Church and State

Joanie Wentz, vice president of development and communications for the organization [Catholic Charities], insisted the closure was not related to the July 1 incident. She said the St. Michael's program, which is approaching its 25th anniversary, suffered a $1 million cut from the federal government in the last budget, reducing the number of beds from 88 to 52 and resulting in the layoffs of 19 employees.

Benedict XVI's smaller Church

"It will be small communities of believers -- and these already exist -- whose enthusiasm spreads within a pluralistic society and makes others curious to seek the light which gives life in abundance."

Liturgist

Question: What’s the difference between a terrorist and a liturgist?

Answer: You can negotiate with a terrorist.

Protestantism

Mozart's comment that, "Protestantism is all in the head".

Mary Midgley and R Dawkins

She wrote that she had previously "not attended to Dawkins, thinking it unnecessary to "break a butterfly upon a wheel.

Mary Midgley

Midgley sees philosophy as plumbing, something that nobody notices until it goes wrong.

Oxford communism

After a split in the Labour club at Oxford over the Soviet Union’s actions

Ex ore infantium

“Remember, we are here to help others.” In response, one wise child then asked: “Then what are the others here for?"

Church in Germany

Using Catholicism in Germany as an example, the Pope said that while the German Church was “superbly organized” it was perhaps lacking in a “corresponding spiritual strength, the strength of faith in a living God.”

The Positivist Bunker

The positivist reason which recognizes nothing beyond mere functionality resembles a concrete bunker with no windows,

Islam

The Muslims have been having a high old time of it all week, living it up in their role as the splinter in the world’s big toe.

Feminism

Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.

Jobs abroad

Just ask the CEO who started sending jobs overseas, when the U.S. government fined him for hiring too many people.

Women priests

The basic study with German thoroughness is Manfred Hauke's Women in the Priesthood? A Systematic Analysis in the Light of the Order of Creation and Redemption (Ignatius Press, 1988).

Abp Nichols on abortion

On abortion, Archbishop Nichols' message is one of carefully worded support for the MP Nadine Dorries, and her amendment on independent abortion counsellors. "In the eyes of the Catholic Church abortion is a tragedy," he says in a voice that still bears a hint of his Liverpool upbringing. "Our principle objective must be to try and win greater sympathy for that perspective and for the value of human life from its beginnings.

[In the eyes of the Church, abortion is a sin. But this is not to be mentioned].

Bishops in England

"I'm not sure he'll say much on that," says the press man for Archbishop Vincent Nichols when asked whether the leader of Catholics in England and Wales will broach the topic of abortion. "We're not really keen on an 'archbishop versus the politicians' headline'."

Jimmy Carter

"Jimmy Carter, the senile old crank in the White House attic"

Galileo and Whitehead

“In a generation which saw the Thirty Years’ War and remembered Alva in the Netherlands, the worst that happened to men of science was that Galileo suffered an honorable detention and a mild reproof, before dying peacefully in his bed.”
Alfred North Whitehead

Education

The purpose of a college education, is to give people the correct attitudes towards all minorities and the financial means to live as far away from them as possible .

Life in NYC

All the overserved undergrads.

The NY election

Drudge has a headline up there about this New York 9 election: "Revenge of the Jews."

Bunch of Jews

Henry Waxman last night, Henry "Nostrilitis" Waxman, you know what his reaction was [to the defeat of Weiner]? He said, "Well, this is just a bunch of Jews in New York trying to protect their wealth."

Progress

We alter the test instead of trying to pass the test.

Bishops

The kind of men St Augustine referred to when he said, “You say, ‘He must be a bishop for he sits upon the cathedra.’ True – and a scarecrow might be called a watchman in the vineyard.” ...

Congress and Progress

'If pro- is the opposite of con-, what is the opposite of progress?'

Col. Tarleton

Colonel Banastre Tarleton who is still remembered for “Tarleton’s Quarter” that he gave to the surrendering Americans at Waxhaws by butchering them.

Mrs. Clinton

Hillary Clinton’s “f—n jew bastard” remark

Liberal media

“World Ends Tomorrow: Women and Minorities Hit Hardest!”

Galileo [again]

Galileo Galilei, scientist's insistence that not only the earth, but the entire universe, revolved around the sun.

Soldiers

"We were soldiers once, and young".

Broke

Hemingway described going broke as “slowly at first, then all of a sudden.”

U.S. Bishops

Most worrisome for the bishops may be that three-quarters of those who were even aware of “Faithful Citizenship” say the document had “no influence at all” on the way they voted in 2008; 71 percent said it would have made no difference even if they had known about it.
Overall, just 4 percent of adult U.S. Catholics say the statement from the U.S. hierarchy either was a major influence, or would have been if they’d known about it.
“Those who think the bishops have too much influence on Catholic voters may be relieved by these findings,” said Peter Steinfels, co-director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, which sponsored the survey. “Those who think that the bishops have too little influence or have influence of the wrong sort may be distressed.”

Protestantism in Germany

"The German Christian Movement had as its stated aim the uniting of all Protestant Christians into an inclusive and affirming body. However the doctrine of this group was based on an errant theology of revelation which placed human experience above the revealed word of God. The great theologian Karl Barth listened patiently, read the prepared memorandum, then stood up and to the shock of everyone present announced “we have different beliefs, different spirits, and a different God” and walked out. That event marked the formation of the “Confessing Church” in Germany – a small but effective group of Christian leaders who were prepared to stand up against a heresy within the Church. On the other hand the greater portion of the Christian Protestant Church leadership in Germany succumbed to the call for unity. As time went on, this greater group that placed unity above truth was gradually absorbed, like a python’s prey, by the false gospel of the “Reichs Church”, rendered voiceless and impotent against the tide of Nazi totalitarianism that swept all before it. This subversion of effective Christian witness removed a major obstacle to Hitler’s ambitions and the resulting conflagration we call World War 2".

Opinions

The work of professors who mistake the opinion of their peers for the opinion of the public.

The Church

Rosewater Catholics

Non-employment

This is a politician’s nightmare. It will be years before they can take credit for something they didn’t do.

President's press officer

Ventriloquist’s dummy Jay Carney

Rank

If you need the rank, you're not worth it.
If you're worth the rank you don't need it.

Clarence Thomas

“If our history has taught us anything, it has taught us to beware of élites bearing racial theories.”

Macmillan

When asked what posed the greatest challenge to statesmen, Harold Macmillan, the former British prime minister, responded, "Events, my dear boy, events."