GOP Convention: My Take of Day One

My takeaway from the GOP convention last night: both touching and surreal. I followed Zane Bardwick's recommendation and watched almost all of the convention last night on C-SPAN, where I wasn't regaled with pundit chatter and the victim of some producer's decisions on which parts to eliminate. As a result, I saw the many "real" Americans, with their moving stories, their accounts of heroism and tragedy and hope, which many times brought me to tears. Perhaps most affecting were the two heroes of Benghazi, describing the horrific events of the terrorist attack, and Sean Smith's mother, who wept as she told of losing her son, and the lies and coverup that followed from Secretary of State Clinton. Most bizarre was her saying that after the attack, no one from the State Department would answer her questions because she was not "immediate family." I'm sure I don't have to tell you parents how deeply that must have cut. I cried along with her. Awesome indeed was the speech by Sheriff David Clarke of Milwaukee County. An impassioned plea for unity, and for support of police, who are our first line of defense against anarchy. I think there should be a Federal post for nationwide law enforcement oversight, but if there were, I'd nominate this guy. The prize for unintentional comedy goes to Melania Trump, whose otherwise fairly creditable performance contained her repeated assurances that Donald is extremely "loyal." Ironic from the third wife of a man whose other marriages ended because of his infidelity. The various politicos were not so arresting. They mostly gave predictable speeches from which I can remember little. The exception was Rudy Giuliani, who did receive multiple standing ovations for his plea to respect both police and military who risk their lives to keep others safe. “When they come to save your life, they don’t ask if you are black or white. They just come to save you,” Giuliani said. The most surreal moment came when Donald Trump arrived to introduce his wife. He stood in silhouette in a blue fog for several seconds while the PA played Queen's "We Are the Champions." Then he emerged from the mist like Merlin in a sword-and-sorcery fantasy pic. It's clear that, if he's elected, press conferences will be dramatic productions. Actually, the entire evening had a surreal quality, since Trump doesn't have the support of most party conservatives. Speaker after speaker praised him, and invoked party unity, but the appeal of those who oppose him was quashed at the outset by the chairman's refusal to hear their call for a point of order. That left opponents of Trump's nomination without even the right to object, a tactic more typical of Democrats than Republicans. The spectacle that followed, with praise heaped upon Trump as the law-and-order candidate, rang rather false.

Words at Steve Young's Memorial Gathering

This is the final version of the brief words I spoke during the candlelight tribute :

Light and Death

“When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Each of us is here because Steve touched our hearts and our souls. Some of his music was dark, but it was true. Carl Jung said:

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”

Like his favorite author, Thomas  Wolfe,  Steve wrote mostly about the past, and its loss. But in the dark night of the soul, pain leads ultimately to light. In the waiting, however, we can be tempted to despair. In his last days, Steve flirted with the nihilistic atheism of Stephen Hawking. Another physicist was probably more accurate in Steve’s case, Edward Teller: “When you get to the end of all the light you know and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.”

Let these candles, as we light them one, represent all the gifts we have received from Steve and his music. From Leonard Cohen:

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.”

In the end, I  believe Steve was ready for  death, for the answers to the mystery he had sought all his life. Annie Dillard, in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek writes: “I think that the dying pray at the last not 'please,' but 'thank you,' as a guest thanks his host at the door. Falling from airplanes the people are crying thank you, thank you. Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, and holy, and fleet. There is nothing to be done about it, but ignore it, or see.”

Finally, Steve simply let go and plunged into that mystery. He just let God take him: “In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness, and to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Like Rosa Maria, we pray for him, in this traditional prayer for the dead:
"Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."

Some quotes on death and light

“When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The latter procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular.”
― C.G. Jung

“When you get to the end of all the light you know and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: either you will be given something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.”
― Edward Teller

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.”
― Leonard Cohen

"I think that the dying pray at the last not 'please,' but 'thank you,' as a guest thanks his host at the door. Falling from airplanes the people are crying thank you, thank you. Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, and holy, and fleet. There is nothing to be done about it, but ignore it, or see."

― Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

"Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."

"In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace." Luke 1:78

Always Check the Date

I am pained to say that a couple of readers were upset by our last post, thinking it an affront to the Holy Father. I assure you, none was meant. It was merely an April Fool's jest from my all-too-satirical sense of humor. When March ends, always check the dateline of any story. And try to laugh at silliness.

Pope Francis Announces He Will Canonize the Living

Vatican, 4/1/2016---In a move to streamline the Church's procedures for making new saints, Pope Francis will begin canonizing living persons. Although a departure from the customary process, which required proven miracles and a gradual elevation to the honors of the altar, the Holy Father expects his new program to be met with universal approbation. "The new canonizations will incur far less bureaucracy and the expense of prosecuting the cause of a saint," said Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican communications director. "And dropping the requirement that the proposed saint actually be dead will render the process fairer, because it will exclude no one." Instead of a lengthy process carried on my religious communities, bishops, or other elites, the new criteria will speed up the progress by incorporating the latest technology, Lombardi said. "For the first time, the Catholic faithful will have a direct say in who becomes a saint. They will be able to vote in an online poll for their favorite candidate, living or dead," he added. As an expression of ecumenical spirit, non-Catholics will also be allowed to vote. "We are an inclusive Church," Lombardi said, "and we want our feast days to reflect that."

Attraction, Not Promotion

I have often been blunt in my criticisms of slipshod Catholics, even prelates. I don't say the criticisms weren't merited.

But I have recently had occasion to reflect on what drew me into the Church, then, much later, to the traditional Latin Mass.

I came into the Church because it was only there that I found the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ. That made all other arguments irrelevant to me.

The attraction to the Latin Mass was more gradual. I engaged with many online Trads for several years, and what I experienced was denigration of the "novas ordo" and the implication that that worship was inferior or even invalid. Even though I hated liturgical abuse and the silliness I encountered in the 1980s, I reacted defensively to such attacks. I knew that, whatever its deficiencies, any valid Mass offered the true presence of Jesus Christ and the opportunity to receive Him in Holy Communion.

One voice was different. He made no secret of his love for the Latin Mass--he referred to himself as a "knuckle-dragging traditionalist." But he never suggested that I was evil or deluded for attending the Pauline Mass. He sent me a video 📹 of the traditional Mass (since there wasn't one within hundreds of miles of me), along with some Latin devotional materials). Ever gentle, ever respectful.

When I moved to San Diego, I found I had some colleagues who assisted at the Latin Mass (the bishop grudgingly permitted a Sunday Mass in the mausoleum, but no parish activities or weekday Masses). Then one week I was invited to a Mass and talk given by the regional superior of the FSSP. I wanted to hear the talk, so I went to the Mass. That's it. Remote preparation, curiosity, and a simple invitation. No bluntness required.

Later, I had the opportunity to meet Abbot of Fontgombault Dom Antoine Forgeot when he came to Oklahoma to acquire land for the Clear Creek foundation. Most striking were his holiness and humility. I later found the same in all of the founding monks, these men who had undergone a white martyrdom for decades to preserve their traditional Liturgy and Rites. Those qualities have brought them such an abundance of vocations that within scarcely a decade they are already making a second, possibly a third, foundation.

I have often said that the occupational hazard of the apologist is to focus on winning the argument rather than the soul. For the traditionalist, I sometimes think the focus is on being right instead of being loving.

By "loving," of course, I don't mean sentimental or cuddly. I mean wanting the good for another, and humbly offering to help him achieve that good. As I look back on my own conversions, I realize that they were effected by attraction, not argument. I saw someone living his faith deeply, and I wanted what he had.

The question I am forced to ask myself is: If someone witnessed the way I live my faith, would he want what I have? And, if so, would I know how to help him get it?

Selective Outrage from Liberal Historian

I listened to the Fresh Air interview on NPR today. The subject of Adam Cohen's book, the eugenics movement in America, is shocking and tragic. It's one of those medical fashions that make us cringe to recall, like lobotomies and syphilis studies.

I recommend listening to the interview. It elucidates past maltreatment of those considered "undesirable" in the gene pool, both internal and immigrants. Indeed, immigration laws of the 1920s were specifically crafted to eliminate non-Nordic types from entering the country (and reproducing). Homegrown undesirables were often confined to institutions and/or forcibly sterilized. And the laws permitting the latter were upheld, and even recommended by the Supreme Court, 8 to 1. The only dissent was from the lone Catholic on the high Court. Cohen credited Catholics as the *only* group that made an effort to defend such persons at that time.

Therefore, I was dumbfounded, as I  listened, that he made absolutely no reference in the entire interview to Planned Parenthood or its founder, Margaret Sanger, who was prominent in the eugenics movement, and who referred to blacks and other undesirables as "human weeds" who must be eradicated. Her goal was the betterment of the white race by eliminating non-whites' ability to reproduce.

Cohen's omission was even more striking after he quoted the 3,500-year-old Code of Hammurabi, the set of Babylonian precepts that prefigured the Ten Commandments. The purpose of the government, it says, is to protect the weakest members of the culture from the strongest. That, Cohen says, is still the function of law.

Yet he fails to make the connection between the "weakest" citizens and the unborn who are murdered or the newborn who are allowed to die. He sees no relationship between eugenics and the exploitation of the unwanted, and the racist abortion industry committing genocide. He makes no mention of the selling of baby parts or the adoption of horrific techniques to take living organs from still-living fetuses.

Cohen gives a list of shameful Supreme Court decisions, going back to Dred Scott, which failed to uphold the rights of the helpless against the more powerful. But utter silence on Roe v. Wade, the one decision that will ultimately be seen as the most horrifying of all, the decision that condemned 55 million innocent Americans to death. No mention of that travesty of justice, or the heroic role of the Catholic Church in decrying it.

No, Cohen rather takes a swipe at the late Justice Antonio Scalia, whom he accuses of championing the causes of the strong against the weak.

I was left speechless and angry, not only at Cohen's glaring bias, but at host Terri Gross's negligence in failing to confront him on the omissions. Extremely disappointing, NPR. I hope you will give equal coverage and equally softball questions to a representative of the prolife position. I would be delighted to furnish names.