I just found out that Jennifer Jones, who played Bernadette (and won an Oscar) in the classic movie “Song of Bernadette” died this month at the age of 90.

If you have never seen “Song of Bernadette” , you really must find time to do so; it is a wonderful film which beautifully captures the events surrounding the apparition of Mary in Lourdes, France in the 19th century. I especially love its portrayal of the local parish priest: he is a no-nonsense cleric who initially (and prudently) assumes Bernadette is making the story up, but after he accepts the apparition as valid, fiercely protects her from those who wished to destroy her.

As the opening credits of “Song of Bernadette” state,

To those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary.
To those who do not believe in God, no explanation is possible.

Say a prayer today for the repose of the soul of Jennifer Jones. I’m sure that St. Bernadette has been praying for her for a long time.

To say it snowed here this weekend would be like saying New Orleans got a little rain during Katrina.

Here are our unofficial counts from Saturday:

• 10am: 7 inches
• 2pm: 12.5 inches
• 5pm: 17 inches
• 9pm: 20 inches

This is the biggest snow for us since the Blizzard of 1996, when we got over 30 inches.

Of course, my homeschooled kids still have school today, but I’m sure they’ll find plenty to do during their breaks:

I remember as a boy reading the Sports page and Comics in the Cincinnati Enquirer every day. I had no interest in the world events that found a place in the Front section of the paper. However, that changed one day when at the age of nine I read the following headline: “Stampede Kills 11 Persons at Coliseum Rock Concert”. I had now entered the “real world”.

Thirty years ago today, the popular rock band The Who held a concert in Cincinnati which had “festival seating” and incompetent security and management. This combination turned deadly, as a stampede occurred before the concert, leading to 11 deaths and numerous injuries. This was an incredibly traumatic event in the history of Cincinnati and I don’t think anyone who lived in the city at that time will ever forget it. It just seemed so senseless: people died how? Getting into a rock concert?

(An aside: if you read the linked article, you’ll see this line: “Kim and a group of guy friends she had met while campaigning for then-city councilman Jerry Springer had general admission tickets and arrived at about 4:30 p.m“. Yes, that is referring to THE Jerry Springer, who was a city councilman, news anchor and even Mayor of the fine town of Cincinnati before his foray into talk shows).

Pray for those who died in that tragedy and their family and friends on this day. And you might as well throw in a prayer for Jerry Spring while you are at it.

Since I grew up in Cincinnati in the 1970’s and 1980’s, it should go without saying that I was a fan of the show “WKRP in Cincinnati” (and before you ask, there is NOT a real radio station WKRP in Cincinnati). My favorite episode was the famous Thanksgiving “Turkey Drop” episode. For your post-thanksgiving enjoyment, the classic scene – possibly the best scene in TV sitcom history – follows (apologies for the ad at the beginning of the clip):

I have been on this earth for almost 40 years now and I admit I still don’t know how to describe my personal music tastes.

On the one hand, on a long drive this weekend I enjoyed listening to Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

On the other hand, I can’t help but smile and sing along when listening to the following song (which Francis Beckwith suggests might be the “worst Christian pop song ever” ):

Fr. Michael Sinnott, the Irish Columban priest stationed in the Philippines who was abducted a month ago, has been released!

Praise God!

Looks like 14:

I have always been a big fan of science fiction. Growing up I religiously followed all the latest science fiction shows, from Star Trek to Star Wars to V. I loved to consider the possibility of extra-terrestrial life and humanity’s interaction with it.

However, now that I am an adult, I don’t really think intelligent life exists outside this planet. I obviously don’t hold to this belief dogmatically, as I cannot prove it one way or another. I just think that man is unique in all of creation: a physical species with the ability to think and choose.

But what if I’m wrong? What if on another planet there is intelligent life? This is now being debated at the Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Before debating what it would mean if intelligent life exists outside our planet, I think we have to first take a step back. We first have to define “intelligent life” itself. I would define it in the classical Catholic sense: a being with a mind and a will; i.e. someone with the power to think and to choose. The only intelligent life on this planet is humanity (aside from angels), so finding animal or plant life on another planet does not constitute “intelligent life”. If we found animal or plant life on another planet, it could easily be considered part of creation which has been placed under the dominion of man.

But how would we determine if extra-terrestrial life is “intelligent”? How would we know if a species could in fact think and choose?

It could be obvious: if an alien species had developed a culture in which people engaged in art, music, philosophy and other such activities, we would know that they could think. If the species showed an understanding of love between them, we would know that they could choose. And more ominously, if the species had a history of violence and injustice, we would know that it had fallen, which would also show that it was “intelligent”.

Personally, I do not think it will be difficult to ascertain if a life is “intelligent” as I do not think such life would be very dissimilar to human life. Mankind is made in the image and likeness of God, and it is that very image and likeness which makes us “intelligent”. It follows then that any intelligent species would also be in God’s image and likeness and therefore would in some way be similar to us. So it seems to me that it would be obvious. If we encounter intelligent life on other planets, we’ll know it.

But what would that mean to our theology? I think that the big question revolves around the Fall and God’s response to the Fall. In our world, God became man to save us from ourselves. This was His solution to our Fall. Could He also incarnate Himself as another species? Someone in the article I linked above stated that “multiple incarnations is a heresy in Catholicism”. I don’t think that is true; at no time has the Church definitively ruled on such a doctrine. But it is a troubling thought nonetheless. Does it diminish the power of The Incarnation if it was instead just one incarnation among many? Or does it show God’s power even more clearly?

Many of my devoted readers might not realize that there are other Catholic blogs out there on this interweb thingy. Yes, it’s true! Not only that, but they are really, really good! So, as a public service to my readers, I give you some of my favorite posts from the past few days:

Judas Maccabeus vs. Gaudium et Spes: With a title like that, it must be interesting. Br. Charles looks at the strange juxtaposition of readings in the Office of Readings recently.

A Very Common Confusion: Mark Shea adroitly answers a common question from a Protestant minister regarding the practice of Catholics praying to Mary.

Justification and the Analogy with Inscripturation: Francis Beckwith makes an interesting, if novel, comparison between Justification and the Inscripturation of Scripture.

Bryan Planned Parenthood Director has a “Change of Heart”!: Marcel at Aggie’s Catholics gives the inside story about the PP Director who became pro-life.

On this day in 1492, Christopher Columbus made landfall in the New World, in present day Bahamas. Over the past 20-30 years, Columbus has become a controversial figure, but as Catholics living in the New World, we have much to be thankful for this fellow Catholic (and member of the Franciscan Third Order of Penance).

For your Columbus Day reading pleasure:

• An in-depth article about Columbus can be found at the New Advent site.
• Fr. John Harden gave a series of talks about Columbus a number of years ago and the transcripts can be found here.
• An archive of articles about Columbus from a Catholic perspective is at the Franciscan Archive website.
• And of course, the Catholic organization Knights of Columbus is named after the great explorer.

We do not have to endorse every action of men who came to this continent after Columbus to recognize the greatness of his accomplishments, especially in spreading the Gospel to the New World.

Fr. Michael Sinnott, an Irish Columban priest stationed in the Philippines, was abducted last night by six heavily-armed men. From the AP:

The six gunmen entered the Columban House in Pagadian city, Zamboanga del Sur province, and dragged Michael Sinnott into a van in front of his horrified aides, regional police commander Chief Supt. Angelo Sunglao said…

The van was later found abandoned and burned near the convent. The kidnappers then took the priest away by sea on board a motor boat toward a town called Tukuran, Sunglao said, citing fishermen who saw the abduction.

Police have been dispatched to pursue the kidnappers and rescue Sinnott, he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but suspicion could fall on Muslim guerrillas who have been fighting for a separate homeland in this region of the predominantly Catholic Philippines for decades and have in the past kidnapped foreigners, including priests.

Al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants and insurgents from the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front have a presence in the vast Zamboanga peninsula but Sunglao said it was too early to pinpoint any group.

Sinnott’s group, the Missionary Society of St. Columban, confirmed his abduction, saying he was taking an evening stroll in the convent’s garden when he was taken by the gunmen. The group appealed for prayers for his safe recovery.

Sinnott has worked in the Philippines for decades. The group said he was first assigned in the southern Philippines between 1957-66, then returned in 1976. He has been involved in a school for handicapped children since 1998.

Pray for Fr. Sinnott and his abductors and never forget that there are still places in this world where being a Christian is a dangerous vocation.

This is an odd story:

WYD overstayers on the run

280 pilgrims from last year’s World Youth Day are still illegally in Australia, The Daily Telegraph reported, but the number represents less than 0.3 percent of the number who had arrived for the event.

The newspaper said that of 110,000 people who came to Sydney for World Youth Day last year, 550 did not go home. Federal immigration authorities have caught and expelled about half of those but 280 pilgrims are still on the run, it added.

I really enjoyed Denver when I went for WYD 1993, and I’d love to return, but I don’t think I would have thought to not go home after it was over. Maybe these people really liked the kangaroos…

Yesterday Archbishop Wuerl celebrated Mass at my parish for the installation of our new pastor, Fr. Thomas LaHood. The Mass was beautiful and the installation was quite moving, as Fr. LaHood made a profession of faith in front of the congregation to be faithful to the teachings of the Church, and to give a full submission of intellect and will to the teachings of the Pope and the college of bishops. I’m also sure that Archbishop Wuerl gave a wonderful homily. Of course, I couldn’t tell you a thing he said because my 2-month old daughter spent the entire homily screaming as loud as she could. And that wasn’t even the most embarrassing to happen to me during the Mass.

Here’s what happened. Near the beginning of Mass, my daughter started getting fussy. Maybe the incense was bothering her. Maybe she was just excited to see the bishop process in. But whatever the reason, I saw a meltdown might be about to happen. So I took her out and fortunately I was able to settle her down pretty quickly. In a little bit my wife came out and offered to take her and nurse her. I confidently told her that she was fine and that I’d take care of her. Famous last words.

As soon as my wife went back into the church, my daughter began screaming like the world was coming to an end (and to a two-month-old nursing baby, the sight of your mother walking away is the end of the world). I tried every trick in my dad-playbook – the rocking, the football-hold, the walking outside – none of it worked. She cried and cried and cried. I was stuck outside, able to barely see the Archbishop through two sets of windows.

Finally, at the end of the homily, she fell asleep. So I went back into the church and found my seat in the 2nd row. Soon the Liturgy of the Eucharist began, and at the epiclesis the altar server rang the bells. Well, I guess my daughter wasn’t completely asleep, or else she was really struck by the descent of the Holy Spirit, because as soon as the bells rang, she began to scream again. Here I was, sitting in the 2nd row at the moment of consecration with the bishop celebrating to our packed congregation, and my baby is louder than a 747 taking off. I didn’t want to walk out in the middle of the consecration, so I tried to calm her for a few moments. But as soon as the consecration was completed, I ran out of there like Usain Bolt with a bear chasing him.

Needless to say, the moral of the story is: if the mother of a child asks to take him or her from you, there is only one correct answer: yes, dear.

When I first read this headline at Francis Beckwith’s blog:

C.S. Lewis Believed in Purgatory

I thought it said “C.S. Lewis Believed to be in Purgatory”. Then I thought, “Boy, Beckwith’s back in the Church less than two years and he’s already determining who is in purgatory. The nerve of some reverts…”