Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Earthquake in Ziarat: I Have to Care

As a Catholic, I'm required to 'love my neighbor as myself.' Some neighbors are easier to love than others. Like most people, I find it easiest to love those who are most like me.

Like the people in and around Ziarat.

It's a town in Pakistan's Ziarat District.

Disaster Hits the Neighborhood: Earthquake in Ziarat

Like most out-of-the way places, outlying districts in Pakistan only get in the news when something awful happens. For Ziarat this week, it was an earthquake. It looks like upwards of 150 people were killed, and 10,000 can't go home: not yet.

One source says that Zirat, the town, is (or was) home to 733 people, another says that about 2,900 live within 7 kilometers (about four and a third miles). That makes it a bit smaller than the town I live in, here in Minnesota (about 4,000 in town, another 1,000 in the township).

Wikipedia's article on Ziarat makes the place sound a lot like home: "...The weather is really pleasant during summer time and the local people are hospitable, but in winter the weather is severe and it is more difficult to survive...."

There are differences, of course: Minnesota has more lakes, the Ziarat District has mountains, and about 99% of the people there follow Islam.

Still, it's easier for me to identify with someone like Raz Mohammed, than many Americans who live in places like Los Angeles or New York.

"I rushed toward them but the roof of my own room collapsed and the main iron support hit me," he said to an AP reporter. "That thing broke my back and I am in severe pain but thank God my children and relatives are safe."

With a broken back and severe pain, it's "thank God my children and relatives are safe."

So, What am I Doing About Ziarat?

Individually, not all that much. I live on the other side of the planet, was laid off over two years ago, can't divert shipments of food and medical supplies to Pakistan, and wouldn't be that much help if I found a way to travel there.

I have, however, given to Missionaries of Charity in the past, and, God willing, will do so again. Mother Teresa of Calcutta's outfit isn't as high-profile as some, but they get the job done.

Missionaries of Charity, Dominican Sisters, and Getting the Job Done

After the big earthquake in 2005, sisters of the Missionaries of Charity took care of the wounded in Rawalpindi's Holy Family Hospital. So many people were hurt, the order re-assigned an additional three sisters to that unit.

The Missionaries of Charity weren't the only ones helping Faisalabad, of course. "Catholics in the poorest areas of Faisalabad diocese have given 'food, quilts and a little money' to Mgr Coutts, bishop and national Caritas director. For the bishop, this is a 'magnificent example of generosity'. " (AsiaNews.it)

South and west of Faisalabad, Dominicans of the convent of Santa Maria of Sahiwal wound up with a room in the cathedral that looked like a storeroom. Human Development Net had done a collection drive. Getting so many supplies to the right people, ASAP, was a major logistics operation. So, the Dominican sisters were asked to help. That way, donors knew that what was given would get distributed "as quickly as possible and to those in most need." (AsiaNews.it)

And, of course, there's Catholic Relief Services

That's the Catholic Church in America's 800-pound gorilla of relief services. Big. Official. Pretty well-funded. And, as far as I can tell, effective.

Me? Well, I Can Pray

Obviously effective? Maybe not. That's not the point. It's something I can do, and have done.

On a related matter: I don't pray to change God's mind: to make Him see things my way. I pray to conform my mind to His will. I'm not very good at that, but I try. I have to: it's in the rules.

Helping People: In the news:

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Capital Punishment: Killing Those Who Deserve to Die

I think that some people deserve to die, but stay alive.

I also think that some people deserve to live, but die.

I can't bring the dead to life, so I'm not enthusiastic about capital punishment.

I read in yesterday's news that the American Supreme Court "refused to reconsider its June ruling banning capital punishment for child rapists, rejecting Louisiana officials' argument that a 'significant error' led to its conclusion that there is a 'national consensus' against executing non-murderers." (CNN)

I'm glad to see that. Which may seem odd, since I'm a devout Catholic, and:
  • The Catholic Church is part of conservative Christianity
  • It's 'well known' that conservatives
    • Love the death penalty
    • Care nothing for social justice
    • Are cold, heartless, unfeeling people who delight in snatching bread from bleeding lips of the poor
Okay: That's a slight exaggeration of how conservatives are often viewed in America, but I think it's close.

So, if I'm a Catholic, and the Catholic Church is conservative, why am I glad to see that child rapists won't get executed?

Catholic Teaching on Capital Punishment: 'It Depends'

The Church isn't against capital punishment: but it's not for it, either. It depends on the circumstances.

The Catechism lays out what the Church teaches about how far people and societies can go to defend themselves, in 2263-2267. The section includes something St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about what is, and what isn't, acceptable:
"If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful. . . . Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one's own life than of another's.66"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2264)
Societies are allowed to protect themselves, too.
"Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm...."
(Catechism, 2265)
The Church doesn't declare open season on the bad guys, though.
"Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

"If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person...."
(Catechism, 2267) [emphasis mine]
The way I explained this to my kids was that the Catholic Church makes rules and guidelines that fit cultures around the world, and throughout the history that's been, and will be. There's got to be a lot of consideration for local circumstances.

Capital Punishment: an Exercise in Thought

Let's take a hypothetical culture: almost a thousand people living on a remote rocky island, back in the 10th century. They're able to keep themselves fed by fishing and cooking seaweed, but it takes just about everyone to get that job done.

Now, let's say they have to decide what to do with one of their number who keeps killing people. They've tried talking to him. They even tried tying him up and feeding him. That put a real strain on the culture's resources, though, since it deprived them of a food gatherer. Besides, he's pretty strong, and broke loose several times.

In a situation like that, I'd say that executing the killer would probably make sense.

In 21st century America, on the other hand, we're not in that hypothetical culture's position. Not even close. I've discussed capital punishment with someone who wants to kill the bad guys because it's cheaper than making sure they stay in prison, but offhand I think we can afford it.

'By the Power Vested in Me by the Supreme Court, Rise?!'

Besides, I know that judges and juries can make mistakes. As of yesterday, the score for people exonerated from rape charges by new DNA technology is about 221 across America, 35 in Texas alone. (Innocence Project)

If someone had been put in prison, and later found innocent, that person can be released. Since not even the Supreme Court of the United States of America can raise people from the dead, if that person had been executed, the best that authorities could do would be to say, "sorry about that."

Mollycoddling Criminals, Feelings, and Doing What's Right

I realize that people whose friend, child, spouse, or relative was killed by some disaster zone of a human being want retribution. It's a very human desire. And achieving a 'just redressing the disorder introduced by an offense' is supported by the Catholic Church (2266).

Given how much I trust the American judicial system to recognize truth, and how hard it is to un-execute someone, I don't think that capital punishment is defensible in America.

But, that's my opinion. I'm pretty sure that someone could, in good faith, study Catholic teaching on the subject and decide that capital punishment is acceptable in some cases in America.

In the news:

The Catholic Church: Authoritarian, Which Isn't Necessarily a Bad Thing

The Catholic Church Tells You What You Have to Believe.

There, you have me.

Actually, the church tells what you have to believe if you're going to call yourself Catholic. We're free to leave the church. I don't think that's the smartest move (John 6:67-69), but any of us can.

The Catholic church is a hierarchical organization, with definite top-down authority. A democracy, it isn't.

But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Everybody, the Pope included, operates under a set of rules. One of the rules is that what we believe isn't determined by market research or opinion polls.

Back to Contents
Churches, the Bible, and Roll-Your-Own Doctrines
I think it's great for people to be interested in the Bible, and read it. But I also think that people can be 'inspired' to believe the darnedest things, when they rely sole on the Bible, their own experiences, and the culture they grew up in.

Here's something I saw at the grocery this week. Amazing.



Giant Bible horoscope for life? Wow.

I know: this is a supermarket tabloid, not what some Christian leader said. But Christian leaders have been known to come up with some interesting ideas, too. The founder of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries seems to think that the age of consent is puberty. Which may explain why he's in trouble with the law.

Or, his legal problems may be a Popish plot. CNN quotes Tony Alamo:
" 'We don't go into pornography; nobody in the church is into that,' Alamo said. 'Where do these allegations stem from? The anti-Christ government. The Catholics don't like me because I have cut their congregation in half. They hate true Christianity.' " ("Evangelist Tony Alamo won't fight extradition"
(CNN (September 26, 2008))
(By the way: Even though the Catholic church allows Bingo, horoscopes are on the don't-do-it list (Catechism, 2116). It's part of the ban on divination.)

Listening to people from "Bible-believing" churches describe how they relied on the Bible alone, I learned that many of those churches have a more-or-less formal custom of having some of the more senior members talk over scripture from time to time, and decide what it says.

I'm not being disrespectful with that description: just trying to describe the process briefly. It's a pretty good system, and can filter out the crazier ideas before they get presented as 'Bible truths.'

The Catholic church relies on the Bible, and can't change what it's been given. But we're not left to decide for ourselves what the census reports, songs, and accounts mean. We rely on the Bible, the Magisterium, and Tradition.

Here's how the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it:
  • "BIBLE: Sacred Scripture: the books which contain the truth of God's Revelation and were composed by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit (105). The Bible contains both the forty-six books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament (120). See Old Testament; New Testament."
  • "MAGISTERIUM: The living, teaching office of the Church, whose task it is to give as authentic interpretation of the word of God, whether in its written form (Sacred Scripture), or in the form of Tradition. The Magisterium ensures the Church's fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles in matters of faith and morals (85, 890, 2033)."
  • "TRADITION: The living transmission of the message of the Gospel in the Church. The oral preaching of the Apostles, and the written message of salvation under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Bible), are conserved and handed on as the deposit of faith through the apostolic succession in the Church. Both the living Tradition and the written Scriptures have their common source in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ (75-82). The theological, liturgical, disciplinary, and devotional traditions of the local churches both contain and can be distinguished from this apostolic Tradition (83)."
There's more, in the Catechism: 95, 113, 174, and 126, for starters.

There's quite a lot more, at the USCCB website.

Back to Contents

The Bible-Believing Catholic Church

Back to the Bible

"Do you go to a Bible church?" That's a question I used to be asked from time to time. What the person usually meant was, do you go to one of the 'right' churches.

However, once I got someone who asked that question to describe just what "Bible-believing" meant, in operational terms. Here's what he came up with: For him, a "Bible-believing" church is one that believes in the Bible, reads from scripture every Sunday, and has the minister say something about the scripture readings.

The fellow who gave me that definition was very surprised to learn that I went to a mainstream Protestant church, but that we did those three readings: and that the minister's sermon (generally) was supposed to have something to do with the scriptures.

The Catholic Church works that way, too. There are differences, of course, the minister is a priest, and we call the sermon a homily, but the pattern's the same.

Of course, the Catholic church still isn't "Bible-believing," not the way the "Bible-believing" church members use the term.

Back to Contents

The Pope, the Antichrist, and Fu Manchu

The Pope is the Antichrist!

This is a perennial favorite. A sample:

Tony Alamo's Antichrist Literature and Photo Gallery
  • "The Pope's Secrets
  • "The Fugitive Pope
  • "Click here to watch: Documentary of investigation into allegations that a secret church directive, issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI, is being used to silence the victims of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests....
Regarded as pulp fiction, this is pretty good stuff: Dastardly doings, secret directives: all very Fu Manchu.

The problem is, people really believe it.

I don't think it helps that the Pope dresses funny. Naturally enough. The Catholic church is about 2,000 years old, and has a dress code for priests and bishops. The robes that the Pope, other bishops, and priests wear were designed during the declining centuries of the Roman Empire. The dress code could be changed, but there's something to be said for a uniform that's the same in Arkansas, Kenya, and Japan.

The church is flexible, though. When the previous Pope was traveling in Africa, he came off the plane in one country, wearing his standard robes, with an animal skin on his shoulders. Leopard, I think.

I learned that this was a symbol of authority in that area. The Catholic church is like that, accommodating local cultures: like when my ancestors were allowed to drag an evergreen inside and decorate it for Christmas.
Where Was I? Oh, Yeah: the Antichrist
As a Catholic, I know about the Antichrist, and it's not the Pope.

I'm pretty sure this won't change the mind of any 'true believers.' For those who are interested, this a very short take on the Catholic take on the topic:
"ANTICHRIST: The 'deceitful one' referred to in the New Testament, associated with the 'mystery of iniquity' which will precede the second coming of Christ, through which people will be led away from the truth to follow a false 'messianism,' by which man glorifies himself and human achievement in place of God and his Messiah come in the flesh, in whom the kingdom will be fulfilled (675-677)."
Enough of that.

Back to Contents
You may not have heard about Tony Alamo and the attention his ministry's been getting lately. Here's some of what the news has had to say: And, no: despite his being called an "evangelist," I don't think that most evangelicals are like Tony Alamo.

Like it? Pin it, Plus it, - - -

Pinterest: My Stuff, and More

Advertisement

Unique, innovative candles


Visit us online:
Spiral Light CandleFind a Retailer
Spiral Light Candle Store

Popular Posts

Label Cloud

1277 abortion ADD ADHD-Inattentive Adoration Chapel Advent Afghanistan Africa America Amoris Laetitia angels animals annulment Annunciation anti-catholicism Antichrist apocalyptic ideas apparitions archaeology architecture Arianism art Asperger syndrome assumptions asteroid astronomy Australia authority balance and moderation baptism being Catholic beliefs bias Bible Bible and Catechism bioethics biology blogs brain Brazil business Canada capital punishment Caritas in Veritate Catechism Catholic Church Catholic counter-culture Catholicism change happens charisms charity Chile China Christianity Christmas citizenship climate change climatology cloning comets common good common sense Communion community compassion confirmation conscience conversion Corpus Christi cosmology creation credibility crime crucifix Crucifixion Cuba culture dance dark night of the soul death depression designer babies despair detachment devotion discipline disease diversity divination Divine Mercy divorce Docetism domestic church dualism duty Easter economics education elections emotions England entertainment environmental issues Epiphany Establishment Clause ethics ethnicity Eucharist eugenics Europe evangelizing evolution exobiology exoplanets exorcism extremophiles faith faith and works family Father's Day Faust Faustus fear of the Lord fiction Final Judgment First Amendment forgiveness Fortnight For Freedom free will freedom fun genetics genocide geoengineering geology getting a grip global Gnosticism God God's will good judgment government gratitude great commission guest post guilt Haiti Halloween happiness hate health Heaven Hell HHS hierarchy history holidays Holy Family Holy See Holy Spirit holy water home schooling hope humility humor hypocrisy idolatry image of God images Immaculate Conception immigrants in the news Incarnation Independence Day India information technology Internet Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Japan Jesus John Paul II joy just war justice Kansas Kenya Knights of Columbus knowledge Korea language Last Judgment last things law learning Lent Lenten Chaplet life issues love magi magic Magisterium Manichaeism marriage martyrs Mary Mass materialism media medicine meditation Memorial Day mercy meteor meteorology Mexico Minnesota miracles Missouri moderation modesty Monophysitism Mother Teresa of Calcutta Mother's Day movies music Muslims myth natural law neighbor Nestorianism New Year's Eve New Zealand news Nietzsche obedience Oceania organization original sin paleontology parish Parousia penance penitence Pentecost Philippines physical disability physics pilgrimage politics Pope Pope in Germany 2011 population growth positive law poverty prayer predestination presumption pride priests prophets prostitution Providence Purgatory purpose quantum entanglement quotes reason redemption reflections relics religion religious freedom repentance Resurrection robots Roman Missal Third Edition rosaries rules sacramentals Sacraments Saints salvation schools science secondary causes SETI sex shrines sin slavery social justice solar planets soul South Sudan space aliens space exploration Spain spirituality stem cell research stereotypes stewardship stories storm Sudan suicide Sunday obligation superstition symbols technology temptation terraforming the establishment the human condition tolerance Tradition traffic Transfiguration Transubstantiation travel Trinity trust truth uncertainty United Kingdom universal destination of goods vacation Vatican Vatican II veneration vengeance Veterans Day videos virtue vlog vocations voting war warp drive theory wealth weather wisdom within reason work worship writing

Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:Posts in this blog: In the news:

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.