CANADIAN CATHOLIC MSM HIGHLIGHTS / NO. 3

An ongoing analysis of subtle and/or blatant heresy/apostasy advocated by the Canadian Catholic Mainstream Media

Today's Lesson: Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather (Matthew 24:28).


PRAIRIE MESSENGER. A few delightful stories to report regarding this Fabianist outfit from the Flatlands. First and foremost the earth shattering news that Archbishop James Weisgerber has signed a pledge against bottled water.[1] Thrilled this blogger was upon hearing the announcement. Why the folks at CNN didn't have a newsflash on this item is a mystery. Such dastardly people, they are. Reportedly, Sparkles has decided to support Development and Peace's campaign against bottled water. He signed a "campaign card pledging that he would not drink bottled water where public water is available". Now the first thing that popped up in my head upon reading this glorious news regarded D+P's involvement with this issue. Why is money from the collection plate wasted on silly things like this? Aren't they supposed to be facilitating abortion social justice in the "Global South"? Incidentally, "global south" is a contradictory phrase, but we're talking about D+P hippiecrats here so we'll let that one pass. Nonetheless, it's good to know that Sparkles has set his priorities aright by standing up against those nefarious corporations: "There is a reason why companies sell bottled water and that reason is profit", states the article. Gosh, we wouldn't want that to occur. Like totally, we wouldn't want the economy to run n'stuff. Plus, it's better to leach from the suckers in the pews. Perhaps Sparkles overlooks the fact that, in disaster situations, bottled water has provided relief to those who suffered after the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina. After the Haiti earthquake, it was the military that efficiently distributed bottled water to the victims and corporations that produce bottled water donated millions in assistance. These insightful observations were made by Steve G at the SoCon or Bust blog. He further noted: "if you ban bottled water from 'normal' consumption (i.e. non–emergency situations) you'd essentially put those companies out of business. Consequently, when a disaster strikes, you wouldn't be able to fall back on those companies to supply those millions of white–and–blue bottles". So would Sparkles re–evaluate his priorities if becoming aware of this economic reality? Naaaahhhh. He's got more ethereal matters of concern, like receiving major awards. God forbid he speak out on important issues, like the pro–life cause. That Sparkles... what a guy. Yet maybe we should forget the abovementioned. Instead, just look at those happy faces. That photograph more than compensates for the farce. As Mr. Roarke used to say: "Smiles, everyone! Smiles...". Indeed, sir, indeed. Though it's still not time to depart from Fantasy Island. A few months ago PM issued an article by Jocelyn Rait, member of the Catholic Network for Women's Equality: "the issue of women's equality in the Roman Catholic Church will not be cooling down any time soon".[2] Apparently, Ms. Rait is upset that Maryknoll priest Ray Bourgeois was excommunicated for protesting in favour women's ordination, to Rome no less. One wonders why PM International News Editor Peter "Novocaine" Novecosky permits such heresy to be published? The logical deduction is that he consents or else is just plain numb to the issue. An open question, it seems. In other news, a certain Joan Eyolfson Cadham, "an oral storyteller with professional status", provides a penetrating analysis of the recent Koran–burning controversy in PM's "Around the Kitchen Table" column (see her inset photo). Now I am oblivious as to what this Viking princess has been consuming in the kitchen. Whatever it is, her judgement evidently has been impaired as a consequence. She chose an easy target like Pastor Terry Jones to disguise the fact that the proposed building of a mosque at Ground Zero was not as offensively in–your–face as when compared to some fundamentalist who "was going to set the planet on fire by burning 200 copies of the Qur'an".[3] Perhaps she has a crush on Tariq Ramadan. Finally, there is a review of a book and film by Canada's most famous atheist nature worshipper, namely David "Wild Man" Suzuki. Canadians know: this person (yes, that is an actual photograph). According to the PM scribbler, Suzuki's "vision is 'catholic' in the best sense of an all–embracing universality and emphasis that humans are spiritual beings who need love and community". Strange that that would be argued. I recall Suzuki writing this:

...the pope’s pronouncements to the impoverished masses of people in large parts of the Third World will cruelly worsen and condemn them to a life of squalor that will only worsen while hastening us all on a path of planetary ecocide. We must condemn the reprehensible and suicidal policy of the Roman Catholic Church's opposition to birth control. That is what I call an eco–sin.

How quaint... and don't forget to check out PM's links page for other goodies. There you can quickly click to The Steven Lewis Foundation, National Catholic Reporter and "Essays in Theology by Rev. Richard McBrien".

WESTERN CATHOLIC REPORTER. Perhaps some of you are aware that WCR website has recently undergone a facelift. This is an exciting development (at least for me) as that heretofore pasty yellow background/template at the site conjured up disturbing images of 1970s talk show set designs (don't get me started on the pink background at the Prairie Messenger, I'm very suspicious). Apparently, the redesign is part of a revamping process: "The WCR board of directors has launched a process to revision the mission and role of the newspaper in the light of the Church's call for a new evangelization".[5] Edmonton Abp. Richard Smith, VP of The Star Chamber, is overseeing the matter. The study is being undertaken by a certain Bryan Froehle of St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, director of the Practical Theology program. Formerly, Froehle was Executive Director of CARA, acronym for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.[6] In the past he conducted work for The Star Chamber's brother conciliarists south of the border. Currently, he also works at firm called Essential Conversations, based out of Chicago. Its mission "is to support organizations that seek to build a better world. Our focus is on helping non–profit and faith–based organizations become... healthy and vibrant". Past clients include the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Education. Grantocracy Alert! Getting back to WCR, there seems to be a concern that "many readers mistakenly consider editorial content to be actively endorsed by the archbishop as publisher". Now that statement is interesting. Why would WCR readers maintain such a view? Does the chancery office, ever in need of secrecy for the commission of the hippy aggiornamento, want to disassociate itself from the overtly leftist agenda of its allies at WCR? The claim for revision is "due diligence and proper governance... standard business practice". Still, something is going on here. Note that a readership survey formed part of WCR's "revision mission"[7] and its results on this particular issue, too, are interesting. Or, I should say, revealing:

Most readers (75 per cent) understand that the paper is sponsored by the archdiocese to serve the Catholic community rather than an "official newspaper" meant to always reflect the thinking of the archbishop on matters of the day, or to focus on letting people know about the work of the archdiocesan offices.

Does that statement seem confusing to you? Bureaucratspeak, it is. If WCR is archdiocese–sponsored to "serve" Catholics in the pews (the money source), why shouldn't Westerners be allowed to be informed on "the work of archdiocese offices"? Why cannot they be of "focus" every so often? Is there something to hide? Why the secrecy? As any Catholic who keeps apprised of Church political news knows, the chancery office is the root and source of all kinds of dissenting mischief. Again, something is going on here. Other revelations from the survey: the average reader's age is 61, 84%

of readers "want to continue to read the newspaper in a print format" and "most expressed their highest satisfaction with Ron Rolheiser's work". Accordingly, there's a leftist–V2 baby boomer factor involved. Moreover, a miniscule 2% of readers view WCR online, evidencing that younger, tech–savvy Catholics effectively have no interest in WCR. Clearly, these statistics show that only graying social justice liberals are WCR orientated. But what happens when boomers and outmoded print media soon fade away? Will the upgraded website attract the kids? The hard data say negatory. The WCR Board of Directors must be very worried. No need to despair, however. For their viewing pleasure, TH2 embeds a most wonderful video for reminiscing purposes, most conducive to letting flow that nostalgia for the good old days. Indeed, it was a very good year.

NOVALIS PUBLISHERS. Like WCR, the Novalis' website recently has been "refreshed", according to Publishing Director Joseph Sinasac. I also notice this refreshment now admits funding support by the feds: "We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for business development activities". Good to know my tax dollars are being put to heretical use. In a recent internet message, Sinasac further informs us that Novalis acts as distributor for 20 international religious publishers, including the Marxists at Orbis Publishers. Nice. Strange is his claim that missalettes published by Novalis since the 1930s "represented the beginning of a publishing enterprise that has served the Church faithfully in many ways for three–quarters of a century". Well, I would reduce that figure by 40+ years to circa 1960s as Novalis' publications in recent years have been far from faithful. If not already, the reader might take some time to read a splendoriffic analysis of Novalis here. You are forewarned. Apostasy Joe's claim that Novalis has "served the Church faithfully" is, of course, a howler. But if I'm wrong, why has Novalis newly advertised James H. Cone's book A Black Theology of Liberation? Website descriptor: "Combining the visions of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., Cone radically reappraised Christianity from the perspective of the oppressed black community in North America". Hmmmm... something isn't right here. Maybe we should let Cone speak for himself:

The white man has brainwashed us black people to fasten our gaze upon a blond–haired, blue–eyed Jesus! We're worshiping a Jesus that doesn't even look like us! Oh, yes!... The blond–haired, blue–eyed white man has taught you and me to worship a white Jesus, and to shout and sing and pray to this God that's his God, the white man's God. The white man has taught us to shout and sing and pray until we die, to wait until death, for some dreamy heaven–in–the–hereafter... while this white man has his milk and honey in the streets paved with golden dollars here on this earth![8]

Ah, yes, it's whitey's fault. Does Novalis' distribution of Cone's book (let alone the rest) evidence that Sinasac endorses this over–the–top Marxist–based racial Christianity? Both JP2 (in 1984) and B16 (in 2009) have explicitly censured liberation theology.[9] A few months back I saw Sinasac on Salt+Light TV's Perspectives program. He seemed a mild mannered fellow. "Radical" did not come to mind. Still, why does he permit such blatant heresy to be disseminated? Could it be that the position of Publishing Director is merely symbolic, without real control, and that fruitcakes behind the scenes are running the show? Is it publicity and prestige? Or maybe he just doesn't give a rat's ass? Regardless, I now have this picture in my head of Fr. Gutiérrez laughing uncontrollably from the heights of some Peruvian mountaintop. Qué passe?

CATHOLIC REGISTER. As per usual, shenanigans continue to eventuate at Sinasac's old outfit. Yet some of the credit for the analysis below goes to investigations[10] conducted by Fr. Alphonse de Valk, the hero priest marginalized/ignored by the Canadian Catholic MSM (Fr. de Valk is editor/founder of Catholic Insight magazine, Canada's best. Subscribe here). Let's first give some context: For some time homosexual activists have been making headway into Catholic school curricula. One example relates to the bureaucratic busybodies at the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA), which grovels before the pro–abortion labour unions. Fr. de Valk mentions a December 12, 2010 article by Sheila Dabu Nonato in the Catholic Register entitled: "Gay teacher's network aims to recruit Catholics", wherein we are told, with a morally neutral undercurrent, that an openly homosexual teachers group has been created to "reach out" to Catholic schools so as to provide a "safe environment" for students with homosexual tendencies. Turns out that OECTA is a "partner" of Egale Canada, "a national organization that advances equality and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans–identified people and their families across Canada".

Another article on the same date has the title: "Catholic boards' denominational rights will trump provinces' equity strategy". A rather self–assured sounding title. By either obliviousness or committing the sin of omission (the Register is very good at the latter), the piece states that "all is well in Catholic schools". Then this incongruous statement follows:

When it comes to asking questions on sensitive information such as sexual orientation, school boards' hands are tied by the Ontario Human Rights Code, which prohibits employers from enquiring about this type of information.

How can all be "well" when the school boards' hand are "tied"? Everything is fine, according to the Register, don't you worry. Move along, nothing to see here. This shrewd wordplay was on display again with an editorial just a few days ago. Some background first: The Halton Catholic District School Board recently reneged on a policy banning "alliance" clubs between homosexuals and heterosexuals (Why not use "straight"? Okay, then let's use "warped" for the homosexual antonym. Is not "unhappy" the opposite of "gay". You see? Precise language matters). HCDSB gave in after an outcry from activists. It also helped that one of the boards' trustees is a sodomite. LSN gave full coverage of the affair.[11] Pathetic was the stance of the Ontario bishops. Speaking on their behalf, Toronto Abp. Thomas Collins issued this statement:

The bishops of Ontario agree with a January 13, 2011 Globe and Mail editorial when it says, "It is not for the Church, by itself, to run Catholic education in Ontario"... There are numerous partners involved in the formation of our young people, all playing critical roles in the educational journey... In our publicly funded Catholic schools, however, as bishops it is our role to help to weave the thread of faith in our schools by offering guidance, as well as pastoral leadership and support, to our partners in Catholic education on a host of issues relating to the faith foundation of our schools.[12]

Oh my, what a disappointment this Collins has turned out to be. A dud. Taking advice from the Globe and Mail? You're kidding? Right? With flowery phraseology like "educational journey" and "weave the thread of faith in our schools" it appears that his canonist advisors have got the hots for Lonergan's Aquikantianism. Now let's go transatlantic and check out what the boys in Rome have to say on this subject:

...it is for the Church to establish the authentic contents of Catholic religious education in schools. This guarantees, for both parents and the pupils themselves, that the education presented as Catholic is indeed authentic. The Church identifies this task as its own, ratione materiae, and claims it for its own competence, regardless of the nature of the school (State–run or non–State–run, Catholic or non–Catholic) in which such teaching is given. Therefore, "The Catholic religious instruction and education which are imparted in any schools whatsoever are subject to the authority of the Church... It is for the conference of bishops to issue general norms about this field of action and for the diocesan bishop to regulate and watch over it". (TH2 italics)

If the abovementioned is too complex to apprehend, or if the Commodore 64 disallows access to the Vatican's website, then perhaps it would be a good idea for Collins simply to refer to the Catechism[14], that is if there is even a copy down there at St. Michael's chancery office. Maintaining the party line, the abovementioned editorial at the Catholic Register leads off with this Politically Correct title: "Schools are Tolerant". Notice: this is a headstrong assertion. The editorial is so conniving that fisking is necessitated [TH2 analysis in bolded square brackets]:

Last November the Halton Catholic District School board passed an equity policy that explicitly banned gay–straight alliances.[which was consistent with Catholic teaching]. Following an outcry from gay activists [i.e. homosexual fascistas to whom liberal Catholics cower], a new board of trustees [including a sodomite who hid his activist agenda] cancelled that policy and replaced it with one that, although making no mention of gay–straight alliances [i.e. sin of omission] was widely interpreted as an endorsement of the controversial after–school clubs and a victory for those who would see Catholic values trumped in schools by secular morality.[Is the CR editorial staff ignorant to the fact that a gateway to further permissiveness has been opened? Apparently.]

If that were indeed true [yes, it is true], it would be a sad day for Catholic education [sad, indeed]. The primary role of trustees is to be faithful guardians of the morals and values that are the bedrock of Catholic education [...and they have failed, big time]. So what happened in Halton? [a bloody catastrophe, that's what happened]

For starters, despite media interpretations [what about "interpretations" from orthodox Catholic commentators?], the board has not approved gay–straight alliances.[be specific, they are fearful of confronting opponents from an authentically Catholic perspective] It replaced the policy that banned the clubs with an interim one that still allows the board to ban them [how convenient, avoid the issue, such a lovely thing procrastination is], although it remains unclear if that will happen.[come on, nothing will happen so long as scaredycats are on the board of trustees]

Halton has joined several other Ontario jurisdictions in adopting the so–called Catholic template policy drafted last year by the Ontario Education Services Corporation in consultation with [oh no...] Ontario bishops and Catholic educators.[...and lo!, the apostasy continues afar and unencumbered] That policy meets requirements for schools to proactively promote tolerance, equity and inclusiveness.[how nice, in a Oprah Winfrey sort of way] While the government endorses gay–straight alliances [i.e. immorality], it recognizes the constitutional right of Catholic boards [wink wink] to stay faithful to Catholic teaching [indeed, a sucker is born every minute], and therefore the government proposes [i.e. enforces] gay–straight alliances as an option, not a requirement.[if CR believes that, then may I ask what is your favourite Kool–Aid flavour: Looney Lemon or Goofy Grape?]

So, as it stands, the government policy is in alignment with the position adopted in Halton [ROFLMAO!] and supported by the [spineless] bishops [what a surprise] even though there is disagreement on gay–straight alliances.[i.e. bishops do not uphold Catholic moral principles, due to complacency and/or cowardice] For that matter, Halton’s November policy also conformed with the positions of the government and bishops.[that matters not now, the repeal changes everything]

The Church gets a bad rap on this issue.[primarily, it is the Ontario bishops who should be criticized] The government enacted its equity policy in 2008.[unfortunately, due to Premier McGuinty, nepotist, antinomian, lapsed Catholic] Many Ontario Catholic schools, following recommendation by the bishops in 2004 [they are not there to recommend, but to "regulate", see above], put policies in place years before that to create learning environments that strive to be free of bullying and harassment – for all students.[the Catholic ethic as such, heck, the Second Commandment, prohibits these; a confusion of being with behaviour]

Catholic schools have been at the forefront of promoting tolerance and charity.[how "spirit" of Vatican 2ish] So it is grating [tough, drink a glass of milk, have a cheese sandwich] when educators and Church leaders are themselves objects of derision, called homophobes among various slurs, because their strategy for combating intolerance differs from methods preferred by activists and others who seem blind to the irony of advancing their own beliefs through bullying.[CR fails to understand that the homosexual lobby is becoming increasingly domineering, where Catholics are cast as villains unless they comply to its dictates, not "recommendations". Any backlash of harsh words from Catholics are a result of frustration after realizing that the bishops and so–called Catholic media outlets are the "useful idiots" of this lobby, due of their Oprahesque "tolerance", lukewarm faith and desire to be accepted in the secular world]

There are lessons to learn from this episode.[now CR starts to condescend the reader, we're right, you're wrong] Educators must never waiver in promoting the distinctive religious values of Catholic education.[they already have waivered and continue to do so] Also, along with the bishops, they need to be better communicators to counteract the misinformation that makes tantalizing headlines [good job LifeSite News, keeps fighting the apparatchiks] and, ultimately, could threaten the very existence of publicly funded Catholic education.[Catholic education has already gone down the tubes in Canada, hence the emergence of homeschooling]

So there you have it [BREAK]... This just in: LSN is reporting that "gay activists are targeting the St. Clair Catholic District School Board in an effort to launch a gay-straight alliance at one of the board’s schools".[16] Thank you very very much, CR editors, for all that you do.

DEFUNCT/ALLIANCES. Catholic Insight is reporting that the Atlantic Catholic (Antigonish, NS) and the Catholic Times (Montreal, QC) are ceasing publication. These closures are part of an emerging trend in Canada. With the challenges now being posed by the new media, diocesan papers/outlets and "centres" for social justice now have to compete. After decades of not having a rostrum to express/disseminate their views about the terrible state of affairs in the Church today, Catholic (mainly orthodox) news/commentary websites and bloggers are presently coming into the forefront. Although old school print outlets (defenders of the status quo party line) are shutting down, the strongest of the remaining agencies are forming alliances and combining forces as they themselves transition over to the internet so as to counteract the new kids on the block. One example: the Catholic Register and the B.C. Catholic just recently embedded Salt+Light TV videos into their websites. There is a war on the horizon and all signs indicate that it is going to be vicious. I will be addressing this subject in detail in a future post.


NOTES / REFERENCES

1. M. LeMaître, "Weisgerber signs water pledge", Prairie Messenger, January 11, 2011. LINK

2. J. Rait, "An issue that won't cool down in autumn", Prairie Messenger, September 15, 2010. LINK

3. J.E. Cadham, "History has proven that all it takes is one fanatic", Prairie Messenger, September 22, 2010. LINK

4. G. Schmitz, "An appeal for dialogue, for the love of this planet", Prairie Messenger, November 3, 2010. LINK

5. G. Argan, "WCR to 'revision' mission of the newspaper", Western Catholic Reporter, September 20, 2010. LINK

6. CARA also operates the blog 1964. LINK

7. G. Argan, "Raise your voice in deciding the WCR's future", Western Catholic Reporter, November 1, 2010. LINK; R. Baier, "Readers give strong response to WCR Survey", Western Catholic Reporter, December 27, 2010. LINK

8. Quoted in S. Kurtz, " 'Context,' You Say? A Guide to the Radical Theology of Rev. Jeremiah Wright", National Review, May 19, 2008, vol. LX, no. 9. pp. 28–36.

9. Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction on Certain Aspects of the "Theology of Liberation" (Libertas nuntius), August 6, 1984. LINK In a December 2009 address to Brazilian Bishops, Pope Benedict reminded them of the Libertas nuntius Instruction, stating the "theses and methodologies" of liberation theology have Marxist origins: "Their more or less visible consequences, of rebellion, division, dissent, offense, anarchy are still being felt, creating amidst your diocesan communities great pain and a grave loss of living strength... deceitful principles of liberation theology...", etc. Cf. "Pope Warns against 'Deceitful' Marxist–Based Theology to Brazilian Bishops", LifeSite News, December 8, 2009 (author not indicated). LINK

10. See A. de Valk, "Bowing Before Idols", Catholic Insight, January 2011, vol. XIX, no. 1, p. 3; A. de Valk, "The Enemy Within: Subverting Catholic Education", Catholic Insight, January 2011, vol. XIX, no. 1, pp. 25–28.

11. P.B. Craine, "SHOCK: Ontario Catholic board voting to repeal ban on homosexual clubs tonight", LifeSite News, January 11, 2011. LINK; P.B. Craine, "Catholic school board votes to abandon Catholic teaching on homosexuality", LifeSite News, January 12, 2011. LINK; J.-H. Weston, "Ontario bishops to schools: use anti–bullying programs faithful to Catholic teaching", LifeSite News, January 17, 2011. LINK; P.B. Craine, "Canadian Catholic school board 'bullied' into scrapping pro–family policy", LifeSite News, January 19, 2011. LINK

12. Quoted in P.B. Craine, "Evangelicals disappointed at lack of Catholic leadership on homosexuality push in Ontario schools", LifeSite News, January 26, 2011. LINK

13. Congregation for Catholic Education, Circular Letter to the Presidents of Bishops' Conferences on Religious Education in Schools, sec. III, paras. 13–14. LINK H/T to Socon or Bust for the link to this document.

14. Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 2242): "The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directive of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demand of the moral order, to the fundamental rights or teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political community" (cf. Matthew 22:21).

15. "Schools are Tolerant" (Editorial), Catholic Register, January 26, 2011. LINK

16. P.B. Craine, "Catholic 'safe schools' policy recommends homosexual youth hotline", LifeSite News, January 31, 2011. LINK

CANADIAN CATHOLIC MSM HIGHLIGHTS / NO. 3

WHY DO WEIRDOS SUDDENLY APPEAR EVERYTIME YOU ARE NEAR ?

I. Your humble correspondent is currently preparing an article on the Catholic blogosphere and the Church in Canada. Yet, as it often turns out, more rumination and research are necessitated than originally anticipated. As per usual, I'm hoping it will prompt some apparatchiks to execute cartwheels throughout the offices of their variegated bureaucracies. You see – and I must confess, it gives me much joy to annoy such people by introducing them to harsh reality. The screech of a hippy heretic, the laments of a chancery apostate, the wailing of a habitless hussy... these are wonderful, harmonious sounds. Like the celestial choir of angels.

II. Now judging by the blunt and bombastic writing style found at this blog, it could logically be deduced that yours truly is a cold–blooded scoundrel. Perhaps. But know that the degree of outrageousness found herein is directly proportional to the pathetic state of affairs I regularly witness. If it's any consolation, I did cry when, in the made–for–TV movie, the castaways were finally rescued from Gilligan's Island. I was especially happy for Mr. and Mrs. Howell. They were getting on in age and I did not want them to spend their remaining few years in that palm tree hell. You can get the DVD here.

III. So in the mean time, let's make a brief detour and visit our old friend Fr. Ron Rolheiser. I've fisked/posted on Rollie a few times in the recent past, which you may peruse here, here and here. One reason for repeatedly being tough on the poor fellow is likely attributable to my guilt. Rollie, although currently US based in the great state of Texas, is a Canadian. Consequently, I feel a kind of Canucki–culpability for his subtle and slyly watered–down kitsch Catholicism, gaining wide acclaim, especially amongst that galley of aging baby boomers so easily bamboozled by cornball pop–theology. Let alone the syrupy, inwardist emotionalism that constitutes much in Rollie's tracts, now syndicated globally in 70+ newspapers. I have experienced the dire effects of this emotionalism first hand. One day at my parish a lady mentioned to me, in a genteel Dutch accent – with hand on heart and eyes gazing aloft – that she found great inspiration in Rollie's newspaper columns. "Dear lady", I responded, "the man reads like Schopenhauer on amphetamines"... Well, I didn't say that. But I wanted to. And how could I betray this innocent creature? Minutes prior, she had just shared with me the most delicious home–baked cookies I have consumed in probably a decade. The dilemma's the good God puts me in! Honestly, I do believe Rolheiser has done significant damage. The only other comparable V2–theo–pop Canadian effectuating similar harm is the ex–Anglican cleric Tom Harpur. However, today he even contends that Christ was not a historical person. If wanting to punish yourself, read my book–long post on this rascal here. But enough rambling...

IV. Just before Christmas a reader of this space kindly advised this blogger of a conference that started just yesterday. So I clicked the link sent to me and then this suddenly appeared:

Oh my... what's going on down here in the peanut gallery? Just look at those smiling faces. Seems interesting. Let's investigate...

V. Now with a title like that it has to be either an advertisement for a Saturday afternoon program on PBS or else – you guessed it Catholic peoples – Ron Rolheiser just got a brilliant idea. Or at least he and his two friends did. So, then, who do we have behind Door No. 1? Looks like it's Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM. In New Age circles, word has it he goes by name Lucidus Enneagramus. But don't tell that to St. Francis. Take a gander:

He considers the proclamation of the Gospel to be his primary call and the related themes he addresses include eco–spirituality, scripture as liberation, the integration of action and contemplation, community building, peace and justice issues, male spirituality, and the Enneagram.

Hmmmm... I'm getting suspicious. That descriptor is to be found at the website for the Center for Action and Contemplation, an organization founded by Rohr, sponsor for the aforesaid conference. At this point I am going to ask readers to pause momentarily and retract any food or beverages in close proximity to keyboards as below you will find some titles/topics of past conferences held at CAC:

---------------------------------------o Creation as the Body of God
---------------------------------------o Emerging Church / Naked Now
---------------------------------------o Laughing and Weeping
---------------------------------------o How Do We Breathe Under Water?
---------------------------------------o Holding the Tension: Prague

That first bullet has a twang of emanationist pantheism to it. But to be sure I'll astrally project into the 6th dimension and get confirmation from Meister Eckhart. The second is creepy in a sweaty–frolicking–fruitcake–at–a–nudist–camp kind of way. The third sounds like a 1970s Argentinean soap opera viewed at 2 am on Telemundo. The fourth evidences that Richie is either oblivious of basic hydrodynamics or else he has a thing for Aquaman. The fifth... well, can you think of a better phrase that characterizes homely Oprahesque surrealism? Oh, I forgot to mention that he was on the "Oprah and Friends" radio show. Though I really need not elaborate further. Rohr is widely known for his admixture of Pelagianism and paganized Catholicism, let alone his advocacy of the enneagram and homosexualism.[1] Unfortunately, he's got quite a following.

VI. Behind Door No. 2 we have Ms. Edwina Gateley and, goodness gracious, it looks like we have just entered the Twilight Zone. The bio at her website states that she is "a poet, theologian, artist, writer, lay minister, modern–day mystic and prophet". This must be true because the National Catholic Reporter also references her as both a "mystic" and (bonus) "a living saint in our midst".[2] Edwina's subjects of interest include "her own Faith Journey, Discipleship, Women in Scripture, Justice, Mission, Spirituality, Mysticism, and the Feminine Divine". She's also into women's ordination n'stuff.[3] But there's more! A book entitled A Warm, Moist Salty God. Yuck, sounds to me like a vulgar preoccupation with biologic immanentism. Yet the pro–biotic icing on the tofu cake is that Ms. Gateley has been "publicly commended" by Bill Clinton (oh oh) and (oh no...) the late archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin (ding ding ding ding... those would be tiny little bells). Bernardin, you may recall, appointed Gumby the Gallivanting Bishop, another friend of Gateley.[4]

VII. Behind Door No. 3 we have the star of the show, namely Ron Rolheiser. No introduction needed. Indeed, Rollie did well in befriending Lucidus Enneagramus and the Manchester Muffin. Two of a kind: a gnosticized Franciscan and, as one writer noted, "an eccentric feminist whose performances resemble English music hall comedy more than religious presentations".[5] But fear not you people whose demographic likely is 55+ years in age. Rollie and friends are here to teach and guide you on your path to inner enlightenment – so long as you cough up $225 plus hotel costs and other expenses. Come, listen to the wisdom of the elders:

As a society, we have not been taught the art of loving our mortal lives every step of the way... in fact, we have largely lost the art of living. Thankfully, the wisdom of the elders is in our midst. Join Fr. Ron Rolheiser, Edwina Gateley and Fr. Richard Rohr, who will help us to clarify and embrace the two halves of life...Called to a further journey, we will look within ourselves to see that the wisdom of the elders is not only in our midst, but is within each of us

The conference is currently underway. Anyone in the area thinking of attending should learn from Bugs Bunny's mistake: Take that left turn at Albuquerque.

No offense to the memory of Ms. Carpenter. Actually, she is quite enchanting in the video.

NOTES / REFERENCES

1. See B.A. Sibley, "The Fr. Richard Rohr Phenomenon", New Oxford Review, March 2006, vol. LXXIII, no. 3. This article is available online at the Catholic Culture website. LINK

2. J. Dear, "Edwina Gateley's Big God", National Catholic Reporter, September 15, 2009. LINK

3. M.J. Maguire, "'Pink smoke' portrays growth of women's ordination movement", National Catholic Reporter, October 8, 2010. LINK

4. R.J. McClory, "35 years on 'the prophetic edge'", National Catholic Reporter, July 16, 2004. LINK

5. D. Donna Steichen, "A Church They Didn't Expect", Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission, June 2006. LINK This periodical is now known as the California Catholic Daily. LINK

WHY DO WEIRDOS SUDDENLY APPEAR EVERYTIME YOU ARE NEAR ?

APRIL 26, 1973

I grew up in the area where these murders occurred and, for some reason, this case has remained with me. At the time, my mum worked at a women's clothing store in the shopping centre were the girls reportedly attended (I have faint memories as a kid driving with my dad in an old Ford Falcon during nighttime to pick my mum after work). The birthday gift that Wendy's sister mentions in the video was a blouse, based on information I found on the internet and old newspaper articles. So, accordingly, I deduced the plausibility that Wendy and Donna shopped at the store where my mum worked. I asked my mum about this a few years back but, alas, she has no memory of such an occurrence, nor does she recall the homicide case as such.

The Toronto Homicide link for this cold case can be found here. The attending newspaper article for the video above is here. Also, there is a detailed public discussion thread/forum covering many aspects of the case here.

A new year has just arrived and it has been 37+ years since the homicides happened. Perhaps the reader might take a few moments to say a Hail Mary for Wendy/Donna and their families, with the additional intention for Toronto Police to solve this cold case.

APRIL 26, 1973

EPH–7 / THE EDEN CARTIER NEVER FOUND

I. After arriving at the eastern shores of Canada in 1534, the French explorer Jacques Cartier (1491–1557) is reported to have said this: "I'm rather inclined to believe that this is the land God gave to Cain". Let's explore that...

II. Until recent times, Canada has been a innovative country. This land was formed not through armed conflict, but by the negotiated British North America Act of 1867. Slavery was abolished as early as the 1830s. Canadians invented the first telephone and light bulb (not Edison); worldwide standard times zones originate from this blogger's homeland; we discovered insulin and kerosene; we have our excellent transcontinental railway, highway and airport systems. The zipper and foghorn are products of the Canuck intellect; our pulp and paper industry is internationally renowned; we have designed wheat strains to grow quickly over short Prairie summers. Many of our scientists, engineers and doctors are top ranked. Some Nobel prize recipients, a discoverer of the defective gene for cystic fibrosis, expert mappers and surveyors, emplacement of the first transatlantic underwater communications cable, and excellence in the medical treatment of children. The electron microscope and pacemaker originate from here. Pablum, the CN Tower and the Avro Arrow belong to us.[1] And, yes, we do have the best hockey players in the world.

III. Now at this point Multiculturalist ideologues and other sub–Marxists, secretly contemptuous of the Western world view, will be quick to remind villains such as myself that the occurrences of colonialism and free market economics (from which the abovementioned achievements are associated) were wrought at the expense of Canada's Native peoples. Abuse and injustice against Canada's indigenous people there has been, no doubt; though not to the extremes regularly expounded by sanctimonious public intellectuals (let alone the crazy historical revisionism found on the internet). Erik von Kuehnelt–Leddihn wrote:

There is, of course, nothing evil and nothing extraordinary about colonialism. It is the inevitable result of a historical law according to which not only nature, but also political geography, does not tolerate a vacuum. Where no effective resistance can be expected, other powers, other nations, other tribes will occupy, dominate, and administer an area. Our history could not be imagined without the forces of colonialism constantly at work.[2]

Despite its occasional problems, it is my opinion that European colonialism has been a good thing and has worked, over the long haul, for the benefit of all. The obvious must be repeated: there would be no Canada without colonialism.

IV. West Coast Liberals, Latté Luddites and other allied Leftists regularly argue that economic vigor, high technology and population growth are cultural demons to be exorcised from Canadian society; that we must return to a sparsely populated Eden and live as the "noble savages" did – a fiction concocted by lovers of Rousseau's romanticist socialism. These people see it as positive that "aboriginal" man failed to take further advantage of his proto–discoveries or whatever primal innovation, that they did not culturally move forward. Moreover, they will even assert that certain tribes had "advanced" cultures, as if compatible with Western Civilization. So you're equalizing a canoe with an aircraft carrier? Right. Stonehenge as an "astronomical observatory" is comparable to the Hubble telescope? Whatever. European man, by contrast, worked quickly upon the discovery or recognition of an innovation, be it scientific or economic. Within the span of about seven centuries, he extricated himself from the so–called "Dark Ages" (thank you, Whigs, for that phrase), triumphing with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution in the late part of eighteenth century. What, then, of the discrepancy between the technological/economic progress of European civilization and the stagnation of Native Canadian paganism?

V. For centuries, indeed thousands of years, "aboriginal" man did not progress. Yes, he did develop agricultural, fowling and fishing techniques; he constructed tools and weapons for hunting and war; he devised various forms of shelter to protect himself from harsh meteorological conditions; he had his fabrics, wares, arts, handicrafts and ornamentations; he had his spiritual rituals and hierarchical structures of familial/group relations. Why, after these initial espials and adaptations, did not "aboriginal" technological and social systems augment in competency and complexity? Native peoples had indeed satisfied and sustained Maslow's basic physiological needs of the human being: food, clothing, shelter. Yet having made some prototypal breakthroughs in tool making, and having made some headway in utilizing the capabilities and talents of the "tribe" to attain particular socio–political goals, these cultures nevertheless remained inertial. An awareness of these facts demands a query as to why conditions remained unchanged, or even why some tribal cultures proved to be abortive before the arrival of French, English and Spanish explorers. Most importantly, we must ask what were the forces that hindered development of the variegated Native tribes in Canada? And why did not the peninsula–hopping Vikings, emerging from Scandinavia – travelling via Iceland and Greenland, accomplish permanent settlements on Canada's eastern shores circa 1000 AD? Did they not learn anything from the more advanced Byzantine Empire when marauding there in 860 AD?

VI. Perhaps the forces responsible were environmental, due to rugged geography and climatic shifts? Archaeological, geomorphological and palaeoclimatic data evidence that, between 20000 to 12000 years ago Mongol humans emigrated from Asia to North America by way of an ancient land bridge, its remnant being the Aleutian islands. At approximately 16000 BC, when the last ice age was at maximum severity, the Laurentide Ice Sheet enveloped most of Canada, its thickness being roughly 4200 metres over Hudson Bay.[3] This gargantuan ice sheet and its concomitant colder temperatures incited the first wave of human inhabitants to migrate southwards. When the ice sheet receded during the warmer mid–Holocene period (approximately 4000 BC), they re-emigrated northwards, with a second wave of emigrants arriving from Asia almost contemporaneously. However, the barren landscapes and frigid winters of the hinterlands did not pose a deadly threat to the survival of tribal communities. Some adapted accordingly, as is illustrated by the acclimaticization of the Inuit in periglacial regions of perpetual darkness, near–continuous snowcover and infertile soil. Similarly, the Norsemen eventually settled in Iceland, certainly not known for its tropical weather. Overall, populations were modified only in a territorial sense, dictated by the nomadic imperative, climatological circumstance, availability/scarcity of natural resources, or, as with the Vikings, that berserker impulse to plunder and vandalize distant lands.

VII. If, then, not geophysical, were economic factors responsible for hampering cultural development? Were religious forces at work? In actuality, the technological and the economic were all constrained by what might be called a political straightjacket, a point to which I will address momentarily. Like the ancient pagan cultures of Greece and Rome, pagans in the Americas and the Vikings did not achieve the economic/technological status of the European West. They had no Industrial Revolution, no Isaac Newton. The concepts of freedom and the individual (or personhood more specifically) were, in the final analysis, alien to these peoples. And it must be emphasized that the mutually interdependent spheres of politics and economics and science – their functionality and perpetuation – are intimately linked with the notion of personal freedom and individual initiative. Elevate one of these spheres over the others and the behemoth of Determinism ambushes the scene. Economics devolves into Economism, as in Marx's "dictatorship of the proletariat" after the so–called inevitable collapse of bourgeois capitalism. Science transmogrifies into Scientism, with its sub–branches of behaviourism and biologism, all of which deny the freedom to choose – between truth and error, good or evil – by relegating human inclination and action beyond personal control. Politics degrades into an unfree totalitarianism, where the State relegates personhood to nullity. The masses are statistics, said Stalin. Though their scales of impact have been less widespread than a neo–pagan West in the twentieth century (adopting statist political policies and collectivist economic agendas, which by the 1970s had refashioned the individual into a shape–shifting abstraction and stifled free enterprise), the effective rejection of personal liberty and individualism by the Natives precluded the germination of any seed that would have engendered free polities and dynamic economies.

VIII. Can evidence be provided to bolster these Politically Incorrect claims? Can we argue against the cultural relativism propagated by the academe? Let's try.

IX. Firstly, a note on "aboriginal" technology. It can be characterized with one word: primitive. Unlike the Europeans, they were not equipped with mathematical genius of the Greeks. They had nothing of the engineering acumen of the Romans. Maxwell and Lavoisier would have been regarded as demons from the underworld. Taking a photograph of someone, some Natives claimed, steals that person's soul. Perhaps these comparisons are invalid and the characterization unkind? Not, however, when North American Indian tribes are compared with the somewhat more advanced Aztecs and Mayans of Central America. In this case, the latter’s pre–eminence is likely attributable to warmer climes, which permitted for ample leisure and therefore greater time for rumination on social betterment and technological knowhow.[4] Regardless, that did not quell the barbarism since both had a taste for human sacrifice and cannibalism. Native tribes in Canada, let it be known, also practiced cannibalism.[5]

X. Correspondent with their animistic worldview, natural eventuations and causations (particularly those of a spectacular kind) were controlled by the astro–spirit realm. Natives in the southern Yukon, for instance, believed that a lunar eclipse emanates particles downward to the land–surface, omnipresent and all–pervasive. Disease occurred if any one of these particles embedded into an implement. Accordingly, women overturned pails, pots and dishes when the moon unexpectedly emitted its malevolent contagion.[6] True, sometimes sensible medicaments were used. For example, the Haida of the Canadian West Coast alleviated bruised appendages by immersing them in hot sand, and broken bones were set with splints made from cedar trees.[7] Nevertheless, they evidently had no real curiosity for the mechanics of human physiology and the natural world. Ailments were also attributed to curses from evil spirits or spells cast by enemy tribes. To be sure, in narratives of New World explorers/missionaries incidents are recurrent where the Natives are steadfastly reluctant to even consider new or alternative methods to ameliorate themselves. The missionary Charles Harrison (1847–1922) recounted one experience with a shaman of the Haida:

During the first two or three years of the author's residence at Masset the Shaman was apprehensive that a competitor had arrived, and he endeavoured to persuade the people that the medicine of the European was inevitably fatal to an Indian unless its effect was eradicated by a course treatment also at his hands, in fact, the people that were seriously sick were expressly forbidden to take the white man's medicine on pain of being disregarded by their own witch doctor. They dreaded the consequences of departure from old customs, yet faith in European medicines gradually won its way even though they at first hid them away and were reluctant to use them, at the same time paying strict attention to the witch doctor and his remedies.[8]

In the famous narrative of his capture and enslavement by the Nootka from 1803 to 1805, John Jewitt (1783–1821) recounted on how they felled trees:

...a slow and most tedious process... two or three days in cutting down a large one; yet so attached were they to their own method, that notwithstanding they saw Thompson [Jewitt's fellow captive] frequently, with one of our axes, fell a tree in less time they could have gone round it with their chisels, still they could not be persuaded to make use of them.[9]

Another case of disinclination to progress was observed by Samuel de Champlain (1567–1635; Canada's other famous explorer with Cartier) during his encounters with the Iroquois (ca. 1616). He reported myriad instances of blindness and respiratory problems endured by elderly inhabitants. The reason for these maladies was easily explainable. The Iroquois lived in poorly ventilated longhouses. Except for minimal aeration from opposing doors and holes at the roof above heaths, the atmosphere therein was fuliginous. Continuously burning fires with its smoke made the interior climate of the dwelling asphyxiative, murky and soot laden.[10] Why, over the course of centuries, did not somebody conceive a new architectural design more conducive to freer air flow?

XI. What about the Vikings? True, they were proficient ship builders, called "lords of the sea" by some. In the seventh century the keel (a nautical component which allows for directional and stability control) was invented in Scandinavia. The sail of a Viking ship was rectangular and large, providing a greater area for wind capture and quicker travel.[11] A good knowledge of the sea was needed for their extensive voyages – rarely for trade, never for scientific discovery. Mainly, it was the urge to raid and pillage. Despite modernist claims (again Political Correctness) that like to portray the Norsemen as more "civil" and "innovative" than traditionally thought, as against chronicles from the (implied) backward Medieval Christians, the Norsemen had no real interest in technological improvement and exploration. It was power, conquest and domination, symbolized by the god Thor with his giant hammer. Rightly goes a popular eighth century prayer from England: "Save us, oh Lord, from the fury of the Northmen!" Proof: forest lands of the Scandinavian interior, the region from which the Vikings originated, were never cleared and/or cultivated. A look at any map of the Viking voyages clearly illustrates routes mainly along coastlines. It is much easier to raid and pillage along the coasts than to commit to the hard work of, and development techniques for, large scale agriculture.

XII. Of course the situation of acculturation drastically changed over time when the Anglo–French influx became overwhelming – guns, government, trade, treaties, and so forth. Yet it still should be queried as to why an aversion to technical innovation persisted before the incursion of Cartier and his boys. This aversion to adapt to superior technologies was not something biologically inherent. It was not that there was no intelligence and common sense to recognize superior methods. And contrary to the bromides regularly extolled by contemporary anthropologists (let alone History Channel documentaries), the Native's were not always complacent in their way of life, content by "living with" Nature, assuaging her, as opposed to living "against" her. They recognized when something went beyond precedent. Unfortunately, it was invariably the tribal chief or shaman who would be the killjoy. Or in a modern context, political absolutism would intrude. The chieftain of the Nootka tribe that held Jewitt captive, a certain Maquina, was given a harpoon for whaling fashioned by the former. It worked so excellently during the hunt (Jewitt was a proficient metal worker) that other tribal members immediately desired harpoons of their own. Though Maquina would not permit it. That was that, and once again fear of reprisal, engendered by the egoism of an absolutist politico, was the factor that inhibited the dissemination of a new, beneficial, efficient idea.

XIII. When politics too far imposes itself upon Canadian society, its correlates, namely technology and economics, resultantly suffer and stagnate. For the utopianism that lies at the heart of the agenda of those whose who call for the politicization of all aspects of public and private life, dwells also Leibniz's notion that we live in the "best of all possible worlds". It may be the best of worlds when considered theologically. Though the world cannot be deemed best when considered in itself. If it were, then nothing would require change nor would progress be necessitated. And this was exactly the situation in "Kanata" before the French and English arrived.

XIV. Now it was not as if proto–representative government was completely absent. The Huron Confederacy, for example, had, by 1610, included four large tribes, including villages and clans. It was a cooperative socio–political organization, prompted by the awareness of trade advantages, also acting as a bulwark against the neighbouring, battle–driven Iroquois. It allowed a large number of people to cohabitate, work, hunt and settle disputes somewhat peacefully. It had a sensible division of powers at various social levels, not overlorded by a single chieftain. Although some stations were hereditary and, despite its "size and complexity, nothing about its organization shows any sign of being a radical departure from the ideas about government that prevailed among smaller scale societies of the Northeast. This suggests that the confederacy was an indigenous development out of the Iroquoian institutions of earlier times".[12] The Huron Confederacy and other political structures based on councils/kinship (i.e. family relationships, meaning power by blood, marriage, adoption) were still unable to allay the propensity for ultraviolence existent in all heathen societies, be they ancient or modern, small or large. As a prime Canadian example, the Jesuits Gabriel Lallemant and St. Jean de Brébeuf (spending many years among the Huron), were slowly tortured to death by the Iroquois on March 16, 1649. This torment, lasting for hours, involved stoning, scalping, burning at the stake, "red hot" tomahawk collars, mutilation by knife and a mock "baptism" with boiling water. After death, Brébeuf's heart was feasted upon as he reportedly showed no signs of pain while being tortured.

XV. Correlative with the lack of an established political association that would foster any lasting unity and conciliation over extensive regions, were isolated and closed subsistence economies. Individual tribes hunted and cultivated food for themselves. Implements were locally produced. Interference in a tribe's economic affairs were rarely tolerated. No standard or wide–ranging criterion for economic interrelationships existed. Each of these groups therefore had to be self–sufficient. Consumption by a household infrequently exceeded production, and when it did the goods produced or the food garnered were not set aside for some extraneous, specialized purpose. In other words, nothing originative or creative was done with capital, the key to an open and free economy. If not wasted or disposed of, the chieftain or a select few would confiscate all the goodies and use them to their own caprice. The idea of "an other" economic sphere of life was as remote to them as is personal responsibility to the NDP.

XVI. In this closed economy was a lack of ever new travelling routes and efficient means of transportation that would have allowed the development of functional, orderly trade and commerce on a massive intra–tribal scale. Rivers and canoes permitted merely for the movement of essentials in small quantities. Occasionally, gifts and slaves were exchanged between tribes. The fact that tribes were nomadic precluded the recognition of private property as an expression of personal liberty. Ironically, tribes travelled and lived along their favourite routes and regions, in close proximity to game, fishing and available agriculture. According to a study of the Hare Indians, there tended "to be more frequent contacts between individuals who use the same locality, and in consequence share the same local designation, than between individuals who do not".[13] There was no real sense of an "out there", of an urge to explore and populate untrodden realms, of anticipation for a reward after risk–taking. Thus, these spatially interred tribes and closed economies lacked that element of dynamism which would have sparked cultural mobility. Native societies worked top downwards. The all–powerful chieftain/councils at the pinnacle and everybody else at the communal bottom. There was no "in between", no inkling of a middle class. Instead, a kind of kibbutz existed. Its implicit communalism could aid particular people with the daily routine or those undergoing hardships. But, in effect, it eliminated the idea of personal responsibility, the drive of an individual will, given the opportunity, to exceed and rise above "the rest", be it in economics, technology or art. Innovators, who in all likelihood existed in these communities, remained anonymous or were suppressed.

XVII. Compounding this was the ubiquitous occurrence of polygamy.[14] It posed a significant social quandary. Many wives (polygyny specifically) meant many progeny for an individual man. Though it would be impossible for this fellow to properly raise all and each of his children as a real father. Polygyny, therefore, divorced a man from responsibility to his many children, to teach, guide and correct. His harem could try to accommodate. Yet it was the harsh natural environment that really controlled the population, its overall health and well–being. Hence, when faced with impersonal and sometimes extreme forces of land, sea and sky (causing sickness, disease, damage and death; manifested in destructive storms and floods, etc.), these deterministic forces were made "understandable" in myths. Without an objective science to comprehend and thus adequately control the physical environment, nature could only be divinized and appeased. After empirical scrutiny, polygyny is simply a way to excuse self–restraint in sexual matters. There is no evidence of its having a metaphysical aspect; no economic advantage, except for the idle, unproductive elite. One man cannot perform enough labour to support all his wives and children, unless subscription is made to the fallacy that "it takes a village to raise a child", which is just a rustic expression of "big government" pagan style. Wives become jealous of one another. Which wife to sleep with tonight? Indeed, it is psychologically debilitating for the children. Household chaos. The way I see it, polygyny is just an excuse for a man to satiate his fantasies whenever and wherever a tasty little honeypot catches his attention. It's that simple.

XVIII. What would have become of the Inuit, Beothuk, Algonquin, Athapascan, Iroquoian, Blackfoot, Cree and Objibway peoples if the French had not settled Lower Canada? The English not in Upper Canada? If not Christianized, would the Vikings have returned to Newfoundland after the Little Ice Age? The answer: cultural stagnation and/or eventual disappearance. Part of the explanation lies in the fact that no real distinction existed between the natural and supernatural worlds. This is implicit to the animistic worldview. The entirety of nature – trees, rocks, rivers, sea, sun, sky and moon – were believed to be inhabited by spirits, be they malicious or benign. This failure to see the natural/supernatural dualism in its proper light, namely polarities connected contingently but not necessarily, disallowed them to get an proper grip on the objective, impersonal physical world. The rains yielded maize aplenty. But was it a pluvial deus or a cumulonimbus cloud that produced the rainfall? Simply put, instead of considered as a despiritualized machine, the natural world was apperceived as an organismic entity modulated by extraterritorial powers.[15] You can pray to Pluvius Maximus for a luxuriant harvest, though a weather prediction model, in this case, is better than supplication to some abstract demigod of obscure origin. If you worship nature, the rugged deterministic laws of nature will take no notice of you, irrespective of what you say or do, and as such nature will by and large control all aspects of your life.

XIX. The more consequential problem was political in character. As stated above, a political straightjacket bounded Native peoples, ever tightening around them, causing stagnation. That is, the whims of the tribal chieftains and councils. The pattern followed was analogous with the classical Greeks. As Karl Popper wrote: "when Plato considers religious matters in their relation to politics, his political opportunism sweeps all other feelings aside."[16] Even if the shaman (i.e. the "priest") held some sway, it did not matter because there was no real division between religion and politics, itself related to the abovementioned nature/supernature confusion.

XX. The French and English colonists were imbued (knowingly or not) with two principles, religious in origin, which aided them in avoiding this situation; and whether the colonist a was saint or rogue, priest or explorer, trader or farmer, was irrelative. The first was that imperative to subdue the Earth, as given with the Divine Injunction in Genesis 1.[17] Accordingly, the world was approached in a utilitarian manner, as a subservient thing void of inherent sacred quality. The Earth's resources are, instead, to be harnessed, stored, transported, transacted, dissected, studied, classified for the uses and purposes of man. Man is above nature. The second, more momentous principle was enunciated by the Lord of History: "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God, the things that are God's".[18] In his classic work La cité antique, the French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulange (1830–1889) went to the crux:

It was the first time that anyone had distinguished God from the State so clearly. For, at the time Caesar was still supreme pontiff, the head and principal organ of the Roman religion. He was the guardian and interpreter of beliefs; he held in his hands both worship and dogma... But behold Christ smashes the alliance that existed between paganism and the Empire! He proclaims that religion is not the State and that obeying Caesar is no longer the same thing as obeying God.[19]

Where with the Natives the world was largely controlled by spirits; where each tribe had its own pantheon of immanentized spirits; where body, soul and belongings of these people were bound to the tribe; where their religion and politics merged into one... now they encounter these explorers and men in black robes enlivened with an astonishing worldview. God is transcendent to the material world. He is One, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. This Christian God makes man focus on his interior, immaterial nature, shifting attention away from the external, material world – yet not distancing himself from it absolutely. Worship is not appeasement out of fear but, instead, is manifested by prayer and faith out of love. It matters not from what tribe or nation you originate, neither your race, nor your status in life, not the nobility of your family line. This Christ is for all humanity and this message must be spread across the oceans, throughout the globe. As such, other clans, foreigners, the weak, the vulnerable, your neighbours, even enemy tribes must be approached with compassion and love. Most astonishingly, you are to forgive your enemy if in whatever way he harms you or speaks falsely against you. What better way is there to form unity amongst all peoples?

XXI. Christianity, or Catholicism more particularly, obligated man first and foremost to God, to the State secondarily. Because Christ made religion and politics separable, it also opened the door to freedom in the political sphere. Man is primarily duty–bound to God, so he is under the authority prescribed by moral law. Still, because of this separation, the State has been released to a significant degree; thus its policies and laws, acknowledging that man is firstly under God's transcendent authority, disallows the immanent Caesar, embodied in one man or an exclusive group, from dictating absolutely to the majority of people. Therefore, these people have greater freedom in public life. From this arose, as mentioned above, personal liberty, individual initiative, resultantly permitting for innovation, growth in science and technology, by way of exploration, in economics, art and so forth. Animated by this worldview, and weighing it against what he observed on the shores of eastern Canada, perhaps this was the reason why Cartier said what he said as said at the outset.


NOTES / REFERENCES

1. See R. Nader, N. Millerton and D. Conacher, Canada Firsts (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1992), passim. Yes, one of the authors is Ralph Nader, but I use it only as a factual reference.

2. E. von Kuehnelt–Leddihn, Leftism, From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House Publishers, 1974), p. 340.

3. See D.E. Sugden, "Reconstruction of the Morphology, Dynamics and Thermal Characteristics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at its Maximum", Arctic and Alpine Research, 1977, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 21–47.

4. This is discussed in the chapter entitled "The Wheels of Defeat" in Fr. Stanley L. Jaki's classic work Science & Creation, From Eternal Cycles to an Oscillating Universe (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986), pp. 49–67.

5. Both the Huron and Iroquois commonly tortured and consumed captives. The remains of 34 cannibalized people were discovered at an archaeological site in eastern Ontario. Reportedly, a chief on Vancouver Island (western Canada) ate 11 slave children.

6. C. Lévi-Strauss, The Raw and the Cooked, trans. J. Weightman and D. Weightman (The University of Chicago Press, 1983), Mythologiques, vol. 1, p. 298.

7. Compiled by C. Harrison in Warriors of the North Pacific, Missionary Accounts of the Northwest Coast, the Skeena and Stikine Rivers and the Klondike, 1829–1900, ed. S. Lillard, (Victoria, BC: Sono Nis Press, 1984), pp. 160–161.

8. Ibid., p. 168.

9. J.R. Jewitt, The Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, Captive Among the Nootka, 1803–1805 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1974), The Carleton Library No. 76, pp. 62–63. Some commentators claim Jewitt's narrative is sensationalized and fabulist, stylistically modified for public consumption. This unsubstantiated argument, of course, is all done in the name of Political Correctness, so as to maintain the myth of the "noble savage".

10. Realm of the Iroquois (New York: Time-Life Books, 1993), p. 62. Author not indicated.

11. See Y. Cohat, The Vikings, Lords of the Seas, trans. R. Daniel (New York: Harry N. Abrams Incorporated, Publishers, 1992), p. 72.

12. B.C. Trigger, The Huron, Farmers of the North (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Incorporated, 1969), Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology, p. 68.

13. H.K. Hara, The Hare Indians and Their World (Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1985), Canadian Ethnology Service Paper No. 63, p. 28.

14. "polygamy was practiced by several individuals", ibid., p. 252.

15. On the failure of science to develop in pagan cultures, see Fr. Jaki's Science and Creation (note 4). Consider also my essay The Origins of Science. LINK

16. K. Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies (Princeton University Press, 1971), The Spell of Plato, vol. 1, p. 199. Originally published in 1944. For the record, I am not an advocate of Popper's philosophy.

17. Genesis 1:28, "And God blessed them, saying: Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and all living creatures that move upon the earth".

18. Matthew 22:21.

19. Quoted in R. Graham, Vatican Diplomacy, A Study of Church and State on the International Plane (Princeton University Press, 1959), p. 4. The full, English title of Fustel de Coulange's work is The Ancient City: A Study on the Religion, Laws and Institutions of Greece and Rome. First published in 1864. An English language translation of the entire book can be found here.

EPH–7 / THE EDEN CARTIER NEVER FOUND

HEAD OVER HEELS FOR SPARKLES

I. Okay, back to the grind of being mean and grouchy. Have to maintain the reputation, you know ;) ... Now I assume that for any Canadian Catholic interested in keeping abreast of Church ongoings in this here domain, like your humble blogger, it is quite an ordeal to peruse the CCCB website. True, you could instead tune in to Salt + Light TV and watch Fr. Rosica market himself for a future bishopric, but make sure you have a bottle of Smirnoff handy. Alternatively, you could pop over to the Western Catholic Reporter, Prairie Messenger or the Catholic Register sites to get some good ole down home effrontery against all that is authentically Catholic. Yes, there are exceptions with a few writers. But in the main the Canadian Catholic MSM is an apparatchiks utopia where social justice and secular brown nosing rule the day. Still, for my money there's nothing like heading over to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops website to get a good dose of smiley face apostasy. It's sort of like gnawing on tin foil or listening to the nepotistic melodramatics of this fellow. Very unpleasant.

II. So I'm going through the website, perusing photos of multicultural bliss, clicking links to bureaucratic communiqués, unknowingly drooling due to the monotony involved, and then come across a delightful gem on The Most Reverend V. James Weisgerber, Archbishop of Winnipeg. That nomenclature is kind of long, so for simplicity's sake let's use short form and refer to the good archbishop as "Sparkles". Well, evidence does show him to possess a sparkling personality. Perhaps you may recall that Sparkles is no friend to Catholic bloggers: "These bloggers who claim to be more Catholic than anyone - I think first of all they’re not part of the church".[1] Sparkles enunciated that beauty in 2009 after it came to light, via LifeSite News and pesky bloggers, that Development and Peace, an arm of the CCCB (to which Sparkles was president), is funding Moloch-enablers in South America. Of course, Sparkles, D+P, the CCCB and their stoolies at Salt + Light TV denied everything.[2] Reportedly, the Plenary Session last October was supposed to have resolved the whole issue (see my post on the scandal here). A recent article at LifeSite News seemed cautiously optimistic on the outcome in that Msgr. Patrick Powers, otherwise known as "The Magic Man", admitted two groups as being "problematic".[3] In actuality, the number runs much higher. And just recently the Socon or Bust blog proved that Development and Peace is still up to its old shenanigans with this post. Those hippie fossils are quite resilient.

III. Sparkles has remained silent on the scandal since the Plenary Session late last October. Unlikely that he will admit any wrongdoing by D+P. He has more pressing matters to administer, more transcendent issues to cogitate upon. Indeed, days after the Plenary Session he was again out west to receive a major award. As the CCCB Media Room announced:

The Most Reverend V. James Weisgerber was awarded a Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa) degree on November 7, 2010, by St. John's Anglican College of the University of Manitoba. Dr. Janet Hoskins, Warden and Vice-Chancellor of St. John’s College, noted the following about the service which Archbishop Weisgerber has contributed: "a long history of dedicated ministry to the people of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, including a strong ecumenical focus"; his work in "the reconciliation of aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba", and his role in helping to organize "the historic encounter in Rome between the Pope and a delegation of former students at residential schools, which went so far in helping to address the deep concerns of the aboriginal community".[4]

So it appears that the Anglicans are head over heels for Sparkles. Not just that, CCCB president Bishop Pierre Morissette "sent a letter of congratulations to Archbishop Weisgerber on behalf of all the Bishops of Canada". Sparkles' brother conciliarists are head over heels for him too. And why not? He has a "strong ecumenical focus", he is open to dialogue with those outside the Catholic Church, he is tolerant and relevant. Yet this question now comes: What is his attitude to those within, so to speak, to "his own", to those whom he shepherds, that comprise the Catholic body? This necessitates some backtracking.

IV. There is an interesting article in the latest issue of Catholic Insight by canonist Dr. Marie-Jeanne Ferrari.[5] In it she recounts some happenings at the convention for Canadian and American Canon Law Society, held in Buffalo, NY, which ran from October 11 to 14, 2010. Sparkles was in attendance and one of the speakers. Note that this was just a couple of weeks prior to the 2010 CCCB Plenary Session. The convention opened with a "gathering prayer". Get a barf bag ready because I am now going to quote from it:

...We now turn our thoughts to Earth Mother. She continues to care for us and has not forgotten her instructions from the beginning of time. Now we bring our thoughts together in thanksgiving for the earth. We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with water. We return thanks to all the herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure of diseases...

Ferrari also reports that an African priest became quite upset with this animistic goofiness, retorting with: "I will not pray to your god", then promptly departed. The good father was later indicted by someone else for disrespecting the "cultural heritage" of the presiding sister. Lovely.

V. Sparkles' talk related to Vatican II: "Fifty Years Later: How Far Have We Come?" was the title. In his remarks he let loose a suite of howlers to which Ferrari added correction. For example, he minimized the importance/value of the new Revision, stating that it will only be a "small change compared to the changes introduced since Vatican II". Regarding liturgical reform: "much has already been accomplished". Don't know which parishes he's visited lately. Sparkles also spoke that all the faithful should participate in the liturgy, evening in preaching! The Catholic Church is "a big tent ready to encompass everyone". Hold on. Wait a minute...

VI. Recall my abovementioned question: What is his attitude to those within, so to speak, to "his own", to those whom he shepherds, that comprise the Catholic body? Dr. Ferrari provides the answer in this paragraph:

During the question period one canonist reminded Archbishop Weisgerber that seminaries training young men to celebrate the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite were full, and that this Mass is celebrated in many dioceses throughout America. However, when a group of Winnipeg parishioners had approached their archbishop for permission to have the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite that they had already enjoyed for several years with a priest from the Military Ordinariate, he refused them permission, saying that the Extraordinary Rite was neither wanted nor needed in his diocese. He suggested that they go to the (schismatic) Pius X church. So much for the big tent!

I would venture to say that Sparkles is not head over heels for Pope Benedict's Summorum Pontificum. But now we know why everyone else outside the Catholic Church is head over heels for Sparkles. Thanks for the bubble gum theology, and especially thank you for opening up the "big tent" to faithful Canadian Catholics. Good job, bishop. Sleep well.


NOTES / REFERENCES

1. J.-H. Westen, "CCCB President on Websites Confronting D&P: 'they're not part of the church, they're not Catholic'", LifeSite News, June 25, 2009. LINK

2. K. Dmytrenko, "Development and Peace investigation results: 'No evidence', Salt + Light Blog, June 19. 2009. LINK For the Salt+Light TV report that tried to cover up the Development and Peace scandal see D. Naglieri, "Probe Clears Canadian Agency of Funding Abortion", ZENIT, June 22, 2009. LINK Subnote that the Peruvian bishops sent a letter to the Canadian bishops stating that, indeed, Development and Peace was funding pro-abortion groups in Peru. This was broadcast by Vatican Radio. See A. Bush, "Vatican Radio Covers Peru Bishops' Letter to Canadian Bishops Asking Them to Stop Funding Pro-Abortion Groups", LifeSite News, June 22, 2009. LINK

3. Editors, "Canadian Bishops Finally Admit Development and Peace Funded Problematic Groups", LifeSite News, November 12, 2010. LINK

4. "The Most Reverend V. James Weisgerber honoured", CCCB Website, November 15, 2010. LINK

5. M.J. Ferrari, "Canon Lawyers Befuddled, Canadian and American Canon Law Society's Convention", Catholic Insight, December 2010, vol. xviii, no. 11, pp. 25-26.

HEAD OVER HEELS FOR SPARKLES