tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33117522024-03-07T00:54:27.903-08:00Minute ParticularsMinute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comBlogger799125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-80220233812198813962011-05-10T21:05:00.001-07:002011-05-10T21:05:43.842-07:00Hey, this thing still works.Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1091486627762372692004-08-02T13:56:00.000-07:002004-08-02T15:43:47.763-07:00 OUR SECOND CHILD
My wife and I were blessed with the birth of our second child, a beautiful girl, last week. Mom, baby, and big brother are all doing very well. Dad too.
Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1090387482989894282004-07-20T22:19:00.000-07:002004-07-20T23:12:21.696-07:00I'M NOT SORRY
Did you know that there is an "I'm Not Sorry" movement that encourages women to speak publicly and proudly about having had an abortion? I learned of this from this recent article (via After Abortion) which hints at the purpose of such public proclamations (and seems to mention the very same "selective reduction" of triplets in the post below): It's time to tap into the Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1090381356408632292004-07-20T20:38:00.000-07:002004-07-20T20:42:36.406-07:00 DARKENED CONSCIENCE
I initially didn't post about this eugenics article in the NYTimes a month ago because I thought there must be some intended irony that I missed. But when the NYTimes again ran a story (see below post) about eugenics without even a hint of irony or trepidation by those involved (I only get the Sunday edition so perhaps I missed others), I began to wonder what was Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1090363456970882122004-07-20T15:34:00.000-07:002004-07-21T16:51:39.883-07:00A SHOT OF POTASSIUM CHLORIDE
Probably stories that really happened with real characters and real dialogue are often submitted and published as thinly-disguised fiction. I wonder how often such accounts get rejected by an editor as, ironically, unrealistic and contrived? For example, how do you think an editor might react to the following actual dialogue and narration if it Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089935176414269632004-07-15T16:41:00.000-07:002004-07-15T16:54:19.740-07:00THE GREATEST DANGER WE FACE
I'm hesitant to comment on blurbs I've read from an article I haven't (it requires a subscription). So let's just take the "money quote," the quote (via NRO) that most people who have read the full article cite, in isolation and assume it's out of context and a distortion of the author's true intent. Let's just make it a hypothetical statement: The great Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089821233800708732004-07-14T09:04:00.000-07:002004-07-14T09:07:13.800-07:00 BY FAITH ALONE
Ales Rarus linked to this post which linked to this article on the pervasive false assumptions many make with regard to the Church and Galileo: Galileo's condemnation was certainly unjust, but in no way impugns the infallibility of Catholic dogma. Heliocentricism was never declared a heresy by either ex cathedra pronouncement or an ecumenical council. And as the Pontifical Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089760546219433912004-07-13T16:15:00.000-07:002004-07-13T23:11:31.246-07:00 THEN WHAT?
This remark (via Open Book) by a professed Catholic politician, highlights something I haven't seen discussed much. When asked what he would do "if a priest refused him communion," Rep. William Lacy Clay, "a St. Louis Democrat who favors abortion rights" replied: "I would stand there."
Then what? Do ushers wrestle him to the ground and remove him? Do his fellow parishioners Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089760479835762672004-07-13T16:11:00.000-07:002004-07-13T16:14:39.836-07:00 RIDICULE, REASON, AND REVELATION, ii
Fr. Jim of Dappled Things has a post about arguments for Zionism (or against anti-Zionism) that raises an important point:But if people are going to make a moral argument for Zionism (or against anti-Zionism), then it's going to have to be based on principles that everyone shares and not just "God told me so" or guilt by association.This seems a sensible Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089665584209573832004-07-12T13:52:00.000-07:002004-07-12T13:55:59.683-07:00 NATURAL LAW
Aquinas's Treatise on Law examines natural law quite extensively. Here, in my opinion, is the heart of what is traditionally meant by natural law, from Aquinas's ST 1a2ae 94, 2 resp.: [T]he precepts of the natural law are to the practical reason, what the first principles of demonstrations are to the speculative reason; because both are self-evident principles. Now a thing is saidMinute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089665527421617912004-07-12T13:35:00.000-07:002004-07-12T13:57:59.616-07:00 RIDICULE, REASON, AND REVELATION
Camassia has some fine thoughts, comments, and links on the issue of legislating morality. She links to an interesting post by Clifton that raises a number of important issues about legislating morality:The law is not mere convention--though clearly there are conventional aspects to the law. The law is much more powerful than that, as Plato, Aristotle and many Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089345671924165242004-07-08T20:54:00.000-07:002004-07-08T21:01:11.923-07:00 ONE MUST FIRST ANSWER
As I stated in the previous post, I really do think most people think most abortions are morally repugnant. And I suggested that the political debate really ought to be about legislating abortion rather than the morality of abortion. But, of course, there are plenty of influential people who hold that abortion is not morally problematic. And issues like the much touted Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089344174512721642004-07-08T20:06:00.000-07:002004-07-08T20:36:14.513-07:00 LEGISLATING MORALITY
This report generated a lot of buzz from bloggers:A Catholic who supports abortion rights and has taken heat recently from some in the church hierarchy for his stance, Kerry told the paper, "I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception."I am not pro-choice and have never understood the appeal. But I do think there is a Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1089046894098262372004-07-05T09:47:00.000-07:002004-07-05T14:34:29.170-07:00 RUNNING AROUND A CLEAR STATEMENT
Perhaps I'm obtuse. Here's what I thought was a pretty clear statement: Therefore, by the authority which Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors, in communion with the Bishops-who on various occasions have condemned abortion and who in the aforementioned consultation, albeit dispersed throughout the world, have shown unanimous agreement concerning Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1088783307810168812004-07-02T08:40:00.000-07:002004-07-02T08:49:32.376-07:00 NEARLY 400 YEARS LATER
"Here, in a text explaining his discovery of what would later be understood as Saturn's rings, Galileo gives us two simple line drawings." 1613
"Taken on May 7, 2004 from a distance of 28.2 million kilometers (17.6 million miles) from Saturn."
The pictures from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan are spectacular.
Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1088723931941397552004-07-01T16:18:00.000-07:002004-07-01T16:18:51.940-07:00 WHILE THEY ARE BEING HONEST
TSO has done a very fine job with a new Flannery O'Connor blog. There are already some superb quotes, including:To love people you have to ignore a good deal of what they say while they are being honest, because you are not living in the Garden of Eden any longer.
Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1088723583501193692004-07-01T16:06:00.000-07:002004-07-01T16:23:53.550-07:00 THERE'S COOPERATION AND THERE'S COOPERATION
I should probably get into the habit of checking the "Latest News" section of the USCCB site. The last time I checked, this (via Santificarnos) list of interim reports wasn't available, though the main report was.
Here is, I think, an important section from one interim report:It is important to note that Cardinal Ratzinger makes a clear distinctionMinute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1087962559544180422004-06-22T20:47:00.000-07:002004-06-23T00:49:59.316-07:00 ANOTHER 390 WORDS
Catholics in Political Life is the most recent statement from the USCCB about, uh, Catholics in political life. I think it's interesting and, if I may say so, appropriate that the bishops have left the decision about how best to respond to professed Catholics who publicly disagree with Church Teaching to each bishop:The question has been raised as to whether the denial of Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1087962371632091602004-06-22T20:44:00.000-07:002004-06-23T00:48:48.306-07:00 THE FAMILIES THEY CHOOSE
Please answer the following:The slogan:Planned Parenthood helps women and men have the families they choose.isa) a pro-life statement mocking the eugenic philosophy behind Planned Parenthood
b) a Planned Parenthood approved and promoted sloganNow, I'm really not trying to be cute. I think I would have guessed "a" if I had come upon the slogan without any context. It Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1087614354975584982004-06-18T20:04:00.000-07:002004-06-19T08:19:23.266-07:00 FINE DISTINCTIONS
Here (via Disputations) is an interesting interview with Cardinal Georges Cottier. As I mentioned in a comment to the post on Disputations, I found the following bit especially challenging:The refusal to distinguish what is distinct leads to confusion and denies what maybe you wanted to defend in the first place. If everything is grace, then grace is no more. One of the Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1087613478421654082004-06-18T19:46:00.000-07:002004-06-18T19:54:27.386-07:00 BEING AGAINST IT
There's an old joke that goes something like this:A couple who run a farm can no longer go to Mass together because someone must remain on the farm at all times and they no longer have any help. So they decide to go at different times. After a few weeks of this, the wife starts to think the husband might be heading to the pub rather than Mass each Sunday.
The following Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1087600989271672892004-06-18T16:21:00.000-07:002004-06-18T19:41:05.160-07:00 TIME TO SLAP A MOESTEIN ON MY DRIVEL
Ha! I had a little post about atheism that I was going to plop onto the blog one of these days. But after reading this eloquent post I think I'll just slap a Moestein on my silly musings and move on. This was particularly nice:Faith that can be demonstrated from reason is not faith. The atheist and the Christian agree that the Christian faith cannot be Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1086972104405750362004-06-11T09:32:00.000-07:002004-06-11T09:41:44.406-07:00 TALKING THE TALK AND WALKING THE WALK
For me, this story presents the most explicit challenge to me about the morality of torture:Gäfgen kidnapped Jakob von Metzler on Sept. 27, 2002, as the boy was on his way home from school. The same day he suffocated Metzler, he demanded €1 million from the Metzler family for the boy's release, which they paid. The police, who had been observing Gäfgen forMinute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1086938579529263702004-06-11T00:21:00.000-07:002004-06-11T09:31:19.926-07:00 TORTURE AND THE LIVING TRUTH
That anyone might argue that in some circumstances torture would not be condemned by the Church is unbelievable. Tom of Disputations stomps out this lunacy in a recent post (scroll up for additional posts). What concerns me about those who think there are exceptions to using torture in Church Teaching, though, is that they seem to appeal to the ink (or pixels) of Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3311752.post-1086938124275108892004-06-10T22:51:00.000-07:002004-06-11T09:22:44.503-07:00 GOING TOO FAR
Timothy Radcliffe, OP is a former Master of the Order of Preachers. He was the 86th successor of St. Dominic. I've heard him preach, I've read quite a few of his homilies, and I've enjoyed a recent book of his. I, as if it could really matter, find his life and insights remarkable. I mention this because this purports to be the text of a recent homily of his (I say "purports to Minute Particularshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01675244716897112864noreply@blogger.com