Fallacies and Fashions

Moving to Cleansing Fire 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:29:00 +0000

moving my efforts here:
http://cleansingfiredor.com/2010/06/wont-back-down/

If, by chance, you want to view just *my* latest posts at CF, here's a filter by author:
http://cleansingfiredor.com/author/benanderson/

or use this feed:
http://cleansingfiredor.com/author/benanderson/feed/

Focus Lauded in Catholic Courier

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:58:00 +0000

no teaser - read the whole thing if you haven't already. These women are truly doing the work of the Lord on the front lines. Please keep them in your prayers, provide baby supplies, and support them financially if you can.

http://www.catholiccourier.com/cc/index.cfm/regional-life/monroe/features/pregnancy-center-tries-to-keep-up-with-demand/

Their website is rochesterprolife.org

Bishop Clark defends Pope

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:54:00 +0000

http://www.catholiccourier.com/cc/index.cfm/commentary/bishops-column/preventing-sexual-abuse-of-children/

Regarding the recently published allegations and innuendo concerning Pope Benedict XVI, nothing that I have read has shaken my conviction that the pope is a man of the highest integrity. His strong words to church leaders in several European countries, as well as his past and recent public statements, could not portray a more determined hand in mandating the church use every means and resource to deal firmly with abusers and to make the church a safe and holy environment worldwide. Our interactions with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Benedict led before he became pope, were always helpful and responsive in these matters. You can read a number of the pope’s recent public statements and review Vatican resources intended to combat sexual abuse of minors at www.vatican.va/resources.

Reno: "Few People Want to be Wicked"

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Sun, 30 May 2010 18:36:00 +0000

I've mentioned R.R. Reno's series on Catholic Apologetics before and I continue to work my way through it. It is really excellent and I've had to relisten to each episode a few times to really let it sink in. In this audio snippet, he's talking about the pessimistic view our modern era has about man's capability to really know truth. The "they" he refers to is non-Christians. However, I think it also applies to those work against orthodoxy w/in the Church. It doesn't necessarily come from an evil impulse, but nonetheless it goes wrong because they step outside the bounds of Christ and Church. He also quotes Chesterton when he says that the modern vices are virtues gone mad.

Tim Staples on Total Depravity

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Sun, 30 May 2010 18:15:00 +0000

This audio clip drills in a little deeper into Total Depravity, although I still don't see the huge difference, except when he quotes Calvin as saying God impels Satan toward evil. I searched briefly for the article he mentions by didn't find it. If anyone finds it, please let me know. I switched the way I'm embedding audio again, so please let me know if it works/doesn't work.

Judge Not Redux

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Sat, 29 May 2010 01:36:00 +0000

Great post on Fr. Z's site referencing His Hermeneuticalness on a post which is pertinent especially to us bloggers. This snippet mentions politicians, but the idea applies equally to our ecclesiastical leaders:

Judge not, that you may not be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. (Matt 7.1-2)

How often do we see this verse quoted in response to Catholic blog posts? Criticise the public actions of a politician or a high-ranking ecclesiastic and you can be sure that someone will say that you should not be "judgmental". Should bloggers cringe in shame at failing to observe the teaching of Our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount? I think we can reasonably take a deeper look at this.

Spiritual, not Religious?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:00:00 +0000

David Mills on the First Things blog offers some insight on the quirkiness of the claim, "I'm spiritual, not religious"

The word “spiritual” has no useful meaning if it does not refer to a relation to a real spirit, something from a world not our own, something supernatural, something that or someone who tells us things we do not know, judges us for our failures, and gives us ideals to strive for and maybe help in reaching them. It’s not a useful word if it means a general inclination or shape of mind or emotional pattern or set of attitudes or collection of values. There is no reason to call any of these spiritual.
...
We want the spiritual-ish, because God made us to want him yet we do not want to want him, and we do not want him on his terms. If our hearts are restless without God, as St. Augustine argued, they can be tranquillized with substitutes, of which “spirituality” is easier to find and much less costly than the alternatives. Drugs and drink are bad for you, and wealth and sex are hard to get, and achievement takes work.
...
The dying man is the true man, in the sense of being the one who reveals to us what we essentially are. We are on our death bed from the day we are born. To paraphrase Pascal, dying men want not the God of spirituality, but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Changing Values

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Sat, 22 May 2010 09:50:00 +0000

re: Amazing Grace Heretical

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:01:00 +0000

In this post I will argue against Michael Voris' assertion that the words of the song "Amazing Grace" are heretical. I do not wish to address whether or not the song should be sung at a Catholic mass. That's another matter altogether.

I've heard this argument before and I don't think it's a good one. Yes, there is a real, theological difference between protestant and catholic soteriology. As a former protestant, one of the reasons I came into the Catholic Church is that I found the Catholic understanding to be more believable. However, I think Michael Voris misses the mark in his assertion on a couple of different levels.

Let's look at what he proposes to be heresy #1: Man w/out God should never be called a wretch. Assuming that man w/ God should also never be called a wretch, Voris must be asserting that the word wretch should never be applied to any man.

miriam webster's first definition of wretch:
a miserable person: one who is profoundly unhappy or in great misfortune.

hmmm, given that the dictionary definition is used to describe a person, I'd have say that's enough to prove that Voris is flat wrong. But let's continue... if the term might apply to some people, who might it apply to most? How about someone involved in slave trade (which Newton was)?

Calling someone a wretch (even yourself - as Newton did) doesn't necessarily imply that you believe in the doctrine of "Total Depravity". This term comes from the "T" in the Calvinist doctrinal acronym TULIP. Voris mentions Luther (not Calvin), but I believe the doctrine of Total Depravity encompasses what he's upset about. One would probably guess that Catholics don't ascribe to this doctrine because the term comes from Reformed theology. However, Catholic doctrine on this matter is actually pretty similar. The idea that man is nothing w/out God was not a new concept introduced by the reformers. Aquinas taught as much. As does the Bible, Early Church Fathers, etc. Jimmy Akin wrote an article drilling into this deeper if you want to hop over there:

http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1993/9309fea1.asp
Thomas Aquinas declared that special grace is necessary for man to do any supernaturally good act, to love God, to fulfill God's commandments, to gain eternal life, to prepare for salvation, to rise from sin, to avoid sin, and to persevere.

I believe Voris misses the mark on the real difference between Catholic and Protestant soteriology. The major difference in doctrine is how God's grace is applied AFTER a sinner accepts it rather than BEFORE. Luther's idea, which was condemned by Trent, is that God's grace is merely imputed and not infused into man. Luther's idea of grace imputed was that man is still the same dung he was before God's grace, but that God has covered our dung with snow. There is no real change in us. It's more of a judicial ruling that those who accept God's grace are exempt from God's judgment. Catholic theology, however, teaches that God infuses grace into man thus producing a real ontological change. Obviously man still sins, but by cooperating with God's grace he begins to become a better person (more Christ-like). This difference, however, is not addressed in "Amazing Grace".

Now let's look at heresy #2: how precious did that grace appear the moment I first believed.
Voris is assuming that this line implies that God's grace didn't exist prior to the moment Newton first believed. However, that's not what this line says. It might be what Newton believed (I really don't know), but that's not what it says. He's simply saying that the grace appeared precious when he first believed. He's not speaking about whether it was there prior to his belief. You could even argue that the form of God's grace did change when he did believe. Prior to his belief, God's grace wasn't efficacious (see the above jimmy akin article for this distinction), while afterwards it was. How can we argue with a man saying, "I was headed for eternal damnation, but God reached down and saved me (a wretch)"? We should reply with an "AMEN, brother! Now let me show you more gifts that God gave us.", not "no, no, you don't understand this properly, you bloody heretic"

So that's all I have to dispute Voris ' assertion that "Amazing Grace" is heretical. I'd also like to address his style and presentation because I believe it is dividing (not just Voris, but this type of style) much of the orthodox Catholic world. Voris (et al) tends to fall into the black and white trap. Everything is so clear to him. You're either with us or against us. While that position can sometimes be admirable, it does not apply to all situations. Life is more complex than that. Often times, even though people are wrong, they do have good intentions. We should acknowledge those good intentions. It doesn't mean we have to give in. Catholicism is about BOTH-AND, not EITHER-OR. That's one of the things that drew me in. By that, I don't mean that you can believe whatever you want. I'm not saying that it's Catholicism+Buddhism or anything crazy like that. But I am saying that we don't need to be so afraid of other ideas so long as we don't throw away essential truths. When you just constantly harp, harp, harp and don't provide anything positive the world will turn a deaf ear to you. I'm not saying that people who do this are morally wrong. I'm just saying that they're not being as effective as they could be. Just look at the organizations with sky-rocketing success like Catholic Radio, EWTN, and Catholic Answers (catholic.com). I believe we can use them as great examples set before us. They don't compromise one bit on doctrinal matters, but they also don't bring a negative tone with them. Obviously this is a gray area because some people will say that they do, but you get my point.

Certainly much of what has happened after V2 is appalling. However, the documents of V2 DO apply and much of it was a new perspective on old doctrines. Something very profound was said at V2. von Balthasar's "Razing of the Bastions" foreshadows many of these ideas and is well worth the read. To throw out what was said and called for during the council is to deny Catholic doctrine. Over-simplifications and over-generalizations are an easy way out. Sure, you can make sensationalist videos and make yourself sound like a great defender of the faith, but are you really winning souls this way? We need to be very careful not to take the attitude of "let's just condemn everything". First off it's flat wrong to do so because some good can be found in almost anything and anyone. Second of all, it doesn't win souls for Christ and His Church.

Also, he should learn how to spell judgment. OK - I'm only kidding because I'm sure you could find numerous grammatical and spelling errors in my writing. Much of what I've written is off the cuff, so please forgive my lack of writing skills.

Don't get me wrong - I'm a firm believer that there are problems in the Church, but we musn't be so afraid of everything that's slightly different. Yes, we need more bishops and priests with backbones (this is happening), but we don't need to be belligerent. And we don't need to be afraid of other ideas. We're not afraid because we know the Truth. I'm reminded of Chesterton here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1717/1717-h/1717-h.htm#2H_4_0004
Men will walk along the edge of a chasm in clear weather, but they will edge miles away from it in a fog. So a Tory can walk up to the very edge of Socialism, if he knows what is Socialism. But if he is told that Socialism is a spirit, a sublime atmosphere, a noble, indefinable tendency, why, then he keeps out of its way; and quite right too.

We should work at removing the fog. Let's expose and expel Satan from where he is hiding, but let's not just blindly throw grenades into the fog.

Just look at how close our own Pope walks up to such boundaries. He is not afraid:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20081119_en.html
For this reason Luther's phrase: "faith alone" is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love.Gal 5: 14).

And look at how he's reaching out to the Anglicans who wish to come in. He's not saying, "throw away your heretical liturgy and don't come back to me until you do". Instead he's saying, "your liturgy and practices are beautiful. We will welcome what we can of it. You must, of course, embrace the entirety of Catholic doctrine, but we welcome as much as we can into the universal church."

I've linked to this article before, but I think it's worth re-reading every so often.

http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2007/0705fea2.asp
In short, the Church Belligerent succumbs to the temptation to win arguments instead of hearts.

And here's a link sent to me a while back by my very Christian, Protestant, mother.

Cathedral Renovations

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Wed, 12 May 2010 10:39:00 +0000

No, not that Cathedral. New York State Catholic Conferences facebook page has this tagline linking to this article (which contains a nice photo gallery):

Congratulations to Bishop Howard J. Hubbard and the Albany Diocese on the stunning renovations to the state's oldest cathedral, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Albany.

Albany diocese shows off Cathedral renovations

my favorite part of the renovations:

pews designed to be comfortable for larger 21st-century physiques

The Loser Letters

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Sun, 09 May 2010 15:28:00 +0000

Mary Eberstadt has penned a new book titled "The Loser Letters", a witty attack against the new atheism in the format of Lewis' "Screwtape Letters". This 5/3 show of CA Live featured her and her new work. Here's a snippet from that show:

I am Simply Catholic

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Fri, 07 May 2010 10:45:00 +0000

Of course, by "Simply Catholic" we must mean that we submit to the teachings of the Church which includes Magisterial Teaching, the CCC, Canon Law, etc. I think the Cardinal is on to something with this phrase and this campaign. We, as Catholics, do need healing and need to come together. This campaign calls both sides to come together; the ultra-orthodox who wish to impose more burdens on the average Catholic than the actual Church does (I have yet to meet one of these people) and the progressive who thinks the church needs to be changed (we all know this is the real problem). But even if we think we know who it is that needs to be reformed and what kinds of issues they need to be reformed on, let's play the game and be "Simply Catholic". Because in the end that is exactly what we orthodox are pushing for and that would be nothing short of a miracle. Praise God that we have a Church with teachings that we can simply hide behind and point to instead of having to debate the arguments ourselves.

Infectious w/o Being an Infection

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Tue, 04 May 2010 23:49:00 +0000

Dr. K talked about the parallel hierarchy we have here in the DOR previously. Continuing on the theme of parallelism, I heard the term parallel Magisterium on CA Live last week. Here's the audio snip. Again, please let me know if you have any trouble playing this audio:

Monthly Prayer Requests for Priests

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Mon, 03 May 2010 11:30:00 +0000

It's that time again... don't forget to print your Monthly Prayer Requests for Priests:

http://www.mprp-roc.org/mprp04-10May.html

And in case you're a couple days behind, make sure you pray for Bishop Clark (5/1) and our Holy Father (5/2).

Docility and Dissent

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:07:00 +0000

The second show of CA Live on 4/26 is one of the more interesting shows I've heard in a while.

Also, the way I was embedding audio seems to have stopped working. I'm trying this other method now - please let me know if it doesn't work for you.

on docility (embedded audio):

and dissent (embedded audio):

The Real Reason Archbishop Favalora of Miami has been made to Resign

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 00:47:00 +0000

This is an interesting article:
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/giunta/100421

Archbishop Favalora is a mere eight months away from his 75th birthday, upon which Catholic canon law would have required him to submit his resignation, that he might step down from office with the customary grace and dignity. Rome, it seems, didn't care to afford him that courtesy. And for good reason: Favalora did not resign "because of ill health"; he himself has admitted so. So, what "grave cause" could have possibly required an Archbishop to tender his resignation well before the customary date?

Hell

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:37:00 +0000

Need some motivation? Here's a glimpse of the reality that Jesus died to save us from.

Icy Delights and Dies Irae

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:23:00 +0000

Icy Delight
The other day I came home from work and my 2 year is banging on the fridge saying "Icy delight, please?"
Me: "Mary, what's he saying?"
Mary: "He wants his icy delight. He can have it. It's in the fridge on the top shelf."
Son: "Yay! Icy delight!"
Me: "Where is it? The only thing I see is a cup with some ice water in it."
Mary: "That's not ice water. That's an icy delight!"
Son (as I hand him the cup): "ahhh - icy delight!"

You probably get the idea of what's going on here. Mary needed something to entice our son for whatever reason, so she talked up this fancy drink called an icy delight. "If you're really good, you get to have an icy delight." He doesn't know any better. If you get excited about something, so does he.
Moral of the story: Excitement is contagious
Flip side of that: Drudgery is not so appealing

"There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person." -GK Chesterton

Dies Irae
We're all children at heart - especially me. I've mentioned before that as a new convert to Catholicism (3 years now), I feel like a kid in a candy shop with all these traditions. "In the choir loft" over at Cleansing Fire has been getting me more and more into sacred music. A month or so ago we had a conversation (I'm paraphrasing and probably hacking up his words):

ITCL: "If you ever get the chance to attend a requiem mass, you should."
Me: "uh, ok - why?"
ITCL: "The Dies Irae is sung."
Me: "The Deeuhs whatsa?"
ITCL: "The Dies Irae - I'll send you the words it is chilling. You'll love it." I can hear in his voice and see in his face an intense passion.
Me: "Sure - ok"

time passes and I read the words

Me: "Wow - the Dies Irae is really neat."
ITCL: "You should check out Verdi's Requiem." Again - the passion is there. It's contagious.
Me: "Sure, I'm beginning to trust your tastes."

time passes and I listen... and listen... and listen

ITCL: "You wanna borrow the score sometime?"

So last night at 8PM on wxxi the LA Philharmonic played Verdi's requiem live and I'm following along with the score as chills shoot up my spine.

Passion is contagious. Even more so when the object of our passion is legitimately more interesting than ice water.

A good question to constantly be asking ourselves, "How passionate are we about our faith?" Are our children imitating us as we struggle to sit through Fr Bob's 7 minute homily? Or are they infected with excitement as you explain some little detail about the mass that you especially noticed today. The mass is exciting in and of itself. It doesn't need to be tinkered with and it doesn't require a heroic act of patience to make it through it. It simply requires an eye of faith to acknowledge what is actually happening. If we truly comprehend the blessing of the mass, it quickly goes from being a chore to the high point of our week (or day).

Respecting Elders

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:04:00 +0000

Monthly Prayer Requests for Priests (April)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:30:00 +0000

Don't forget to print out your monthly prayer requests for priests calendar for the month of April.

And read some of these interesting articles about the MPRP site:
About MPRP
Catholic Courier September 7, 2005

Alison Krauss and Union Station coming to Highland Bowl (6/5)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:07:00 +0000

http://rocnow.com/article/living/2010100331017?source=rss

Sort of off topic of this blog, but it's about Rochester and the following song is faithful. I've not embedded from lala.com before, so I'm not sure how well this'll work. I think you only get to listen to it once.

When God Dips His Pen of Love ...

Pope Resigns

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:05:00 +0000

This is breaking news:

Pope Benedict XVI has made an unprecedented decision to resign as the leader of over 1 billion Catholics. "I've been spending a lot of time reading the NY Times and I've really taken what they've said to heart. They've converted me from my medieval ways to a more liberal mindset. Geez, I don't know what I was thinking believing in all that One, True, Church mumbo jumbo. Condoms for all!" Obviously many people are shocked by this news including Notre Dame's Richard McBrien who had this to say, "Many people have criticized my articles over the years saying that I'm not Catholic enough, but I knew that if I just kept writing each week the Holy Spirit would do something amazing. Today He has done just that."

1460 Opens Studio in Rochester

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:45:00 +0000

In the Station of the Cross' April newsletter

Thanks to the generosity of a long-time listener and supporter who is assisting us in the mission to further develop a greater Catholic presence in the Rochester area, we are pleased to announce a 550 square foot second floor suite located at 1545 East Avenue. The offices contain a brand new studio, a manager's office, and conference space. The office will be staffed by our new WHIC manager, Mary Jo Maurer, and we welcome her to our staff. A blessing and dedication will take place soon, as we continue with our mission of proclaiming the Truth with clarity and charity on Catholic radio.

I just love their mission: Proclaiming the Truth with clarity and charity.

hmmm - a new studio. They must be planning on doing some broadcasting. Maybe they're planning on giving Fr. Antinarelli KCHS his own one hour block :-)

Another Compliment to Fr. Carpenter

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:59:00 +0000

This probably isn't news to you because other Rochester blogs have already mentioned Fr. Carpenter's article entitled "What Did Jesus Do?" However, I still wanted to mention it to pay him compliments. Fr. Carpenter demonstrates his deep faith and his obvious writing ability in this article. Here's my very part:

So now, instead of looking at WWJD, let's look at WDJD (What Did Jesus Do). When we look at what Jesus did, we can see that Jesus was someone who was passionate about the truth. As Fr. Isadore Bard, a friend to WTBH, recently stated, "When someone asks you to 'think about what Jesus would do', remember that a valid option is to freak out and turn over tables." While Father’s comment is facetiously phrased, his point remains. Jesus did not enter into a ministry defined by making everyone feel good about themselves. He frequently corrected the Pharisees by using the biblical "Woe."

Also, I don't see an rss feed for Fr. Carpenter's articles, but google reader is able to create feeds for you. Just give it this url and it'll automatically check updates for you.

Arch. Dolan Defends Pope

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Anderson) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 01:21:00 +0000

An American bishop who defends the Holy Father amidst supposed scandal being reported in the MSM? That's right - Arch. Dolan is being awesome again! This man has a spine and may others learn from him.

http://www.osvdailytake.com/2010/03/archbishop-dolan-il-papa-needs-our-love.html

What deepens the sadness now is the unrelenting insinuations against the Holy Father himself, as certain sources seem frenzied to implicate the man who, perhaps more than anyone else has been the leader in purification, reform, and renewal that the Church so needs.

UPDATE: More defenses