Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

“The Female Brain“, written by the self proclaimed feminist, Dr. Louann Brizendine, is quite interesting in the fact that applying the results of clinical work and scientific analysis, Brizendine was forced to concede that everything she had been taught about gender was wrong. As she put it, “I know it is not politically correct to say this but I’ve been torn for years between my politics and what science is telling us. I believe women actually perceive the world differently from men.” It’s a good lesson to remember that we become who we are and what we believe, partly through the experiences of our lives; but as individuals, there are those of us who seek the truth, and those who reject anything that contradicts what they want to believe as true. Well done Louann!

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…. with the media right now. Well, o.k., they are not precisely nuns but the media does not recognize the distinction between religious sisters who are cloistered and those who are not.

Any way, there has been quite a bit of interest lately, about women devoting their lives to become brides of Christ as Catholic religious. It seems ever since Time ran a story a little while back…The coverage continued with Good Morning America and local television stations out at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center interviewing Sister Sarah Roy and Katharine Johnson.

Now, People Magazine has done a story on Andrea Jaeger, the 1980s women’s tennis star who has just completed her third month as a Dominican sister. She has gone from tennis imp to Sister Andrea. The story is an interesting read. While the order is part of the Anglican Communion, I would suspect that if her dream was an authentic vision, St. Catherine will be back to lead her the rest of the way home.

Sylvester Stallone, who grew up Catholic, fell away after making it in the entertainment industry, but now considers himself a churchgoing Catholic again. His reconversion started when his daughter Sophia was “born sick,”. ‘The weight of celebrity was “very heavy,” he added. “I didn’t have any strong foundation behind me of people that would keep my feet on the ground. I was extremely seduced by the newfound freedom.”‘ Consequently, Stallone is currently married to this third wife.

In a letter sent on Christmas Day to the Pope’s ambassador in Spain, the Spanish Islamic Board requested that The Catholic Cordoba cathedral, which was originally built as a mosque when the Moors ruled Spain starting in the 8th century, be opened for prayer to all religions as a model of tolerance and a way to foster inter-faith dialogue and “to seek to restore the “spirit of Al Andalus, when Muslims, Christians and Jews co-existed in relative harmony.”

“We invite you to create a new example, to send a message of hope to the world,” says the letter, which was published yesterday on the Spanish Muslim website Webislam. “Do not fear. Together we can show the violent, the intolerant, the anti-semites, the Islam-phobes and also those who believe that only Islam has a right to remain in the world, that prayer is the strongest weapon imaginable.”

In a separate news story, There are already plans in the works to build a mammoth mosque in the city which is being conceived as a kind of ‘European mecca’ which will be funded by Saudi Arabia and will become the second largest in the world. The former mosque in Cordoba was originally built in the 8th century and was once the second largest in the world and was known as the jewel of the Muslim caliphs. The mosque was expanded by successive rulers until the 13th-century Christian re-conquest, when it became a cathedral.

I’m all for tolerance and fostering inter-faith dialog initiated by the Spanish Islamic Board, and see no better way of demonstrating their sincerity and commitment to this initiative, than to open their mega-mosque to all faiths, who can then pray side by side.

Since the constitution doesn’t contain a legal definition of a recognizable religion, a federal judge used sincerity as a litmus test to rule against The Church of Cognizance’s claim that marijuana is their legitimate deity and sacrament. The church leaders explained, “Normally on Christmas we would have shared the herb with our friends and church members, instead we had presents (over 100 lbs of marijuana). We were a little empty. … “This is very upsetting to the members of our church. It was quite a holiday present.”

U.S. District Judge Judith C. Herrera feels church leaders, “adopted their ‘religious’ belief in cannabis as a sacrament and deity in order to justify their lifestyle choice to use marijuana.” The justification of using marijuana as a their focus of worship were “disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings.” The accused claim the judge’s actions are a violation of the U.S. Constitution, since they claim they are sincere, and that the judge doesn’t understand their doctrine.

Perish the thought of anyone in any legitimate religion adopting disjointed, poorly supported, and illogical beliefs for the purposes of justifying their personal choices and preferences.

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Fr. Christopher G. Phillips has just started a blog, and one need not browse for very long to understand how he became the pastor of the first parish with the only approved variation of the Latin Rite in the U.S. For the first time in the history of the Western Church, Protestants were welcomed into the Church with a Pastoral Provision which included the right to seek the establishment of Personal Parishes under the authority of diocesan bishops, a unique liturgical use, devotional practices, and married clergy on a limited basis.

Here is the history of the parish.

I have been reading a lot lately works by the Eastern Orthodox lay theologian and poet Philip Sherrard (1922-1995), who, in several books (see The Rape of Man and Nature and Human Image: World Image), issued a radical theological critique of modern scientism. Sherrard was a masterful “deconstructor” of the heretical theological and misguided metaphysical presuppositions that underlay modern science. Influenced in part by the philosophy of René Guénon and his followers – disciples of the so-called Sophia Perennis – Sherrard was able to show that modern materialism, naturalism or scientism has its roots in the distorted image of the human self that was inculcated by bad theology in the modern period. As Sherrard poignantly notes throughout his writings, it is always the case that our human “self-image” generates our “world-image.” This is true of all civilizations and cultures, and our modern techno-scientific society is no exception (despite the silly pretensions of Enlightenment-influenced rationalists to the contrary). However, according to Sherrard, there is one big difference between traditional and modern societies in this regard: the self-image exemplified by modern society – formed by a faith-desire to see the world as nothing more than a mathematical grid – rejects the traditional idea that physical nature and the human subject have an essential connection to one another.

Sherrard argues convincingly that it is modern blindness to the essential connection of the human self to physical nature that is responsible for the environmental dilemmas of our age. For Sherrard, the modern environmental crisis is, in sum, the result of bad metaphysics. Viewing the world as nothing more than a mechanism susceptible to mathematical analysis and as detached from any participation in spiritual reality, modern humanity has, according to Sherrard, sought to “rape nature” for the sake of dominance and control. Moreover, in Sherrard’s opinion, it is little use to turn to scientists to seek a way out of this situation. Sherrard thinks that the blindness of many scientists to the metaphysical crisis of the modern age is total and complete:

Modern science has emerged because, knowingly or unknowingly, scientists themselves have accepted and continue to work within a certain framework of metaphysical or philosophical principles that constitute a reality in their own right and quite apart from the phenomenon to which they have given birth. This is to say that modern science, far from being merely a pragmatic, materialist or empirical discipline independent of metaphysics – and it is this which many scientists would want us to believe – in fact presupposes and implements in its every aspect, theoretical and practical, a metaphysical or philosophical view of things that is anything but neutral, self-evident, self-proven or a matter of common sense. It is this view that determines the whole character of modern science as well as the character of the society which is fashioned in its image.

Few contemporary scientists appear to be aware of this. Scientists are specialists, and within the confines of their specialties they are no doubt capable of producing theories and effects consistent with the premises they have adopted. But scientific knowledge itself has no depth and no complexity: it represents the lowest common denominator of the most average kind of mentality. Its authors have never even grasped the crucial distinction between wisdom and speculative hypothesis based on experiment. Hence once they venture outside the confines of their specialties and try to justify their theories and effects in terms of value or to assess their metaphysical or human significance, they produce only nonsense, because the premises which they take as their standards are not comprehensive enough to allow them to do anything else.

Indeed, judged by the normal standards of metaphysical or philosophical discourse, scientists – but for the rarest exceptions – display a total lack of competence in this realm: the thought in this respect of such a highly esteemed scientist as Albert Einstein, for instance, is bewildering in its naiveté (The Rape of Man and Nature, 11).

Sherrard, in typically modern, Eastern Orthodox fashion, lays the blame for our distorted, modern self-image too much at the feet of the acceptance by Western Christianity of Aristotelian philosophy. He calls for a return to a more Neo-Platonically influenced theology, such as was found in the great tradition of the Eastern Church Fathers. We here at C-L-S would not want to countenance all aspects of Sherrard’s analysis of things, least of all his bias against Aristotle. Nevertheless, it is to be noted that some of the best modern Thomists have likewise called for recognition of the more overtly Neo-Platonic themes in Thomas himself, such as the participation of all things in God, or of a greater appreciation for intuition in the realm of knowledge.

At any rate, I find Sherrard’s “eco-conscious” critique of scientism – though extreme at times – quite a refreshing departure from much contemporary Christian discourse about modernity and science. Too often in the last half-century, too many of the great ecclesiastical figures of the Church have evinced a dangerous ambiguity toward the metaphysical distortions of modern thought and culture…

The spirit of Santa Clause gets trashed in a dark play called, The Eight: Reindeer Monologues. In the play, “fatboy” Santa is accused of victimizing his reindeer with labor violations, rape, sexual perversion, alcoholism, bestiality, pedophilia, acts that are anti-gay and anti-feminism. The play is written with very little imagination or creativity, and is simply a regurgitation of a liberal agenda that attempts to portray any conservative tradition that is worthy of protection, as a cover for evil men and corruption. The darkness of this play is probably a reflection of so many who live a life of anger and resentment because they have such difficulty understanding why they don’t feel they have a place in a world that will not conform to their demands, but don’t have the insight/Graces to see that it’s them that need to conform their own hearts.

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Mom, I think I have a fever….Life with a man mom through the eyes of combo pretzels. Their website has new television commercials (kind of funny) and a section where visitors can submit pictures of men who look like moms (not very funny). Warning: not politically correct.

Sister Gramick was originally notified by the Vatican in 2000 that she was to discontinue her role as a gay activist as it contradicted the Church’s teaching on morality. She made a public statement of her intent to disobey the Vatican order to remain silent on the homosexual lifestyle, promotion of same-sex “marriage”, and has continually and vocally condemned Catholic teachings and documents on homosexuality. According to the Institute Sr. Gramick was named a Mother Teresa Awards Laureate, “for her role as American Human Rights Activist, especially in the field of Spirituality.”

Surely, Sr. Gramick is no Mother Theresa, but then again, not many are. I’m sure in her own heart and mind, Sr. Gramick feels justified in her condemnation of Church doctrine and mockery towards authority and may feel she is doing a noble deed, but the fall from grace (which we are all susceptible to) that comes with pride and disobedience is evident in her self serving agenda. Her website has clips from her documentary In Good Conscience, where you can observe her in action.

LifeSite

France’s foremost anthropologist, Rene Girard, has hopeful words to say on the rebirth of Christian culture. This article summarizes a discussion between Girard and Gianni Vattimo that has recently been published in Italian. Given the eminence of these two Catholic intellectuals (though it doesn’t fit Vattimo very well to describe him as Catholic), this book is truly something that is of vital interest to all Catholic intellectuals.

Also, Girard heads a list of French and Italian intellectuals in support of Benedict XVI’s impending motu proprio designed to free up the traditional Roman Rite of the Mass. It is fortunate that these eminent intellectuals have come out in public support of the Holy Father on this, as recalcitrant French Bishops have tried to put a stumbling block in the path.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported that “tempers boiled over” at an anti-gay marriage rally yesterday when executive director of Catholic Citizenship, Larry Cirignano, “rushed” toward a female pro-demonstrator, and “pushed her to the ground”, resulting in her head “slamming” into a sidewalk where she “laid motionless” on the ground, “crying”. It also said the womanintended to file a complaint against him.

The Boston Globe did a telephone interview with Cirignano who admitted to guiding the woman away from the event with his arm on her back. He also said he had a portfolio in his left hand and did not knock her down, nor see her fall. He told the Globe, “I promise you, I did not throw her to the ground.” The woman who was allegedly pushed said she was not injured during the alledged fall. She said she was the only one, among 20 or so gay-marriage supporters, who went into the crowd of those who supported a vote on whether or not to allow gay-marriage.

It appears as though the WT&G’s focus was more on drama than objective reporting . Maybe this whole thing is not as much about redefining marriage, as it is about homogenizing the genders into a culture of androgyny. By the way, the alleged victim, Sara Loy, who is an ACLU employee, has filed a complaint against Larry Cirignano.

Authors reported in the recent issue of Stem Cells: The International Journal of Cell Differentiation and Proliferation, that  hair-follicle-derived cells may be useful to treat Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Hirschsprung’s disease, stroke, peripheral neuropathies and ALS, as well as heart and bone defects.

Similar to embryonic stem cells, they have a high degree of plasticity, can be isolated at high levels of purity, and can be expanded in culture. Similar to other types of adult stem cells, they are readily accessible through a minimally invasive procedure and could lead to using a patient’s own hair as a source for therapy without the controversy or medical issues of embryonic stem cells.

I doubt this or any other information will have any impact on those who are obsessed with embryonic stem cell research, which hasn’t shown nearly the promise of adult stems cell reseach in treating chronic diseases and injuries.

The Biotech Weblog

Actor Peter Boyle, who died on Tuesday the 12th, was brought up Catholic and spent three years as a member of the Christian Brothers religious order. He described his time in the monastery as, “living in the Middle Ages.” In his own words, “I felt the call for awhile; then I felt the normal pull of the world and the flesh.” After dropping his vocation, he rejected the teachings of the Catholic faith. One thing is for sure, he now knows the truth of the Church. He was a well known, active member of Planned Parenthood’s celebrity Board of Advocates. Planned Parenthood has not yet released a statement regarding Boyle’s death.

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Celebrity Watch – Public figures that support Planned Parenthood’s agenda

John Rayburn, who provides security services for Tiller’s late term abortion clinic told witnesses that the nativity scene located near his employer’s property was “offensive” and decided to move it behind the fence that surrounds the abortion clinic parking lot. The Nativity Project was launched by the Christian Defense Coalition and Faith and Action for the purpose of affirming the message of Christ’s Incarnation as well as the rights to free speech and religious expression.

LifeSite

Fruit of the Loom withdrew their claim that a film made by Catholic film-maker Michelle Messina, called Fruitful Sex, infringed on the company’s name. Her short film is about chastity, where a banana and an orange meet, fall in love, and get married by a rhubarb and eventually have a little banana and carrot babies. She was warned that her message would be unpopular, but it won honorable mentions and received considerable media coverage. She believes, “It’s a very strong message, and it’s one that people should be telling their children: wait for the right person and wait till marriage before getting involved with sex.”

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After 8 years served in his 10 – 25 year sentence for the 1998 poisoning of a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease, Dr. Kevorkian has promised he would not assist in any more suicides if released from prison. Kevorkian, who is 78 years old and weighs a mere 113 lbs. is suffering from hepatitis C and diabetes, and is expected to live less than one year. He has claimed to have been responsible for approximately 130 deaths during the1990’s.

CNN

The BBC reports that the trade of stem cells from aborted children is lucrative due the unproven claim they can fight many types of diseases, but now there are claims with post-mortem videos that support allegations that living babies are being killed for their stem cells.

The BBC has spoken to mothers from the city of Kharkiv who say they gave birth to healthy babies, only to have them taken by maternity staff. In 2003 the authorities agreed to exhume around 30 bodies of foetuses and full-term babies from a cemetery used by maternity hospital number six. One campaigner was allowed into the autopsy to gather video evidence. She has given that footage to the BBC and Council of Europe.

In its report, the Council describes a general culture of trafficking of children snatched at birth, and a wall of silence from hospital staff upwards over their fate. The pictures show organs, including brains, have been stripped – and some bodies dismembered.

In an unrelated story, there is currently an experiment going on in Portland where a child who received stem cells from an aborted child was subsequently able to go home. The medical trial is in phase I where the researchers are mostly looking to see whether the stem cell injections harm children who suffer from Batten disease. The treatment showed promise in Batten-afflicted mice, but this treatment has never been tried before in children, until now.

Update – I see Rebecca at Mary Meets Dolly already posted on the Ukraine allegations and gives the rationale behind preferring fetal stem cells over embryonic stem cells.

According to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a public display of faith by high-ranking military officers “project an image of a Christian nation waging war on non-Christians, both inside and outside the United States.”

This created an “internal national security issue every bit as great as the one we’re fighting outwardly,” said the organization’s president, Mikey Weinstein. “The jihadists, the insurrectionists, everybody from the head of Hamas, Hizballah, the Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, they see us as invading American imperialists and crusaders,” he told a news conference in Washington, D.C.

“There’s a time and place to celebrate your faith or no faith,” Weinstein said. “There’s so many times and places you can do it … but there’s a few times you can’t, one of which would be when you wear your uniform during the duty day and duty night and you outrank somebody else and you’re trying to push your religious faith on them.”

First of all, using simple common sense, Weinstein should know that the Islamic terrorists already believe this is a holy war, and I seriously doubt that any superficial religious military policy, short of a full U.S. military conversion to Islam, would make any difference to the “jihadists”. In my humble opinion, I believe the second paragraph I quoted may be more on the agenda of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The right to the freedom of religion cannot deny anyone their rights to display one’s faith, because it’s an integral part of what and who they are; which is not to say, that anyone should be giving sermons in the hallway, pushing their religion on others, when they are being paid to do a job.

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Over 20,000 Muslim demonstrators took to the streets of Karachi, Pakistan after President Musharraf signed a new rape statute into law. The new law no longer require a rape victim to produce four witnesses in court to support the accusation of rape. Judges can now choose whether a rape case, based on it’s merit, should be tried in criminal court. The new ordinance also abolished the death penalty for sexual activities outside of marriage, which would now would be punishable by five years in prison or a fine of $165.

UPDATE – Nice job done on this story at Shaking Off Sleep!