Starships, Dinosaurs, and Long-Distance Service for Mars

Some scientists think dinosaurs could have survived that asteroid impact. Others are taking another look at how big a starship needs to be, and NASA is taking bids on long-distance service to Mars.

1. Long-Range Travel Plans
   • Population Genetics and Occupational Training
   • Should We Stay, or Should We Go?
   • Island-Hopping to the Stars?
2. Dinosaurs and an Asteroid: Really Bad Timing
   • Brains, Dinosaurs, and Crows
   • Speculation and Uncertainty
   • God, the Universe, and Authority
3. Long-Distance Telephone Service: for Mars

But first, a bit about the Beatitudes, Ulysses, and Dante's "Inferno."

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What is — and is not — in the Beatitudes

The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, is a sort of 'Christianity 101:' a look at what being a Christian means. There's with a shorter version in Luke 6:20-49. It boils down to 'love God, love your neighbor, everyone's your neighbor. (June 3, 2012)

My Lord started with the Beatitudes. (Matthew 5:3–12)

Depending on how you break them out, there are eight or nine Beatitudes — blessed are:

1. The poor in spirit
2. Those who mourn
3. The meek
4. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
5. The merciful
6. The pure in heart
7. The peacemakers
8. Those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake
   • You when men revile you and persecute you ... on God's account
   (From Matthew 5:3–12)

This is "...the heart of Jesus' preaching...." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1716-1724)

"Poor in spirit" doesn't mean "despondent," by the way, and I've been over that before. (September 1, 2013)

The Beatitudes do not include something like "blessed are the ignorant, for they shall judge others." That is wrong on several levels.

Sometimes we must decide whether another person's actions are good or bad. But we must trust God to judge the person. (Matthew 7:1-5; Catechism, 1861)

Ignorance is not a virtue. As a Catholic, I'm forcefully encouraged to understand Christ. Thanks to Herr Gutenberg's invention, I can learn from reading the Bible: which is also forcefully encouraged. (Catechism, 133)

Ulysses, Fraud, and Sin

I've run into the notion that Dante put Ulysses in the eighth circle of Hell because the hero in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey wanted to know too much. There's a bit of truth in the claim.

In an English translation of Dante's "Inferno," Canto 26 has Ulysses saying that he passed "the bound'ries not to be o'erstepp'd by man."

However, Malebolge, Dante's eighth circle of Hell, is not where curiosity is punished. It's where the narrator runs into panderers and seducers, then folks guilty of excessive flattery. Next come simonists, followed by those guilty of divination, grafters, hypocrites, and thieves.

Ulysses and Diomedes are in the category after that: deceivers, those who gave false or corrupted advice for personal gain. The last two parts of Dante's Malebolge is for scandalmongers and forgers.

Ulysses and Diomedes apparently wound up in the eighth circle's subdivision for fraudulent counselors because of their Trojan horse strategy.

Granted, Dante describes Ulysses' fatal shipwreck: long after the hero sailed past "the bound'ries not to be o'erstepp'd by man." But being curious is not punished in Dante's imagined Hell.

Given my culture's assumptions about science and religion, I'd better explain why seeking knowledge isn't a sin.

Seeking Knowledge

Expecting knowledge, or anything else, to take God's place would be daft: and against the rules. (Catechism, 2113)

But that doesn't make seeking knowledge bad. Studying this universe and developing new tools are part of being human. That's what we're supposed to do. (Catechism, 2292-2295)

We're made in the image of God, rational creatures whose job description includes stewardship of the physical world. (Genesis 1:27-28, Psalms 19:2; Wisdom 7:17; Catechism, 282-289, 341, 373, 1730, 2375)

We can't take care of natural resources without understanding how this world works, and we need tools for most tasks. God could have designed us with a complete working knowledge of the universe already loaded into our brains: but that's not the way we are.

Getting back to Ulysses, his priorities were badly disordered: like putting his personal goal of seeking knowledge ahead of family responsibilities. Even so, I use part of Tennyson's "Ulysses" as my tagline on Google Plus:

"...this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought....

"...for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die...."
("Ulysses," Tennyson (1833, published 1842))

(From NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) - ESA/Hubble Collaboration; used w/o permission.)

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1. Long-Range Travel Plans

(From Adrian Mann, via Space.com, used w/o permission.)
("An artist's illustration depicts a future starship under construction in Earth orbit using a ring-type construction facility, which could provide hotel rooms for guests who wish to view the construction."
(Space.com))

"Want to Colonize an Alien Planet? Send 40,000 People"
Mike Wall, Space.com (July 28, 2014 )

"If humanity ever wants to colonize a planet beyond the solar system, it's going to need a really big spaceship.

"The founding population of an interstellar colony should consist of 20,000 to 40,000 people, said Cameron Smith, an anthropologist at Portland State University in Oregon. Such a large group would possess a great deal of genetic and demographic diversity, giving the settlement the best chance of survival during the long space voyage and beyond, he explained.

" 'Do you want to just squeak by, with barely what you can get? Or do you want to go in good health?' Smith said on July 16 during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group. 'I would suggest, go with something that gives you a good margin for the case of disaster.'..."

If or when folks head out, bound for another star, it won't be the first epic voyage to a new world. More than two dozen centuries back, at least one colony ship crossed a substantial fraction of the Pacific Ocean on its way to what we call Hawai'i.

As I've said before, humans travel. Some of us, anyway.

My guess is that some of us will be living on Mars long before construction starts on the first interstellar generation ship. For all I know, descendants of the first Martian settlers may be the ones building the ship.

I'm also reasonably certain that the first voyage to another star won't happen for quite a while. On the other hand, maybe physicists will develop a practical application of Alcubierre's equations faster than I expect, and I'll see the first warp ship. (May 24, 2013)

What may not be apparent from the artist's illustration is the scale of a ship carrying 40,000 folks.

A 1975 NASA design study discussed a self-sustaining habitat for 10,000 people. A community that size, including their agricultural areas, would fit in a torus a bit over a mile across. (October 31, 2011)

Four of those would hold Cameron Smith's 40,000-population colony.

My illustration shows those four habitat rings next to an earlier generation's of state-of-the-art transportation technology.

There'd be more to the generation ship, of course: industrial facilities, vehicles, spare parts, and — almost certainly the largest part of the ship — the propulsion system.

We're close to having the necessary technology now. We don't, I think, have a big enough economic system to handle a project on this scale. Not yet.

Population Genetics and Occupational Training

"...In the past, researchers have proposed that a few hundred people would be sufficient to establish a settlement on or near an alien planet. But [Cameron] Smith thought it was time to take another look.

" 'I wanted to revisit the issue,' he said. 'It had been quite a long time, and of course we now know more about population genetics from genomics.'

"For his study, which was published in April in the journal Acta Astronautica, Smith assumed an interstellar voyage lasting roughly 150 years. This time frame is consistent with that envisioned by researchers at Icarus Instellar, a nonprofit organization dedicated to pursuing travel to another star...."
(Mike Wall, Space.com)

Cameron Smith has a point: this is a good time to review how many people it takes to make a healthy population. We've been learning a great deal about how genetics works in recent decades.

My guess is that trying to start a new civilization with just 40,000 folks is a low-end estimate.

The issue, I think, isn't physical health. We may have been down to around 10,000 people after the Toba eruption. Then again, maybe not. The last I checked, scientists are still debating what our Y-chromosome DNA is telling us.

I'm not sure that a community of 40,000 would include all the skills needed.

There was a time when members of an extended family knew every possible job, from gathering nuts and berries to weaving cloth. That was then, this is now. At one point, the Dictionary of Occupational Titles had more than 12,000 categories.

Granted, a high-tech society could probably get along without someone specifically trained as an athletic equipment custodian or baggage handler. But someone is going to have to know how to maintain and replace equipment; grow and harvest crops; and either navigate the ship, or give the autopilot sensible instructions.

Folks on a generation ship would want to be sure that at least one of their number was teaching a youngster how to get each of the more critical jobs done. There are limitations on how much useful experience we can pack into user's manuals and how-2 articles.

Should We Stay, or Should We Go?

Mike Wall's article doesn't address a basic question about finding or building homes away from Earth: Is starting a new civilization the right thing to do?

I don't see why not: but I'm descended from folks who left humanity's homeland a very long time ago, eventually spreading into Europe. My recent ancestors then decided, for a variety of reasons, to cross one of Earth's oceans and set up housekeeping in North America.

We've made mistakes along the way, some of them very costly. But I do not writhe in anguish at the thought that my ancestors didn't stay put.

If nothing else, folks who pull up roots and head over the horizon every few generations may have ensured humanity's survival. Disasters like the Toba eruption could have wiped out all of us, if everyone stayed near their homeland.

Island-Hopping to the Stars?

(From Inductiveload, via Wiki Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)

There aren't obvious 'best destinations' among our sun's neighbors, but some look promising.

Alpha Centauri's two suns are nearby. There might be a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B, but that hasn't been confirmed.

Epsilon Eridani has two asteroid belts that might supply a colony's need for raw materials.

At least one of Tau Ceti's planets may be about the right temperature for our sort of life, but the smallest is at least two to six times as massive as Earth.

But even if there's life there, the gravity would be too high for human comfort.

For some reason, discussions of interstellar travel usually don't include what I think is a very likely scenario: island hopping.

Scientists are reasonably sure that long-period comets come from a reservoir of material left over from the Solar system's formation: the Oort cloud.

Most objects in the Oort cloud would be icy planetesimals. Each of these solid comets-in-waiting could supply folks with tons of water, ammonia, and methane: vital ingredients for a habitat's agricultural systems, and more susceptible to leakage than metal and rock.

In principle, a large and tech-savvy community might decide that life in a semi-mobile habitat was better than staying on or near Earth. Energy, rock, and metal, would be in short supply after they left the inner Solar system: but they'd have plenty of room.

After many generations, some of those folks might reach the Oort cloud's outer fringe - - - and keep heading out.

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2. Dinosaurs and an Asteroid: Really Bad Timing

(From SPL/Science Photo Library, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("Could dinosaurs have survived if the asteroid that wiped them out hit the Earth a little earlier or a little later?"
(BBC News))

" 'Bad luck' ensured that asteroid impact wiped out dinosaurs"
Pallab Ghosh, BBC News (July 28, 2014)

"Dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact when they were at their most vulnerable, according to a new study.

"Dr Steve Brusatte, of Edinburgh University, said sea level rises and volcanic activity had made many species more susceptible to extinction.

"They might have survived if the asteroid had hit the Earth a few million years later or earlier, he said, calling it 'colossal bad luck'....

" ...'It was a perfect storm of events that occurred when dinosaurs were at their most vulnerable,' Dr Brusatte told BBC News....

"...There is evidence that some species of dinosaur were dying off shortly before an asteroid hit the Earth.

"One of the key questions was whether this gradual decline would have led to the extinction of these animals even if the asteroid had not hit...."

If the Chicxulub impact hadn't happened, these scientists say that dinosaurs would quite likely have survived.

As it is, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event wiped out a remarkable number of Earth's species: from plankton and fish, to pterosaurs and non-avian dinosaurs.

Some species would probably have died out anyway. Sea levels were high, and volcanic activity were pushing the more delicate critters to extinction.

I think it's prudent to remember that, although quite a few species died out when that asteroid hit: many did not. Scorpions and cockroaches are still with us, and are far from endangered. My guess is that humanity will prove to be as durable as scorpions and cockroaches: and, for that matter, rats. (November 29, 2013)

Brains, Dinosaurs, and Crows

"...Dr Brusatte believes that had the asteroid hit the Earth a few million years earlier before the environmental pressures became worse or a few million years later, when the dinosaurs might have recovered, they would be roaming the Earth to this day.

" 'Five million years earlier dinosaur ecosystems were much stronger, they were more diverse, the base of the food chain was more robust and it was harder to knock out a lot of species,' he said.

" 'If they had a few million years more to recover their diversity they would have had a better chance of surviving the asteroid impact. Dinosaurs had been around for 160 million years, they had plenty of dips and troughs in their diversity but they always recovered.'

"It was the demise of the dinosaurs that enabled mammals including our own species to diversify and evolve.

"Dr Brusatte said that if it were it not for an asteroid hitting the Earth exactly when it did we would be living in a dinosaur dominated world.

" 'Except that we would not be here because mammals would not have had the opportunity to blossom and we would not be having this conversation!' he quipped.

"This intriguing idea raises the question as to how dinosaurs might have evolved.

"Could they have developed in the same way as mammals, becoming an advanced species similar to modern humans?

"I asked Dr Brusatte: 'Could dinosaur you and dinosaur me be having this conversation, instead?'

" 'It's possible!' he said. 'With evolution never say never. It is certainly possible that dinosaurs could have evolved intelligence.'

"Professor Simon Conway-Morris from the University of Cambridge agrees, but does not go quite as far as Dr Brusatte.

" 'As far as dinosaurs becoming intelligent is concerned the experiment has been done and we call them crows,' he told BBC News...."
(Pallab Ghosh, BBC News)

Professor Simon Conway-Morris may be right: crows may be as smart as a critter descended from dinosaurs can get.

I'm inclined to agree with Dr. Brusatte, though. Our brains are more than twice as massive as an entire crow. If crows were as massive as we are, they might be a great deal smarter. Or maybe not. I think we have a great deal to learn about how intelligence works, and that's another topic.

I'm certainly not going to claim that God had to wipe out the dinosaurs, because people have to look like us. Back in 1277, some tightly-wound academics said that God had to agree with Aristotle: which is when the Catholic Church stepped in. (February 23, 2014)

Speculation and Uncertainty

I enjoy playing 'what if,' and have wondered what might have happened if life on Earth had taken different directions. (July 18, 2014)

Maybe we'll meet neighbors who look a bit like the two-legged dinosaurs. I have no idea how likely that is, but can't see why it couldn't happen.

People shaped like alxasaurus might be the most 'humanoid' folks we ever meet, and that's yet another topic. (July 18, 2014)

I don't believe that we are alone in the universe: or that we will discover people whose ancestors developed on another world. Today, we do not know. (January 17, 2014)

God, the Universe, and Authority

I'm a Christian, so I believe that God is created everything, and is constantly maintaining the universe. (Catechism, 302)

However, I'm a Catholic, so I do not have believe that God is a middle-aged European man with white hair and a muscular build.

I am obliged to believe that the universe is God's creation, that it is changing, and that what we observe are secondary causes: creatures participating in creation, according to their nature. (Catechism, 301-308)

Some folks have, over the centuries, disapproved of God's reality. That, in my considered opinion, is crazy. (July 15, 2014)

I like living in a vast and ancient universe, surrounded by wonders. Even if I didn't, it wouldn't matter. The universe is God's creation: and as my father said, 'at a certain level of authority, argument becomes pointless.'

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3. Long-Distance Telephone Service: for Mars

(From NASA, via Reuters, used w/o permission.)
("NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft passes above Mars' south pole in this artist's concept illustration handout released by NASA July 24, 2012."
(Reuters))

NASA puts out call for satellite communication services – on Mars"
Irene Klotz, Reuters (July 23, 2014)

"In what may be the ultimate in long-distance telephone service, NASA on Wednesday put out a call for a commercially owned and operated satellite network on Mars.

"The U.S. space agency needs to keep in touch with its rovers, landers and orbiters that have been chipping away at studies and experiments to learn if the planet most like Earth in the solar system ever supported life...."

In a way, I miss the excitement of my youth, when spaceflight stopped being "Buck Rogers" fantasies.

On the other hand, I'm delighted that freight runs to a space station have become routine.

The International Space Station is a multinational government operation, but I'll be surprised if Bigelow Aerospace or other commercial outfits aren't setting up orbital research, manufacturing, and tourism stations within the next decade or so.

NASA's existing Mars communications system uses the Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance orbiters, launched in 2001 and 2005. The last I checked, the orbiters were still up and running: but they won't last forever.

Mars missions planned by the European Space Agency, India, Russia, the Netherlands, Finland, and NASA will need reliable communications. Upgrading service would be nice, as NASA points out:

"...One possible area for improvement is laser or optical communications. NASA successfully demonstrated laser communications technology in October 2013 with its Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. LADEE made history using a pulsed laser beam to transmit data over 239,000 miles from the moon to Earth at a record-breaking download rate of 622 megabits-per-second (Mbps)...."
("NASA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Mars Data Relay Satellites"
NASA press release (July 23, 2014))

We're still at least five years from launching the Mars Piloted Orbital Station. The Orion Mars Mission's landing is set for around 2030. We'll probably have folks making Mars their home — eventually. But settling Mars will be much harder that many imagined, back when C. L. Moore wrote her Northwest Smith stories.

More posts, about why I'm okay with looking:

• Back
  • "Volcanoes and Fossilized Brains: Studying Earth's Past"
    (July 25, 2014)
  • "Coping With Change for Millions of Years; Chatty Chimps"
    (July 11, 2014)
  • "Lukewarm Dinosaurs, the Earliest Known Fish, and Durable Faces"
    (June 20, 2014)
  • "Ticks in Amber, Mutant Crickets, and Paleolithic London"
    (June 6, 2014)
  • "South American Dinosaurs, Large and 'Small;' and a Changing World"
    (May 23, 2014)
• Around
  • "Personal Preference, Reality, and Dealing with Knowledge"
    (January 2, 2014)
  • "Love, Technology, and Being Human"
    (October 6, 2013)
  • "God, Science, and Getting a Grip"
    (March 5, 2012)
  • "Science isn't a Four-Letter Word"
    (January 29, 2012)
  • "Faith, Reason, Certainty, and Getting a Grip"
    (January 11, 2012)
• Ahead
  • "Habitable Worlds, Homer, and Haldane — or — Ganymede's Oceans, and Imagining Kepler-186f's Sunsets"
    (May 9, 2014)
  • "Lowering Costs on the Earth-to-Orbit Run, Preparing for Incoming Asteroids"
    (May 2, 2014)
  • "Life in the Universe: Focusing the Search"
    (April 18, 2014)
  • "Fusion Power, Terraforming, and Old Dutch Windmills"
    (October 11, 2013)
  • "Warp Drive: Imagined and Real (Maybe, Eventually)"
    (May 24, 2013)

'Just Routine, Nothing Special' — Thank You, Father Statz

Quite a lot has happened, since Father James Statz came to the Our Lady of the Angels parish here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. Most of it's routine, like the annual cycle of the liturgical year, some hasn't.

Today is the last time Father Statz celebrates Mass as our parish priest. I'm sorry to see him go, but very glad that he has been here.

Remembering, Mostly 2003

Some of it hasn't been routine, like when the Christmas tree — over a dozen feet tall — fell over behind him. That was in 2003.

I took that photo before the excitement. The choir director had told us that the last song would be "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" when the Christmas tree fell over.

Over a dozen children on the near side of the altar, and probably a few other folks, said "eee!" The tree fell neatly on the altar's far side.

Then we sang "Hark the Herald Angels Sing." Nobody was hurt, much, although Father Statz got clipped as the tree went past him, and the deacon was hit by the star.


(Procession of the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Fr. Statz. Sauk Centre, 2013.)

A Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe came to our area in June of 2003. The image is a full-size replica of Juan Diego's tilma.

The Image's arrival gave the two parishes in Sauk Centre a good reason for our first procession since I'd arrived, back in the '80s. That's Father Statz in the photo, just before we went into St. Pauls that day. More about the procession, and the Missionary Image:

• "Procession of the Missionary Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe"
  Saturday, June 14, 2003; Brendans-Island.com

Our Lady of Angels has become a bit more obviously Marian in the years Farther Statz has been here. The most obvious changes are a mural inside, and a garden.

Tom Kane used Tiepolo's Immaculate Conception as a model for a mural on the half-dome over our altar.

The Marian Garden, between the parish church and rectory, is a restful spot, and new since Father Statz came. I'll probably make it a destination for walking again this summer. (August 18, 2013)


(Marian Garden between Our Lady of Angels and the Rectory, July 2013.)

A less happy break in routine was when Father Statz returned to duty after a stroke could have killed him — but didn't. I was very glad indeed that he survived: and that he could stay with this parish as long as he has.

Lenten Chaplet

(Lenten Chaplet, introduced to our parish by Father Statz.)

This chaplet got started in Venezuela. Father Statz and Father Todd, who have been parish priests here in Sauk Centre, were in Venezuela when they developed this chaplet as a way to encourage prayer during Lent.

The original prayer cords had wooden crucifixes, carved from a sort of tree that grows in Venezuela. The cords were woven from fibers the folks got from the leaves of that tree.

In central Minnesota, our crucifixes have been metal and the cords some synthetic fiber: which is consistent with how our regional culture makes things. Around here, Venezuelan wood and hand-woven cords would be exotic.

As far as I know, what the cord and crucifix are made of doesn't matter, as long as the materials are sturdy and flexible enough to be worn and used for a minimum of 40 days.

There isn't a 'right' kind of crucifix, again as far as I know: the style here has been a little different each year, probably depending on what was readily available at the time.

Knowledge and Comfort When We Needed It

Father Statz talked with me and my wife, after we lost another child.

Miscarriage: Joy

We'd lost one child, several years ago, very early in the pregnancy. The best guess we have is that something went very, very wrong with some basic function in Joy's body. The human body is a wonderfully complex thing: Which means there's a great many things that can go wrong. This isn't a perfect world.

My wife and I sealed the results, for testing: but saw to it that Joy was buried, informally and briefly, in hallowed ground. I wasn't sure if that was quite what we're supposed to do, but I figured that 'it's easier to get forgiveness, than permission.' Testing showed no problems, aside from the miscarriage. As the years passed, two more children joined the two we'd been blessed with before Joy.

Stillbirth: Elizabeth

There was no reason to assume that our sixth pregnancy wouldn't end in a normal delivery. This baby was doing fine. We, and our four surviving children, were looking forward to seeing the newest member of the family.

When the contractions started, they weren't quite what we expected, but as I recall they were inside the 'normal' range. When it was "time," my wife and I headed for the hospital.

As nearly as I can tell, Elizabeth died as we were approaching the Interstate exit nearest the hospital. My wife told me that the baby was very active: and then completely still. At the hospital, the nurses could detect no heartbeat. And the delivery was not going well. At all.

Later that night I followed the ambulance carrying my wife to another hospital, about 45 miles away. And was with her when Elizabeth was delivered: beautifully formed; and quite dead. My wife and I took turns holding Elizabeth, as warmth left her body. Later, we learned that the center of the placenta had given way. The medical folks say if the failure had happened near the edge, my wife would have bled to death.

We have photos of Elizabeth, and of an ultrasound: but I haven't looked at those for quite a long time. There's no need. I remember what she looked like, the weight of her body in my arms: and I'm not likely to forget. Besides: God willing, I'll meet her, and Joy, in a few decades.

'Why be miserable?'

Talking over Elizabeth's death with my wife, and how we feel about it, she summed up the situation with something like "why be miserable?" She's a very practical woman. And, I think, she's right.

If I seem 'upbeat' about losing 1/3 of our children: It helps that Elizabeth died eight years ago. I've gone through the 'stages of grief,' more or less. Don't let anybody kid you: it's not an easy process. Knowing what was behind a nervous tic and auditory hallucinations helped me get through those years: but I'd just as soon not repeat the experience.

There will always be an 'Elizabeth size' hole in my heart — matching the one for Joy. But I've gotten used to the situation: just as people get used to their children living thousands of miles away. Besides, being dead doesn't make them less a part of the family. I still wish Elizabeth and Joy a 'good night,' every night, as I do for all our children.

'It's not fair.' So?

Being born with deformed hips gave me opportunities to think about — and meditate on — whether or not expecting life to be "fair" by American standards is reasonable.

I'm convinced that God is just, and that He is merciful: and that I wouldn't understand why things happen, even if He explained His Will to me. So I'm not going to demand an explanation. I've read the book of Job

Hey! This is about Father Statz!

After my wife and I got back to Sauk Centre, Father Statz spoke with us. Nothing earth-shattering, no dramatic revelations. Just words of sympathy and assurance. He also explained the idea of "baptism of desire." (It's nothing new: Thomas Aquinas and the Council of Trent mentioned it.) And, of course, Father Statz was there when we buried Elizabeth.

Some of the breaks in Father Statz's routine have been good news, like the new Marian garden between the church and the rectory.

Mostly, though, Father Statz has been 'just going through the routines:' celebrating Mass, hearing confessions, anointing the sick, that sort of thing.

He's just an ordinary priest, standing in for Jesus in a small central Minnesota town.

Which, when you think about it, is a pretty big deal.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Mary, a Message, and a Mural in Minnesota"
  (August 18, 2013)
• "Life, Death, and a Sore Wrist"
  (April 21, 2013)
• "Lenten Chaplet: From Venezuelan Wood to Metal and Synthetics"
  (March 25, 2011)
• "Catholicism: Ashes, Penance, and Priests on Skis"
  (February 21, 2011)
• "Baptism of Desire: Or, Two Thousand Years of Not Knowing Everything"
  (May 3, 2010)
  Particularly
  • What About Unbaptized Infants?
  • Hope, Trusting God, and Curiosity

Background:

• "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Paptised*"
  International Theological Commission (April 19, 2007)
• "The Necessity of Baptism"
  Catechism of the Catholic Church
  Particularly
  • 1261 "As regards children who have died without Baptism...."

Personal Preference, Reality, and Dealing with Knowledge

I'm an American, and have been paying attention for the last several decades. The way many Americans insist that evolution is Satanic is hard to miss. That's why I'm not "shocked" by this week's news.

Even so, I was impressed at how many folks in this country apparently said "that humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time." The survey results made more sense when I looked at a more detailed report, and I'll get back to that.

Here are the two options in that survey:

"...U.S. adults saying that humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time, or humans and other living things have evolved over time."
(Pew Research Center, via Business Insider (December 30, 2013)) [emphasis mine]

Overall, about one third of folks responding said that life hasn't changed since the beginning of time.¹ I'm in the 60% who don't agree.

Religion, America, and Assumptions

"Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people."
- Doris Egan

By Doris Egan's standards, I'm not a 'religious' person. I've been over this before:

• "Truth Cannot Contradict Truth"
  (October 13, 2013)
• "At the Corner of Reality and Faith"
  (August 11, 2013)
• " 'Religious People aren't Reasonable?' "
  (December 18, 2011)

I'm a Christian, and have been for as long as I can remember. I'm also a Catholic: a convert, who became a Catholic in large part because what I believe has to make sense.

I've known Catholics who aren't particularly sensible, and non-Catholics who are: but those are individuals, and almost another topic.

Because I am a Catholic, I have to take Sacred scripture seriously. That's literally Catholicism 101: Check out Catechism of the Catholic Church, 101-133.

Believing that the Bible is God's Word is most emphatically not the same as assuming that the Almighty looks like the man Michelangelo painted, or that the Bible was written by someone with an American viewpoint. (October 17, 2013; October 19, 2011)

I recommend the following resource for Americans interested in learning what the Bible is, and what it is not:

• "Understanding the Bible"
  Mary Elizabeth Sperry, Associate Director for Utilization of the New American Bible, USCCB

Here's why I don't consult the Bible when my computer acts up:

• "When to Call Tech Support, When to Read the Bible"
  (January 14, 2011)

Moving on.

"Evolution: The Religion of the Antichrist"

The Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925 didn't set the tone for American discussion of evolution, but I think it firmly established the perception that "Christian" and "ignoramus" were synonymous.

Sadly, quite a few American Christians seem dedicated to maintaining that perception.

For example, earlier this week, someone drew my attention to a sermon: "Evolution: The Religion of the Antichrist."

Thus Saith Anonymous

There's nothing unusual about someone assuming that evolution is evil. I grew up in an area where radio preachers fervently exhorted their listeners to reject evolution, communism, Catholicism, rock music, and other 'Satanic' plots.

What made this particular one stand out was that it's on a website devoted to "Sermons in plain English on Catholic dogma, doctrine, and devotion." Interestingly, this "sermon" was delivered by that prolific commentator and correspondent, Anonymous: "The preacher's name is withheld by his request."

Living With Reality

Like everyone else, I have personal preferences. But I'm savvy enough to realize that what I like or don't like will not change the universe.

I believe that God created and is creating everything. I'm also quite certain that it's okay to learn about what God created: even if that means learning something new. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 279-289, 301)

That's because "the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God." (Catechism, 159)

My faith doesn't require an interest in science: but it's not threatened by knowledge, either.

Getting a Grip About "Believe"

I don't "believe in" evolution, the way I "believe in" God. That would be silly: with catastrophic consequences in the long run. Idolatry is a bad idea, no matter what a person substitutes for God. (Catechism, 2113-2114)

On the other hand, I "believe in" evolution the way I "believe in" Kepler's laws of planetary motion and Einstein's theory of general relativity.

I think it's silly to assume that because creation operates with rational physical laws, a rational creating God cannot exist. That odd notion became fashionable around the middle of the 19th century, and we've been dealing with the craziness ever since.

As for the notion that creation doesn't change, that's just not so. We're in a "state of journeying," and that's a good thing. (Catechism, 302)

I think part of the problem many Americans have with evolution, among other things, is that the default spiritual style of this country is rather Calvinistic: and I've been over that before, too.

Finally, I find hope for my country in what didn't make the headlines. Although about a third of Americans desperately cling to an antique worldview, the percentage is much less among the young, the educated, the non-WASP, mainstream Protestants - and the Catholics.¹

More:

• "Public's Views on Human Evolution"
  Pew Research Center (December 30, 2013)
  (From www.pewforum.org/files/2013/12/Evolution-12-30.pdf (February 21, 2014))

Related posts:

• "Will the Real Neanderthals Please Stand Up?"
  (December 20, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Accepting Reality
• "Eden - and - Adam and Eve Weren't German?!"
  (May 16, 2012)
• "Catholics aren't Calvinists"
  (May 7, 2012)
• "Evolution, Space Aliens, and Two Millennia of Dealing With People"
  (July 5, 2011)
  Particularly
  • Change Happens
  • Discussion, Not Rants, at the Holy See
  • Earth Exists, Therefore There is No God??!
  • footnote 4
• "Catholic Church, Creationism, Evolution, Facts and Faith"
  (March 5, 2009)
  Particularly
  • The Vatican: Anti-God?
  • Don't Like a Big, Old, Creation? Take it Up With God

---

¹ Survey: One of out three Americans think evolution doesn't happen. I am not making this up.

"A Shocking Number Of Americans, Especially Republicans, Don't Believe In Evolution"
Lauren F Friedman, (December 30, 2013)

"A third of Americans reject the idea of evolution, a new Pew Research Center poll has found, including a majority of white evangelical Protestants (64%) and Republicans (57%).

"That means one in three Americans would agree that 'humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.'

"This is embarrassing given overwhelming evidence that evolution is real (more on that below).

"What's particularly disturbing is that the share of Republicans who don't believe in evolution has dramatically increased from 46% in 2009.

"Here are the findings:..."

(From Pew Research Center, via Business Insider, used w/o permission.)


(From Pew Research Center, via Business Insider, used w/o permission.)


(From Pew Research Center, via Business Insider, used w/o permission.)


(From Pew Research Center, via Business Insider, used w/o permission.)

Jesus: Human, But Not Just Human

My last few posts about the Incarnation focused on Jesus as a human being: someone who occupied a particular spot, who learned stories he or his family heard, and whose appearance was fairly ordinary.
Jesus is human: but not just human.

John 1:1-5 and 14 makes that fairly clear: God "made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14) Jesus had knowledge that the rest of us - don't.

"...Not Yet Fifty Years Old..."

Jesus said 'I am God' very clearly: "...before Abraham came to be, I AM." (John 8:58) That comes right after this exchange:

"Jesus answered, 'If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, "He is our God."

"You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word.

"Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it ²² and was glad.[']

"So the Jews said to him, 'You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?' ²³ "
(John 8:54-57)

Jesus, the Word made flesh, was "not yet fifty years old" at that point. But Jesus, the Son of God, "was in the beginning with God." (John 1:2) Small wonder that some folks have had trouble, trying to understand how a person could be coeternal with God, and have been born at a particular time, and in a particular place.

Me? I've read Job 38:1-42:6. We've learned a bit about this vast universe since that book was written: but I can no more fit a curb to the Pleiades than Job could. As I've said before: God's God; I'm not.

Jesus: Not Just Human

Jesus is human. He's also God. That gives him a kind of knowledge that nobody else has. Jesus knew, and knows, God the Father as a son knows his father; and Jesus knew what other people were thinking:

"Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, 'Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
(Mark 2:8)

Sometimes I 'know' what someone else is thinking. More accurately, I can make an educated guess, based on what I know about the person and what's happening at the moment.

What Jesus "immediately knew in his mind" was knowledge, not guesswork:

"...The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human hearts.¹⁰⁷"
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 473)

Jesus, Peter, and Denial

Jesus knew he was going to be killed. This alone could have been a reasoned prediction. By that time my Lord had insulted powerful men in Jerusalem, and topped that off by claiming to be God. A person wouldn't have to be divine, to know that going back to Jerusalem would be risky, at best.

What sets Jesus apart is that he also said that he would rise after three days. Human beings who are killed don't do that. We stay dead. Jesus didn't and that's another topic. (March 11, 2012)

Jesus was also remarkably specific about what Peter was going to do:

"He began to teach them that the Son of Man ⁷ must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days."
(Mark 8:31)

---

"⁵ And as they reclined at table and were eating, Jesus said, 'Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.'

"They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one, 'Surely it is not I?'

"He said to them, 'One of the Twelve, the one who dips with me into the dish.

"For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, ⁶ but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.' "(Mark 14:18-21)

"Then, after singing a hymn, ⁹ they went out to the Mount of Olives.

"Then Jesus said to them, 'All of you will have your faith shaken, for it is written: "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed."

"But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.'

"Peter said to him, 'Even though all should have their faith shaken, mine will not be.'

"Then Jesus said to him, 'Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.' "
(Mark 14:26-30)

---

Death and Beyond

Not long after that, Peter denied that he knew Jesus. Three times. (Luke 22:56-62) Jesus was publicly executed, and buried in a borrowed tomb: and then stopped being dead. (March 16:6)

That got the surviving disciples' attention. One of my favorite bits from the Bible is what happened after Jesus left:

"When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.

"While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.

"They said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.' "
(Acts 1:9-11)

Two thousand years later, that's still a good question - or implied advice. Jesus left us with orders and a promise. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Details of how we carry out those orders changes as the centuries roll by, but our basic instructions haven't:

• "Same Mission, Same Basic Message, New Century"
  (May 31, 2011)

On Standby Alert for Two Millennia

Writing and publishing 'End Time Bible prophecies' is a sort of cottage industry here in America.

I take God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, very seriously: as well as the Last Judgment. What I think of wannabe prophets is another matter:

• "Apocalypse Whenever"
  (June 14, 2011)
• "Last Judgment: Attendance Mandatory"
  (May 21, 2011)

I don't see a point in trying to prognosticate when the Son of God will come back. We've got our instructions, and were placed on standby alert about two thousand years ago. From one point of view, that's a very long wait. From another, it's a tiny fraction of the time humanity's been around - and that's another topic or two.

Jesus doesn't seem to think we need to know God's timetable. That's okay by me:

"'But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

"Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.

"It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.

"Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning.

"May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.

"What I say to you, I say to all: "Watch!" ' "
(Mark 13:32-37)

---

"⁵ He answered them, 'It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.

"⁶ But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'

"When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight."
(Acts 1:7-9)

Related posts:

• "Jesus, Knowledge, and Stories From Egypt"
  (January 16, 2013)
  Particularly
  • A Human Soul
• "Jesus: Human; Really Human"
  (January 9, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Jesus: Human and Divine
• "Jesus, God, and What St. Augustine Said"
  (December 26, 2012)
• " 'He Emptied Himself' "
  (December 4, 2012)
• "Christmas: Mything the Point"
  (December 18, 2011)

"...Wanting to Make Us Sharers in His Divinity..."

I was trekking through part of the Catechism that explains why the Word became flesh. I'd gotten up to Catechism of the Catholic Church, 459, about a month ago. (October 24, 2012)

... To Really Mess Things Up, You Need a Computer

I had written the framework for this post late Monday afternoon. Then, somehow, I deleted the whole thing. Irrevocably. Every trick I know for recovering 'deleted' data - didn't work.

I took a break, then started reconstructing the post. I knew where I'd found most of the information, and still remembered most of the structure. That kept me occupied until after midnight. My after-midnight work tends to be a trifle unstructured; or strangely-structured; or both.

The rest of this post is an effort to break that mass of text and lists into something that might pass as an orderly set of ideas.

Should you choose to continue reading, good luck. I should be much more coherent by Friday: emphasis on "should." :)

Issues and an Election

Issues at stake in America's national election encouraged me to go 'off schedule' for late October and most of November. I even put one of these 'Wednesday' posts on a Monday. (November 5, 2012)

The election didn't turn out entirely as I'd hoped. By the way, this isn't a political blog: but having standards sometimes means discussing my native land's leadership.

• "Elijah, Disappointing Election Results, and Getting a Grip"
  (November 14, 2012)
• "Eugenics, Compassion, and Cooperating with Evil"
  (November 5, 2012)
  Particularly
  • Life: It's Complicated, Sort of
  • Formal and Material Cooperation With Evil

The Ultimate Role Model

One of the reasons the Word became flesh was "to be our model of holiness." (Catechism, 459) There's more to Jesus than that, but like God the Father said:

"...'This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.' "
(Mark 9:7)

I went over that last month:

• "Love, Hate, and Leaving an Impression"
  (November 21, 2012)
  Particularly
  • "Love One Another..."

Eternal Life: Good News, Bad News

Listening to Jesus seems prudent, since each of us will live forever. That's good news, or bad news: depending on what each of us decided to do with our lives. (Catechism, 1021-1022)

Some of my take on eternity:

• "An Eternal Life I can Live With"
  (August 27, 2011)
• "Hell, Heaven, Character, and Culture"
  (June 23, 2011)
• "Last Judgment: Attendance Mandatory"
  (May 21, 2011)

When Jesus died on Golgotha, and then stopped being dead, my Lord made eternal life available. (Catechism, 1026)

"Partakers of the Divine Nature"

Jesus is more than just a good role model. My Lord became one of us so that we could become "partakers of the divine nature." This doesn't mean that I'm God; or we'll all God; or will become God. As I've said before, "God's God, I'm not."

On the other hand, St. Thomas Aquinas said Jesus came to "make men gods." Lower case "g:"

"The Word became flesh to make us 'partakers of the divine nature':⁷⁸ '... 'The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.'⁸¹"
(Catechism, 460)

Fully Understand - - - GOD?!

I talked over "...might make men gods" with someone who's been Catholic longer than I've been alive. He said that a better translation of St. Thomas' words might be "...might make men like gods."

That cleared things up a bit, but I still don't completely understand: which is about par for the course. St. Augustine said:

"If you understood him, it would not be God"
(St. Augustine of Hippo, quoted in Catechism, 230)

Then there are the last chapters of Job, and I'm getting a little off-topic. Which is also about par for the course.

Learning About God

I'm a finite creature. I don't expect to fully understand the infinite Almighty; but we're all expected to:

• Know God
  (Catechism, 31-35)
• Know about God
  (Catechism, 36-38)
  • As much as a finite creature can understand the infinite Creator
    (Catechism, 39-43)

Describing God

"There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written."
(John 21:25)

I think what John wrote applies to efforts to catalog the characteristics of God. That didn't keep me from assembling this list:

• A "mystery without words"
  • Even after revealing Himself
    • "If you understood him, it would not be God"
      (St. Augustine)
  (Catechism, 230)
• All-powerful
  • Created everything
    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 268)
    • Out of nothing
      (Catechism, 296)
  • Didn't have to create anything
    (Catechism, 295)
  • Upholds and sustains what He created
    (Catechism, 301)
• The source of
  • Every good
  • All love
  • All truth
  (Catechism, 1723, 2465)
• The great HE WHO IS
  • From everlasting to everlasting
  • Without origin and without end
  (Catechism, 212-213)
  
• Infinitely good
  (Catechism, 385)
• Loving
  (Catechism, 268)
• Merciful
  (Catechism, 270)
• Holy
  (Catechism, 208)

I've posted most of that list before:

• "The World isn't Flat"
  (June 9, 2012)
• "Science isn't a Four-Letter Word"
  (January 29, 2012)
• " 'Understand God?' Ha!"
  (September 9, 2011)

More:

• "God Father and Creator: Catechesis on the Creed, part I"
  John Paul II, General Audience (September 4, 1985)

Related posts:

• Jesus
  • "Faith, Belief: and a Really Good Role Model"
    (October 24, 2012)
  • "Sons of God, and the Son of God"
    (October 17, 2012)
  • "Response to an Ancient Offense"
    (September 5, 2012)
  • "'When:' Not 'If;' 'WHEN'"
    (April 6, 2012)
  • "The Man Who Wouldn't Stay Dead"
    (March 11, 2012)
• Looking ahead
  • "An Eternal Life I can Live With"
    (August 27, 2011)
  • "Last Judgment: Attendance Mandatory"
    (May 21, 2011)
    Particularly
    • End Times: Here We Go Again
    • Last Judgment: You Won't Miss It
  • "To 'Make Men Gods' "
    (January 10, 2011)
  • "Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Warm Fuzzies"
    (August 8, 2010)
  • "Rambling on About Death, Resurrection, Burial and Cremation"
    (September 25, 2009)
    Particularly
    • Resurrected? You Mean I Have to Live With This Body Forever?!
• Getting a grip
  • "God the Almighty, Providence, and Some Guy in Minnesota"
    (February 1, 2012)
  • "How to Know About God"
    (December 14, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Finite Meets Infinite
  • "A Nerdy Interest in God and His Creation?"
    (August 12, 2011)
  • "Uncertainty, 'Being Religious,' and This Catholic"
    (February 12, 2011)
    Particularly
    • God Knows: That's Enough
  • "If Catholics aren't Supposed to Read the Bible, How Come We're Told to Read the Bible?"
    (May 31, 2010)

Digitizing Ancient Texts; Instructions from Rome; and Same Old Same Old

The colorful notion that Pope Pius XII and Adolph Hitler conspired to smuggle Nazis out of Germany is as durable as movie version of Dracula, and it's in the news again. Same old, same old, except this time it's a Harvard professor weaving the tale.

Meanwhile, in the real world, folks are digitizing 1,500,000 pages of data in the Archivio Segreto Vaticano/Vatican Secret Archives; and the Diocese of Cleveland is re-opening closed parishes, after getting instructions from Rome.

1. 85 Kilometers of Shelving
2. The Catholic Church: That's How it Works
3. Return of the Nazi Pope - or - NAZI-CATHOLIC CONSPIRACY! Was Elvis Involved?

Here's my take on the news:

---

1. 85 Kilometers of Shelving

"Fourth Centenary of Vatican Secret Archives: 85 KM of Documents"
VIS (Vatican Information Services (April 18, 2012)

"The Vatican Secret Archives, where all the documentation relating to the Holy See is conserved and catalogued, are this year celebrating their fourth centenary. Among the initiatives organised to mark the occasion is a congress entitled 'Religiosa Archivorum Custodia', which began yesterday in the Vatican and is examining the history of the archives, their cultural importance and the results of the most recent research.

"Due perhaps to an erroneous interpretation of the name (the word 'secret' is to be understood in its Latin definition of 'private'), the archives have always been surrounded by an aura of mystery. They were established by Pope Paul V in 1611 and originally contained the manuscripts from the pontificate of Gregory VII (1073-1085) which had survived the Avignon schism. Speaking on Vatican Radio Msgr. Sergio Pagano, prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, explained that they 'contain centuries and centuries of catalogued letters sent or received by Popes, documents of the Apostolic Camera, diplomatic papers from the various nuncios and diplomatic missions, as well as documents from Councils and Synods, etc. The archives were originally contained in 400 metres of shelf space, now they cover 85 kilometres'...."

I sometimes feel like criticizing folks at the Holy See, for not recognizing that the rest of us aren't always as familiar with Latin, etymology, and history, as they are. But that may be partly because my native language is Germanic.

We use a derivative of the Latin alphabet, quite a few words in English derive from Latin: and that's almost another topic.

The point is that in my language, "secret" usually means "covert," more or less. Which also means "a flock of coots." And that is is another topic.

Couple 'secret=covert' with Henry VIII's cultural legacy of anti-Catholicism, and "Vatican Secret Archives" can sound downright sinister.

But that's me, and my native culture's heritage. As a practicing Catholic, I have to remember that everybody's my neighbor. (August 5, 2011) Besides, "Secret Archive" is a very straightforward translation of the name into English. (November 12, 2010

Digitizing 1,500,000 Pages of Ancient Texts

"Ancient texts: Vatican, Bodleian Libraries digitize repositories"
Evelyn Laeschke, News, Gemini (April 12, 2012)

"1.5 million pages of ancient texts archived in the Vatican and Bodleian Libraries, the main research library of the University of Oxford and one of the oldest libraries in Europe, will be digitized. A new four year project between the Bodleian Libraries and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (BAV) aims to open up the repositories and make a selection of their remarkable treasures freely available to researchers and the general public worldwide.

" 'Transforming these ancient texts and images into digital form helps transcend the limitations of time and space which have in the past restricted access to knowledge,' said Sarah Thomas, Bodleian's Librarian. 'Scholars will be able to interrogate these documents in fresh approaches as a result of their online availability.'..."

Dictionary time again. "Interrogate," in this context, means "pose a series of questions to." (Princeton's WordNet) Which sounds funny, until you realize that interrogation means, among other things, "formal systematic questioning." (Princeton's WordNet) That sort of 'interrogating' is what we do routinely when we use Google.

I've been using vatican.va's already-massive online repository for years. I'm looking forward to using the new-and-improved digital archive at the Archivio Segreto Vaticano. Four years, for an American, is a long time: but I think it'll be worth the wait.

Besides, I'm in no big rush to get at the Archives. For one thing, I'm still finding new-to-me material in the rest of the Vatican's website. For another, the only language I'm really comfortable with is contemporary English: the sort that's been used for the last six centuries. Having access to text is one thing. Being able to read it is something else.

---

2. The Catholic Church: That's How it Works

The Diocese of Cleveland's bishop decided to downsize the diocese in 2001. The current bishop was carrying out that plan, when Rome said that he should re-open the closed parishes. He could have appealed, but decided not to. This CNA/EWTN News article says he wanted to avoid a long wrangle, and reduce tension. That's not quite the way he put it, but you get the idea.

I think this article gives a pretty good look at how the Catholic Church works.

"Cleveland bishop to reopen 12 closed parishes"
CNA/EWTN News (April 18, 2012)

"Following a ruling from the Vatican, Bishop Richard G. Lennon of Cleveland has announced he will reopen 12 parishes closed in 2009 and 2010, a move he says will stretch the diocese's resources.

" 'I now say, it's time for peace and unity in the Diocese of Cleveland. More than ever, this is a time for all Catholics to come together with God's help and strive to strengthen our diocesan church's serving the pastoral and spiritual needs of all the faithful,' Bishop Lennon said at an April 17 news conference at Cleveland's Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist....

Bishop Lennon apparently asked the Vatican to review his decision because some folks in the diocese had written to Rome, complaining about the closings. This isn't 'democracy in action,' it's how the Church operates.

Why Cleveland Catholics Can't Fire Their Bishop

Folks in the Cleveland diocese can't fire the bishop, any more that folks in a parish can fire their priest. Bishops and priests are assigned by the hierarchy. At the parish level, in my experience, we get priests who are a pretty good 'fit' with the community. And we keep them until they're re-assigned.

As I've said before, the Catholic Church isn't a democracy.¹ If it was, I probably wouldn't have bothered to become Catholic. And that's another topic.

Market-Driven, No: Responsive, Yes

But 'not a democracy' doesn't mean 'clueless.' I could, if I wanted to, complain about the color of statues in Our Lady of Angels, the parish church down the street, and send it to the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minnesota: with a copy to Rome. That's about as close to a 'market-driven' ministry as the Catholic Church gets: for which I'm grateful. I don't want a church where the income of ministers depends on giving the faithful what's popular.

Back to that hypothetical tiff over statues.

If I was the only sorehead in the parish, the letters would probably be read, filed: and that would be an end to it. If a significant number of folks in this parish sent in similar complaints, my guess is that the bishop would make an effort to find out what the problem was. And if he didn't, he'd quite possibly end up asking Rome to investigate.

That's a trivial - and hypothetical - example. Closing parishes is anything but trivial. Now, back to that article.

"...The decision to close the parishes came as part of a comprehensive reconfiguration plan announced in March 2009. The plan intended to address population shifts, financial hardship for many parishes, and fewer priests....

"...The reopened parishes must continually demonstrate that they have the active membership and the financial resources to sustain themselves, the bishop said....

"There are 710,000 Catholics in the 174 parishes of the Diocese of Cleveland"

My parish is in the Diocese of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. We've got roughly as many parishes in the diocese as Cleveland, but a lot fewer Catholics. My guess is that we're spread out a bit more than the Cleveland area.

"...The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud encompasses 16 central Minnesota counties, including 135 parishes with a combined Catholic population of 150,000...."
("Press Releases for the Diocese of Saint Cloud," Diocese of St. Cloud (release dated August 23, 2010))

We've had parishes close in this area, too: and I don't expect them to get reopened. My hope is that we can keep the current parishes open. Happily, roads are pretty good in this part of the world: so it's possible for a priest to celebrate mass in one town, drive to the next, and keep two parishes running. Convenient, no: possible, yes.

I sympathize with Catholics in Cleveland. It's rough when a home parish closes, and uncertainty about what's coming next is rough, too.

---

3. Return of the Nazi Pope - or - NAZI-CATHOLIC CONSPIRACY! Was Elvis Involved?

I've used this quote before:

"There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church - which is, of course, quite a different thing."
(Bishop Fulton Sheen, Foreword to Radio Replies Vol. 1, (1938) page ix, via Wikiquote)

Facts, Assumptions, and Harvard

During and immediately after World War II, quite a few folks wanted to get out of Germany. Some of them didn't have all their papers. Some of them didn't want to stick around for a thorough background check: possibly because they were about two jumps ahead of the Gestapo.

Some Catholics helped refugees get out of Germany. Some of the Catholics were priests. And some of the refugees were Nazis.

Those are the facts.

Urban legends² that the Pope conspired with Adolph Hitler to evacuate the Third Reich? It'd make a nifty premise for an over-the-top alternative-history novel: but it simply did not happen.

But a Harvard professor says it did, so: and he's got botched research to 'prove' it. (April 17, 2012)

"Claims of papal help for Nazi war criminals 'verifiably false' "
CNA/EWTN News, (April 16, 2012)

"A Harvard professor's claim that Vatican leadership intentionally helped Nazi war criminals escape to South America after World War II relies on erroneous sources and misinterprets events, argues Catholic author Ronald J. Rychlak.

" 'The combination of sloppy work and over-the-top charges provides a textbook example of how a verifiably false account can be reported as fact in the mainstream media,' Rychlak said in the April 2012 issue of the Catholic League's newsletter The Catalyst.

"Rychlak, the associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Mississippi, has authored two books on Pope Pius XII's actions during World War II. He critiqued Harvard Divinity School professor Kevin Madigan's essay 'How the Catholic Church Sheltered War Criminals,' published in the December 2011 issue of the neoconservative magazine Commentary.

"Madigan contended that the Pontifical Aid Commission supplied 'crucial aid in sheltering Nazi war criminals.' The commission, he claimed, viewed itself as 'a sort of papal mercy program for National Socialists and Fascists.'

"Madigan's essay indicated that this support took place with the whole-hearted support of Pius XII...."

I put a copy of the CNA/EWTN News article at the end of Tuesday's post.

I don't doubt that the Harvard professor is sincere. I'm also drearily familiar with the sort of nonsense he's pushing. What impresses me is that he thought he could get away with such shoddy scholarship, in something that was likely to fall into non-Harvard hands.

On the other hand, maybe it's hard to remember the difference between assumptions and facts, if everybody around shares those assumptions - and gets irate if anybody questions them. If everybody in the office really believed that Elvis³ was alive: well, you get the idea.

What Folks Know, That Just Ain't So

"...'Madigan would have us believe that the Church knowingly sent Nazi officials to safety,' he said. 'It is, however, inconceivable that the Nazis revealed their background to reputable Church officials. It is even less likely that any such information would have reached the Vatican. The logistics of the massive relocation programs simply made it impossible to investigate most individuals who sought help.'

"Part of the controversy centers on Bishop Alois Hudal, a Nazi-sympathizing rector of the German-speaking seminary college of Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome.

" 'It has long been known that Hudal and a Croatian priest named Krunoslav Draganovi? helped some former Nazis escape from Europe. Madigan, however, says that they were part of ‘a sort of papal mercy program for National Socialists and Fascists',' Rychlak said. 'That is far from the truth.'

"Bishop Hudal was not on friendly terms with the Vatican leadership, Rychlak explained.

"The bishop's memoir said that the assistance he gave to fleeing Nazis was done without the Pope's knowledge. He authored a book 'critical of the hard line that Vatican diplomats took with the Germans,' Rychlak reported....

"...'Madigan should have done his homework before spreading these malicious charges,' Rychlak said."
(CNA/EWTN News)

I'd prefer that Ivy League professors be less sloppy when fudging research. But unswerving allegiance to goofy notions about the Catholic Church has, like Harvard, been part of America for a long, long, time.


(From Thomas Nast Portfolio, Ohio State University, used w/o permission.)
"The American River Ganges, a cartoon by Thomas Nast showing bishops attacking public schools, with connivance of Boss Tweed. Harper's Weekly, September 30, 1871." (Wikipedia)

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Related posts:

• Language, mostly
  • " 'Man?!!' Political Correctness and Getting a Grip"
    (April 10, 2012)
  • "CREDO! New Roman Missal Coming"
    (November 6, 2011)
  • "Radio Vaticana: What? Only 38 Languages?!"
    (March 7, 2011)
  • "Why I Don't Go Ballistic Over Xmas"
    (December 23, 2010)
  • "When 'Secret' Doesn't Mean 'Secret:' The Vatican Secret Archives"
    (November 12, 2010)
• The Catholic Church
  • "My Take on the News: Change, a Prayer, and New Neighbors"
    (April 13, 2012)
    Particularly
    • New Recruits in Religious Orders
  • "Vocations for Everyone"
    (December 11, 2011)
  • "Bishop's Orders about Deacons Preaching: My Take"
    (June 21, 2011)
  • "Lourdes, Daft Comments, and Thinking of Something to Say"
    (August 18, 2010)
  • "Medjugorje: "Pope defrocks priest" (Fr. Tomislav Vlasic Laicized)"
    (July 29, 2009)
• Centuries of silliness
  • "'Nazi Pope,' Urban Legends, Academic Standards, and the News"
    (April 17, 2012)
  • "Fulton Sheen, Bias, and the Catholic Church"
    (March 28, 2012)
  • "Open Eyes and Assumptions"
    (March 25, 2012)
  • "'The Jesus-Eating Cult of Rick Santorum' and
    'America - Love It or Leave It'"
    (February 29, 2012)
  • " 'Going My Way,' and Why Anti-Catholicism is a Good Sign"
    (November 18, 2010)

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¹ I was born in America, and started voting when I turned 18. I like living in a 'constitution-based federal republic with a strong democratic tradition.' ("United States," CIA World Factbook (last updated (April 11, 2012)) But I know that what Americans call "democracy" isn't the only practical form of government. I think what matters at least as much is the 'moral character' of a country's leaders and citizens. I'm not talking about zipper issues: "morality" in this context means knowing what ethical standards are, having some, and acting as if they matter. I've been over this before:

• "Morality, Wisdom, and Getting a Grip"
  (June 3, 2011)
  Particularly
  • Morality isn't Just About "Morality"
• "Is Government Really Necessary?"
  (March 12, 2011)
  Particularly
  • Subsidiarity, Exercise of Power, and Government
  • Is There One 'Correct' Form of Government?
• "Public Officials with Ethical Standards: A Radical Idea For Today's America"
  (June 29, 2010)
• "Guinea, Military Rule, and Terrorism: Beware Hasty Judgment"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (December 29, 2008)

² Urban legends are "just plausible enough to be believed:"

"Definition: An apocryphal, secondhand story told as true and just plausible enough to be believed, about some horrific, embarrassing, ironic, or exasperating series of events that supposedly happened to a real person...."
(David Emery, About.com)

Depending on a person's assumptions, "Just plausible enough to be believed" could include the idea that Elvis Presley bought gas at the corner convenience store; the Dalai Lama is really Jack the Ripper, or that the Pope conspired with Adolph Hitler. (Dalai Lama?! I really don't think so, but we don't know what 'Jack the Ripper' looked like: and 'plausibility' is in the mind of the individual.)

³ A really quick review of Elvis Presley: for the benefit of folks who were born since, what? 1990? Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. He became a very popular American singer, and stayed that way for decades. He died on August 16, 1977. For a few decades after that, folks kept thinking they saw Elvis: at least, that's what it said on the covers of supermarket tabloids. The popularity of Elvis sightings may be on the wane now. I don't remember when I stopped noticing "ELVIS" routinely on my way to the grocery checkout.