Kilt trip [UPDATED]

[Updated 5/1/08 and 5/3/08—see updates in text below and at end of entry]

Some Grade 12 students of Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School in Strathroy, Ontario, are up in arms because:

• I wrote that, of the eight area high schools where I spoke on chastity last week, they were the "toughest crowd";


• to back up my contention, I published a photo of students reacting to my talk, and


• I commented generally on how the school district's girls compete to wear the shortest kilts.

As the HCC students were particularly inflamed by my publishing the photo of them, I have removed the photo. My comments about the students will remain, and I would like to share some of those comments with you, in the hope that you will pray for these students.

[UPDATE, 5/1/08: The Religious Life coordinator for the London, Ontario, school board has apologized to me for the students' comments. One commenter, "hccstudent," has also apologized, and I have removed one comment of hers from the list below and from the comments section at her request.]

First, we have a commenter who calls himself "Jay . from HCC BIATCH !" I suspect "Jay" is the student with the middle name "Jayy" who started a Facebook group demanding that I never return to Canada. (I am refraining from publishing his full name. The group has since been deleted from Facebook—presumably by the site's administrators, to whom I complained of harassment.)

On the Facebook page, "Jayy" described the group's mission thusly (all deletions are mine):

The crazy b-tch wrote a blog about the girls having "too short of kilts." But deep down, she knows there f-ckin hot.

"Jay" left two comments on my blog entry that mentioned Holy Cross, both of which threatened violence.

In his  first comment, he wrote:

HCC has had GREAT assemblies, you ruined that streak, even the teachers say so , Sorry to be harsh, but you need a good smack in the face. HA :)

A few minutes later, he added:

And I know many girls from HCC who where their skirts short, and i mean short, and their all virgins, you dont know us, lay on your death bed and think about it :)

Here are some other comments from HCC students:

• "hccstudent" wrote in part: I'm sorry, but your talk was inneffective and boring as hell. I was hopeful when you said you were a rock journalist, which is what I aspire to be, but you were a total letdown. Even the teachers said so.
  Also, we didn't laugh because we were uncomfortable, but because the outdated slang you were using (v-card? Is it 1998?) was ridiculous. Also, how dare you comment on our school system? Who cares about the kilts if we read 1984 and know that freedom to express ourselves is everything. FYI, the teachers do tell us to roll or skirts down, we just don't listen. ... You said you'd missed your chance to have kids? Good. You would only f-ck them up. You said we are your kids? Um, if I was your kid I'd have to medicate myself. That was MY two-minutes hate. Look it up, buttercup.
  Sincerely, an outraged student.
  
  (The advice that I look up the "two-minutes hate" is ironic. When I was in high school, I protested the state-imposed "moment of silence" by calling it a "one-minute hate.")


• "P-ssed off HCC student" wrote: are you bloody kidding me?! your sitting here judging us when dawn you should go take a LONG look in the mirror!! you are freaking crazy!!! how r u gunna say god gave u back your "v-card" back from prayer! ur crazy lady u lost it when the 1st night a guy had sex with you!! and then u go and say i bet a few of u out there still have your "v card" good guess, doesnt take rocket science too think your in a catholic high school.... and we belive to save ourself for marriage... ur flipping crazy!!! you need to find yourslef a new day job, and buy a " how to loose your studder in 10 days" tape or book, cause listen to you was killer,id rather pull my hair out one by one!! you know there was even teachers laughin at how crazy you sound? were the toughest group of people, no just other schools didnt laugh at you until you left the school! we had the balls to laugh at your crazy bull crap! now what do u think of HCC? hm? and posting those photos on ur blog, i sure hope you asked those girls before you posted it, how about we post your photo on a website and warn schools if you see this lady and she wants to talk to ur school LOCK YOUR DOORS now im done, thanks you!


• "Outraged in HCC" wrote: sup dawn,
  k so im a little upset with you. First of all when you were here, and giving your presentation, you were not doing a good job but i tried to give you some respect, because im a GOOD PERSON . But now that you go on the internet and bash our school and how we dress wow isnt that a little seventh grade! your suppose to be forty! and you act like your a child and im really glad you do not have them! WOW we are not the only catholic high school that has kilts and wears them short because wearing them long is UGLY, can you not let us enjoy our cellulite free legs while we have them. And wow we are allowd to be immature, we are in high school, that is our job! If you were having sex so much in high school and college you were acting a little TOO mature for your age. ANd you didnt use your common sence. So your little "slip ups" that you talked about on the today show, wow that really doesnt inspire us to stay chaste. SO way to be an inspiration. Way to stereotype our whole school by what a few students were doing and wearing. wow dawn as if! PS. epidermis buffet? Seriously? EWW ON YOU!


• "twootherhccstudents" wrote in part: I'm a catholic and i absolutely love having sex.. does it mean im a bad person? No, i think that chastity should be up to the person, I believe in making my own decisions on my lifestyle, based on what i feel is right its called cultural relativism.
  
  (If HCC students are learning the gospel of "cultural relativism" there, I think more prayers are in order.)


• "HCC" wrote: Dawn, you are UGLY and you stutter!!!! Get over it! You are a SLUT!! You're not a virgin! Face reality. PS- Just because we wear short skirts does not make us whores! Many of us are still virgins and wear short skirts! ALSO, a lot of us LOVE SEX!!!! So what?! You're just making us want to have sex more. So just shutup cuz no one cares about your life.


• And then there's this backhanded mea culpa from "hccstudent", she of the "two-minutes hate": I was the first HCC commenter and I want to say that I may have been a little out of line with some of my comments and personally attacking you (Dawn) was uncalled for and immature and I realize that. So, sorry, I guess. I got a little worked up.
  
  The reason I was worked up was because you had no right to comment on our school. As a commenter above said, we bleed black and gold. I, personally am an atheist and a hardcore liberal, but I could not imagine going to any other school but Holy Cross because of the students, teachers and rest of the community. I think it upset me because YOU came into OUR school, and judged us not on who we were, but how we compared to others and to YOUR values.
  
  So to every HCC student who commented, will comment, or has voiced an opinion on the subject in the last two days, you guys rock my socks. Go Centurions!
  
  Sincerely, hccstudent.

AND ANOTHER THING: Not every HCC student was as vitriolic as the ones cited above. Some, such as Annie, attempted to be constructive.

The main issues cited by Annie and other constructive critics were (1) in giving a complimentary "shout-out" to virgins, I was unfairly presuming the school's culture was hostile to virginity, or that there were fewer virgins present than there actually were; (2) I made a point of not denying the pleasure aspect of sex; and (3) I spoke about "secondary virginity" from the standpoint of renewal in Christ. (Some commenters, in referring to my talk, use the word "slut." For the record, I have never, ever, used that term or any similarly pejorative language in a talk, nor would I.)

It was not my intent to be unfairly presumptuous, and for that I have apologized to Annie.

My comment on pleasure was specifically intended to stress that chastity is not a choice one makes because one hates sex or because one is ignorant of the pleasure it brings. Rather, as I said, the pleasure in sin is the devil's way of distracting one from what we lose out on by pursuing such physical pleasure—namely, joy. I paraphrased C.S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters, which says all the devil can do "is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which [God] has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden." I have often made this point about pleasure vs. joy in my writings.

Perhaps the mere mention of pleasure in sex was too titillating for HCC's students, but my message was quite clear. I followed it up immediately by stating that "all sex outside marriage is emotionally and physically damaging," using the same words as I did at this talk in Syracuse:



I make no apologies for my description of how those who have lost their virginity may find renewal in Christ. Here is a video of that portion of my talk, from a lecture in Indiana.



For more on how both virgins and repentant nonvirgins are one in Christ, see the parable of the vineyard laborers and the parable of the prodigal son.

UPDATE, 5/3/08: LifeSiteNews picked up the story. Although they did not interview me, I agree with the reporters' assessment. They add the following information:

Ontario's Catholic teachers are all forced to belong to a union that has for many years strongly opposed the Church's moral teachings. The union intervened in a legal action on behalf of a student that successfully forced his Catholic school to allow him to bring his homosexual lover to the school prom.

The province's bishops have not taken strong actions to bring the union in line. The main school religion programs, approved by the bishops, have received much criticism for their weak presentation of Catholic teaching and excessive emphasis on "social justice" issues.

Despite these negative factors, some Ontario Catholic schools, thanks to faithful School Boards, teachers, principles and parents, as well as some bishops who have accepted there are serious problems in the schools they must personally address, do manage to give authentic Catholic moral and spiritual formation to their students.

THIS STUDENT'S GOT CLASS: A Grade 10 HCC student offers a very kind and thoughtful apology for her schoolmates' behavior.

Quote of the day

"No doubt lurid anecdote and popular myth cause us to exaggerate the actual frequency of campus hook-ups: Most college students do not share in these delights. But most students also believe that 'everyone does it,' even if the individual student, for some reason, cannot locate a partner. Thus an active minority sets the tone and makes hooking up a 'culture.' When there are no sexual boundaries, either official or informal, the standard becomes the extreme, and all students feel the pressure to appear more promiscuous than they are. The traditional double standard of sexual conduct – more restrictive for women than for men – has been replaced by the single standard of the predatory male."

— Harvey C. Mansfield, reviewing Donna Freitas's Sex and the Soul in today's Wall Street Journal

ATTENTION AUSTRALIAN READERS: Parents of conned teen need your help & prayers

The following comes from a longtime reader who has asked me to post it. I have not met him, but, due to the seriousness of the matter he describes, am taking him at his word:

Hi Dawn,

Well we're in need of some serious prayer. My youngest sister, K. (16), told us she was pregnant, and has been secretly seeing a boyfriend, Khy (26). So we met him, he's a very charismatic man, and he told us all sorts of things, that he had a phd, that he had a patent on some kind of machine, that he had inherited a penthouse apartment in SoHo from a rich friend who committed suicide, that he has a house, that he was doing some kind of electrical engineer research, and on a bad year, would make $90 000 a year, and so on. We decided to actually check out his claims, and it turns out that none of them are true, and in fact he is a con man.

His real name is Ronald Gander, and he tried to sell the boeing building, and spent the money on 17 sports cars. He also pretended to offer wireless Internet with a product that doesn't exist. He lives with his mum, and even the car he drives is his mum's car.

You can read about him here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2004/10/29/1231128.htm

http://m.zdnet.com.au/120263956.htm

http://m.zdnet.com.au/120263904.htm

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/8887.html

He was sentenced to six years (I think) and is currently on parole and has to check in with the police 3 times a week. My sister K. for a while continued to believe whatever he told her when we tried to tell her the truth, but it seems he has told her truth now, but she says she doesn't care, and plans to move in with him in about 3 weeks. She wants to become emancipated from our parents, and receive payments for living independently. She also has miscarried, so as you can imagine is in a very vulnerable state.

Now the laws here have the age of consent as 16, as long as the other person is 19 or younger. She was 15 when they began having a sexual relationship. However, the police aren't willing to do anything unless K. wants to make a complaint, is willing to testify, etc. (I have an uncle who is a policeman.) We're all very worried about her, especially our mother, and are afraid that once she leaves, we may never see her again.

I'd be very grateful if you could ask for prayer on this matter from your readers, you can post the whole story about it if you want.

-R.

If anyone reading this can help R. and his family, please e-mail me, dawneden -at- gmail.com (replacing the "-at-" with an atsign) and I will forward your e-mail to R.

I've got a glass house ... and a slingshot

L.A. Holmes comes out the winner in Part Two of RightWingNews' series interviewing female conservative bloggers on dating, for talking about the importance of chivalrous behavior and how women shouldn't be cynical about men's character.

The rest of the interviewees are upfront about their conservative ideology when it comes to criticizing liberals, but their political views don't seem to reflect an elevated morality. I gasped when I read one interviewee's complaint that an eHarmony match dropped her for "a liberal woman -- with cankles and purple contacts."

"Obviously," the blogger adds, "she must have an unusually wonderful personality."

What this series makes me realize is that, if so-called conservative political views don't reflect a desire to image God in one's life and relationships, then, what is the point of holding them? (The views, not the bloggers.)

I'm sensitive about this because it's an issue of personal integrity, one with which I have struggled and continue to struggle. (I touch upon in my book's chapter on modest dress, when I write about how my bed got the chastity message before my closet.) My own interview for RightWingNews' series doesn't read like the words of one who has overcome the world.

The wimple life

Scenes from the papal Mass at Nationals Park April 17:


My friend Glen and I pose for the camera before the Mass begins. Behind us, on the right, you can see the priests taking their places in their white and red vestments.

This is the best shot I could get of the Mass itself with my simple camera, as the procession begins. Sorry the Holy Father isn't in this one!


As we braved the crowds to get to the Metro after the Mass, we met some Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church who were there from Spokane, Wash. That's my friend and fellow St. Stephen Martyr parishioner Nohad on the right. As you can see, the joy of the Mass was upon us all. Think Catholic Woodstock, minus the mud.

Quote of the day

"I had not realized that there were 15 Popes before this one who were also named 'Benedict' but there have been 265 popes in the Catholic church since around 33 A.D., so it is understandable."

— Andy Rooney. Via Dimitri Cavalli, who writes, "You wonder what he thought the number after the pope's name meant."

John Lennon, 'Internationale' man of mystery

Yoko Ono is suing the makers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," attempting to have the documentary removed from theaters because of its unauthorized use of John Lennon's "Imagine."

The makers of the film, which alleges that academia excludes or suppresses views contradicting Darwinism from discussion, claim the inclusion of a snippet of the song is protected under the Fair Use doctrine.

I can't find the "Expelled" clip containing "Imagine" online, but this YouTube offering illustrates its lyrics in a manner that, if memory serves, is similar to the ironic way the song is used in "Expelled," though not as powerful.



I previously wrote on "Imagine" in January 2005:

Maclin Horton is incensed that Rolling Stone named John Lennon's "Imagine" the third greatest song of all time when, as the magazine acknowledges, Lennon himself admitted it was the Communist Manifesto set to music:

Has the Rolling Stone writer and others like him actually read the Communist Manifesto? No one today could read a call for "racial purity" without thinking at once of the Holocaust and viewing the author as at least hovering around the moral territory of its perpetrators. Can the Rolling Stone writer read proposals such as "abolition of private property" and "centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State" without thinking of the millions dead in Stalin’s terror, in the Gulag, in Mao's Cultural Revolution? Can he or she read "Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture" followed by "gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country" without thinking of Cambodia's killing fields?

On the other hand, the chairman of the Communist Party USA has no problem with the free publicity.

"Expelled" news item is via The Curt Jester.

Drawn patrol

UPDATE: I've removed the image described below, as Matt has very generously agreed to redo it at my request. Thanks to everyone who commented.

Original post (sans image) follows:

I recently commissioned my friend Matthew Alderman of Shrine of the Holy Whapping to draw a new image of me to replace the one at left, which has become outdated thanks to my ever-lengthening hair. The result is the drawing above (click on it to see it larger). Matt writes to me that he used green to symbolize hope. At my request, he included a drawing of the Sacred Heart.

I think it is a technically beautiful drawing that is representative of the artist's vibrant talent as an iconographer liturgical artist. My question to you, dear reader, is, does it look like me?

I don't really see myself in it, but then, I didn't see myself so much in the earlier one either at first, and it grew on me. I realize that this is stylistically more in the vein of an icon than a caricature, and icons are not strictly representative. Part of what they do is call to mind the personality and spirituality of the person they depict. I'm not certain whether I can fully judge this, so I'm putting the question to you. Your opinion will help determine whether I replace the older image with the new one. Thanks!

Today's guest headline, submitted by Henrietta G. Tavish ...

Al Sharpton Calls for Police Shootings to be Safe, Legal and Rare

Giant heart

American Life League pays tribute to the late New York Giants owner Wellington Mara.



From Wikipedia's entry on the sports legend:

In a rare response to a sportswriter, frustrated with poor performance from the also-ran Giants of the 1970s, asking, "What can you expect from an Irishman named Wellington, whose father was a bookmaker?" Mara later said:

"I'll tell you what you can expect—you can expect anything he says or writes may be repeated aloud in your own home in front of your own children. You can believe that he was taught to love and respect all mankind, but to fear no man. And you could believe that his abiding ambitions were to pass onto his family the true richness of the inheritance he received from his father, the bookmaker: the knowledge and love and fear of God and second to give you (our fans and our coach) a Super Bowl winner."

Sill the one

Just felt like listening to this one again: Judee Sill performs her gorgeous composition "The Kiss" on "The Old Grey Whistle Test" in 1973. It's a sort of prehistoric version of the theology of the body set to music.

In case you've got deja vu, I do put up this video with pretty much the same post whenever the mood hits me, for the benefit of anyone who hasn't heard the tune.

Mazel dazzle

The emotional highlight of my Ontario high-school tour was meeting T., a student at Catholic Central High who, when I got to the part of my talk where I mention growing up Jewish, shouted a hearty, "Mazel tov!"

Canadian Catholic schools, owing in part to their state funding and their reputation for discipline, have a large non-Catholic population, so it did not surprise me to learn that T. is a fellow member of the tribe. After listening to me speak to Grades 11 and 12, she paid me the great honor of skipping her sixth-period study time in the library to stay and hear me address the Grades 9 and 10s.

When I finished my second talk, she told me a bit about herself. I was impressed with her generous heart, and especially that she helps her aunt care for her Bubbeh (grandmother), whom. if I remember correctly, she said has Alzheimer's. It was touching to hear her say that she is learning Hebrew so that she can understand what her Bubbeh, who no longer recognizes her, is saying when she yells at her. I complimented her on doing the mitzvah of caring for her grandmother, and told her she would never regret having shown such love to her Bubbeh.

Since she was open to what I had to say and interested in my life, I shared a bit about my conversion, telling her about St. Maximilian Kolbe, who volunteered to die in place of a condemned prisoner at Auschwitz, and giving her a St. Maximilian prayer card that included a medal. But I also encouraged her to take pride in her Jewish heritage, as she does, and urged her to never let anyone make her feel inferior because of it. While those who are now Christian were worshiping the likes of Zeus, I said, her ancestors were worshipping the one true God.

[PHOTO HAS BEEN REMOVED—SEE HERE FOR EXPLANATION]

The Grade 12s at Holy Cross—here reacting to my giving a shout-out to those who still had their V-card—were the toughest crowd.
Please pray for T. and for the other teens who approached me after I spoke at high schools this week. I don't envy teens' being that age and in that environment. High school was not a happy time for me. Seeing the way the Ontario girls competed to wear the shortest skirts reminded me of how the social pressure to conform could be unbearable. Thankfully, there were some in each school who had the courage to risk the teasing of their peers and tell me they appreciated what I shared with them.

Quote of the day

"T.S. Eliot says, 'In a world of fugitives, the person taking the opposite direction will appear to be running away.' It’s not the chaste person who’s going the wrong way; it’s everybody else."

— United Methodist Church Rev. Brad VanFossen

Shmear tactic

As I grabbed my luggage off the airport-security conveyor belt in Toronto this morning, a security agent called to the woman whose bag was X-rayed right after mine, having seen something suspicious.

The woman obligingly took a small plastic supermarket container out of her bag. I glanced down at it and realized what it was just at the moment she announced it to the agent. At that same moment, reading the label and hearing her voice, I had an indescribable feeling of familiarity. It was abundantly clear she was a Jewish grandma. She could have been one of my relatives.

"It's cottage cheese," she said matter-of-factly and with a hint of none-of-your-business, as if she'd been quizzed on one of her medications. "Not liquid. Cheese."

The guard let her—and her cheese—through.

Prayer request

Athos of Four Mass'keteers writes "Thanks for the prayer" as he goes into surgery today, but I'm sure he would be happy for more orisons. If you'd like to let him know you're among those praying for him, leave a comment on his post.

Blame (Air) Canada

Last day of London, Ontario high-school talks went well—thanks for prayers. I should have asked for traveling mercies as well. My flight out was canceled, making me miss my connection, so Air Canada is putting me up in Toronto until I can fly home tomorrow a.m.

Cafetorium Catholics

Today, I gave more talks than I've ever given in one day—four talks at two high schools in London, Ontario. As I wrote earlier, this is my first-ever high-school tour, as I usually speak to noncaptive audiences.

The day went phenomenally well, and for that, I thank everyone who was with me and all the friends, family, and readers who were supporting me through prayer. Jason Evert's advice for chastity speakers is largely about getting "prayed up," and I didn't realize until this tour just how important that is. Speaking about Christian spirituality, and particularly sexuality, in a high school, one really does feel that it is a spiritual battle. To speak effectively and lovingly, help is required from all the angels and saints. On this trip, I have been blessed to have great prayer backup from members of one of the groups sponsoring my tour, London Area Right to Life Association.

Yesterday, the lay ministry leader [or "chaplain," as they call them here, though not ordained] at Regina Mundi, the first school where I spoke, gave me a box of about 40 string necklaces with wooden cross pendants, to distribute to students after my talks. Since I didn't have enough for all 2,500 students who heard me that day, I planned to give them just to those who came up to me after my talks.

Today, since only a handful of students had come up to me yesterday, I decided to announce to the students at the end of my first talk of the morning, at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School, that they could come up and receive wooden crosses from me while supplies lasted.

The school was not a particularly religious one as Catholic schools go; like all the Catholic schools here, they are state-funded and have a large non-Catholic population (perhaps 25% of the student body). Moreover, I am told that, of the Catholic students, only a minority go to Mass. Add to that the fact that the students come from the wealthiest area of the district, and that, as a vice principal told me, they have a (well deserved) reputation for wearing the shortest skirts, and I wasn't expecting the mob scene that occurred after I wrapped up my talk. I gave out all the crosses in a matter of seconds. One Grade 11 boy said endearingly, "Give me one of those sexy crosses!"

It wasn't just that they wanted freebies, either. The students had a strong devotional sense that was deeply touching, and I think surprised even the school staff and the talks' sponsors. As I walked out of the cafetorium following that first talk of the day, the chaplain approached me with four girls who wanted to know if I had any crosses left. I didn't, but I arranged to get them some prayer cards, which I did after one one of the sponsors made an emergency run to the local Catholic shop in time for my second talk at the school.

The prayer cards likewise flew away at the end of my second talk. A boy and girl who did not appear to be together cornered me after that one to talk more about chastity and I wound up digging in my purse to find my scapular medal for the girl and my Miraculous Medal for the boy. The girl was interested in making a kind of consecration to acknowledge her commitment to saving sex for marriage, so I suggested she buy a Brown Scapular from a Catholic shop and have her priest enroll her in the devotion, as chastity is a requirement for wearing the scapular. I also gave her the URL for Marytown, the Web site of the U.S. home of St. Maximilian Kolbe's Militia Immaculata, where she could learn about consecrating herself to Mary, and I gave her and the boy the URL for Evert's Pure Love Club as well. All along, I was kicking myself for not having thought of bringing Miraculous Medals as I had done when I was invited by Catholic groups to attend the University of Illinois' "Sex Out Loud" fair last year.

At every talk, I said a few words in support of the virgins in the audience—or, as I put it in one of my talks, the "intentional virgins" who were saving themselves for marriage. It was enormously affecting to see how someone would always cheer and wave when I would say I knew there were virgins present. The cheers were especially loud once I changed my wording—as I did in my second or third talk of the day—to say, "I want to give a shout-out to those of you who still have your V-card!"

I realize that language may sound shocking to readers who have not spent time in high schools. It shocks me. But the kids hear about sex all day from their peers who are putting forth the idea that everybody's doing it—a message that their schools' staff do not always attempt to dispel.

One school where I spoke yesterday, likewise Catholic and state-funded, had a display table on testicular cancer just inside the front door. Now, I realize it's important for young men to learn about such things—but it was disconcerting to walk into a Catholic school and be greeted with a sign shouting, "MY LEFT NUT."

Getting the students to see that not everybody was in fact doing it—and that some of their peers were actually proud of saving themselves—was exhilarating, as was the opportunity to share with all the students, virgins and nonvirgins, the truth about God's mercy and renewal in Christ.

* * *

The first time I can remember hearing the word "virgin" was when, at the age of 10, I was taken by my mother along with my sister and her friends to see the R-rated "Rocky Horror Picture Show"—a treat for my sister's Sweet 16 birthday. The MC for the "floor show" that accompanied the cult classic—where audience participation is the rule—asked if there were any "virgins" present—the universal term for those who have never seen the film.

I could not have imagined that nearly 30 years later, I would be standing in front of 750-odd teenagers telling them that virginity is the true rebellion—and hearing some of them cheer. It never ceases to amaze me how God is capable of taking the seemingly least godly experiences of my life and turning them into reminders of His saving grace.

This kind of apostolate is challenging, but it is so rewarding. I am so very thankful to the sponsors for giving me the opportunity to do this tour. Please keep up the prayers as I prepare for my third and last day of high-school talks before heading home.

* * *

How short were the skirts? Don't get me started. I can't say what it's like at Catholic schools in the States, but the state-funded schools here do not appear to police the uniforms, though at least one of the schools where I spoke is planning to tighten its restrictions in coming years (requiring girls to wear tights and dress shoes, and to pin their kilts). Honestly, these girls were walking around (and sitting on the floor) in hemlines that would make a Ziegfeld girl blush. It amazed me that the boys in the audience could pay any attention to me at all with the epidermis buffet going on all around them.

Mundi Monday

Having done four lectures on this, my first-ever day of high-school talks (having previously spoken almost exclusively to young adults), and afterward enjoying coffee with delightful locals, Chastity Gal is turning in early. I do have some stories I would like to share, but, with four more talks at area high schools scheduled for tomorrow (and three for Wednesday), most of them will have to wait 'til I get some rest.

For now, I'll note that the students seemed interested when I told them what Pope John Paul II called "the opposite of love." It's not hate, as some of them guessed when I asked them what they thought it would be, nor is it indifference. It's use.

"People sometimes use people because they hate them," I said. "But you don’t have to hate someone to use them. That’s why use is more dangerous than hate. You can use someone while fooling yourself into thinking you love them." That enabled me to lead into explaining how practicing chastity enables us to love truly and sacrificially, whether in friendship, marriage, or any other relationship.

I'd like to say thanks very much to those who responded to my request for prayers for me on this unusually intensive tour, and also to Jason Evert, whose online advice on "How to Give a Chastity Talk" to high-schoolers proved invaluable.

Quote of the day

"I wish I could capture this little man's smile at the end of the Mass.

"In the field where so many ghosts are said to inhabit, and where so many dreams have come true, it's almost as if the Pope has finally shed the spectre of John Paul II, and fulfilled some childhood dream.

"You know there can never be a piece about New York without those words, "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere" rabble-rousing their way unto it.

"But it's true.

"There are many United States of Americas. Most are not Catholic, most are not even religious.

"But in this one place and time, people in this stadium are bursting forth with a simple, and may I say, very palpable feeling of joy at being Catholic."

— Vbspurs, "Live Blogging The Pope's Yankee Stadium Mass"

London bound

Currently at Dulles International Airport awaiting a flight that will eventually take me to London—London, Ontario, that is, where I'm speaking at several high schools over the next three days. (See "Tour of the Chaste," below, for more on my upcoming talks.) This will be my first time speaking in high schools, other than a one-off talk in Drogheda, Ireland; normally I address college students. Would be grateful for prayers!

Time constraints, combined with problems uploading photos to Blogger, have prevented me from putting up photos from the past week. The upload problem seems to be solved now—the above pic of me after the papal Mass at Nationals Park made it through—so I'll post a few pics when I have time, hopefully at the hotel later tonight. (Update, 10:59 p.m.: Got to hotel late — pics will have to wait 'til tomorrow.)

'I can't think of anything better for a Catholic than to be in the Holy Father's presence'

My friend Nohad, in an interview with local NBC News, speaks so beautifully of her experience meeting the Pope that it makes me want to cry. (She's the first interviewee in the segment.) I thank God for the graces of hope and healing that He is shedding through the Holy Father's visit.

Typing this from a hotel computer—will post photos from the eventful past few days when back home tomorrow.

Tour of the Chaste coming to Connecticut, D.C., Seattle, Alaska ...

Moved this post up to remind you to catch me in Connecticut tomorrow a.m. if you can!

My latest speaking dates, all on The Thrill of the Chaste and related topics, save for the Seattle Chesterton Society one:

April 19

Connecticut Christian Singles Network seminar, First Church of Christ, Wethersfield, Conn. See brochure for details.

April 21-23

Speak at several schools in London, Ontario.

May 8

Speak at Archdiocese of Washington young-adult event, Ebenezer's Coffeehouse, Washington, D.C., 7 p.m.—more details TBA.

May 12

Theology on Tap, Kenai, Alaska—details TBA.

May 13

Theology on Tap, Anchorage—details TBA.

May 14

Theology on Tap, Mat-Su, Alaska—details TBA.

May 15

Talk: “The Girl Who Was Thirsty: How G. K. Chesterton Led Me to Faith," Seattle Chesterton Society, Falcon Lounge, Seattle Pacific University, 7:30 p.m., free.

More Seattle dates to be posted shortly; for now, most get sleep ...

Question for those who heard the Washington papal Mass

Did the Pope mention chastity in his homily?

The Vatican's official text mentions "charity" and "chastisement," but not "chastity." I could have sworn I heard him call for people to live out their calling to "chastity and love," and a friend who was there thought he heard the Pope utter the word "chastity" as well.

Binding up wounds

Had an awesome time at the papal Mass yesterday and will post photos after getting sleep.

In the meantime, I think we can all agree that the Pope's meeting with abuse victims was one of the most important acts of his papacy thus far.

Quote of the day

"Freedom is not only a gift, but also a summons to personal responsibility. Americans know this from experience – almost every town in this country has its monuments honoring those who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, both at home and abroad. The preservation of freedom calls for the cultivation of virtue, self-discipline, sacrifice for the common good and a sense of responsibility towards the less fortunate. It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one’s deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate. In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good. Few have understood this as clearly as the late Pope John Paul II. In reflecting on the spiritual victory of freedom over totalitarianism in his native Poland and in eastern Europe, he reminded us that history shows, time and again, that 'in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation,' and a democracy without values can lose its very soul. Those prophetic words in some sense echo the conviction of President Washington, expressed in his Farewell Address, that religion and morality represent 'indispensable supports' of political prosperity.

"The Church, for her part, wishes to contribute to building a world ever more worthy of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God. She is convinced that faith sheds new light on all things, and that the Gospel reveals the noble vocation and sublime destiny of every man and woman. Faith also gives us the strength to respond to our high calling, and the hope that inspires us to work for an ever more just and fraternal society. Democracy can only flourish, as your founding fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth and bring the wisdom born of firm moral principle to decisions affecting the life and future of the nation."

— Pope Benedict XVI, from his White House speech today. I was there—will post photos tomorrow.

'How the Heterodox Greet the Pope'

Scroll past the image of Mary on my friend Matthew Balan's site for a preview of "the ash heap of history."

Friar brigade

Via American Papist, friars at the Dominican House of Studies raise a bannner for the Pope. When you want a magnificent feat of engineering, call in the Thomists!



Got to love that narrator. I have to admit, when the banner was threatened by the wind, I was hoping he would cry out, "Oh, the humanity!"

Jig is up

Song No. 2 on the radio dial of commenter John Vaeth's site is a lovely jig. His notes about the tune add a bit of trivia: The bass player on it, Mark Silla, is now a Dominican friar.

Intermezzo

I just want to say how utterly thankful I am right now. Thanks to those of you who have prayed for me, including for my health. This is a beautiful time to be healthy and able to bop around town to see Il Papa, which is what I am doing for the next few days. The experience of having the Holy Father in town, and even passing by my parish church, also makes me so thankful for the grace of conversion to Christianity and especially the grace of having entered into full communion with the Catholic Church.

A dear friend of mine is in town for the papal visit, so I am also delighted to have fellowship during this time. And I am so thankful to be working a freelance job so that I can take time off to partake in the events surrounding the Pope's stay in this great city of Washington. All in all, I feel like I have more blessings than I can count.

Tonight: Meeting my friend and going to church to help young adults paint a banner for tomorrow. Already dropped off over 100 yellow and white flowers at church so that, as the Pope passes by tomorrow, women in the crowd may wave flowers that are the colors of his coat of arms. Brother Hugh Vincent Dyer O.P., a Dominican transitional deacon serving at my church, suggested the flowers, saying they would remind the Pope of the gardens of his native Bavaria.

Tomorrow: Possibly attending the White House event in the a.m. as a guest of a friend's daughter—hoping and praying the daughter can get me in. Then hightailing it to my parish to wave flowers at the Popemobile. Finally, in the late afternoon, heading to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, as a friend who works for Dominican House of Studies was able to get me tickets to cheer the Pope's arrival there.

Thursday: Mass at Nationals Park!

Will blog with photos when I can. Pray for the Holy Father's intentions!

Join the Sisters of Life in 'massive' Manhattan street evangelization

(Moved this post up at the Sisters' request; scroll down for newer posts.)

Sister Mary Karen of the Sisters of Life e-mails the following news for New Yorkers:

Spread the word! Join thousands of New Yorkers and pilgrims as we show our love for Pope Benedict XVI during his Apostolic Visit to the Americas.

What? A massive street evangelization event at three distinct locations in Manhattan! Join the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, the Knights of Columbus, the Sisters of Life, Communion and Liberation, the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, the Daughters of St. Paul and other rockin’ groups in inviting people on the street to encounter the Lord in Eucharistic Adoration and the Holy Mass! After Mass, those at each church will process to Pope Benedict XVI’s accommodations and join together for a candlelight vigil and singing.

When? This Friday, April 18

4:30 pm: Street evangelization begins – meet at individual churches
7:00 pm: Eucharistic Adoration with music & confession
8:30 pm: Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Candlelight procession to welcome the Holy Father in song follows!

Where? Three location options in the heart of Manhattan:

St. Malachy’s: 239 West 49th St between Broadway and 8th Ave.
St. Jean Baptiste: Lexington Ave between E. 75th and E. 76th Streets
Our Lady of Good Counsel: 230 East 90th St. between 2nd and 3rd Aves.

UPDATE—MUSICIANS NEEDED: Sister Mary Karen adds: "We are looking for musicians to join us on the street evangelization. People who can sing, or play something—sacred music—no Beatles or that kind of stuff."

Don't forget, you can cheer the Pope outside my church tomorrow—and pray there any time of day or night from today through Friday morning.

My chastity talk at Yale ...

... is now available for viewing online in its entirety, including the Q&A, thanks to the Veritas Forum. You'll need to crank up the volume. It is the talk that was sponsored by Christian groups, not the official Sex Week panel on which I participated the night before.

At the beginning of the video, when you can only see the front of the classroom, it looks like the room's nearly empty. Later, the camera pans back and you can see there were about 30 attendees—about the same number of students as those unaffiliated with Sex Week who attended the "official" event the night before.

The students' curiosity shows in the Q&A; they were interested to receive a message different from the ones their university had been giving them all week with appearances by pornography performers and the like. Towards the end of the video, I respond to questions from the Sex Week founder, who sat in the front row.

The sound of Walsingham

Attention Anglophiles: Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church, the Houston church that follows the Vatican-approved Anglican Usage of the Roman Rite, has its very own Radio Walsingham. It's playing a show about the history of the original Our Lady of Walsingham shrine as I write.

MORE: See the Walsingham shrine in Matthew Balan's article on his pilgrimage to England.

Greet the Pope (and pray the night before) on Pennsylvania Ave.

If you'd like to catch a glimpse of the Pope and don't have a Mass ticket, your best bet in Washington, D.C., is to catch his Wednesday popemobile route, which will pass by my parish church, St. Stephen Martyr, at 25th and Pennsylvania. St. Stephen is the only parish church to be honored with a papal drive-by. All are invited to join my parish in cheering the Holy Father and also to make a mini-pilgrimage to pray for his intentions at the church, which will be open 24 hours (!!!) the entire duration of the papal visit, tomorrow through Friday morning, with a security guard present at night.

Also lovely to see that Pope Benedict is bringing beautiful weather with him. That forecast sure looks like divine intervention to me.

Good morning! Keeping the St. Michael post uptop for now; scroll down for new posts.

Daily News staffer on the side of the angels

[Originally posted yesterday— Sunday, April 13:]

St. Michael watches over 33rd Street, December 2006.
The Church of St. Michael on 34th Street in Manhattan has suffered more than its share of vandalism; its 12-foot Sacred Heart statue was encased in fiberglass two years ago after repeated attacks by vandals. So, it is sadly no surprise that a thief tried to take the statue of St. Michael the Archangel from its pedestal on 33rd Street by the St. Michael Academy and the Presentation Sisters convent behind the church.

What is impressive is that an employee of the Daily News—whose offices are down the street from the academy and convent—spotted the stolen statue in the parking lot where the thief dumped it, and she alerted me at my home in Washington, D.C., in time for it to be retrieved.

My former co-worker Sarah, the photo editor of the News' Web site, remembered that I had a fondness for the Church of St. Michael's Sacred Heart statue and so figured I would want to know about the fate of the one of the church's namesake. Her e-mail was in my inbox when I arrived home from Sunday Mass this afternoon:

Dawn, the angel formerly resting atop a pedestal outside the St. Michael Academy seems to have made his way across the street to the parking lot on 33rd. I can call them if you want or you can shoot them an e-mail telling them that he was apparently afflicted with a case of wanderlust and is perhaps now waiting for a car to pick him up???

She attached a cell-phone snapshot.



Amazingly, although St. Michael's hasn't been my parish since I left the News ten months ago, I still had the cell phone number of its pastor, Father Myles Murphy, and managed to reach him while he was driving. Having just left the church for the day, Father was a bit stunned to get a phone call from a former parishioner in Washington, D.C., insisting his church's statue was in the parking lot across the street.

While Father Murphy phoned the convent to see if the nuns could rescue the statue, I said a prayer for the statue's safe return—the St. Michael the Archangel prayer, of course.

Father called me back a few minutes later to let me know that two of the Presentation Sisters managed to get the statue back to their convent across the street, with the "help" of a male passer-by—who charged them 25 bucks for the favor.*

Yes, you read right: A man charged a pair of aged nuns $25 to carry a statue of St. Michael the Archangel into a convent 30 feet away. Not for nothing is the neighborhood called Hell's Kitchen.

So, what was St. Michael doing down there? Given the statue's weight, it is possible that the thief or thieves meant to carry it away but gave up early on. Or perhaps the culprit realized he didn't want to be on the wrong end of the archangel's flaming sword. Whatever happened to prevent St. Michael's presumably unintentional flight, the story now has a happy ending thanks to the Daily News' Sarah, St. Michael's own guardian angel.

*If you would like to reimburse the sisters, or help fund the reinstallation of the statue, the Church of St. Michael's mailing address is 424 W. 34th St., New York, NY 10001.

Question for technologically adept journalists

If you had to record hours of interviews during a short time and send the interviews off to a transcriber, and if you were a Mac user, what hardware would you use to record the interviews (including make and model, please)? I haven't done this sort of thing since the days of cassettes.

Can't explain why I'm asking this just yet—it's for a possible project that's pending confirmation.

Been very busy and so am overdue on updating both this blog and dawneden.com. Coming tonight: updated tour dates, plus a link to video of my "Sex Week at Yale" talk.

Quote of the day

"The people of faith I know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich."

— Sen. Hillary Clinton, responding to Sen. Barack Obama's comment that "bitter" small-town people "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

While I don't believe Hillary bears more respect for small-town America's churchgoers than does her opponent, I give her credit for having an excellent speechwriter and for realizing—in her words if not in her policies—that, as Chesterton said, America was conceived as "a nation with the soul of a church."

GUEST POST:Joy founded on truthServais Pinckaers, O.P., 1925-2008By BROTHER JAMES BRENT, O.P.

 Fr. Servais Pinckaers, O.P.—a Dominican Friar, priest, and moral theologian who passed away this week—presented the world with a most inspiring and provocative account of Catholic moral teaching. Fr. Pinckaers’ theology is so inspiring because he thought about morality in the same terms as the authors of the New Testament, the Fathers of the Church, and St. Thomas Aquinas rather than in terms that have become woefully common since the fourteenth century.

For the New Testament, the Fathers, and St. Thomas Aquinas, human beings are essentially hungry for happiness. We are hungry for goodness in all of its depths. Furthermore, all human beings are endowed with a free will. Free will is nothing other than the ability to choose what is good, that is, to choose what will lead to true, lasting, and abiding happiness. The trick in life is to find those things that will lead to true, lasting, and abiding happiness, and to choose those things once found.

Because of our inherent hunger for happiness, and because we are all on a quest to find and choose what will make for real happiness, God comes to meet us. He comes both to guide and to solidify our free choices as we travel down the road from Egypt to the Promised Land.

The road is dangerous. At every turn it is fraught with deceptive goods and counterfeit versions of happiness. The deceptions and counterfeits cry out for us to choose them. They can seem so reasonable, so good, so compelling. But despite appearances, these counterfeit goods (that is, evils) inevitably divert us off the road to the Promised Land and lead us down so many dead ends.

But God is with us every step of the way. For thanks to the cross of Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us. The Spirit endows us with the most important thing we need to travel this road without getting stung by deceptions and diverted by mere appearances. The Spirit gives us the virtues.

The virtues are dispositions of one's intellect, will, and emotions. These dispositions equip us to do various things that we need to do in order to make our way down the road to the Promised Land. Who can name all the marvelous benefits of the virtues that the Lord gives to us? Some virtues enable us to see through the deceptions all around us, others enable us to make solid decisions in complex circumstances, others restrain us from acting on silly whims and fickle impulses, still others drive us forward when we feel surrounded by threats and swamped by fears. And all the virtues, once deeply ingrained, fill us with joy and delight in acting them out—even in hard circumstances. The virtues perfect our free will. They make it easy to see and choose what will truly make us happy.

But the virtues take time to grow and mature. Just as it takes time for bike riding or piano playing to become second nature, so too it takes time for the virtues to become deeply rooted and second nature. It takes time and growth to feel the ease they afford and the delight they bring.

In the interim, when we are on the road to happiness but virtue is still an immature seedling within us, the Church's moral teachings come to our aid. These moral principles educate us from without and help bring to maturity the virtues poured into us by the Holy Spirit. Felt conflicts between duty and desire are gradually resolved over time as a person morally matures and the virtues radiate through his or her being more and more. The process of moral (i.e. spiritual) growth follows an identifiable pattern or set of stages. The stages are the Beatitudes. One begins by learning poverty of Spirit, then comes a stage of mourning, then meekness takes root, etc. Through it all, the love of Christ compels us. Love makes the growth happen. And the fruit of it all is joy—Christian joy.

Such is Fr. Servais Pinckaers’ understanding of happiness, freedom, virtue, life in the Spirit, moral principles, the priority of love, and the recognition of joy. He advanced his account over and against a rival view of morality that, ever since the 14th century, has become almost everyone’s conception of morality. When most people think of morality, they think of what Pinckaers warns us against. The common understanding of morality (what Pinckaers thought was the wrong understanding) goes like this:

As I sit here, I feel like I have the ability to choose between contrary courses of action. I can keep typing or I can leave the computer, I can go take a walk or go for a drive. I feel like I can choose between contraries. The great mistake of thought is to jump from experiencing my free will as the ability to choose between contraries to the judgment that free will is the ability to choose between contraries. My free will is not the same as my felt ability to choose between contraries. In truth, my free will is a continual interaction, illuminated by grace, between my felt hunger for goodness and my perception of what is good. If, however, I define my free will as the ability to choose between contraries, then I am thinking of free will as essentially indifferent to goodness. I can just as much choose good as evil, right as well as wrong. My free will is not, in itself, bent on happiness. It does not essentially involve the hunger for goodness. Instead, my free will is just power. My power. My power to choose between the options before me.

On the view of free will as power, the moral law is basically my adversary. For the moral law directs me to choose A rather than B. But I have the power to choose either A or B. The main question for me becomes whether I will obey or disobey the moral law. And moral theology becomes basically a matter of figuring out what the law is in various cases and trying to get people to obey the law. Human life thus begins to be thought of as a contest between law and free will, and morality comes to be thought of as the art of holding freedom in check by obedience to law. Gone is any serious consideration of happiness, virtue, love, the emotions, life in the Spirit, etc. What comes to the fore is personal power, subjection to law, and the need for obedience. We are not far from the question, “Why be moral at all?”

Through a review of all the textbooks in moral theology that have been used in forming Catholic seminarians over the last five centuries, Fr. Pinckaers demonstrated that Catholic moral theology had been reduced to the legalistic picture of power-law-obedience, rather than the more ancient and more attractive Patristic and Thomistic picture of love-virtue-happiness with its great themes of personal growth, emotions, and life in the Spirit.

It is not that law and obedience are absent from Fr. Pinckaers’ thought. Law and obedience are rather put in their place or put in their proper perspective. They are at the service of love. Furthermore, Catholic writers of the last several centuries said much about love, life in the Spirit, and emotions. But they treated these topics in a separate discipline called “spirituality.” Fr. Pinckaers has made spirituality the heart of his morality.

I believe Fr. Pinckaers has taken us into deep waters. The widespread distortion of what is a free will contributed, among other things, to the Protestant Reformation. Without free will thought of as essentially indifferent power, the work of Immanuel Kant would also have been inconceivable. And without the reduction of morality to “law as controlling my power,” Nietzsche would have had no morality to “go beyond,” and no will to power to exalt above all. Luther and Kant both presupposed the distorted picture of free will that Fr. Pinckaers identifies. Nietzsche rejected that picture in his own way. And to that extent, he is a friend of Thomists—at least this Thomist.

Fr. Pinckaers has inspired a whole generation of scholars (especially Dominicans) to relearn and preach the Scriptural, Patristic, and Thomistic view of the moral life. With St. Paul, we say that the moral life is first of all life in the Spirit. It is about the love of God poured forth into our hearts making us cry “Abba.” Everything else that can and must be said, especially about the possibility of moral living among (and moral conversation with) those who have no Christian faith, can be said afterwards.

Fr. Pinckaers’ books are not so technical as to be inaccessible to nonspecialists. It was a layman, and not a theologian, who first referred me to Fr. Pinckaers’ great book The Sources of Christian Ethics (Catholic University of America Press, 1995). For a shorter version of that great book, see Morality: A Catholic View (St. Augustine’s Press, 2003). Everyone, simply everyone, should read The Pursuit of Happiness God’s Way: Living the Beatitudes (Alba House, 1997). Fr. Pinckaers was a true gift to the Church in our confusing times. Requiescat in pace.

Br. James Dominic Brent, O.P. is a Dominican Friar in formation for the priesthood at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.

The drudgery report

Attended a panel discussion last night on the papal visit, where CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen was asked if, as a Catholic in the media, he had experienced antagonism from his colleagues.

He answered that the problem was not so much antagonism as ignorance and indifference. Based on my experience, I would agree, though I think the ignorance is based on journalists' generalized fear and distrust of faithful Christians in general and Catholics in particular.

As an example, he told of the time he was doing a taping from Rome and was asked to give some sound bites at the end for promos. The producer said to him, "OK, we need 30 seconds. John, what's the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism? Thirty seconds."

'Wichita Lineman'

Some Glen Campbell for your Saturday ... aaaaaahhhhhh!

Quote of the day

"[Simone Weil wrote,] 'The absence of God is the mode of divine presence which corresponds to evil.' The absence of God is 'felt' even by atheists, especially the young ones, when they decide freely what their own values are and, with experience, realize that what they thought was theirs is not really what they wanted according to some 'law' of their actual being that keeps their hearts unsettled. This evil is the absence that is felt by all philosophers, young and old, who seek by themselves alone to explain everything that is. Following this method, the first thing they end up with is knowing nothing about themselves."

— Rev. James V. Schall, S.J., "Atheism and the Purely 'Human' Ethic"

'Footloose' and fancy that

I learned today that G.K. Chesterton is four degrees of Kevin Bacon. No kidding!

I've removed the links to RH Reality Check posts because some commenters were making ad hominems against the posts' author.

Schall of fame/Wordsmiths in Wilmington

Tonight, I'm looking forward to attending a lecture sponsored by Georgetown University's Tocqueville Forum on the Roots of American Democracy, to which the general public is invited:

“There Was a Man! On Learning to Be Free”

A lecture in conjunction with the conferral of the First Annual Rev. James V. Schall, S.J. Award for Teaching and Humane Letters upon Ralph M. McInerny, Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies, University of Notre Dame

Thursday, April 10, 2008

6:00-7:45 p.m.

Georgetown University Conference Center
Georgetown University
3800 Reservoir Road, NW 20057

RSVP requested: tocquevilleforum@georgetown.edu

The invitation includes McInerny's summary of what he plans to say about Father Schall:

"I want to cast a sweeping eye over the career of this remarkable priest, a career that is informed by the fact that he is first and foremost a priest, a Jesuit, a worthy son of St. Ignatius. He is also a teacher in a Jesuit University, Georgetown, in what is called the Government Department, but of course Father Schall is a political philosopher. The whole cast of his mind makes it impossible to confine him to one of the pieces of the fractured university. He must have read the ratio studiorum early and often, and its gathering of the liberal arts under philosophy and preeminently under theology obviously influenced him and explains the range and depth of his work. It is not for me to comment on Father Schall the priest or Father Schall the student. It is Schall the writer I propose to discuss: the journalist, the essayist, the philosopher, the wise assimilator of the magisterial works of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He has written books on his beloved Chesterton as well as on Jacques Maritain. He has....Well he has done much, and I hope to draw attention to his major achievements in the categories I have mentioned."

* * *

Speaking of Catholic literary lectures, the other night, when I spoke to the Wilmington, Del., chapter of Legatus, I met the group's chaplain, Father Joseph Cocucci, who, in addition to being the diocese's vocations director, is rector of its beautiful Cathedral of St. Peter, where, starting this Sunday, he is hosting "The Rector's Library," a series of talks by Catholic authors. The series debuts this Sunday, April 13, at 2 p.m., with Fox News Faith and Values Correspondent Father Jonathan Morris discussing his current book, The Promise: God’s Purpose and Plan for When Life Hurts.

Father Cocucci told me that upcoming guests in the series will include George Weigel and Father's good friend Anne Rice, who just posted the latest of several video clips of him interviewing her.

'Single' shot

Today's InsideCatholic.com has a response from Marjorie Campbell to my article "Eve of Deconstruction: Feminism and John Paul II." For some reason, Campbell's efforts to dismiss my arguments involve alerting readers to the fact that I am "unmarried.

Hemingway's Star treatmentA guest post by DIMITRI CAVALLI

Ernest Hemingway thought the Kansas City Star Style Guide was the best manual for writing he ever used. After years of looking, I finally found it on the Internet. Here are my favorite entries:

1) "The police tried to find her husband," not tried to locate her husband. To locate, used as a transitive verb, means to establish.

2) Avoid the use of adjectives, especially such extravagant ones as splendid, gorgeous, grand, magnificent, etc.

3) Say, "She was born in Ireland and came to Jackson County in 1874: not "but came to Jackson County." She didn't come here to make amends for being born in Ireland. This is common abuse of the conjunction.

4) "He threw the stone," not "He threw the rock." Rock is unquarried stone.

5) "He suffered a broken leg in a fall," not "he broke his leg in a fall." He didn't break the leg, the fall did.

6) Such words as "tots," "urchins," "mites of humanity" are not to be used in writing of children. In certain cases, where "kids" conveys just the proper shading and fits the story, it is permissible.

7) Watch out for trite phrases such as "burly negro," "crisp bank note," "cold cash," "hard cash," etc.

8) He died of heart disease, not heart failure--everybody dies of heart failure.

9) Resolutions are adopted, not passed. Bills are passed and laws are enacted. The house or senate passed a bill; congress or the legislature enacted a law.

10) The Star does not use "dope" or "dope fiend." Use habit forming drugs or narcotics or addicts.

11) A Woman of the Name of Mary Jones--Disrespect is attached to the individual in such sentences. Avoid it. Never use it even in referring to street walkers.

'Eve of Deconstruction: Feminism and Pope John Paul II'

I'm delighted to announce that my first monthly column for InsideCatholic.com is up! This is the article I mentioned last week, in which I reference Pope John Paul II, G.K. Chesterton, and Inigo Montoya.

Robert's rules of ardor

"The true love story commences at the altar, when there lies before the married pair a most beautiful contest of wisdom and generosity, and a life-long struggle towards an unattainable ideal. Unattainable? Ay, surely unattainable, from the very fact that they are two instead of one."

— Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque

Thanks to President Friedman for the tip.

For heart's sake

"I would say it's better to be chaste because you're learning how to really love and you're learning how to give out your whole self and not just parcel out parts of yourself. What I'm learning is how to give my heart, which is the most important part of me. You don't have to learn how to give your body. Nature just does that. But, giving your heart is something one can learn how to do better and better over the course of a lifetime... [and] the more you learn to do it before you're married, the happier your marriage is going to be."

— From John Hawkins' interview with me about The Thrill of the Chaste in today's RightWingNews

Quote of the day

"My brother Bob helped me realize that life is not just a one moment thing, but it's a daily conversion, it's a daily change and sometimes we fall back and then we have to get back up again. That's why we have the name in our community [Franciscan Friars of the Renewal] and I'm realizing that more and more. Every day we have to renew ourselves in Jesus and get back up again, sometimes 100 times a day and start over."

— Brother Martin Ervin, CFR, from an interview in Omaha's Catholic Voice, "Brother finds Christ after years of darkness." I am thankful to have met Brother Martin and heard his testimony at the Legion of Mary young-adult conference in Dublin last year.

Quote of the day

"As someone who suffered in the state of mortal sin for many years, I assure you that there is no happiness outside the moral order."

— Eric Hess, from his remarkable, must-read reversion story, "Coming Out of Sodom," in Celebrate Life magazine

Getting to be a habit with me

The world-famous Sister Marla Marie, a Parish Visitor of Mary Immaculate, joined me and mutual friend Nohad (behind the lens) for a walk on this beautiful day to catch what's left of the cherry blossoms.

Quote of the day

"Perhaps the deepest sin of feminism is envy. So many feminists think that men have a better life and see them as somehow conspiring to keep women unhappy. Feminists deny what the average woman on the street will attest to: Women like being women! We like dressing differently from men, wearing make-up and watching romantic movies. We know it is nearly impossible for women to separate sexual intimacy and love. Women who give themselves to a man know, in the inner recesses of their hearts, that a baby might be the result of such intimacy. This is part of our God-given nature, and it is beautiful. However, radical, gender-bending feminists want to deny the heart of true femininity.

"When Betty Friedan collected stories for The Feminine Mystique, she failed to talk to the mothers who were happy!"

— Lorraine V. Murray, author of Confessions of an Ex-Feminist, from her Ignatius Insight interview

Friendly Barb

Got some pics from my trip to speak at Notre Dame's Edith Stein Conference last week, including this shot of me trying a bit too hard not to blink while getting photographed with my new BFF, Barbara Nicolosi. We had sent a few e-mails back and forth over the years but never met. I enjoyed every minute of the time we spent together, and I could see what my friends who knew her meant when they told me how she helped bring out their creativity. During a few conversations, she helped me fine-tune points for my talk at the conference and my related upcoming InsideCatholic.com article; both were greatly improved from her insights.

Reading Barbara's bio in the catalog for Act One, the nonprofit she co-founded that mentors Christians in Hollywood, I was excited to learn she has bought the film rights to A Severe Mercy, one of my favorite books. Please pray for her as she begins the process of getting the film produced; it has the potential to bring many people a greater understanding of God's grace.

If you'd like to learn more about her efforts to inspire Christians in the media to create works that are good art, and not just good "Christian" art, a good place to start is her "Prayer for Forgiveness."

GUEST POST:'I don't care anymore about living up to society's expectations'A no-longer-reluctant virgin tells his story

The following was written by "R.F.," a commenter to my "Becoming a singular sensation" post, in response to a fellow commenter who expressed frustration over being a 30-year-old virgin. I am reprinting it here with the author's permission:

I am 31 and a virgin, and I've felt the frustration of knowing that the friends I grew up with were all having sex. Even though I knew I wasn't the same type of person, I still envied them. I spent my early 20s hanging out with people who always knew the perfect pick-up line to get some woman in a bar to go home with them, and when I went on vacation with my best friend he would somehow manage to find a girl in every city while I was stuck being the perpetual wingman.

But my life has changed since I moved out on my own and got involved with some local Catholic young-adult groups. I have different friends now, people who share my values and don't think I'm a freak because I take my faith seriously and I want to save my love for my wife.

If everyone around you has had sex, the best thing you can do for yourself is to get some new people around you. Whether you're Catholic or not, religious-based groups are a good place to start. Find out if your local parish/congregation offers any prayer groups or similar activities, especially ones geared toward people in their 20s and 30s. Go online and find things to do in your area. Read your church bulletin and your local newspapers. Keep an eye on what's around.

And try not to worry about meeting someone for a relationship right away. Just mingle and see some new faces. That's what I did when I found myself on my own -- I filled up my time getting involved with Faith On Tap and Catholic Underground and becoming deputy grand knight at my K of C council. (And playing the occasional weekend Scrabble tournament.) I even went to the Ball For Life after Dawn advertised it on this blog. Many of the people I met were involved with their own groups and introduced me to even more people. You'd be surprised how many of the people attending those groups are women, at least where I live.

And guess what? Once you start networking, your odds get better. After spending years looking for dates in bars and online and at speed-dating parties (and even having to walk away from an engagement that went wrong), I'm now in a loving relationship with a wonderful woman. I met her when one of our groups had a get-together for a dance night at a local restaurant.

I don't care anymore about living up to society's expectations of me. My girlfriend and all my other friends and acquaintances, both men and women, have taught me to have different ones. Virginity is a part of that, but that one concept didn't bring me peace or joy either as long as I looked at it in a vacuum. It takes a change in the way we look at ourselves. And the first step in that process is to have people in our lives who see us in a positive way.

'Mr. Love God' has a heart

In case you noticed yesterday's kerfuffle involving the Weekly Standard's self-proclaimed "Mr. Love God" vs. several chivalrous bloggers who rose to my defense, it has ended peacefully. The Love God in question e-mailed me last night at the urging of a mutual friend, saying he meant only to have a tongue-in-cheek laugh at the expense of my book's title, not to attack me personally. I guess I can consider it the virtual equivalent of a handshake from each of his eight arms.

The truth about 'D&E' abortion—via Father Pavone

Priests for Life national director Father Frank Pavone draws upon abortionist Martin Haskell's writings to describe one of the more common abortion procedures: dilatation and evacuation ("dilatation" being a word used by some medical professionals for the more common "dilation").

The Times they are a-chaste-ing again

Several readers have asked what I think of the Times article on True Love Revolution. Michael Fragoso says it best.

Coming soon ...

... a feature article by me in InsideCatholic.com on the "New Feminism" that quotes Pope John Paul II, G.K. Chesterton, and Inigo Montoya. (Article is completed—will appear sometime this month.)

... an interview with me on The Thrill of the Chaste in RightWingNews. (Interview is being conducted by phone tomorrow night; will appear soon thereafter.)

... photos and a few notes on my recent talks at Notre Dame and Norwich's St. Patrick's Cathedral. (Waiting on photos from Notre Dame attendee Karen Stein of Advocating the Vocation of Women—nudge, nudge!)

... details on upcoming tour dates. (Waiting on me to get some sleep—have been working very hard at day job, touring, sending out free copies of The Thrill to the vowed and to-be-vowed clergy and religious, and fine-tuning the proposal for my next book. Am grateful for any and all prayers!)

Becoming a singular sensation

Welcome, readers of Jezebel, who are beating a path to this blog after reading that pottymouthed site's take on my RightWingNews interview. Since you're interested in learning more about me, here is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of The Thrill of the Chaste, "Becoming a Singular Sensation":

The paradigm for modern singlehood is yin without yang. The modern single woman's goal is to relate to men from a single perspective, and to have fulfilling relationships with them without ever becoming part of anything larger than herself. As my parents' generation would have said, she is on her own trip.

For a woman with the least bit of longing for something deeper, this modern-singlehood rut ultimately devolves into the familiar Bridget Jones merry-go-round revolving around the hope that the ever-distant Mr. Darcy will come along one day and stop the music. I find the whole mind-set terribly stifling, and I think most other single women do too--they certainly complain about it enough. Yet, most seem helpless to find an alternative.

The truth is that there is another way, but most women don't want to think about it. It's scary to get off the merry-go-round while it's still spinning. Sometimes, however, it's the only way to get off a ride to nowhere.

A woman with the courage to step out into the unknown, risking temporary loneliness for a shot at lasting joy, is more than a "single." She's singular. Instead of defining herself by what she lacks--a relationship with a man--she defines herself by what she has: a relationship with God.

A single woman bases her actions on how they will or won't affect her single, lacking state. She goes to parties based on whether or not there will be new men to meet--if there won't, then the food and drink had better be first-class. She chooses female friends who likewise define themselves as single and lacking, thus reinforcing her own cynicism. But a singular woman bases her actions on how they will enable her to be the person she believes God wants her to be. If she longs to be married, she trusts that God has a plan for her and that a husband is part of that plan. Moreover, she trusts that God will provide all that He has planned for her if she follows His will for her life, making the best use of the gifts she has been given. She'll still enjoy parties and meeting people--but as ends in and of themselves, not just as a means of finding a man.

A single woman, in seeking a husband, feels the need to act in a coy, sly, or deceptive manner--even if she normally would never think of intentionally misleading someone. Somehow to be cagey to a man within the parameters of a budding relationship doesn't seem wrong to her. Likewise, she accepts a level of superficiality from a man she's dating that she wouldn't tolerate from her friends. She's not stupid--she just loses perspective when facing the possibility of a relationship. Her brain compartmentalizes dating into its own relative morality--"all's fair in love and war."

A singular woman behaves with an honesty and lack of guile that will appear arresting to the love interest who expects a superficial relationship--as well it should. With her words and actions, she is speaking a deeper language, one that can be understood only by the kind of man for whom she longs--one of integrity. Such a man will understand that the singular woman's straightforwardness and absence of pretense is rooted in deep respect for him as a fellow child of God. For example, Miss Singular is not going to suggest to her love interest that he faces competition for her if no such competition exists. She expects him to be equally truthful in return.

Perhaps the most noticeable difference between a single woman and a singular woman is one of gratitude. Because she defines herself by her lack, the single woman is plagued with a sense of sadness and resentment at what she doesn't have. When positive things happen in her life, she may be thankful, but she may just as well respond with a sense of entitlement--"At last, I'm getting what everyone else has."

The singular woman not only expresses more gratitude than the single woman, but she also expresses it for different things. She's not just grateful for things she receives, but for the opportunities she has to give. She knows in her heart the spirit of G. K. Chesterton's words: "The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder."

Being single places you in a mind-set where you are measured by what you do, whether good or bad--how well you are able to attract men, acquire friends, make money, say witty things, and put forth other social commodities. Ultimately, your capacity in these areas is finite; you can do only so much before you've exhausted your resources. The world may say you can never be too rich or too thin, but all it takes is a look at celebrities' love lives to see that wealth and slenderness don't guarantee happiness. (That's not to say I wouldn't be very happy to squeeze into the size 6 silver 1960s minidress I bought for $45 on what turned out to be the only day of my life that I ever weighed under 115 pounds.)

To be singular is to embark on a wide excursion of discovery. No more is your identity limited to qualities that can be defined by the checkoff boxes in an online personal ad. It's no longer what you do--but who you are. Prayerfully, you strive to develop inner qualities--like empathy, patience, humility, and faith in spite of hardship.

Such a transition is not easy especially when your temptation around an attractive man is to shift back into your single self. There's a comforting familiarity in interacting with others on a superficial level and knowing that they will interact with you in the same way. But I can tell you from experience that the more you develop a singular identity, the more confident you will become around men and in every area of your life, because you will be comfortable in your own skin.

I spent many years of my life being single. I have nothing to show for it except the ability to toss my hair fetchingly and a mental catalog of a thousand banal things to say to fill the awkward, unbearably lonely moments between having sex and putting my clothes back on. You never see those moments in TV or movies, because they strike to the heart of the black hole that casual sex can never fill.

Now that I'm singular, I understand why the popular culture tries so relentlessly to define single women as superficial, libidinous singles rather than deep singulars who value marriage enough to hold out for it. To be singular is to understand the meaning of chastity and chastity by its very nature goes against the popular culture's beliefs regarding sex and choice.

The culture tells us unmarried women that it is perfectly normal and acceptable to act on our sexual desires--all the way. We only have to take the right precautions--physical ones, like using a condom--and we are "safe." What is abnormal, and even destructive, in the eyes of the culture, is to resist such desires, especially if we are doing so for moral reasons. The concept of deferring pleasure makes no sense in a consumer society where we are told we must take something when it's offered or risk its going off the market. Men come and go like buses, we're told--but we're warned that the next one may not be such a good ride.

In light of such social prejudices, a singular woman is a revolutionary Think about it: All it takes is one unmarried woman to live a dynamic, well-rounded, and happy life while avoiding premarital sex, and the culture's image of the drab spinster crumbles like a house of cards. That's why being singular is so exciting. It's an act of open rebellion--liberating you from an oppressive culture.