Rome must beware Anglican-style dialogue
At his patheos.com blog, Fr Dwight Longenecker asked whether “the present trend at the Vatican” was a movement towards the Anglican philosophy of “creative tension”. The idea, Fr Longenecker recalled from his Anglican days, was that serious divisions could exist, as long as everyone agreed to “listen carefully and dialogue with those with whom we disagreed”.
Fr Longenecker said he wasn’t sure if the Catholic Church would go down this route – but he was certain it shouldn’t. For one thing, endless “dialogue” and division played into the hands of progressives. “It springs from and reinforces their relativist philosophy.” Moreover, progressives can advance their ideas through rhetorical strategies.
“Once they have got sympathy they resort to name calling. Their enemies are ‘cruel’ and ‘insensitive’, ‘harsh’ and ‘legalistic’.” Dialogue turns out to mean: “I am going to lecture you, hector you, bully you and exhaust you with my endless arguments and threats until you give in.”
The cult film with a Catholic heart
The cult 2004 film Donnie Darko has a “sizable Catholic following”, noted Nick Ripatrazone at theatlantic.com.
In some ways it’s easy to see why: “Though a secular time-travel movie, it includes plenty of religious imagery, Catholic allusions and a clear interest in eternal questions of life, death, and sacrifice.” The film’s eponymous hero discovers his life has been unexpectedly spared because – his father says – “someone was watching over him”.
The story unfolds in a dreamlike manner, embodying the sense of “living in the world, without being quite of the world”. Donnie’s school is Catholic; the film repeatedly alludes to Graham Greene’s story The Destructors. And, to many viewers, self-sacrificing Donnie is a kind of Christ-figure. It’s not-able, said Ripatrazone, that the film’s director Richard Kelly calls the Gospels the greatest story of all. “The search for God is … deeply absurd,” Kelly said. “That’s why I make absurd movies.”
Has Trump found religion in office?
At politico.com, Matthew Nussbaum asked whether Donald Trump is becoming more interested in religion.
Perhaps to please Christians who helped elect him, the president has been “calling on God to bless all the world after launching strikes in Syria, asking God to bless the newest Supreme Court justice, invoking the Lord to argue in favour of a war on opioids”. On the campaign trail, Trump seemed less preoccupied with religious matters.
“Generally, candidate Trump did not reference God during his rallies and mostly talked about religion only when asked during interviews and during a handful of speeches.” Trump’s biographer Timothy O’Brien observed that vice-president Mike Pence is a devout Evangelical, but added: “I doubt that Pence has converted Donald Trump.”
✣Meanwhile…
✣ A new BBC1 drama will depict a priest’s ministry in the North of England. Broken, starring Sean Bean, is slated to begin in the next few months. The BBC press release says: “Modern, maverick, and reassuringly flawed, Fr Michael must be confidante, counsellor and confessor to a congregation struggling to reconcile its beliefs with the challenges of daily life in contemporary Britain.” It also stars Adrian Dunbar and Anna Friel, who says the script, written by Cracker creator Jimmy McGovern, is “brave and truthful”.
Bean consulted a Jesuit priest, Fr Denis Blackledge, who said the liturgy was at the heart of their conversations. “Only by accepting his own brokenness can any priest truly live a Eucharistic life, and echo Jesus in his compassionate approach to those whose lives he is privileged to reach out to. This comes across strongly in this television series,” he said.
✣ Activists in the US have accused the mobile network T-Mobile of trying to “profit off prayer”. As part of its “all-inclusive” plan, the network charges an extra $0.01 a minute for conference calls. This affects many Americans who take part in prayer sessions by phone. A new group, Freedom to Pray, has launched the hashtag #KeepPrayerFree on social media.
✣The week in quotations
I don’t think it’s getting the attention it should get Piers Morgan on ISIS’s war on Christians Fox News
He read it thoroughly but does not comment Archbishop Gänswein on Benedict XVI and Amoris Laetitia La Repubblica
We are short of priests – but we’re even more short of can-do Catholics Bishop Philip Egan Chrism Mass homily
God selected them to be ambassadors in heaven to pray for us Pope Tawadros on the Palm Sunday martyrs Easter homily
✣Statistic of the week
20 The number of
executions in the US in 2015. It is the lowest figure since 1991 Amnesty International
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