"I think religion becomes most meaningful in people’s lives when it’s told in the form of stories, where people can connect. I always judge a homily on how well a priest does at integrating whatever lessons of the week are in the gospel into stories. And those stories are the ones that I think really land for the parishioners much more so than some kind of didactic analysis of the readings or the gospel. I feel like that’s kind of our role as storytellers on the show - to try to take those themes which really are meaningful for people and put them in forms of good yarns and stories.”
— Carleton Cuse, executive producer of "Lost," from his interview on "Personally Speaking with Monsignor Jim Lisante." Found on "Personally Speaking" producer Tony Rossi's blog, The Intersection.
The "Tale of Two Brains" — male vs. female — arrived in my e-mail today from a priest. Be careful not to watch it while eating or drinking anything that may damage your computer screen.
My friend Mary-Rose Lombard requests prayers for Father Daniel J. Kennedy, whose funeral is tomorrow.
Father Kennedy, parochial vicar at St. John the Evangelist in Winthrop, Mass., died January 27 of a heart attack. He was only 34, and had been ordained just last May.
You can read Father Kennedy's reflections upon his ordination on Cardinal Sean O'Malley's blog. The Boston Globe has his death notice, and numerous videos of him, including his first Mass, are on the Web site of St. Mary of the Nativity, Scituate Harbor, Mass. Information on where to send donations in lieu of flowers is on the Russell Funeral Home Web sitte.
Please also pray for Father Kennedy's family, friends, and parish, who must all be suffering greatly from the loss of one so young, who so loved being a priest.
At ten minutes to six yesterday morning, I met my wonderful father, stepmother, and sister in the lobby of my apartment building for the short walk to George Washington University Hospital.
Sis was in town from Cincinnati for the occasion. My mother and stepfather had also offered to come, from New Jersey, but I declined, though I was very happy to receive their care package of a week's worth of soups.
I felt very prayed-for going into the hospital, thanks to my friends and blog pals who had offered to pray for me, and especially thanks to my pastor's having given me the Anointing of the Sick. It was my first time ever having received the sacrament. What is particularly beautiful about it is the way it unites one's suffering's to Christ's. As an admirer of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, I didn't want to have any "wasted pain." Receiving the Anointing gave me the assurance that God would receive my suffering on behalf of my prayer intentions, even if I forgot to keep those intentions in mind while experiencing pain.
Before leaving my place, I had removed my Miraculous Medal and Brown Scapular and placed them in my purse — no jewelry is allowed on the operating table. Wanting to take as many saints as possible with me, I wore my "Chesterton University" T-shirt underneath my sweater and packed Sheen's Peace of Soul into my carrying back.
It was very moving to see how concerned my family was for me, especially my dad. I knew as the intake receptionist put the band on my wrist that my father, who turned 70 last year, could remember the day in 1968 when I wore my first-ever hospital tag.
At the hospital, I enjoyed VIP status, thanks to my father's having worked for the George Washington University Medical School for nearly 30 years. I don't doubt that the care would have been excellent anyway, but it was a great blessing to be surrounded by people who knew and respected my dad. One of the third-year medical residents who was to take part in my surgery told me beforehand that my father was "like a mentor" to him.
It's quite amazing how God works things out. If I had remained in New York City, at my old job, where I was until last June, I would not have received nearly the same level of care at a hospital there, and it never would have occurred to me to attempt to get the procedure done at George Washington University Hospital. Funny how it took a job switch — to a Washington-area position that ended prematurely — to get me to the place where I could get the best possible treatment. (Speaking of jobs, I am very happy to be beginning a new one — more on that when it's confirmed.)
There was very little time yesterday morning when I felt alone. It happened only briefly, after saying goodbye to my folks and following the nurse into the pre-op room, when I was left to put on my gown and slippers. That depressing feeling one gets in the hospital — that of being at others' mercy — was just beginning to hit me, when, for some reason, I looked at the label on the package of slippers, which was hermetically sealed. It read, "Medline Industries, Mundelein, Ill."
The name "Mundelein" jumped out at me. I knew I had read about a Mundelein in Sheen's biography, Treasures in Clay and that he was a bishop, though in my mind at first I had him confused with Bishop Spalding, who prophesied that Sheen would be a bishop himself. Somehow, I knew that the town of Mundelein was named after him. (In fact, it remains home to the seminary the cardinal founded, which I now see is four miles from where the slippers were made.)
Even not quite remembering who Mundelein was — he was in fact the sixth American cardinal, of the Archdiocese of Chicago — I knew for certain that he was a prelate, and that he was of Sheen's home state of Illinois. Just seeing his name printed on that plastic bag at that moment gave me great comfort, especially as I had asked Sheen's intercession before leaving the house that morning. It felt like a sign the angels and the saints were with me. I shed a few tears, half a remnant of fear and half an offering of joy.
* * *
Only after getting home tonight did I learn that there is indeed much to admire about George Cardinal Mundelein's earthly life. Although liberal and a close friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he spoke boldly against "Austrian paperhanger" Hitler more than four years before the United States entered World War II.
Cardinal Mundelein also established the Associated Catholic Charities of Chicago, which in turn founded, under his direction, the Misericordia Maternity Hospital. The hospital's purpose was, as the Cardinal said, "for the saving of the souls of the babies." A contemporary biography of Cardinal Mundelein notes that special precautions were taken at the hospital to secure the baptism of the children and protect their right to life.
The day after the March for Life, I heard a pro-life leader say that there was a rainbow over the Supreme Court at the end of the march.
He said it was a sign from God that the marchers' prayers were being answered — that there would be an end to abortion, and that there would be reverence for life at all stages.
"Next 'American Idol' Could Be Chaste Sex Symbol," writes Cybercast News Service reporter Penny Starr in a story today that includes some quotes from me about the "Idol" judges' treatment of contestants who advocate abstinence.
I observe in the article that the "Idol" producers' bringing forth Amy Flynn, a pro-abstinence peer counselor with Students Teaching About Respecting Sexuality, was likely a calculated move following viewer outrage over the judges' ridiculing Bruce Dickson earlier this month. Dickson had told the judges he was saving his first kiss for his future wife.
Besides the producers' desire to mend fences with Middle America, Flynn was likely shielded from ridicule because her motivations, by Hollywood standards, were more acceptable than those of Dickson. I say in the article that, seen from the producers' and judges' narrow-minded perspective,
Dickson "was inspired by his family and God, and you're not allowed to have a strong family or belief in God. ... He was a goober with low intelligence who was doing what Mommy and Daddy were telling him to do."
Flynn, on the other hand, is a safer chastity advocate as a participant in a secular abstinence program, Eden said.
STARS "is outside the sphere of family, so (the judges) are allowed to like it," Eden said. "It's students taking control of their own lives and not just doing what their parents tell them to do."
Home from the hospital, my stitched-up throat looking like it's wearing a "Cleopatra necklace," according to my stepmother, but the important thing is that my thyroidectomy went very well and I am very thankful for your prayers. Will write more after getting rest — have a few stories I'm looking forward to sharing.
Tomorrow morning at 7:30 p.m., if all goes according to plan, a surgeon will remove part of my thyroid — and, if he finds cancer, he'll take out the rest of it as well.
I would like to thank everyone who has written to let me know that they are praying for me and for the doctors and other staff at the hospital. Your prayers are buoying me.
I don't want to exaggerate the seriousness of the operation; it is a common procedure, and patients typically recover from it very well. Nonetheless, it's stressful to have it ahead of me, and I'm glad for all your encouragement.
One e-mail from reader Daniel Kane, a medical physicist and fellow at the Westchester Institute, was particularly memorable:
Consider it part of the plastic surgery that will give you the long neck you always wanted. While no doubt the yuck factor is high, it is not a big deal. Or as the beloved Fr. Groschel said in the NYT last Sunday - "They said I would never live. I lived. They said I would never think. I think. They said I would never walk. I walked. They said I would never dance, but I never danced anyway." Or, as I tell all my patients, you have just as many days now as you did the day before your diagnosis. Certainly, what is a surprise to you is not to Christ.
* * *
Today, a nurse called me with a long list of questions about past medical conditions and so on.
When she got to the question about whether I ever had anesthesia, I felt compelled to warn her: The last time I went under, for an eye operation in late 2000, a nurse told me afterwards that, while I was knocked out, I kicked her in the chest.
The nurse on the phone chuckled. "I'll put down, 'May get agitated under anesthesia."
I'll be spending the night in the hospital tomorrow, so I'll write again when I'm home on Wednesday. God bless! 8:38 PM |
Carolina on my mind
If you're in or around the Carolinas, Father Dow Sanderson of the Anglican Church of the Holy Communion in Charleston, S.C., says that Dawn Patrol readers in the area are welcome to join his parish's Lenten retreat in Henderson, N.C., March 7-9, where I will be a featured speaker. They may register (while space is available) by e-mailing the church at holycomm@bellsouth.net.
"There is no such thing as giving the body without giving the soul. Those who think they can be faithful in soul to one another, but unfaithful in body, forget that the two are inseparable. Sex in isolation from personality does not exist! An arm living and gesticulating apart from the living organism is an impossibility. Man has no organic functions isolated from his soul. There is involvement of the whole personality. Nothing is more psychosomatic than the union of two in one flesh; nothing so much alters a mind, a will, for better or for worse. The separation of soul and body is death. Those who separate sex and spirit are rehearsing for death. The enjoyment of the other's personality through one's own personality, is love. The pleasure of animal function through another's animal function is sex separated from love."
Thanks very much to those of you who have been praying for me in advance of my thyroidectomy, which will take place tomorrow afternoon. I've been busy these past few days catching up with my sister, who has come in from out of town to be with me in advance of the operation. Hoping to find time tonight to catch up on e-mail and write a personal update here.
It is tremendously exciting and gratifying to have the opportunity to reach a Spanish-speaking audience, some of which may have already heard of it through articles in publications such as Bogota's El Espectador.
Finalmente, un libro para mujeres solteras que, insatisfechas con vivir un estilo de vida mundano, quieren dar a sus vidas una direccion nueva y devota. La autora Dawn Eden, una periodista de rock, judia de nacimiento que se convirtio en la reina mordaz del blog cristiano, usando sus propias experiencias en la selva de solteros de la ciudad de Nueva York, muestra a las mujeres como ellas tambien pueden pasar de la inseguridad a la pureza, de la tristeza al nuevo nacimiento. Ella les dice a las mujeres que se las saben todas como encontrar su camino a casa.
La aventura de la castidad no es un libro para doncellas delicadas con vestidos blancos de encaje que estan esperando pacientemente a su apuesto principe. Esto es para mujeres reales que necesitan mensajes fuertes, motivacionales y profundamente morales para contrarrestar los que reciben de un mundo superficial obsesionado con el sexo.
In fairness, the Planned Parenthood chapter has censored itself in the past, like when it took down a "Real Story" from its Web site when it was caught boasting that it covered up an 11-year-old's rape, or when it quietly removed its own "Superhero for Choice" video in the face of public outcry.
After much thought, Patricia decided to have an abortion. She asked to speak with Planned Parenthoods chaplain, the Rev. Lisa Sargent, who provides counseling and support to patients at Planned Parenthoods health centers throughout the Bay Area. Patricia shared that she simply could not imagine how she would provide for and care for two children by herself and what she needed to do now was to go back to school and create a better life for her son.
Planned Parenthood. Breaking the cycle of poverty. One baby at a time. (And on the taxpayers' dime.)
Meanwhile, the Eugene, Ore., Planned Parenthood staffer (and I do believe she is whom she claims to be) continues to blog away as Hormone-Peddling Wench.
TAKE ACTION: To contact the Oregon Department of Justice about this possible case of unreported child rape, write doj.info@state.or.us. To contact the Eugene Police Department, write policedept@ci.eugene.or.us.
I'm delighted to announce that the talk I gave at Monday night's Arlington Diocese Theology on Tap is now on the series' podcast page.
For those who have already heard me speak, about sixty percent of the talk is new material. Yay!
I've linked the podcast page rather than linking directly to my talk, because there are loads of other talks on the page as well, which show why the Arlington Diocese Theology on Tap has a reputation as the best such series around. One of my favorites is "Sacramentals: Are You What You Wear?" which was given by a priest and a nun — the priest being Father M. of Patum Paperium — who engage in comedic repartee a la Sonny and Cher (though with a different experience of Chastity).
To commemorate Tuesday’s 35th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, Mohawk Hudson Planned Parenthood in Schenectady has asked local clergy to bless its new facility.
Officials at Planned Parenthood invited the media to tour the surgical wing and the new building at 1040 State St., calling the event in a press release: “On Sacred Ground--Blessing of the Building by Schenectady Clergy.”
After the ceremony, the three clergy members will speak “in support of the Planned Parenthood mission, birth control and the continued need to keep abortion safe, legal and accessible for all women,” according to Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Lindal Scharf.
[T]he blessing occurred at the newly constructed 18,000-square-foot building at 1040 State St. that opened in September to replace a facility on Union Street.
"Clergy have long supported Planned Parenthood's mission and believe women are moral decision-makers, and they trust their right to make a personal decision based on their moral beliefs and whether ... we concur ... we still need to respect that decision," Scharf said.
"The clergy were instrumental in getting abortion services legalized in the United States and right here in Schenectady," she added. "I know a member of the clergy who was part of an underground who directed young women to safe abortions before Roe v. Wade." ...
At Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Rev. Larry Phillips of Schenectady's Emmanuel-Friedens Church declared the ground "sacred and holy ... where women's voices and stories are welcomed, valued and affirmed; sacred ground where women are treated with dignity, supported in their role as moral decision-makers ... sacred ground where the violent voices of hatred and oppression are quelled."
The minister has been affiliated with Planned Parenthood going back more than 30 years, Scharf said. About three dozen people gathered at the facility, known as the Evelyn & David Sencer Center, to offer prayers during the half-hour ceremony.
The Rev. Abby Norton-Levering led the group in prayers for the center's doctors and staff. "We pray that you will make this a place of safety and give a sense of sanctuary," she said.
Rabbi Matt Cutler of Temple Gates of Heaven blew the shofar as "a renewal of commitment to keep reproductive rights in the hands of women."
The Rev. Bill Levering, senior pastor of First Reformed Church of Schenectady, said the right to privacy is endowed by God. "There are some decisions that are left to the individual. Even God respects the right of privacy. We make women into children when we say they cannot control their own bodies," Levering said.
Phillips led everyone outside where they laid their hands on the brick and limestone as the minister declared, "This is sacred ground."
Exhausted after more than a day's worth of public events, all of which went very well.
More than 200 young adults (and a few oldsters) packed Pat Troy's pub in Arlington for my talk last night at Arlington Diocese Theology on Tap. A podcast of it should be available shortly; will post the link when it emerges.
Today, I had the honor of speaking at Blogs for Life at the Family Research Council. Afterwards, I went to the March for Life for a couple of hours and then hosted a tea party at the Catholic Information Center for pro-life bloggers and the people who love them, including Jill Stanek and Dr. Michael J. New, both of whom gave excellent presentations at Blogs for Life. American Life League's Judie Brown, Anita Crane, and Michael Hichborn also came by, and we had a highly enjoyable chat around the CIC's conference table with several other guests as we wound down from the long day. I won't say what we discussed, as I didn't ask if it was bloggable, but I will say that I complimented Hichborn on the great job he's been doing with ALL's video news updates.
A highlight of the day was getting to meet Catholic seminarian Jeff Geerling, in town for the march from St. Louis with some of his schoolmates. Jeff promptly took advantage of the CIC's free wi-fi to immortalize the moment with a photo on his blog. You can see how happy I was to meet him for the first time after corresponding with him on and off for more than three years. He is one of the Dawn Patrol readers who helped lead me to the Catholic Church.
Jeff is the producer of the legendary "Duel of the Seminarians," which is well worth an encore appearance on this blog:
I have updated Saturday's entry on an alleged Planned Parenthood employee's failure to report child rape, as the alleged employee's blog now reveals her location. See the "UPDATE" at the end of the entry for details on how to let authorities know of the blogger's claim that she provided a 12-year-old with contraception while apparently not reporting her suspicion that the child was a victim of statutory rape.
I would like to state again that the only evidence in this case so far is the blog entry by a person who claims to be a Planned Parenthood employee and who backs up her claim with an apparent insider's knowledge of Planned Parenthood procedures. Even so, if there is the slightest chance that the blogger's claim is true, the authorities should be informed.
In bed with the sexperts: Planned Parenthood, media hook up vs. abstinence
H.G. Wells once observed, in light of media pronouncements by "expert" economists, that to style oneself as an expert is "proper enough in a hairdresser or a fashionable physician, but indecent in a philosopher or a man of science."
More than a century later, the cult of the expert retains its hold over the newsroom—and never more so than in coverage of abstinence-education programs. With their vigorous efforts to put forth a crew of experts whose mainstream-media credibility far exceeds those of abstinence advocates, Planned Parenthood, SIECUS, and their allies effectively control the debate. ...
At the March for Life conference at the Capitol Hill Hyatt today, I stopped by a display table filled with books and devotional items from Marytown, the National Shrine of St. Maximilian Kolbe (right).
A soft-spoken, gray-haired woman with kind blue eyes at the table explained to me that she and the other volunteers there were members of the Militia Immaculata, the group started by St. Maximilian to spread devotion to Jesus through Mary.
The woman introduced herself as Margaret Mary and said she was a convert to the Catholic faith, received into the Church on September 8, 1966. We spoke for a few minutes about St. Maximilian, who is a patron saint of the pro-life movement.
As I walked away from the table, one of Margaret Mary's fellow volunteers told me something quite beautiful and poignant about her. He said she was the daughter of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger — who presided over the Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortion legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
She is now doing her part to bring healing and justice in the wake of her father's actions, which have resulted in the legal murder of more than 48 million children since 1973. God bless her, as well as her fellow convert to Catholicism and the pro-life cause — Norma McCorvey, aka "Jane Roe."
Again, hope you can come to one of my talks this week in Alexandria, Va. (at tomorrow night's Theology on Tap), Washington, D.C. (a brief appearance at Blogs for Life), and Beech Grove, Ind. — see my book's Web site for details.
If you're attending the March for Life, stop by the tea party I'm hosting from 3 to 6 p.m. that day at the Catholic Information Center for pro-life bloggers and the people who love them.
UPDATED: 'Planned Parenthood employee' fails to report child rape
A blogger who claims to be a 25-year-old female "family planning assistant" at an Oregon Planned Parenthood clinic writes about her conflicted feelings about giving a 12-year-old girl contraception — but implies that it's not her place to report such abuse.
Here are the facts: The blogger in question goes by the nom de plume "Hormone-Peddling Wench" (HPW). While it is possible that she is not what she claims to be, her writing about her alleged Planned Parenthood job contains sufficient detail to suggest that she has an insider's knowledge of the organization.
If what she writes is true, Oregon's statutory-rape reporting laws require HPW to report the 12-year-old girl's case to the authorities.* But did she? It sure doesn't look like it, judging by her blog entry.
HPW begins by describing how, at Planned Parenthood," to "hope" a patient is to give her contraception without a pelvic exam. (It's from the acronym HOPE —"hormones with optional pelvic exam" — as noted on this Planned Parenthood Web site.)
The blogger then writes (emphasis mine):
Yesterday, I Hoped a twelve-year-old girl. She was the last patient I saw, and I have been thinking about her since. She came with an adult friend, maybe an aunt or family friend, and I could not decide whether I thought she was lucky or unlucky. To my mind, she was far too young to be having sex, and it was difficult for me to tell exactly what the situation was with her partner. I do not ever ask the age of sexual partners, and she did not reveal the age of hers**, but I could not shake the feeling that hers was older, possibly very much so. I could not get it out of my head that she didn't exactly give consent, though I had no reason to believe she didn't. Maybe I was projecting. I try to fight it, but there is some part of me that does not believe that such young girls are able to give consent, particularly if their partners are much older and there is a great imbalance in experience between the two. This part of me undoubtedly borders on patronizing. I don't really know what this girl's situation was, nor do I know what her role in it was. It is presumptive in the highest to assume that she was somehow victimized. But I still feel like she was too young. Clearly, that's my issue, not hers.
If this girl was lucky, it was because she had someone she could trust to talk to about all this. She knew she didn't want to become pregnant, and she recognized the connection between sex and pregnancy. (This seems like it should be obvious, but you have no idea how many women come in for pregnancy tests saying they weren't using birth control and they aren't seeking pregnancy.) This girl was taking responsibility for her decisions, which is more than I can say for many women two or three times her age. Her decision to come to Planned Parenthood and begin birth control was not lucky; it was smart. What's lucky is that she has an adult to help her find (or order and pay for) her birth certificate so that she can continue to get her services paid for by the FPEP funding. What's lucky is that she has someone to talk to if the gray area of consent becomes less gray. What's lucky is that the responsible adult in her life thought it was more important to support her and address her health needs than to shame her.
This girl left with pills, which I actually think she'll do a decent job of taking. I gave her a huge bag of condoms, which I always wonder if anyone actually uses. She has a Plan B on hand to take if she needs it, and a prescription for more as needed. I hope she loses the boy. I can't help it. Some part of me really wants her to wait a few years. But dammit, I'm glad she came in. I'm glad she didn't wait until she was pregnant to think about birth control.
In her Blogger profile, HPW admits to being fond of eugenics:
Depo Provera freaks me out, but sometimes I am relieved when a particularly stupid or offensive woman chooses it as her birth control method. ... I know I am not ready to have children because my primary motivation for desiring them lies somewhere between pure narcissism and narcissism tinged with eugenic tendencies—my babies would be intelligent, attractive, healthy, strong-willed, talented, and well-adjusted, just the kind that the world needs.
HPW's profile states she is female, 25, a Taurus born in the Year of the Dog. That means she was born between April 20 and May 20, 1982. If there is the slightest chance that she really is who she says she is, Planned Parenthood should comb its lists of "family planning assistants" in Oregon, find this woman, and require her to report the abused 12-year-old patient.
An organization this irresponsible and dangerous should not have tax-exempt status, let alone receive more than $300 million in taxpayer funds each year.
And yes, I say Planned Parenthood is irresponsible and dangerous even if HPW's post turns out to be a hoax. This is, after all, the same organization that boasted it covered up an 11-year-old's rape.
UPDATE, 1/21/08: As HPW mentions in her blog entry today that she went to a Planned Parenthood benefit that took place in Eugene, the Planned Parenthood chapter that employs her — assuming she is who she says she is — is Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon.
To contact the Oregon Department of Justice about this possible case of unreported child rape, write doj.info@state.or.us. To contact the Eugene Police Department, write policedept@ci.eugene.or.us. _____________________ *See page 96 of this online guide to statutory-rape laws. HPW is a "mandatory reporter" according to the law, and is required to report any suspicion they have that a minor under 15 has had sexual intercourse.
**Oregon law (on page 96 of linked report) states that a minor 15 or older may legally have intercourse with a person within three years of his or her age. Again, as a mandatory reporter, HPW is required to be concerned about the age of her charges' sex partners — but, as detailed in the footnote above, the case of the alleged 12-year-old girl would be statutory rape regardless of her partner's age.
1:21 AM |
Much of my new place is still in boxes (the bookcases won't be delivered until next month), but I wanted to have the ritual performed anyway so that after my thyroidectomy I may recover in a blessed house.
There was a momentary hitch when Monsignor Filardi of St. Stephen Martyr asked me upon entering my home if I had salt. Never having been to a home-blessing, I had no idea that salt was required.
I offered to buy some salt from the nearby 7-11, but Monsignor Filardi volunteered to save me some effort — as well as the embarrassing alternative of knocking on neighbors' doors — by tracking down a fellow resident of my building whom he knew. So, the salt and the water were blessed according to the 1964 Roman Rite (but in English — sorry, trads), and all of us as well as my rooms got sprinkled. Except that also I didn't have a sprinkler, so Monsignor improved with a tulip, which worked well and added a springlike element to the proceedings.
Thanks so much to everyone who came. With my friends there, I was truly twice blessed.
"To MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, [Wendy] Wright is 'the worst person in the world.' To The Nation’s Jessica Valenti, she 'does a huge disservice to young women.' And to prominent left-wing bloggers, who tend to be a bit less reserved, Wright has 'left the world of reality and entered a state of delusion' (News Hounds) and 'really is nuts' (Pam’s House Blend).
"What did she do to earn such outrage? Interviewed for a Dec. 31 Fox News segment on the debate over federal funding for abstinence education, Wright claimed groups that oppose funding for such programs really want teens to choose sex."
Thanks to Ryan T. Anderson for the great plug for the pro-life blogger discount at the Catholic Information Center and the tea party I'll be hosting there, both on the day of the March for Life.
Vienna Teng, a singer-songwriter who has been featured on Letterman, performs "Shasta," about a young woman who turns away from an abortion clinic after a pro-lifer reminds her of Jesus' forgiving love:
(Sorry the video's squished — it's the only one available of that tune.)
and you can't go back but you're going back and you don't know what you'll say you've got half-formed sentences explanations for a life half-broken away and they just may they'll take you in their arms and then take out their knives so you drive on thinking
so far so good but you can't go on much longer like this you know you're all alone in this world no that's not true the nice Christian lady told you so
she was handing out pamphlets by the clinic door saying "Jesus knows what you've been through take the Savior into your heart my child there's love waiting for the both of you"
well you don't believe but you have to believe it's still crumpled there in your back seat were you the hero or the worst kind of coward back there putting pavement back under your feet couldn't stand the heat couldn't stand the thought of ghosts with a negative age turn the page OK
so far so good you try to sing along to the radio but it's not your language not your song it's from some other time ago
and you're thinking about how someone died that day the you that was so carefully planned but then again maybe this life is like a sleeping mountain waking up to shape the land
Teng's lyric about "how someone died that day/the you that was so carefully planned" is especially insightful. As the Sisters of Life explain when they train volunteers, women in crisis pregnancies typically believe that if they have the child, their life is over: "It's me or the baby."
The challenge for the pro-lifer is to show the woman in crisis, as does the sidewalk counselor in Teng's lyric, that she's not "all alone in this world," that "there's love waiting for the both of you" — not just in the abstract, but concrete love shown in willingness to be there for her in her time of need. Planned Parenthood doesn't do that for women who choose life; it's up to every one of us.
An article in the Arizona Republic sheds light on how Teng found inspiration for the song:
In the song, "Shasta (Carrie's Song)," Teng sings about a young girl named Carrie who struggles with the decision of having an abortion. Though Teng has never dealt with this issue in her own personal life, she seems to understand the hardships that come with making such a life-altering decision fairly well. ... Like most of the characters in Teng's other songs, Carrie is a figment of the artist's imagination -- and yet her entire existence addresses an issue which is very much real. "I started reading about abortion on a Planned Parenthood Web site," Teng explained about the song. "Then just to explore the other side of things I started reading some pro-life stuff ... And so it got really interesting and I started writing this little story in my head about this girl who decides not to have an abortion."
Unfortunately, according to Wikipedia, a portion of the royalties from Teng's album containing "Shasta," Warm Strangers (2004), go to Amnesty International, which, since the album's release, has made abortion advocacy a key part of its platform.
12:52 AM |
Reading Reuters' account of the French president's praise for Saudi Arabia along with his government's defense of his touting "spiritualities" makes me wonder if G.K. Chesterton foresaw him when creating the character of the nihilistic Islamophile Lord Ivywood in The Flying Inn.
One passage in particular sounds as though it were lifted straight from Chesterton's prophetic 1914 cultural satire:
Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie responded by saying the government wanted "to help all spiritualities to express themselves, including those based on atheism".
has to do with a Britain that is rapidly losing her heritage and identity through the political maneuverings of one Lord Ivywood, a fastidious “New Age” type of convert to a highly nuanced brand of Islam. Lord Ivywood ... through Parliament, has succeeded in having legislation enacted in England that curtails the sale of alcohol, a “politically correct” legal targeting of the ancient institution of the public house and the free men who enjoy it.
The ultimate goal of Ivywood, however, is not mere teetotalism. Rather, he desires a wholesale spiritual transformation—indeed obliteration—of England’s Western and Christian identity.
Substitute France for England and "smoking cigarettes" (now banned in French cafes) with "sale of alcohol," and it begins to sound remarkably familiar.
12:34 PM |
"When I speak to people and tell them about joy and the difference between having it and not having it, they are curious about that, even if they don’t agree with me. C.S. Lewis wrote a lot about joy and longing. What we find is that our longings lead to Christ. Fulton J. Sheen wrote about how every man has in his heart a blueprint of the woman he loves and what we ultimately find when when we meet the person we love is that we love that person because they point us to the greater longing, which is for Christ."
— Me, interviewed by Sarah Mac Donald in the current issue of Ireland's The Word magazine. I am delighted at the piece and very much honored to be profiled.
There is one error in the otherwise very well-done article, in that it says I became a Catholic seven years ago; I became a Christian then but did not enter the Catholic Church until Easter Vigil 2006.
Photo by John McElroy, taken while Mac Donald interviewed me at the John Paul II Centre in Dublin last October. Many thanks to Anne-Maree Quinn for arranging the interview.
Found on YouTube, a bizarre Reagan-era relic: Carvel Ice Cream's 1982 commercial for Cookie Puss, aka "C.P. the Celestial Person" (!), and his Irish cousin, Cookie O'Puss.
It was a very strange time.
RELATED: Continuing the second-childhood theme: If three different commenters want to see YouTube clips of Lloyd Lindsay Young during his 1980s prime, he'll be up next. Make my day!
Complete 'Modest Proposals' seminar featuring 'Chastity All-Stars' now online
On November 13, a dream of mine came to fruition with "Modest Proposals," a meeting of minds at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Along with co-promoter and moderator Mary Rose Rybak, managing editor of The New Atlantis, I brought a group I like to call the "Chastity All-Stars" — me along with fellow authors Wendy Shalit (A Return to Modesty, Girls Gone Mild), Laura Sessions Stepp (Unhooked) and Dr. Miriam Grossman (Unprotected), plus Cassandra DeBenedetto (founder of the Princeton pro-chastity Anscombe Society) — before a standing-room-only audience to discuss the problems of sexual promiscuity on college campuses. The goal was to propose solutions that looked beyond simply getting students to use more condoms, as that strategy has failed to stem the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and the sharp rise in depression on college campuses.
Today, I am delighted to announce that the entire seminar is now online.
For members of my family who are reading this and would like to skip to the parts where I speak, here they are:
Mary Rose introduces me at 1:24:36.
At 1:47:49, I follow up on Cassandra's answer to Mary Rose's question on how to communicate a message of empowerment for women.
At 2:03:38, I answer a question on how women can find healing after being emotionally harmed by unchastity. My answer applies to men as well.
Many thanks to the Ethics and Public Policy Center for making the entire video available.
Buy The Thrill of the Chaste: Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On at Amazon.com. 12:00 AM |
Monday, January 14, 2008
What a piece of work is 'Pan'
I was searching through the Dawn Patrol archives and happened across a list I made more than three years ago, counting down my five favorite bits of dialogue from J.M. Barrie's play "Peter Pan," which is in turn one of my favorite works of literature. I like Barrie largely for his humor and his insights into human nature.
The list starts with an exchange between two Lost Boys:
5. CURLY: Let us carry her down into the house.
SLIGHTLY: Ay, that is what one does with ladies.
4. WENDY: Oh, Peter, how I wish I could take you up and squdge you! [He draws back] Yes, I know.
3. WENDY [knowing she ought not to probe but driven by something within]: What are your exact feelings for me, Peter?
PETER [in the class-room]: Those of a devoted son, Wendy.
WENDY [turning away]: I thought so.
PETER: You are so puzzling. Tiger Lily is just the same; there is something or other she wants to be to me, but she says it is not my mother.
2. HOOK: Most of all I want their captain, Peter Pan. 'Twas he cut off my arm. I have waited long to shake his hand with this. [Luxuriating] Oh, I'll tear him!
SMEE [always ready for a chat]: Yet I have oft heard you say your hook was worth a score of hands, for combing the hair and other homely uses.
HOOK: If I was a mother I would pray to have my children born w
