Tom Faranda's Folly

Fr. Robert Barron on "Who is Jesus?"

The Catholic priest, creator of the Catholicism series of DVD/videos.

 

The Resurrection: Four Artists

I've did this same posting on Easter from 2009 to 2011, and then gave it a rest last year. I like it so much I'm "resurrecting" it. The original posting is one of the most visited on my blog.

What happens when an untalented barbarian like myself, is married to an artistic, creative,and talented person?

I post stuff like this for Easter:

Starting with Fra Angelica, around 1443. Oh, and it's now Blessed Fra Angelica

 

El Greco, 1577. One of my favorite painters, but what's with the Greek columns? Not one of his best -

 

Now, skipping a few centuries (past Rubens, YUK, etc) to some contemporary renderings

Arcabas (Jean Marie Pirot), 1998. Life not death, and a large painting. Compare the size with the altar and furniture.  Go here to learn about him:ARCABAS - Contemporary religious art museum

 

And the Chinese Christian painter He Qi  - Go here  - Art Works of He Qi .::About Artist::.

I love this. No banner; instead a lily. And check out the women.

 

Tim's outdoor track season off to a good start

The season is just getting underway and Tim started with a small meet at Iona last Saturday, and an 83' dicus throw. Only one foot off his personal record from last spring, so not bad.

Then on Wednesday he was at the "Tusker Twilight Invitational" at Somers HS, and again while a small meet, he came first at the JV level in the javelin, shot put, and discus. He was only one inch off his personal record in the shot put, and he PR'd at 89' in the discus. He missed winning the entire shot put event by 2 inches; a Somers senior edged him.

Here are a couple of his throws, first the discus (I let the tape run to hear the official giving the distance; you can just make out him saying "89 feet, even").

And here's his shot put toss - 38'2".

 

Good WSJ op ed: "The Easter Message of Religious Freedom"

The Bible's resurrection tales show us faith based on peaceful persuasion.

In all of the New Testament's resurrection accounts, the method of Jesus for winning hearts and minds—his emphasis on peaceful persuasion—couldn't be plainer. All depict the patience and kindness of God in the face of human doubt. Yet, in one of the tragic turning points in the history of the West, this biblical ideal was rejected. The church, imitating the Roman state under which it had suffered and ultimately thrived, soon endorsed the methods of Caesar: the use of imprisonment, torture or death to combat unbelief.

The church of the martyrs became the church of the Inquisition. Catholic thinkers as profound as Thomas Aquinas justified the use of violence to win converts and put down dissent. "Even if my own father were a heretic," declared Pope Paul IV, "I would gather the wood to burn him."

Protestants soon followed suit. Leaders such as John Calvin, with Bible in hand, used the power of the state to brutally enforce the new religious orthodoxy.

The advance of Christianity in the West brought with it many blessings: an ethos of compassion for children, the poor, the sick and the outcast. It established a basis for human dignity unknown in antiquity. Nevertheless, nearly everywhere the church went—whenever it encountered resistance or disbelief—a culture of suspicion and violence followed. Christian author C.S. Lewis once declared: "If ever the book which I am not going to write is written, it must be the full confession by Christendom of Christendom's specific contribution to the sum of human cruelty and treachery."

Hit the link for the full column.

Peggy Noonan: Pope Francis, "His combination of tradition and compassion may be just what the church needs."

Good column.

Noonan: Pope Francis Looks Outward

"If you take over a company your question is: 'Can I get people aligned together on a mission instead of going in different directions? Can I pull people together in a fundamental mission?' " He thinks some of the pope's "personal behaviors and example, which have been so winning," might help bridge divisions.

That may happen. Francis so far seems to embody the best hopes of both sides—for tradition but open for action, for the truth and for the poor. He may come to remind people that they have more in common than perhaps they understood.

Big depositors in Cyprus will be just about wiped out

Under 100,000 Euros and you're OK. Over 100,000 euros and everything over tht amount likely to be gone, in exchnage for stock in the banks !!

Big depositors in Cyprus to lose far more than feared

The toughening of the terms will send a clear signal that the bailout means the end of Cyprus as a hub for offshore finance and could accelerate economic decline on the island and bring steeper job losses.

Officials had previously spoken of a loss to big depositors of 30 to 40 percent.

Fr. Barron on "Why Was the Cross Necessary?"

It's good Friday and I am doing the Pax Christi Stations of the Cross through Manhattan today.

Fr. Robert Barron, the creator of the well-received video series Catholicism. A nice, balanced, analysis.

 

Here's a bearish outlook - even gold won't save you!

I guess invest in canned food and a water purifier?

It's the Swiss investor, Marc Faber opining -

Here's his explanation

When you print money, the money does not flow evenly into the economic system. It stays essentially in the financial service industry and among people that have access to these funds, mostly well-to-do people. It does not go to the worker. I just mentioned that it doesn't flow evenly into the system.

Now from time to time it will lift the NASDAQ like between 1997 and March 2000. Then it lifted home prices in the U.S. until 2007. Then it lifted the commodity prices in 2008 until July 2008 when the global economy was already in recession. More recently it has lifted selected emerging economies, stock markets in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, up four times from 2009 lows and now the U.S.

So we are creating bubbles and bubbles and bubbles. This bubble will come to an end. My concern is that we are going to have a systemic crisis where it is going to be very difficult to hide. Even in gold, it will be difficult to hide.

 

Grand Central Station today, at 12:30

Was in Manhattan today - and will be in tomorrow for the Pax Christi Stations of the Cross - and I always like the view from the top of the stairs on the west side of the building. Snapped this one shot with my phone.

 

A bachelor's degree: will get you a coffee shop job ...

But otherwise it's tough out there.

Here's a pretty good article from one of the few worthwhile writer's at Newsweek (avialable only online of course).

The number of jobs requiring high-skilled labor has declined.

Too many college kids are living in Mom's basement, or working at Starbucks.  Like most personal finance columnists, I get the letters from them: what do I do?  How do I fix this? For many, the answer is grad school.  But I get the letters from grad students too.  A while back, I found myself talking to a professor whose school has a number of impressive-sounding graduate programs that were originally conceived as add-ons for a professional degree in law or medicine or business.  They are now attracting a number of students who just go for the standalone degree.  He didn't understand what the career path was for these kids, and he wasn't sure that they did either.  

        "It sounds good, so they can persuade their parents to pay for it," he said, a touch guiltily. 

A new paper from Paul Beaudry, David Green, and Benjamin Sand argues that these worried kids--and their worried parents--are not just imagining things.  The phenomenon is all too real.  Skilled workers with higher degrees are increasingly ending up in lower-skilled jobs that don't really require a degree--and in the process, they're pushing unskilled workers out of the labor force altogether.

There's more - hit the link.

Are the BIG COMPANIES hoarding cash?

That's kind of the common assessment. Here's a contrary view on the Business Insider website.

Corporate Cash Hoarding Is A Myth

"When it comes to popular finance myths, cash hoarding by corporates may be one of the most perpetuated," he says.  "What's misguided is the narrative, in our view, in particular among equity investors. What we most take issue with is the implication that corporates have lots of cash to return to shareholders. Indeed, there's plenty of data to the contrary that challenges the prevailing notion that corporates are the picture of good health."

Zuckerman on the jobs situation

He gets it. An op ed in the Wall Street Journal. A former Obama supporter.

Mortimer Zuckerman: The Great Recession Has Been Followed by the Grand Illusion

The Great Recession is an apt name for America's current stagnation, but the present phase might also be called the Grand Illusion—because the happy talk and statistics that go with it, especially regarding jobs, give a rosier picture than the facts justify.

The country isn't really advancing. By comparison with earlier recessions, it is going backward. Despite the most stimulative fiscal policy in American history and a trillion-dollar expansion to the money supply, the economy over the last three years has been declining. After 2.4% annual growth rates in gross domestic product in 2010 and 2011, the economy slowed to 1.5% growth in 2012. Cumulative growth for the past 12 quarters was just 6.3%, the slowest of all 11 recessions since World War II.

******

February's headline unemployment rate was portrayed as 7.7%, down from 7.9% in January. The dip was accompanied by huzzahs in the news media claiming the improvement to be "outstanding" and "amazing." But if you account for the people who are excluded from that number—such as "discouraged workers" no longer looking for a job, involuntary part-time workers and others who are "marginally attached" to the labor force—then the real unemployment rate is somewhere between 14% and 15%

******

What the administration gives us is politics. What the country needs are constructive strategies free of ideology. But the risks of future economic shocks will multiply so long as we remain locked in a rancorous political culture with a leadership more inclined to public relations than hardheaded pragmatic recognition of what must be done to restore America's vitality.

Rugby: Seven tries from the Hong Kong 7's

Here is the final day, including the finals match between Wales and Fiji. Rugby: Hong Kong 7's, third day and finals

And some highlights of the tournament.

 

Under Armour - the story

Here's a pretty good video about one of the currently premier growth stocks in the country. I know a bit more than most about the company, because Eric Ogbogu, who is the guy leading the rally at about 2:30 in the video (you can see the whole original 30 sec. commercial - "Big E, we must protect this house!"), is a Stepinac graduate, who played football at U. of Maryland with the guy who founded the company (Ogbogu played eight years in the NFL after college, including four with the Jets). Under Armor sponsors a good deal of Stepinac sports. Tim has a couple of their shirts and a pair of cleats he won in a Stepinac football competition. It's not just hype; their stuff is premium priced, but quality.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Your car is sinking in water; what to do

The latest. I had posted a couple of videos way back in 2009 on this issue. Here and here

Happily, they all seem to agree. About 400 people a year drown in sinking cars.

 

Rugby: Hong Kong 7's, third day and finals

The next "marriage rights" battle: Polyamory

I'd never heard of Polyamory until I read the following short article in the Washington Post last night.

Polyamory is defined as “the practice of loving and relating intimately to more than one other person at a time.” Which sound a little like bigamy to me, but, whatever.

Many Unitarians would prefer that their polyamory activists keep quiet

The UUPA has received its share of attention over the years – a PBS interview, a San Francisco Chronicle article – but mostly it has caused anguish and dissent among Unitarians. In 2007, a Unitarian congregation in Chestertown, Md., heard a sermon by a poly activist named Kenneth Haslam, arguing that polyamory is the next frontier in the fight for sexual and marriage freedom. “Poly folks are strong believers that each of us should choose our own path in forming our families, forming relationships, and being authentic in our sexuality.”

And if you maintain a presupposition that people are free to define their own morality - he's right.

Of course, that presupposition is the debate, isn't it.

If you hit the link above or here Polyamory you will be at the wiki article, which includes all sorts of interesting things, such as the "poly pride flag" seen below -

Rand Paul: Says Congress is way behind what the American people want

I loved his filibuster over drones, but on some other issues - in my view not so hot.

 

Joe Weider

Fitness guru and business marketer.

Joe Weider, legendary bodybuilding and fitness icon, dies at 93

Here's what ArnoldSchwarzenegger had to say -

Statement on the Passing of Joe Weider

Today, I lost a dear friend and mentor, and the world lost one its strongest advocates of living a healthy lifestyle. Joe Weider was a titan in the fitness industry and one of the kindest men I have ever met.

I knew about Joe Weider long before I met him - he was the godfather of fitness who told all of us to "Be Somebody with a Body." He taught us that through hard work and training we could all be champions.  When I was a young boy in Austria, his muscle magazines provided me with the inspiration and the blueprint to push myself beyond my limits and imagine a much bigger future. I know that countless others around the world found motivation in the pages of his publications just as I did, but as I read his articles in Austria, I felt that he was speaking directly to me and I committed to move to America to make my vision of becoming the best bodybuilder, to live the American dream, and to become an actor a reality.

There's a bit more from Arnold if you hit the link.

 

How many Iraqis have died violently in the last ten years?

That is, since the liberation/invasion of Iraq? (And here's another post on the subject- Tom Friedman on Iraq, ten years later )

Here is the most credible source.

Iraq Body Count

The number is somewhere between 110,000 and 123,000 (However, information from wikileaks may drive this number higher).

They have published and/or linked to numerous credible studies. For instance this one, Casualties of suicide bombings in Iraq, 2003-2010 published inthe British medical journal, The Lancet.

The study reveals that at least 1003 suicide bombings caused civilian casualties in Iraq from 2003 to 2010. Despite their high frequency and devastating impact, this is the first time that their effects have been rigorously examined in their own right.

For the first time, researchers describe the impact of suicide bombs on both Coalition military forces and Iraqi civilians. They found that that the disparity between the numbers killed has been vastly different between the two cases, with 60 times as many civilians killed as soldiers (12,284 vs. 200). This disparity is extreme by any standard, and evidence that civilians are not just the "collateral damage" of suicide bombers in Iraq but an intended target.

 And by far, the profession that has suffered the most has been the police.

Ted Turner's son - CNN too leftist, he watches FOX

The son (of cours) of the founder of CNN.An amusing short interview. I watch FOX and CNN. One leans one way, and the other in the opposite direction, but neither is off the plantation the way MSNBC is.

And of course Ted Turner founded CNN.

A short interivew, in print and you can watch the vid.

Ted Turner's Son: CNN Is So Far Left I Mostly Watch FOX

Republican Teddy Turner, the son of media mogul Ted Turner, made news last month when he blamed his father's liberalism on actress Jane Fonda.

He made more news Wednesday on NewsMax TV's Steve Malzberg Show saying that CNN is "pretty much to the left" and that he has such a "hard time watching them" he mostly watches Fox

 

Rugby: Hong Kong 7's, second day

The new gene therapy for leukemia - very promising

This idea of turning on the person's own immune system to fight cancer has been considered the gold standard/promised land for cancer researchers.

The pretty much accepted theory today is that cancer is a failure of the immune system; we have abnormal cells in our body that are cleaned up by the immune system, but with cancer something happens to switch off the system, or the cancer cells are masked from being recognized by our system.

A treatment that genetically alters a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer has, for the first time, produced remissions in adults with an acute leukemia that is usually lethal, researchers are reporting.

Eight days later, his leukemia was gone. Even the doctors were shocked, Dr. Brentjens said. They repeated the lab tests just to make sure there was no mistake.

Once he was in remission, Mr. Aponte had a bone-marrow transplant, as did three of the other patients in the study. Another had medical problems that made a transplant impossible, and it was he who relapsed and died. The researchers think he may have relapsed because the steroids he needed to treat the cytokine storm may have wiped out the T-cells before they could do their job.

For the other patients, it is not known whether the transplants were really needed; in theory, the T-cells alone might have produced a long-term remission or even a cure. Patients treated at the University of Pennsylvania were not given transplants, and most have stayed in remission. But the technique used there involves a different viral vector and different genetic programming from the one at Sloan-Kettering.

In any case, Dr. Brentjens said, the T-cells are still experimental, whereas transplants are the standard of care in acute leukemia because they have been shown to give many patients the best odds of survival. So the transplants were done for ethical reasons. The study is continuing, and as more patients are treated, answers may emerge as to whether the T-cells alone will be enough for some patients.

Theoretically ?? it should be possible to learn how to turn on the immuned system for other types of cancers.

Krauthammer on Obamacare and the 2014 elections

He's probably right. Juan Williams looks stunned.

 

Rugby: Hong Kong Seven's, day one!

Two vids. First is the "Qualifying Round" for the smaller countries - including my old stomping ground, Jamaica.

Second one - the big guns.

Some upsets on the first day.

Fr. Barron ("Word on Fire" creator) on "the Non-Threatening Jesus"

This is an Easter commentary, from last Easter. An excellent nine minutes that gets better as it goes along.

 

Grim: Abortionist joked "This Baby Is Big Enough to Walk Around With Me or Walk Me to the Bus Stop"

This is pretty gruesome - testimony and pictures in the trial of Pennsylvania abortionist Gosnell, who is on trial for seven murders of babies and one woman.

Gosnell, 72, who ran a multi-million dollar abortion business in West Philadelphia, was arrested on Jan. 19, 2011, and his trial started Monday, Mar. 18, 2013. The first-degree murder counts refer to seven late-term aborted babies who were born alive and then killed, their spinal cords cut with scissors.

In testimony on Monday, Adrienne Moton, who used to work for Gosnell at the Women’s Medical Society in West Philadelphia, said she recalled one baby – “Baby Boy A” – who was aborted  in July 2008. Baby A was so large, Moton took a photo of the child with her cell phone before Gosnell took the baby out of the room.

"I just saw a big baby boy. He had that color, that color that a baby has," Moton said in court. "I just felt he could have had a chance. … He could have been born any day.”

In the grand jury report from Jan. 19, 2011, it states that Baby Boy A was born to a 17-year-old girl who went to Gosnell’s office with her aunt.  Gosnell charged $2,500 for the abortion. An ultrasound conducted by Kareema Cross, who worked for Gosnell, “recorded a gestational age of 29.4 weeks,” according to the report, or about 7.5 months pregnant.

The 17-year-old girl was given the drug Cyotec to induce labor and was also “heavily sedated” over a period of 13 hours. “Eventually she gave birth to a large baby boy” and “Cross estimated that the baby was 18-19 inches long,” reads the report.

It continues: “After the baby was expelled, Cross noticed that he was breathing, though not for long. After about 10 to 20 seconds, while the mother was asleep, ‘the doctor just slit the neck,’ said Cross. Gosnell put the boy’s body in a shoebox. Cross described the baby as so big that his feet and arms hung out over the sides of the container. Cross said that she saw the baby move after his neck was cut, and after the doctor placed it in the shoebox. Gosnell told her, ‘it’s the baby’s reflexes. It’s not really moving.’”

This is rich.

Gosnell has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Jack McMahon, said the district attorney’s office was engaging in “a prosecutorial lynching” of his client. In the court room on Tuesday, McMahon told the jurors, “This is a targeted, elitist and racist prosecution of a doctor who’s done nothing but give [back] to the poor and the people of West Philadelphia.”

There's more, including three pictures, if you hit the link above.

And here's coverage on FOX -

 

Tom Friedman on Iraq, ten years later

Friedman - the NY Times foreign affairs op-ed columnist - wrote very eloquently after 9/11 and supported the Iraq liberation/invasion.

Since then, he's frequently degenerated into gloppo-whip left wing stuff/nonsense (after all, his audience is NY Times readers) but this is an excellent column.

Democrats, Dragons or Drones?

If Iraqis could demonstrate that, once their dictator was removed, the constituent communities of Iraq (Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkmen, Christians) could forge their own social contract for living together peacefully — rather than being ruled brutally from the top down — then some kind of democratic future was possible throughout the Arab world.

That possibility is yet to be fulfilled. We toppled the dictator in Iraq. The people have done the same in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and, soon, Syria, but the same questions hang over all of them: Can they produce stable, decent, representative governments? Can Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians — or secularists and Islamists — live together as citizens and share power? If so, democratic politics has a future in this region. If not, the future will be a Hobbesian nightmare, where the iron-fisted dictators are removed but are replaced by rival sects, gangs and tribes, making impossible the decent governance needed for human development for millions of Arabs.

How the New York tunnelworker was saved

This near tragedy occurred a couple of days ago.

Saved by massive manpower, and machines. No doubt with a healthy dose of prayer.

To Save a Man's Life, a Muddy Tug of War With the Earth Itself

Battalion Chief Donald F. Hayde, who directed the rescue for the Fire Department, said he had never confronted a more daunting rescue, noting that around 150 emergency workers were called to the scene.

More Cyprus mess

Already posted about this here -  WSJ: "The Cyprus Bailout" - bank deposit insurance means nothing

Now this -

EU Gives Cyprus Bailout Ultimatum

The problem is, they have no real Plan B since the rejection of:

But although conservative President Nicos Anastasiades struck a deal last weekend in Brussels, it was unanimously rejected by parliament on Tuesday. While EU lenders, notably Germany, wanted uninsured bank depositors to help ease banks' debts, Cyprus feared for its future reputation as an offshore banking haven and planned to spread the tax also to small savers whose deposits under 100,000 were covered by state insurance.

Lovely short column in WaPo: "A Franciscan Jesuit for pope"

Written by a teacher at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA and published about a week ago. My opinion of Holy Cross has gone up a notch.

What can we make of the Argentine Jesuit pope who has chosen the name Francis?

Jesuits and Franciscans are both Catholic, but they do represent different forms of Catholic spirituality. In times past, the Jesuits and Franciscans have also had their share of disagreements—over mission territory, over involvement in secular affairs and over the finer points of theology.

Jesuits are celebrated for their complexity; Franciscans are admired for their simplicity.

Jesuit spirituality values discernment and decision-making, and a prayerful consideration of possibilities and choices. It is a way that emphasizes detachment from the passions.

Franciscan spirituality embraces an ethos of sharing, a sharing not just of possessions, but also of love and experience. It is a way recognizes our reliance on the mercy of God.

Jesuits, of course, have a well-deserved reputation as the intellectuals of the church—a quality that finds expression not just through teaching and research, but also through organizing and institution building. Franciscans are accustomed to expressing themselves in less discursive ways: through labor, through charity, and through other examples of what Catholics call corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

It’s easy to make too much of these differences. Many Jesuits have embraced poverty and lives of hidden service; and many Franciscans are keen theologians and brilliant thinkers.

But most importantly, Jesuit and Franciscan spiritualities converge on the person of Jesus Christ.

There's a bit more; hit the link.

Terrible news about my next door neighbor

We just found out this evening, when her son came over and told us.

Just a wonderful person. We are devastated.

Phelps Memorial volunteer, 81, struck by hospital truck, dies

The Cuomo family explains Catholicism for Pope Francis

This was covered by lots of media outlets including the NYT.

This is from Crain's -

Cuomo kin say nope to Pope

The Roman Catholic family of Gov. Andrew Cuomo said they were discouraged by the choice of the traditionalist Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the church's new Pope.

"I don't think he's what we need right now in the Catholic church," said Madeline Cuomo, Mr. Cuomo's younger sister. "We're looking to move the church forward, with gay marriage and women priests. He's going to turn back the clock."

******

On a personal level, the new pope scored high marks with the former governor. But on policy, the elder Mr. Cuomo said he took issue with the new leader of the Catholic church. "It's hard not to love this new pope right from the beginning, especially when you hear how he's lived," Mr. Cuomo said. "He's as saintly a pope as we've ever had. On the other hand, there are many parts of the church that need mending and everybody understands that. This pope has not had an opportunity to do that kind of work.

"The way he's lived has been simple and admirable, but it has not taught him how to deal with the high pressure of huge problems in the church," he said. "The whole question of women, the question of marriage—not even the question of same sex marriage which is a recent development—but the whole idea of priests not being allowed to be married. That's led to a lot of unhappy relationships and ugly relationships by people who are basically sick. That's something this new pope will have to deal with."

And here's columnist Wes Pruden, who also discussed the Cuomo's, as well as the puzzlement in the highest levels of liberalism that a relic such as Francis could be named Pope -

The Associated Press, perhaps being deliberately provocative, suggests that the election of Francis might have been, if not illegal, at least offensive to “international standards for the election of a world leader.” The Associated Press man at the State Department asked the department spokesman whether she “thinks the election of the pope was OK. [Does it meet] the free and fairness standard? No, I’m curious. I mean, and with all due respect. I’m not accusing the Vatican of doing anything improper, but you seem to take issue with theocracies in places like Iran, and you celebrate the theocracy in the Vatican.”

This exchange followed:

The State Department flack: “He is the head of the [Catholic] church.”

The reporter persisted: “Is it then correct that the United States does not take a position on whether the election of the pope was free and fair and transparent? Without universal suffrage . . . ”

The State Department spokesman, after further research, returned to the podium to say that since the government regards Vatican City a sovereign juridical state, if a request from the international organization monitoring elections were to “come forward, we would take it very seriously.”

Bill Maher just figured out he's being hosed by the government

When you lose Bill Maher ...

 

Text of the Pope's Inaugural Mass homily

Takes about five minutes to read.

"Let Us Be "Protectors" of Creation, Not Allowing Omens of Destruction and Death to Accompany Our World's Journey "

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude.

I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops, the priests, deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities, as well as the representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious communities, for their presence. My cordial greetings go to the Heads of State and Government, the members of the official Delegations from many countries throughout the world, and the Diplomatic Corps.

In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: “Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model” (Redemptoris Custos, 1).

How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.

How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!

The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!

Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women.

Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!

Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!

Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!

In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, “hoping against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God.

To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us!

I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen.

WSJ: "The Cyprus Bailout" - bank deposit insurance means nothing

Amazing. Yes it's not impossible that something like this could happen here.

Europe rescues Russian depositors at the expense of small savers.

Cyprus is finally getting a bailout, and what an instant classic of euro-crisis dysfunction it is. Nine months after Nicosia first requested a rescue, the deal that emerged Saturday is slapdash, short-sighted and manhandled by politics.

The novelty of Saturday's deal is that, for the first time in the euro crisis, depositors will contribute to the cost of recapitalizing banks. As we went to press, the plan was for Nicosia to extract €5.8 billion via a one-off 9.9% "stability levy" on deposits larger than €100,000 and a 6.75% levy on deposits smaller than that. The International Monetary Fund will pitch in €1 billion, and the European Stability Mechanism lends the rest, for a total of €10 billion.

Got that? The depositors are having their money taken from them (confiscated).

... Saturday's decision to bite both large and small depositors was guided more by Cypriot politics than by German pressure or economic logic. Nicosia presumably wished to minimize the burden on large depositors, many of them Russian, so as not to derail progress on renegotiating a €2.5 billion loan from Moscow. Nicosia also fears scaring away offshore cash that has flowed in to take advantage of its weak money-laundering enforcement. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said as much on Friday, declaring that he couldn't have accepted a double-digit levy on large depositors.

Offshore money, as in Russian organized crime money.

But by apparently sparing senior bank bondholders, the euro zone has again shown that no principle is above political meddling. The cleaner solution would have been a 20% haircut on deposits over €100,000, with writedowns on all bank debt. This would have respected creditor hierarchy and, by not trampling on deposit insurance, honored the rule of law.

Cyprus (small potatoes in the big picture ...) sets a precedent that deposit insurance is, uhhh negotiable.

 

Amusing: "Paper is not Dead"

HA!

 

Le papier ne sera jamais mort / Paper is not dead on influencia.net ! from INfluencia on Vimeo.

Rugby: Wales vs. England for 6 Nations Championship

Very good game, especially 2nd half (if your Welsh). Problem through the tournament was scrummaging - the time it takes to get them set, and the game going again, plus the number of scrum penalties is really badly affecting the continuity of the matches.

Immediately after the Welsh drop goal in the second half - watch the non-tackle by England #21 - the replacement scrum-half - and the result.

 

No kidding - quality healthcare via your smartphone!?

This NBC feature was sent to me by my friend Ellen.

Really hard to believe - and quite amazing to me.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Pope warns against “the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.”

This won't sit well with some people.

“Anyone who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil,” Francis said, quoting Leon Bloy, a French writer who died in 1917, and who converted from agnosticism to Catholicism.

When he said Mass for the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Thursday, newly elected Pope Francis I warned these princes of the church against professing what he called “the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.”

“Anyone who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil,” Francis said, quoting Leon Bloy, a French writer who died in 1917, and who converted from agnosticism to Catholicism.

“When we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly: we may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord,” the pope told the cardinals.

Here's the text of his homily - and it's quite short.

The Pope meets the press & how he chose his name

Two short videos of the same event -

The Telegraph (UK)

 

And the Vatican -

NY Times on ex-Yankee Jason Giambi

Nice article - he's still playing, at age 42.

Giambi Reinvents Himself, and Baseball Is Intrigued

Jason Giambi, elder statesman. How can this be? The Big G? The man who swung big and lived bigger? The scamp with the dancing eyes, loose ethics and a bawdy tale for all occasions?

“Like anything, you grow up,” Giambi said the other morning, in the Cleveland Indians’ locker room, after a day at home in Las Vegas. “I still have fun. I mean, it’s a lot different fun than I used to have.”

Half of the major league teams train in Arizona, and Giambi is the oldest player out here. Two pitchers in Florida camps, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees and Darren Oliver of the Toronto Blue Jays, are older. Giambi is the dean of the Cactus League. He turned 42 on Jan. 8 — Elvis Presley’s birthday, naturally.

Giambi hopes to make the Indians’ roster as a pinch-hitter and occasional designated hitter, the kind of bench player his old general manager with the Yankees, Brian Cashman, calls a big, hairy monster. Two years ago, Giambi hit 10 home runs in 99 at-bats against right-handers. He still has pop, probably. He definitely has wisdom.

“He’s not a veteran, he’s the veteran,” Manager Terry Francona said. “I’ve already gone to him three or four times asking him questions. He’s solid. Brings a lot.”

There's more - good article if you like baseball. Just hit the link.

Pope uses new term (for me); "coprophilia". Here's what it means

Hmmm, sounds like the Pope in some ways is a regular dude. This is off the Business Insider website.

Pope Says Journalists Risk 'Becoming Ill From Coprophilia'

Here's Pope Francis's response to a question about the Curia:

“I see it as a body that gives service, a body that helps me and serves me. Sometimes negative news does come out, but it is often exaggerated and manipulated to spread scandal.

“Journalists sometimes risk becoming ill from coprophilia and thus fomenting coprophagia: which is a sin that taints all men and women, that is, the tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive aspects.

“The Roman Curia has its down sides, but I think that too much emphasis is placed on its negative aspects and not enough on the holiness of the numerous consecrated and lay people who work in it.”

If you are unfamilier with the words "coprophilia" and "coprophagia", here are definitions from Merriam Webster:

COPROPHILIA : marked interest in excrement; especially : the use of feces or filth for sexual excitement — cop·ro·phil·i·ac - noun

COPROPHAGOUS : feeding on dung — co·proph·a·gy - noun

So basically, Pope Francis is saying that journalists who talk s--- about the Catholic Church's bureaucracy run the risk of eating s---. Perhaps a fair point.

A lucky skydiver

Jesuit Superior General's statement on the election of the first Jesuit to the Papacy

From the Jesuit magazine, America.

Statement from the Jesuit Superior General on the Election of Pope Francis

In the name of the Society of Jesus, I give thanks to God for the election of our new Pope, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, S.J., which opens for the Church a path full of hope.

All of us Jesuits accompany with our prayers our brother and we thank him for his generosity in accepting the responsibility of guiding the Church at this crucial time. The name of "Francis" by which we shall now know him evokes for us the Holy Father's evangelical spirit of closeness to the poor, his identification with simple people, and his commitment to the renewal of the Church. From the very first moment in which he appeared before the people of God, he gave visible witness to his simplicity, his humility, his pastoral experience and his spiritual depth.

"The distinguishing mark of our Society is that it is . . . a companionship . . . bound to the Roman Pontiff by a special bond of love and service." (Complementary Norms, No. 2, § 2) Thus, we share the joy of the whole Church, and at the same time, wish to express our renewed availability to be sent into the vineyard of the Lord, according to the spirit of our special vow of obedience, that so distinctively unites us with the Holy Father (General Congregation 35, Decree 1, No. 17).

P. Adolfo Nicolás S.J.

Superior General

Rome, 14 March 2013

George Weigel: "the First American Pope"

Weigel is a Catholic intellectual (he's been a contributor during the Conclave on NBC and MSNBC) and the best-known english language biographer of John Paul II.

This is a medium length column posted on NRO. Worth reading (takes 10 minutes) if you're interested in the new pope, as well as some stuff on the last Conclave that resulted in the election of Benedict XVI.

Catholicism’s turn into an evangelical future

In our May 2012 conversation, the man who would become pope discussed at some length the importance of the Latin American bishops’ 2007 “Aparecida Document,” the fruit of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. The essential message of that revolutionary statement (in which there was not the least bit of whining about Protestant “sheep-stealing” but rather a clear acknowledgment of Catholicism’s own evangelical deficiencies in Latin America) can be gleaned from this brief passage, which I adopted as one of the epigraphs for my book, Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church:

The Church is called to a deep and profound rethinking of its mission. . . . It cannot retreat in response to those who see only confusion, dangers, and threats. . . . What is required is confirming, renewing, and revitalizing the newness of the Gospel . . . out of a personal and community encounter with Jesus Christ that raises up disciples and missionaries. . . . 

A Catholic faith reduced to mere baggage, to a collection of rules and prohibitions, to fragmented devotional practices, to selective and partial adherence to the truths of faith, to occasional participation in some sacraments, to the repetition of doctrinal principles, to bland or nervous moralizing, that does not convert the life of the baptized would not withstand the trials of time. . . . We must all start again from Christ, recognizing [with Pope Benedict XVI] that “being Christian is . . . the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”

Here's the New Rochelle HS miracle game-ending basketball shot

To quote Marv Albert, "YES!"

 

Lively exchange on gun control between Senators Cruz and Feinstein

Pretty interesting; I don't think either "won." The Judiciary Committee passed (on a party line vote) and sent to the full Senate Feinstein's gun control legislation. (So I guess she ultimately "won".

 

Here's Pope Francis new wikipedia entry & some excerpts

Interesting stuff or course, but with it just out, it's possible there's some built-in bias.

Pope Francis

Here's stuff from the wikipedia regarding the Pope's statements on various moral issues. 

Poverty and economic inequality

At a meeting of Latin American bishops in 2007 Bergoglio said "[w]e live in the most unequal part of the world, which has grown the most yet reduced misery the least" and that "[t]he unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers".^[52] On 30 September 2009, Bergoglio spoke at a conference organized by the Argentina City Postgraduate School (EPOCA) at the Alvear Palace Hotel titled "Las deudas sociales de nuestro tiempo" ("The Social Debts of Our Time") in which he quoted the 1992 "Documento de Santo Domingo"^[53] by the Latin American Episcopal Conference, saying "extreme poverty and unjust economic structures that cause great inequalities" are violations of human rights.^[54][55] He went on to describe social debt as "immoral, unjust and illegitimate".^[56]

During a 48-hour public servant strike in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio observed the differences between "poor people who are persecuted for demanding work, and rich people who are applauded for fleeing from justice".^[57] During a May 2010 speech in Argentina regarding the poor, he directed his message to the wealthy by saying: "You avoid taking into account the poor. We have no right to duck down, to lower the arms carried by those in despair. We must reclaim the memory of our country who has a mother, recover the memory of our Mother".^[58]

Vulnerable people

In 2007, Bergoglio denounced what he characterized as a cultural tolerance of child abuse and "discarding of the elderly". He spoke strongly against the abuse of children as "demographic terrorism" and decried their exploitation. "Children are mistreated, and are not educated or fed. Many are made into prostitutes and exploited" and against a "culture of discarding" the elderly and treating them as if they are disposable and worthless.^[33]

Doctrinal compliance on abortion, euthanasia, and contraception

In 2007, as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio presented the final version of a joint statement of the bishops of Latin America – the "Aparecida Document" – upon its approval by Pope Benedict XVI. Among several hundred conclusions, the document links worthiness to receive the Eucharist to compliance and acceptance of Church teaching against "abominable crimes" such as abortion and euthanasia:^{[33][59][60][61]}

"We hope that legislators, heads of government, and health professionals, conscious of the dignity of human life and of the rootedness of the family in our peoples, will defend and protect it from the abominable crimes of abortion and euthanasia; that is their responsibility ... We should commit ourselves to 'eucharistic coherence', that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive Holy Communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated. This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals."

Bergoglio has also encouraged his clergy and laity to oppose both abortion and euthanasia, describing the pro-choice movement as a "culture of death",^[62] and had opposed the free distribution of contraceptives in Argentina.^[63]

An important study on overian cancer treatment

An excellent article in the NY Times. Really very important, since most ovarian cancer is not caught early. Well worth reading the entire piece.

The conclusion: go to a major cancer center for ovarian tumors.

"Widespread Flaws Found in Ovarian Cancer Treatment"

“If we could just make sure that women get to the people who are trained to take care of them, the impact would be much greater than that of any new chemotherapy drug or biological agent,” said Dr. Robert E. Bristow, the director of gynecologic oncology at the University of California, Irvine, and lead author of the new study presented on Monday at a meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology in Los Angeles.

The study found that only a little more than a third of patients received the best possible care, confirming a troubling pattern that other studies have also documented.

******

What works best is meticulous, extensive surgery and aggressive chemotherapy. Ovarian cancer spreads inside the abdomen, and studies have shown that survival improves if women have surgery called debulking, to remove all visible traces of the disease. Taking out as much cancer as possible gives the drugs a better chance of killing whatever is left. The surgery may involve removing the spleen, parts of the intestine, stomach and other organs, as well as the reproductive system.

The operations should be done by gynecologic oncologists, said Dr. Deborah Armstrong of Johns Hopkins University, who is not a surgeon. But many women, she said, are operated on by general surgeons and gynecologists.

And there's more - hit the link above.