12/21/24

 Saturday, December 21, 2024

D+46

Winter Solstice, shortest day of the year

1948, the State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declared its independence

1956 Montgomery bus boycott ended after the Supreme Court ruled segregated buses unconstitutional

1970 Oregon v. Mitchell Supreme Court case was decided, lowering the minimum voting age in U.S. federal elections to 18

1978 Police in Des Plaines, Illinois, arrested John Wayne Gacy for murder

1988 A terrorist bomb destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 mid-air over Scotland, killing all 259 passengers and crew on board and 11 people on the ground

1991 Soviet Union formally dissolved as 11 of 12 republics signed a treaty forming the Commonwealth of Independent States

2016 Carl Icahn was announced as Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Reform, under President Donald Trump

2017 UN General Assembly voted 128 to 9 to denounce US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital

In bed at 9, awake at 11:50, unable to sleep and up and out ,at 1:10.  Did the dishes, tidied up the kitchen, emptied the garbage, read the NYTimes & WaPO.  Lights out at 4:50 but not sleepy, fingers crossed. . . . Lights on oat 5:40, unable to sleep, cold.  Dozed off at some point and awake at 8:10.   10° outside, wind chill of -1°.

Prednisone, day 221, 7.5 mg., day 36.   Prednisone at 4:45 with 3 slices of Dave's Bread & blueberry preserves.  Other meds at 8:15.   

Pass the basin, please.  Yesterday was the anniversary of Pope Pius XI's 1935 encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdoti.  I read as much as I could in the middle of the night while I was unable to sleep.  It reminded me of why there is abroad such contempt for religion generally and for the Roman Catholic Church in particular.  Excerpts:

   1. By the inscrutable design of Divine Providence We were raised to this summit of the Catholic priesthood.¹ From that moment Our thoughts were turned to all the innumerable children whom God entrusted to Us.² Yet, in a special way, We have felt an affectionate and earnest solicitude towards those who have the commission to be "the salt of the earth and the light of the world," for those who have been signaled out and adorned by the priestly character. In a still more special way Our thoughts have turned towards those dearly beloved young students who are being educated in the shadow of the sanctuary and are preparing themselves for this most noble charge, the priesthood.

1 He humbly starts out with the claim that it was God Himself, the creator of the universe, who selected him to be Top Dog in the Church.

² He follows up by calling his followers "children," reminiscent of the other infantilizing metaphor "sheep," as used in his predecessor Pius X's encyclocal Vehementer Nos: 

It follows that the church is by essence an unequal society, that is, a society comprising two categories of persons, the pastors and the flock, those who occupy a rank in the different degrees of the hierarchy and the multitude of the faithful.  So distinct are these categories that with the pastoral body only rests the necessary right and authority for promoting the end  of the society and directing all its members toward that end; the one duty of the multitude is to allow themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock, to follow the pastors.

11. The Old Law, inspired by God and promulgated by Moses, set up a priesthood, which was, in this manner, of divine institution; and determined for it every detail of its duty, residence and rite. It would seem that God, in His great care for them, wished to impress upon the still primitive mind of the Jewish people one great central idea. This idea throughout the history of the chosen people, was to shed its light over all events, laws, ranks and offices: the idea of sacrifice¹ and priesthood. 

¹ It was the idea, and command, of the creator of the universe, to kill doves and sheep to please him. 

 20. But among all these powers of the priest over the Mystical Body of Christ for the benefit of the faithful, there is one of which the simple mention made above will not content Us. This is that power which, as St. John Chrysostom says: "God gave neither to Angels nor Archangels" - the power to remit sins. . . 

31. Most sublime, then, Venerable Brethren, is the dignity of the priesthood. Even the falling away of the few¹ unworthy in the priesthood, however deplorable and distressing it may be, cannot dim the splendor of so lofty a dignity. Much less can the unworthiness of a few cause the worth and merit of so many to be overlooked; and how many have been, and are, in the priesthood, preeminent in holiness, in learning, in works of zeal, nay, even in martyrdom. 

 ¹ We now have some idea of the real numbers of "the few."  

As of May 31, 2019, information published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) indicates that the conference has counted 7,002 clerics "not implausibly" and "credibly" accused of sexually abusing minors in the period 1950 through June 30, 2018, with three gaps in the USCCB data. Out of the 118,184 priests who have worked in those years, the 7,002 priests accused of abusing children are 5.9% of the total. The USCCB reports also show that the conference has counted 20,052 victims who are known to the bishops in the period 1950 through June 30, 2018.  

40. It is impossible to treat of the piety of a Catholic priest without being drawn on to speak, too, of another most precious treasure of the Catholic priesthood, that is, of chastity; for from piety springs the meaning and the beauty of chastity.¹ Clerics of the Latin Church in higher Orders are bound by a grave obligation of chastity; so grave is the obligation in them of its perfect and total observance that a transgression involves the added guilt of sacrilege.

¹ "Chastity" here seems to be coequal with celibacy. Pius later oting that there is no requirement of either chastity or celibacy in the uniate Eastern church.

 47. Notwithstanding all this, We do not wish that what We said in commendation of clerical celibacy should be interpreted as though it were Our mind in any way to blame, or, as it were, disapprove the different discipline legitimately prevailing in the Oriental Church. What We have said has been meant solely to exalt in the Lord something We consider one of the purest glories of the Catholic priesthood; something which seems to us to correspond better to the desires of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to His purposes in regard to priestly souls.

And on and on.  Pass the basin, please.

Geri and Ellis are off to IKEA to pick up some items Geri ordered online.