Doing little things well is a step toward doing big things better.
Harry F. Banks
Sunday Talk Soup: MTP and Cardinal Dolan
On Pope Francis:
DAVID GREGORY:Another critic (see below) suggests that Pope Francis is a Catholic Obama. There is a certain degree of truth in that. A signature phrase of this blog is that if there's one thing, Obama knows, it's symbolism. Francis is doing analogous things, like living or dressing more simply and including girls and/or Muslims in the ritual reenactment of the Lord washing the feet of His disciples, but I think the pope is sending mixed messages and unduly pandering to a conventional "progressive" standpoint. I think that he is alienating more conservative/traditional Catholics than winning over "progressives." Stuff like saying "who am I to judge gay people" undermined Catholic bishops trying to protect the traditional definition of marriage; it raises unrealistic expectations among "progressives" that, say, the Church will change its positions on sexual policies. As Dolan points out, that won't happen. The problem is that the Pope on multiple occasions has lost control over his message; you have to wonder on just how meaningful it is to wrap things "in a better way to make it more appealing, to make it more radiant". The Pope needs to worry about substance, not style.
Church doctrine remains the same. By have described it as a change of tone.
CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN:
I would say a change of tone, a change of strategy. Right, a pope by his nature can't make doctrinal changes. In fact, his sacred responsibility is to protect the integrity of the faith and to pass it on. He can make a lot of changes in the way, the style, the manner in which it's presented. You know the best analogy of that? John XXIII, who by the way, the Italians are saying Pope Francis reminds them of John XXIII. He was the pope from '58 to '63. He said, "Look, we've got the gift of faith. That gift can't change. But it can sure be gift wrapped in a better way to make it more appealing, to make it more radiant.
DAVID GREGORY:The problem is not that the Church has defined itself as that, but the Church has been stereotyped as such in the mainstream media. Dolan says as much:
But he said, "We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage, and the use of contraceptive methods." He talked about there being too much obsession within the church about talking about those issues. You have said there's nobody to the right of you on some of these doctrinal issues. Is that a problem for you, that he believes that?
David, in my almost 37 years as a priest, rare would be the times that I preached about those issues. So Francis is right. He's saying, "First things first. First let's talk about God, about his mercy, about his love, about his forgiveness, about his invitation, about his embrace, about his promise of life eternal through his son Jesus. You talk about that, and then morals, doctrine, that will fall into place."
Those who would try to closet us maybe and just what you might call below-the-belt issues, where that be gay marriage or abortion or contraception or divorce, whatever. And those are important. No doubt about it. The church's teaching on that is unwavering. But that's not it. What Pope Francis has said, the way we forgive, the way we help the poor, the way we help the immigrant, the way we reach out to the sick and to the refugee and to the forgotten, those at the side of the road. That is as strong and as cogent a moral imperative as anything else.The problem I have with that is extending individual responsibility to the collective. The Church must be independent of the State and avoid being co-opted on politics. The Church operates its missions in the private sector; it can't be seen as subordinating to the State.
CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN:Dolan is responding to Gregory's bringing up ObamaCare and the birth control mandate kerfuffle. Dolan seems to be fuzzily confounding means with ends. He doesn't seem to understand that government policy has exacerbated sector costs, has arbitrarily limited consumer choices and meddled in the doctor-patient relationship. He doesn't realize that by policy hospitals can't deny emergency treatment based on ability to pay, and there is unfairness in that individual policies are paid with after-tax dollars.
Yup. And I'm glad you allow me to make that distinction, David. We bishops have been really kind of in a tough place because we're for universal, comprehensive, life-affirming healthcare. We, the bishops of the United States, can you believe it, in 1919 came out for more affordable, more comprehensive, more universal healthcare. That's how far back we go in this battle, okay?
DAVID GREGORY:Dolan doesn't address problems with the Senate bill, including the fact that it is too restrictive, that pro-labor policies, xenophobic in concept, unduly restrict opportunities for prospective immigrants--and in fact it was the first Catholic President, JFK, under pressure from labor unions, whom got rid of the Bracero program.
Are you disappointed on another debate, on immigration, that it appears that Republicans in this case don't see a pathway any longer toward getting this done?
CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN:
I am. And immigration would be one of those issues that shows that those who tried to pigeonhole bishops, pastors, Catholics, are wrong. Because now we're upset. On healthcare, we might be upset with the Democrats, with the administration. On immigration, we're saying to the House of Representative, which is dominated by the Republicans, "You guys have got to get your act together."
DAVID GREGORY:Really, go above to where he said in nearly 37 years as a priest, Dolan almost never spoke about it. What he could have said is the traditional definition of marriage has existed across cultures for thousands of years, that the Church is not promoting State policies against gays and restrictions on their relationships.
But why do you think the church is losing the argument on [gay marriage], in effect?
CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN:
Well, I think maybe we've been out-marketed, sometimes. We've been caricatured as being anti-gay. And as much as we'd say, "Wait a minute, we're pro marriage, we're pro traditional marriage, we're not anti anybody," I don't know. When you have forces like Hollywood, when you have forces like politicians, when you have forces like some opinion-molders that are behind it, it's a tough battle.
Gregory, unfortunately, did not go into Pope Francis' exhortation and the kerfuffle over the Pope's attacks on capitalism. I would have also liked to hear Gregory ask about declining American Catholic Mass attendance or surveys of Catholics showing a discrepancy between the Church's moral teachings and the polled opinions of American Catholics. Even on the new symbolic approach, how does Dolan measure the effectiveness of the Pope's new style/messages? By increased attendance on Mass? How's that working for you?
Facebook Corner
(Drudge Report). Fill in the blank.... Obama used the word "BEST" so what word would you use? Obama: ‘Biden Will Go Down In History As One Of The ________ Vice Presidents Ever.
clueless
(Tom Woods.) Here's my podcast from today on Pope Francis and markets. I do not take the line that he has simply been misinterpreted. I consider this a cop out, and a totally unconvincing one at that. (Warning: my show is controversial. If you don't like controversial, I recommend you not listen.)
As I, a fellow Catholic libertarian, write this, I haven't listened to your podcast yet, but I'm responding to your lead. I wrote a blog post pointing out how he explicitly attacked the invisible hand and trickle-down capitalism. It's pretty sad that the pope resorted to derivative "progressive" rhetoric. I know that his understanding of the economy is largely based on the failed populist/leftist politics of Argentina, but what's sad is that a Jesuit, arguably among the most intellectually rigorous of orders, would seemingly take his talking points from MSNBC. I have reminded people that despite His teachings on the poor, Jesus constantly sidestepped or denied political interpretations of His mission; despite His teachings about the poor, He had rich benefactors (e.g., His tomb and Passover arrangements), and He had enemies (Luke 7: 34): "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’"
(Jeffrey Tucker). Incredible! I just went to pay a ticket only to discover that there was a warrant out for my arrest because I was late in paying. Alarmed, I said "what the hell is wrong with you people?" She said, "that's just what we do." I said, "Normal people send bills. You kidnap people and put them in cages!!" She didn't seem to understand the point I was making.
without government who would fill the jails?
Without legal plunder, how could the State build the jail?
(Cato Institute). "Proponents of the flat tax and sales tax want to replace the income tax. That would be a very positive step. Advocates of the VAT, by contrast, want to keep the income tax and give politicians another big source of revenue. That’s a catastrophically bad idea."
I do like the idea of VAT's as a way to get past the house of cards, hopelessly convoluted income tax code replete with special-interest gimmicks, deductions, credits, etc. It also stabilizes tax revenue collection since accounting income can be somewhat manipulated (remember a profitable GE not paying taxes?) and is recognized under international trade rules. I do think part of any agreement is to flatten/lower/cap any income tax, dedicate any surpluses towards retiring the debt in combination with spending reductions/caps.
(Catholic Libertarian). NO, FRANCIS IS NOT THE CATHOLIC OBAMA
Among other things, I did not like the rather trivial dismissal of the Vatican II critique. I think Pope Francis' use of "progressive" rhetoric is derivative secular humanism. European churches are largely empty and less than half of half American Catholics attend church regularly and widely disregard Catholic moral teachings on marriage, abortion, and birth control. I feel that the Church is appeasing the morally corrupt culture in a futile attempt to remain "relevant".
(Ron Paul). Sanctions Against Iran: An Act of War . Interventionists & neocons like to tell lies and present Iran as fanatical and unstable... but for Iran’s major concessions, it will only receive $7 billion of its own money, which has been frozen abroad by US-led sanctions. Ron on the truth behind the negotiations.
I'm getting ticked off by the ongoing personal shots of Rand Paul by alleged supporters of Ron Paul. Rand uses more diplomatic rhetoric than his polarizing Dad. Rand has been highly critical of existing interventionist military and foreign policy, cf. last month's speech at the Citadel. And the critics have short memories: last year Rand Paul blocked a bipartisan bill on Iranian sanctions.
(Bastiat Institute). A Reason column criticizes anti-vaccine libertarians.
If all the others are vaccinated, how are they at risk?
To spread infectious disease is an act of aggression against other unprotected individuals.
(In a Reason thread). The issue is you have no way of knowing who is/is not inoculated against an infectious disease (and you may not even know you have the disease). I argue that spreading a preventable contagious disease is an act of aggression; vaccination is a morally responsible decision.
(Learn Liberty). t's exciting that more and more people are starting to identifying with the ideas of liberty! So fill in the blank: If __________, you might be a libertarian.
If you think freedom is more the exception than the rule
(Bastiat Institute). "I think the Pope should announce, 'OK you economists, I'll stop talking about capitalism if you stop talking about religion.'" - Robert P. Murphy
He's [not Murphy but a prior discussant] just an ignorant troll. Capitalism is the best strategy to lifting people out of poverty, not trickle-down government with the parasitic bureaucracy. Your private section donations are far more efficiently and effectively utilized.
capitalist help the poor by creating jobs
[Discussant] is simply recognizing that economic growth through capitalism lifts all boats; the poor have more job opportunities and they are able to stretch the limited resources they have.
(We the Individuals). Every time someone reads this a little kitten dies. On an unrelated note, I jut burned my Hazlitt http://robertnielsen21.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/debunking-the-broken-window-fallacy/
Oh my God. This is the product of such muddled thinking one hardly knows where to start. But just as an example: the minimum wage. First, he assumes that the increase in the minimum wage is a boon to the economy--but in fact only a small number of people make minimum wage. Second, he assumes that employers will have no alternative but to pay someone more than their current wage. But boosting the minimum wage doesn't mean that an employer has to pay more than a worker is productive--so in a slack economy, the employer can simply hire more productive/educated workers, in line with existing wages already above mandate. And if the worker costs more than his contribution to the business, then the business may no longer have a viable business model and close down, throwing people out of work. All the minimum wage increase managed to do is to limit opportunities for the surplus of young/inexperienced workers. What he doesn't point out is people employed at a lower market-clearing wage also contribute to the economy, and a wage floor masks these unseen contributions. I could go on...
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| Courtesy of Glenn McCoy and Townhall |
Musical Interlude: My iPod Shuffle Holiday Series
Jim Brickman (featuring Susan Ashton and Collin Raye), "The Gift"
