Distinctly Catholic

I knew that it was strange to hear the President of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Father Terence Henry, fret so much about cooperating with an intrinsic evil regarding health care on EWTN last night, when his university had just hosted the former CIA Director who perpetrated his own set of intrinsic evils. But, I had not realized just how fraudulent Henry's indignation was. Grant Gallicho at Commonweal has done the heavy lifting on this one.

While here in Washington, attention has been focused on the speaking gig given to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at Georgetown's School of Public Policy, I was surprised to see that the Franciscan University of Steubenville invited retired Air Force General Michael Hayden to give the school's commencement address and receive an honorary degree. Hayden, of course, as Director of the National Security Agency and also of the CIA not only authorized the use of torture, he had openly defended such use again and again.

Last night, on EWTN's "The World Over," the President of Franciscan University at Steubenville, Father Terence Henry, talked about the school's decision to cease offering health care to its students rather than comply with the HHS mandates regarding contraception. At least twice he vowed that the university would never, never, never cooperate with and intrinsic evil. But, isn't torture an intrinsic evil? Did I miss the inaptly named Cardinal Newman Society's petition protest against Hayden's appearance? Or is Catholic outrage now to be reserved only for Democrats?

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, Archbishop of Vienna, gave an interview to Vatican Insider that they have posted here. If your Italian is passable, read it in that language because the English translation is not very good.

The entire interview is interesting, but his remarks about homosexuality bear scrutiny. He considers it along side other things considered sexual sins, such a divorce and remarriage. This is not the Vatican line since 1986, which argued homosexuality was its own kind of sin, an "intrinsic disorder." That way of looking at it always seemed strange to me. The CDF seemed to be saying that homosexuality was not a specific act, like sex outside of marriage between two heterosexuals, nor was it like one of the seven deadly sins, to which all human beings are tempted, but an entirely new category of sin. It will be curious to see what kind of responses Schonborn gets.

At the Guardian, Catherine Pepinster, editor of the Tablet, responds to a recent attack by Hilary Mantel on the Catholic Church. Her essay is splendid. Full disclosure: I write for the Tablet so Ms. Pepinster is one of my three bosses!

The Church is often portrayed as a stern moralizing agent, hurling anathemas against people, fixated on sin, especially sexual sin, and Joseph Ratzinger is also often portrayed as Exhibit A in that indictment. He did not earn the title der panzerkardinal for nothing, right?

But, as early as 1964, as Tracey Rowland points out in her book “Raztinger’s Faith,” which I have been examining the past few days, Ratzinger was concerned about the reduction of religion to ethics. Preaching to a group involved with student chaplaincy at the cathedral of Munster, Raztinger asked: “What is the real substance of Christianity that goes beyond mere moralism?”

I share Mark Silk's reluctance to engage in public disagreement but I have an additional reason that Silk does not. He cites our friendship, which, I also treasure. But, I also know that Silk is far more learned than me so disagreeing with him is perilous as well as distateful.

Garry Wills takes to the online pages of the New York Review of Books, a venue that you would think might require some standards of cogent thought for publication, to make a very curious argument about same sex marriage. He suggests that the Catholic Church's view that marriage is a sacrament is simply a medieval "fiction." He makes this point by way of voicing his support for same sex marriage.

Hmmmmm. I can see that there is an argument, although not a Catholic argument, that there is no such thing as the development of doctrine and so the organic growth of the Church's teaching over the centuries is, per se, invalid. I can see, too, that there is a case to be made, although I have yet to see a convincing one so far, that the doctrine of the Church does develop and that such doctrine should now develop to encompass same-sex marriage. But, I cannot understand Wills' argument which seems to be that the only developments that are legitimate are those that end up agreeing with him. A magisterium of one, and on the pages of the New York Review. Who knew?

Today is the feast of St. Dymphna, patron saint of mental illness and nervous disorders. As you can well imagine, I have long been intrigued by her cult and once made a pilgrimage to her shrine in Geel, Belgium. Obviously, it did not do much good!

Dymphna was the daughter of a pagan Irish king and a Christian woman. When her mother died, her father said he would only marry a woman as beautiful as his deceased wife and the only woman who fit the bill was his daughter. Horrified, she fled with her priest, Father Gereburnus, to the mainland. Her father tracked them down and beheaded her in the town where her shrine is today. In the Middle Ages, a hospital was built to care for the mentally infirm in the town and her cult became associated with the humane treatment of the mentally ill ever since.

The Washington Post ran an interesting story today about Congresswoman Ann Marie Buerkle (R - N.Y.) appearing before constituents and being asked about Paul Ryan's budget, which Buerkle voted for. Buerkle was speaking to a mostly older crowd and they were especially concerned about the proposed changes to Medicare. As the article details, Buerkle was clear that the changes would not affect those currently on Medicare, although presumably, if the elders in the audience really like the program, they would want their children and grandchildren to benefit from it also.