Douthat gets it right

I haven't read Caritas in Veritate, but it's at the top of my list. Nonetheless, I recommend "The Audacity of the Pope," an op-ed piece written by Ross Douthat of The New York Times. The column, among other things, explains that the teaching of the Catholic Church doesn't fit neatly in either Republican or Democratic worldviews. It's not conservative or liberal. It's a bit of both.

But Catholics are obliged to take seriously the underlying provocation of the papal message — namely, that our present political alignments are not the only ones imaginable, and that truth may not be served by perfect ideological conformity.

It's refreshing to see this in a secular newspaper. I first read about the encycical in The New York Times. The story I read basically described Pope Benedict's writing as a socialist commentary that took the mandatory jabs at abortion and embryonic stem cell research. I was a little disappointed.

Then I read the coverage by Catholic News Service. Well, that really told a different story entirely. There I read a comprehensive, insightful account that explained, more or less, that the pope's lastest teaching had more to do with human dignity than with politics as such. When you start with the dignity of each person -- a Catholic social teaching does -- you put the happiness and just treatement of workers before your profit margin. And if you put the dignity of the human person first, you also don't perform abortions or destroy embryos for stem cells.

The encyclical, from everything I've read, is predictable in that it is a continuation and modern adaptation of orthodox Catholic social teaching. That Catholic News Service got it right is no suprise. In fact, it's reassuring to me as a Catholic journalist. When it comes to things Catholic, we are able to report more accurately because we report from within the Catholic frame of mind. It's not biased. It's more complete. It's not trying to make the pope's thoughts Democratic or Republican, conservative or liberal (a dichotomy to which secular media secums). It's letting the pope's thoughts be what they truly are: Catholic. It's about justice. It's about human dignity. It's about truth and it's about love.

It's so refreshing to find a secular journalist that gets it.

Made it through Mass

I brought my son to Mass at 5 p.m. tonight. He's a year and a half old or so, but already I've had all these proud father moments.

These days, Mass with my Lukas hasn't been fun. He'll be pretty into it until the homily, and then he'll freak out and want to walk around the place and steal purses and throw anything he can get his hands to the ground. Normally, I just put him up on my shoulders and walk back and forth at the back of the church. He pulls at my hair pretty hard, but hey, I think of it as mortification.

Tonight, he was an angel. We made it through the entire Mass without incident. The ladies behind us were charmed and he did his best impression of singing. At one point, while I was trying to show him how to pronounce words, he poked my teeth. He laughed.. quietly.

After Communion, we sat down and he started pointing toward the altar. "Dah-dah?" he said, which really means anything. I pointed at the tabernacle and told him, "There, that's the center of the Universe. God lives in there."

"Dah-dah?" he said, sure enough, pointing at the tabernacle. "Yes," I said.

If I do nothing else but pass along my belief in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, I will be happy as a father. Nothing has meant so much to me in my journey here as that.

A priest once said to me, and all the other teens going through confirmation with me, that the Eucharist is God and it doesn't matter if you believe it. He's there no matter what. It was such a relief. I'm not always up to the task, you know. It's a tough part of our faith — believing that this little wafer is God incarnate. Sometimes I'm distracted. What if I'm thinking about something else, you know? Did I leave the stove on?

It was such a nice thing to hear that it didn't depend on me. Which totally makes sense, doesn't it? I depend on God. But God is there despite my lack of faith. My prayer is that Lukas will come to believe in the presence of God in the Eucharist, that God humbles Himself and takes on the accidental form of the wafer and the wine everyday at every Mass around the world. If believes that, he can make it through anything. If he believes that, he'll help me keep believing, like all my sister and brother Catholics do when we come together for Mass. God is with us.

Allen misses target

Yesterday, The New York Times published a piece by John L. Allen, Jr., of The National Catholic Reporter, titled "The Pope's Real Message for Obama."

It's an insightful piece — what we've come to expect from Allen. He takes Dignitas Personae, which the Vatican released last week, as his point-of-departure. While many pro-life advocates, disappointed in the election, rejoiced, Allen writes that the Vatican's goal is more bridge building, less bridge burning.

"...the Vatican doesn’t want to be at loggerheads with Barack Obama, because it sees a range of matters where it’s more in sync with him than it has been with President Bush. On Dec. 3, for example, the Vatican simultaneously signed and ratified a new international treaty banning cluster bombs, a measure President Bush opposed — a reminder that Catholic social teaching and Republican politics are not always a match made in heaven."

Yet, Allen trips. In explaining the Vatican's position, he falls into the false dichotomy of American politics: either you're pro-life or you're pro-poor. He writes that Dignitas Personae was risky because it could encourage "the most ardent pro-life forces in America to let slip the dogs of war."

"Of course, many Catholic bishops and many ordinary Catholics in America believe that while Mr. Obama’s positions on abortion and stem cell research are troubling, there are also important areas of common ground," Allen writes.

Common ground? Maybe I'm being too critical here, but the dignity of the human person is the foundation for all Catholic social justice teaching, not just abortion. How could refining and restating the Church's steadfast defense of the dignity of all life possibly lead to discord on such issues as "banning cluster bombs" or caring for the poor? Those, too, are issue of human dignity.

I suppose it's because Allen is trying to explain the Vatican position to Americans that he uses American categories. But to really get at what the Church teaches is to recognize human dignity in the unborn, the poor, the undocumented, the elderly, the dying, the Republican and the Demorcat.

[The Church] reminds [the medical community] that the ethical value of biomedical science is gauged in reference to both the unconditional respect owed to every human being at every moment of his or her existence, and the defense of the specific character of the personal act which transmits life. — Dignitas Personae, §10

Further...

Respect for that dignity is owed to every human being because each one carries in an indelible way his own dignity and value. The origin of human life has its authentic context in marriage and in the family, where it is generated through an act which expresses the reciprocal love between a man and a woman. — §6

Let me put it another way: the Church believes that the disrespect of human life at conception leads to the disrespect of all life.

Allen says that the Vatican is searching for common ground — between eh... (I hate these categories) social justice and pro-life legislation. But that's just it. We have common ground. It's the dignity of the human person, Dignitas Personae. It begins at conception and never ends.

Sure, Dignitas Personae focuses on more typically "conservative" issues — like marriage and family life — but that's where respect for human dignity begins. I know that Allen knows this. I just wish he would have pointed it out to Times readers. Our faith leads us to a place beyond our American political categories. We should expect the same from our Catholic journalists.

Remind me to title this later

So, thanks to Dominican Brother Robert King, I believe, my "profile" has had more views here than anywhere. I actually don't blog that much on a personal level. Most of my blogs are part of my job. I'm the managing editor at The Catholic Sun, which serves the Diocese of Phoenix. (I hesitate to say I'm an editor anywhere because if I spell something wrong everyone laughs, and not with me either. But, for the sake of full disclosure...)

We (The Catholic Sun) started up a blog a few months back now, and we're all pretty new to it. But I'm scheduled to blog on Mondays there. This particular blogspot (dominicanjedi.blogspot.com) began as a consequence of downloading the relatively recent Flock browser. It's a "social networking" browser, which is really the last thing I need. But I do need another browser. My wife is constantly logged into her TWO gmail accounts, so if I'm going to get into anything, I needed another route.

So, part of this browser let's you instantly connect to all sorts of wastetimes. I'm now on Facebook — finally, something else to give up for Lent. I'm addicted already. Seriously. I'm sinking deeper and deeper into everydayness. And what's worse, I'm not particularly ashamed.

I began mourning my time at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology the day after I defended my thesis. I was there four years and I feel the time was sacred — not just for the courses, but for my fellow students. Yesterday, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I really wanted to tell someone, "So far as I can tell, that was the only thing St. Thomas was wrong about." But, alas! There was no one. No one to hear me talk about the difference between Blessed Scotus and St. Thomas on this matter. "What would bring greater glory to God?"

Well, I can tell you, I don't think it's having three personal blogs going (this one, here and here), none of which are updated with any regularity. What is it? Is it some obsession with pseudo celebrity, where what you do is "news" for your friends? And why do I feel a moment of happiness, albeit fleeting, when someone has commented on my Facebook page? Should I quit all of this and try reading more? Do I even need to ask myself these questions?

So, lay Dominican that I am, I begin to justify my blogs, my Facebook... Why, it's preaching in a way, isn't it JD? Sure it is. And it's community, too, that's for sure. And, well, in a way you can study other people's blogs. Oh! and you can even pray for the really pathetic individuals, can't you? Sure you can. And what else?

Well, I suppose you can get to know yourself better too. I only know myself in community. So there's that. Onward with the introspection/obsession! Blog on, brother, blog on.

Kermit the Frog: an inspiring journalist

Right now I'm watching "Kermit's Swamp Years" with my 16-month-old son.

In no small way, Kermit the frog inspired my career in journalism. His investigative report into Little Bo Peep and her missing sheep made me realize the importance of journalism. Also, his interview with "the Spider" who frightened Little Miss Muffett away — well, let's just say I knew to expect those tough interviews with sometimes scary, shady characters.

I've been watching more Sesame Street lately, and, I must say, it's still really good. But I can't help but miss Kermit the Frog's reporting. Some things just can't be replaced.

Check out YouTube for some archived reports. But make sure to grab a box of tissues. Kermit, we miss you.