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I Got an Embryonic Stem Cell for Christmas!

7 Jan

I haven’t gotten a chance to crow online about all my Christmas loot this year.

I’m a great lover of Christmas loot, and–so there’s no ambiguity here–I welcome as many Christmas presents as I can possibly lay my hands on, and IT’S NEVER TOO LATE. I won’t be offended by any late presents that TSOW readers might want to send along–you know, as in: you ordered the unabridged, fully annotated Summa Theologica in hardcover for me, but Fed Ex delivered it to your house the Tuesday after Christmas, darn them, and now it’s just sitting there on your kitchen counter and you just don’t know if sending it this late would be offensive to me–it won’t be. In fact, it would ease the pain of not getting a Gandalf pipe, which was high on my wish list. Reading Bad Catholic’s post on pipes the other day only made my suffering more acute.

I’m, of course, thrilled to bits over the loot that I DID get (so far, wink, wink), which leads me to a strange discovery I want to share with you. As you may know, I’m a passionate fan of music, almost all music, and way up at the top of my favorite musicians is Peter Gabriel. My excellent wife bought me his most recent release, New Blood. It’s a lush symphonic arrangement of many of his best songs. I’ve been listening to it a couple of times a day–it is extremely well arranged, it’s creative, inventive, and Pete sounds great. It’s just a really cool achievement. Here’s the cover:

That’s right–you don’t know what it is. I didn’t either. Photograph of an organic ball on a metal thing. Looks microscopic. I didn’t spend much time thinking about it. Then, one day, while giving the CD another listen, I was reading through the liner notes, and I come across the cover photo credits. The title of the photo is: Embryonic Stem Cell on tip of Needle by Steve Gschmeissner/SPL.

That threw a big wet blanket on my mood. I looked at the photo again and thought: that’s all that’s left of an aborted human being, propped up on the tip of a flippin’ needle so we can photograph it and call it art.

I have no idea where Peter Gabriel stands on this particular issue–he may have no idea that there is a crucial difference between fetal stem cells and adult stem cells. I know he’s an extraordinary composer and songwriter; I know I admire him greatly. But I discarded the cover photo. No offense. I kept the CD, of course–it’s a triumph.

Elsewhere among my Christmas loot was the one-in-a-million late-’60′s collaboration between Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim:

Brilliant renditions of all your favorite Bossa Nova-and-such tunes and, as a bonus, the cover photo does not contain a single reference in favor of abortion, infanticide, immoral bioengineering practices, or any other aspect of the Culture of Death, assuming that pinky ring Frank is wearing isn’t a covert nod to a super-secret, multi-tiered European Eugenics Cult. Can’t rule it out yet.

Anyway, have a great Epiphany, and Merry Christmas, people!

FLASH UPDATE: It’s a mouse! Steve Gschmeissner (about whose work I was completely ignorant) left a comment below and showed a remarkable amount of restraint in letting me know that the stem cell in his photo is from a mouse, not an aborted baby. So, that’s good! Don’t throw away your New Blood covers, people! I’m truly sorry about the confusion I caused, Steve.

I might add, though, that the laws governing the use of human and animal materials aren’t necessarily strict everywhere, and there are large numbers of folk working hard right now to get the doors to embryonic stem cell research thrown wide, and there are artists who would have no problem using aborted human tissue as part of their projects–the same kind of artist who would submerge a crucifix in urine or make an image of Mary out of elephant dung–so I’ve developed a kind of nervous tick about it, I guess. Anyway, Steve Gschmeissner is not in that category and, again, Steve, I apologize. God bless.

How Important Is Beauty at Mass?

30 Jun

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the changes to the Mass which will go into effect later this year (see Orthometer for the official Countdown Timer). I ordered a copy of Catholic Update Guide to The Mass (St. Anthony Messenger Press) to help me memorize the new wording and to better understand the reason for the changes.

It’s only 48 pages; I read it in an hour. The third and final chapter, by Fr. Lawrence Mick, was the really helpful and informative part. Father Mick does a fine job laying out the exact changes, what to say, when to say it, with some brief explanations.

The first two chapters, by Fr. Tom Richstatter, O.F.M., were intended to put the Mass updates in context with questions like “why do we go to Mass?” and “how has the Mass changed over time?” Father Richstatter (judging from his writing style) strikes me as a warm, generous man who is probably an excellent pastor, but I had trouble with some of his points.

First, there is a lot of effort to calm the reader, as if there was serious concern at St. Anthony Messenger Press that people are going to be deeply freaked out by the updates. It isn’t necessary; the changes aren’t THAT huge.

Second, Father Richstatter, in sincerely trying to put the reader at ease, seems too eager to justify the removal of good things which have always been important to the Church.

An example. In a section entitled “Where Did the Beauty Go?” he addresses the obvious loss of “magnificence” in our modern liturgical celebrations. He remembers “with nostalgia..the dozens of candles on the altars, the smell of the incense, the glitter of the spotlights on the gold thread in the priests’ vestments…the monstrance with its jewels…Where did the beauty go? Where is the grandeur? What has happened to my devotion?”

His response to the anguish that many of us share over the absence of beauty at Mass these days is: “I can only say that I am getting a new perspective. I see a new beauty and a new grandeur. It takes a different eye to see my God in the faces of my sisters and brothers with whom I share the broken bread…Today I judge whether a liturgy is “good” or “bad” not by the number of candles that are lit, nor by the cost of the vestments…Today a “good” liturgy is one which transforms me and my fellow parishioners…”

I agree completely with Father that if the liturgy doesn’t transform us interiorly then all the externals, no matter how costly or beautiful, are pointless. But why would the absence of beauty necessarily aid that interior transformation?

It’s fair enough to say that earthly beauty can be a distraction; keeping in mind that the intention behind its use is to give glory to God and to draw us closer to Him by virtue of its faint resemblance to His awesome beauty.

But is Father right in suggesting that the mundaneities of the modern celebration of the liturgy do a better job at that? Keep in mind the sad reality of what we’re talking about here: the lack of décor; the irreverent conversing and gum-chewing; the childish felt banners in place of statues; clanging acoustic guitars and pounding drum sets instead of well-trained choirs and finely played pipe organs; low-pile dentist office carpet and folding chairs instead of polished marble floors and strong, wooden pews; arbitrary, nonsensical digressions from the rubrics of the Mass to satisfy the egotistical whims of irresponsible priests…you get my point, I hope.

The modern liturgy is positively starving for some beauty and grandeur; it might even get some people’s minds off of themselves and thinking about the God of beauty and magnificence Whom we all worship.

I hope, if Father Tom Richstatter is reading this, I haven’t offended him; like I pointed out, he seems to be a very pastoral, big-hearted man. I disagree with his conclusions, is all. What about you?

The Art of Destruction

18 Apr

Did anybody catch this article?

Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ has been reviling people for over two decades now and, I must say, I’m mildly surprised that it was four French protestors (since France is not currently famous for its Christian zeal) who finally reacted in this way.

Were they right to do it? Aren’t they guilty of being reactionary, intolerant primitives? Are they really opposed to the “freedom of creation,” as Mitterand put it (which is inexact—Serrano had the freedom to create it. But should it be publicly displayed? That seems like a better question).

But think of this: what if someone dunked a sculpture of your mom in a vat of urine? Or a photo of your newborn baby? Would you be offended? Would you just pass by the display and, perhaps after a spasm of emotions, tell yourself: “Oh well! It’s art, after all”? If someone displayed a poster of my mom or my wife or one of my kids in a vat of urine, I assure you I’d rip it down. I assure you. With a giant, steam-powered Poster-Ripping Machine that I invented just for the occasion. And I bet most people would be sympathetic.

Ah ha, but what if the ripping of the poster broke the law in some way? Well, if a society has become so addled that it would protect the display of such a poster with the force of law (and it has), then I say: I’ll pay the consequences. It’s my mom, after all (or “my kid,” or “my wife”). By the same token, if a law exists in my town that carries with it the expectation that I am to react with passive pseudo-sophisticated nonchalance to a representation of Jesus in human waste, I will gladly pay the consequences for breaking that law, too—especially since, to borrow from Aquinas, an unjust law is no law at all.

So, for the record: like many millions of people out there, Jesus is someone with whom I am extremely close and for whom I have an abiding fondness, not unlike the fondness I feel for the people in my family. In fact, Jesus is family. He’s not a mere theological abstraction, or a cultural item, like Felix the Cat or the Big Boy Burger kid. He’s a Person to whom many of us are firmly devoted. If you persecute him, you persecute us.

End Of Post Pop Quiz!

Of the three images below, which one deserves special protection by the law in any sane, just society on account of its strong personal, familial connection to a portion of said society’s members?

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