Diversions

“At the origin of diversion, the will to be diverted or amused at any price, there is an attempt to escape, but from what? It can only be from oneself. The ego is without any doubt faced with a dilemma: to fulfill itself or escape.” 

- Gabriel Marcel (Homo Viator, p.83).

Alec Baldwin affirms himself in his okayness

Weekend Update SNL - Alec Baldwin as American Airlines Pilot

Immaculate Conception

This feast day is hard for me this year. I have a hard time making sense of the Immaculate Conception. As far as I can tell the Church does not require that we accept Original sin in the narrow sense that we are born with the stain of sin on our soul, we merely must accept that we are born with punishment of Adam's sin on our soul. This is the position of the Christian East (i.e. Eastern Catholics, and Orthodox). They do not accept Augustine definition of original sin, that we all inherit the sin of Adam. So we are born as sinners under Augustine's conception of Original sin. The East speaks of Ancestral Sin. That is that we inherit the punishment of Adam's sin but not the sin itself.
The Catholic Church, as far as I can tell, does not require Eastern Catholics to accept Augustine's vision of Original Sin. So my question then is if this is the minimum bar the Church holds us to on the issue of Ancestral Sin, then from that vantage point there is no good reason why the Immaculate Conception is necessary. If all Mary would have inherited is the punishment of sin, that is death and suffering. She clearly suffered and even in the belief in the Assumption there is the tradition of Mary first dying (i.e. the Dormition) and then was assumed. But if that is all she inherited then by the Grace of God she could have lived a life free of sin without being Immaculately Conceived.
For me then it is hard to make sense of the Immaculate Conception. I will not deny it, but I have a hard time making sense of it. It seems unnecessary, but perhaps I am missing something or misunderstanding something. Feel free to correct me if you stumble upon this blog and see a problem in what I am saying.

Just cause its saturday morning!

Walkable Cities

Jennifer Fulwiler comments here about the importance of walkable cities. A good little reflection, but I must disagree with her conclusion about how important this issue is. Walkable cities strike at the root of alienation in our modern societies. Nothing can be more Christian and loving for a city planner to do than encourage walkable mixed use developments. Christianity is a religion in which we not only believe we are saved by Christ's sacrafice on the Cross, but also that Christ saves us by perfecting our humanity if we let him. Human beings a rational animals, social by nature. When we design our cities without the emphasis on creating community we cannot be the kinds of beings we were meant to be. By creating cities that encourage community we are creating spaces that cooperate with Christ. Our Lord seeks to perfect us, to make us perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, he seeks to make us fulfilled beings. We cannot do that in isolation (pace hermits whose prayer life is so vibrant that distance does not affect their communion with others and with God). When we cooperate with God by creating communities instead of subdivisions we are creating a space in which we can be more fulfilled human beings, and we can create a space where we can address community issues easier.

So many issues that concern Catholics, from social justice issues to pro-life issues (really one in the same, but I digress) can be handled in a community, here there are not abstract arguements just realities that we can bring solutions too. In a walkable community I will see the poverty around me and perhaps do something about it, it is not a passing blur. As a community we will do something about poor old Mrs. Hoover living in that dilapidated house. We will come together to provide for a young unwed pregnant instead of ignoring her as she slinks off to Planned Parenthood. One human being cannot change the world, but he can make a difference in his community if he has one. And that could change the world.

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Another name for walkable cities is New Urbanism. Think of new urbanism sort as the designing of neighborhoods and cities more along the lines of a college campus meets a pre-industrial town. Lots of green space, an eclectic mix of buildings, houses and small business in close proximity. Making a city into a patchwork of small towns all near each other instead of massive suburbs. A few examples of some new urban neighborhood plans can be found at New World Byzantine. There is alot of good stuff out there on this movement, a quick overview can be found on Wikipedia: New Urbanism.

Speaking of World War Two...

Mother Bernardine Goulter shares her story of surviving the Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki. A city founded by Catholic Missionaries and at the time of the bombing 2/3 of all Catholics in Japan lived in Nagasaki. In fact the Catholic Cathedral was the target used for aiming the Atomic Bomb. Out of this untold misery may we pray that we as a race have learned never to use such weapons again. Mother Mary, pray for us.

"No matter what people say about the atomic bomb bringing the war to an end, of its preventing wars in the future, never can I be reconciled to the injustice inflicted on thousands of innocent people whose only part in the war was to suffer from it." -Mother Bernardine Goulter

Wartime Good and Evil

War is an unfortunate event no matter how it proceeds but some wars are filled with blatantly unjust actions. We must see beyond the Myth of Wartime Good and Evil to talk seriously about the legacy of World War Two.

H/T Mark Shea

Blogging...

I'll give this a try. My goal is one reasonably long post each week, about religion, politics, local culture, food and wine, etc. My focus is on life in the Northwest as a Catholic and as a Cascadian(more on that later).