Digest of Today's Posts (30 September 2009)

"Age and ability in the arts or anything else, in my opinion, does not excuse a crime"

42 Is The New 35

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (29 September 2009))

"Age and ability in the arts or anything else, in my opinion, does not excuse a crime"

Actor Rod Steiger's ironic response (at least it's ironic in light of current events) in 1999 to film director Elia Kazan (89 years old at the time) being awarded an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement for such works as "On the Waterfront".

Paradoxically, Kazan's alleged "crime" was not a crime at all. He had informed on Hollywood commies who had colluded with the Soviet Union.

Drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl and fleeing the country to avoid the justice system, however, IS a crime, albeit one that Hollywood types tend not to get too worked up over and, in fact, sign petitions to excuse. May all these Hollywood pervert-apologist jerks see that dirtbag Roman Polanski do hard time rotting in a California prison.


UPDATE
Ed Morrissey has more on this topic in "Hollywood’s statute of limitations":

In order to completely understand the perverse nature of Hollywood’s almost-total support for director Roman Polanski in his effort to fight extradition and avoid the consequences of his conviction for statutory rape 32 years ago, recall their attitude towards another seminal director ten years ago. When the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced that they would give a lifetime achievement Oscar to Elia Kazan, many in Hollywood erupted in anger and protest. After all, Kazan had committed the unpardonable sin of naming names of Communists in Hollywood to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

[More]

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Reminder: Roman Polanski Raped a Child [UPDATED]

42 Is The New 35

Really ... it is.

Digest of Today's Posts (29 September 2009)

Reminder: Roman Polanski Raped a Child [UPDATED]

Michaelmas - Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, 29 September

Reminder: Roman Polanski Raped a Child [UPDATED]

(Hat tip: Joe Carter at First Thoughts)

At Slate, Kate Harding writes the definitive rebuttal to all the Roman Polanski apologists:

Roman Polanski raped a child. Let's just start right there, because that's the detail that tends to get neglected when we start discussing whether it was fair for the bail-jumping director to be arrested at age 76, after 32 years in "exile" (which in this case means owning multiple homes in Europe, continuing to work as a director, marrying and fathering two children, even winning an Oscar, but never -- poor baby -- being able to return to the U.S.). Let's keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her, before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or that she now says she'd rather not see him prosecuted because she can't stand the media attention. Before we discuss how awesome his movies are or what the now-deceased judge did wrong at his trial, let's take a moment to recall that according to the victim's grand jury testimony, Roman Polanski instructed her to get into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which she replied, "No," then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an orgasm.

[...]

Polanski was "demonized by the press" because he raped a child, and was convicted because he pled guilty. He "feared heavy sentencing" because drugging and raping a child is generally frowned upon by the legal system. Shore really wants us to pity him because of these things? (And, I am not making this up, boycott the entire country of Switzerland for arresting him.)

As ludicrous as Shore's post is, I have to agree with Fecke that my favorite Polanski apologist is the Washington Post's Anne Applebaum, who finds it "bizarre" that anyone is still pursuing this case. And who also, by the by, failed to disclose the tiny, inconsequential detail that her husband, Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, is actively pressuring U.S. authorities to drop the case.

There is evidence of judicial misconduct in the original trial. There is evidence that Polanski did not know her real age. Polanski, who panicked and fled the U.S. during that trial, has been pursued by this case for 30 years, during which time he has never returned to America, has never returned to the United Kingdom., has avoided many other countries, and has never been convicted of anything else. He did commit a crime, but he has paid for the crime in many, many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film.

There is also evidence that Polanski raped a child. There is evidence that the victim did not consent, regardless of her age. There is evidence -- albeit purely anecdotal, in this case -- that only the most debased crapweasel thinks "I didn't know she was 13!" is a reasonable excuse for raping a child, much less continuing to rape her after she's said no repeatedly. There is evidence that the California justice system does not hold that "notoriety, lawyers' fees and professional stigma" are an appropriate sentence for child rape.

But hey, he wasn't allowed to pick up his Oscar in person! For the love of all that's holy, hasn't the man suffered enough?

[Read the whole thing]

UPDATE
Additional commentary that highlights the blatant hypocrisy at play here.

HotAir asks just how liberal do you have to be in order to be excused for raping a 13-year-old:

Needless to say, this reminds me of the left’s umbrage at conservatives daring to bring up Chappaquiddick after Teddy died. Yeah, he left a woman to drown and then made jokes about it afterwards; he was for universal health care, though, wasn’t he? Same with Polanski: Dare we deny the man who made “Chinatown” an occasional drugging and raping of a child? Sure, a kid gets traumatized for life, but on the other side of the scale: “Rosemary’s Baby.” It’d be sweet if the left could come up with some sort of mathematical formula by which we could tell whether an artist or liberal politician has exceeded his quotient of moral indulgence. I’m assuming “Chinatown” wasn’t so awesome that Polanski would be excused for shooting a kid in the head at point-blank range, so evidently the film’s “worth” less than that but more than a child-rape. Let’s figure out just how much of a liberal hero you have to be to get away with certain crimes.

(emphasis added)

And Creative Minority Report asks us to "Imagine He Were a Priest":

Just for a moment I want you to imagine that Roman Polanski was a priest. Frightening, yes? But for the sake of my point imagine that he's a priest who drugged and raped a thirteen year old.

Imagine he's a priest who fled to France so as to avoid punishment for his crime. Imagine that he flaunted his freedom in America's face for decades.

Now imagine that Roman Polanski as a priest was apprehended by the police after all those years. Now, imagine what the media would be saying...

[More]

And writing at Politics Daily, David Gibson has similar thoughts:

... There is the obvious parallel to the cases in the Catholic Church, which have rightly scandalized the public and the media. Prosecutors and plaintiffs' attorneys have been dogged in pursuing these cases -- whether out of concern for their careers or for justice -- and the outrage was so widespread that the State of California created a one-year window in 2003 during which the statute of limitations on abuse crimes by Catholic priests (and others) was lifted. That meant the victims of men who were often long dead could finally get their day in court, or find some sense of justice and closure -- and for cases that were no more egregious than Polanski's abuse of Geimer. Polanski is alive, at least.

Comparisons are by their nature invidious. But what if Roman Polanksi were wearing a Roman collar? Would "Monsignor Polanksi" receive the same considerations? As Father Thomas Reese, a Jesuit, writes at the Post's "On Faith" site, "Imagine if the Knights of Columbus decided to give an award to a pedophile priest who had fled the country to avoid prison. The outcry would be universal." And rightly so, as Reese says. But Polanski gets an Oscar in absentia in 2003 and earns sympathy because he can't receive it in person...

UPDATE #2
I always did like singer-songwriter Jewel. This just confirms me in my high regard for her.


UPDATE #3 (30 September)
More from HotAir on the "how liberal do you have to be to get a get of jail free card" question:

... Polanski’s defenders cite his brilliance as an Important Director of Important Films as a reason it’s not only wrong, but outrageous, to punish him for his past crimes. This is similar to the arguments made in favor of releasing convicted cop-killer Mumia abu Jamal from prison, a point of view enthusiastically held by at least one high-ranking member of the Obama Administration: that fabled Rohrschach inkblot of liberal stupidity, Van Jones. Mumia’s delicate writing hand is much more important than the one he used to shoot Officer Daniel Faulkner in the back.

The Left also issues Get Out of Jail Free cards to people other than artists. The Polanski defense is a nostalgic karaoke rendition of the 1998 anthem “Perjury About Sex Is Not A Crime,” sung on Bill Clinton’s behalf. Perjury, infidelity, and what the antique feminist movement used to call “sexual harassment” were small prices to pay for Clinton’s inspirational leadership.

You can’t say the Left is entirely soft on crime, however. There are some scofflaws they’ll never stop trying to put behind bars. CIA agents who kept America safe from terrorists, for example. None of the terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay was innocent, or thirteen years old, and none of them were drugged, raped, and sodomized, but the Obama Administration is keen on prosecuting the people who interrogated them. If Roman Polanski had covered his victim’s face with a wet towel, maybe his defense would be a bit less energetic.

Another individual the Left wants brought to justice is Karl Rove, for the crime of being Karl Rove. The other charges against him range from being nebulous to absurd, but rest assured, it would be a great day for America if we could frog-march that villain into the vacant cell left behind by a liberated Mumia abu Jamal. Best of all would be the trial and imprisonment of George W. Bush, a fantasy the Left holds with the intensity of a small child shivering through a sleepless Christmas Eve. Bush actually did the stuff Clinton just talked about - liberating the people of Iraq from monstrous tyranny, fighting AIDS in Africa - but it earns him no slack from liberal vigilantes. He did more for women’s rights than anyone alive today - you can ask the women of Afghanistan about it, now that their faces aren’t wrapped in upholstery - but he didn’t do anything really important, like make a movie about the sexual oppression of suburban America.

[...]

George Bush’s first offense was denying America the brilliant, socially aware, technocratic leadership of Al Gore. The statue of limitations will never run out on something like that. Meanwhile, forcing a beloved Hollywood director to end his life in the slammer for a little error in judgment, like rape, would be unthinkably crass… as long as his Party credentials are in order. That is why the same people who turned their backs on Elia Kazan weep for Roman Polanski today, and will weep again at his career retrospective, on some future Oscar night. The Party may have changed its name, and adjusted its methods, but it still remembers what Kazan did to it, and his sentence extends far beyond the end of his life.

I'll never forget that bunch of leftist communist sympathizers in Hollywood - lefties like Nick Nolte and Ed Harris - sitting on their hands when Elia Kazan was awarded an Oscar for lifetime achievement. And when it comes to irony, it's hard to beat this quote from the late Rod Steiger regarding Kazan's Oscar award:

"Age and ability in the arts or anything else, in my opinion, does not excuse a crime,'' says Rod Steiger, star of "On the Waterfront."

Funny thing is, Kazan's informing on a bunch of commies wasn't a crime. Drugging and raping a little girl, however, is.

May all the Hollywood lefties and pervert apologists see Polanski do hard time in a California prison.

Michaelmas - Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, 29 September

Saint Michael the Archangel,
Defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the
Wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him,
We humbly pray.
And do thou,
O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
By the Power of God,
Cast into Hell
Satan and all the evil spirits
which prowl about the world,
Seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.



From the Medieval Saints Yahoo Group:

The Dedication of Saint Michael the Archangel, Michaelmas Day
Hebrew "Mikha El," (Who is like unto God?), Venerated by Jews, Christians and Muslims

Commemorated September 29: the dedication of the sanctuary which was built on Monte Gargano in honor of the apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel. This feast is very ancient.

Also commemorated on May 8th a lesser feast is observed to commemorate the appearance of St. Michael on the summit of Mount Gargano in Apulia during the time of Pope Gelasius (492-6).

Devotion to Michael was common in the East during the fourth century and the Western Church began to observe the feast sometime in the fifth century. In the offertory anthem of the mass for the dead, St. Michael is charged with the care of all departed souls, "holy standard bearer, introduce them to the holy light, which thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed."

St. Michael's Day, or Michaelmas is one of the Medieval Quarter days. The celebration was marked by harvest festivals, hospitality, costumes, music and dancing. Many popular traditions grew up around the day, which coincided with the end of harvest and the end of the fiscal year.

Patronage: champion of the Jewish people, against temptations, ambulance drivers, artists, bakers, bankers, banking, battle, boatmen, coopers, danger at sea, dying people, emergency medical technicians, EMTs, England, fencing, Germany, greengrocers, grocers, haberdashers, hatmakers, hatters, holy death, knights, mariners, milleners, paramedics, paratroopers, police officers, radiologists, radiotherapists, sailors, security forces, security guards, sick people, soldiers, Spanish police officers, storms at sea, swordsmiths, watermen, protector of the Nile

In art, he is shown as an angel with a sword raised, standing over the devil or a dragon; holding a balance, a pair of scales, which he uses to weigh the souls; "Quis ut Deus" is often inscribed on Saint Michael's shield.




St. Michael the Archangel
http://www.stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/id183.htm

The Church has never canonized angels. If we pay liturgical honors to the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, we give them the title saint because they have always been in heaven.

All three archangels are now venerated in a common feast on September 29, which used to be St. Michael's feast alone. Because the new common feast seems to diminish his importance, let us consider him a little more at length in connection with his other feastday, the Apparition of St. Michael, formerly observed on May 8.

The name Michael means, of course, "Who is like God?" He is represented as perhaps the chief angel in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Several early apocryphal writings do the same. While these writings are not accepted as scriptures by the Church, they nevertheless testify to popular devotion to the "generalissimo" of the heavenly hosts.

Michael was regarded as the protector of the Israelites, especially in the days of their captivity in Babylon. "Michael, the great prince," the Old Testament prophet Daniel calls him, "guardian of your people." (Dn,12:1). In the New Testament Book of Revelation, St. John speaks prophetically of the ultimate victory of Michael and his regiments against the army of the great dragon, Satan. After a mighty struggle, Michael casts the enemy down to earth. (Rev.,12:7-9). Thus St. Michael, protector of Israel, was also hailed as the protector of the New Testament's People of God.

Churches dedicated to St. Michael in the Mideast date from as early as the fourth century. In the West, the cult of Michael became widespread, particularly after his alleged apparition around AD 500 in a cave in Mount Gargano, southeast Italy. The archangel revealed to the local bishop, St. Lawrence of Siponto, that he should erect a shrine there in honor of the archangel himself and all other angels. This St. Lawrence did, and the "Mount Santangelo" soon became a noted place of pilgrimage.

St. Michael also figures in the annals of Pope St. Gregory the Great. During the pestilence that struck Rome in the year 590, Gregory organized a great penitential procession about the streets of the Eternal City to beg God to withdraw the plague. Tradition says that when the march passed by the massive tomb of Emperor Hadrian, St. Michael appeared on its summit sheathing his sword, and the epidemic ceased. Today Hadrian's fortified tomb is called the Castel SantAngelo - Castle of the Holy Angel - and for centuries it has been topped by a statue of St. Michael, dressed in the armor of a Roman soldier, returning sword to scabbard. In Rome, therefore, St. Michael is considered both healer and defender.

The other major Western shrine of the Archangel is the famous Mont St. Michel, a rocky outcropping off the coast of Normandy, France, where the bishop of Avranches established a Benedictine monastery in AD 708; again, we are told, on the advice of the Archangel Michael. In Cornwall, too, near the city of Penzance, there is a little offshore island resembling Mont St. Michel, which in medieval times was likewise the site of a Benedictine monastery that became an English place of pilgrimage.

Pope Leo XIII had the soldier-angel in mind when he ordered that a prayer to St. Michael and several other prayers be recited by priest and faithful at the end of every low Mass. The date of this order was 1884 - an era in which Germany was engaged in a stern persecution of the Catholic Church. Vatican II cancelled the rule, but the invocation to the Archangel is still appropriate - indeed, necessary in our troubled times:

"St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and the other evil spirits who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls."

--Father Robert F. McNamara

-----------------------

Michaelmas(se)
http://www.camlann.org/michelmas.htm

In the middle ages, Michaelmas(se) celebrated the end of the harvest. It marked the official end of the farming and accounting year. This was an important time, when manor books were closed out, rents paid, a new reeve (the chief officer of the village) was chosen, and storehouses stocked for the winter ahead. Celebration of this holiday traditionally was symbolized with "glofe, gees, and gyngeuer." The glove represented the open-handedness and generosity of the lord of the village, goose eaten for good luck in the coming year ("If you eat goose on Michelmasse day, you will never want money all year"), and ginger, believed to provide protection against infection. The harvest feast paid the laborers for their boon work with meat, fish, ale and good bread.

------------------------

More on St. Michael at:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j093sdMichael_9-29.htm

Links:
Patron Saints Index - St. Michael

Women for Faith & Family - St. Michael and All Angels

Variations of St. Michael Prayer

Pictures of St. Michael

Recipe - Michaelmas Goose with Traditional Potato & Apple Stuffing

St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall

Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy

Skellig Michael, Ireland

For the President, It REALLY IS All About Him

Mona Charen writes on the galling level of hubris on display in President Obama's U.N. speech:

President Obama’s speech to the U.N. has been called naïve and even “post-American.” It was something else as well: the most extravagant excursion into self-worship we have yet seen in an American leader.

[...]

... Obama announced that we no longer “have the luxury of indulging our differences to the exclusion of the work that we must do together. I have carried this message from London to Ankara, from Port of Spain to Moscow, from Accra to Cairo, and it is what I will speak about today.” Note the personal pronoun. But what message has this evangelist carried to all these world capitals? That hope and change have been vouchsafed to the fallen world in the person of Barack Obama?

During last year’s campaign, Michelle Obama and her defenders insisted that her phrase “For the first time in my adult life I’m proud of my country” (for supporting her husband) was unfairly wrenched from its context. Maybe, though she said it more than once. But President Obama’s indictment of the U.S. before the U.N. suggests identical sentiments. “I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust,” the president said. And mostly, it seems, those views were justified. America had acted “unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others.” Addressing himself directly to America’s critics, the president began with, “For those who question the character and cause of my nation . . .” He could have mentioned the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, the billions spent on fighting AIDS in Africa, tsunami relief, the Green Revolution, and defeating Nazism and Communism, just for starters. But that’s not what the president had in mind. “I ask you to look at the concrete actions we have taken in just nine months. On my first day in office, I prohibited without exception or equivocation the use of torture by the United States of America. I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed.” The audience, composed in part of regimes that pluck out the eyeballs of political enemies and hack off the hands of suspected thieves, applauded vigorously...

(emphasis added)

Can Stupak Be Counted Upon to Stand Firm on Abortion? Probably Not

(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)

The Blog Prof has done some digging and has discovered that pro-life Democrat Congressman Bart Stupak talks a good pro-life game in front of the camera (i.e. within earshot of his pro-life constituency at home), but is less than dependable in his support for the unborn when push comes to shove:

I've said many times in this blog that there is no such thing as a conservative Democrat, just Democrats representing conservative districts. To do so, they have to pretend to defend certain issues important to a center-right majority in their districts. Being pro-life is one of those important issues. Case-in-point today is Michigan 1st District U.S. Representative Bart Stupak - Democrat.

[...]

So he's all set now as a Representative in a center-right district, right? He'll defend the pro-life movement with every vote, right? Three words: Not. So. Fast. Sure Stupak talks a good game, going as far as admitting that Obama is not telling the truth about HR 3200 which in fact mandates public-funding of abortion.

[...]

"No one issue will dictate his final vote." For the true pro-lifer, abortion holds nothing short of veto power. Simple as that. Under no circumstances can a pro-life representative vote for a bill "on the totality" and ignore the huge expansion of abortion in the plan.

[...]

So there you have it. He would still vote on a lack-of-healthcare package that would include taxpayer-funded abortions, and the imposition of abortion in the medical profession regardless of what anyone's personal belief is.

[Read the whole thing]

My Comments:
I have been out front in hailing Congressman Stupak's heroic efforts to keep abortion out of ObamaCare. Just see the links below.

But I have to admit that, when push comes to shove, I fear ... no ... I truly expect the pro-life Democrat contingent - including Stupak - to do what they always do: put party over pro-life principle and line up lockstep behind Pelosi and the Democrat leadership.


Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Congressman Bart Stupak, Democrat, Defending the Right to Life in Heath Care

Pro-Life Catholic Dem: "We Believe We Have the Votes" to Shut Down Healthcare Over Abortion

Obama Won't Meet With Pro-Life Democrat to Discuss Abortion, Health Care

Pro-Life Catholic Dem: Prevent Abortion Funding, Or I'll Block Healthcare

House Democrats Will Likely Prevent Vote to Remove Abortion From Health Care

Deal Hudson: "Why Catholics Will Not Get Abortion Out of the Health Care Bill" [UPDATED]

LA Times: Next Hurdle in Healthcare "Debate" is Abortion

Congressman Smith Warns Against Phony ‘Compromise’ on Abortion Mandates in ObamaCare

Dem Says Language Expressly Prohibiting Abortion Funding a Must in Health Care Bill [UPDATED]

Pelosi Accused of Muzzling Opposition to Taxpayer-Funded D.C. Abortions

Digest of Today's Posts (24 September 2009)

Islamic Terrorist Tries to Blow Up Builing in Dallas

Hey, Environut Whackjobs! "Butt" Out!

Boston College Law School in Disarray Over Prof’s Defense of Marriage

The Wrecks of Walsingham

Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham - 24 September

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (23 September 2009))

Islamic Terrorist Tries to Blow Up Building in Dallas

Right next to the building in which I used to work, in fact:

DALLAS - Police arrested a man Thursday after he allegedly placed an inactive car bomb near Fountain Place at 1445 Ross Avenue in downtown Dallas.

Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen who has been living and working in Italy, Texas illegally, was charged with "attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction," authorities said.

Smadi allegedly drove a truck down into the parking garage below Fountain Plaza Thursday believing it was packed with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which was the same material used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City.

He left the site in a vehicle driven by an undercover FBI agent. They then drove several blocks away, which was where Smadi used a cell phone that he thought would remotely activate the bomb, authorities said. However, that call went directly to the FBI.

Authorities said Smadi had been under FBI surveillance for some time after expressing "his desire to commit violent Jihad" numerous times while talking with a group of extremists online. Authorities said he stood out because he wanted to serve osama bin laden and al-Qaeda.

[...]

Smadi planned on using a vehicle improvised explosive device (VBIED) to bomb Fountain Place at the end of Ramadan, which is September 20, authorities said. However, authorities said agents worked to ensure "the VBIED contained only an inert/inactive explosive device, which contained no explosive materials." The FBI said the public was never in danger.

With 60 floors, Fountain Place is the fifth tallest building in Dallas and the 15th tallest building in Texas. The building was designed by I.M. Pei and Partners and completed in 1986.

Hey, Environut Whackjobs! "Butt" Out!

The green-on-the-outside-red-on-the-inside watermelon envirocommies are messing with our toilet paper:

... It is a fight over toilet paper: the kind that is blanket-fluffy and getting fluffier so fast that manufacturers are running out of synonyms for "soft" (Quilted Northern Ultra Plush is the first big brand to go three-ply and three-adjective).

It's a menace, environmental groups say -- and a dark-comedy example of American excess.

The reason, they say, is that plush U.S. toilet paper is usually made by chopping down and grinding up trees that were decades or even a century old. They want Americans, like Europeans, to wipe with tissue made from recycled paper goods.

It has been slow going. Big toilet-paper makers say that they've taken steps to become more Earth-friendly but that their customers still want the soft stuff, so they're still selling it...

Just say "NO" to the sandpaper these socialist busybodies want you to scrub your assets with.

Boston College Law School in Disarray Over Prof’s Defense of Marriage

The Cardinal Newman Society reports:

On September 15, 2009, StandForMarriageMaine.com released a television ad which featured Scott Fitzgibbon, a professor at Boston College Law School, arguing in defense of marriage between one man and one woman. He encouraged Maine voters to vote “yes” on an upcoming ballot referendum which aims to overturn state legislation which legalized homosexual “marriage” last May.

Complaints from fellow faculty members at Boston College soon began piling up. Merely one day after the ad aired, Boston College Law Dean John Garvey issued a letter to the BC law community, writing, “Several of you have contacted my office to express your anger at Scott’s actions, and it is hard for me to see any of our students, faculty, or staff offended or hurt by the words of others.”

Rather than praising Fitzgibbon’s public defense of a Catholic teaching, Dean Garvey wrote that Fitzgibbon’s “public statements represent his own opinions. . . and do not state any official position of Boston College Law School.” [ED.: Huh? These are NOT merely Prof. Fitzgibbon's "own opinions", but ARE, in fact, the "official position" of the Catholic Church of which Boston College purports to be a part.] Garvey defended Fitzgibbons’ participation in the advertisement but also seemed to welcome faculty opposition to Catholic teaching.”

We also have faculty members who hold a contrary view, which they too are free to express publicly,” he wrote. “Many have done so while referring to themselves as BC Law professors. One of them has publicly led the fight to oppose the Solomon Amendment on the grounds that it is an affront to gay and lesbian students and prospective members of the U.S. military. Others have taken controversial positions on such subjects as abortion, euthanasia, and the treatment of detainees.”

Three days after Fitzgibbon’s pro-traditional marriage ad aired, a group of 76 “Individual Faculty and Administrators at Boston College Law School”, including Dean Garvey, issued the following statement: “The undersigned members of the faculty and administration at Boston College Law School feel that it is important to reaffirm our belief in the equality of all of our students. We are proud of the fact that Boston College Law School was one of the first law schools in the country to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination pledge, and we reaffirm our commitment to making our institution a welcome and safe place for all students, including LGBT students.”

(emphasis and editorial commentary)

The Wrecks of Walsingham

(Hat tip: Fr. Z)

Fr. Ray Blake of St. Mary Magdalen in Brighton, UK, posts the text of the poem (attributed to Sir Phillip Howard) "The Wrecks of Walsingham":

In the wrecks of Walsingham
Whom should I choose
But the Queen of Walsingham
to be my guide and muse !

Then, the Prince of Walsingham,
Grant me to frame
Bitter plaints to rue thy wrong,
Bitter woe for thy name.

Bitter was it, O to see
The silly sheep
Murdered by the ravenous wolves
While the shepherd did sleep.

Bitter was it, O to view
The sacred vine,
Whilst the gardeners played all close,
Rooted up by the swine.

Bitter, bitter, O to behold
The grass to grow
Where the walls of Walsingham
So stately did show.

Such were the worth of Walsingham
While she did stand,
Such are the wrecks as now do show
Of that Holy Land.

Level, level, with the ground
The towers do lie,
Which, with their golden glittering tops,
Pierced out to the sky.

Where were gates are no gates now,
The ways unknown
Where the press of friars did pass
While her fame was blown.

Owls do screech where the sweetest hymns
Lately were sung,
Toads and serpents hold their dens Where the
palmers did throng.

Weep, weep O Walsingham,
Whose days are nights,
Blessings turned to blasphemies,
Holy deeds to despites.

Sin is where Our Lady sat,
Heaven is turned to hell,
Satan sits where Our Lady did sway --
Walsingham, O farewell!
Fr. Blake concludes:

No other act symbolises the end of Catholic England than the destruction of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, and the burning of her statue at Chelsea. It marked the rejection of the Catholic idea of Grace. The model of the fragility of the Christ child in the arms of the fragile Virgin, was replaced by the state in its might imposing its will on the Christians of England.

Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham - 24 September

[Originally posted on 24 September 2006, and updated on 24 September 2007 and 24 September 2008]




Pilgrimage to the Land Known as "Our Lady's Dowry"


O England great cause thou hast glad for to be
Compared to the land of promise Sion
To be called in every realm and region
The Holy Land, Our Lady's Dowry ...


Four years ago today - on the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, I was on pilgrimmage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in the picturesque village of Little Walsingham in Norfolk, East Anglia, England.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of Our Lady of Walsingham is the patroness of England (as well as the Anderson household).


Historical Background

Walsingham has been a place of pilgrimage since medieval times. At one time, it was ranked among the 3 most important pilgrimage sites in Europe, along with Santiago de Compostela and Rome.

The original Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was founded in 1061 by Richeldis de Faverches, who was taken in spirit to Nazareth and asked by Our Lady to build a replica, in Norfolk, of the Holy House of the Annunciation. The Shrine of the Holy House stood for almost 500 years as a place of devotion to the Holy Virgin Mother of God and the Incarnation of Her Son, before it was destroyed by Henry VIII at the Reformation.

Many barren years passed until the Slipper Chapel, a 14th century wayside pilgrim chapel just outside the village of Little Walsingham, was restored and pilgrimage to Walsingham in honor of Our Blessed Lady began once more. Originally dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria, this wayside chapel had served medieval pilgrims on their way to England's Nazareth. Just as on Mount Sinai Moses took off his shoes because he was on holy ground, so pilgrims used to remove their shoes at the Slipper Chapel (hence, its name) and walk the Holy Mile into Walsingham barefoot.

In 1934, the English Bishops named the Slipper Chapel the Roman Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady. The Slipper Chapel's first Mass since the Reformation was celebrated there on August 15, 1934, and on September 8, 1938, the Shrine was re-consecrated by the local Bishop.

The most important image in the Chapel is the Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham.



From the Women for Faith & Family website:

Our Lady of Walsingham
by Raven Wenner
Our Lady of Walsingham Church
Houston Texas

In AD 2000, The Holy Father John Paul II decreed that the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, mediaeval patroness of England, and in modern times patroness of all English-speaking peoples, is now celebrated on September 24th in England. It is a solemnity for all parishes in any part of the world named for Our Lady under this title.

Our Lady of Walsingham was formerly celebrated on March 25th, "Lady Day" (Feast of the Annunciation), but for ecumenical considerations was moved to September 24th. (September 24 in England had been the feast of Our Lady of Ransom, who was entreated for the re-conversion of England, "Our Lady's Dowery".

The feast of Our Lady of Walsingham was celebrated for the first time on the new date in 2001. The feast of the Annunciation is increasingly celebrated as a pro-life feast, considering children in the womb; Our Lady of Walsingham's feast asks us to contemplate the joy of the Incarnation in the simple family life of the Holy Family at Nazareth. The new date and emphasis on this feast is timely considering how family life is under attack in Western culture.

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Our Lady of Walsingham
by Joanna Bogle
Voices' Contributing Editor

Walsingham is England’s national shrine to Our Lady, and a major place of pilgrimage and prayer. It is in Norfolk, a few miles from the North Sea, and is a small village set in the green countryside characteristic of this corner of Britain. The shrine dates back to the 12th century, when the local lady of the manor, Richeldis, had a vision of the Holy House – the home of the Holy family at Nazareth – on this spot. For centuries, pilgrims visited here and Our Lady of Walsingham was honoured with countless processions and prayers. Springs of water – they still exist today – were said to have healing powers. A great priory drew men who devoted themselves to the religious life. At the shrine itself, the image was always surrounded by candles, flowers, and gifts left by grateful pilgrims who had knelt there in prayer.

In the early 16th century, among those who came were the young king Henry, and his wife Catherine. They were praying that God would grant them a son. England had seen terrifying wars in an earlier generation as the houses of Lancaster and York battled out their struggle for supremacy, and now stability was needed for the new ruling house of Tudor. It was not to be. Catherine bore several children, but all died in infancy except one daughter, Mary. Henry, angry and disappointed, decided to marry his mistress Anne Boleyn. He sought an annulment of his marriage through the Church, but failed to obtain it. Divorcing Catherine unilaterally, he married Anne – who by then was carrying his child – and announced himself head of the Church. The Lord Chancellor, Thomas More, and the Bishop of Rochester, John Fisher, were beheaded at the Tower of London in 1534 for refusing to affirm him in his claims, maintaining instead that only the Pope, the successor of Saint Peter, could hold that office. . Needing funds, Henry turned on the Church and crushed monasteries and priories. On the excuse of its being idolatrous, the shrine at Walsingham was destroyed and the statue burned. For some 400 years, there were no more pilgrimages, processions, or signs of devotion to Mary in this quiet village.

The shrine was revived in the early 20th century – an Anglican vicar researched the history and re-created the Holy House in a new shrine, and a Catholic lady obtained the old “Slipper Chapel” just outside the village and this became the revived Catholic centre of devotion. Today, there are pilgrimages throughout the summer and the Catholic shrine has its own large church built of attractive local stone. Pilgrims pray and sing as they walk the “Holy Mile” – traditionally barefoot – from the village. Schools, parish groups, Catholic organisations – all come with their banners and their choirs, their sandwiches and their children, to greet Our Lady at a place which combines the pleasures of unusually beautiful countryside with an atmosphere of real devotion and joy. Some groups stay for days – a local farmer rents out fields in which large groups of young pilgrims and families can camp – and in recent years Walsingham has seen a revival of Eucharistic adoration and confession, promoted by “Youth 2000”, a major initiative of the “John Paul 11 generation”.

When Pope John Paul visited Britain in 1982 the image of Our Lady of Walsingham was brought to London where it was the centrepiece of a major rally attended by the Holy Father. Many Catholic families, churches and schools, have copies of the image: it is an unusual one in which Mary is seen seated, as a dignified queen wearing a simple Saxon-style crown and carrying the Christ-child seated upright on her lap. Honour to Our Lady of Walsingham is linked to prayer that the people of England may once again return to the practice of the Catholic Faith: Our Lady of Walsinghan, pray for us!

From the September 2007 issue of the Walsingham Newletter:

... The message of Walsingham, from the very beginning, has been the message of the Incarnation. "The Word was made Flesh and dwelt amongst us." Pilgrimage is a great way of expressing the idea that God came to share our human life, it is a sign that we are journeying ever closer to God and in this way it is sacramental. It reminds us that we can meet God in our everyday lives and not only in church. Mary, who attended to the human needs of her Son and walked with him on his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem and the cross, will join us on our journey. In relating Mary to the Eucharist Pope Benedict finishes by saying "She is the Immaculata, who receives God's gift unconditionally and is thus associated with his work of salvation. Mary of Nazareth, icon of the nascent Church, is the model for each of us, called to receive the gift that Jesus makes of himself in the Eucharist."

~ Noel Wynn S.M.

From the Medieval Saints Yahoo Group:

Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham

Also known as Virgin by the Sea, site also known as England's Nazareth

Shrine established in 1061, priory in 1150

Commemorated September 24

"Let all who are in any way distressed or in need seek me there in that small house that you maintain for me at Walsingham. To all that seek me there shall be given succour."

Until the martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury in 1170, Walsingham was England's most celebrated and visited shrine. Many miracles were attributed to Our Lady of Walsingham, including one in which Kind Edward I was saved from a piece of falling masonry. There constructed shrine was recently voted England's favourite spiritual place in a poll of BBC Radio 4 listeners.


Our Lady of Walsingham
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/mary0018.htm

In 1061 Lady Richeldis de Faverches, lady of the manor near the village of Walsingham, Norfolk, England, was taken in spirit to Nazareth. There Our Lady asked her to build a replica, in Norfolk, of the Holy House where she had been born, grew up, and received the Annunciation of Christ's impending birth. She immediately did, constructing a house 23'6" by 12'10" according to the plan given her. Its fame slowly spread, and in 1150 a group of Augustinian Canons built a priory beside it. Its fame continued to grow, and for centuries it was a point of pilgrimage for all classes, the recipient of many expensive gifts.

In 1534 Walsingham became one of the first houses to sign the Oath of Supremacy, recognizing Henry VIII as head of the Church in England. Dissenters were executed, and in 1538 the House was stripped of its valuables, its statue of the Virgin taken to London to be burned, its buildings used as farm sheds for the next three centuries.

In 1896 Charlotte Boyd purchased the Slipper Chapel and donated it to Downside Abbey. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII re-founded the ancient shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, and pilgrimages are permitted to resume. The statue of Our Lady is enshrined in 1922 beginning an era of cooperation at the shrine between Catholics and Anglicans. In 1981 construction began on the Chapel of Reconciliation, a cooperative effort between the two confessions, and located near the shrine. The feast of Our Lady of Walsingham was reinstated in 2000.

-----------------

Walsingham Priory
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15543a.htm

Walsingham Priory stood a few miles from the sea in the northern part of Norfolk, England. Founded in the time of Edward the Confessor, the chapel of Our Lady of Walsingham was confirmed to the Augustinian Canons a century later and enclosed within the priory. From the first this shrine of Our Lady was a famous place of pilgrimage. Hither came the faithful from all parts of England and from the continent until the destruction of the priory by Henry VIII in 1538. To this day the main road of the pilgrims through Newmarket, Brandon, and Fakenham is still called the Palmers' Way.

Many were the gifts of lands, rents, and churches to the canons of Walsingham, and many the miracles wrought at Our Lady's shrine. Henry III came on a pilgrimage to Walsingham in 1241, Edward I in 1280 and 1296, Edward II in 1315, Henry VI in 1455, Henry VII in 1487, and Henry VIII in 1513. Erasmus in fulfilment of a vow made a pilgrimage from Cambridge in 1511, and left as his offering a set of Greek verses expressive of his piety. Thirteen years later he wrote his colloquy on pilgrimages, wherein the wealth and magnificence of Walsingham are set forth, and some of the reputed miracles rationalized.

In 1537 while the last prior, Richard Vowell, was paying obsequious respect to Cromwell, the sub-prior Nicholas Milcham was charged with conspiring to rebel against the suppression of the lesser monasteries, and on flimsy evidence was convicted of high treason and hanged outside the priory walls. In July, 1538, Prior Vowell assented to the destruction of Walsingham Priory and assisted the king's commissioners in the removal of the figure of Our Lady, of many of the gold and silver ornaments and in the general spoliation of the shrine. For his ready compliance the prior received a pension of 100 pounds a year, a large sum in those days, while fifteen of the canons received pensions varying from 4 pounds to 6 pounds. The shrine dismantled, and the priory destroyed, its site was sold by order of Henry VIII to one Thomas Sidney for 90 pounds, and a private mansion was subsequently erected on the spot.

The Elizabethan ballad, "A Lament for Walsingham," expresses something of what the Norfolk people felt at the loss of their glorious shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
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More on Our Lady of Walsingham at:
http://www.udayton.edu/mary/resources/walsh.html
http://www.walsingham-church.org/
http://www.walsingham.org.uk/

The Prayer of the Feast: Lord God, in the mystery of the Incarnation, Mary conceived your Son in her heart before she conceived Him in her womb. As we, your pilgrim people, rejoice in her patronage, grant that we also may welcome Him into our hearts, and so, like her, be made a holy house fit for His eternal dwelling. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.






Our Lady of Walsingham,
pray for us.







Links:
Official Shrine Site

The Virgin by the Sea; Our Lady of Walsingham (University of Dayton)

Patron Saints Index: Our Lady of Walsingham

Our Lady of Walsingham (MaryPages.com)

Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church (Anglican Use) - Houston, TX

Orthodox Christian Society of Our Lady of Walsingham

Fr. Finigan's Walsingham posts at The Hermeneutic of Continuity



Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 1

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 2

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 3

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 4

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 5

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 6

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 7

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 8

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 9

National Catholic Register on "Our Lady's England"

London: Plans Unveiled for Memorial to Pre-Reformation Shrines [UPDATED]

EWTN Documentary 2008 - "Walsingham: England's Nazareth"

A Memorial in Chelsea to the Marian Shrines Destroyed in the English Reformation

Fr. Finigan's Day Trip to Walsingham

Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham - 24 September

Our Sacred Spaces

Catholic Cultural Heritage Images - Recta Ratio Features Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham

A Couple More Walsingham-Related Posts By Fr. Finigan at The Hermeneutic of Continuity

"Sinne is Where Our Ladye Sate"

Morris Dancing at Walsingham

Our Lady of Walsingham - 24 September

Photos, Postcards, and Mementos of My 2005 Pilgrimage to Walsingham

Some Walsingham Pilgrims Causing Consternation for Residents of Medieval Village

Impressions of England

Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham in Norfolk, England

Digest of Today's Posts (23 September 2009)

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 9

Pope to Make First Ever Official Papal Visit to Britain

Palin Speaks to Investors in Hong Kong [UPDATED]

Fr. McBrien Attacks Pope Over Liturgical Reforms [UPDATED]

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (22 September 2009))

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 9

Today is the ninth day of the Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walshingham.

Over the past 9 days, I have been praying the Novena, just as I did 4 years ago as I began my pilgrimmage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. I invite you to pray with me during this time leading up to tomorrow's Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Day 9: The Coronation of Our Lady

Intention: For the conversion of England, the Dowry of Mary, and the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham

Thoughts: "I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father conferred one on me: you will eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel" (Lk. 22:30). Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Let us pray for the conversion of England, that through the reconciling prayers of Our Lady of Walsingham it may once again be worthy of the title "The Dowry of Mary".

The Prayer of the Feast: Lord God, in the mystery of the Incarnation, Mary conceived your Son in her heart before she conceived Him in her womb. As we, your pilgrim people, rejoice in her patronage, grant that we also may welcome Him into our hearts, and so, like her, be made a holy house fit for His eternal dwelling. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

A selection of daily prayers for the Novena:

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary ...
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.
Hail Mary ...
And the Word was made flesh,
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary ...
Pray for us O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, by the same Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Angelus)

All holy and ever-living God, in giving us Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Brother, you gave us Mary, His Mother, to be our Mother also; grant us, we pray you, that we may be worthy of so great a Brother and so dear a Mother. May we come at last to You the Father of us all through Jesus Christ Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. (Roman Catholic Pilgrim Handbook)

O God, our Father, through the Holy Spirit You prepared the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother, Mary, to be a fit dwelling place for Your Son. As we recall with joy her appearing at Walsingham, grant that through her motherly intercession we may be preserved from evil and given health of soul and body. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Mary, recall the solemn moment when Jesus, your Divine Son, dying on the cross, confided us to your maternal care. You are our Mother, we desire ever to remain your devout children. Let us therefore feel the effects of your powerful intercession with Jesus Christ. make your name again glorious in the place once renowned throughout England by your visits, favours and many miracles. Pray O holy Mother of God for the conversion of England, restoration of the sick, consolation for the afflicted, repentance of sinners, peace to the departed. O Blessed Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Walsingham, intercede for us. Amen. (Anglican Pilgrim Manual)

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England, thy Dowry, and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee, it was that Jesus, our Savior and our hope, was given unto the world; and he has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross, O sorrowful Mother, intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith, fruitful in good works, we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee in our heavenly home. Amen. (Prayer for England)

O gracious Lady, glory of Jerusalem, Cypress of Sion and Joy of Israel, Rose of Jericho and Star of Bethlehem, O gracious Lady, our asking do not repel, in mercy all women ever thou dost excel. Therefore, Blessed Lady, grant then thy great grace, to all that thee devoutly visit in this place. Amen. (15th century Prayer to Our Lady of Walsingham)

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 1

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 2

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 3

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 4

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 5

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 6

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 7

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 8

Pope to Make First Ever Official Papal Visit to Britain

(Hat tip: National Catholic Register)

The Times of London reports:

Pope Benedict XVI is to visit Britain next year in the first ever official visit by a pontiff.

The Holy See will announce soon the first papal visit to Britain since Pope John Paul II made a pastoral visit in 1982.

[...]

During his time in the country, expected to take place in September next year, Pope Benedict will have a meeting with the Queen, Supreme Governor of the Church of England and will be accorded the full panoply of a state visit. It is possible the Pope will also stay with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

[...]

A draft itinerary is understood to include London, Birmingham, Oxford and Edinburgh.

[...]

One issue likely to be central to the celebrations will be the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman, a ceremony that could take place with Benedict in Birmingham, where Newman founded his Oratory...

[More]

UPDATE (24 September)
Fr. Finigan has more information, including lots of links.

Palin Speaks to Investors in Hong Kong [UPDATED]

Surprise, surprise. The New York Times actually runs a positive story on Sarah Palin:

HONG KONG — Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first speech overseas, spoke on Wednesday to Asian bankers, investors and fund managers.

A number of people who heard the speech in a packed hotel ballroom, which was closed to the media, said Mrs. Palin spoke from notes for 90 minutes and that she was articulate, well-prepared and even compelling.

“The speech was wide-ranging, very balanced, and she beat all expectations,” said Doug A. Coulter, head of private equity in the Asia-Pacific region for LGT Capital Partners.

“She didn’t sound at all like a far-right-wing conservative. She seemed to be positioning herself as a libertarian or a small-c conservative,” he said, adding that she mentioned both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. “She brought up both those names.”

Mrs. Palin said she was speaking as “someone from Main Street U.S.A.,” and she touched on her concerns about oversized federal bailouts and the unsustainable American government deficit. She did not repeat her attack from last month that the Obama administration’s health care proposals would create a “death panel” that would allow federal bureaucrats to decide who is “worthy of health care.”

Cameron Sinclair, another speaker at the event, said Mrs. Palin emphasized the need for a grassroots rebirth of the Republican Party driven by party leaders outside Washington.

A number of attendees thought Mrs. Palin, the former vice presidential candidate, was using the speech to begin to broaden her foreign policy credentials before making a run for the presidency in 2012.

“She’s definitely a serious future presidential candidate, and I understand why she plays so well in middle America,” said Mr. Coulter, a Canadian.

[...]

[Regional marketing consultant Melvin] Goodé, an African-American who said he did some campaign polling for President Obama, said Mrs. Palin mentioned President Obama three times on Wednesday.

“And there was nothing derogatory in it, no sleight of hand, and believe me, I was listening for that,” he said, adding that Mrs. Palin referred to Mr. Obama as “our president,” with the emphasis on “our.”

Mr. Goodé, a New Yorker who said he would never vote for Mrs. Palin, said she acquitted herself well.

“They really prepared her well,” he said. “She was articulate and she held her own. I give her credit. They’ve tried to categorize her as not being bright. She’s bright.”

UPDATE
Wall Street Journal: Palin understands China better than Obama does.

Also from WSJ:
"Palin Addresses Asian Investors"

"Excerpts of Sarah Palin’s Speech to Investors in Hong Kong"


UPDATE #2 (24 September)
"THE OTHER SPEECH - Sarah Plays Hong Kong"

... Sarah Palin appears to be pursuing a strategy, for now, of staying out of the media, letting her ideas speak for themselves, while reducing the implicitly demeaning emphasis on her persona, including her personal appearance. At the same time, she builds suspense about an eventual, inevitable “return” in dramatic living color. She stokes hunger among her political following just for the sound of her voice and the sight of her smile, but without ever quite going away. More than a few observers, even enemies and adversaries, have been forced to acknowledge her demonstrations of power at a distance - the fact, for instance, that a couple of Facebook entries and an op-ed have repeatedly forced the President to respond directly to her claims, arguably losing rhetorical control while indulging in his personal attacks on her. That he resists the mention of her name even while “everyone” knows, whispers, and passes it on, inflates her further: She has become the “one who must not be named,” looming like some psychic or supernatural force in the Obamian political drama...

[More]

Fr. McBrien Attacks Pope Over Liturgical Reforms [UPDATED]

(Hat tip: PewSitter.com)

Dissident priest and Notre Dame professor of theology, Fr. Richard McBrien, continues his campaign of waging war on the Church's traditional liturgical and devotional practices in a direct attack upon the Holy Father:

... Lest anyone question Benedict's personal preference in this matter, it should be pointed out that, beginning on the feast of Corpus Christi last year, those receiving Communion from the pope must do so only on the tongue. He has also expressed support for restoring the practice of the priest's celebrating Mass "facing the East," which means in plain English with his back to the people. [ED.: That's funny I was under the impression that the words "facing the East" were, themselves, "plain English". Does that, then, mean "facing the people" means in "plain English" with his back to God? Make no mistake that Fr. McBrien's purpose here is an appeal to a sort of emotional grievance populism that would be the envy of Huey Long and perhaps even Glenn Beck. Only it's worse ... he's resorting to a sort of populism that sets the people against God, with the grievance being that God is receiving more attention than they are.]

Given the possibility that such reversals (sometimes referred to as a "reform of the reform") will eventually be mandated, one can only imagine the confusion, frustration and anger that many priests and laypeople will experience. [ED.: I never cease to be amazed by the chutzpah and blatant hypocrisy of those, like Fr. McBrien, who continue to make this astoundingly ironic argument. No one seemed to care too much about the "confusion, frustration and anger" experienced 40 years ago by those who were forced to endure far greater cataclysmic change in the years following the 2nd Vatican Council. And we're supposed to worry that such minor shifts as Communion on the tongue and Mass said ad orientem are going to suddenly turn the Catholic world upside down? Please.]

Today, if individual Catholics choose to receive the sacrament on the tongue, they are free to do so. Eucharistic ministers -- priests and laypeople alike -- respect their wishes. The great majority, however, prefer to receive Communion in the hand and continue to do so. [ED.: The great majority don't go to Confession, either. Oh. That's right. Fr. McBrien thinks that's a good thing, too.]

But this proposal, if enacted, would actually prevent Catholics from making that choice for themselves. They would be denied the option, approved by Paul, that has been available to them for the past 40 years, namely, to receive Communion in the hand or on the tongue.

The so-called "John Paul II priests" would very likely be happy with such a reversal of practice and would ostentatiously deny giving Communion to those with outstretched hands. However, many other priests, whether old enough to have been shaped by Vatican II or not, would ignore the mandate and continue to distribute Communion in the hand to those who requested it. [ED.: In case you haven't already figured it out, in this particular scenario, the faithful, devout, and obedient "so-called 'John Paul II priests' " are the bad guys and the defiant and disobedient priests who "would ignore the [Vatican] mandate and continue to [treat the Body of Christ disrespectfully]" are the good guys.]

What would happen as a result of this tug of war at Communion time? Would some bishops threaten priests with suspension? If so, how many priests would expose themselves to such a penalty? If the numbers were large, how would the church be able to compensate for the additional decline in the number of available priests? [ED.: Hyperbolize much? I doubt we would see such widespread rebellion against the Church's authority by priests. If the Bishops said do it this way, the vast majority of priests would comply, even those who would rather not.]

Mandating the celebration of Mass with the priest's back to the congregation [ED.: Too much ink has already been spilled on addressing the outright stupidness of this description. And Fr. McBrien is a disingenuous hack for continuing to spout such nonsense. Actually, he's a disingenuous hack for a lot of reasons, this being merely one among many.] might pose an even greater problem, except in churches built before the Second Vatican Council and still with main altars facing the rear wall. But such churches are probably in the minority today. The architectural problems would be exceeded only by the pastoral dislocations. [ED.: Pastoral dislocations? Again, hyperbolize much? This is, quite simply, a canard. There will be no widespread "pastoral dislocations" over such small (albeit significant) changes as Communion on the tongue and Mass ad orientem.]

May none of this come to pass. [ED.: May you soon come to see the error of your ways, stop rabble rousing for the pantsuit set, stop trying to remake the Church in your own image, and come to embrace the richness of the Church's traditional liturgy and devotions. Barring that, may you soon be defrocked, removed from your teaching position at Notre Dame, and be left on the outside looking in as the reform of the reform that you so abhor comes to pass right before your terror-stricken eyes.]

(emphasis and editorial commentary added)


UPDATE
Fr. Z does his patented fisk of Fr. McBrien here.

Digest of Today's Posts (22 September 2009)

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 8

Bishop of Memphis Implies 80 of His Brother Bishops - Including at Least 2 Cardinals - Are "Racist"

Kmiec Lies Again: "Obama Has Taken Some Steps Towards [Protecting Life], Perhaps Not as Fast as Some Would Like"

An Open Letter from Prof. Rice to Fr. Jenkins

(Digest of Yesterday's Posts (21 September 2009))

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 8

Today is the eighth day of the Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walshingham.

Over the these 9 days, I will be praying the Novena, just as I did 4 years ago as I began my pilgrimmage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. I invite you to pray with me during this time leading up to the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Day 8: The Assumption of Our Lady

Intention: For vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and the religious life

Thoughts: "A great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with twelve stars on her head as a crown" (Rev. 12:1). The stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel, God's chosen people, and the holy apostles. Our Lady is the Queen of priests and their Mother. We pray that the Pope, the bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and consecrated men and women of the Church may set themselves close to Our Lady as her crown, and that women, men and children everywhere may offer themselves completely to God.

Prayer: Father, you raised the Mother of your Son to the glory of Heaven, grant through her intercession that the hearts and minds of all may be open to your call, so that loving you above all things we may be signs of your presence, and ardent but gentle servants of the Gospel.

A selection of daily prayers for the Novena:

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary ...
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.
Hail Mary ...
And the Word was made flesh,
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary ...
Pray for us O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, by the same Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Angelus)

All holy and ever-living God, in giving us Jesus Christ to be our Savior and Brother, you gave us Mary, His Mother, to be our Mother also; grant us, we pray you, that we may be worthy of so great a Brother and so dear a Mother. May we come at last to You the Father of us all through Jesus Christ Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. (Roman Catholic Pilgrim Handbook)

O God, our Father, through the Holy Spirit You prepared the body and soul of the glorious Virgin Mother, Mary, to be a fit dwelling place for Your Son. As we recall with joy her appearing at Walsingham, grant that through her motherly intercession we may be preserved from evil and given health of soul and body. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Mary, recall the solemn moment when Jesus, your Divine Son, dying on the cross, confided us to your maternal care. You are our Mother, we desire ever to remain your devout children. Let us therefore feel the effects of your powerful intercession with Jesus Christ. make your name again glorious in the place once renowned throughout England by your visits, favours and many miracles. Pray O holy Mother of God for the conversion of England, restoration of the sick, consolation for the afflicted, repentance of sinners, peace to the departed. O Blessed Mary, Mother of God, Our Lady of Walsingham, intercede for us. Amen. (Anglican Pilgrim Manual)

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England, thy Dowry, and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee, it was that Jesus, our Savior and our hope, was given unto the world; and he has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross, O sorrowful Mother, intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith, fruitful in good works, we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee in our heavenly home. Amen. (Prayer for England)

O gracious Lady, glory of Jerusalem, Cypress of Sion and Joy of Israel, Rose of Jericho and Star of Bethlehem, O gracious Lady, our asking do not repel, in mercy all women ever thou dost excel. Therefore, Blessed Lady, grant then thy great grace, to all that thee devoutly visit in this place. Amen. (15th century Prayer to Our Lady of Walsingham)

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.

Previous Pro Ecclesia posts on this subject:
Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 1

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 2

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 3

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 4

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 5

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 6

Novena in Honor of Our Lady of Walsingham - Day 7