by Dr. David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch
I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
POPE COMMISSION ON FEMALE DEACONS: A commission to study female deacons - who were they? It would be a very good idea to study how the ordained male clergy of deacon/priest/bishop has developed differently than the female tradition of service through religious orders. Cardinal Mueller of the CDF would be an excellent man to lead the study since he has already written an authoritative book on the diaconate and priesthood. Here is an interview with him on the deaconess in the Church.
This Carl Olsen article has lots of excellent quoted references, but is marred by his all too familiar badgering of the pope. The good sisters were hitting the pope from every side like he was "a goalie taking shots from every side." The town-hall meeting was in good spirit which the sisters very much appreciated. However the idea that a study of deaconesses in the early church means Francis is open to ordaining women is beyond absurd. This report shows that in no way has the pope requested a study about the "ordination of women" and it gives a link to actual interview. This is another example of the pope in loving conversation; the progressives deliberately misinterpret him and the "fastidious orthodox" amplify the falsehoods. How often does one need to see this movie before he recognizes and finally tires of his assigned role?
EUROPE - A CATHOLIC REVIVAL OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE? An interesting historical review showing why Protestant Britain was not part of the first union. Now when they are considering a Brexit, the pope and many bishops urge them to stay. But some British Catholics do not see the EU as a charitable way to welcome migrants, but as the chief instrument erasing Christianity from public life. An interview with Alan Fimister on his book about one of the Catholic founding fathers of Europe, Robert Schuman of France. A very interesting exploration of papal thinking, of Jaques Maritain’s notion of supranational democracy as the new Christendom, and of Schuman’s agreement with "the magisterium's demand that the final destination of Catholic political action must be the recognition by the civil order of the truth of the Faith, through conversion of a 'numerical preponderance' of the electorate." The supranational democracy that Maritain dreamed of has not come to a good end. This interview is a bracing reminder that even the best of Catholic social thought cannot shape the reality of history. As Pope Francis says, "Reality is more important than ideas." Now, we all have to recognize the reality that this supranational organization(the European Union) shaped largely by Catholic thinkers has become an enemy of Christianity and the nations.
II. AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY & GEOPOLITICS
BEN RHODES INTERVIEW AND OBAMA VS FOREIGN POLICY ESTABLISHMENT: Good dissection of the interviewer and reactions by Fred Kaplan. A response from the author - David Samuels. From Jewish magazine FORWARD - a peek into the Byzantine world of Jewish journalists. The long narrative interviews with President Obama by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic and Ben Rhodes by David Samuels in the NYTimes magazine show a daring move by the President, Secretary of State Kerry and his communications aide to realign the Mideast and pull America from the Saudi/Pakistan-Sunni embrace that has made our foreign policy incoherent. They have not proposed this major alternative in public, so they too seem incoherent. These two articles are remarkable works of investigative and interpretive journalism. What seems very clear is that Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta, and Robert Gates had roles in all of these machinations but they were not the drivers of policy and may have been figureheads inadvertently covering a policy not made by them. Those old white folks played a similar fig leaf role in the Obama administration that Secretary of State Colin Powell fulfilled in the Bush White House.
SPACE: PROTECTING OUR SATELLITES - U.S. POSSESSIONS 22,000 MILES AWAY: A front as crucial as the South China Sea and Baltics. Except out here we have real interests.
CHINA - U.S. MILITARY ANALYSIS: A good source on China on the US military analysis of what they are up to. An understandable Chinese reaction to the US report.
SURROUNDING RUSSIA - PRESIDENT OBAMA HOSTS THE NORDICS: A Nordic Alliance? Over-sell of Russian Arctic threat? Building arms on the East Front of NATO. Arms dealer in chief - the paradox of President Obama.
III. THE NATIONS
EARLY TEXTS OF ISRAEL: Democracy, no religion, race, or sex discrimination. The reappearance of Israel as a territorial nation is certainly one of the great providential acts of our century. But early Zionists did not talk that way.
CHINA, VIETNAM, AND THE PHILIPPINES - CLAIMS ON THE OCEAN: Some maps and definitions of overlapping claims.
IV. R & G ROUND UP
EUROPE HOMOSEXUAL CANDIDATE KNOWS HOW TO PLAY THE ANTI-MUSLIM CARD: Candidate in waiting.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES -- AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN LEO AND HARVEY MANSFIELD: The indoctrination on campus and the futility of the humanist Western Civilization professor.
PARODY AS POLICY; IS BRUCE JENNER REALLY ROSA PARKS? A sweeping directive - not binding but a threat enclosed. The great moral error of the Obama administration has been to portray the demonic, unnatural, anti-creation goals of Gender Ideology as a civil rights movement. Sexual confusion is not the culmination of the Christian civil rights movement, but its betrayal.
BRAZIL - THE LADY FROM THE LEFT REPLACED BY AN OLDER MAN, AN ALL-MALE CABINET, AND A GORGEOUS YOUNGER WIFE: South America’s largest nation is playing out its own version of sexual politics.
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