CNA Columns: Guest Columnist

Hallowe'en - a Christian Holiday

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Helen Hull Hitchcock

Not long ago, a friend and I were talking about children and holidays. "What am I going to do about Hallowe'en?" she asked. "My kids love planning costumes, figuring out jokes and riddles for trick-or-treating, and then there's the big night when dozens of neighbor children come to our door for handouts. But now I wonder if it's right for Christians to let our kids participate in pagan holidays like this at all."

Her concern was real � and considering some of the adult Hallowe'en street celebrations in recent years, anyone would think this is a deeply pagan festivity. (The same might be said of Mardi Gras celebrations!) Add to that the fact that some people today actually claim to be witches. They have claimed "ownership" of Hallowe'en. They claim it is really an ancient pagan harvest festival.

What about this? Can even innocent children's parties, trick-or-treating, dressing up like witches and ghosts on October 31 � as almost all Americans have done for generations � be participating in a pagan religious celebration? Worse, is it a way of seducing our kids into the occult or devil worship? (Read more)

The Catholic Church in China: Part II�Houses of Perseverance

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Steven J. Balla

Qiji is 4 years old and comes from a village in rural China. She is smart. Tell her what a particular animal is called and after only a single listen she can gleefully point out a �bird� whenever a magpie swoops by.

Qiji has no official right to an education. It is quite possible that she will never see the inside of even the most basic rural classroom.

Qiji is not her real name. Qiji is the Mandarin word for �miracle.� And it is a miracle that Qiji was ever born. (Read more)

Fr. Rutler discusses Vatican's Anglican provision

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Fr. George Rutler

Editor's Note: Fr. George Rutler, a convert from Anglicanism, was asked by CNA what his reaction is to the Vatican's new Anglican provision. Fr. Rutler's reply follows.

It is a dramatic slap-down of liberal Anglicanism and a total repudiation of the ordination of women, homosexual marriage and the general neglect of doctrine in Anglicanism. Indeed, it is a final rejection of Anglicanism. It basically interprets Anglicanism as a spiritual patrimony based on ethnic tradition rather than substantial doctrine and makes clear that it is not a historic "church" but rather an "ecclesial community� that strayed and now is invited to return to communion with the Pope as Successor of Peter.

The Vatican was careful to schedule simultaneously with the Vatican announcement, a press conference of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster and the deeply humiliated Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury to enable the Anglicans to save some face by saying that this recognizes the spiritual patrimony of Anglicanism and that ecumenical dialogue goes ahead. That is like George Washington at Yorktown saying that he recognizes the cultural contributions of Britain and hopes diplomatic relations flourish. The Apostolic Constitution is not a retraction of ecumenical desires, but rather is the fulfillment of ecumenical aspirations, albeit not the way most Anglican leaders had envisioned it. (Read more)

Epic Trust

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Kathryn Boyle

As a kid in Catholic School, I learned all about the epic tales of Abraham, Jonah and the Whale, Joseph, John the Baptist and the Blessed Mother. They all seemed so fantastic and out of this world�tell me one person YOU know whose been swallowed by a whale. To follow God these people had serious trust�they had epic trust.

As a 25-year old woman in the Los Angeles area, I�m not expecting to be swallowed by ocean life anytime soon, but I am still called to the radical, unwavering and epic trust of those I read and learned about as a kid.

I didn�t always live in California, and my own tale of epic trust has been unfolding now for several months. I�m from Pennsylvania, right outside of Philly (go Birds) I had a great job, a great apartment and great lack of trust in God. I was super comfortable, a twenty-something with all the fixin�s: cool place, free weekends, nice ride, great friends, and I literally lived next door to my church. What more could you ask for? �Nothing,� would have been my response to you just a few short months ago. But what I didn�t realize was that there was something missing: a truthful and penetrating relationship with the God, who (literally) lived next door. (Read more)

The Catholic Church in China: Part I�Cathedrals of Joy

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Steven J. Balla

It was not by accident that we walked through the front arch of the Nantang (Southern Cathedral) a full two hours early for the six o�clock Christmas Eve Mass. The four of us had been living in Beijing for four months by the time the Advent Season had begun. We knew, from first-hand experience, just how exhausting and time consuming it could be to travel from our apartment in Beijing�s northwest corner to one of the city�s downtown Roman Catholic cathedrals. We also were well-aware of the tendency for Chinese cathedrals, of which there are relatively few in a country of perhaps 13 million Catholics, to fill up rather early. Just how early? On Christmas Eve, we quickly discovered that we had indeed entered the cathedral just in the nick of time, as there was only one pew left that had enough room for four people and an unobstructed view of the altar.

As Desi (my wife), Julie (our 13-year-old daughter), Zoli (our 11-year-old son), and I prepared for a year of living in China, we had a sense that being Catholic in a predominantly non-Christian country would present us with some serious challenges and, we hoped, some lasting joys. We had only been on the ground for about 48 hours when both of these intuitions were resoundingly confirmed. Sitting in the Northern Cathedral (Xishiku), we found ourselves overwhelmed by the prospect of following the Mass as it was celebrated in Mandarin. Although we had been studying Mandarin for three years prior to our arrival in China, language specific to the Order of the Mass had not been part of our lessons. Any discomfort we were feeling, though, evaporated the moment the opening hymn began. The cathedral�s high vaults were filled with the voices of the gathered worshippers, all of who it seemed were singing joyfully and without reservation as the priest and ministers processed in and venerated the altar. From that day on, the four of us were committed to fighting through the difficulties and attending services celebrated in Mandarin, despite the availability in Beijing of English-language Masses. This was a choice we rarely regretted, as what followed was a year of experiencing our Catholic faith as it is practiced with �Chinese characteristics.�

For the four of us, attending Sunday Mass in China was akin to experiencing, on a weekly basis, the elevated sense of solemnity we normally associate with special times like the Easter Season. It is almost as if there is no such thing as �ordinary time� in the Chinese Catholic calendar. There was not a single Mass we took part in where incense did not figure prominently. Incense was burned during entrance processions. Incense was burned as Gospels were proclaimed. Incense was burned when priests elevated the Sacred Host and chalice of Precious Blood after consecration. (Read more)

Whatever Happened to Large Catholic Families?

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Rachel Campos-Duffy

These days, images of large families have lost the luster once afforded to famous clans. Benjamin Franklin was the 15th of 17 children. Queen Anne and Queen Victoria had at least 25 children between them. Remember the Osmonds and the Jacksons? Putting aside Michael�s adult descent into the bizarre, these families were admired for being close and of course, driven. The recent death of Sen. Ted Kennedy was a nostalgic reminder of a time when that clan was just a wealthier, more glamorous version of a very common occurrence in Catholic families all over America � large, often double digit broods.

These days having four kids is considered a lot and anything over five is worthy of an "extreme parenting" reality show. In fact, the portrayal of large families in reality television is the most incisive sign-of-the-time for a culture so ambiguous about the personal, economic, and environmental costs of large families. The LA-based offices of TLC and Discovery Network, the cable channels dedicated to large family docu-dramas such as "Jon and Kate plus Eight", and "Meet the Duggars", has decided that America�s enduring fascination with large families needs a "twist." Family television dramas about large families, like the WB�s wholesome and entertaining "7th Heaven", Tvland classics like the "Brady Bunch", and glossy black and white coffee table books of the Kennedys are so pass�. Viewers, they�ve decided, want to see the intimate world of stressed out parents of sextuplets divorcing or they want to witness the sheltered and perennially cheerful Duggars, whose Christian household of 20 runs with a system of order envied by the U.S. Army.

I don�t begrudge the Duggar family�s apparent and sincere happiness or their exemplar harmony. I just wonder if Hollywood�s rush to give these parents of 18 and counting a reality show was less of a tip-of-the-hat and more of a desire to portray their family in the same mold as other shows they produce that tell the story of 600 pound teens and people with hideous and incurable diseases. Yes, fascinating and often heartwarming stories all but portraying large families as curiosities says a lot about how far we�ve gone from a time when most Catholic neighborhoods were brimming with kids. (Read more)

Long Live Haydn

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Robert R. Reilly

May 31 was the 200th anniversary of Franz Joseph Haydn's death in 1809 at the age of 77. He was so revered that an honor guard was posted outside of his Vienna residence during his last days. The great good news is that this commemoration has generated a flood of Haydn releases and re-releases of his music that leaves us now with more than 90 percent of his work available on CD.

I love Haydn. If I had to be left with only one composer in my life, it would be he -- not because he is the greatest, although he is great, but because of the measured quality of humanity in his music. He is the most companionable composer. Haydn's is not the preternatural world of Mozart, nor is it the one of ever-present yearning for the prelapsarian that is Schubert's. There is a steadiness in Haydn's music, a sense of normalcy. At the same time, it is filled with wonder at what is -- at its goodness. In other words, there is something regular about Haydn that makes his music accessible in an almost daily way, without overwhelming us. It is easier to live with than, say, Beethoven, who so often storms the heavens. The whole panoply of life is there but in scale, humanely so, without grotesque exaggeration -- which is exactly what was lost with Romanticism.

While listening to Haydn, I feel gratitude, which is hardly strange, as it is gratitude that his work expresses. In the April 2009 Gramophone, Geraint Lewis wrote, "When he was berated late in life for the cheerful tone of his religious music, Haydn simply said that every time he thought of God his heart leapt for joy." My heart leaps for joy when I hear him. Joy begets joy. As a result, I never tire of his music. I am always refreshed by it. (Read more)

The Canonization of George Tiller

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Cathy Ruse and Austin Ruse

Late-term abortionist George Tiller has been buried. His clinic has been permanently closed. It is being reported that candlelight vigils were held across America for him and that another late-term abortionist has compared him to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. �Pro-choice� Christian ministers called him a �martyr in the classical sense.� One even called him a �saint.� That he was killed in a church certainly contributed to the hagiography.

Anyone who claims to value all human life should condemn his murder, but that does not mean we should refrain from telling the truth about this alleged saint.

Let�s assume he was not in it for the reported $6,000-$20,000 he charged per late-term abortion, or the fees he charged for the other abortions, 60,000 total, which left him a well-heeled man by all accounts. (Read more)

Summer Listening List

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By Robert R. Reilly

This month's column is more of a list than a series of reviews. I mean to arm you with unassailable enjoyment for the lazy, sunny season. If only I can control my logorrhea!

Faithful readers may recall that I was somewhat put off by Charles Mackerras's unrelenting breakneck speeds in his traversal of the Mozart symphonies on Telarc. I find the new Ambroisie two-CD release of Symphonies Nos. 31, 39, 40, and 41 (AM 182) from the Na�ve label much more to my liking. These are very lively performances from conductor John Nelson and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, but they are not frenetic, and Nelson uses the essential element of flexibility to gain maximum expressivity. (It's selling new on Amazon from some merchants for less than $13 -- a great bargain.)

When I was listening to Ignaz Pleyel's two delightful Symphonies Concertantes and the Violin concerto in D on a new Naxos release (8.570320), I was reminded of Albert Einstein's remark that "the secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." The first thing that came to mind was Mozart's glorious Sinfonias Concertantes. Why not be influenced by the very best? If you have room for some charm, here it is in Mozartian fashion. (Read more)

The Murder of George Tiller

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By John Mallon

Every mature, seasoned pro-lifer knows that our opponents will grasp at any straw to bring accusation against us. I believe this is because of a deep down disturbance in the conscience of abortion promoters and the childish tendency to excuse one�s own bad behavior by pointing to someone else�s. Not to psychoanalyze our opponents, but we do know the law of God is written on every human heart, and to repress the voice of conscience can lead to dysfunction, denial and further moral turpitude. This is a profound spiritual pandemic in our time requiring urgent soaking prayer for our opponents. (Human Life International has an ongoing prayer campaign for the conversion of abortionists.)

For example, the repression of conscience can be as simple as this: every child of the age of reason tempted to steal a candy bar knows the flush of anxiety at the temptation. If the temptation is acted upon there is a flush of exhilaration on getting away with it. The next time it is easier, and so on, and if not caught by good attentive parents, can lead to disaster for the child sooner or later in life. Teens often go through the same process with sexual activity.

The most notorious abortionist in America has just been murdered, giving our opponents fodder to start a media clamor, which will go on for years. Normally the behavior of pro-lifers is above reproach, and this frustrates our opponents. Just watch the pro-abort camp spring into action over this tragic incident. (Read more)