Miss Kelly

Jail Time for Muntasser

Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, former president of Care International,  gets a one year jail sentence, which apparently keeps open the option to detain and possibly deport Muntasser after he serves his sentence.  This is a welcome outcome after Saylor overturned the jury's guilty verdict last month and dropped a number of charges against other Care International officers. Not too shabby an outcome, all in all. 

"The founder of a Muslim charity was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to a year in prison and fined $10,000 for lying to an FBI agent when he denied traveling to Afghanistan in 1994-1995."

"In sentencing Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, former president of Care International Inc., a defunct Boston charity, Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV doubled the maximum amount of prison time and the fine called for under the federal advisory sentencing guidelines. Mr. Muntasser, 43, is a former Worcester resident and Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate living in Braintree. He must report for his prison sentence within four weeks."

"...Mr. Muntasser was detained Jan. 11, the day a federal jury convicted him in Boston on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and scheming to conceal material facts as well as lying to a federal agent. But expectations that Mr. Muntasser might be freed on a sentence of time served were raised after Judge Saylor reversed the jury verdict on the two most serious charges and freed Mr. Muntasser June 13 on conditions to await sentencing yesterday."

Judge Saylor said that Muntasser's statements to a federal agent - about a trip to Afghanistan to meet with Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar - were not the "garden variety false statements."  I like this exchange of  views between the defense and Judge Saylor:

"...Ms. Sullivan (defense lawyer) argued that Mr. Hekmatyar had been invited to the White House as an anti-Soviet hero, but Judge Saylor said that by 1994 Mr. Hekmatyar was shelling Kabul and by the time of the interview in 2003 he had been branded a terrorist by the U.S. government."

The judge also commented that while Muntasser showed "many charitable and other worthy attributes," Saylor had difficulty reconciling that with what he read in Care International's newsletter Al Hussam, which supported violence and called for "rivers of blood to flow."  Welcome to the fight against jihadism and  extremism, Judge Saylor.   That's what it looks like, there's the public side and there's the underside. The public side masks the underside, where the real action is. The public side is so good, that people who raise questions about the underside get branded as Islamophobes or racists.  It's an effective cover.

Who would have thought a couple of years ago that we'd be talking about Afghan warlords and jihadi newsletters in our civilian court trials?  For a case where Judge Saylor kept reminding the jury "wasn't about terrorism," it obviously was.  I don't have a problem with that, but as it seems a clumsy, costly, often ineffective way to fight terrorism.  It makes a dent, no doubt, and maybe scares some people from supporting terrorist groups.  But this trial demonstrates what a poor fit our civilian court system is for  getting these guys. 

And the jail time for Muntasser does nothing to deal with the hundreds (thousands?) of people in the Boston/Worcester area who wrote out checks to Care International marked "for Chechnya" or "for jihad only."   How do we fight what appears to be significant support for terrorist groups in Massachusetts?

Kudos to Lee Hammel of the Worcester Telegram for his in-depth reporting on this case.  Lee, how about asking for comments from Muntasser’s previous defense team – Susan Estrich and Harvey Silverglate? 

My previous blog postings on this case here.

Summertime....and the Livin' is Easy

Fish are jumpin',
and the cotton is high.

I like Sam Cooke's version best, with those eerie, ethereal vocals in the background. Who was that woman?

As you may have noticed, blogging is way down at Miss Kelly. I'm posting about once a week now.  This will continue throughout the summer.   We'll pick up the pace again in September.

Enjoy your summer, everybody!

Pontius Pilot Was in Scotland??

Funny, touching article: "Prisoners are being sent out into the grounds of their jails to hug trees as part of a Lottery-funded scheme." At first I thought it was some sort of enviro-kooky, touchy-feely therapy for British inmates.  But no, this is tree-hugging of a different sort.  Many British prisons are located on former  estates that have ancient trees on their property, and the prisoners are hugging them to measure th  trunk size of these magnificent trees.

"Amongst the trees already known about are a yew in Scotland which experts say could be 5,000 years old and once provided a resting place for Pontius Pilate."

"Also there are the hollow trees which hid Charles II, those used by Robin Hood, others preached beneath by John Wesley and one in East Sussex which so impressed Queen Elizabeth that she left her shoes there."

Wicked cool!

Legal Jihad Continues with CAIR and the Flying Imams

The discovery process is underway in the Six Flying Imams case.  Omar Mohammedi, attorney for the imams  and President of the Board of Directors for the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, filed a motion to "compel US Airways to divulge its training manuals, and information on its security procedures, so that they could show that the security procedures were not followed down to the last jot and tittle when the imams were removed from US Airways Flight 300 on November 20, 2006."  As if!  As blogger Douglas from CrosswordBebop remarks:

"When I realized what Mohammedi was asking for, I was briefly dazed, as I heard the sound in my mind’s ear of a thousand bloggers screaming something to the effect of “Ok, let me get this straight. A group of imams led by a fundraiser for a Muslim charity (the Holy Land Foundation) which was shut down by the Treasury Department for its connections to Hamas, is asking a judge to compel an airline to divulge its security procedures. And everyone’s OK with that?!?”

Not!  Kudos to US Airways for fighting this seditious organization. 

More legal jihad shenanigans from CAIR reported by Patrick Poole at Pajamas Media, this an attempt by CAIR to pressure the police in Fairfax County, Virginia.

"On February 9, Abassi committed an improper turn which prompted a traffic stop by Fairfax County police. After consent for a search of the vehicle was given, police discovered loose pills, needles, and prescriptions written to other individuals in the trunk of the car, violations of Virginia law. Dr. Abbasi admitted that he treated members of his mosque out of his vehicle, also a violation of Virginia medical rules (it should be noted that he is also a U.S. Customs and Immigration Service-approved immigration doctor). Abbasi received a summons for unlawfully prescribing drugs and three others for possession of controlled substances, and was allowed to leave the scene on his own recognizance."

"More than two months later, a letter was sent from CAIR national legal counsel Nadhira Al-Khalili to Colonel David Rohrer, chief of the Fairfax County Police Department, claiming that the traffic stop was made on the basis of profiling and that Dr. Abassi’s consent to the vehicle search was never given. She also claimed that Abbasi’s arrest was part of a pattern of 'religious discrimination' by the department."

What crap, really, and what a shame and a waste of of taxpayer, county and municipal dollars to have to respond to this crap.   The guy made an illegal turn and he was illegally giving out medical prescriptions.

Death by a thousand papercuts.  CAIR needs to be countersued ten times over.  It looked like they were going to tone down the baseless lawsuits that is their MO, copied somewhat successfully by other Islamic groups, including the Islamic Society of Boston.  But no, CAIR - with its measly 1,700 members in 2006 - is back to their usual baseless but time-consuming and costly legal jihad. 

 

Madrassahs in Buffalo?! Founder Comes to Boston

Who knew? 

The local MAS sent out an e-mail announcing that Shaykh Ibrahim Madani is coming to town this weekend, July 11 and 12.  He's lecturing, leading prayers and giving one-on-one counseling sessions at the Islamic Center of Burlington.  Now there's a golden opportunity. 

Who is Shaykh Madani? He was born in Medinah, Saudi Arabia, where he studied the Koran and the Hadith (traditions about what the Muslim prophet Muhammed said and did).  In 1980, he went to England and studied at Darul-Uloom Holocombe, one of a chain of Deobandi madrassahs.  In 1987, Madani moved to Waterloo, Canada to be an imam at a mosque there.  In 1991, he moved to Buffalo, New York with his father and brothers to help establish Darul-Uloom Al-Madania, an Islamic boarding school.   Madani is currently an Imam for the Islamic Society of Niagara Frontier, and a teacher of Arabic, Fiqh, Hadith, and Tafseer at the madrassah he established in Buffalo.There are lots of audio files available there. 

While much of what Madani writes is about improving oneself, he's also written articles about keeping your pants above your ankles, not a trivial matter. "Whatever hangs beneath the ankles of the izaar is in the hellfire."  Don't want that!  He's also written about what the Koran says about prayer, noting that Allah gave special orders to women: "And stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves like that of the times of ignorance, and perform Salah, and give Zakah, and obey Allah and His Messenger."  I bet some of the men at the Islamic Society of Framingham use that quote a lot, I've heard there's much controversy about women's participation at the Framinham  mosque. 

The Darul Ulooms boarding schools were established in 1866 "as a movement for Islamic revivalism after the fall of Islamic Empire in India," and practice traditional Sunni Islam.  More on Darul Uloom here and here.   This Sunni forum about the Darul Ulooms notes where the schools are in the US and Canada and what they cost. Rather predictably, a Muslim woman in Texas asks this question at the forum:

"For those of you in Houston, where can a sister study or send her children for Islamic studies, that is friendly toward Americans. I find most of the traditional masjids here are not very accomodating of women or Americans."

Tell me again why we allow these institutions in our country?  How exactly does our beloved country benefit by allowing people to come here and set up institutions which are explicitly anti-American and discriminate  against women?

The Darul Uloom boarding school in NY appears to allow girls to study only until the 10th grade.  Boys are educated for 12 years. According to a former student, it is required for female students to wear niqab (covering everything but the eyes, even hands) if they leave the premises.  Given that the only courses appear to be Islamic religious studies, I'm surprised that these are approved by New York as secondary schools.  The website is curiously devoid of any pictures of actual human beings, and provides no information about teachers, aside from Madrani and the principal.  Creepy.  The mosque associated with the school is a former 100-year old Polish Catholic church, which is a sad statement in itself.  A former student makes allegations of rampant violence and sexual abuse at the Buffalo madrassah here.  While I take those allegations with a grain of salt, there's ample evidence of sexual abuse at madrassahs in Pakistan and Indonesia.

What the heck are madrassahs - notorious for generating radical Islamists -  doing in this country? 

And why are Boston area Muslim organizations inviting "scholars" who preach that women shouldn't attend mosques and men's pants shouldn't hit their ankles?  Is this standard Islamic teaching?  Do most Muslims follow this?

"Teenager Finds Baby Bat in Her Bra"

The Brits have the best headlines.  True story! It was there for five hours.....

Independence Day - What We Should Be Fighting For

Robert Spencer reminds us what is at stake today and what we should be fighting for:

• Freedom of Religion
• Freedom of Speech
• Equality of Rights Before the Law
• Governments deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

As Spencer concludes:

Never surrender. Never submit. Never be silenced. Freedom and independence forever.

Gratitude for Those Who Protect Our Freedoms

From Freedom Watch, a suggestion to honor our soldiers on this day that we commemorate our freedoms:

"In the midst of the barbeques, the fireworks, and the fun, remember those who cannot be with their families because they are fighting to defend the unalienable rights enshrined in our Declaration of Independence - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Because of their efforts, freedom is now more than a distant ideal to millions of people around the world."

"Please take a few moments to express your gratitude to an active duty soldier or veteran by visiting Show Your Support, an online resource by the Department of Defense. And share this message with your friends and family so that the cost of our freedom will not be forgotten."

"We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident...."

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

Peek-a-Boo

These ladies are playing peek-a-boo with their fellow Americans.  They can see us, but we can't see them. Guess where these photographs were taken?

I realize that these women were unhappy that I took their photo, but if you dress like a bandit, don't be surprised that average Americans find that odd and worthy of a photo.  They no doubt consider me rude to take their photo, but I consider it rude to cover one's face in public. So I guess we're even.

In the U.S. and in all Western countries,  we don't cover our faces.  That's true for most cultures in the world.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

This article by Nicolas Carr in The Atlantic caught my eye, as I have noticed a decline in my ability to focus and concentrate in the past few years, my brain seems to flit all over the place.  I've wondered if I have ADD, but that seems like a  feeble excuse. I didn't used to find it difficult to concentrate.  The author thinks that our skimming on the web is altering the neural networks in our brains and essentially making us stupid.  Unfortunately, it was a 5-page article.  I can't focus long enough to read the whole thing.......so I just skimmed it. And linked to it. I can't help it!!

Seriously, after my week in Chicago with limited internet access, I found out how much time I had been spending on the internet, it can really suck you in.  And much of that time is flitting around, clicking, clicking, always in search of something new.  Could be dangerous, I'm cutting way back.  Hence the reduced blogging too. 

Geek Porn on Route 93?

Looks like Geek Porn to me, a fembot with DD boobs.  I drove past this last week, I think it was on Route 93 south of Boston.  Call me a prude all you want, I don't want to have this stuff on billboards along the highway.  Idiotic sentiment, too.  Hmmm, who can I complain to? 

I don't object to pornography, but I don't want to look at it on the highway either.  Keep it in your own home, not on billboards on interstate highways. Ewwww.

Apparently a number of Quincy neighbors were angry about this too. 

Wimbledon Underway - Good Women's Match Friday

UPDATE IN TEXT

A potentially verrrrry interesting match tomorrow: Serena Williams versus Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo.

Mauresmo (photo below) has more finesse and grace, and one of the better net games.  But she often chokes and apparently lacks mental toughness.  Serena can overpower and dominate games, even when she's out of shape.  She's the best at intimidation and mind games.  In their previous 11 matches, Serena has won 9.  But if Mauresmo is on, she can be terrific.  She's always a joy to watch, as she has a greater repertoire of shots than most players do these days and fluid, graceful movement. 

Friday: Make that 10/12 for Serena.  She beat Mauresmo 7-6(5), 6-1.  Sigh.....poor Amelie.

More on Serena's Nike rain coat here.

Blake and Roddick out already, and it's only the second round!  Maria Sharapova is also out.  She might want to spend more time on practice and less time on fashion and jewelry design, if she really wants to win another Grand Slam. 

Where's the Good Church Music?

I've had a category here on the blog for Bad Church Music, for the times when the dreckky songs sung at church made me run away screaming.  OK, I'm exaggerating, I never screamed, but I did leave Mass twice when the music was especially bad.  Once, when I noticed that every single song of the four songs at the Mass was written in the 1980's.  This, from a church with an unmatched legacy of 2,000 years of the most beautiful music!  The second time was when a group of aging hippies took out their guitars to strum and sing up next to the altar.  Exit stage left.  I'm not doing penance at Mass.  But now, after a memorable and  transcendent week at the Sacred Music Colloquium in Chicago, I'm inspired to seek out and publicize where the great Catholic music and worship services are in the Boston area or on TV. 

Here's the scoop:

Friday, June 27
Concert of Sacred Music, Boston -- Mission Church, the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, will host a concert of sacred music at 7:30 p.m. There will be performances by Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal, a youth choir from Montreal, of works by Mauduit, Viadana, Victoria, Gabrieli, Verdi, Busto and Patenaude. The Youth Pro Musica choir will join in singing Franck's Psalm 150. The suggested donation is $10 for adults, $5 for seniors and free for children under 12. For more information, call 617-666-6087.

VESPERS (Evening Prayers) FOR THE START OF THE PAULINE YEAR, on EWTN
From the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Wall, Pope Benedict XVI leads Vespers at the beginning of the Pauline Year.   90 minutes.
Sat 6/28/08 12:00 PM ET &  9 AM PT
Sat 6/28/08 4:30 PM ET &  1:30 PM PT

Friday, June 27 and Sunday, 29
Closing Events, Boston -- Holy Trinity German Church invites everyone to the final weekend of events. There will be a holy hour with silent adoration and group prayers with Father John Connolly, administrator of the parish, June 27 from 7-9 p.m. The final Masses will be held on June 29 with the Latin Mass at 9 a.m. and bilingual English and German Mass at 11 a.m., followed by adoration and a reception. For more information, call 617-426-6142 or visit www.holytrinitygerman.org.  Very sad that this church is closing.  Latin masses are becoming more common across the country, thanks to Pope Benedict, but Boston is closing the only church in the city which offers the Latin mass.  The Boston Globe wrote about the church closing a few weeks ago here.

Sunday, June 29
Solemn Evensong and Benediction, West Roxbury -- The Congregation of Saint Athanasius (Anglican use) will offer solemn evensong and Benediction on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul at Saint Theresa of Avila Parish at 5 p.m.

More events are listed here,  You can sign up for a weekly e-mail from Cardinal Sean O'Malley here.

Oh, and that transcendent music from last week?  You can hear some of it here. Breath-taking stuff.  Enjoy!

Spengler's Take on Bush and Benedict, Islam and Christianity

Nifty article by Spengler at the Asia Times Online about the affinities between President Bush and Pope Benedict, and a very different take on what the future may hold in Europe.  On what President Bush and Papa Ratzi have in common:

"Acting on faith in politics means exactly what it does in personal life: to do what is right even when it is dangerous to do so, when received opinion howls against it, and when the ultimate consequence of such actions cannot be foreseen. After Pope Benedict XVI showed unprecedented courtesy to visiting American President George W Bush last week, much has been written about the Christian faith that binds the pope and the president."

"It is not only faith, but the temerity to act upon faith, that the pope and the president have in common. In the past I have characterized Benedict's stance as, 'I have a mustard seed, and I'm not afraid to use it.' Despite his failings, Bush is a kindred spirit."

Spengler speculates on why the U.S. invaded Iraq after September 11th, and he discusses the Bush's decision to do so:

"Bush was magnificently right to conduct a punitive expedition against Saddam, but horribly wrong to wade into the mire of nation-building. He should have found a cooperative dictator to replace Saddam and marched out, as American neo-conservative historian and political commentator Daniel Pipes suggested at the time. Nevertheless, as I wrote in 2004, 'The West should be thankful that it has in US President George W Bush a warrior who shoots first and tells the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to ask questions later. Rarely in its long history has the West suffered by going to war too soon. On the contrary: among the wars of Western history, the bloodiest were those that started too late.' "

Finally, while many in the West wring their hands about post-Christian Europe - not to mention  post-Europe Europe (due to the failure of Europeans to reproduce themselves, while their Muslim populations have large families), Spengler sees a very different possibility:

"The Salt Had Turned to Gold"

Blogger-friend Sissy's work is part of an exhibition at the Pearl Street Gallery in Chelsea.  There's a reception from tomorrow, June 24, 2008, from 5-7 PM. 

Dan Adams is curating the "Landing Salt" show, which will have photographic images of the working waterfront at Chelsea.  Here's what he's done with Sissy's images posted at her blog Sisu:

"We're talking huge blow-ups that would be mounted between acrylic sheets and hung — together with quotations from sisu — front and center in the windows of Chelsea's Pearl Street Gallery as part of the "Landing Salt" exhibition, with back-to-back prints so they would be seen from both outside and inside."

Sounds wicked cool. 

Monday Miscellania

The UK Telegraph recommends these 50 books for summer reading.  I can't imagine "enjoying" reading Things Fall Apart while at the beach.  Does make me want to read A Moveable Feast (Hemingway) and Kim (Kipling).

Also from the UK Telegraph, a neat opinion piece suggesting that we have "misunderestimated" how history will eventually judge President Bush. 

Interesting WSJ article about Project Nur, a college organization that's a student-led initiative of the American Islamic Congress.  Project Nur is an organization for Muslim students who want an alternative to the "hardline dgomatists" and radicals of  Muslim Student Association groups.  Project Nur sponsored the Muslim women's film festival held in Boston last month.  More power to them!

St. John's Eve and Do - Re - Mi

Tea at Triannon has a nice post about St. John's Eve, which we celebrate today, while tomorrow is the Feast of the St. John the Baptist.  As Marie Elena writes:  "It was a tradition in the days of Christendom to have a bonfire in honor of the saint who was a 'burning and shining light.' (John 5:35) In some places, they still do; my father always had a bonfire in honor of the Birthday of the Baptist."  Now there's an excellent tradition to bring back. 

Fish Eaters provides more details about the customs and prayers for this feast day. Continuing in a musical vein, we learn this:

"Another interesting thing about the Feast of St. John: the Breviary's hymn for this day, Ut queant laxis -- the hymn sung or recited during the blessing of the bonfire -- is the source of our names of musical notes -- Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do. The hymn, attributed to Paulus Diaconus (Paul the Deacon, ca. A.D. 720-799), was noted by a monk to rise one note in the diatonic C-Scale with each verse. The syllables sung at each rise in pitch give us the names of our notes (the 'Ut' was later changed to 'Do' for easier pronunciation):

Ut queant laxis
Resonare fibris
Mira gestorum
Famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti
Labii reatum, Sanc
Te Ioannes:

"The words mean:

So that these your servants may, with all their voice, resound your marvelous exploits, clean the guilt from our stained lips, O Saint John.

"And the melody is as follows:

An alternate translation here, with further explanation of the musical notation:

O for thy Spirit, Holy John, to chasten,
Lips sin-polluted, fettered tongues to loosen,
So by thy children might thy deeds of wonder
Meetly be chaunted

The rest of the verses can be found here, with Gregorian chant notation here. 

Pope Benedict's "Tender Tenacity"

I heard another great quote at the Sacred Music Colloquim XVIII in Chicago, this one from Father Frank Phillips, who spoke this evening about the success of the local St. John Cantius community.  Fr. Phillips spoke about the decline in sacred music after Vatican II, and how the community he founded is working to bring sacred music back to Catholic churches.  My favorite quote was about my beloved Pope: 

"With tender tenacity, he (Pope Benedict) is moving the church in a direction in which the fullness of the sacred liturgy and liturgical life will raise all mankind through her sacred art and sacred music."

What an apt and lovely phrase, "tender tenacity."  And what a high purpose we are called to!

The Sacred Music Colloquium is a wonderful mixture of high quality music lessons and high quality worship and devotion services.   Tonight we had an hour of Eucharistic Adoration, with Gregorian chants (of course),  extraordinary polyphonic singing (Tantum Ergo, Palestrina), capped off with a magnificent organ playing for the recessional (Three Versets on Pange Lingua from Premier livre d'orgue, Grigny).   Personally, I found that reciting the Litany of Loreto was heart rending (in a good way).  It made me cry to be reciting "Ora pro nobis" after the cantor chanted out each of the names for the Blessed Virgin Mary, in a church filled with people.  The Anchoress would have loved this.  Chanting does open the heart and calm the mind.  I've only ever seen the Litany of Loreto (or the Litany of Saints, for that matter) it on EWTN before.   Live is way better than TV. 

Youn can listen to Dr. Phillip's lecture - and the Litany of Loreto - here (scroll down). 

Sister Ruth: Fair Witness on the Middle East

Good article in the NY Times earlier this week about Sister Ruth Lautt, former laywer turned nun who started the group Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East. 

"In a typical speech last November at Boston College, she commended the liberal churches for 'a wholesome, Gospel-centered concern for Palestinian suffering, which is real,' and endorsed a two-state solution. But she also made the case for Israeli self-defense, even in the form of the separation barrier."

“ 'I need to question how people feel they have the right in the name of peace and justice, to tell other people not to try to preserve their own lives,' she said at one point. 'You’re not obligated to lay down and die.' ”

Hat tip to Solomonia.