The CA same-sex "marriage" decision

As you all know by now, a California court decided just this week that same-sex couples may claim a constitutional right to marry in that state.

Fr. Neuhaus over at First Things has a beautiful synopsis of two very different views of the situation for Catholics. First, he summarizes Fr. Reese, SJ's rather blithe analysis of the Catholic hierarchy's Medieval restrictions on sexual intercourse. Second, he offers a much more edifying article by Bishop Vigneron of Oakland, CA. Here is the last excerpt:

'Bishop Vigneron reminds Catholics of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council that it is a primary responsibility of laypeople to bear witness to the truth in the secular realm.

“As faithful citizens Catholics are called to bring our laws regarding marriage into conformity with what we know about the nature of marriage.” Faithfulness, however, does not ensure success.

“If such efforts fail, our way of life will become counter-cultural, always a difficult situation for Christians—one our forebears faced in many ages past, one that the Lord himself predicted for us. Indeed, even if such efforts meet with success, our work is far from done. We would still be living in a society where many accept a set of convictions that is ultimately detrimental to the integrity of human life, with negative consequences for one’s happiness in this world and the next. Your mission then will be, as it always has been, to be a light and leaven for the new creation established in Christ. The resources of the Theology of the Body, worked out by the late Holy Father, John Paul II, will be an especially helpful resource for this task.”'

Canus canus or homo sapien?

Mom at Park (M@P): What a cute baby!

Post-partum Me (PPM): Oh, thanks! She's wonderful.

M@P (juggles gurgling 16-mo-old on lap): My husband and I can't decide whether to have another baby or get a dog.

PPM: Um. (wonders how to urge her convincingly that another baby is loads of fun, joy, and the best gift one can give one's first child. First child enters to complain; second child urps.)

M@P: Babies are just so much work.

PPM: Well, babies last longer than dogs.

M@P: Ah. Yes. Well. That's true.

PPM (wonders where that came from): And dogs are messy.

M@P: Well, yes.

PPM (concludes she needs more sleep)

Sex in the (Fantasy) City

Great and short article on the sister myths of "protected" sex and girls-gone-wild. Thanks to Danielle Bean!

My Little Passionist

Inspired by lovely images of little girls making "fairy crowns" and having tea parties in fields of flowers, I asked Miriam this morning if she'd like to make a crown and play dress-up.

"Yes!" she cried, in raptures. "I want to make a crown of thorns!"

A crown of thorns.

"And I will not be sad like Jesus. I will make Jesus feel better!"

Yikes. A budding Poor Clare in our midst.

So, we got out the brown and black construction paper, cut out hundreds of small triangles, and glued them to a black band. The effect is rather ghastly, but the child loves her crown of thorns.

Disturbingly perhaps, she insisted on naming each "thorn" after a member of her family or play-group. There is a mommy-thorn, and daddy-thorn, a Tracy-thorn, an Emma-thorn, etc... I'm not sure what the mystical implications of this exercise were, but I'm sure it will add unto her sanctifcation!

Reading the Classics

Thanks to Melanie B. over at The Wine-Dark Sea for this link. "Nancy Drew and the Wine-Dark Sea" explains the value of classical literature--and the inanity of most children's literature. A good motivation to continue your brave fight for truth, goodness, and beauty!

Corpus Christi

Strangely, I'm taking the feast of Corpus Christi to send you over to a recently discovered blog: DREADNOUGHT.

The feast of the Body of Christ is, of course, primarily about the Eucharist. This sacrament, the source and summit of our faith, contains in itself--in Jesus--all truth, all suffering, all redemption.

We can also, however, remember Paul's mysterious words: "I make up in my body what is lacking in the suffering of Christ." The fellow over at DREADNOUGHT lives out these words as a faithful Catholic who is also homosexual. I've been musing on the difficulty of the Theology of the Body in real life lately--the CHurch's teaching on fidelity, contraception, homosexuality, celibacy, etc... Why does the truth seem so impossible to, well, almost everyone? I've tried to live out the Church's teaching in these areas feel inadequate to express the joy of the Cross. This fellow helps me out a bit.

Edgy. Truthful. Good writing.

the innocuous Christ

I was looking up Hannah Arendt on the inimitable Wikipedia. IT was most amusing to note the side-bar indicating the major influences on her work:

Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Jesus, Paul, Duns Scotus, Saint Augustine, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Edmund Burke, Kant, Tocqueville, Marx, Heidegger, Russell, Jaspers, Benjamin

Not a few of these figures, I think, would be amused to see Jesus inserted in their ranks as just one more influence. The great and heartbreaking joke: the hidden God.

But with all respect, Arendt's Human Condition is one book you ought not to miss.