Phantom Part I

Here's a link to the post Phantom Part II
Here's a link to the post Phantom Part III
Here's a link to the post Phantom Part IV

I just watched the 2013 movie Phantom with David Duchovny and Ed Harris. ***Spoilers Alert*** It was about ("based on") a Soviet submarine during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1950's) that was captained by Ed Harris' character and had a secret mission, using the Phantom, that was to be supervised by David Duchovny's character.

This post is about Ed Harris' character who had a very heavy burden that he continued to carry from an earlier captain position. In that former sub tour as captain, he ordered a risky sub maneuver that made him lock some of his crew in an isolated compartment that resulted in their deaths.

This tactic, that should have made him loose his rank or worse, was covered-up because his father was a high leader in Soviet party leadership. Nevertheless, he kept his rank and was given another (secret) mission as Captain in the movie.

He never forgot the mistake he made in pride (the risky sub maneuver) which resulted in giving the order that killed his men.

Before he and his crew are sent on this secret Phantom mission, one of his crew was married in a Russian Orthodox church with the Captain as a witness. After the vows were taken, the Russian Orthodox Priest and the Captain, who had known each other since his marriage, talked.

Russian Orthodox Priest: You wonder why He’s silent and you have so many questions.
Captain: It was always, pretty much, a one way conversation.
…
Priest: It’s as much about what He hears as what He says. Would you like to make a confession?
(Pause)
Captain: Confession for what? Thank you Father.

The Captain could not bring himself to admit that he made a mistake in pride. His conscience did not recognize the sin.

This was from where the idea from Pope Pius XII came that "the sin of the [20th] century is the loss of the sense of sin."

Pope Paul II expands on this idea in an apostolic exhortation:

Nevertheless, it happens not infrequently in history, for more or less lengthy periods and under the influence of many different factors, that the moral conscience of many people becomes seriously clouded. "Have we the right idea of conscience?"-I asked two years ago in an address to the faithful" Is it not true that modern man is threatened by an eclipse of conscience? By a deformation of conscience? By a numbness or 'deadening' of conscience," Too many signs indicate that such an eclipse exists in our time. This is all the more disturbing in that conscience, defined by the council as "the most secret core and sanctuary of a man," is "strictly related to human freedom.... For this reason conscience, to a great extent, constitutes the basis of man's interior dignity and, at the same time, of his relationship to God." It is inevitable therefore that in this situation there is an obscuring also of the sense of sin, which is closely connected with the moral conscience, the search for truth and the desire to make a responsible use of freedom. When the conscience is weakened the sense of God is also obscured, and as a result, with the loss of this decisive inner point of reference, the sense of sin is lost. This explains why my predecessor Pius [XII], one day declared, in words that have almost become proverbial, that "the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin."

The "numbness of conscience" was surely widespread in Communist Russia.

However, it was the father-ness of the priest that saw the Captain's pain from hidden guilt. He knew that the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or confession would start the healing process. Jesus through His Church is the Great Physician who knows that our sins weigh us down. We just need to acknowledge and turn away from them and back to Christ. He wants to take that burden away from us through the grace of the sacrament (the Catholic ER's - the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation - for small (venial) and great (mortal) sins, respectively).

It is through the priest that the Captain can sacramentally talk to Jesus (in persona Christi - in the person of Christ). In the sacrament, he can have a conversation that can answer many of his questions.

Fr. Barron can explain it further.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Part IV

[So, I contacted Paramount to ask permission to add various clips to my posts on Star Trek II that I can't find on YouTube, but they unfortunately denied me permission. You'll just have to go watch it again if you can't recall what I'm referencing; yea, I know big burden (I wish I had time to watch it too, esp. part deux).]

This time, I would like to focus on the scene where Kirk, Spock, and Bones are first discovering what Project Genesis is (in Kirk's quarters). At the end, Bones has, let's say, some misgivings on the whole idea of reorganizing matter for a new matrix (just universal armageddon, that's all). While, Spock has the coolly logical, i.e., stoically utilitarian understanding of the usefulness of the technology.

We can see a parallel with the bomb, except that the (atom) bomb was initially created for destruction, not a means to constructively help society.

There are those who only see nuclear technology as an immanent danger to the entire planet. While there are those who see it mostly as a good that can bring clean energy (no one will actually use it in war). One side is calling the other inhuman while the other side is whispering "passionate nut".

Positive technological advancement must have a balanced approach that takes into account (1) the necessity of making or using the technology and (2) the moral implications that surround its manufacture or use. They must go hand in hand.

We must balance Spock and McCoy through civil discourse.

Huey Lewis and the News' If This Is It

So, there's this blog that is about kindness here: Within Reach of Every Hand.

At that blog, I asked what the difference between being kind and being nice was (at this link). The song If This Is It by Huey Lewis and the News was in my mind when I asked the question.



She replied back,

I think There is a big difference but it can be difficult to articulate. It may be a topic for a future post, but for now I would say Kindness stems from love, compassion, and mercy, where as niceness has more to do with not ruffling feathers, being agreeable, and following social norms. Kindness comes from somewhere deeper.

Upon comparing her response to If This Is It, that seems to be right. "You'd say anything to avoid a fight." is nice, but the romantic interest in the song should just let Huey know if they're through or not which would be kind (shows mercy and compassion).

Sometimes as adults, we need to grow up, get a backbone, and tell it like it is, or at least work something out. Otherwise, we never really grew up. If we're kids, we need to learn to ask questions and get to the bottom of things, else they may mow us down.

We shouldn't necessarily look to save people's feelings (we're just looking out for our feelings, really). We'll "be all right, one way or another."

Father Barron on Bob Dylan

Every once and a while, I'll be sharing some of what I would like this blog to accomplish via Fr. Barron.

Fr. Barron and the "Geek Priest" from Holland have really inspired this blog to connect pop culture and Christianity.

I hope that you get as much out of my commentaries as you do from at least 10% of Fr. Barron's.

Below is a commentary of his favorite singer, Bob Dylan (Blowing in the Wind and Rolling Stone).

One Direction's Story of My Life

I thought I would look at some top 40 songs for a couple of posts.

A girl in my old Sunday school class loved (and still loves) the latest boy-band One Direction. I noticed them on the most recent, top 40 list at number 10 with their song Story of My Life.



Some of the lyrics stuck out to me:

Written on these walls are the colors that I can't change
Leave my heart open but it stays right here in its cage
I know that in the morning now I see us in the light upon a hill
Although I am broken, my heart is untamed, still

And I'll be gone, gone tonight
The fire beneath my feet is burning bright
The way that I've been holding on so tight
With nothing in between

It's strange that even though the former couple of the song are no longer together, the singer of the song will see himself and his former love-interest "in the morning" "in the light upon a hill".

This reminds me of the light on the hill, or mountain:

You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. Matthew 5: 14-16

It seems that their love was a glimpse, for them and others who saw them together, of the God Who is Love. And, even though the love that might have been there was requited by this girl, it can still go on to perhaps give itself to someone else. His love is still open to bare itself again.

This love cannot be hidden, or tamed once it is laid bare.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Part III

(Links for Part I / Part II)

One the best scenes of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was the dialog between Kirk and Spock in Spock's quarters.

Kirk was debating whether to take the training crew of the Enterprise under Spock's command to a potentially dangerous location.


 
This scene is so good since it shows how two totally different people, one totally logical (really utilitarian stoicism) and the other passionate, can be friends and colleagues.

If you watch the other Star Trek movies and even the original series, these two and McCoy would just hang out together.

But what's the use of hanging out? Well, friendship in and of itself has no uses per se, but is a good in itself. Natural Law Theory defines friendship as one of the basic goods that is good in and of itself.

Miss Saigon Wedding Scene

My first girlfriend and I went to see Miss Saigon in Pittsburgh. She asked me a question about the wedding scene that gave me something to think about for a long time. (It's at 2:00 in the video below; **Warning** The first two minutes are not appropriate for young viewers.)



She asked me, "Do you think they are really married?" I thought, I don't know since there was no priest (or minister, she was/is Southern Baptist) to marry them.

It took me a while to discover that it's not a minister that makes someone married, but the couple themselves.

But, how can that be? Well, the nitty-gritty of it is that a marriage really takes place when it is consummated between man and woman. So, in any culture, if they are Christian or not, a man and women are married when the marriage is bonded in the flesh.

This actually comes from Jesus' own mouth.

He [Jesus] said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.” Matthew 19: 4-6

So, before Abraham (Judaism/Islam), before Christianity (the incarnation), before all modern religions, the way to make a marriage was through becoming "one flesh".

(Of course, many other questions could be raised, but that's all I'll say about this for now.)

Touched by an Angel Theme Song

I heard that Touched by an Angel is back on pay TV (non-antenna channel). My wife has been watching the show again on DVD from the library. It's unbelievable that there were nine seasons, more than Star Trek: The Next Generation that had seven. Della Reese sang the theme:



"I'll Walk with You." Yes, that is a lovely phrase. It surely came to mind today for the March for Life.

March for Life Pictures:

Post by The March for Life.

If only more men were brought up to be men. They should walk with their baby and the baby's mother. There would be many fewer abortions.

May God have mercy on us.

If you would like to pray for mothers, fathers, and preborn babies, please consider praying from this list from Priests for Life (my wife and I are praying the rosary one tonight).

The Big Bang Theory Theme Song Part III

(Parts one and two are here.)

The story behind making The Big Bang Theory theme song relayed an extremely fortunate turn of events for the Bare Naked Ladies.



One of my roommates in college loved the Bare Naked Ladies and Billy Joel while I liked Huey Lewis and The News and classical music (Bruckner was my favorite composer). We quite often remarked that we both had one good and one bad taste in music: Billy Joel and classical music for the good, Bare Naked Ladies and Huey Lewis and The News for the bad.

It's worth noting how the Bare Naked Ladies made it with their TV Big Bang Theory theme song and Huey Lewis and The News with their two Back to the Future movies. Well, I contend that in the final analysis Huey Lewis and The News were better since they were on the big screen while the Bare Naked Ladies were only on TV.

Well, we'll see who is still listened to in about 25 years. (Perhaps neither? That's also possible.)

The thing is, is it important to see what will survive history?

Well, an important analysis by a Jewish official, Gamaliel, after the resurrection of Jesus informs a possible answer.

Upon the Jewish leadership's attempt to squash the Jesus movement, or The Way, or the Church, he said,

So now I tell you, have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God. Acts 5:38-39

So, after 2000 years, the Church is still here. Perhaps, "it [indeed] comes from God."

Huey Lewis and the News' Workin' For A Livin' Part II

Besides the obvious theme of the song being the ins and outs of working for a living, another part of the song that sticks out for me is from the lyrics (spellings from a Huey Lewis and The News music book I have),

Bus boy, bartender, ladies of the night
Grease monkey, ex-junkie, winner of the fight
Walking on the streets, it's really all the same
Sellin' souls, rock n' roll, any other game

The line that gets me is, "it's really all the same".



Really? Prostitution ("ladies of the night") is along the same line of work as a bus boy, bartender, mechanic, and a rock musician?

I think it all depends for the latter list if they're OK, but prostitution? In Catholic thought, prostitution is an intrinsic evil, in other words, there is no situation where it can be morally upright or licit.

A bartender may be distributing alcohol to non-minors who are not intoxicated. A rock musician can be clean (there are Christian rock bands). Really, anything a relatively moral Christian can do is licit. But no Christian can in good conscience be a prostitute.

This comes from a bunch of places in Catholic writings, but the Bible puts it best in 1 Corinthians 6. 

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ’s members and make them the members of a prostitute? Of course not! [Or] do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For “the two,” it says, “will become one flesh.” But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

It says in the Catholic commentary (at the link above), "Against his own body: expresses the intimacy and depth of sexual disorder, which violates the very orientation of our bodies." The correct orientation of our bodies (physically) is to our spouse (if married) and to the Lord.

Our Lady of Fatima said that there are more people who descend to hell for sexual sins than for any other transgression. May Our Lady of Fatima, Mother Mary, pray for all of us that we do not sell our souls. Amen.

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Part II

It seems that the main point of Star Trek II - other than vengeance - was that, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

It is quite remarkable that this logic was set in direct contrast to Khan's vengeful passion.

In the end, however, both Spock and Khan were dead. How did their companions fare? Spock voluntarily gave his life for his companions lives and Khan took all the lives that were set about reaching Khan's personal goal.

Most people see love as a passion for the other. However, the highest form of love is to do something positive for/to another person for the others sake, not ourselves.

Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13)

Coexist Bumper Sticker Part I

You've probably seen this coexist bumper sticker:

I always wonder if this is a two part question:

1. Is it possible that people who believe this can live side-by-side?
2. Is it possible that these beliefs can coexist together?

Well, the first is possible since it is happening now in America. So what? This doesn't seem to be the main point of the sticker.

The second, seems to be the argument made by the sticker. However, it doesn't make sense. Either, Jesus ...

1. Never died but was assumed into heaven as God's Prophet (as a trick);
2. Died at the hands of Israel's enemy, Rome, as a false prophet, or blasphemer for calling himself the Son of God;
3. Was always/before time part of the Trinity as the Second person therewith, was incarnated, and rose after dying on a Cross.

The last three fundamentals can't coexist.

Now, I've seen this pro-life coexist bumper sticker from Stickervoice.com ...

The question here is, "Can a mother and child really coexist together, the later one inside the former?"

No matter what religion one follows, it seems to be yes in all, the fe/male child is already coexisting in his/her mother.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Part I

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (TWOK) was by far the best Star Trek movie. Based on Moby Dick, Khan believed from hell's heart that Captain Kirk killed his wife, so he pursued him with hateful vengeance, even with his last breath.

Of course, the plan was foiled by Spock who sacrificed his life for the despised Kirk.



I was thinking specifically about Spock's Christlike sacrifice when I remembered the first time I heard the phrase, "Good deeds never go unpunished." My high school choir director uttered these words, and then later went on to heroically save a drowning kid from the Delaware River. (Go figure.)

This phrase was shortsighted in the final analysis. TWOK showed this in that Spock's true self lives in Dr. McCoy. This could obviously indicate that we live in our friends' memory, but I think it was deeper than that. Since Spock's Katra could be passed onto another, was it possible that his Katra could live on in the Ultimate Mind, God? I think that was a distinct possibility.

So, ultimately, good deeds in love could assure our infinite existence in the Mind of God.

Huey Lewis and the News' Bad is Bad Part I

So, this is my favorite Huey Lewis and the News song, Bad Is Bad.


This song foreshadows where Huey Lewis took the band most recently (the video also foreshadows that the original News have moved on from this band). Blues is their new style.

I like all the fancy 7th cords by The News; and in truth, the songs where The News takes a major role are my favorite.

This song really shows what make things bad, and as a contrapositive, what makes a thing good.

The guitar playing was bad because it didn't sound like a guitar, but a chainsaw; the soul stew was bad because it didn't taste like stew; Huey's relationship with Marie wasn't good since she wasn't faithful like he expected her to be (it seemed to be serious since he had the key to her residence).

It turns out, a thing that isn't the way the thing is supposed to be is bad. Likewise, things that are what they are essentially supposed to be are good; the best things are more perfectly what they are to be.

The Big Bang Theory Theme Song Part II

So, last time I mentioned that it seemed like The Big Bang Theory theme song implied that oh-so-tiresome argument that hard science and religion are at odds with one another (the song starts at 2:25 in the video below).



I sincerely hope that I am wrong on this score. For you see, the Big Bang Theory actually proves that the universe had a creator that Christians call God (timeless, immaterial, powerful).

St. Thomas Aquinas had "five ways" of proving God's existence. At the time, way back around the 1200's, no one knew scientifically about the Bing Bang. Aristotle, who St. Thomas loved to use for his proofs, believed that the universe existed for infinite time, however, through other means, St. Thomas proved that there was a beginning (first cause by God).

If St. Thomas knew that there was a Big Bang, his theoretical proofs for a temporally finite universe wouldn't be needed. So, it turns out that the Big Bang helps Theists' assertion that there is a Creator of the universe (or even multiverse). Someone needs to tell the Bare Naked Ladies.

Well, I tried here: maybe they may come across this over the internet machine someday.

In recent times, Dr. Craig has used other means to show that the universe was created by God. They can be viewed below.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument (Dr. Craig)

Huey Lewis and the News' The Power of Love Part I

Huey Lewis and the News' The Power of Love is my second favorite song of this '80's band. It feels electric like the '80's movie for which is was produced, Back to the Future (Michael J. Fox).



It also seems like a Gospel song. Listen to the lyrics. There really is no specific mention of a love interest. The "help from above" line could be help from the Holy Spirit to feel The Power of Love.

One can be rich or poor since anyone can receive the Power of Love sent especially in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. It makes "a bad one" or "a wrong one" or "a hawk" into a new person.

The band has more explicitly religious lines in other songs, but this one may take the cake for the most overall holy song that they produced. McFly's family would be proud.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Part II

This post is about the "meld" between the V'ger probe and Decker.



In the last post, I likened Decker to God the Father (Creator) and the V'ger probe as standing in for humankind. This post will discuss how the relationship between Decker and the V'ger probe is parallel to God the Son and to an individual.

During this clip, Decker wanted to be with the V'ger probe who was once his love interest Ilia. The V'ger probe who is made in the likeness of Ilia, who now stands-in for V'ger, wants with all its being to be with Decker.

This whole relationship reminds me of what St. Paul said about the one-fleshness between man and woman in marriage. He said that the sacrament of marriage was mysteriously a direct parallel to the bond between Christ (Jesus) and the Church.

The question is, how does an individual become part of the Church to have this special relationship with Christ? The answer is baptism.

This Star Trek movie is a commentary on baptism!

The "meld" scene above sort-of shows how Christ and His disciple become a new creation through baptism.

Could it be that the Enterprise is the Holy Spirit that brings the Christ character (Decker) to V'ger? That may be too much. What do you think?

(My first post on Star Trek: The Motion Picture is here.)

Backstreet Boys' As Long As You Love Me

Yea, I know. The Backstreet Boys? Well, let me explain.

I was walking in the drug store late one night, and from the speakers overhead I heard a terrible fright. Well, that fright was named, "As Long As You Love Me".

I can't explain how much I really hated this song (especially now since Master Bieber just put out a song with the same title which I haven't listened to).

However ...

I got to wondering...

There has to be something redeeming about this song. Let's look at the refrain only (and ignore the rest, shall we? I know, big burden):

I don't care who you are
Where you're from
What you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you're from
Don't care what you did
As long as you love me

Pathetic, right? Desperate much? Well ...

Then I thought of a Bible verse (I was known as Bible Man in college by some of my friends):

For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5: 6-8

Even though we (the "who/you" of the song) did things that were wrong (being sinners, or ungodly), Jesus (Christ; the "I/me" of the song) laid down his life to save our lives. "God proves his love for us" in this way.

The question is, "How can we love God in return?" for the "As long as you love me" line? This unpopular, old song holds the key:

Tallis - If ye love me

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. John 14: 15-17

So, "As Long As You Love Me" turns out to be not-so-bad if you change it up a bit.

Well, actually, maybe not.

Huey Lewis and the News Workin' For A Livin' Part I

Workin' for a Livin' is musically one of Huey Lewis and the News' best songs. The rising & falling of the bass line riff and Mr. Lewis' harmonica solo at the bridge are fantastic. The addition of the jazz organ makes it stylin'.


In this post, I'll focus on the line, "Workin' for a Livin' / Livin' and working." This line reminds me of the deep question, "Do I live to work, or do I work to live?"

When I first heard this question as a kid, I immediately thought, "Duh, I don't live to work since work is the last thing I want to do. I'd rather be playing video games." My definition of work for a long time was, "You're working when you'd rather be doing something else."

Then I read Laborem Exercens (LE) by Pope John Paul II. I thought, is it possible that the question sets-up a false dichotomy, sort-of-like asking whether nature or nurture shapes the lives of children to adulthood? Can working/living be intertwined?

LE reveals that work is defined by any activity which gives each human being's personal life meaning/dignity and shapes the culture-at-large. Whenever we do anything, or work, whether for money or not, we have the opportunity to fulfill our purposes for being, the main pair being "to love" and "be loved".

Think about it: When we go to work, we are contributing a service or product that will define the culture while also providing for ourselves and/or our family. When we are with our family, we help each other (change diapers/sheets) which fulfill our lives in love.

The Big Bang Theory Theme Song Part I

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I always chuckle when I hear The Big Bang Theory theme song by the Bare Naked Ladies. Not because the show that is about to start is funny, but because the Bare Naked Ladies seem like they're trying too hard to be smart with all the lyrics; Sheldon would probably laugh at them if he heard it too because they have no PhD's among the band members (as far as I know).

(Here's a new visual version of the song)

I also laugh because the band probably has no idea that the theorist of the Big Bang Theory was a Catholic Priest, Monseigneur Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître (below on the left next to Albert Einstein).

(This picture is in the Public Domain as far as I know.)

I'll bring up the show's attempt at making fun of religion later, but the only time any Catholic Priest was mentioned was Pope John Paul II by name, by Amy Farrah Fowler (Series 5 Episode 11). She said, "Sheldon: In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an honorary Harlem Globetrotter." That's probably all they know about the Church.

What they should really learn is that Einstein said,

“Only the Catholic Church protested against the Hitlerian onslaught on liberty. Up till then I had not been interested in the Church, but today I feel a great admiration for the Church, which alone has had the courage to struggle for spiritual truth and moral liberty.” 

Perhaps now they too may be "interested in the Church" and read this blog? Although, I only have a bachelor's degree in engineering, so Sheldon may have to pass.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Part I

I thought for a long time that Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Star Trek I) was the second worst Star Trek movie after number five, but the more I think about it, the richness in its symbolism is pushing it higher and higher on my list (at least past number three).

I love Star Trek because of the gadgets, gismos, and science that are incorporated or forced into the show. I'm not as interested in the characters, save for Spock, especially the actors who play them. (This is why Sheldon of The Big Bang Theory TV show logically makes no sense to me in this regard. Why should he be interested in the actors who play the characters since they are just speaking and bringing alive the words that the writers make up? Though I digress.) The Heisenberg compensator (for beaming to work) alone has given me hours of pondering as to how it could work.

I wonder, in their final analysis, whether the writers realized the theological profoundness of their project. This post will mention a single overarching one.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 27 (CCC 27) reveals that, "The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself."

V'ger represents man and Decker represents God (Creator). V'ger, although knowing the accidents (or the stuff/workings) of the universe, nevertheless desires with a great passion to know the Creator from within its innermost core, the old stuff of ancient TI calculator circuitry. (Just because the heartfelt longing is old doesn't mean it is not there as from the beginning. / Sidebar: It has been said that all the electronics of the Apollo hardware could now fit in a single TI calculator.)

Although growth in knowledge of the universe seems to be completed at infinity, it is not enough for V'ger. It's programming is not complete. Hence the search climaxes in Star Trek: The Motion Picture with the interaction between Decker and V'ger via the probe (more on this in a later post).

Huey Lewis and the News Stuck With You

I was walking through the grocery store to get a few things, and my favorite band Huey Lewis and the News came on the PA system. It was "Stuck With You".

There really isn't much content to this song and the guitar riff gets old pretty quickly, but there is one nugget that stuck out for me from this Golden State band's song.

The line from the song was, "All the same friends, and the same address. Yes it's true, (Yes it's true) I am happy to be stuck with you!"

On first glance, the whole idea about staying with someone romantically just because they can't get away from them is pretty pathetic. But then this line reveals something important (closer to the end of the song). Sharing relationships and things outside themselves help people in a relationship maintain their romantic love.

This is something I believe Aristotle wrote about. A transcendent third, or outside influence that brings people together is one of the ways that people stay stuck together. In this song it is friends and a residence. For others it is faith. Probably for most, it's a combination of many things.

The thing is, the better and longer lasting the glue is, the better and longer the relationship will most likely be.

Move Past Spirit of Vatican II

Fr. Barron: Evangelization is one of the three great pillars and missions of Catholicism.



Let's stop debating/meeting about settled issues in order to preach and share the Gospel with Holy-Spirit-inspired boldness.

HHS Wine Mandate

Prohibition of HHS Contraception Mandate

HHS Wine Mandate

On January twentieth of this year, Secretary Sebelius of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revealed an interim final rule that will require many religious institutions, including Catholic hospitals and universities, to provide free Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved contraceptives and abortifacient birth control in their employees’ health plans.

This federal rule predictably angered many of the Catholic hierarchy since they teach that the use of all artificial contraception is a violation of natural and divine law. This imposition of the federal government’s power against the free exercise of religion, to be forced to provide substances that would lead them into direct material cooperation with evil, was perceived as a violation of their constitutional rights and rightly-formed consciences.

This whole episode reminded me of Ken Burns’ Prohibition that was premiered on PBS last year. In fact, in cultural debates, the historically dismal failure of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution powerfully plays into the hands of those who want to keep abortion legal, extend legal marriage rights to same-sex couples, and make all drugs legal.

We don’t want to legislate morals was the overall theme expressly portrayed throughout the documentary series. Many historical and contemporary commentators vociferously came to the same conclusion. The documented visual footage to that end was as strong as the axes and sledgehammers that destroyed all the beer barrels and wine bottles throughout the country during the prohibition of intoxicating beverages.

In one segment of Prohibition, there was a documentary on making the documentary. Burns explicitly said during this subsequent making of documentary that his Prohibition was meant to speak to those involved in contemporary issues of immigration, abortion, and a plethora of others. Again, we can’t legislate morals because it doesn’t work, just look at prohibition. So, stop.

However, doesn’t the HHS rule legislate morality? Effecting the actions of people by law de facto imposes morality. Of course, the difference between Prohibition and the HHS contraception rule is that alcoholic beverages were outlawed while birth control is proscribed. With the imposition of a contraceptive mandate on all Catholic affiliated religious employers, the U.S. government is practically sprinkling the popular culture’s worldview on them that will slowly dissolve their Catholic identity and ultimately their religious freedom.

What’s next? Will the Obama administration go after the home run of them all? Will elective abortion coverage be compulsory? “Might as well,” they might ponder if the final rule is upheld in court. The plethora of self-identified Catholics who are laissez-faire about the religious conscious rights of other Catholics probably won’t fight alongside the hierarchy against an abortion mandate. It’s also true that many self-labeled Catholic hospitals perform abortions and prescribe contraception on non-hospital script pads while hiding abortifacient drug placards behind cupboard doors.

What many commentators have missed, though, is one of the cited reasons why HHS ultimately imposed the rule. According to part of the HHS statement, “Scientists have abundant evidence that birth control has significant health benefits for women and their families”.

This clause made me think of something else that scientists have consistently found to improve health that Prohibition explicitly outlawed. Some alcoholic beverages taken in small quantities such as red wine and even beer have reportedly been beneficial for the heart and other body organs. Since health increases, health costs decrease. However, physicians still do not recommend that drinking should be undertaken in excess for various reasons, liver damage being a common one.

Just imagine if HHS issued a rule to mandate the coverage of red wine in health plans. They could say that it improved health as a justification. What would happen? A few things would predictably happen from increased access to mandated free alcohol. Many protestant groups, Mormons, Muslims, and others would protest. There would be more domestic violence. The main reason for passing the Prohibition Constitutional Amendment was to curb the beatings of married women by drunk husbands and from married men from drinking the family savings into oblivion. There would be more arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI), and car crash fatalities would skyrocket.

Bringing it back to contraception, what will happen when contraception use increases? Will it increase abortion rates? First, abortifacient birth control will certainly increase abortions. Second, non- abortifacient contraceptives may increase the abortion rate. In the January 2011 issue of Contraception, it was shown that in Spain for 2,000 women aged 15 to 49 from 1997 to 2007, contraceptive use increased from 49.1% to 79.9%. Spain’s abortion rate increased from 5.52 per 1,000 women to 11.49. How will the abortion rate of the United States change? The evidence indicates an increase in the number of elective abortions, especially if the Catholic Church in the U.S. cannot practically resist its free coverage.

Since the Catholic Church teaches that all human life is to be protected in law just like other more developed living humans (CCC 2273), the Church hierarchy and its members have the constitutional right, at minimum, to refuse compliance with any future abortion mandates and compulsory payments for contraceptives in their own institutions. This includes Catholic hospitals, universities, and any Catholic employer who refuses to provide them under guidance from their properly-formed conscience. Just because a product is purportedly beneficial to someone doesn’t mean that others must be mandated to supply it to them, especially if the use of the product-in-question and its secondary effects are morally reprehensible to the provider.

© 2012 Wondering Zygote Emeritus
Written: February 2012

A Tepid US Presidential Endorsement

The video below by Michael Voris pretty much explains it all. A faithful Catholic should, with a "tepid endorsement", vote for Romney for US President (POTUS). He explains it well.

I wonder why this is the reason more non-Catholic institutions are suing over the HHS mandate (for abortion-inducing drugs) than Catholic ones.

Year of Faith in Baltimore

Last Sunday, I went to St. Mark's in Catonsville (21228) to participate in the mass with Abp. Lori of Baltimore. I saw him before at the HHS Fortnight for Freedom mass, too, but this time my family was with me.

Abp. Lori Pointing Towards Heaven

His homily (found here) was very inspiring. It was especially inspiring since I'm trying to start an New Evangelization committee/ministry at my particular Church (plan to call it "Boot Camp of Beautiful Feet"; Romans 10: 15). It's also in the works to show Saint movies (Song of Bernadette etc.) and perhaps the Catholicism series by Fr. Barron (Jesus of Nazareth for Lent?).

The other thing I'm ecstatic about is that he included the following in the homily,

The second task for this Year of Faith and indeed for our lives together as Catholics is to become utterly convinced of the coherence, truth, beauty, and goodness of all that the Church teaches with respect to faith and morals, including those moral and social teachings that are often counter-cultural, such as the Church’s teaching on marriage and sexual morality and the sacredness of human life from the moment of conception until natural death. We are called to assent to what the Church teaches, not merely with an intellectual nod, a knowing smile, or a passing glance—but rather to become utterly convinced that these are the words of everlasting life. Our faith must not occupy merely a compartment in our minds and hearts but rather must shape the way we think, the decisions we make, the words we say, and the quality of our relationships at home, in the parish, at work, and with friends.

I've never heard anyone say this in a homily before. Wow! The rest of it was pretty terrific, too.

I hope the Lord will bless Abp. Lori and our Archdiocese of Baltimore with an increase in living faith. I wonder what else He will have in store for us.

(Here's Pope Benedict XVI's homily.)

Help Request for My Wife

My wife is in a book club of moms that sort of resembles The View, and she's the conservative Catholic one (They are formerly or currently stay-at-home moms). It also turns out that one of the book-club moms who was Catholic, goes to a non-denominational (denomination) Christian Ecclesiastic Community, and has multiple IVF children pretty much attacked my wife at a soccer practice last week about her beliefs; she just nodded. My wife was having a hard week with multiple close relatives and friends who are not doing well (to put it mildly), she told her "friend", and the "friend" still went on the war path.

Well ...

I just found this promising book that my wife can give to her friend. It's Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves, edited by Helen Alvaré. My wife quite often seeks good books by down-to-earth Catholic authors, and this one seems to fit the bill.

I'm wondering if you have any others to suggest? Thanks.

More Humanae Vitae Videos

Yesterday, I forgot to add the videos below to the list of "Best Humanae Vitae Videos".

The Catholic Church and Contraception Part 1 and 2

Best Humanae Vitae Videos

Yes, today is the 44th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the reaffirmation of the constant Church teaching on contraception by Pope Paul VI in 1968 (actually, *ALL* Protestants believed it until 1930, too).

The videos below are the best that I found on Youtube that talk about Humanae Vitae and contraception from best to less-than-best, but still good and on topic:

Humanae Vitae: Catholic Teaching - Part One and Two

The Catholic Church and Contraception Part 1 and 2

Contraception & the New Dark Age :
Where we are and how we got here Part 1 of a 4 part series.
Contraception & Salvation Part 2 of a 4 part series.
Contraception and Sanctification Part 3 of a 4 part series.
Contraception and the Sexual Ethic Part 4 of a 4 part series.

Dr Janet Smith - Contraception: Why Not - Abortion

Humanae Vitae: 40 Years Later - Part 1 and 2

Debunking Birth Control Myths - Episode 37 Excerpt - Life Report

The Tale of Two Mandates

The Tale of Two Mandates

It was the best of intentions; it was the worst of intentions. The Obama horse was welcomed as a gift by many of the country’s inhabitants as a gift of reconciliation. Those who took him in were not ready for what lay inside the belly of the beast.

There were the wise who knew the history of repercussions of such a gift, but they were powerless to stop the momentum of the mass of mischief that lurched inside the walls of power.

A strange odor came from the beast as it entered the walled city, but the inhabitants naively assumed it followed in from the dank wood. For the enemy first desired to unleash a full frontal attack, but a slower, ranker deception was more likely to succeed. It was decided to let the little secret be hidden within the exterior of the beast of burden.

As the citizens of the castle pondered what could be inside the gift, they would have to wait to see what was really in it.

In the middle of the night, the moon glistened with a hollow hope that all was well. However suddenly, panels of the horse flew off and immediately flattened those who happened to be passing near the horse.

Then the men, so many angry men leapt out of the horse that a swarm of furious bees would be less densely packed and seem so humbly demure.

In what seemed to be an instant, the fortress was taken over by the red ones.

But to this day, the remaining remnants of the old city wait upon the day when their savior will come again.

---

I meant the above allegory to come out differently, but it didn’t quite turn out that way. I’ll address the two mandates (HHS & individual mandates) directly another day soon.

Fr. Barron vs. Voris?

No. Both Fr. Barron and Michael Voris of ChurchMilitant.tv believe that Vatican II was valid and good.

What is interesting is that Fr. Barron (second video at 1:51-2:17) answers Voris' question/comment (first video at 1:12-1:45).

Militant vs. Nice
"... No one in that [Spirit of Vatican II/"church of nice"] camp ever seems to be able to actually define what is meant by the spirit of Vatican II. ..."



The Meaning of Vatican II: A Commentary by Fr. Barron





Fr. Barron rightly clarifies that there is a split that developed between theologians after the council.

I wonder if that rift will ever close. I hope that it does soon, even in my Catholic parish.

On Graphic Abortion Images

                “You’re giving the prolife movement a black eye,” a male senior citizen angrily yelled out his open car window at me. It was a bright, but heated Friday afternoon at the bottom of a greatly-sloped hill on John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore City. As the loud motorist on Charles Street made the loud call, the vociferous Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) picture display of the Center for Bioethical Reform was being used to engage pedestrians — mostly students — and motorists that stopped at the red light nearby. (The GAP display used graphic pictures of various genocides, including abortion, to highlight the injustice of abortion.)

                It was the first time that I ever handed out prolife literature at a GAP display or engaged students on a college campus. It was to be expected that there would be counter-protesters and debates with many people along the prolife/proabortion spectrum, but how does the showing of abortion-killings pictures give the prolife movement a black eye? Doesn’t it open people’s eyes to the horror of abortion?

                A biology student at the display said that we shouldn’t show the gruesomely bloody pictures because young people might see the graphic abortion pictures, and it was also like displaying hard-core pornographic scenes. In a way, I always thought the same thing, but then I read about Lila Rose and others. Ms. Rose, the founder of Live Action (undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood’s racism and sex-abuse cover-ups), came to the prolife position at a young age from viewing a book in her parents’ collection that had graphic abortion pictures. From her eye-opening experience, she has become a strong advocate for showing graphic abortion pictures, especially on college campuses.

What the pictures are not is pornography. They are more akin to showing the aftermath of dehumanizing the women and men in the porn industry. If there were pictures of women with bruises, running mascara, and the like, they would more resemble the pictures of the GAP display.

                Really, abortion enables the cardinal sin of lust to run rampant which leads to the darkening of the heart and soul. What the widespread use of elective abortion does in reality is to allow the heart of the world to become lustful.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.” (Matthew 5: 27-29)

                In my Bible commentary, Gehenna was described as the place of “an idolatrous cult” where “children were offered in sacrifice” (2 Kings 23: 10; Jeremiah 7:31). So, those who are “thrown into Gehenna” go with those who sacrificed their children. Jesus is saying that if one continues in a state of sexual sin, especially with committing abortion in the GAP context, that person is thrown into the realm of those idolaters who killed their children, too. Those who sacrifice their sons and daughters in the womb for lust through abortion may have the same fate as those who sacrificed their children already born for idols.

What I think the GAP project does is to help “tear [an eye] out” of the world so that the world is not thrown into Gehenna. The aim of the pictures is conversion of heart and mind, that is, turning towards the truth that abortion kills a child that is loved and wanted by God, made in the image and likeness of God.

                As a Catholic Christian, I love my fellow man too much to not help him in, what some translations say, gauging out his eye with a graphic picture of what the results of his decisions look like.