WobLog

Tony Snow lost his battle with cancer today at age 53. Here's the statement from the President:

Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of our dear friend, Tony Snow. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Jill, and their children, Kendall, Robbie, and Kristi. The Snow family has lost a beloved husband and father. And America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character.

Tony was one of our Nation’s finest writers and commentators. He earned a loyal following with incisive radio and television broadcasts. He was a gifted speechwriter who served in my father’s Administration. And I was thrilled when he agreed to return to the White House to serve as my Press Secretary. It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work. His colleagues will cherish memories of his energetic personality and relentless good humor.

All of us here at the White House will miss Tony, as will the millions of Americans he inspired with his brave struggle against cancer. One of the things that sustained Tony Snow was his faith – and Laura and I join people across our country in praying that this good man has now found comfort in the arms of his Creator.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Posted by Don Roberts at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Writing today's date in my gym log this morning, I said to my buddy, "June 6. I think that's D-Day, isn't it?" I had a moment of doubt, because I'd heard nothing about it this year.

Later in the morning, Rush did spend part of his show talking about the invasion.

Posted by Don Roberts at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf has one of the best blogs of any priest presently writing about the Church. Today, he posted his "bullet points" about the Church, the liturgy, and the world:

Over time I have developed some ideas which guide most of what I post here regarding liturgy, liturgical translation, use of the older form of Mass, etc.

Let’s review some of the aphorisms and basic starting points I use here which are like helpful pegs upon which we can organize our thoughts when talking to people.

Think of a tool shop, where you see pegs on the wall with the shape of the tool that belongs their painted around the beg.

Liturgy is the tip of the spear

There is a reciprocal relationship between how we pray and what we believe. Change our prayer, we change our understanding of doctrine. At the same time, if you believe a certain thing, that will affect how you pray. Our identity begins to shift. The Latin phrase lex orandi lex credendi expresses this… the "law of praying is the law of believing".

The older Mass exerts a "gravitational pull"

Use the image of gravity or "cross-pollination", "harmonic resonance", whatever.

The use of the older form of Mass will exert an influence on the way the newer form of Mass is being celebrated. First, younger priests (and older too) will discover new dimensions to Holy Mass by learning or refreshing the older form. This will change their self perception and how they say Mass. In turn, this will influence how people in the pews see them and understand Holy Mass. Since the Eucharist (Its celebration and the Sacrament Itself) is the "source and summit" of our Christian life, identity, mores, etc., everything about our Church will begin to shift because of these changes of self-perception.

Continue reading "Fr. Z on liturgy" »

Posted by Don Roberts at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last month or two has been a pretty challenging time at work. Not just for me, but for the whole organization. While we're not quite through the tough times yet, things should start settling down.

When all one's mental attention is devoted to family and work, there's not much left over for random musings. Thus, no posting. Maybe now things will settle down, I'll sleep a little better, and I'll even have time to post now and then.

Posted by Don Roberts at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The fruits of Summorum Pontificum just keep on coming!

Knoxville Catholics’ First Solemn Latin Mass in Decades

At 2 pm on Sunday, April 20 at Knoxville’s historic Holy Ghost Catholic Church—currently celebrating its centennial—area Catholics will enjoy the city’s first solemn Latin Mass celebrated in the four decades since the newer vernacular Mass was introduced in the years following the Second Vatican Council.

As a special feature for this festive occasion, a combined multi-parish choir and orchestra directed by Mary Frazier Garner will sing the principal choral parts of the Mass in the famous "Coronation Mass" setting composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This unique event will afford the opportunity of hearing some of the Church’s greatest sacred music presented not solely in concert but as an active part of the liturgy in a "live" church worship service.

Continue reading "Return of the Solemn Latin Mass to Knoxville, TN" »

Posted by Don Roberts at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In advance of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the U.S., the Washington Post profiles several D.C.-area Catholic families who buck the dominant culture, even within the Church, adhering to more traditional Catholic practices. Some excerpts:

During an era when two-thirds of young Catholics say they can be good Catholics without going to Mass and many believe in a woman's right to choose abortion and view premarital sex as morally acceptable, Karen and David Hickey might be considered renegades -- because they are so devout.

The lives of the Fairfax County couple and their five young children revolve around the Catholic Church, and they stand out as devoted because so many others do not follow the teachings of their church to the letter.

Such young Catholics' strict obedience to the tenets of their faith makes them an anomaly in their generation. Only 14 percent of Catholics ages 20 to 40 attend Mass at least weekly, according to research by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, and just one in five goes to confession once a year or more.

For conservative Catholics, that's unthinkable.

"You have to live your faith and practice, not just learn the doctrine," said Anne Francoise Guelcher, 40, the mother of six children -- ages 15 months to 14 years -- who lives with husband James in Montclair, Va.

Guelcher home-schools her children. "That way, I can really teach them about the faith," she says.

The family goes to Mass every Sunday and on Holy Days and celebrates the myriad Catholic feast days. Like other devout Catholics, they keep holy water, which has been blessed by a priest, in a small font by their front door. They say the rosary and pray to the saints daily.

"We live it every day," Guelcher said.

This isn't a phenomenon confined to just D.C, of course. The San Francisco Chronicle featured our own parish, St. Margaret Mary, in an article that appeared on Good Friday. Rod Dreher noted similar developments not only among young Catholics, but also among the Orthodox and Protestant evangelicals in his book Crunchy Cons.

Posted by Don Roberts at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

He passed away on Saturday at age 84.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Posted by Don Roberts at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This year, the Feast of St. Patrick on March 17 falls during Holy Week. Faithful Catholics will have to forgo the whooping it up with corned beef and green beer to maintain their focus on the central element of Holy Week: the Lord's Passion. The Dallas News has an article on the tension between this increasingly secular holiday and the Church's most important week:

Few days in the Christian calendar have such a split personality as March 17.

The luck of the Irish was with Clyde Watts on Thursday as he worked on a float at Lone Star Parade Floats for Saturday's festivities on Greenville Avenue. The day dedicated to the bishop who overthrew paganism in Ireland has long since become, for most Americans, an excuse to wear (or drink) something green. Even Christmas, commercialized though it is, isn't commonly commemorated with wet T-shirt contests.

"There is a tension there, the idea of celebrating it as a religious feast compared to a secular holiday," said John Norris, chairman of theology at the University of Dallas.

The conflict has been brought into sharper relief this year, when for the first time since 1940, St. Patrick's Day falls during Holy Week.

I gave up beer for Lent this year, so even if St. Paddy's Day had fallen outside of Holy Week, I'd have been out of luck. The only thing left to decide is whether I'm going to wear green on Monday or not. I'm thinking not, because the inevitable questions that come up will give me the opportunity to explain that this year the feast has been superseded by Holy Week.

Posted by Don Roberts at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Happy Pi Day!

Posted by Don Roberts at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Friday's Wall Street Journal had an article about the cause for canonization of the Rev. Vincent Capodanno.

As a young chaplain candidate in the U.S. Navy in the late 1980s, the Rev. Daniel L. Mode became captivated by the story of a Roman Catholic priest who was killed at age 38 while ministering to U.S. Marines in 1967. Over the next several years, Father Mode immersed himself in the life of the Rev. Vincent R. Capodanno, a Maryknoll missionary from Staten Island, N.Y., who spent 16 months traveling from battlefield to battlefield in Vietnam. What began as Father Mode's master's thesis at Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., turned into a book called "The Grunt Padre," published in 2000.

Father Capodanno was renowned for his willingness to be among Marines in the heat of combat. "If a company was going out, he would just slip into their midst and he'd be gone before you knew it," says Tony Grimm, a captain who was assigned by his battalion commander to keep track of the priest.

On Sept. 4, 1967, the men of M or "Mike" Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, fought a vicious battle with North Vietnamese Army regulars in the Que Son Valley, 30 miles south of Da Nang. Throughout the day, Father Capodanno administered last rites, delivered medical care and dragged injured Marines to safety -- even after he was twice struck by gunfire in his hand and shoulder.

Ray Harton, who at the time of the battle had been in Vietnam for three months and who now lives in Carrollton, Ga., was one of the last Marines to see Father Capodanno alive. He himself was injured in the battle, having been shot in the left arm. He recalls the peace that came over him as he heard the priest's voice: "Stay calm, Marine. Someone will be here to help. God is with all of us this day." Father Capodanno then dashed to tend to another wounded corpsman -- and was fatally cut down by machine-gun fire.

The article points hour the Fr. Capodanno's postulator, Fr. Mode, is following in his footsteps:

Father Mode, who is 42, does not advocate for his hero's holiness from behind a desk in a diocesan headquarters somewhere. Rather, he is following Father Capodanno's example, serving as a Navy chaplain in a war zone. He has been on active duty for three years now, including 20 months in Afghanistan.

There are 300 active-duty Catholic chaplains serving in the U.S. military, and they need both our prayers and our financial support. If you would like to help out, check out the organization responsible for supporting the work of Catholic chaplains: CatholicMil.org.

Posted by Don Roberts at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sad news today that William F. Buckley, Jr. died at work in his study. In a follow-up post to Kathryn Jean Lopez's announcement on the Corner, Jonah Goldberg puts his grief in the context of his gratitude:

I'm stunned. He will be greatly missed. But we should also remember this was not a life cut tragically short (no matter how much we wish he were still with us). His accomplishments were almost incalculable. As George Will once said, "before there was Ronald Reagan there was Barry Goldwater, before there was Goldwater there was National Review, and before there was National Review there was William F. Buckley." As conservatives — and as Americans — we are all standing on his shoulders.

Moreover, William F. Buckley's life was marked by enormous joy. He had a lust for life as well as for letters and debate. He raised a wonderful and accomplished son, loved and was loved by, a formidable and beautiful wife, had more friends than he could count or, in a sense even know, and will be remembered for generations to come. Sadness is to be expected at times like this, and I certainly feel it. But let's leave room for, if not a celebration, then at least grateful appreciation, of a singularly remarkable life.

I've been reading National Review for probably 25 years. Buckley has been part of my political life since I was a teenager. I've read all of his sailing books. Jonah got it just right: this is a sad day, but also a day to recognize a life well lived.

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Posted by Don Roberts at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over at the "Crunchy Con" blog, Rod Dreher ruminates on the changing nature of romance as one enters middle age. Some excerpts:

I used to get stoked on the idea of taking Julie to the perfect little French cafe, and speaking torridly of romantic matters over candlelight and good wine. I wouldn't mind having the time to do that now (we'll talk about that when Nora quits nursing), but you know, it's hard to describe the fulfillment of opening the front door at day's end, and hearing three little voices scream "Daddy!" in unison, and come running into the front room to give me a hug. God, I love that.

Being middle-aged and in love has its own appropriate pleasures. The world considers them shopworn and modest, perhaps, but I think they're better described as discreet, and as banked against the tumult of life's lengthy days. We don't dance by the light of the moon much anymore, my true love and I, but we do sit on the porch swing by its light, and watch the kids chase fireflies, and contemplate our blessedness together. It's enough. In fact, it's everything. There's nothing quite so reassuring as the conviction that one is standing exactly where one is supposed to be.

Amen.

Posted by Don Roberts at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, March 7th, St. Margaret Mary Church, at 1219 Excelsior Avenue in Oakland, will hold its third All-Night Adoration. Stations of the Cross will be prayed at 6 pm, followed by High Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and Exposition. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed solemnly until the next morning at 7:00 am. This all-night adoration begins on the feast of the "Doctor Angelicus", St. Thomas Aquinas, and immediately precedes Passion Sunday (March 9th). It is designed to help the faithful prepare even more effectively for the coming celebrations of Holy Week and Easter.

St. Thomas Aquinas, who taught so admirably especially about the mysteries of the Eucharist is another co-patron of the Institute of Christ the King; a plenary indulgence is attached to the attendance of the Mass on the 7th of March, under the usual conditions. For further information please contact Fr. Michael Wiener at (510) 482-2053 or father.wiener@institute-christ-king.org

Posted by Don Roberts at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If your clock radio didn't wake you up to "I Got You Babe," that's a good sign. This is what Jonah Goldberg had to say on our nation's favorite weather forecasting holiday:

Here's a line you'll either recognize or you won't: "This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather." If you don't recognize this little gem, you've either never seen Groundhog Day or you're not a fan of what is, in my opinion, one of the best films of the last 40 years. As the day of the groundhog again approaches, it seems only fitting to celebrate what will almost undoubtedly join It's a Wonderful Life in the pantheon of America's most uplifting, morally serious, enjoyable, and timeless movies.

You can read the rest of Jonah's thoughts here.

By the way, Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow this morning. Six more weeks of winter.

Posted by Don Roberts at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

1 February 2003: five years ago today, the shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry, killing all seven on board:

The crew of STS-107. Front row, from left to right: Rick D. Husband, Kalpana Chawla, and William C. McCool. Back row, from left to right: David M. Brown, Laurel B. Clark, Michael P. Anderson, and Ilan Ramon.

Coming a little over two years after the 9/11 attacks, my first assumption was that the explosion might have been the work of terrorist sabotage. However, evidence from NASA cameras during the launch quickly indicated that foam falling from the external tank was the culprit. The big disadvantage of the Shuttle's design is that the orbiter sits beside the external tank and solid rocket boosters, instead of on top of the rocket stack, as in the Apollo/Saturn V design. It's very unlikely that any manned spacecraft fielded by NASA in the foreseeable future will use a side-by-side design. In fact, the design for the new Crew Exploration Vehicle (aka "Orion") looks very much like the Apollo/Saturn V design.

Posted by Don Roberts at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)