HEAT vs LIGHT:
The Pope’s "New" Luminous Rosary

Earlier this month (Oct. 16, to be exact) Pope John Paul II decided to propose the addition of a fourth set of five “new” meditations (known to Catholics as “Mysteries”) on five significant events in Christ’s ministry --taken directly from the Gospels-- while praying the Rosary. The Pope refers to these as “Luminous Mysteries” or “Mysteries of Light.”

Some of the reactions to this announcement have been interesting, to say the least. For example, a few Type A nitpickers residing in the upper right choir of the Catholic Church seem to have been in such a state of apoplexy ever since John Paul II's announcement that one would think the Pontiff had suggested each parish set up a birth control clinic.

On a Catholic message board, one of the "traditionalist" Catholics (those who gripe the most about the changes which took place after the Second Vatican Council, most of which they deem "un-Catholic") complained that "...the tendency for the current pontificate to alter tradition at a whim has been standard the last couple of decades." Another "traditionalist" smelled a Secular Humanist Conspiracy afoot: "...Again, we contemplate Christ in order to orient towards and contemplate Man...Constantly the orientation is towards Man."

Hmmm. Upon reading the entire text of the Pope's Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, it seems to your humble servant that the optional addition of the five "new" Mysteries are anything but based on a "whim," much less influenced by atheists and agnostics: Even a cursory reading of RVM reveals that the Pope put a great deal of study, thought, meditation, and --yes-- prayer into proposing these "new" Mysteries --all of which, btw, come directly from the New Testament, not from the New Humanist Manifesto.

But then again, I could be wrong: Maybe the Pope created his Luminous Mysteries ex nihilo whilst having his morning cappuccino. Or maybe he woke up on the morning of October 16 and said to himself,

"Now what shall I do today? HA! I know! Why, I'll just think up five radically man-centered new meditations for the Rosary! That should change the Rosary so that no one will recognize it any more and I can make the atheists and secular humanists happy at the same time. THAT should show them pesky traditionalists who's boss in this Church! COOL!!!"

Anything's possible.

And if that sort of kvetching hasn't been sufficiently clueless, here is how another “traditionalist” Catholic critic put the Pope’s proposal: “…just when you thought that the rulers of the Novus Ordo Ecclesiae [aka, the “post-Vatican II Church” –TC] were done introducing novelties and innovations, just when you thought that it was safe to come out of your prayer closets and try to be Catholic again… the Holy Rosary has been put up on the auction block… another relic from a more orthodox era that apparently needs to be traded in for a newer model.”

The “cause” of the Pope’s decision, according to the writer? Why, none other than that Great Evil Boogeyman, ecumenism: “…If you're thinking you smell a bit of ‘ecumania’ here, you're exactly right. It's no coincidence that the less Scriptural [Stations of the Cross, and entirely separate Catholic devotion –TC] were replaced [by the Pope privately] with events recorded in the Gospels (The Agony in the Garden, The Betrayal, Peter's Denial, The Good Thief, and Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross), so that our Protestant brethren might feel a bit more at home participating in this Catholic devotion.”

But never mind that unlike the Stations of the Cross, the REAL barrier for Protestants to pray the Rosary were NOT the traditional 15 Mysteries at all (with the possible exception of the 4th and 5th Glorious Mysteries, which focus on the Blessed Virgin Mary), but the 53 “Hail Mary” prayers recited in the Rosary –not to mention the repetitious nature of the Rosary itself, which many Protestants regard as “unbiblical.”

So if this writer –himself an ex-Protestant, so he should know better-- really thinks that the Pope’s modest Gospel-centered proposal will move Protestants –especially Fundamentalist Protestants!—to fall all over each other in a mad rush to cause a run on Rosary beads in the Catholic goods market, your humble servant, The Curmudgeon, has some –um—land in the Okefenokee he’d happily sell him.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY SNIPERS:
Is Race Really An Issue???

Believe it or not, in the wake of the arrests of suspected DC snipers John A. Muhammed and Lee Malvo, some are already making much ado about the race of these two losers, indulging in some rather needless and IMHO misguided speculation bordering on race-baiting.

See for example this article on another weblog site: Two Black Men Arrested in the Beltway Sniper Case

For some "reason" or other, the article writer "wonders" (emphasis via italics in the original), "Call me Mr. Cynic, but when I heard the news, the first thought that came to mind was I wonder how many paragraphs into their lead story it will take before the New York Times identifies the race of the arrested individuals."

The writer goes on to assert that members "of a Black Muslim group called Jamaat al-Fuqra ...may have been involved in the kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl." But he offers not a shred of evidence to support his speculation that any "Black Muslims" or any "Black Muslim" groups were involved in the Pearl case.

In fact, the article on this group to which he provides a link says only this regarding that group's membership (emphasis mine):

"...a terrorist outfit operating in Pakistan and North America, was formed by a Pakistani cleric, Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, in New York in 1980, on his first visit to the US. Mubarak Gilani's intention in forming the outfit was to 'purify' Islam through violence ...Muslims of the Americas, a tax-exempt group established in the US in 1980 by Gilani, operates communes of primarily black, American-born Muslims in many states in the US, including in Binghamton in New York, Badger in California, York in South California and Red House in Virginia. JF is reportedly linked through court documents to the Muslims of Americas. There is also a road in the name of Sheikh Gilani in the vicinity of Virginia. The cult houses between 100 and 200 people, many of them women and children in about 20 huge trailers. There is also a Virginia newspaper, the Islamic Post, founded by Sheikh Gilani."

The last time I looked, Pakistan was not an African ("Black") country and Pakistani clerics were not "Black Muslims." In fact, the vast majority of Pakistanis are of the same races as their neighbors, Afghanistan and India (of which Pakistan was once a part). As for the point that Sheikh Gilani's North American branch is composed of "primarily black, American-born Muslims," so what? How does this "prove" or even indicate a likelihood they were involved in the Pearl kidnapping and murder? EVIDENCE PLEASE! Idle speculation based on little more than one's imagination simply will not do.

As for the suspected (and IMO most likely actual) DC snipers, while it's true that both are black --Muhammed is African-American and Malvo is Jamaican-- on what grounds does the aforementioned weblog writer imply that they were racially motivated or that their race was the determining factor in their actions? After all, at least half their victims were non-whites, including at least one African-American, Hispanic, and Asian. They also shot men and women alike, and one child as well.

And let's not forget that Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was neither "Black" nor "Muslim," and like the DC snipers killed people of all races, genders, and ages.

IOW, like McVeigh, the bastards who had been murdering and wounding innocent bystanders in the Washington DC area were equal opportunity assassins. But could they, like McVeigh, have been motivated by racism as well as, like McVeigh, anti-democratic and anti-pluralistic views? Of course. But thus far they gave no indication at all that they were motivated by race issues, nor --least of all-- by the fact that they were black. After all, like McVeigh, they killed people of their own race.

In what way, therefore, is the race of the DC sniper suspects at all relevant? Perhaps instead of being coy by dancing around that question, the weblog writer should be straightforward and tell the rest of us precisley why "identi[fying] the race of the arrested individuals" is so damn important to him.

Just MHO.

[EDITOR'S UPDATE: In his reply on his weblog to the commentary above, the aforementioned weblog writer explained the intent behind his comments: Apparently he was merely expressing his exasperation with those media outlets who identify the race of white perpetrators whose victims are minorities while at the same time withholding the racial identity of those perpetrators whose victims are white, even when their crimes turn out to be racially motivated. In our view, his explanation seems quite reasonable and not at all racially motivated. However, one can bet one's next paycheck that not all those who make a point of focusing on the race of the DC snipers will do so out of similarly respectable motives. Nevertheless, we humbly stand corrected.]

GREAT BREAKING NEWS!!!

THE DC SNIPER HAS BEEN CAUGHT!

Or so the police seem to believe. Actually there were two of them, a disgruntled and twice-divorced 42 year-old ex-Army drifter who had converted to militant Islam a few years ago; and his 17 year-old stepson, apparently the one who wrote those poorly written, bad-grammar-ridden, semi-literate notes they left for the police.

It seems these bozos, in a fit of indignation and ego after being blown off as "cranks" by the FBI's tip line operators, gave themselves away by boasting to the police about a killing they committed in Montgomery, Alabama while robbing a liqour store there. A fingerprint left at the crime scene led to their identification and arrest.

In addition, early news reports indicate that both of these losers had openly expressed approval and support of the 9/11 destruction against New York and Washington by the Al Queda terrorists. What a surprise!

CNN.com carries the full story to date HERE.

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Your obedient servant,

The Curmudgeon