Miscellaneous Meanderings on the signs of the times (Vol. 9, No. 102)
Dr. Mark S. Latkovic
July 1, 2018
~John Hopkins University has decided to restart its transgender clinic after almost 4 decades. But with headlines like these, “Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Commitment to the LGBT Community,” one gets the impression that what’s going on here is more about politics and ideological pressure than science (see https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/long-shadow-cast-by-psychiatrist-on-transgender-issues-finally-recedes-at-johns-hopkins/2017/04/05/e851e56e-0d85-11e7-ab07-07d9f521f6b5_story.html).
~Liberals – including those in the Catholic Church – are fond of saying that the Church doesn’t credibly address or confront sexual issues. But this simply means that liberals don’t like what the Church teaches about those matters.
~Like the music itself, rappers’ names are often childish (e.g., Childish Gambino!) and/or menacing.
~Long gone, it seems, are the days when you could “read your way into” the Catholic Church or back into the Church. Today, just go watch a video or listen to a podcast.
~The Church still produces converts, but these modern versions don’t seem to know how to convert; they’re not always good at being converts as in the old days.
~June is not only Pride Month for the LGBTQ crowd, but it’s also another month for progressive Catholics such as James Martin, S.J. to virtue-signal.
~I wonder: Do canonists get to fire things? (I suspect that only Catholics will get this).
~Ever notice how reporters will ask someone whose friend or loved one was the victim of a violent crime, “You’re still emotional after all these years?” Well, of course the person is still emotional – a person he/she cares about was kidnapped or raped or killed you dunce!
~Political commentator S.E. Cupp announces: “Pro-life voices…need to speak up in favor of immigrant children” (see https://townhall.com/columnists/secupp/2018/06/20/prolife-voices-you-need-to-speak-up-in-favor-of-immigrant-children-n2492354). To all those, like Cupp (and Camosy: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/06/22/pro-life-groups-have-obligation-call-out-trump-immigration), asking the pro-life movement to speak out against child separation on our southern border, can I ask you when you think that those who oppose gun violence are going to speak up against abortion? (See also the fine points made by Ryan Bomberger here: https://townhall.com/columnists/ryanbomberger/2018/06/21/msm-illegal-immigration-and-separating-prolife-from-its-meaning-n2492881).
~The U.S. bishops still don’t get it. After school shootings, they continue to use the same tired language (e.g., “gun violence”) as the secular media (see https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/how-many-times-can-our-hearts-break-bishop-of-trenton-asks-after-shooting-60951).
~In a June 19, 2018 story “Sexuality, dissent high on agenda for Synod meeting on youth” [News analysis] (see https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=37386), we read: “More generally, the document observes that ‘many young Catholics do not follow the indications of the Church’s sexual moral teachings,’ and bishops agree that ‘questions about sexuality must be discussed more openly and without prejudice.’ The Synod document says that young people who dissent from the Church’s teaching on controversial issues nevertheless ‘express the desire to remain part of the Church.’” I want to make three points about this here. First, what’s this stuff about “indications”? Haven’t the drafters heard of “norms”? Second, since when during the last half century haven’t we discussed questions about sex “openly”? Third, the young who “dissent from the Church’s teaching” on hot-button issues, still “desire to remain part of the Church.” Really? But isn’t that a bit like the Planned Parenthood worker saying, “I don’t accept abortion, but I want to remain a member of PP”?
~I’m wondering when Amazon Polly (a service that turns text into lifelike speech) is going to object to narrating articles that express views critical of the LGBTQ movement?
~Liberals try to win arguments not with facts, but, among other sophistical ways, by constantly changing the terms of the debate (sometimes called “moving the goalposts”).
~ThinkProgress, the liberal American news website, where there’s neither thinking nor progress.
~Paste magazine (I’ve never heard of it either) quotes Sean Hannity saying (see https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/06/sean-hannity-tried-to-bash-alexandria-ocasio-corte.html), “many are hailing [Alexandria] Cortez as a rising star on the political landscape but in reality, her views, her policy positions, are actually downright scary.” But then they write: “Let’s take a look at that platform that Hannity is so frightened by:
“Medicare For All”
“Housing As a Human Right”
“A Federal Jobs Guarantee”
“Gun Control / Assault Weapons Ban”
“Criminal Justice Reform, End Private Prisons”
“Immigration Justice / Abolish ICE”
“Solidarity with Puerto Rico”
“Mobilizing Against Climate Change”
“Clean Campaign Finance”
“Higher Education for All”
“Women’s Rights”
“Support LGBTQIA+”
“Support Seniors”
“Curb Wall Street Gambling: Restore Glass Steagall”
The entire segment [on Hannity’s program] was supposed to denounce Cortez along with every other Democrat but ended up revealing how reasonable their platforms actually are.” Well, I must say that this agenda is scary: It sounds more like socialism and radical secularism than anything else.
~Our 1-year-old granddaughter has a toy teepee tent. I wonder if that would be considered “cultural appropriation”?
~The story of Jesus healing the woman with the hemorrhage (see Mark 5:21–34) contains, if you didn’t realize it, some real sarcasm from his disciples: 24 He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him. 25 There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. 28 She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” 29 Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. 30 Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?”31 But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’”32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”
~You know you’re getting old when everyone on President Trump’s short list (5–7names as of June 30) to replace the seat of retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy for Supreme Court is younger than you.
~The 4th of July is just four days away. It’s one of my favorite holidays, ever since I was a boy. I love it not so much for the fireworks, but for the reminder of the many blessings of our country, flawed as it is.
~Happy Summer!