C'mon people, it's just an optional memorial

Though widely revered and even more widely celebrated, Patrick of Ireland doesn't even rate a feast in the Roman calendar. (Which is a little better than Valentine who isn't even on the Roman Calendar anymore - something to do with never having existed.) For my money the better day to party is Thursday. The Solemnity of Joseph the Husband of Mary. Solemnity means really big feast day. Same rank as Christmas. So no Lenten fasting! And Joseph is the patron of Italy. So better food! Cabbage shmabbage, bring on the osso buco!

In the interest of being even more of a killjoy, here's an article in Slate today on the real Patrick, who was Welsh, and had nothing to do with shamrocks or snakes.

That's all for now. It's time to go get a Guinness.

Papal fallibility

Last night at Pizza Theology at UofL we discussed the theology of papal infallibility, and along with that the fact that popes are human, and sometimes make mistakes. Well lo and behold wouldn't you know that this very morning the Vatican released a letter in which the pope himself makes a mea culpa.

Officially titled "LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH concerning the remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre" it addresses the international firestorm that broke out when it became known that one of the four bishops had publicly (on several occasions) denied the reality of the holocaust. Not to mention that the Society of Saint Pius X (an extremely conservative movement that broke with the Catholic Church over the Second Vatican Council), of which the four bishops are founding members, had anti-Semitic rants on its website.

In the process the pope gives a shout out to Google (although indirectly), "I have been told that consulting the information available on the internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on. I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news."

I've said before that the pope sometimes reminds me of my theology professors in Belgium, wrapped up in what is, to most people, an arcane discipline with little understanding for how most people might perceive or understand what they do. Given that most European bishops come not from pastoral work but from theology faculties (Benedict included) this makes sense.

But that's a problem for the pope. And this isn't the first time this has happened. Remember his speech at his old university that touched off riots throughout the Muslim world?

The pope is universal teacher for the church. And being a teacher involves an awareness and understanding of how the information you're presenting is going to be received, not just presenting the information. If Benedict doesn't have a talent for that himself (and there's no reason or way he could be talented at everything) then he has a responsibility to surround himself with people who are and work with them. It's his job.

It's good to see that he seems to be realizing that. And it's HUGE for a pope to publicly admit to mistakes. (A good model for our own Lenten reflection.) He is truly a brilliant man. Let's hope he's also a quick study.

The hard ways of protecting life

Earlier this week Barack Obama signed an executive order reversing a ban George W. Bush placed on using federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. Of course this was no surprise, he had said he would do this during his campaign. And all indications are that John McCain would have done the same. Most polling indicates solid support for the research, although it seems many people are fuzzy on their understanding of just what is involved in it.

Although recent discoveries might have leapfrogged the need to use embryonic stem cells, that is still a big might. And a majority of scientists remain convinced that embryonic stem cells would lead to significant treatments and cures that could not be achieved any other way.

This is not an easy issue to deal with. The potential for helping people who suffer from numbers of major and devastating illnesses is truly huge, and I don't think that it helps discussion of the issue to minimize that. I also believe that we need to respect the motives of those who support embryonic stem cell research. These are people who want to help those who are suffering. Many have loved ones who suffer from illness and they long for a way to cure that suffering.

But the question remains the very basic one of whether you can get a right from a wrong. And this is no small question. Especially so, given that Obama's order leaves open the possibility of creating new embryos for research and even conducting research on embryos themselves. And he intends to leave decisions on the ethics of these practices solely to the research communities themselves.

Given our recent, continuing and painful experience with the financial community, it should be obvious that self-regulation has its pitfalls. To put it mildly. And we should not ignore the fact that there are huge financial considerations in any research with medical possibilities. All the more reason that the ethical and moral considerations of this need to and ought to have an open and public debate.

The Catholic position continues to be that we must protect life from its very beginnings to its very end. Making the case for this is hard when embryonic stem cell research seems itself to be protecting suffering life. But as medical research continues, these kinds of dilemmas will likely increase. And we must continue our efforts to protect all who are vulnerable and cast aside.

The Vatican Celebrates Darwin

It's nice to see that I wasn't the only one celebrating Charles Darwin's birthday last month. On a typical Italian time schedule the Vatican celebrated last week with a scientific conference at the Gregorian University.

Noticeably absent from the discussion (and apparently feeling excluded) were proponents of intelligent design and creationism. Even though some thought, mistakenly, that the Vatican was a place where they would be warmly welcomed:

Organizers of the five-day conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University said Thursday that they barred intelligent design proponents because they wanted an intellectually rigorous conference on science, theology and philosophy to mark the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species."

While there are some Darwinian dissenters present, intelligent design didn't fit the bill, they said.

"We think that it's not a scientific perspective, nor a theological or philosophical one," said the Rev. Marc Leclerc, the conference director and a professor of philosophy of nature at the Gregorian.

One of those attending and commenting on the conference was Cardinal William Levada, an American who holds Pope Benedict's previous post of head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Since Doctrine of the Faith was previously known as the Holy Office of the Inquisition, continuing to hold onto intelligent design could be dangerous. We all know how the Inquisition used to treat those who disagree with them:

These 44 days of Lent O Lord . . .

Well, as of yesterday Lent has begun.

But wait, you may ask. Didn't I start giving up chocolate almost a week ago? Didn't I attend a very Catholic fish fry on Friday, and not eat the t-bone steak my stomach was grumbling for?? Didn't I get ashes smeared on my forehead last Wednesday????

You may have. But not for Lent. Exactly.

Let's do the numbers. If you count from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, you get 44 days. But Sundays don't count, you say. I ate a chocolate-covered steak on Sunday because they don't count! True, Roman Catholics traditionally don't fast on the Sundays of Lent because every Sunday commemorates the resurrection. But if you take out the 6 Sundays then Lent only has 38 days, and Jesus was in the desert for 40 days according to the gospels.

But what about Good Friday and Holy Saturday, you reply. That makes it 40 days. And it would. Except that Lent ends (and always has) when the Paschal Triduum begins. And the Triduum begins the evening of Holy Thursday.

We do fast on Good Friday, but not because it's Lent.

Guess how many days you get if you count from the First Sunday of Lent to Holy Thursday? 40. Exactly.

So why the *#$%%@ was I fasting on Ash Wednesday then, you ask.

Well, you were kind of getting ready for Lent. A long time ago, some people in the church thought we might need some practice, so once we got into Lent we would get it right. So they added some days of preparation. The official liturgical names for those days still show that. They're called the Thursday After Ash Wednesday, the Friday After Ash Wednesday, etc. The first day referred to as Lent is the First Sunday. Yesterday.

So the only two days we're required to fast (Ash Wednesday and Good Friday) aren't even in Lent, exactly.

Just be glad you're not an Orthodox Catholic. Then the preparation days for Lent start the Monday before the first Sunday. And you can't even eat fish, because the fast is from all animals and animal products. And it's every day and it includes Sundays.

So be glad you're not Orthodox. Unless you are. Then be glad you are. And enjoy the beans.