Category: Old Dish

The always informative Peter Steinfels looks beyond the gay issue in the new series of seminary visitations in the Catholic church. Examining the questions asked, he notices something striking:

There are no explicit questions about the seminarians’ capacities for initiative, creativity or imaginative and consultative leadership, although some of these qualities are undoubtedly taken up in the various church documents found in the footnotes.
There is no explicit question about concern for social justice, unless that could be assumed under a single reference to “apostolic zeal.” By comparison, there are numerous questions specifically asking about recitation of the rosary, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to Mary and the saints and many other “exercises of piety.”
A single question asks whether seminarians are being taught “a proper understanding of the role of women in ecclesial life” and “the proper models of clergy-lay cooperation.” The next question makes clear that what is “proper” is to be found in statements by Pope John Paul II and his Vatican officials. Of the 96 questions, just these two address the intellectual potential of future priests.

If you want to know why most lay Catholics find their priests’ homilies to be, at best, embarrassingly dumb and facile, look no further. The most recent survey found that only 10 percent of priests were educationally “highly qualified” to teach effectively. Moreover, many of John Paul II’s new generation of orthodox priests don’t want to study: “regardless of native abilities and educational experiences” they resist “the learning enterprise” because it threatens their “preconceived ideas about theology.” The Jesuits still do great work, of course, and so do other orders. But there’s no question that the last and current papacy regard inquisitive minds and fearless intellects to be threats rather than assets. They want automatons to obey their bosses, not priests capable of leading or inspiring a diverse, modern flock. Of course, many of the most gifted and intellectually alert priests are gay: they truly chose their vocation despite the obvious conflicts and know their theology. But they are now to be purged. I wish I had better news; but it seems to me that what is happening is a defensive crouch that will shrink the Western church even further. More important: that is the point.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I visited the Vatican in early August and met a person who is deeply ’embedded’ in the world of those who run Vatican City and who govern the global machinery of the Catholic Church. According to this person’s estimation, he guesses that a “conservative estimate” of those cardinals and senior church officials who are gay is about 50 percent. Practicing, as opposed to just flirtatious, homosexuals at the highest levels of the church are probably about 30 percent. When I asked whether homosexuals would be better served under Pope Benedict XVI than under John Paul II, he responded, ‘Don’t think that we will be any better served under a gay pope than a straight one.'” – Steve Clemons, Washington Note.

The Louisiana Congressional delegation get their snouts in the federal trough.

I was lucky enough to have coffee yesterday with Kyle Maynard. He’s a nineteen year-old congenital amputee with more energy, focus and dignity than most able-bodied people. His book is out this week, aptly titled “No Excuses.” Yep: the guy can bench press 360 pounds, with arms that end at elbow stumps and legs that end where most people have knees. He’s a wrestling champion and the first person I thought of when I met him was Don Rumsfeld. Boy, those two would get along. From the minute I tried to move a couch out of his way, and he simply clambered effortlessly over it, I saw something quite stirring. He answers his cell phone more quickly than I can; he writes with ease and fluency; his eager eyes pierce right through you. Kyle may perhaps represent the best of what might be called the disability movement. He has that South Park mentality that doesn’t try and hide disability or difference, but places it right in front of you. And then – through that fact, not around it – you begin to see the larger dimension of the person. It’s called integration – not avoidance, denial or embarrassment. Of course, I see the parallels with gay people – how the future is being made by people whose gayness is right there on the table, but eventually becomes integrated into an understanding of the full dimensions of someone’s personality and character. Ditto for those with HIV. Kyle believes that his disability shouldn’t prevent him from doing anything he wants to do or anyone he wants to be. But first you have to embrace the disability as a part of who you are – without fear or deflection. Reading his poignant, personal book is a joy. Buy it and try and get to see “Murderball” as well: the astonishing documentary on quadriplegic wheelchair rugby tournaments. I think we have a new moment in disability culture; and it’s a truly inspiring and progressive one.

The marriage has officially broken up.

HOW CAN YOU TELL …: … when a political ideology has become the equivalent of a religion? When it attempts to indoctrinate 4 – 8 year olds. Check out some of the illustrations here. (Update: the illustrations on that site are fakes and parodies. I apologize. I was conned. The book, however, is utterly real and sincere. It is not a parody and it is not aimed exclusively to adults. For more: see here.)

EXCUSE ME? From the NYT today:

Though “The Color Purple” tells a story of redemptive love and the triumph of the human spirit, it does so through some unsettling elements, including family violence, incest, racial discrimination and lesbianism.

Nice to see how some people view homosexuality. Just as unsettling as incest and racism. In the New York Times.

“In music the passions enjoy themselves.” – Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, Section 106.

Thanks to several readers. The Daily Dish: conservatism for Nietzsche readers.

“In Jazz the unconscious describes itself almost in its own terms,” – Philip Larkin. I stumbled across that quote today. Has anyone come up with a better one-line description of an art-form?

A far more credible person with some serious questions about the death of her son in combat. Her name? Mary Tillman. Did you know that one of Pat Tillman’s favorite authors was Noam Chomsky and that he opposed the Iraq war? I didn’t. It makes his patriotism and service more admirable, in my view. And the obvious lies and obfuscation and contradictions from the military all the more reprehensible. Of course, the Tillman family have only one real powerful ally in D.C.: John McCain. With every day, we
realize just how big a loss it was when George Bush smeared his way to primary victory in South Carolina five years ago.

From several sources, it seems a fair estimate that tens of thousands of anti-war protestors were in Washington this weekend. The D.C. police chief estimated a probable 100,000 in all. Reports of as few as 2,000 may have been from one of the minor rallies, and I misread them. I still don’t see why the NYT could not make a reasonable guess. The AP managed it, in what was, to my mind, still a somewhat breathless puff piece on the event. Anyway, apologies on the numbers.

I’m just applying Margaret Thatcher’s definition. My column is now up.

Record numbers seem to be signing up to vote on the new Iraq constitution (and we may be having more success against the insurgency). It strikes me that the voting number is both good and also worrying news. It’s good news because the simple experience of actually changing things through voting, rather than killing, changes a political and social culture. (Hey, one day, those of us who live in D.C. may get the same democratic rights as Fallujans!) But what happens if there’s a massive Sunni turnout to vote against the Constitution and they don’t win a majority in the necessary three provinces to derail it? Wouldn’t that bring home to recalcitrant Sunnis that they cannot win through democracy even when they participate? Isn’t there a danger that this could really be the moment when the paramilitary and terror groups can rally the Sunni base? Or that we could be forced to witness the two majority groups – Kurds and Shia – essentially wage a civil war against their previous rulers? Or would it be the moment when the Sunnis finally realize – and accept – that their time is over? I guess we could have a result in which surprising numbers of Sunnis vote for the constitution, which would be wonderful. But I don’t know of many sources who would predict that. The balance between measured hope and intermittent despair seems particularly hard to maintain right now.

THE OTHER IRAN: Ledeen is, as ever, must-reading.