The Perpetual Virginity of Mary & The Synod of Capua

Morning musings of a Devil's Advocate: on the beatification of JPII

Today, May 1, is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, Divine Mercy Sunday, May Day, my eldest daughter's birthday, and the day Pope John Paul II will be beatified (final step before sainthood).

The Royal Wedding and the Thing Itself

The Royal Wedding - I didn't catch it all. Caught a rerun about the time the homily was given. Wasn't going to bother watching. We only get 3 channels in Guam (via antenna). Was going to turn to PBS for Saturday morning cartoons for my kids. Decided to give the remote a random punch just to see if the Royal deal was on. It was. Figured it would be worth a few moments just for the spectacle.

Reflection on Good Friday trek up Mt. Jumallong Manglo

Every year on Good Friday I take my children up Mt. Jumallong where each year thousands of Guam residents trek to the top with a large wooden cross. However, for many years we did not go up in the morning with the crowds, but in the afternoon where we had some privacy to pray along the way.

This year I decided to go up in the morning again just for the experience. As expected, there was the usual mix: people praying, people cussing, people partying, people shouting, running.

It bothered me at first to hear the F word and the S word casually flung about as we attempted to enter into the holiest of experiences: the way of the cross. I kept my head down and trudged upward, stopping at each station to pray with my kids and concluding our prayers with a singing of the Stabat Mater.

By the grace of God my anger at the disrespect and rabble which met me at every turn dissipated as I realized that this is probably exactly what accompanied the original way of the cross: praying, cussing, partying, joking, casual curiosity, rabble (that's such a good word)....

It helped me reflect on something I heard on a Christian radio station yesterday: that Christ's real suffering was way beyond the physical. The speaker mentioned that lots of people suffered crucifixion. Christ's physical sufferings were not unique. What was unique about the suffering of Christ was the inner crucifixion he suffered: the rejection of His love by those he "knit in their mother's womb" (Ps 139).

But still couldn't help but think that such disrespect and casual observance is something fairly new for Guam. Too bad.

Prayer for Consecration of the Day

O Lord God, King of heaven and earth, may it please Thee this day to order and to hallow, to rule and to govern our hearts and our bodies, our thoughts, our words and our works, according to Thy law and in the doing of Thy commandments, that we, being helped by Thee, may here and hereafter worthily be saved and delivered by Thee, O Saviour of the world, who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.

DIRIGIRE et sanctificare, regere et gubernare dignare, Domine Deus, Rex coeli et terrae, hodie corda et corpora nostra, sensus, sermones et actus nostros in lege tua et in operibus mandatorum tuorum; ut hic et in aeternum, te auxilante, salvi et liberi esse mereamur, Salvator mundi: Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum, Amen.

Mark 11: 22-24

In illo tempore: Respondens Jesus discipulis suis, ait illis: Habete fidem Dei.
At that time, Jesus answering, said to His disciples: Have the Faith of God.
Amen dico vobis, quia quicumque dixerit huic monti:
Amen, I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain:
Tollere, et mittere in mare, et non tere in mare, et non haesitaverit in corde suo, se crediderit, quia quodcumque dixerit, fiat, fiet ei. Propteria fiat, fiet ei.
Be thou removed and be cast into the sea; and shall not stagger in his heart, but believe that whatsoever he hat said shall be done, it shall be done unto him.
Proptera dico vobis: Omnia quaecumque orantes petitis, credite quia accidpietis, et evenient vobis.
Therefore I say unto you, all things whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come unto you.

The Griswold Connection

On August 4, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled California’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional. Compared to the plaintiffs, the defense was ill-prepared and under represented. But perhaps its greatest liability was its principal argument:: “the central purpose of marriage...(is to) promote naturally procreative sexual relationships and to channel them into stable, enduring unions for the sake of producing and raising the next generation.”

Under this banner, the defense was doomed, not on August 4, 2010, but on June 7, 1965. On that day the Supreme Court declared a Connecticut law prohibiting the use of contraceptives within marriage to be unconstitutional (Griswold v. Connecticut). That such a law was still in effect as late as 1965 (several states had similar laws) underscores, not just the government’s understanding of marriage, but it’s expectation of it...at least until 1965.

Catholic-Muslim History and the Holy Name of Mary

For the last nine days in traditional novena fashion, the parish of Agana, has been celebrating its patron saint, the Blessed Virgin Mary - under the title of "Dulce Nombre Maria. The novena culminated on September 12, the actual feast day, and of which the actual name of the feast is "The Holy Name of Mary".

It might come as a surprise for some Agana parishioners to know that they were celebrating the defeat of the Muslims at the Battle of Vienna on September 12, 1683. But surprise or not, this is the reason for the feast. The feast had been celebrated in various countries and within various religious communities and on various days since 1513.

However, upon the defeat of the "Turks" (the medieval name for Muslims) by the forces assembled by King John Sobieski of Poland, Pope Innocent XI moved the feast of The Holy Name of Mary, under whose banner Sobieski had fought, to September 12 and extended the feast to the Universal Church.

This wasn't the first time a Pope had instituted a feast in honor of a Muslim defeat in the name of Mary. October 7 is the Feast of the Holy Rosary and indeed October has come to be known as the "Month of the Rosary" because of the Christian defeat of the Turkish navy at the Battle of Lepanto in 1517, a date honored with a feast instituted by Pius V and extended to the Universal Church.

To read more see: http://www.catholictradition.org/Mary/marys-name.htm and http://www.thefreelibrary.com/We+go+way+back:+the+history+of+Muslim-Catholic+relations+is+one+of...-a0158388374

Polygamy, Cordoba House, and the President

Note: Many of my personal friends are “moderate Muslims” who are often better examples of Christianity than some Christians. And on some issues (e.g. contraception) I, as a Catholic, am more on the same page as my Muslim friends than most Christians...including Catholics. However, the Koran says what the Koran says. Thus the following personal observation:

More good news for those who advocate polygamy for religious reasons (Mormons, Muslims, some Jewish sects, Bedouins, some African cults, etc.)

When Your Hut's On Fire

When Your Hut's On Fire

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE SEWER BABY?

On May 12, 2010, a human fetus was discovered in the Dededo (Guam) sewage treatment plant. The coroner later determined that the "baby" (that's what the coroner called her) was female and 13 weeks gestation. The case is now in the hands of the police and the coroner is attempting to determine whether or not "the baby was born alive". But what if she was? Would the case then become a homicide?

There was some initial speculation that the baby was miscarried and may have simply passed into the sewage system without the mother's knowledge. However, a miscarriage at 13 weeks is extremely rare. Only 2% of miscarriages happen after 8.5 weeks. And in any case, if the baby was large enough to be recognized amongst all "the stuff" floating about a sewage treatment plant, it is doubtful that the mother did not notice her in the toilet. Thus, odds are that the child was aborted.

Certain medical abortions allow for the woman to deliver what is supposed to be a dead child at home. (I know of a recent case where a mother procured an abortion, delivered the dead child at home, wrapped it in a blanket, walked next door and handed it to a neighbor lady who had volunteered to adopt the child if she carried it to term.) It's also possible that the abortion was self-induced. In any case, there's a 98% chance that the baby girl was purposely aborted and not miscarried.

Under current Guam law, should the coroner ascertain that the baby girl was born alive before being disposed of, there is little that can be done. The chances of finding the mother are slim to none. But if by some chance the mother was identified, then there are two possible scenarios if abortion was involved: 1) If the woman obtained a legal abortion, delivered the still living baby (whether at home or in a clinic), the baby, under Guam law, is not protected. It can be killed or left to die. There would be no case. However, 2) if the woman induced the abortion herself, delivered a still living child, and killed it or left it to die, she could go to jail for infanticide or murder.

The case is further complicated by the fact that the child had not yet reached the age of viability (when it can survive outside the mother's womb - approximately 22-24 weeks). At 13 weeks, the child had no chance of survival. So then what would it matter if she killed it or left it to die since it would die anyway? And isn't the right to an abortion based on a woman's right to do with her body as she wishes? If the mother wants the child dead, society cannot stand in her way. Such questions illustrate the insanity of abortion. But now, what to do with the dead baby?

According to Title 10, Chapter 10 of the Guam Code :"All unembalmed dead human bodies shall be buried or cremated within twenty-four (24) hours after death, unless kept under adequate refrigeration in the custody of the Director..." So it seems that the body of this little girl must be buried or cremated. But what if the child was determined to have been aborted? Would the law still apply? Does the law apply now to aborted children? Just what do they do with the dead bodies of the  nearly one child per day killed at the abortion clinics in Tamuning? Most likely they are discarded as bio-waste. But then isn't that breaking the law?

The law doesn't distinguish between born and unborn dead human bodies. The law says "all...dead human bodies". Dead human bodies that result from abortion are not excepted. According to the subsequent section in the law, the disposition of the body devolves to the next of kin, which of course would be the mother. By law she is required to see to the burial or cremation of her dead child. Since, this could be construed as an "undue burden" on the mother, the duty would fall to "the Director", actually, us, the taxpayer. Apparently, since the law will most likely not be enforced, our lawmakers may be forced to amend the law to allow aborted children to be dumped in the trash. Again, we see the insanity that is abortion.

Meanwhile, as a community we have on our hands the dead body of a 3 inch little girl. She weighs about 1 ounce. Her cartilage was just turning into bone. Her ribs were beginning to appear. Her nose and chin were already well defined. She was beginning to flex, kick, and suck her thumb. We can only hope that through God's "Divine Mercy", her soul was rescued and returned to Heaven at the moment of her death.

Humanae Vitae

ENCYCLICAL LETTER HUMANAE VITAE OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF PAUL VI TO HIS VENERABLE BROTHERS THE PATRIARCHS, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE, TO THE CLERGY AND FAITHFUL OF THE WHOLE CATHOLIC WORLD, AND TO ALL MEN OF GOOD WILL, ON THE REGULATION OF BIRTH   The complete document with my personal highlights.