not function, so McCloy shared his own rescuer with another miner, and the miners trapped with him shared theirs with the other three men whose own devices did not work:

I have no problem believing that God works in our lives. I do have a problem with people pursuing their own agendas (packing their churches and spreading their personal brand of theology) by lying about the events in a horrible tragedy. From what we hear, the accident is the result of an inherently dangerous situation exacerbated by reduction of government oversight.

As always, God gives us the tools -- infused morality, reason, science -- to help us improve our own lives. And as usual, we refuse to use those gifts. Having failed to use our gifts to improve the lives of our neighbors, we have no right to turn tragedy into triumph with phony recourse to supposed divine intervention.

The Sago miners died because they pursued a dangerous line of work, because industry put profits before safety and because government decided to take a vacation from protecting its citizens.

What better illustration of St. Paul's dictum that "the wages of sin is death"?
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Image: A makeshift memorial for some of the miners killed in the Sago disaster. Getty Images. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5134307

In the News: Vatican rethinking condom ban?

Is it possible after all 20 years of looking the other way that the Vatican may actually be reconsidering its ban on the use of condoms -- if only to prevent AIDS for married couples? A report on seems to indicate that it does:

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican is studying whether condoms can be condoned to help stem the tide of AIDS and a host of other bioethical issues such as stem cell research, officials said Tuesday.

Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who heads the Vatican office for health care, was quoted over the weekend in Italy's La Repubblica daily as saying his office was preparing a document on the question of condoms and AIDS, and that it would be released soon.

Later, in typical corporate double-talk, Barragan backed off that original statement:

But on Tuesday, he clarified that his office was merely studying the issue at the request of the pope as part of a broader "dialogue" with other Vatican departments.

"We are conducting a very profound scientific, technical and moral study" on how to deal with married couples when one is infected with HIV, he told Vatican Radio.

It looks like the debate will focus not on overturning the bases of Catholic sexuali morality, but on defining what is a 'lesser evil' -- slow death by AIDS or violating a controversial Church teaching. Until now, the Church has steadfastly refused to allow married couples to avoid AIDS by using condoms. As James Carroll notes in a Boston Globe op-ed piece published today, "Even were the Vatican to change its position now -- and pray it does -- Catholics must still reckon with that betrayal."

Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium is one of the few voices of reason to emerge on the subject. According to CNN, "he has said it would be a sin for an HIV-positive person to have sex without a condom, since he or she would be violating the Fifth Commandment, "you shall not kill.""

As for the rest of the Cardinals, I can only ask, 'what did you do with the money your parents gave you to attend ethics and morality class?'

Let us hope that the congregations involved in this decision pull their heads out of their breviaries long enough to see the pile of corpses resulting from this particular teaching. As for myself, I am putting my money on B16 leaving the current teaching in place. Let them eat abstinence!
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Image from http://world.lib.ru/a/antosha/chutx-chutxoljubwi.shtml. The image is a visual pun relating to the story. Get it?