From Jeffrey Smith, a good read at First Things. Smith reviews the late Cambridge scholar Emile Perreau-Saussine's final book Catholicism and Democracy, which "advances the thesis that the French Revolution determined the outcomes of both Vatican I (1869-1870) and Vatican II (1962-1965), and that 'the adaptation of the church to the democratic world order came in two stages, at the two councils.'”
Friday, November 2, 2012
"Wisdom in the Wake of liberte"
Wesley Smith on our "dangerous obsession with health"
Wesley Smith writes, at First Things, about our "dangerous obsession with health." Using the upcoming assisted-suicide-legalization vote in Massachusetts as a starting point, Smith notes, among other things, that "[w]hen eliminating suffering becomes the overriding purpose of a society, people can easily come to perceive that it is proper to accomplish the goal by eliminating the sufferer" and "[e]levating 'health' to the ultimate purpose of society turns it into something other than health."
I certainly hope that the voters in Massachusetts reject euthanasia, as some "liberal" observers, as well as the expected pro-life "conservative" voices, are urging them to do. And, "liberals" should oppose physician-assisted suicide. As then-Chief Justice Rehnquist recognized, 15 years ago, in his Glucksberg opinion, the danger is very real that the legalization of euthanasia exposes the disabled, the vulnerable, and the inconvenient to marginalization and abuse. We do not allow doctors to assist in the suicides of healthy, young people, and we should not exclude from the law's protection those who are elderly or disabled.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
All Saints Day
From Nov. 1, 2006:
Happy All Saints Day! Here's the Pope:
The indissoluble link between the Church and sainthood was remembered today by Benedict XVI in a quotation by Alessandro Manzoni. "Today," said the pope in the words of the author of the novel 'The Betrothed', "the Church is celebrating its dignity as mother of saints, the image of the supernal city," and added: "it manifests its beauty as the immaculate spouse of Christ, source and model of every saintliness." To explain the meaning underlying All Saints Day, celebrated this morning in the Vatican with a solemn mass, the pope chose to quote St Bernard. "Our saints," he said, using the words of the saint, "do not need our honours and nothing is granted them by our worship. I must confess that, when I think of the saints, I burn with grand desires." For the pope, this means looking "at the luminous example of the saints," to "reawaken in ourselves the grand desire for sainthood." "We are all called upon to follow a life as saints," said Pope Ratzinger, stressing that "to be a saint does not necessarily mean carrying out extraordinary actions and deeds, nor having some type of special charisma." But, he went on, "it is only necessary to serve Jesus, to listen to him and follow him without losing hear when faced with difficulties." .
The Musical Canon: Rachmaninoff's Vespers
Here's something nice on the occasion of All Saint's Day: a second entry (much delayed) in the classical religious musical canon. Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Vespers," or "All-Night Vigil," is a collossal achievement; my buddy Mark Movsesian introduced me to this masterpiece of Russian Orthodox music, and it's a lovely, holy, ghostly thing to listen to and think on in the quiet of the night. I hope you enjoy this version of my favorite -- #5 ("Nunc Dimittis"), and especially the ending in the deeps of the deep.
USD Institute for Law and Religion: Garnett and Koppelman Debate Religious Freedom
Via our friend Steve Smith (and the Institute for Law and Religion at the University at San Diego that he co-directs with Larry Alexander), here's a debate between Rick and Andy Koppelman. The subject of the debate: “Is Religious Freedom in America at Risk?” Professor Koppelman is clearly in a feisty, debating mood, as readers may remember that he took on Mike Paulsen over here at St. John’s a few weeks earlier. You can view the USD debate here.
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