Before Christ – “Catholics have accused the Vatican of betraying Jesus by substituting the term “Before Christ” with ‘Before Common Era’ in official documentation.” Outrage as Vatican drops ‘Before Christ’ for ‘Before Common Era’ (Catholic Herald)
The Distorting Idol of Modern Politics – “What we need now is a recovery of a healthy sense of the futility of earthly politics as an eschatological project.” The Universal Call to Holiness as a “Politics” for Our Time (What We Need Now)
New Inklings about Neo-Inklings – “New scholarship deepens our appreciation of the magnitude of Tolkien’s and Lewis’s contributions to English literature.” Inklings on the Move (Law & Liberty)
The Giver – “The dystopian twist in the world of The Giver is that, in addition to coerced pharmacological numbing and the strict rules, emotional blandness is secured by a mass forgetting of the past.” Wisdom and Warnings from “The Giver” Ten Years On (Word on Fire)
Pathological Childhood Conditions – “The man who sexually molested me was a gentle person. He smiled afterwards and held me close to him. He quietly told me not to tell anyone. I believed that I had made him happy.” No, I Wasn’t Born This Way (Front Page Magazine)
Praying for ISIS – “This has been typical of my experience with Iraqi Christians: They are forgiving.” Don’t Forget the Persecuted (National Review)
Sologamy – “The practice seems to have begun in 1993 when a Californian (obviously) lady named Linda Baker married herself before a gathering of 75 friends and family in order to celebrate her 40th birthday.” Going solo with sologamy: the strange rise of people marrying their own selves (Mercatornet)
Backpedaling on Abortion – “The former president’s pro-life betrayal is morally wrong and electorally foolish.” On abortion, Trump is his own worst enemy (World)
Local Chesterton Cult – “It has been suggested that 150 years on from his birth, GK Chesterton has largely been forgotten. But so far this year we have seen Chesterton Conferences in the United States, Argentina, England, Croatia and Italy, with more to follow before the year ends, including at least one in Australia this November.” GK Chesterton is still going strong despite the naysaying (Catholic Herald)
East Timor’s Catholicism – “The turning point, ironically, seems to have been when the Portuguese, following the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon that put an end to the ruling dictatorship and suddenly granted independence to all of their overseas colonies.” Crocodile tears: How East Timor became an unlikely Catholic stronghold (The Pillar)
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Re #1 Before Christ – Recommended: Catholic Unscripted episode on the topic.
East Timor article is very interesting.
@ The Distorting Idol of Modern Politics
As if we had just elected the Messiah himself (Chapp commenting on the election of Obama). Idolatry is a drawing, common thing usurping our moral integrity. It seems our best response is preventing it from complete absorption. Like the lady Linda Baker who married herself in the article Sologamy. What I would call apotheosis in a wedding gown.
El Chappo, the bane of American politics ready to cut down any impostor patriot running for the presidency putatively sees our two candidates as a choice between the inept Claudius and the deadly Christian persecutor Domitian. Chapp’s complaint however is real, the view of most of us that the next election is eschatological. Is he ironically right? Because Obama isn’t the only Messiah candidate. Trump and Kamala represent two opposite perspectives, either of which is the horrible end for the other. Chapp’s answer is God is the only answer. Not the idolatry of a candidate and their apotheosis.
As suggested, politics mustn’t replace religion. Politics as it is offers much to disdain. Although we’re not living in Christendom rather in a hard and fast morally disintegrating universe [some of our members are actually in space, many unfortunately spaced out]. We’re faced with similarly hard but very, extremely real choices that cannot be faded by a deluge of intellectual spiritual principles of the highest order however noble they are. We remain flesh and blood citizens of the World of Man as well the City of God. And nobility is accentuated when we enter into the grimy dirty fray for the sake of a greater good despite its lesser evil.
Regarding article #1: “Before Christ” with ‘Before Common Era’ in official documentation.” This is what you get when, to quote the late Fr. Paul Mankowski, S.J., “Turn the ‘Pope’s light infantry’ into a gay dating service for men who failed as flight attendants.” – from “The Sound of Silence’ by Karen Hall
Backpedaling on Abortion, in my part of the world, double L in backpedalling. It used to be easy to keep track but computer interventions have made it somewhat confusing.
So there is a certain prized idea that Trump is the “lesser evil” choice on all counts not merely abortion; in particular because -it is said- no-one else would stand a chance of winning and you mustn’t split the votes.
Dobbs has handed abortion law decisions to States. Under the Dobbs track any State can legally permit “abortion third-trimester and even post partum” until otherwise overthrown; an Trump is avowedly committed to support this tate regime notwithstanding he says he is against third trimester.
It’s far from clear that Trump and the Republicans are “the lesser evil” in other areas in terms of actual alteration of the bureaucratic mould, they were not able to impact it the first time. Also if you stop to think with care about it, the lesser evil equation works in other ways. What seems more plausible is to vote third party where it is plausible to do so, INCLUDING, third parties that DISPLACE Democrats.
Borderline and independent-thinking Democrats should be encouraged to vote more thoughtfully without having Trump forced into their picture. Per Andrew T. Walker –
‘ Their language demoralizes and suppresses their base while accomplishing little through actual electoral gain. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have the votes at the federal level to make any of their wishes on abortion come true. Even if the filibuster were gone, there would not be 50 Republican votes for federal legislation since many Republicans take a federalist approach. This is not to discount the error of Trump and Vance trying to sidestep the issue, but the federal legislation angle is largely irrelevant—for now. ‘
https://wng.org/opinions/on-abortion-trump-is-his-own-worst-enemy-1724927888
The federal legislation angle is also irrelevant because of the significant number of really pressing issues that need to be addressed – the economy, the border, the Middle East, among others.
I am re-posting my own post above, SEPTEMBER 6, 2024 AT 4:07 AM, to edit out the errors and allow for clear understanding.
In my reading of this article I find further evidence for right-thinking Democrats and others to vote against Democrats’ tickets. The commentary in it speaks about the disadvantages of a Trump win – a possible truth, I think, but they apply the possible truth through wrong reasoning of trying to achieve something by having Republicans dis-serve Trump and instead serve Democrats.
Breaking up the Congressional impasse that became standardized over many decades, is the most sound course. This works for everyone.
In the midst of which pro-life would be doing the same thing while yet voting pro-life unswervingly. (Thus, once more, insulting them as rigid and narrow fundamentalists is baseless and truly unfortunate and totally out of keeping with the domain in question.)
If you think about it, all I am suggesting is that your average voter should deliberately and consciously do something that would be the thing that needed to happen even if not achieved by being done on purpose.
Found at POLITICO – Playbook: The Republicans secretly rooting for a Trump loss, by RACHAEL BADE, RYAN LIZZA and EUGENE DANIELS, 09/04/2024 06:11 AM EDT.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2024/09/04/the-republicans-secretly-rooting-for-a-trump-loss-00177272
4th para. edit: What seems more plausible is to vote third party where it is right for anyone to do so, INCLUDING, third parties that DISPLACE Democrats.
The Democrats want abortion legal up to birth. There is nothing in Dobbs that would prevent that for any given State; and Trump is committed to supporting Dobbs.
I wanted to repeat this to underscore the legal situation. As Dobbs stands for the moment, there exists nothing to stop abortion being legal at birth.
If Trump is elected what is his plan for getting judges appointed who will find a way to prevent abortion up to birth. THAT would be the typical connundrum.
That is what is coming under review as Trump now tries to manipulate pro-life with the new “pro-life caucus” roll-out. It was predictable but you couldn’t say so yet.
The real problem is how does any Court after Dobbs/under Dobbs, allow this abortion but not that one. How will Dobbs be upheld and some abortions made prohibited.
In case you’re not noticing what is going on here, it is pro-life that can raise such issues; however, another move is afoot to tamp down pro-life for it.
Pro-life got knocked out of the Republican platform when certain otherwise pro-life people ran deals counter to pro-life. Now is the attempt to harness the rest.
With manoeuverings like those along with the demeaning of pro-life initiative and “mentality”, there really is no “lesser evil” only wave-like fluctuations in theme.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/trump-campaign-announces-relaunch-of-catholics-for-trump-coalition/
BCE: Bergolio’s Catholic Eradication
This is the language that “sanitizes” the culture of its Christian roots. It’s bad enough we have to fight this constantly in the world, without having to fight other Christians as well.
Two points: First, anyone can use whatever term they like to replace the traditional “BC” or “AD” when describing an historic period. I will continue to use those terms regardless. Their meaning for me is a matter of Christian respect for the human story that originated with the Father, and is carried on in the life and teaching of His Son. Second point — When it comes to abortion and the election, a Trump victory simply means more children will receive the gift of life than would otherwise be the case with his opponent and her party. When all the word salads and gobbledegook on both sides are dispensed with, THAT is the CORE of the issue.