Distinctly Catholic

I cringed when I saw that Pope Benedict had said something about condoms in a soon-to-be-released book. It was not the Pope’s comments I feared, but the reaction to them. Ah, here comes the Cervical Mucus Brigade, I thought. And right alongside them the Mainstream Media whose fascination with the human pelvis knows no bounds. And, there, pulling up the rear is the “chaplain to the status quo” lefties who will denounce the Pope’s latest statement as insufficient because patriarchy is surely at work in anything that comes from the Pontiff’s lips.

147 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln delivered the most concise and eloquent statement of the American idea when he delivered the Gettysburg Address. Want to feel good about your country? Take a minute and re-read these words.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

My friend Austen Ivereigh has a report on this morning's press conference in London about the future of the Anglican Ordinariate, which will be constituted early next year. The UK's Catholic bishops promised 250,000 pounds to get the group started, although that figure is a drop in the bucket compared to the relative wealth of the Anglican Church being abandoned by those coming over to Rome.
Last week, in an editorial in the Tablet, the editors wrote that it is expected 5 bishops, 50 priests and 500 lay people have expressed a desire to join the new Ordinariate. Those numbers do not seem proportional to me. One bishop for every 100 laity? Perhaps it is because at the top of the Anglican hierarchy, the bishops were mindful of the universal nature of the Anglican communion and, just so, more attuned to the way that communion has fractured in the past few years. Still, they had better bring enough of their lay people with them or the UK Bishops Conference is going to be subsidizing this Ordinariate forever.
Does anyone have any ideas why so many prelates and so few lay folk are prepared to join?

In this morning's Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer holds up John Tyner as a new pop hero. Tyner is the man who videotaped his search at an airport and told the inspector "Don't touch my junk."
Krauthammer suggests that the complicated and, by design, invasive searches at airports have nothing to do with security and everything to do with political correctness. "Dont's touch my junk, you airport security goon - my package belongs to no one but me, and do you really think I'm a Nigerian nut job preparing for my 72-virgin orgy by blowing my johnson to kingdom come?"
I have only one question for Mr. Tyner - and for Mr. Krauthammer. Would you feel the same way if you were seated on a plane next to Timothy McVeigh?

In this morning New York Times, Thomas Friedman explains how lies travel fast, and what can be done about it.

In the event, Anderson Cooper at CNN not only exposed this absurd charge that President Obama's trip to India was going to cost $200 million per day, he also pointed to a much-needed growth industry: sound journalism. This is one instance where I like market values. If the cost of spreading lies rises because of work like Cooper's, the incidence of lies will diminish.

Of course, political deceit has long been a bi-partisan growth industry too.

Democrats credit Bill Clinton's policies with the economic boom of the 1990s, neglecting the growth of the dot.com sector of the economy. Republicans think cutting taxes raises revenue every time. Both parties indulge fanciful out-year projections to support their claims.

But at least the slap-down of Bachmann et al.'s ridiculous untruths can start a trend. Complex lies may continue to enjoy a long shelf life, but it is progress if we can at least call out the simple lies.