More on the Chesterton Conference: The Jolly Journalist

I've been to a lot of conferences in my life, but never one that featured as much unadulterated, good, clean fun. There is something about studying the "jolly journalist" that brings out the laughter. Every time Dale Ahlquist got up to introduce a talk he had us in stitches. And each of the speakers, no matter what his (or her for those who don't believe in the generic grammatical use of the male pronoun for both men and women) subject, had humor in his talk. And all that without one off-color joke, one use of the name of God as an expletive, one joke that was a mean-spirited put down of others (although there was plenty of lovable teasing with the teasees entering into the joke).

My husband and I had so much fun we are already talking about going to the conference in St. Louis next year. What an adventure! The Saturday banquet was a happy culmination of all that went before. It was a delightful break and when you're involved in fighting serious evil, an annual retreat and the Chesterton Conference are a great combo for ensuring sanity and perseverance in the faith.

Chesterton showed us that the world is so serious we mustn't take it too seriously. In other words, the devil is most effective when he suppresses joy because joy is so inextricably linked to hope. So a James O'Keefe is Chestertonian when he punctures the gasbag of political correctness and exposes the mainstream media (TV, radio, and print) as the three stooges. Writers are Chestertonian when they show the contradictions and hypocrisy that pass for liberal politics or modern religion, etc.  Teachers are Chestertonian when they reveal the true, the good, and the beautiful in life. And religious are Chestertonian when they raise our hearts and minds to God, which is the most important activity on earth.

The devil doesn't know anything about humour. It's above his pay grade. He can only smirk, leer, and make a sound that's a cross between a snarl and a lewd giggle. Chesterton knew that, which is why he said in a letter that "I am" what's wrong with the world. We're also what's right with the world when we unite our hearts and minds to God and obey those two great commandments: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.

My husband and I plan to join the local D.C. chapter of the Society that meets in Sterling. In September they'll be discussing the conference. It brings a smile to my face just to think of it.

James O'Keefe at the Chesterton Conference

The Chesterton conference was outstanding. Among the speakers was James O'Keefe, the young videographer who uncovered ACORN's moral turpitude when he showed they were willing to help a hooker and a pimp set up a brothel using underage girls from the third world. Don't look for this kind of story in the New York Times or The Washington Post. They are too busy shilling for liberalism and moral relativism. O'Keefe, on the other hand, is a first rate investigative reporter doing the job the drive-by media won't. He was the hit of the conference giving the young folks there a great role model of zeal and courage and giving the oldies like me great hope for the future.

To those who say that dressing up and telling a story is "lying" think about this. All story-telling is an opportunity to reflect on moral realities. Jesus told stories to illustrate moral truths and make his audience think and react. That's what O'Keefe and his crew do as well. They role play and photograph the reactions of the "audience." They don't entrap them (like government agents did to Randy Weaver). They may even be hoping for a moral reaction from their audience. Unfortunately, when you are dealing with liberalism that's unlikely. Of all the ACORN offices they visited only one refused to "help" the hooker and the pimp. What their role playing did was to expose truth. And that's the purpose of all good fiction. We're in the story together. So make sure when you respond to the story of life it's according to virtue, not vice!

N.B.: Funny how nobody talked about "lying" when the liberal crowd was "exposing" the crisis pregnancy centers for "lying to women" by withholding up front information to which they did not have a right.

O'Keefe also gave us a lot of great laughs, especially his story of getting Lucky Charms banned from the Rutgers cafeteria for discriminating against the Irish! It just showed that the ridiculousness, not to mention stupidity, of the politically correct diversity crowd.

So enjoy your Lucky Charms and think of young Irishman James O'Keefe while you admire the stereotyped little leprechaun on the front. Pray for this young man and all the "new media" young people like Lila Rose who exposed Planned Parenthood and the students assaulted by Congressman Bob Etheridge. May their numbers grow!

I Think Chesterton Would Have Enjoyed the Tea Parties!

Another Chesterton quote makes me wonder how he would have responded to the tea parties. I think he would have enjoyed them:

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected.

Sounds like the Democrats and Republicans to me. I think the tea party movement should adopt Chesterton. They will only be as successful as they take on the real issues of our day most of which relate to family values and hark back to the great truths.

And so, another Chesterton statement:

Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about.


G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy - English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936)

I often pray for my unknown ancestors who are responsible for me being a Catholic today because they passed on the faith. It's the greatest gift on earth, one that gives us a patrimony that goes back two thousand years! I'm praying for Chesterton today for being such a great public witness to those unchanging truths.

Chesterton Conference Starts Today

I'm an aspiring Chestertonian. I say "aspiring" because the only things I've read are a book of essays, portions of Orthodoxy, and the Fr. Brown stories. So I'm just a baby when it comes to plumbing the depths of Chesterton's thinking. The conference, which is being held at Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Chesterton's short work, What's Wrong with the World. I'm reading it to get ready and have already found the source of one of my favorite Chesterton quotes:

Christian ideals have not been tried and found wanting; they've been found difficult and left untried.

My brother tells me that another favorite quote of mine is also from this book:

Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.

I'm on the lookout for it. It's not in the first third of the book, but I've checked quite a few passages along the way that may become new favorites.

One thing about Chesterton is that he's ever fresh. He wrote about unchanging truths which makes much of his work as relevant today as it was in the early years of the 20th century when he wrote it.

Do you have a favorite Chesterton quote? If you aren't familiar with his amazing wit you can check out some Chesteronian witticisms here. Visit The American Chesterton Society for more information on this amazing Catholic witness. (By the way, Chesterton was a convert.)

Robert Moynihan on Christopher West's Theology of the Body

I never miss reading Robert Moynihan's Newsflash reports which I receive by email. This one came today. Unfortunately, it's not online yet at his website so I'm reposting here. This is an excellent summary of the debate last year over Christopher West's appearance on ABC which sparked a discussion of his interpretation and approach to John Paul II's Theology of the body. Moynihan provides an extensive review of the material and his discussion concludes with Alice von Hildebrand's article published about two weeks ago. If you only have time for one thing, read Mrs. von Hildebrand's inspired article. It is truly a gracious, humble, and holy work.  Robert Moynihan is the editor of Inside the Vatican.

A Theological Debate Heats Up

What is the right relationship between sex and sanctity? That's what many Catholics in the US are asking as a simmering theological debate over the "Theology of the Body" threatens to boil over and further test the unity of the Church in the US. The debate touches on issues ranging from the doctrine of original sin to the legacy of Pope John Paul II. And the hierarchy itself seems divided...


By Robert Moynihan
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"It had never been their intention to set up a separate Church... To be a leaven within the lump, to be an enclave of holiness within the corrupt body of Christendom, was the aim... But the logic of facts was against them. The enthusiast always begins by trying to form a church within the Church, always ends by finding himself committed to sectarian opposition." —Monsignor Ronald Knox, Enthusiasm

==================================
Love and Lust, Sin and Holiness

Note: The subject matter of the letter below is human sexuality, a matter which traditional Catholic teaching advises should always be treated with great discretion. And, in essence, that is the tragedy, and the problem, with this growing debate -- that matters which should be dealt with in privacy, and with discretion, are being dealt with in public, and without great discretion.
So I hesitated before embarking on this letter. But in the end, I felt it important to write it and send it because the controversy does touch on all the issues and questions concerning sexuality in our lives -- from love and courtship and marriage, to sexual relations and sexual pleasure, to contraception and homosexuality.

An Interesting Blog Post from an Ally in the Abortion Wars

An ally in the abortion wars, Fletcher Armstrong who directs the eastern arm of the Center for Bioethical Reform and runs the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) has a very interesting post based on the August 9th cover of Time Magazine. Here's what he says about the shocking photo:

In a surprising betrayal of left-wing kooks everywhere, Time Magazine has published (on its August 9, 2010 cover) a shocking and disturbing photo of 18-year-old Aisha, an Afghan woman who had her ears and nose cut off by the Taliban. Her crime? Trying to escape from abusive in-laws who beat her without mercy. She posed for the photo because she wants the world to see what a Taliban resurgence will do to the women of Afghanistan. Read more...

Is the Taliban typical of Islam or an aberration? We've seen pictures from around the world of what is allowed under Sharia Law and in many democracies there are "no go zones" where local police take a hands off approach and allow another government within the government to operate. It's happening in the UK where Sharia courts are officially recognized. Sharia law favors the interests of men over women in some cases. Many courthouses in the U.S. show Lady Justice blindfolded. That's apparently an alien concept in Sharia. How should the U.S. respond to the demand that Muslims should have their own lawcourts operated according to Sharia? And if we allow that, should we also allow women to be stoned to death for adultery?

On Islam and the Qur'an

Common Sense on the Mosque at Ground Zero from the WSJ

WTC Mosque, Meet the Auschwitz Nuns
Pope John Paul offers a model of tolerance for a heated controversy.
 
By William McGurn

With every passing day, the dispute over the planned Islamic Center near Ground Zero grows more acrimonious. These feelings will probably only get worse today, when the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission is expected to remove another hurdle by ruling against landmark status for the undistinguished old building the center will replace.

So maybe it's time to look beyond the lawyers and landmark preservation commissions and regulatory agencies. When we do, it will be hard to find a better example than the grace and wisdom Pope John Paul II exhibited during a similar clash involving another hallowed site on whose grounds innocents were also murdered: Auschwitz.  Read more...

Journolist: How the Leftwing Media Spins the News

No doubt many readers here have read about Journolist, the group founded in 2007 by Ezra Klein one of the young up-and-coming leftist "reporters" who works for the Washington Post. It's impossible to call these guys and gals journalists because they think their job is to create the news and advance the left's agenda. They are nothing like the great reporters of the past who actually "reported" the news; that is, they gave both sides without injecting their own opinions. Unfortunately, that tradition is almost dead.

As for journolist, the revelations showed an archive filled with partisanship planning to spin the news and  vicious comments about conservatives in the media. There were group discussions about how to protect Barack Obama from the scandals swirling around him as well. Divert by attacking the right and calling them racists.

Advocacy journalism has been around for a long time, but this new brand of "reporter" shows just how hard it is to get the truth out of the mainstream media. Here are a few articles on the Journolist scandal. If this is something that interests you, take a look.

Liberal Journalists Plotted to Protect Obama From Rev. Wright Scandal, Online Mag Says

JournoList, Shame of a Nation: We Know What Ezra Klein Knew and When He Knew It

When McCain picked Palin, liberal journalists coordinated the best line of attack

Obama wins! And Journolisters rejoice

When Are you Being Uncharitable?

I recently had a comment on one of my blog posts from someone who said Barack Obama is one generation removed from the jungle. It was an unnecessary and gratuitous slur and because of the term "jungle bunny" has racist undertones. When I admonished the anonymous poster for his lack of charity, he wrote back that after reading my blog and newsletter for a number of years, he didn't think charity was a requirement. Wow! Take that!

Actually, charity is important to me and I try to be charitable in my writing. These days writing about the hard truth isn't easy, because, as Rebecca Teti, a contributor to Faith and Family Magazine recently wrote in Someone’s wrong on the internet, many expect writers to avoid anything that might make anyone feel bad. So writers can't discuss abortion because it makes aborted women feel guilty. They must keep mum about the depravity of homosexual behavior because that's intolerant and lacks compassion. Remarriage after divorce, condemnation of public scandals, praying at abortion mills -- they are all off limits lest writing about them makes somebody feel bad. And so it goes.As Teti says, the only conversation left is the weather. She concludes that, "this privileging of passions endangers rational thinking about the common good." Amen!

I think the individual who commented on my blog about my lack of charity is one of those who believes speaking the hard truth is intrinsically uncharitable. Teti points out that many evaluate content using their emotional responses as SCUD missiles to annhilate conversation about particular issues. Here's her prescription for a cure: "Only by holding ourselves to a standard outside ourselves, only by liberating our ideas from our passions, can we reason clearly, debate productively and form a more perfect union." Indeed. Everything is not about myself, and if I make it so, I'm trapped in a tiny little world that begins and ends with my own skin.

I'd be interested to know if readers think I'm uncharitable. (Underline that word think. This is about reason and evidence.) Please post if you like, but I expect concrete examples from the blog or the website. Don't worry about hurting my feelings, this isn't about feelings remember. It's about the truth spoken in love. And if I'm being uncharitable it would be an act of mercy to tell me so. Because if I'm lacking in charity, as St. Paul says, I'm a clanging gong.

But keep in mind that charity is not synonymous with "being nice." The gospel definition of charity is to love God above all things and our neighbor as ourselves. Fr. John Hardon says it means to love as Christ loves with a selflessness that always looks to the good of the other. 

Remember the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are practical examples of charity and among them are instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, and admonish the sinner. That sometimes requires addressing difficult issues that may make someone "feel" bad. If a person's actions ARE bad, maybe that feeling is just what he needs to spur him to repentance.

By the way, I will not be posting any anonymous comments for this blog entry. I never say anything that I'm not willing to stand behind. So, while I welcome comments, I will not post any from "Anonymous."