The Nativity Story

(CNS photo from New Line Cinema)

Jim Myers and I were among a group that attended an advance screening of "The Nativity Story" at Cinemark Carefree Circle last night. Jim is writing the official Herald review of the film (which will debut on the Web site hopefully this weekend), and I will post most of thoughts after his review is posted. But my quick thoughts: Joseph - great, Mary - boring and passionless, film overall - nice intentions but mediocre. Having said that, it's still nice to have a real Christmas-themed film at this time of year, and it's a nice family film.

Also, Jim will be interviewing the director and writer of the film for our Dec. 8 issue.

[UPDATE: Jim's review is posted on our site now.]

Archbishop Milingo + Dan Brown = ?

Thanks to Dom Bettinelli at Bettnet.com for pointing out this interesting story on Zambian Archbishop Milingo, who was recently excommunicated for returning to a woman he "married" a few years ago and leaving the Catholic Church to start his own order aimed at convincing the Vatican to end its mandatory celibacy for priests. Here's some background on the Milingo story from Catholic News Service:

Archbishop Milingo, 76, married a South Korean woman in 2001 but left her at the request of Pope John Paul II and was reconciled with the Vatican. Last summer, however, the archbishop was reunited with his wife in the United States and founded a movement called Married Priests Now! In September he incurred automatic excommunication when he ordained four married men as bishops without papal permission.

One note on the above clip, Archbishop Milingo was married by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church (now Family Federation for World Peace and Unification). As if Milingo's current path isn't destructive enough, CNA reports that he has apparently signed on with "Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown as a consultant on one of Brown's future projects.

Asked if he though it was likely to convince Milingo to come back to the Church for a life of penance, considering the level of public exposure he enjoys and also considering he has signed a commercial agreement with “Da Vinci Code’s” Dan Brown to advise him in his next project, the official responded: “the Church works always on the assumption that the human heart can always open itself to God’s grace and come back to God’s path.”

Makes sense since one of the central themes of "DVC" was the trashing of priestly celibacy. Hmm... what will Robert Langdon be up to this time?

Turkey Update 1 - Assassination attempt foiled

It appears that Turkey secret service have foiled a plan to assassinate German Cardinal Walter Kasper, who will accompany the pope during his visit to the country this week. Cardinal Kasper is the head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity and has been outspoken against Turkey's inclusion in the European Union.

Also, it looks like the popemobile will sit in the garage during this trip. He apparently will travel in an armour-plated car, with several lookalikes also on the roads as decoys. This story is quite interesting... officials (doesn't specify if they mean Vatican or Turkey government officials) apparently want BXVI to wear a bulletproof vest under his papal garments.

Whether you agree or disagree with the direction Pope Benedict is taking the church, you have to admit that he has guts.

While we should be praying intently for the pope's safety during this trip, there is an interesting related note regarding Pope John Paul II. He visited Turkey in 1979 and, thanks in part to massive security from the Turkish government, came home safely. A Turkish man did eventually try to assassinate JPII, but it was in the pope's backyard, so to speak, at St. Peter's Square two years after the visit.

Catholic News Service's John Thavis offers this interesting flashback of Pope John Paul II's visit to Turkey in 1979 and comparisons between it and Benedict's trip this week.

Catholic League on Michael Richards incident

Catholic League president William Donahue released an interesting statement Nov. 22 regarding the racial tirade of Seinfeld star Michael Richards:

“Michael Richards gets interrupted by hecklers, unleashes a racist tirade, gets blasted by the cultural elite and apologizes. Mel Gibson gets drunk, unleashes an anti-Semitic tirade, gets blasted by the cultural elite and apologizes. Penn Jillette, without any provocation, unleashes an anti-Catholic tirade, gets a free pass from the cultural elite and never apologizes.

“Because the cultural elite did not blast Jillette, it is worth remembering what he said on his CBS radio show on April 5, 2006. He said that Mother Teresa ‘had this weird kink that I think was sexual,’ compared her to Charles Manson, and commented that she ‘got her [sexual] kicks watching people suffer and die.’ This was not the first time he attacked the beloved nun: last year, on Jillette’s Showtime TV show, he branded her ‘Mother F---ing Teresa’ and called her fellow sisters ‘f---ing c----.’ When I complained to Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom (which owns Showtime, as well as CBS), he wrote a letter defending Jillette’s ‘artistic freedom.’

“In other words, racism and anti-Semitism are unacceptable, even when expressed in frustration or when inebriated, but anti-Catholicism is okay, even when expressed repeatedly and done intentionally. The problem here is not with Richards, Gibson or
Jillette — the problem is with all the phonies who claim to be horrified by bigotry.”

Has much changed in 1,600 years?

When the U.S. bishops gather for a large meeting (the most recent taking place last week in Baltimore), much is made of how, well, boring they are. More than 1,600 years ago, St. Gregory of Nazienzen, in his "Letter to Procopius" in 382 AD, minced no words about his thoughts on such meetings. Ouch. I can't imagine he was popular among his fellow bishops:

"I am determined to avoid every assembly of bishops. I have never seen a single instance in which a synod did any good. Strife and ambition dominate them to an incredible degree. From councils and synods I will keep myself at a distance, for I have experienced that most of them, to speak with moderation, are not worth much. I will not sit in the seat of synods, while geese and cranes confusedly wrangle."

What makes a Catholic home?

In the feedback I've received for our pornography/sex addiction recovery special section, most of it has been very positive. We've received good words from church members and other journalists, so we're hopeful that this section will do some good and bring further into light this destructive (and widespread) problem.

One criticism we have received from a couple of readers was over our decision to run the column "What Does A Christ-Centered Home Look Like?" Because the column dealt with the home from a more general Christian perspective, it was not deemed Catholic enough (although SpiritDaily.com had the story among their Nov. 20 news links).

So I would like to ask readers, in light of the above article, to share with us what they consider to be the hallmarks of a Catholic home. I will start with some obvious points, such as attending Mass together, having family devotions like the rosary and/or the Divine Mercy Chaplet that are said together, and creating a home environment that encourages John Paul II's theology of the body.

Thumbing their noses at religion

An article in the Washington Post describes how a group of Georgetown University students "created" a religion for the apparent purpose of having parties at their house.

I understand youthful indiscretions. I was an undergrad once, and I had my share. But what is lost in this is how students at an ostensibly Catholic university can commit heresy, and the only university response is this group is none of its business. It appears In Loco Parentis only applies in legal situations but not in moral issues at this "Catholic" institution. But I guess we shouldn't expect much from the same university that honored a Jesuit priest who supports abortion.

Is it time for the Vatican to clean house and strip the "Catholic" designation for any institution of higher learning that is not faithful to the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church? I can think of at least a half dozen colleges and universities that need to be striken off the list.

Matchmaking site.... for vocations

VISION magazine, which is geared toward men and women are contemplating and/or actively pursuing a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, has come up with an interesting twist on the Internet craze of matchmaking sites. This one tries to match you up with religious communities.

I went through most of it without completing it (I didn't want to register all of my personal information), but if somebody completes the whole process, please give us your review as well as what orders were recommended. One interesting note were the guides. You can either get Brother Victor in his black robe and deep, rich radio voice, Sister Monica in her casual wear or go guideless.

Feedback on Herald special section

Today, our latest issue comes out with a 12-page special section on pornography and sex addiction and how to move from shame to healing. I am most interested in your thoughts on it... was it too much? Too little? Was it missing anything? Are there things you liked about it? Do you have any related stories you can share that might help readers?

We are going to take a little break from this subject in the Herald but will probably follow up on this in the beginning of the new year. In the meantime, we strongly encourage folks to attend the nine-week Theology of the Body workshop that begins Saturday from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. at St. Mary's Cathedral.

Who will run in 2008?

Former Catholic-recently turned-Orthodox author Rod Dreher gives his predictions for the the 2008 presidential ballot:

Democrat: Barrack Obama (P) and John Edwards (VP)
Republican: Milt Romney (P) and Rudy Giuliani (VP)

Obama is a likely choice, I think.. not sure about Edwards. I still don't have a clue as to who the Republicans will nominate. I've been thinking McCain, but I don't know if he'll make the cut. I can't think of a better time in recent memory for a third party to rise up, but it doesn't look like that will happen, either.

The floor is open for your predictions...

Election hangover

Well... to my surprise, Referendum I was defeated. I expected Amendment 43 to pass, but I also thought Ref. I would make it too.

What are your thoughts on the election results? Are you more optimistic about the future or pessimistic?

Very interesting talk on BXVI and Islam

National Catholic Reporter columnist John Allen spoke Nov. 4 at the University of Dallas on "The Cross and the Crescent: The Relationship between the Church and Islam under Benedict XVI."

The heart of my argument in that lecture is that Pope Benedict XVI may well be the last, best hope for serious dialogue between the West and the Islamic world, because he is the lone figure of global standing in the West with the spiritual and theological credentials to address Muslims from within their own thought world. Hence when Benedict challenges Muslims to embrace reason and to respect religious freedom, he does so from within a shared space of commitment to religious truth.

The entire talk can be heard here. It's a long download, so be patient. This talk gives some important background to the pope's upcoming trip to Turkey.

Cardinal Martino: Death penalty for Saddam is wrong

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said his personal opinion on the death sentence for Saddam Hussen -- announced Nov. 5 -- is wrong. He told Italian news agency ANSA:

"For me, to punish a crime with another crime, such as killing out of vengeance, means that we are still at the stage of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'"

As despicable as Saddam Hussein is, Cardinal Martino is right. Our modern society has the means of locking him up forever to protect society. Executing him is not going to make the unstable situation in Iraq any better.

Haggard allegations and the election

By now, most of us are aware of the stunning allegations made today against New Life pastor Rev. Ted Haggard by a male prostitute who said they had regular sexual liaisons over a three-year period. The accuser, Mike Jones, said that he chose this time to speak about it because Election Day is just five days away and he felt Haggard was hypocritical to speak out regularly against same-sex marriage yet (allegedly) was having sex with him.

The Catholic Church in Colorado has been quite vocal and expended much effort to promote support of Amendment 43, which defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman, and opposition of Referendum I, which seeks to legalize same-sex civil unions. While polls show that support for Amendment 43 is solid, opposition of Referendum I is shaky and there is a real possibility of both passing.

What effect do you think the Haggard allegations will have on the elections next week? Will this help or hurt the cause to support Amendment 43 and oppose Referendum I?

John Paul II Random Speech Generator

This is a funny, silly little tool, where you plug in a phrase and it attempts to rewrite in the poetic, philosophical style of Pope John Paul II. I inserted the lead of today's radio station story on our Web site:

At midnight Nov. 1, members of the Catholic Radio Network successfully switched feeds at 970 AM, turning it into a seven days-a-week Catholic radio station that covers much of the Diocese of Colorado Springs.

and got this:

The unfathomable mystery of harmonious relations will transform , in a certain sense, the People of God's human values.

I think I like John Paul II's version better. Maybe we'll do an entire Herald issue like this.