Invalid Form

 Thinking about this stuff gives me a migraine: https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/after-learning-his-baptism-was-invalid-priest-finds-blessing-re-ordination

Intention matters a lot. People are acting as if grace depends on humans, and not on God. I am remembering that I learned of Baptism of desire, back in grade school days. Surely that applies to someone who was ordained a priest in good faith.

I am also remembering an old movie, The Left Hand of God, in which Humphrey Bogart assumed the identity of a priest who had been killed in China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Left_Hand_of_God

A pretty convoluted plot, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. After all, this is 2020. 

Sister Dierdre Byrne's Speech

 Here is the text of Sister Dierdre Byrne's speech at the Republican National Convention:

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-sister-dede-byrnes-speech-at-the-2020-republican-national-convention-71435

Trump smiles while Kenosha burns

Below is David Leonhardt's morning note (8/26/20)  that come to NYT subscribers. Definitely worth a read. 

If you’re an intense reader of the news, you may already know the story of David Shor’s firing. Shor is a progressive data analyst who has spent his career trying “to help elect Democrats while moving the party leftward,” as Jonathan Chait of New York magazine put it. In May, Shor tweeted a summary of a new academic paper about the 1968 election by Omar Wasow of Princeton. The paper found that nonviolent protests tended to increase the Democratic vote share in surrounding areas that year, while riots tended to decrease it.

Some other progressives accused Shor of insensitively focusing on the wrong problem: the political reaction to riots, rather than the underlying racism and socioeconomic problems that helped cause those riots. His employer — Civis Analytics, a liberal research firm — quickly fired him. (For a longer summary, see The Times’s Michelle Goldberg or Vox’s Matthew Yglesias.)

The episode was essentially a struggle over whether progressives should worry about political strategy or almost always side with the victims of injustice, regardless of tactics. Shor’s detractors thought he was blaming the victims — and “concern trolling,” by undermining the more important debate, as the podcast host Benjamin Dixon wrote. Shor’s defenders thought his detractors cared more about looking virtuous than defeating racism.

It is a debate with obvious relevance to the 2020 campaign.

No one can know for sure, but there is evidence suggesting that violent protests — like the ones this week in Kenosha, Wis., in response to the police shooting of a Black man in the back — help the politician whom many protesters most despise: President Trump.

Trump himself clearly believes this, having organized much of his campaign around highlighting (and sometimes lying about) riots. Polling has shown that most voters support nonviolent protest while most oppose violent protest.

Criticizing any protest of police misconduct is fraught for progressives today. That’s especially true when the conduct is as brutal as it appears to have been in Kenosha.

But the reality is that nights like the last two — when an American city has been on fire — seem to be precisely what Trump wants to campaign on. And there is another option available to people outraged by what happened in Kenosha. After all, nonviolent protest — as the overwhelming majority of recent protests have been — has a long record of political effectiveness.

In other Kenosha developments:

• Jacob Blake — the man shot by police — is partially paralyzed from a bullet that severed his spinal cord, his family said Tuesday. His mother, Julia Jackson, said she opposed the destruction of the recent protests: “It doesn’t reflect my son or my family.”
• Protesters threw water bottles, rocks and fireworks at the police last night, and the police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. In a confrontation near a gas station — the details of which are not yet clear — three people were shot, two of them fatally, police said.
• Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in the state that may be the single most likely to determine the election. Both Joe Biden and Trump will struggle to win the Electoral College without Wisconsin.

What the -- ! (Sigh)

 Presidents appoint Cabinet secretaries, but the appointees work for their constituents. The Commerce department promotes trade for companies that do it, the education department promotes schools for people who attend them. It has always been assumed that they are do so in concert with the president's policies and that they are, more or less, political. State and Justice have been exceptions. Forget Justice, for  a moment, if you can. At least Bob Barr is not (at this writing) going to address the Republican National Convention.

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is. 

He will do it from Jerusalem. He will do it "in his personal capacity." Sure, good ol' Mikie always personally hangs out in places like Jerusalem. He will orate from there. He carefully tweeted “Looking forward to sharing with you how my family is more SAFE and more SECURE because of President Trump” on his personal Twitter account.

So, everybody, ignore his job and revel in his wisdom when he orates.

 I can't remember a precedent for a secretary of state addressing a political convention. Neither has anyone else, apparently, because the stories all say it's "unusual" or "breaks precedent." Henry Kissinger didn't slobber over President Nixon. Cordell Hull never said warm and fuzzy things about FDR. John Foster Dulles, who had as much to do as anybody with Dwight Eisenhower becoming president, disappeared for his renomination convention.

 The reason secretaries of state make themselves scarce when the balloons drop, or whatever, lies in the adage that "politics stops at the water's edge." We may argue foreign policy at home, but not in front of the goyim. There is no law that says so. It's only good taste, common sense and concern for the good of the country.

Good taste, common sense and concern for the good of the country mean zippo to the corporation that runs this country, its flunkies, foot soldiers, suck-ups and hangers-on. With these people, it is one blast of flatus in church after another.

On Voting With One's Conscience

 Here is an excellent article by Creighton University professor of theology, Thomas M. Kelly: https://omaha.com/opinion/columnists/midlands-voices-neither-political-party-fully-follows-catholic-doctrine/article_67c3317a-e39d-5c1e-873e-7769c45d5644.html

He had this to say:

"Catholics are not called, nor should they be expected to support, either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party carte blanche. We are called and expected to exercise prudential judgment by informing ourselves about the policies of both party platforms and to understand the ultimate implications of who and what we are voting for. We must grapple with the most effective way of addressing a variety of evils in our society. (Bold print mine), One guide for this process comes from the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops and is titled “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the U.S.”
"This document explicitly states that Catholics are not single-issue voters. It clearly states the importance of unborn life but leaves to the conscience of believers their choice of candidates. As Catholics go to vote this year, I hope they think through the fullness of Catholic teaching on a whole range of “life” issues, and that they struggle in good conscience to translate the common good into civil law and social policy. The Church has never taught its members to be single-issue voters. To intentionally avoid naming other notable intrinsic evils allows them to go unchecked and undermine the common good."
The whole article is short and well worth reading.

Why Trump will go quietly in January

 In November, Joe Biden will win the general election.  In December, the electoral college will cast its votes, and that vote will ratify the results of the general election.  In January, Congress will certify the electoral college's votes.  On January 20th, Biden will be sworn into his new office by a federal judge.  At that point, he is the president.  And the government and the country will proceed with its business.

Assuming the election results are as stated here, I don't see how that train of events can be derailed.  If former president Trump refuses to vacate the White House premises, President Biden, in possession of the police powers of the Executive Branch, will have him forcibly bounced.

Incidentally, it occurs to me that the electoral college is useful during this season of anxiety, for ratifying the results of the general election and having its ratified results certified by Congress.  Perhaps it's not absolutely necessary that there be an electoral college for this purpose; perhaps Congress could simply certify the general-election results of the states.  But the college seems useful as a further confirmation.  I'm reluctant to abolish it.  If we're going to change the Constitution, let's get on with revising the 2nd Amendment.

They gave a convention and no one came

  Is anybody watching the Democratic National Convention? Kathleen Parker watched opening night Monday and pronounced it boring.

 I skipped opening night, but I watched Tuesday yesterday afternoon and Wednesday this morning on reruns. Boring? Yes, but no more so than party conventions have been since television producers took the action away from the politicians and made sure all the antimacassars stay in place and the throw rugs don't get tangled. I haven't watched a convention gavel-to-gavel since 1980, when Leslie Stahl went into ecstasy when  she learned the name of Ronald Reagan's vice-presidential pick (G.H.W. Bush) 25 seconds ahead of the rest of the world. She's still outworking the men at CBS. The rest of us? Meh.

 Even in virtuality, or maybe especially in virtuality, everything looks like an ad. But all news -- from California fires to kids befriending pizza delivery guys -- looks like an ad since everybody modeled the anchor sets on imaginary space ship loading docks.

 About the only thing that struck me was the absence of old white men, The Candidate aside, and the presence of so many black, indigenous, Asian,  Hispanic, Latinx women and so much kissing among the same sex as opposed to the boy-and-girl kissing that was  rare even when Robert A. Taft tried to head off the nomination of the Likeable Ike with a band playing "I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover." I would say the Trump base, such as it is, can draw confirmation for its prejudices from what it saw.

 Is anyone else finding inspiration there?

Is the Catholic Church in the US too tolerant of white nationalism? [UPDATED]

Update August 17, 2020 2:55 pm CDT: I revised the post to give more emphasis to Martin's criticism of the bishops - and their apparent failure, so far, to respond.

 At National Catholic Reporter, Christopher White reports on a controversy centered on an article which appeared in Sojourners, a progressive magazine founded and run (until the last few days - see below) by Evangelical activist Jim Wallis:

PEW: Religious Behavior during the Pandemic

 Pew Research Center surveyed 10,211 U.S. adults from July 13 to 19, 2020.to help understand how the coronavirus outbreak has impacted the worship habits of Americans. It is part of a panel survey which means they have pre-pandemic data on these people. 

All respondents to the survey are part of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.

Their recommendation citation is:

Americans Oppose Religious Exemptions From Coronavirus-Related Restrictions

Their subtitle is:

Few regular worshippers say their congregations are operating normally, 

and most support the precautions being taken

PEW’s presentation focuses upon the opinions of the respondents rather than upon the very large behavioral changes that are taking place. I suspect most people gave their opinions with the framework that they are operating abnormally but will return some day to normal. Hence they largely support the precautions but don’t think what they are doing now will change things in the long term. 

What is actually going on has the potential to change behavior permanently especially if it lasts for a year or more. Not only do changes in opinion change behavior; often changes in behavior change opinions. In my summary of the findings behavior changes and their potential for permanent change among Catholics will be emphasized. My speculations are in italics

Summary of Findings

Election Day and Day and Day etc.

  I voted absentee today, or "by mail" as we say now although I didn't mail it in. I don't know how many columns I wrote saying that's as a dumb idea.

 It's a dumb idea because someone I voted for today may die before election day next Tuesday. One of them might be found in bed with a dead Girl Scout or a live Boy Scout. One of them may say something so incredibly stupid, between now and next Tuesday, that  I'll never be able to show my face in society again.

 But I did it. I didn't give my ballot to a ward heeler to deliver, which has become the default way to vote for little old Republican ladies. I personally went to the Elections Supervisor's office (which is kitty-corner from my church) and dropped it in the designated box. I could have mailed it -- the Election Supervisor provided a postage-paid envelope -- but it's The Don's Post Office these days. And I could do it without seriously interrupting my trip home.

 I don't think anything will go wrong at the Election Supervisor's office, even if she was appointed by Gov. Fumbles as a punishment for the county voting for the wrong candidate for governor. She was on the ballot today, and I voted for her. I am more concerned about what will happen outside her office when the counting begins.

The other races were not overwhelmingly important. It was a primary, but we also had local offices that were decided today, like the supervisor. And the sheriff, who will be re-elected. The touchiest race was for school board.

 So, as a maiden race, it wasn't too important. But I'd really rather vote with my friends and neighbors on an election Tuesday.  I did it today because of Covid 19. But I fervently hope it is not habit-forming.

Biden's Veep Choice

 Of course by now everyone has heard that Joe Biden has chosen Kamala Harris as his running mate. I have been bragging to my family that I called it early on. I'm pretty sure Biden has known for quite a while who he was going to pick. An indication about why he has delayed making the announcement was a tweet from the president shortly after it was official. He said Ms. Harris was "...very, very nasty!" Of course that is his favorite adjective for women. He also said Harris had been " very disrespectful " to Biden. Which is rich coming from Trump. In spite of the hail of rotten tomatoes which will be ongoing from the president and his campaign, Ms. Harris is not one who will wilt under the attacks. She and Biden have apparently mended their relationship, which had suffered during the first debate. She and Vice President Pence will be featured in a debate. I'm betting she will be able to hold her own.

Taking risks

 This is my homily for today, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A.  The readings for today (in a new USCCB website format!) are here.

What's Up With the Postal Service

 Here is a good article on the Vox News site, explaining the current situation with USPS:  https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/7/21358946/postal-service-mail-delays-election-trump-mail-in-ballots

School Openings, Priorities, and Fault Lines

 I think I mentioned previously that the Omaha Public Schools were going to open half and half, with students in school two days a week, and online two days. They would alternate Wednesdays. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men....now things have changed. The PTB declared that Nebraska would be in the next phase, which means that bars, pubs, and restaurants, and I believe movie theaters, could open. That was a few weeks back, and surprise, Covid cases are on the uptick.

It isn't easy being a school superintendent these days, especially in an urban district.  The superintendent of OPS, Cheryl Logan, vented a little in this morning's news: https://omaha.com/news/local/education/ops-superintendent-says-she-made-poor-choice-of-words-in-comments-on-insidious-attitudes-of/article_a1dd8c51-36fe-591e-8962-d5fd9f550e53.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Goodbye, Abbey

 I've just returned from the veterinarians, where one of our cats, Abbey, was euthanized. 

Flannery O'Connor: canceled

At Commonweal, Angela Alaimo O'Donnell, a Flannery O'Connor scholar at Fordham, mourns what recently happened at Loyola in Maryland:

A week after the decision by Loyola University Maryland to remove Flannery O’Connor’s name from one of its buildings, the cherry-pickers arrived on the school’s bucolic campus in northeast Baltimore and, letter by letter, the name of one America’s most iconic Catholic writers disappeared from the dormitory that had been known for more than a decade as Flannery O’Connor Hall.

DeSantis: It Isn't What It Is

From the coronvirus story in today's Palm Beach Post.

...Still, with the growth in cases slowing, one metric that has stubbornly refused to drop is the percentage of people testing positive.

While the positivity rate has declined in recent days, it is still higher than the 10% sought by state health officials, much less the 5% recommended by the World Health Organization.

In an abrupt reversal on Tuesday, DeSantis broke ranks with health experts, saying he no longer believes the positivity rate is a good way to measure the prevalence of the disease.

His change of heart came after the American Academy of Pediatrics said schools shouldn’t be allowed to reopen unless the positivity rate drops below 5%. DeSantis is an ardent believer that schools should reopen but online classes should be available for parents who don’t want their children to mingle with teachers and classmates.

DeSantis acknowledged that he was once a champion of the positivity rate.

“I was religiously hyping the positivity in March, April, May,” he acknowledged at a press conference Tuesday in Jacksonville. “The problem is the way these test are reported. Some labs don’t report the negatives religiously, some do data dumps.”

“I’d be very cautious of tying a child’s future to the efficacy of some lab dumping positives,” he said.

Top health officials, including the White House Coronavirus Task Force, have said that a 14-day drop in the positivity rate or a 14-day drop in new cases indicate that it is safe to allow businesses and entertainment venues to reopen.

DeSantis cited the positivity rate in May when he lifted restrictions on businesses throughout the state even as the number of cases grew.

Dr. Matt Lambert, an emergency room physician who lives in Washington, D.C., and is chief medical information officer for the HCI Group, said the positivity rate is a key metric decision-makers should use.

“The higher the positivity rate, the more cases you can expect to see in a population,” he said in an statement. “If your goal is to make decisions about schools based on science, the positivity rate is a good marker. However, it is irrelevant if you are making decisions based on economics or politics.”

He predicted that schools will suffer the same fate as Major League Baseball if they reopen. Baseball’s efforts to launch a short season have been plagued with many players and staff, including more than 20 on the Miami Marlins, testing positive for the virus.

(A letter writer today asked, If six women are pregnant, and you test only one of them, does that mean the other five are no longer pregnant?)

Pope Francis on Medjugorje

Jim asked several posts ago what Francis thought about Medjugorje.

John Allen wrote a fine answer yesterday.

Medjugorje message expresses Pope Francis’s ‘Marian Classic’

The only thing I thought was missing was the explicit link to popular religious culture. That is what is implied by "classic" and the preference for well established devotions rather than novel ones and "messages." 

For example he likely sees the devotion surrounding Our Lady of Fatima as much more important than all the speculation over the  years about the messages. The devotion comes from the people, the speculation more from the media and religious entrepreneurs promoting themselves as much or more than genuine faith. 

An interesting aspect of the article is that both Benedict and Francis share the notion that simple people often have a better appreciation of the faith than the learned, and that often finds expression in Marian devotion.

After a lot of investigation by the Vatican it looks like they (including Francis) have accepted that the initial visions, whatever their authenticity, have sparked some genuine religious renewal. They seem to be trying to grow that renewal while maintaining some critical distance from the visionaries. 

 

The Oracle on the Potomac predicts ...

... who will win the presidential election.  Again.  Allan Lichtman of American University (the headline may be taking liberties with the geography; on Google Maps, the college looks to be a couple of miles away from the river in Washington DC) has a system of 13 keys which has correctly predicted the outcome (with one asterisk; watch the video for an explanation) of every presidential contest since 1984.  He's fitted the keys to the locks again to show us what's behind the door for 2020:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/opinion/2020-election-prediction-allan-lichtman.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20200805&instance_id=20990&nl=opinion-today&regi_id=87407961&segment_id=35292&te=1&user_id=7bba122dbc8acf5289c69a5c9f2867a2

NB: I was going to refer to him in the headline as "Nostradamus".  And whoever narrates the video calls him Nostradamus.  But Nostradamus was a sham and a fraud.  This guy seems like the real deal.

Stuff We Are Reading

I just finished the book "Nomadland" (https://www.amazon.com/Nomadland-Surviving-America-Twenty-First-Century/dp/0393356310/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Nomadland&qid=1596493290&sr=8-)1 by Jessica Bruder.  I was expecting an expose of the "dark underbelly" of temporary itinerant labor in the 21st century, many of whom are senior citizens who can't afford to actually retire. It actually is an expose, however it is an engaging and interesting one. 

Many of these people view their transient status as a lifestyle choice. Their most expensive cost was housing, so they elected not to have a permanent dwelling, but to live in motorhomes and travel trailers, and follow temporary employment around the country.

How are we doing with the virus?

If folks don't mind, I'd like to ask us to check in with how we're doing.