Pope Benedict Is Spoiling for A Fight

In a rare turn, Pope Benedict makes news twice this week with belligerent words and deeds that seem intended to start a fight with somebody. Who that is, isn't clear, though. First of all, the Holy See is p.o.'ed at Obama for repealing the ban on funding family planning. Time Magazine reports: Vatican Slams Obama Over Abortion. I just cannot imagine that Obama gives a rat's ass. (sorry for the language, mother in law). I can sort of imagine Obama thinking, "Oh, you're mad at me? Well, let me tell you Father, I won."

And in other, more schismatic news, Il papa reinstated four excommunicated priests, all of them very very conservative, and at least one is a Holocaust denier. While this may be intended to infuriate liberal Catholics, I think it will actually land with a resound thud. Most of us liberal Catholics think the Church is so batshit crazy that we've stopped noticing the Church's efforts to roll back modernity. You want Latin mass? Go for it, I won't be at church this Sunday anyway.

Catholic humor

I guess it shouldn't come as any surprise that it exists. What else is Benny Hill if not Catholic humor? Or at least little c catholic. Anyway, enjoy:



Thanks to the good deacon of Our Lady of Guadalupe for this.

Nino, Dios Mio, and Opus Dei

I cut my teeth on the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts when I was a wee blogger, so it gives me some pleasure to return to my roots. I just finished reading The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin. I highly recommend it, even to non-lawyers. Although there are gaping holes in Toobin's coverage (he seems to have missed Roberts enthusiasm for dancing), he manages to bring up Lil Jack's performance at the nomination press conference. But I didn't mention The Nine just so I can talk about Jack Roberts again.

I won't bother you with the "salacious" details (there aren't any, unless you are a SCOTUS nerd). Toobin does make a few interesting observations about conservatives that caused me to reflect on that species. Toobin notes that there are now five Catholics on the Court. He mentions it in the context of the idea that there is no longer a category of individuals who cannot get on the Court (Women, Jews, Blacks, Catholics - no reason to believe that a Hispanic couldn't get on board). But what interested me more was the fact that some of these Catholics are absolutely beloved by conservative, evangelical Christians. Scalia, Alito, Roberts, and Thomas are Catholic. Kennedy is Catholic too, but since he's proven to be such a disappointment to conservatives, with his Lawrence v. Texas and his foreign law "proclivities", he doesn't really help my point.

And that point is, the Catholic Church I grew up in neither loved, nor was beloved by, evangelical Christians. Recall my years at PTL. Although we were Catholic, people (okay, kids) I met there were pretty unabashed in their accusations that Catholics worshipped false idols (the saints), and engaged in Mariolatry, both of which were akin to paganism. Transubstantiation did not go over well either. "You mean, you actually think that you EAT Jesus? And drink his BLOOD?? That's so stupid!" My mother was, at times, involved in Pentacostal Catholic prayer groups, but I don't recall a particular political fervor, even around abortion. My Mom was, in fact, more of a social justice/Catholic Worker-type Catholic, and consequently so was/am I.

I know that the personal is not actually political, and that I cannot generalize from my childhood interactions with evangelical Christian children in 1985 to questions about the Supreme Court's realization as a conservative outpost in the federal government. But I am curious how a nearly rabid right-wing got into bed with Catholics, particularly in light of Toobin's other information, which is that the conservative movement's vetting of Supreme Court nominees is as awful and dark as the self-criticism exercises of Communist cells, or the Stasi. Nearly anything can brand someone as "not conservative enough". For example, Harriet Miers and Dick Cheney were skeptical of John Roberts! They thought he might not be conservative enough. And then conservatives turned on Miers like wolves. The fact that she had made explicit references to opposing Roe v. Wade during her political career in Dallas did nothing to assuage conservative fears that she was "squishy". Alito and Roberts, meanwhile, refused to address Roe v. Wade during their confirmation hearings. These two are the golden boys of the conservative revolution, the fruition of Federalist Society longings for 25 years.

We saw Breach on video this weekend. Ryan Phillippe carries his lusty pouting to a new level in this taut, spy-vs.-spy-with-a-dash-of-Opus-Dei thriller. This movie had the suspense that The Good Shepherd should have had, and made way more sense than The Departed. See it.

JFB speaks truth to power. Teach!

Blogspot won't let me enter a title today. What's up with that?

NY Times has Wineries Gone Wild article. Which reminds me, since this is a "movie review" post, I can't believe I never blogged about how much I hate Sideways. Maybe I have never written about it because I don't even know where to start. In fact, I have writer's elbow or whatever it's called when you can't write because I am festering with so much hatred for that movie. All those people were immature slobs, petty, lying, half-hearted alcoholics. The sex scenes were sickeningly gratuitous and I still regret I didn't leave the theatre when my instincts told me to go. I could go on in this vein but I think you get the picture.

Rejecting the Clamor of Weevil

A call went up from the believers, exhorting the blogger to post an image of thy holiest of corporeal maternal mentors. Yay, truly unto thee: here, here, are the godmothers.

I just wanted to be clear on that in case you were thinking: When did the Church start endorsing same sex marriage?

The little guy on the left there isn't Q's godfather, by the way. It's Father Tim.

I Forgot

I meant to post some pix in that prior post, but even I got tired of reading it. So here are some pictures. They were taken a few weeks ago when we hedged our bets. Oops, I mean, got the kids' baptized. Enjoy.

This is what passes for baptismal whites here in NoCal.

Mimi trying to read the creation story from Genesis to Q, while he eats a toy shark.

Godmothers! Gather 'round!