Mankowski: Silk Purses & Sow's Ears

(I am sure the apostrophe in the title is misplaced)

Arguing with inclusive language loonies, the best I could come up with is that they never seem to worry about the gender of Satan, all his works and all his empty promises. For a better essay see "Silk Purses & Sows' Ears: 'Inclusive Language' Comes to Mass" from Women for Faith and Family viii.4 & ix.1, by Fr Paul Mankowski sj.

This is one of those essays when you want to keep cutting and pasting (funny that, considering the first paragraph). But here is a line of argument that had not already occurred to me:
Consider this sentence: "The men and officers of the second battalion will return to winter quarters on Monday." Here the word "man" is being used exclusively (i.e., non-generically), but it means, of course, not "non-females" but "non-officers." The word "man" is not only unmarked for gender but unmarked for military rank. Accordingly, in different sentences it can serve the broader or the narrower function, usually without ambiguity. There are, of course, certain linguistic situations in which it may be difficult to tell which use is intended. For example, in a pub you overhear a stranger say, "Jack's a man in my regiment." Does he mean man/non-officer or generic man? A speaker of even modest skill can ordinarily indicate his meaning clearly.
Now suppose for a moment you're serving as a military chaplain somewhere and have just conducted a Mass in which you recited the Nicene Creed according to the conventional translation. How would you deal with a red-eyed infantry colonel who buttonholes you in the sacristy and complains in a trembling voice that he feels the words, "For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven", exclude officers from the ambit of divine salvific activity? If you have bought into the standard inclusive-language mindset you're in a tough bind, for according to the mindset it is the listener's subjective impressions that take precedence over standard usage and over the intentions of the speaker. So if you refuse to change the Creed to read, "for us men and officers he came down from heaven," you're at a complete loss to explain your previous concessions to feminist critics. And if you do make the requested change you're incapable of refusing with rational consistency the next madman who feels himself excluded by your language.

ABC bias on euthanasia

A while ago somebody sent me a post on the MercatorNet blog, Careful! – a blog on euthanasia. It contained a video interview with Bishop Anthony Fisher op. The blog describes him as being "interviewed by a right-to-die activist." I suppose the post writer simply went by the content of the questions and drew the obvious conclusion. The interviewer, Quentin Dempster, is a journalist with the ABC and presumably has pretensions to neutrality. This was not extra-curricular activity.  The interview was part of regular ABC programming.

Bishop Fisher does a very good job dealing with the questions. Dempster is someone who describes obedience to the Fifth Commandment as hardline but as the folk at Careful! say, Bishop Fisher hits the questions right out of the park (in Australia, since you ask, we would say "hits them for six").

Comments on YouTube are disabled, naturally. More Dempster using ABC platforms to promote euthanasia here; see especially the scare quotes around pro-life.

Coin operated TV

I'd always keep a jar of coins next to the Foxtel IQ. This article describes the very beginning of cable TV

"Pay TV is Here", Michael M. Mooney, National Review, 5th June 1962.
Two very different Pay-TV systems are now on the horizon: the Zenith-RKO ("Phonevision") system which starts its three-year Hartford test this month — also called the "over-the-air" system; and Paramount Pictures' "Telemeter" system, which has been running in Etobicoke, Canada since February 1960 and is scheduled to open next in Little Rock, New York, and San Francisco — the so-called "wire system."
In the "over-the-air" Zenith-RICO system, a subscription decoder (a box about 8 by 10 by 4 inches) is wired in and sits atop the set. The subscriber pays an initial installation charge of about ten dollars. Prices for an evening's programs will vary between 25¢ and $1.50; the price may include "double features," or a feature and a short, etc.
Subscribers receive advance notice of subscription programs, by direct mail, or through newspaper ads that give program details, hour and date, and a special three-digit code number for each subscription program, and the price for tuning in. When he has decided on his program, the subscriber turns on his decoder and rotates a dial until the proper code combination appears in a small window in the front of the decoder. Picture and sound then come through loud and clear.
When subscription programs are not on, Channel 18 in Hartford will send out conventional commercial programs, sponsored or sustaining. At any time, even when subscription programs are on, the viewer may switch his set to conventional commercial programs, then back to the subscription program at will, without additional charges. In effect, therefore, the Pay programs are "added attractions" on the TV set for which the consumer must pay if he wants them. There are conventional commercial stations in Hartford to compete with the new Pay TV station.
Initial installations of the decoders at Hartford are to be of the “credit” type. The decoder makes an electronic record each time it is tuned to a subscription program. At monthly intervals the subscriber removes the billing tape from the decoder and forwards his payment for the programs he saw.
…
In the "wire," or Telemeter, system there is also a box on top of the set, but it eats coins. When the subscriber turns on his set, he may watch the conventional commercial programs, or he may flip a switch to tune in the Telemeter attachment. He then hears a "barker" announce the programs being offered and their prices. Since three programs can travel along the same wire at once, the subscriber may choose the program on Channel A, B or C. A price indicator displays the charge for each program, and until the subscriber puts in the coins his TV screen remains blank. Inside the Telemeter attachment a tape recording automatically identifies all programs purchased. This recording is collected, along with the cash, every 30 to 60 days. It not only tells what the subscriber paid, it tells Telemeter how to pro-rate the royalties among the various entertainment packages. The subscriber may always switch from the program he has paid for, over to commercial TV, and back again, without additional charge.
Generally two different shows are offered on two of the channels every three or four days. The third channel features public service programs and sports. At any given time, therefore, there may be a movie on Channel A, a Broadway show on Channel B, a hockey game on Channel C. Multiplexing over the wires allows the Pay-TV promoter to satisfy different tastes simultaneously. Features on the first two channels are generally shown twice every evening, at prices ranging from 50¢ to $2.00. Public Service programming (news and local events) is free; hockey games cost $100. There is an initiation fee of $5.00 and a monthly minimum of 75 cents. The cashbox accepts anything from nickels to fifty-cent pieces and even credits the subscriber if he overpays.

Origenal work

Between 1933 and 1941 Sir Frederic Kenyon published descriptions of 12 papyrus manuscripts, the Chester Beatty Papyri, principally containing texts of scripture. Number xii included an otherwise unknown homily by St Melito of Sardis. Sir Frederic gave it the title "On the Passion". This was corrected to "On the Pasch" after the discovery of the Bodmer Papyri in 1952. Fourteen years after that the homily was published in Sources Chretiennes 123. Extracts were used in volume ii of Liturgia Horarum (1971) for the Office of Readings on Maundy Thursday and Easter Monday.

I mention all this because a 12th century Greek manuscript in the Bavarian State Library has now been identified as a series of homilies on the Psalms by Origen of Alexandria. See the article by Catholic World Report and also this blog post which includes instructions on how to view pictures of the entire manuscript.

Lionel at Forget the Channel says:
The importance of this find cannot be overestimated.
Plus there's this bloke called Benedict, living in Rome, who used to have something to do with Bavaria:
[Origen] was a true "maestro", and so it was that his pupils remembered him with nostalgia and emotion: he was not only a brilliant theologian but also an exemplary witness of the doctrine he passed on. Eusebius of Caesarea, his enthusiastic biographer, said "his manner of life was as his doctrine, and his doctrine as his life. Therefore, by the divine power working with him he aroused a great many to his own zeal" 

I wonder how long before we get an edition.

Unlocalised news

As a father of young children I was interested to see the following in my news feeds:

Senator asks airlines to drop seat fee for kids
Senator Charles Schumer is urging airlines to allow families with young children to sit together without paying extra.
Relevant / Sun, 27 May 2012 14:04:53 GMT
Maybe we will take that Tasmanian trip after all. The trouble is that his name doesn't appear among current Senators. Click through to the story and you get the following:
May 28, 2012
Senator Charles Schumer is urging airlines to allow families with young children to sit together without paying extra.
Yes, but what state is he from?
The New York Democrat is reacting to an Associated Press story last week...
 Ah...

And what doubtlessly Murdoch owned, hopelessly Americanised news purveyor was this? Who divides the world between "Senators" and "non-US Senators" when we have Senators of our own Down Under? It would be the non Murdoch owned Sydney Morning Herald.

But of course we must abolish the monarchy to do away with the cultural cringe...

Vetus Latina : The Old Latin Bible

Before Jerome and the Vulgate  – and long before Urban VIII – there was the Old Latin Bible. Strictly speaking I think it is more a case of old Latin Bibles since there were several versions circulating of at least some of the books. Jerome himself produced two versions of the Psalms, the first a revision of Old Latin version and the second a direct translation of the Hebrew. (The whole matter of the Latin psalms, particularly as they have been adapted for liturgical use is extremely puzzling and I have never got it straight).

In Callista : A Tale of the Third Century Newman describes the home of a Christian living near Carthage just before the Decian persecution struck.
So long had been the peace of the Church, that the tradition of persecution seemed to have been lost; and Christians allowed themselves in the profession of their faith at home, cautious as they might be in public places; as freely as now in England, where we do not scruple to raise crucifixes within our churches and houses, though we shrink from doing so within sight of the hundred cabs and omnibuses which rattle past them. Under the cross were two or three pictures, or rather sketches. In the centre stood the Blessed Virgin with hands spread out in prayer, attended by the holy Apostles Peter and Paul on her right and left. Under this representation was rudely scratched upon the wall the word, "Advocata," a title which the earliest antiquity bestows upon her. On a small shelf was placed a case with two or three rolls or sheets of parchment in it. The appearance of them spoke of use indeed, but of reverential treatment. These were the Psalms, the Gospel according to St. Luke, and St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, in the old Latin version. The Gospel was handsomely covered, and ornamented with gold.
John Henry Newman, Callista, chapter 3

Vetus Latina is part of the Verbum Project at the University of Birmingham. The site contains information about the old Latin Bible, bibliographies etc as well as links to manuscripts online.

Flying in the face of truth

My moral theology class wanted to hear stories about my time in the Oxford movement and I had promised to spend some time doing just that. Nevertheless they did have an exam the next day and I wanted to be sure that they were able to use technical terms properly. So I opened the class as follows:
But first - business - economy, class, is the term from moral theology to discuss the telling of a falsehood. It is distinguished from lying because it is sometimes held that the telling of a falsehood may not be wrong - i.e. a lie - but still a falsehood hence economy. This is why Newman has a discussion in an appendix to the Apologia on the Economy. He is not discussing the balance of trade or anything like that.

Mankowski: What Went Wrong?

Robert Conquest says somewhere that the “behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies". Of couse, he means enemies of the organization: the idea of a bureaucracy being taken over by its enemies fills me with a mixture of hilarity and dread.

That reminds me of Fr Paul Mankowski SJ's paper from July 2003 (I blog slow but exceeding fine): What Went Wrong?
In thousands and thousands of pages of records one scarcely, if ever, is edified by a pleasant surprise, by discovering that a bishop’s or superior’s concern for the victim or for the Faith was greater than that known to the public, that the engines of justice were geared up and running at full throttle, but in a manner invisible to those outside the circle of discretion. Didn’t happen.
It is not surprising that something by an American priest in 2003 should smell of cynicism of all Ecclesiastical bureaucracies:
When the scandal is sexual or financial, it seems the Holy See can move quickly to remove the offender. When the scandal is in the arena of heresy or administrative irregularity or liturgical abuse, there is almost never enough secular interest generated to force the Holy See’s hand. Bishops Milingo and Ziemann and Roddy Wright have many brethren; Bishop Gaillot has few.
These differences between the Vatican's policy towards immoral Bishops and that towards dissenting Bishops may be due to the differences between the applicable canon law. That became clear when it took the Pope five years to remove Bishop Morris of Toowoomba.

Naming South Australia

Somebody was asking I was boring somebody about Adelaide names. Tim Blair attributes the observation of the peculiarities of the names of Adelaideans to Alex Buzo. Examples (some of them spoofs, d'uh): Bright Greene, Pullen Hare, Falkland Waugh, Clayvel Badcock, Steele Hall. Blair also passed on a method of creating your own name for when you move to that bright thrusting city of the late 1950s. All this comes up again because somebody thinks South Australia should change its name (note to non Australians, Adelaide is the capital of the state of South Australia). Naturally Blair is on the case.

The last word in wills and testaments

Today's EelsDeals™ is a whopping 65% off a computerised Will programme. It is called the Will-O-Matic. Since we are dealing with lawyers we have to be careful, but it is a surprising choice of name. And that is all I will say.

From the email:
Highlights:
• Create a customer-tailored Will in minutes using Will-O-Matic online automated software for only $24 (value $69)
• Simple to use and easy to understand
• Save time and money – no need to see a lawyer
• Get your legal affairs in order
• Avoid costly legal disputes
• Voucher is valid for one year
• Prepare a legally-binding document to safeguard your estate
• Easy to understand and complete
• Comes with a free eBook about Wills in your state
• Based on state laws
• Created in conjunction with Australian lawyers
• Edit free for one year
What you get:
Let’s face it: making a will is probably top of the list of things you least want to do. But it’s something you really must do at some stage, like it or not.
So don’t put it off any longer. With Dynamic Law’s online automated software, you can easily and affordably prepare your own Will in minutes. You’ll give your family security and peace of mind, knowing you’ve prepared a document that is tailored for you and based on the laws of the state in which you live. The final product is a legally-binding Will that will safeguard your estate. Just to be sure, click here to read what others have said about the Will-O-Matic.
No more excuses. Get your custom-tailored legal Will today using the Will-O-Matic system for the amazingly low price of $24 (something that lawyers would charge up to $400 for!)