Against The Grain

“In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences.”

2012-01-21T12:49:00.002-05:00

Most healthcare plans will be required to cover birth control [including abortafacients] without charging co-pays or deductibles starting Aug. 1, the Obama administration announced Friday.
The final regulation retains the approach federal health officials proposed last summer, despite the deluge of complaints from religious groups and congressional Republicans that has poured in since then. Churches, synagogues and other houses of worship are exempt from the requirement, but religious-affiliated hospitals and universities only get a one-year delay and must comply by Aug. 1, 2013.

Carl Olson (Ignatius Press has a roundup of reactions from the Catholic hierarchy -- including that of Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York.

Related

Suing Sebelius The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is representing Belmont Abbey College in its lawsuit against the secretary of HHS over this mandated conscience violation. (National Review)
The Pope's alarming message on American religious freedom, by Phil Lawler. (Catholic Culture): "Is it humiliating for American political leaders to read that Pope Benedict sees an erosion of religious freedom in our country? It should be."

Samuel Gregg - on "Liberalism"

2012-01-16T23:13:00.006-05:00

... The task of realizing the basic goods, however, need not always occur in a context of opposition to the temporal institutions in place. Catholics are certainly bound to oppose what the theologian Thomas Dubay describes as the dogmas of materialism: “the primacy of pleasure, the invalidity of metaphysics, . . , the relativity of morality . . . the denial of freedom.” Insofar as liberal modernity embraces these ideas or seeks to isolate man from all those unchosen aspects of himself that are, in fact, prerequisites to his freedom, Catholics must never hesitate to demonstrate their unreasonableness. The idea that man is nothing more than a conglomerate of passions and that human fulfillment consists of merely satisfying as many of those passions as possible in a short period of time, must be resisted and refuted over and over again. This need not, however, mean that those institutions commonly regarded as “liberal” -- the market, the rule of law, a constitutionally limited State, a flourishing set of civil associations -- should be considered inherently flawed by Catholics.
The liberalism that is wanting is a set of claims about the human person rather than its institutional associations. In part, this book has sought to show how such institutions can be grounded in a vision that avoids the common liberal reliance upon utilitarian assumptions. The task of achieving such a synthesis is nothing less than a civilizational mission that Catholics are in a unique position to foster.
By definition, this mission involves Catholics establishing themselves equidistant between those who hold that all was darkness before 1789, and those who believe that nothing but darkness has followed after 1789. The inability of some Catholics to do so has relegated them to the irrelevance of romantic nostalgia or the triviality of aping secular modernity. Until such tendencies are overcome, the ability of Catholics to contribute to the project of ordered liberty will continue to languish in the realm of possibility rather than of actuality. And this is important, for ultimately it is the free choices of many acting persons for this project that will bring about its realization rather than the decisions of governments.

Samuel Gregg, On Ordered Liberty: A Treatise on the Free Society

On a related note

"Americanism" (Ius Honorarium)

Reading Accomplished in 2011 - A Look Back

2012-01-09T00:12:00.012-05:00

2011 was the year I rediscovered reading. Not that I hadn't ever abandoned reading prior to this year -- rather, since the birth of my first son in 2007 and immersing myself in parenthood, not to mention my job, and the perpetual distractions of blogging and "being online", I found it more and more difficult to settle down and simply lose myself in a good book. And so in 2011 one of the things I resolved was to simply read more books.

Credit in part goes to my wife's surprise purchase of an Amazon Kindle for my birthday (or was it Christmas?). She already had one, and despite her earnest recommendations I stubbornly held out -- proclaiming my preference "for real books." In the end, she won me over.

Not that I enjoy the familiar heft of a "real" book at home, but the Kindle does provide the remarkable ability to tote around a virtual library on a device no bigger than a tablet (hence the name, I suppose). This makes it emininently practical for getting a few pages read on a crowded bus or subway, standing in line at the grocery, in the waiting room for our pediatrician, or simply taking a stroll. Particularly as I have a tendency to read big books, it was that capacity alone which provided an edge.

And so a brief rundown of what I've managed to accomplish in the past year, along with some brief thoughts about each one (and/or their author). If any of my readers wish to discuss any of these at length, feel free to do so in the combox, or email me (blostopher [at] gmail.com]. Second to reading books I enjoy conversing about them. Likewise, I'm always open to your recommendations!

Books Finished

Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology of Pope Benedict XVI, by Tracey Rowland. (Oxford UP, 2009) -- one of the best single-volume introductions/overviews to the thought of our Holy Father. Second only to Fr. Aidan Nichols OP.
After Aquinas: Versions of Thomism, by Fergus Kerr and A Short History of Thomism, by Romanus Cessario. Kerr provides an excellent survey of contemporary Thomistic scholarship, lending valuable insight as well into various controversies (neo-scholasticism of Garrigou-Lagrange vs. that of Henri de Lubac, SJ). Cessario is shorter -- broader in its historical scope but less in depth, however it compliments the other.
On Ordered Liberty: A Treatise on the Free Society, by Dr. Samuel Gregg. "What does it mean to be free? Is freedom worth more than mens' lives? Why should man be free? What, if any, legitmate responsibilities accompany freedom?" -- A critique of the positions of Bentham, Mill, Rawls and Hayek by a self-idenified "Catholic Whig" of The Acton Institute, whose own position is informed by the likes of Burke, Tocqueville, Ropke, and the Thomist John Finnis. I skimmed this once in 2003, but failed then to fully appreciate then Gregg's revealing criticism of the inherent utilitarianism of Hayek. Gregg packs a lot into 120 pages -- on rival philosophies of liberty, liberty and law, the role of the family, the role and limits of the state -- but his analysis is lucid and engaging. It's precisely the kind of book I wish I had at my disposal back in college.
Art and Intellect in Philosophy of Etienne Gilson, by Francesca Aran Murphy (Eric Voegelin Institute Series in Political Philosophy). I found this to be a very fascinating "intellectual biography" of the French Thomist Etienne Gilson -- you can read Murphy's introduction in full here; a critical-yet-appreciative review of her book here (Theological Studies 2006). Murphy's substantial discussion of Gilson's writings compelled me to pick up Reason and Revelation in Middle Ages (a fairly quick read) and to make my way through, howbeit more slowly, Gilson's Thomism: The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas).
Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II (Routledge Radical Orthodoxy), by Tracey Rowland. I blogged my mixed impressions of the book at some length here (5/22/11).
Vatican Secret Diplomacy: Joseph P. Hurley and Pope Pius XII, by Charles R. Gallagher. A study of U.S.-Vatican diplomacy through the life of the enigmatic figure of Joseph P. Hurley, an American priest of the Diocese of Cleveland, who through a series of events became the first American to serve in the office of Vatican Secretary of State under Cardinal Ottaviani, and by 1936 was the main conduit to the pope on affairs in the United States. (See "Vested in Red, White and Blue", Thomas J. Burns' detailed review on Amazon.com). Harboring anti-semitic views in his early years, Hurley evolved to become an outspoken critic of (what he perceived to be) the "soft" wartime policy of Pope Pius XII, asserting that "communism has now ceded its primacy to national socialism" as a threat and charging "the very basis of the Roman Catholic faith" compelled Catholics to challenge the "orgies of extermination" against the Jews.
Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, by Thomas Woods Jr. For the non-economically minded (like me), an accessible analysis of the collapse of the financial market and fingering government manipulation of the money supply via the Fed as the primary instigator. Meltdown ala straightfoward introduction to the Austrian economics business cycle theory. I'm generally not a a fan of Ron Paul, but I agree with his assessment that Woods "introduces the layman to a range of subjects that have been excluded from our national discussion for much too long ... This book is an indispensable conduit of these critical ideas."
Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life, by Colin Duriez. There is no better example of "filial impiety" than Frankie Schaeffer's continuous besmirching of his father, Reformed Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984; on that note, see Os Guiness' review of Frankie's first book: Fathers and Sons Christianity Today). Schaeffer also played a significant role in the spiritual formation of my parents, who spent time at the original L'Abri in Switzerland -- so I had a personal interest in learning more about his life and thought. Duriez' biography, drawing on a wealth of oral history, personal interviews, offers a rounded portrayal which, while not shirking from presenting Francis' human weaknesses, effectively conveys why so many today appreciate his Christian witness and ministry.
Ten Philosophical Mistakes. Mortimer J. Adler dropped out of high school to become a journalist; he discovered the works of Aristotle, John Locke, St. Thomas Aquinas on his own -- going on to study at Columbia University, but failed to graduate due to his flunking the swimming test. He went on to receive an honorary degree from Columbia, founded the Great Books of the Western World program in 1952. Born a nonobservant Jew, he became an Episcopalian in 1984 and crossed the Tiber in 1998. He published a number of popular works aimed at making philosophy accessible to the common man (Ex. Aristotle for Everybody). Whenever I return to Adler, I am reminded what a pleasure it is to read somebody imbued with so much common sense.
Twentieth-Century French Philosophy: Key Themes and Thinkers, by Alan D. Schrift. An 80 page chronological overview of French philosophy supplemented by a hundred page bibliography of French philsophy in English translation. I enjoyed the chapters on existentialism and phenomonology -- subsequent chapters on 'Structuralism' and 'Post-Structuralism' a beneficial reminder of why they don't occupy my 'to read' list. Nonetheless this book would serve as a useful resource.
Indulging in some light entertainment, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks; Day by Day Armageddon, by J.L. Bourne, I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (the original 1954 novel) and Zone One by Colson Whitehead. Sense a theme? -- Of these I would particularly recommend the latter. Zone One is less a zombie thriller than a meditation on pre-and-post-apocolyptic American culture through the eyes of a "sweeper", clearing lower Manhattan of the undead as humanity rises from the ashes. Whitehead is an accomplished New York novelist in his own right, and I expect most zombie fans may take umbrage at his attempt at the genre -- but I enjoyed it.
A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin. Dubbed "The American Tolkein" by Time (although the characters and universes of the two couldn't be more different), this was my first foray into the author's work, spurred by the HBO adaptation of the first novel. Lev Grossman described his work thus:
What really distinguishes Martin, and what marks him as a major force for evolution in fantasy, is his refusal to embrace a vision of the world as a Manichaean struggle between Good and Evil. Tolkien's work has enormous imaginative force, but you have to go elsewhere for moral complexity. Martin's wars are multifaceted and ambiguous, as are the men and women who wage them and the gods who watch them and chortle, and somehow that makes them mean more. A Feast for Crows isn't pretty elves against gnarly orcs. It's men and women slugging it out in the muck, for money and power and lust and love.
Grossman underestimates Tolkien and the moral depth of his characters, resisting (ex. Galadriel) or succumbing to (ex. Boromir) the temptations of power, of which the ring was a conduit. And while Martin's universe lacks the overarching moral clarity of Tolkien (he is, at least according to this report, a lapsed Catholic) certain characters may nonetheless be admired for their virtue. And the Christian reader might appreciate the author's inclination to demonstrate redeeming qualities in the most unlikeable of characters.

Books in Process

I have oft mentioned my tendency to pick up and read more than one book at time. A brief list of those I'm still making my way through:

Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration by Pope Benedict XVI. (Revisiting the first volume in preparation for the second).
Jesus the Christ by Walter Cardinal Kasper. A reprint from 1977. See his review by Avery Dulles (Theology Today July 1978).
Twentieth-Century Catholic Theologians by Fergus Kerr. Theological profiles of Chenu, Congar, Schillebeeckx, de Lubac, Rahner, Lonergan, Balthasar, Kung, Wojtyla, Ratzinger -- tempting, is it not? Some good introductions, providing a indication of whose original works are worth pursuing).
A Matter of Principle: Humanitarian Arguments for War in Iraq, ed. by Thomas Cushman. Contributions by recognizable names such as Christopher Hitchens, Paul Berman, Roger Scruton and Tony Blair. Others are lesser known, such as Mient Jan Faber (Secretary-General of the Interchurch Peace Council, Netherlands -- dismissed from his post for dissenting from the organization's opposition to military intervention).

Related

"The Best Books I Read in 2011..." | Ignatius Press Authors, Editors, and Friends | January 3, 2012
Books Read, 2011 Wheat & Weeds

Joe Carter takes on the Front Porch Republic

2012-01-08T01:21:00.001-05:00

For those who are endlessly entertained by such:

Who Gets To Be the Czar of Aesthetic Consumption? Joe Carter. First Things 11/18/11.
Who Gets To Be The Czar of Human Evolution? Jerry Salyer. Front Porch Republic 1/5/12.
Monarchists to the Left of Me, Socialists to the Right, Here I Am, Stuck in the Middle with You Liberals Joe Carter. First Things 1/6/12

Thank you.

2012-01-02T23:31:00.000-05:00

In December of 2010 I found myself in a rough patch, financially speaking. I asked for help, and some -- hopefully still reading this blog -- were gracious enough either to lend a helping hand, purchase some books via Amazon.com, commission web-or-blog design work or donate to cover the hosting for the Pope Benedict XVI Fan Club.

As we enter into a new year I would like to convey again my sincere gratitude and appreciation. Frankly, this blog and various related web projects would probably not be around today if it weren't for you. (And finding myself to be better off, I look for opportunities to return the favor).

"The King in Yellow"

2012-01-02T11:52:00.003-05:00

What a pleasant surprise. I've discovered that one of my musical experiments -- the song 'fracture' from the 'decline' EP -- was incorporated by another artist into their work, as background to a reading of "The Repairer of Reputations", from The King in Yellow, by Robert William Chambers.

Free download of 'The King in Yellow' edited and mixed by Thomas Jude Barclay Morrison (the track starts around the 45:30 minute mark and extends to 52:30).
More about the Librivox Project (for which the reading was a part - "making all public domain books available as free audio books").
More about apophatic (under which I meddle with sound) here; get the 'decline' EP here or from amazon.com.
More about Robert William Chambers (1865-1933):
"... His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is 'The King in Yellow', an 1895 collection of weird short stories, connected by the theme of the fictitious drama The King in Yellow, which drives those who read it insane."

2011-12-26T23:45:00.001-05:00

"The only threat the Church can and must fear is the sin of her members."

Pope Benedict XVI

Ius Honorarium

2011-12-26T23:42:00.002-05:00

Not-so-new blog but just recently discovered -- Ius Honorarium -- by a Catholic-turned-"professed agnostic, then atheist" - turned Orthodox (for seven years) - and finally, a revert to the Catholic faith. Interests include Orthodox-Catholic relations, "traditionalists", Leo Strauss, St. Thomas Aquinas / Thomist philosophy, Catholic social thought, political philosophy, Michael Burleigh (English historian), etc. -- truly, a blog I could read for hours.

"Arab Spring" to "Christian Winter"

2011-12-25T23:01:00.003-05:00

Islamists kill dozens in Nigeria Christmas bombs Islamist militants set off bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day - three targeting churches including one that killed at least 27 people - raising fears that they are trying to ignite sectarian civil war.
Muslim Persecution of Christians: November 2011 by Raymond Ibrahim. Hudson New York. December 21, 2011

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T05:02:00.001-05:00

Vaclav Havel 1936-2011

2011-12-18T23:00:00.001-05:00

Vaclav Havel, Former Czech President, Dies at 75 New York Times
Vaclav Havel, dissident playwright and former Czech president, dies Washington Post)
World reacts to death of Vaclav Havel (CBS News)
Confronting Truth: Václav Havel’s courage National Review Symposium. National Review Online gathers experts to discuss the impact of his life on history and the lessons he taught about protest and leadership.
Keep on Rockin' in the Free World: How the Velvet Underground and Václav Havel built a blueprint for toppling totalitarians and other censors Reason.com
Havel, Kafka and Us, by Michael Ledeen.
"Forgetting We Are Not God", by Vaclav Havel. First Things March 1995.
Reading List: Havel and Beyond, by David Remnick. (New Yorker):
"In the spirit of the season, and in honor of Vaclav Havel, what follows is a top-ten list, the first entry being Havel’s greatest hits, and the rest books and writers whom Havel admired—contemporaries or near contemporaries who lived in the same region and under similar regimes. They, like Havel, are men and women who lived, and wrote, within the truth."

Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

2011-12-17T23:31:00.008-05:00

Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, Dies at 62, by William Grimes. New York Times
In Memoriam, my courageous brother Christopher, 1949-2011, by Peter Hitchens.
Postscript: Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011, by Christopher Buckley. The New Yorker 12/16/11.
On the Death of Christopher Hitchens: 1949-2011. R.I.P., by Ron Radosh.
"Goodbye, Mr. Hitchens", by Victor Davis Hanson. National Review 01/03/12.
Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) by Edward Feser.
Photos: In Memoriam of Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011 Beginning with his roiling soixante-huitard days—picketing and protesting; joining up with the Labour Club at Oxford—to his raucous and even law-breaking assignments for this magazine, Christopher Hitchens’s life in photographs is a freewheeling and spirited adventure. From Hitch, we would expect no less.
R.I.P. Christopher Hitchens, by James Martin, SJ. America
"Trial of the Will", by Christopher Hitchens. Vanity Fair January 2012.

Humanum (new Catholic online journal)

2011-11-27T17:00:00.001-05:00

15th November, the feast of St Albert the Great, patron of scientists, saw the launch of the new (free) online review HUMANUM: Issues in Family, Culture, and Science, edited by Stratford Caldecott for the John Paul II Institute in Washington. It is all about “the human”: what makes us human, what keeps us human, and how to rescue our humanity when this is endangered. Our aim is to pick our way with discernment through the flood of publications (some good, some confused, some pernicious) that claim to tell us about ourselves, about family, marriage, love, children, health, and human life.
Humanum has a particular concern with issues that directly affect the poor and the vulnerable in our society. Each issue will have a main theme around which the reviews and articles cluster, and we begin with an issue on THE CHILD, because this reveals the foundation of our perspective on humanity: the child is the purest revelation of man and his relationship to Being. The lead article is a major piece by the Editor of Communio, Prof. David L. Schindler, which goes right to the heart of our present cultural malaise.

Roll over, JFK.

2011-11-24T18:49:00.002-05:00

Courtesy of Zucotti Utopia: Portraits of the New Revolutionaries

Assisi III

2011-11-21T23:49:00.001-05:00

Pope Benedict and Assisi III - a (admittedly belated) roundup of coverage and commentary, at The Benedict Blog.

Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T23:35:00.002-05:00

War is a curious part of the human condition. It is a summary of the worst that Man is capable of: violence on a massive scale, cruelty, greed, hatred, and the magnification of every human vice. Few of us are more “anti-war” than those who have had the misfortune to fight in one and witnessed all the folly, loss and endless pain produced by the inability of men to frequently resolve their differences without resort to the sword. Yet, in war we also see men rise to the heights of what we are capable of at our best: self-sacrifice, courage, love and the magnification of every human virtue. War as the direst of human institutions is to be bitterly regretted, but we must ever pay homage to those who find themselves in this terrible maelstrom and acquit themselves with honor.
And so on Veteran’s Day we honor all those who took time out from their regular lives to stand between the rest of us and danger. We especially remember those silent heroes who paid the ultimate price for us and who never came home. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) Our gratitude, praise and thanks is small enough compensation, but it is the poor best we can give. We are creations of a loving God, and when we return love for love we demonstrate that.

-- Donald R. McClarey, American Catholic

We are the 53%

2011-11-06T09:36:00.001-05:00

"Those of us who pay for those of you who whine about all of that... or that... or whatever".

Pope Benedict XVI - "On Death and Life"

2011-11-02T18:15:00.001-04:00

Dear friends, the Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of the faithful departed tell us that only he who is able to recognize a great hope in death is able also to live a life that springs from hope. If we reduce man exclusively to his horizontal dimension, to what can be perceived empirically, life itself loses its profound meaning. Man needs eternity -- and every other hope, for him, is all too brief, is all too limited. Man is explainable only if there is a Love that overcomes all isolation -- even that of death -- in a totality that transcends even space and time. Man is explainable -- he finds his deepest meaning -- only if God is. And we know that God has gone forth from the distance and has made Himself close; He has entered into our lives and He tells us: "I am the Resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die" (John 11:25-26).

Image lifted from Wheat and Weeds

Let us think for a moment of the scene at Calvary and let us listen once again to the words that Jesus addressed on the Cross to the robber crucified at his right: "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Let us think of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, when -- after having travelled a stretch of road with the Risen Jesus -- they recognize Him and quickly set out toward Jerusalem to announce the Lord's resurrection (cf. Luke 24:13-35). The Master's words come to mind with renewed clarity: "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" (John 14:1-2).
God has truly appeared; He has become accessible; He has so loved the world "that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16), and in the supreme act of love -- in the Cross -- plunging into the abyss of death, He conquered it, He rose and He opened the doors of eternity also to us. Christ sustains us through the night of death, which He himself traversed: He is the Good Shepherd, in whose guidance we can trust without any fear, since He knows well the road, even in obscurity.

Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, November 2, 2011.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T23:00:00.002-04:00

(Tonight's exercise in pumpkin-carving -- followed by some pumpkin-seed roasting. And, yes, Catholics can do Halloween).

“Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority” – a roundup of reactions

2011-10-26T20:00:00.002-04:00

On Monday, the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace published a statement on the global economic crisis: "Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority" [click link for full text]

Suffice to say, reactions were spirited (and in many cases, predictable), reflecting "a tired pattern", to quote Zach (Civics Geeks)

Everyone once and a while there is a news story about "the Vatican". "The Vatican" issues a document of some sort. The document says something about current affairs. Immediately there are two very predictable reactions, depending on whether the person is inclined to agree with the Church or not.
"Look! The Church teaches that Catholics have to think like I think! My opinions have acquired divine authority. The world would be a better place, and the Church would be a better Church, if every Catholic just obeyed Church teaching like I do."
"I don't have to obey the Church - I can think for myself. It's fine if some old white men in Rome think that, but I don't have to and I am still a good Catholic."
These are, of course, caricatures, but I think they express two attitudes that are quite common. They are alike in that they are both dogmatic and reactionary.

What follows then are some mostly thoughtful responses -- fodder for a discussion here at American Catholic).

"The Pope, Chaplain to OWS? Rubbish!" - George Weigel in a characteristic clarification from National Review's The Corner, on those who would imbue the document with too much authority:
The truth of the matter is that “the Vatican” — whether that phrase is intended to mean the Pope, the Holy See, the Church’s teaching authority, or the Church’s central structures of governance — called for precisely nothing in this document. The document is a “Note” from a rather small office in the Roman Curia. The document’s specific recommendations do not necessarily reflect the settled views of the senior authorities of the Holy See; indeed, Fr. Federico Lombardi, the press spokesman for the Vatican, was noticeably circumspect in his comments on the document and its weight. As indeed he ought to have been. The document doesn’t speak for the Pope, it doesn’t speak for “the Vatican,” and it doesn’t speak for the Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict Calls For “Central World Bank” … Only He Didn’t. Here’s Why - Thomas Peters (American Papist) counters the spin of Fr. Tom Reese, who "seems perfectly happy to help the mainstream media fundamentally misunderstand the authority of teaching this document enjoys, [claiming] that the pope has “more in common with the people at occupy wallstreet” than the tea party."
"while economists are learning from the Vatican, perhaps the Vatican might learn a few lessons from economic analysts" muses Phil Lawler (Catholic Culture): "If you want to promote Catholic social teaching, don’t wander beyond your expertise. Stick to moral principles, and leave economic analysis to the economists."
Also weighing in from "The Corner", Dr. Samuel Gregg with Catholics, Finance, and the Perils of Conventional Wisdom:
Plenty of other critiques could — and no doubt will — be made of some of the economic claims advanced in this PCJP document. As if in anticipation of this criticism, the document states, “We should not be afraid to propose new ideas.” That is most certainly true. Unfortunately, many of its authors’ ideas reflect an uncritical assimilation of the views of many of the very same individuals and institutions that helped generate the world’s most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. For a church with a long tradition of thinking seriously about finance centuries before anyone had ever heard of John Maynard Keynes or Friedrich Hayek, we can surely do better.
(Samuel Gregg is research director at the Acton Institute. He has authored several books including On Ordered Liberty: A Treatise on the Free Society, his prize-winning The Commercial Society, Wilhelm Röpke’s Political Economy, and his 2012 forthcoming Becoming Europe: Economic Decline, Culture, and America’s Future).
Mark Brumley, President and CEO of Ignatius Press, on "Going the way of World Government" (Catholic World Report):
If the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is trying to make the Catholic Church sound as if she’s living in a fantasy world or trying to portray Catholic social teaching as completely irrelevant to real world problems, I’d say, “Mission accomplished.” If, on the other hand, the council wants people seriously to think about the problems of globalization, it’s going to have to demonstrate a much better grasp of political and economic practicalities, as well as the limits and dangers of international solutions. At the risk of sounding like an End of the World visionary, I suggest we should temper our enthusiasm for world-authority solutions by re-reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 675-677, and by consulting the Book of Revelation, chapter 13.
By all means, let’s discuss global problems and possible solutions. Let’s recognize the dangers of nationalism and the imbalances that exist between rich and poor nations. Let’s not overlook the weakness of international capitalism or pretend the free market has all the solutions. Let’s have a good philosophical discussion about world government, and its long-term prospects, if the world endures for a few more centuries. But let’s remember that, historically speaking, those who have tried to act on their talk about a world political order have wound up being tyrants.
Jeffrey Tucker, editorial vice president of the Mises Institute, author of Sing Like a Catholic (2009) and Bourbon for Breakfast (2010), and (familiar to many readers) as a daily contributor to The New Liturgical Movement -- "Right Diagnosis, Deadly Cure":
... the document’s identification of loose credit with market liberty is the beginning of the end of the good sense here. From this point, we plunge straight away into a full endorsement of a world central bank, a world political authority, taxes on financial trading, and heavy regulations. The document doesn’t actually call for an end to the free market. On the contrary, it imagines that enlightened world planners will protect, guard, and even “create” what it calls “free and stable markets.”
This is beyond naive. It seems to illustrate a near total absence of clear thinking. Centralization of money and credit caused this problem. Centralization of political authority caused this problem. Why would anyone imagine that more centralization is therefore the answer? This approach takes a terrible situation and makes it much worse.
Over at Commonweal, "unagidon" asks "do we need a Global Public Authority to fix the economy?" -- and answers in the negative.
"The Vatican Renders Unto Caesar", by Nicholas G. Hahn III (Real Clear Religion) 10/25/11:
Any sane person can recognize that the notion of another global civil authority flies in the face of subsidiarity. Simply because the Council says subsidiarity should regulate the relationships of authority, doesn't mean it actually will.
In fact, global institutions do not often respect autonomy or individual freedom of their memberships. Perhaps even Pius XI, for all his griping against the "greed" of financial systems, might consider the creation of a new "supranational Institution" a "grave evil and disturbance of right order."
And so, a question that must be asked is: does Rome want a king?

Dr. Robert Moynihan (editor, Inside the Vatican):
The positive thing: this document, in keeping with all of the Church's social teaching, wishes to defend honesty, transparency, truthfulness and justice in financial dealings over against dishonesty, opacity false representations and injustice.
In this, the document is to be praised, and praised highly. We need honesty and truth-telling in a global economy that is seemingly careening toward a train wreck which will inevitably hurt the poor and weak most of all.
The negative thing: the global economy, and especially the global derivatives market, is big, enormous, in fact, so big, so opaque, so complex, that literally no one knows what the situation really is, or what measures to take to undo the financial detonator that seems ready soon to go off.
In this sense, the Vatican office's policy recommendations are inevitably insufficient.
John Allen Jr. (National Catholic Reporter), counters the critics by calling attention to "a southern consensus":
Focusing on how much papal muscle the note can flex, however, risks ignoring what is at least an equally revealing question: Whatever you make of it, does the note seem to reflect important currents in Catholic social and political thought anywhere in the world?
The answer is yes, and it happens to be where two-thirds of the Catholics on the planet today live: the southern hemisphere, also known as the developing world.
It's fitting that the Vatican official responsible for the document is an African, Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, because it articulates key elements of what almost might be called a "southern consensus." One way of sizing up the note's significance, therefore, is as an indication that the demographic transition long under way in Catholicism, with the center of gravity shifting from north to south, is being felt in Rome.
Disputations reflects on lessons of the Tower of Babel in the concluding paragraphs of the document:
... the story of Babel not only warns us that we are bound to lack concord if we don't speak the same language, but -- reading it in parallel with the story of Pentecost -- that the concord upon which any global authority must be founded to thrive in virtue is nothing less than the peace of Jesus Christ.
As a practical matter, the world is some way away from establishing that foundation. Whether Christians possess the peace of Jesus Christ in sufficient fullness to serve as the cement which, when mixed with the world's crushed stone, can form a concrete of sufficient strength to bear the weight of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace's proposals is, I suppose, open to question.
Notes on the Vatican Statement on Global Financial Reform - solid, section-by-section analysis by DarwinCatholic (American Catholic 10/26/11), revealing points that are congenial to both ends of the political spectrum ("There’s much in here that American conservatives and libertarians are not going to like, but there’s just as much that leftist Catholics (particularly populist ones) aren’t going to like either (if they read it.)").

See additional responses from Rick Garnett @ Mirror of Justice ("many are (perhaps strategically and tactically) mis- and over-reading the Note in order to overstate the consonance between its vision and the current policies of the Democratic Party in the United States and its special-interest constituencies"); Michael Brendan Dougherty @ Business Insider ("WHOOPS! Vatican Lets Slip Plans For One World Government"); Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (What Does The Prayer Really Say?); Sean P. Daily of Gilbert magazine ("if there is one institution that could unite us, even if it unites [distributists and followers of the 'Austrian' school] only in opposition, it is the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace"); Robert Sirico of The Acton Institute ("the document embraces a sound economic theory concerning the cause of the world financial crisis: the breakdown of the postwar Bretton Woods monetary system and the unleashing of fiat currencies and central-bank printing presses") -- and, now blogging for The American Conservative, Rod Dreher hosts a vigorous discussion on his blog here; here; here and here.

* * *

In a rather telling action from the Vatican, "Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, has reportedly disowned the document, asserting that any new Vatican text will have to be authorized in advance:

ROME, November 10, 2011 – Precisely when the G20 summit in Cannes was coming to its weak and uncertain conclusion, on that same Friday, November 4 at the Vatican, a smaller summit convened in the secretariat of state was doing damage control on the latest of many moments of confusion in the Roman curia.
In the hot seat was the document on the global financial crisis released ten days earlier by the pontifical council for justice and peace. A document that had disturbed many, inside and outside of the Vatican.
The secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, complained that he had not known about it until the last moment. And precisely for this reason he had called that meeting in the secretariat of state.
The conclusion of the summit was that this binding order would be transmitted to all of the offices of the curia: from that point on, nothing in writing would be released unless it had been inspected and authorized by the secretariat of state.

Pontifical Council's statement on "reforming the international financial and monetary systems"

2011-10-26T07:12:00.002-04:00

Roundup of responses to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace' statement on “Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of Global Public Authority” (and discussion) at American Catholic.

"Occupy America"

2011-10-09T22:17:00.020-04:00

Certainly some of the issues raises by the ongoing protests at Wall Street and various cities across America are worthy of serious discussion and debate: the disparity between economic classes, the government bailouts to the financial industry and cushy severance packages to failed CEO's vs the majority of those who can barely scrape by month-to-month, or might have lost their jobs (and homes, and savings) with no such financial safety net (a discussion of such here with Rod Dreher).

If you want serious analysis of the events, I recommend this excellent coverage by Robert David Graham (Errata Security), providing the quality coverage lacking in the mainstream media.

At the same time, it's hard not to see the whole gamut of political-ideological factions -- anarchist, marxist, libertarian, "tea party" (although the latter are branded as infiltrators wishing to "co-opt" the demonstration) -- assemble to voice to their righteous indignation, and observe the moments of unintentional comedy and occasional irony that result . . . if not for which we might take their message just a little more seriously:

The amusing phenomenon of the "human microphone" to circumvent New York City's requirement for an "amplified sound permit."
The transformation in the space of a week to a tourist hotspot, receiving a string of celebrities and academics including union-busting millionaire filmmaker Michael Moore -- whose anti-establishment documentaries are themselves funded by the very corporations he protests (but he's a man of the people, right?).
John Lewis, a veteran of the 1960's civil rights movement, follower of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, a participant in local sit-in's and a supporter of the Montgomery bus boycott -- denied his right to address an "Occupy Atlanta" crowd by their inability to establish a "consensus" as to whether he was worth listening to.
The local retailers (and neighborhood residents) quickly tiring of the "occupation" of their businesses, proclaiming themselves entitled to the use of their facilities regardless of whether they make a purchase. Stacey Tzortzatos of Panini & Co. Cafe quickly became an "enemy of the people" by installing a lock on her bathroom door, after finding the sink ripped off ( New York Times October 7, 2011).
From Reason - Remy's Occupy Wall Street Protest Song and Occupy Wall Street: A Manifesto.
Lastly, Tom Beaudoin (of the Jesuit weekly America) has been thus inspired:
While participating in the "Occupy Wall Street" protests in lower Manhattan, I have begun to wonder what would happen if Catholics took this model and applied it to their passion for and grievances with their own church.
Imagine a group of Catholics whose deep care for the future of their church is matched by their sense of responsibility to name, protest and change what is intolerable about that church today: in the form of nonviolent physical occupation of spaces, in the form -- necessarily imperfect and unruly -- of democratic organization, in the form of continued open-ended articulations of visions of a different Catholic Church, without prematurely forcing the movement to take on a specific agenda. And yes, in the form of consciousness-raising and of direct action. This would be the Catholic version of the Arab Spring, to combat the long Catholic Winter.
(Spare us, Oh Lord).

Related

Zuccotti Park protester Nkrumah Tinsley arrested after threatening to burn down city; Urges Molotov coctail strike on Macy’s, by Joe Kemp and Rocco Parascandola. New York Daily News 11/16/11.
The Moochers of Zuccotti Park: Good riddance to Occupy Wall Street, by Heather MacDonald. City Journal 11/16/11. "There’s no more full-throated a defender of property rights than a member of the anticapitalist Left asserting the right to colonize someone else’s property."
NYPD Evicts Occupy Wall Street, Clearing Zuccotti Park 11/15/11 | Build Up To A Raid: NYPD Planned Occupy Wall Street Eviction For Weeks 11/16/11. Gothamist.
Occupy Seattle Disrupts Pro-Occupy Wall Street Forum, Drives Away Supporters , by Dominic Holden. The Stranger 11/13/11. No sooner had the panel finished opening remarks last night than a woman scampered up onto stage and yelled, "Mic check!" It was an orchestrated effort by several dozen activists to use the People's Mic to interrupt a forum at Town Hall—a forum in favor of Occupy Wall Street.
The Occupy Movement's Penchant for Inflicting Collateral Damage Isn't Winning it Any Friends Reason.com. November 8, 2011.
In The East Village, Christian Anarchy Meets Occupy Wall Street The Local East Village 10/31/11.
Occupy Wall Street’s Empty Anger, by David Mills. First Things' "On The Square" 10/31/11.
Occupy Wall Street kitchen staff protesting fixing food for freeloaders New York Post 10/27/11 - "The Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a “counter” revolution yesterday -- because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for “professional homeless” people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters."
The Organizers vs. the Organized in Zuccotti Park, by Alex Klein. New York Magazine 10/20/11.
Eyewitness to History! - Hanging out with Spooky the anarchist, Amy the gender-bender, Sid the Nazi, and other occupiers of Wall Street, by Matt Labash. Weekly Standard. 10/17/11.
"Hell, No, We Won’t Toe", by Nicole Gelinas. City Journal 10/17/11. "As a few protesters (not all) understand, the problem with “the banks” isn’t that they exist, but that they’re isolated from the consistent rule of law."

Capital Punishment Revisited

2011-10-08T18:48:00.009-04:00

The recent state executions of Troy Davis and Lawrence Russell Brewer have once again raised the moral issue of capital punishment in the consciousness of our nation. And once again, Catholics are weighing in.

According to Tommaso Di Ruzza, the Vatican's desk officer at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, "it is not a message that is immediately understood -- that there is no room for supporting the death penalty in today's world," cited in an article by Carol Glatz (Dead wrong: Catholics must no longer support capital punishment Catholic News Service 9/30/11).

The Catholic forum The Public Discourse has been host to an ongoing exchange between writer and philosopher Edward Feser and "new natural law" philosopher Christopher O. Tollefsen:

Capital Punishment, Sanctity of Life, and Human Dignity, by Christopher O. Tollefsen. "Intentional killing is always wrong, and support of capital punishment often stems from a misunderstanding of the nature of human dignity." The Public Discourse 9/16/11.
In Defense of Capital Punishment, by Edward Feser. Public Discourse 9/29/11. "If one accepts the legitimacy of punishment and the principle of proportionality, then it is impossible to claim that capital punishment is intrinsically wrong."
"Goods" Without Normative Order to the Good Life, Happiness, or God: The New Natural Law Theory and the Nostrum of Incommensurability, by Steven Long. Thomistica.net 9/18/11.
Capital Punishment, Dignity, and Authority: A Response to Ed Feser, by Christopher O. Tollefsen. The Public Discourse 9/30/11. "Nothing that a man does can change his nature as man, and so, considered in himself, it will always remain wrong to kill him. This should be the final judgment of practical reason when brought to bear on the question of capital punishment."
Punishment, Proportionality, and the Death Penalty: A Reply to Chris Tollefsen, by Edward Feser. The Public Discourse 10/13/11. "While not explicitly denying the principle of proportionality, Tollefsen implicitly rejects it, leaving his argument not only counterintuitive but incoherent."
Punishment: Political, Not Metaphysical by Christopher O. Tollefsen. The Public Discourse 10/14/11. "The presumptive starting point in the natural law and, more specifically, Christian tradition is one of absolute opposition to intentional killing of beings created in the image of God, for which exceptions must be earned; but the traditional justifications for such exceptions fail."
Tollefsen channels Rawls, by Edward Feser. 10/18/11.

Back in April, Dr. Feser took issue with (and critically dismantled) the characterization of capital punishment as "state-sanctioned vengeance" by the Catholic Bishops of Arizona, as well as the recent Catholic claim that "defense" alone can justify capital punishment. Taking into account the teachings of recent Popes, he has articulated a summary of the Church’s teaching that takes every aspect of it into account -- contending that the failure to present the full body of Catholic teaching on this subject gives the mistaken impression that the "liberal, secularist" position of complete abolishment is correct. Unfortunately, it is precisely such a mistaken position that some Catholics are taking in these times. A reading of his post, "Deadly Unserious" (April 3, 2011) is highly recommended.

R.I.P. Steve Jobs - 1955-2011

2011-10-08T18:40:00.004-04:00

R. Luke Dubois of the PolyTechnic Institute of New York University has noted the irony of the public outpouring of grief among liberals for Steve Jobs, the one CEO curiously exempt as a target of ongoing protests at Wall Street: "On one side, people are railing against corporate greed, and they’re doing it on iPads from a company that trades at $400 per share" -- oblivious to, or perhaps in spite of, to his dark side.

He was, undoubtedly, a genius and a visionary. As the Independent notes

The late Steve Jobs revolutionised no fewer than six different industries: personal computers, mobile phones, music publishing, animated films, digital publishing and tablet computing. So while the word innovation is overused nowadays, there is no one about whom it can be more aptly deployed than the founder of Apple.
When Mr Jobs died on Wednesday he had some 313 patents to his name. Among them were point-and-click mouse techniques and the technology behind touch-sensitive screens. His iMac computer pioneered the intuitive approach, technology that was ready to use straight from the box. His iPod did not just change music on the move; with iTunes and download sales, it turned the whole music industry on its head. His iPhone defined the concept of the smartphone. And his ultra-thin MacBook Air and then his iPad brought an everyday portability to computing with devices that were thin, lightweight and easy to carry.

Related

Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age New York Times October 5, 2011.
Steve Jobs: The Secular Prophet, by Andy Crouch. Wall Street Journal October 8, 2011. Steve Jobs turned Eve's apple, the symbol of fallen humankind, into a religious icon for true believers in technology. But can salvation be downloaded?
Lastly, a bit of humor: Actor Noah Wyle ("ER") on playing Steve Jobs (CNN Money October 7, 2011) in 1999's television drama, "Pirates of Silicon Valley".
Yes, Steve Jobs, R.I.P., was an innovating genius. But..., by Carl Olson (Ignatius Insight). October 11, 2011.

disjuncture

2011-10-04T02:11:00.005-04:00

In American politics there are two strong currents of anti-capitalist thought: Marxism/communism/socialism versus Anarchism/far-left-libertarianism. The problem is that these two ideologies are fundamentally at odds; one advocates hyper-centralization of political and economic power, while the other advocates hyper-decentralization.
In earlier times, the communists and the anarchists hated each other; they are natural enemies. But in recent decades they have formed an uneasy and deeply unstable alliance; since they both hate the status quo of American capitalism, they feel they ought to band together and smash the system as a unified front, and worry about how to pick up the pieces later.
But the Day of Rage revealed that this alliance can never succeed, because it can never offer a consensus philosophy; it’s impossible to draw the sympathy of the great masses when you offer two completely divergent philosophies as your “unified message.” In truth, there is no unified message, and there never can be; that’s why the “Day of Rage” organizers couldn’t even decide on what their one single demand would be at the protest.
I feel this is a turning point in the anti-capitalist movement; the failure of the much-hyped Day of Rage proved that the communists and the anarchists never will be able to smooth over their differences, and the far-left will necessarily fracture in two. The anarchists will break free of their socialist bedmates and drift more toward honest extreme libertarianism and anti-authoritarianism; while Team Marx will no longer feel the need to temper their collectivist message with a bunch of dishonest slogans about freedom and independence.

~ Zombie September 18, 2011.

(See also coverage on the ongoing "occupation" of America).