Contemplata Aliis Tradere

"Being Catholic Now"

2008-09-15T20:40:00.000-04:00

Bobby Kennedy's daughter, Kerry Kennedy apparently wrote a book about "Being Catholic Now" and was interviewed on WBUR program On Point today.
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2008/09/being-catholic-now/#comments

I liked this comment someone left on the web site:

"As a non-Catholic, I actually find it problematic that someone would be Roman Catholic because of a commitment to social justice while simultaneously denying the doctrinal propositions of the Roman Catholic Church specifically or even Christianity more generally. Surely the doctrinal content of the Catholic Church is an important distinction between itself and other institutions.

To put it bluntly, if one is Catholic because of the sense of community but disagrees with the Church doctrinally, then they should join the Rotary; if they are committed to social justice but not the doctrine, why not Amnesty International instead of the Church? If one wants a sense of spirituality or connection to “the Almighty” but not worship of the Trinity, why be Catholic instead of Jewish or Muslim? At some point, we must accept the Church on its own terms rather than trying to make the Church in our own image.

For myself, while supporting many of the social stands of the Catholic Church, I am not Catholic because I cannot ascent to all of its beliefs, nor do I belong to a church whose beliefs I share if there is no practical application of those beliefs. Pope Benedict is perhaps correct that there should be a smaller, more committed Catholic Church if the Church is to survive as a single camp."

Are we producers of music, or consumers of music?

2008-07-08T22:43:00.002-04:00

Interesting article to read - This helps underpin the role of liturgical music...

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v454/n7200/full/454032a.html
Nature 454, 32-33 (3 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/454032a; Published online 2 July 2008

Science and Music: The ear of the beholder

John Sloboda¹

John Sloboda is professor of psychology and an honorary research fellow at the Institute of Law, Politics and Justice, Keele University, Newcastle, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK. He is the author of Psychology for Musicians (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Abstract

In the last of nine Essays on science and music, John Sloboda argues that researchers must study music as people actually experience it, if they are to understand how it affects thoughts and feelings.

Thanks to technology, we have an unprecedented choice of music to listen to, and places and times to hear it. Music has never been more accessible.

CL young workers vacation

2008-07-08T21:25:00.006-04:00

Well, there is nothing like a vacation that makes you have lots of afterthoughts [in the positive sense]! Although we talked about how we ought to engage our reality after we all go home, there is nothing quite like knowing I have experienced something and someone during the vacation, but can't really explain what. So, in order to sort out what I experienced, I'd like to share some thoughts. Please note that I do not mean to offend anyone - and please feel free to correct me if I am misguided (very likely considering I am not sure what I am talking about w.r.t. CL).

Am I trying to fit CL into the "old wineskin" of my experiences and worldview? CL encounter certainly mirrors that I learned through JPII's Theology of the Body - we know truth through our experience. In one sense, Giussani's words "The journey to truth is an experience" is very much in line with the phenomenology (modern philosophy that says that we can know truth from experience) that JPII used in his teachings. As I learn about CL and its proposal more, I hope to share the synthesis of these two thoughts with y'all, my readers (all 0.5 of you!). I am still trying to fit my experience to what I know, but I really can't! I guess I am having a new wineskin experience. In some sense, I knew already the ideas of everything that was talked about - but CL somehow formalizes and packages the thoughts and the experiences. The simple answer is that it is the mystery of Christ that I am encountering, but it's not quite enough of an answer. I realize that "how does CL fit in" is not the right question, but I am not sure what is the right question to ask about this encounter. hmm.

As someone reflected at the end of the vacation, it is amazing how much I am aware of mine and other people's imperfections to the point that they bother me. And yet, I appreciate how brutally honest these people are, in showing themselves to me. Despite all this, the nuggets of truth still shine brilliantly through our efforts and attempts to share Christ present, so these imperfections are.. ok! I must admit that during each opportunity to listen from Chris, my first reaction was always "ok... he is full of himself/ he is beating this one topic to death." [I mean no offense to anyone, especially Chris!!!] But then, these words will still immediately grab my attention, because they resonate with my experience. This is even though I can't quite say why they do, or understand really what they mean. I guess something touches my heart immediately although it does not engage my intellect as readily.

During other times, I am shocked by people's seeming immaturity and disregard for their well-being, reasonable boundaries, foul language, etc. And yet, I love all these people for them! - How is it possible to feel this way? Part of the issue is that I do a good job of hiding my weaknesses very well, and don't like to reveal them, because it don't feel they are edifying for the community. And perhaps it is really a recognition of my faults that bother me. I dunno. I agree that there is tremendous value to being honest about, and being able to share my imperfections, which I don't do very well. Why do I not like sharing them? because if I admit to them, they might be true, or become bigger than they should be! :) Also, the value comes if sharing my imperfections edify reality and people's relationship with Christ, but isn't it better to not advertise some things? Not that I don't share when appropriate, but they just are not something to flaunt. Something to chew on. hmm.

Two pieces of reflection that I will try to remember, thanks to Elena: where do we encounter Christ? where do we prefer to encounter Christ? I have been trying to answer that for the last two days. I really don't know. I prefer Eucharistic adoration and formalized liturgy in prayer, but that's not what this question is about. The right question seems to be "Do I really have a community that I can turn to?" I have to admit that in Boston, I did not. St. Ignatius group was nice, but I can't communicate my entire self, mostly because I didn't feel that people would understand. But with CL folks that I've known only for a few days, I feel that they do understand me.

As Elvi suggested, I may in fact be dodging reality of my social life whenever I choose to hang out with out-of-town visitors, or go on dates with people when I am out of town traveling. Attending the vacation had sort of the same motives underneath - I'd rather not hang out with Boston people. Why? 1. consider BCE, my choir. People are nice, but it is a very secular group. I constantly questioned "Am I in good company? or am I spending time with not-so-edifying people?" "Should I choose to spend time with those who help me on my journey instead?" Although we sing beautiful music and beautiful texts that allow the encounter with Christ, I don't know if people are open to it. Coming back from the vacation, I now feel that I should help the fellow choristers to have their encounter with the mystery through this participation in the music. 2. St. Ignatius - see above. 3. work - I spend time sitting at my desk. How should I engage these realities? 4. Lay Dominicans - am I just holding onto what I used to love 6 years ago? I think what my being friendly with out-of-towners reveal is that I identify with them much more so than other people in Boston. Granted, I have lived here only 1 year, but I think my need for community and love has grown much more since I have moved to Austin.

Where do I prefer to encounter Christ? U of Illinois Koinonia community? It was a rich place to grow up, but I have grown since then in the last 7.5 years. Am I holding on to this illusion of the "good old days?" no. That's not it. where, then? CL? I feel like I can be brutally honest about myself and what I feel with other CL folks, without trying to look polite or not cause ruckus or simply deciding to not care about my thoughts.

Other random thoughts.

Morning prayer: 1. We all tend to chant the psalms and the reading waaaaay too fast! It is difficult to understand or catch the meaning of the words when we pray the text that fast! I understand that we don't want to go slow, but this was beyond practicality! 2. Soft singing and singing in unity is important, but under-singing is not good - where you don't make enough sound to be phonating in a healthy manner, or can't really properly pronounce the words. Does anyone else agree?

Next time we go star-gazing, we need to bring a laser pointer, or an opaque tube with a flashlight, so that we can point at things better.

The games were more damaging to my body than the 1st day of hiking!

Most commercially available BBQ sauce is yucky!

It would have been nice to be not so clique-driven. The cliques were so dominant to a point that I, and other new-comers who are just checking out the group felt rather isolated from the rest of the people much of the time. Thank God for the Indiana group, my Midwest homies, with whom I felt very much at home (mysteriously)!

In conclusion:
The meeting with CL was mixed, but meeting with Christ through CL was awesome! Something about it (or at least how it was presented) makes me feel like CL is rather limited in repertoire or the choice of flavors it offers. Which is odd, because Albacete's writings don't give me that sense. This still makes me wonder how CL fits with my experiences and worldview. I see that CL seems to offer all the conduits to holiness in some people - I don't quite see that. The encounter, and the engagement of reality, and appreciating the mystery is certainly the basis of our relationship with God, but ... what is this missing thing I am trying to figure out?

Is it my experience with the Dominican order? The four pillars of Dominican life: prayer, study, community, and apostolate? Does CL not offer that? Is it the fact that CL is only 50 years old, and seems like it is still figuring out what it is, similar to the Community of St. John, about 30 years old, that is still trying to grow beyond the teachings of the founder? As compared to the Dominican order, which has been around for 800 years? How do I reconcile my Dominican-ness with what I experienced through the vacation? hmm.

Again, I appreciate any comments that might help me navigate through this encounter. thanks!

Obituary: Alfonso Cardinal Lopez Trujillo

2008-05-06T22:04:00.002-04:00

The Economist has an obituary on the late cardinal:
http://www.economist.com/obituary/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11288470

I didn't know this person was most of a stickler for orthodoxy than then Ratzinger! (at least, that's my impression from the article)

Readers may want to comment and refute some of the anti-catholic comments people have left on the article.

Developing leaders for an aging society

2008-05-06T21:48:00.002-04:00

a kick-off event to celebrate the partnership between the Heller School and Hebrew SeniorLife (HSL) to train leaders in the field of aging. Keynote Speaker John W. Rowe, MD, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, will be joined by an expert panel including Michael Festa, Secretary of Massachusetts Office of Elder Affairs; Len Fishman, CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife; and Alan Solomont, Chairman of Solomont Bailis Ventures. HSL is a seven-site network of senior housing and health care and the largest non-profit provider of senior housing and health care in New England.

I was debating whether to attend, but was encouraged by my mentor. After attending these types of events, I am realizing that I am getting better at schmoozing at parties and receptions.

Heller School of public policy just a got a new woman dean, so that is pretty cool.

Among Dr. Rowe's comments, here are some things to consider:
0. There is an utter lack of health care workers, now, and in the future. Even if medicare is well funded, access to medical care is still going to be a challenge.

1. organizations such as AARP push for the idea of generation gap and generation war, where young, middle age, and seniors will be fighting for resources. Yet, there is little evidence to support this idea. Grandparents are likely to support funding schools, middle-age people don't mind contributing to social security and medicare, since they already have invested in it. Given the ongoing shift in demographics, we may have to think about

2. People seem to love retirement too much - why should people suddenly stop working at a certain age? Older people may volunteer a bit more than younger people, but it is still not very much. We need a structure to retain talent and experience.

3. Inequality. Social scientist will argue that disparity in wealth is incredibly bad - economists will argue that it's not that big of a deal, as poor people can still get access to social programs, etc. The two camps apparently don't believe that the other side at all. Yet education affects future outcomes - education protects against Alzheimer's disease, but also HS grads are 2x likely to be disabled at age 65 than college grads.

4. Lack of talent: despite the importance of taking care of older adults, it is difficult to attract talent. The social perception is partly to blame, as people seek "sexier" jobs/industries, and consider work in aging "a waste." This occurs at the policy level, where educational funds/research are being focused mostly on brain develepment during 0-3 years of age, because people think "science says that brains can't learn after age 20" Garbage!!

The incoming dean, Lisa Lynch mentioned that scientists have to influence the policy discourse, because otherwise no one else will advocate real science in our stead.

Discussion on Liturgical music used during the papal visit

2008-04-26T22:52:00.000-04:00

http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3509&Itemid=48

Few thoughts. 1. The prevalence of a lot of bad music in liturgy in the US is definitely indicative of bad music education in the US. If people never hear music that transcends, then how can they want it? Certainly this goes both ways - the church needs to lead in presenting the world with good music. In my town, there are churches that perform a Bach Cantata or hosts an organ recital every single Sunday. It is wonderful, but I am told that no one attends these events. What can we do? It may be a catch-22, but music ministers work with very limited resources in many parishes, including people who are willing to volunteer in making liturgical music.

2. Personally, I am not too keen on the 18-19th century 16-bar hymns that come initially from the Protestant tradition, that we consider "traditional Catholic hymns." We don't have a good excuse not to adopt "Shout to the Lord" and the like based on that argument. Many folksongs have become hymn tunes (Kingsford, O Waly Waly for instance) people now consider "traditional," but I imagine they were people objecting to their use back then. There are good music from other periods, both before, and those from this decade that are equally worthy of liturgical use (Pinkham, P, Bainton). Also, if we should only use music "tried and true" how could we have picked up the 4-part hymn tunes in that last few centuries for liturgical use, which we now consider "traditional"?

3. I am curious as to why people object to the use of a pianoforte during liturgy. Good piano-playing can be just a beautiful as a good organ-playing.

4. Mr. Reilly mentions the liturgy in London. They have a big "advantage" over American Catholics, in that the Anglican musical tradition has kept up some of our solemn liturgical traditions much better than we.

5. There should be more effort made to beautify (or "juice-up"?) novus ordo liturgy - why do not enough of us ever celebrate novus ordo liturgy in Latin, with Latin hymns and all, after all, that sounds like the orginal intent. The celebration of the extraordinary form ("Tridentine") is beautiful, but for many of us who never grew up with it, it feels as foreign as attending Byzantine liturgy (although it is much easier for a newcomer to follow Byzantine or Maronite liturgy than the old Latin rite from my experience). The celebration of Novus ordo in Latin that incorporates all the beauty of old Latin rite may be much more accessible to us young'ens.

Meditation on the 10th Station of the Cross

2008-04-26T00:54:00.003-04:00

After reading Clarence Enzler's meditations:

"Jesus is stripped of his clothes."

I need to ask for help in being detached from desires of power, prestige and wealth. I ask myself "but why not?" These are not bad things, but they cannot be ends in themselves. Yet I find myself drawn to these things, even though such desires only cause strife. "I am working way too hard for this little post-doc salary!" "I want to be department chair!" These thoughts definitely don't help, yet i have hard time letting go of them - am I trying to look at my mentor as what I want to be? Rather than as a result of God leading the way? as an end to itself?

Oy.

Communion and Liberation Group

2008-04-26T00:47:00.002-04:00

I attended a C.L. meeting to check out the group:

About 13 of us were there. we read a passage from Luigi Guissani's book "How can we live this way?" and discussed it. The meeting was ~1 hr long. The discussion was pretty good. The C.L. movement was started in Italy, so many of the people there were from Italy. Many do medical research, interestingly enough.

Giancarlo Cessani, prof of public health, is giving a talk on the book next Saturday, but I will be in DC.

Would I go back? Sure why not?
Except I feel like I am joining way too many groups without being centered anywhere. I was just asked to be a liturgy person for the Lay Dominican pro-chapter of Greater Boston.

www.stdominics.opne.org

While I am very much led by Dominican way of thought, the CL group seems to fit me better at the moment.

Byzantine Liturgy and leavened bread - valid matter?

2008-04-26T00:30:00.003-04:00

I made myself go over to the Melkite Catholic church across the street from work for Thursday noon mass. Other than the priests and the deacons, there were three of us attending. Now, how often do you see key signatures of 2 sharps and 1 flat at the same time? These are "major" keys with flat 6th - giving it very Arabic sound. most music ends on the 2nd note of the scale, adding to that effect.

I was a bit surprised that they used leavened bread for communion, which tasted more like cake.

Upon the checking some web sources, I found:
In the Latin church, one must use unleavened bread. Leavened bread is still valid matter, but not licit. (transubstantiation still occurs, but one is not allowed to use leavened bread). Grape juice, if properly preserved, may be used in extenuating circumstances

Eastern churches have used leavened bread for a while, apparently.

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=59489
http://www.zenit.org/article-13233?l=english

Now, I have been to celebrations where dinner rolls were used - I left quietly, in protest. Perhaps that was not a correct response on my part? I think I will end up at the same position next year. What to do? I am not sure if going to mass somewhere else is as easy as an option.
Proposed solution 1: buy and bring some unleavened bread.
Proposed solution 2: inform the priest involved
Proposed solution 3: not attend this liturgy
??

Jean CJ d'Elbée "I believe in Love"

2008-04-20T21:23:00.002-04:00

At the recommendation of a friend, I started this book on the teachings of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Some of the things presented at the conference all led to the topic! There was a Catholic bookstore vendor who had this book with them at the conference. I imagine the book will become very popular.

Chapter 1: I am trying to reconcile with the idea that we give all our sins and pains to Jesus, and he gives us his body. It sounds like a bad deal, but then again that reflects God's love. And certainly, it is so easy to abuse our relationship with God! The book is also forcing me to think about St. Thérèse's contribution besides "the little way." I guess I haven't thought about the fiery intimacy with God as being her contribution.

Communion and Liberation

2008-04-20T21:12:00.003-04:00

www.clonline.org
www.godspy.com

At the conference, i met two men from C&L. I just heard of this organization through Godspy.com briefly, but they were pretty interesting. I think I may go check out the group. Angelo Matera, the Godspy.com editor-in-chief, is from this group. I can't quite figure out their charism, but if it is reflected in Godspy.com, then it's cool with me!

Boston Catholic Men's Conference

2008-04-20T20:45:00.002-04:00

www.catholicboston.com
www. tsaab.com
www.peterkreeft.com

I arrived at Boston College (the venue for the conference) at 7am, and helped collect tickets - I had a fairly boring job, other than the fact you get to see _everyone_ as they come in - sorts of makes me feel like I got to meet everyone!

I didn't get to hear much of Tarek Saab, but did get to hear all of Peter Kreeft. He spoke of things in his book "Ecumenical Jihad" but also that the "culture war" has been on since original sin, and won't end until the end times. He framed it in an interesting way: Culture of life is a culture that allows itself to be detached from this world, and focus on the next. Culture of death is that seeks happiness in this world alone, and want to create a utopia here. Culture of life actually embraces death ("unless a grain of wheat.."), while the culture of death embraces the continuation of this life. It's like a choice for an egg - will you stay in the shell forever, or embrace the death of the shell and hatch! Unfortunately, logic doesn't really work when we are dealing with the culture of death, because the issue is not that those who live in the culture of death don't understand the arguments, but their metaphysics is different. To fight this "dark magic," we need "white magic.", not arguments. That is, prayer and fasting.

The fight for souls occur most prominently in our education system, especially in the humanities, according to Kreeft. I found that statement inspiring, as a prospective professor, and it helps me affirm my call to this line of work. In my line of work, geriatric and aging research, we encounter two factions: "anti-aging, life extension" people, and people who work in hospice and palliative care. The Gerontological Society of America meetings have sessions on how to deal with this "stay in this world" "anti-aging" movements.

Kreeft also calls the modern professorship "the intellectual prostitution." Where we peddle knowledge for money. and Boston College as his "pimp." This was funny, but it points out that people don't learn to think in college - I realized that after 4 years of engineering, I knew nothing about how the world runs or how to write well. After 7 years of graduate school, I hope I know things a bit better.

Anyway, he put this much more eloquently.

Building consensus

2008-04-12T15:21:00.001-04:00

So during my recent short-lived confusion between NCRegister and NCReporter, I noticed an Reporter article on "Catholic Kama Sutra" So I tried to enlighten the discussion in light of the Theology of the Body by commenting on the article. In the process, I noticed some really-out-there articles [shudder]. Regardless, do you think this is a good strategy to foster dialogue between the two camps that tends to stay away from each other?

Interlibrary loan fees

2008-04-10T23:22:00.004-04:00

www.countway.harvard.edu/ill
So I was requesting some articles through the Countway Library for articles from journals that Harvard doesn't subscribe to. They charge $18 for each article!!! This is crazy! I requested 7 today, which cost $126 !!! Fortunately, I don't have to pay for this out of my own pocket, but poor students do! I miss my school days when lnterlibrary loans were free..

Developing a science career

2008-04-10T23:19:00.003-04:00

I had the opportunity to hear Peter Fiske speak today about career management for those of us PhD scientists. The talk was called "Diversify, Innovate, Create: Lab management from an Entrepreneurial Perspective." Peter Fiske has written career guide books for PhDs, both academic and non-academic areas, as well as career development columns for AAAS.

Couple things I learned: I have to take care of my self! noone else will care as much as me!

Some career development resources:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/
http://blog.phds.org/

80:10:10 rule:
80% of your work should be doing your best work, etc.
10% should be spent on career development outside of your immediate work area- go to talks, learn new skills,
10% should be spent on promoting yourself and your work, and networking - conferences, etc.

PhD's have many transferrable job skills that we don't think about.

SBIR grants are sometimes much easier to get than regular grants. If you want to start something "commercial," the US government is still the best choice

I see His blood upon the rose

2008-03-16T16:16:00.001-04:00

http://poetry.elcore.net/CatholicPoets/Plunkett/Plunkett29.html

I see His Blood Upon the Rose
Joseph Mary Plunkett

I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.

I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice—and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.

All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.

Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917.

choral settings available on GIA

Such as beautiful text!

My visits

2008-03-09T23:27:00.001-04:00

Austin, TX, USA

Create your own travel map or travel blog

Visit TripAdvisor.com

Catholic / pro-life work and public health

2008-03-09T21:57:00.003-04:00

I went to a job fair at the local School of Public Health, because I am taking a class there. There were some interesting companies, government organizations and NGO's present. I couldn't help but noticed that NARAL had a table recruiting people to promote "women's health." That got me thinking. Why don't pro-life organizations hire graduates from public health schools? Certainly, the people who get degrees in public health, epidemiology, etc. may be biased in their view of "abortion rights" but I am sure there are just as many who are pro-life. Yet they don't have an opportunity to use their education toward educating people about the dangers of abortion. Why don't pro-life organizations make their presence at such events?

Is there an opportunity to create such an opportunity? I am only studying research design in epidemiology for my research purposes at the school. Certainly wanting to defend the defenseless should be enough to start such a movement, but then I am not a public-health person. Is this my excuse for not getting going on this? Are there others who also want to get this going?

Edward Tufte Course

2008-03-05T22:23:00.002-05:00

So I went to the Tufte course today.
We learned about presenting information effectively, as well as becoming better consumers of presentations and reports.

Apparently human eyes can each transmit 10 MB/sec, yet when we make Powerpoint presentations, we don't make use of that capacity. Printed handouts, etc. are much more useful.

Some things I learned:
avoid having legends in your graphs - just add text annotations. Legends in software and such were created for computer manuals, not for human use.

Don't dumb down content in your presentation - if you have clutter or "information overload", it is probably a design problem, not content problem.

Find good presentations/reports and copy their techniques.

As with any good analytical thinking, graphics/figures should also show 1) comparisons, 2) causality 3) credibility of the content/creator 4) be 90% of content you want to present, not extraneous stuff like legends, various lines, etc.

As a consumer/creator of reports, ask yourself:
1) What is the story,
2) Is this credible? Is the author competent?
3) What is the domain of this work? Exactly where is this information relevant? Does it try to go beyond its delimitations or limits?
4) What do I want to see in this? What should I see in this? What do I need to see in this?

a 11x17" paper can present ~200 powerpoint slides-worth of information.

People are good at digesting lots of information quickly if presented correctly.

When showing a curve, the figure should be scaled so that slopes of the curves should have slopes around 45 degrees - it allows the most visual separation of slopes.

Putting your information in context of more information actually clarifies it

Gill Sans is a good font on tables for legibility.

Present your stuff in a high-resolution way - it is most efficient.

Should Sharia Law be accomodated by a government?

2008-02-10T22:28:00.000-05:00

Two interesting answers.

Yes - it is a separate system of law that does not really intersect with civil law. Canon law, Torah, etc. are examples.

No - Sharia law is incompatible with human dignity as upheld by Judeo-Christian foundations that gave rise to modern democracies.

Thoughts? I am not familiar enough about the topic to give an educated opinion, but both arguments are convincing to me.

Godspy.com is back up!

2008-02-10T22:22:00.001-05:00

Yay!

Life of Pi

2008-02-10T22:08:00.000-05:00

So I kept hearing about this book from everywhere, plus this being a friend's favorite book -

I imagined it being more of a religion discussion in the style of Dostoyevski, but it is definitely a story of an adventure! Life rafts on airplanes don't have the provisions on this book.

"book club questions" has some suggested discussion questions, such as what is the relationship of zoology and religious studies, in light of this book?

My answer would be that both studies studies the relationship of man in context of his/her sourroundings. Zoology in terms of natural creation andas brothers and sisters, as St. Francis puts it. Religious studies is a study of man's search for God, which makes it a study of man's relationship to his supernatural family.

The author Yann Martel says something interesting about atheists and agnostics. Atheists may have made a decision on things, but can be convinced otherwise. Agnostics will doubt anything and everything, and therefore cannot be convinced out of agnostic view.

While these are the central themes of the book, it is not clear the relationship of religion and zoology in the context of this book. Comments?

Two-step dancing in... Massachusetts?

2007-11-11T23:59:00.000-05:00

We went to a country bar/saloon/dance place in Worcester, MA, about 50 min west of Boston.
People were wearing cowboy hats! I was rather surprised.

We also did a lot of electric-slide like group dances, which were fun, but they are very complicated! And there are many many varieties of them too.

Connected Health conference 2007

2007-11-11T23:50:00.000-05:00

This was a huge industry show, but there was a bit of academic piece to it, through IEEE.

Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Verizon, ATT, Sprint are all trying to get into healthcare. These companies do mostly data flow and IT-related things.

There were also lots of people with ideas trying to figure out how to get their ideas funded. They had sessions on obtaining venture capital.

I also learned about the issue of rising health care costs in the US. There is no one party to blame: insurance profits, malpractice, new technology, etc. all contribute to the rising costs, and a single law will not fix the problem. People want the latest, and the greatest procedures, machines, medicines.

Looking for a career? Consider Geriatrics?

2007-10-31T18:48:00.000-04:00

I learned today that there will be critical shortage of physicians trained in geriatrics in the next 20 years. ADGAP = asso. of directors of geriatric academic programs= has a report: we will need ~36,000 geriatricians in 2030, but at the current rate, we will only have 9000. Unfortunately, many physicians are not being trained. There are 468 spots/year for physicans to get additional training. Only 253 are filled in 2006-2007, of which 184 are foreign students.

Currently, 48% of primary care physician's patient load consists of those of age 65+. That will only increase..

Makes me wonder if I should have been a clinician? hmm. no. I think I am still cut out for academia rather than clinical work. Plus it is a bit late for me.. As I have now turned 29..

Contributing to Wikipedia

2007-10-20T14:14:00.000-04:00

So I decided to contribute to Wikipedia. I have written up translations of Theology of the Body notes by Christopher West - almost 4 years ago, and they have been sitting on my computer. Finally they will be useful to someone. They are in Korean, but please feel free to contribute! I wonder if Wikipedia is the best venue to release the work, since I don't think it has a lot of Korean viewers. But I don't really know of other venues.

Clinical Depression and Statistical Physics

2007-10-16T23:40:00.000-04:00

http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9861412

According to this paper published on Physical Review Letters, the wrist acceleration patterns over several days in healthy people vs. depressed people are different.

Nakamura et al. "Universal Scaling Law in Human Behavioral Organization" PRL 99, 138103 (2007) link here

Without doing the fancy math in the paper, you can tell who have depressive and non-dpressive patterns, because the healthy people sleep consistently, while the depressed people do not. I guess this was an unexpected finding, regardless of the scaling law.

The cumulative distributio of wating times of the activity bursts (that's a mouthful) follows a gamma distribution , and depressed people show a smaller gamma.

They claim that the smaller gamma could be a useful diagnostic tool, but the sleep pattern is good enough of a tool for me!

Boston Choral Ensemble

2007-10-12T00:31:00.000-04:00

So I joined this choir that rehearses in the Back Bay area of Boston. I thought I could regularly take the T into the city, but I decided it is waaaaay too complicated and takes waaaay too long. So when I drive, I can get in and out in 20-30 minutes each way from Roslindale.

We rehearse at a Unitarian church, and as part of "rent," we have to sing a few services. Afterwards, we had a little party in Beacon Hill on top of one of the member's building. The View was amazing!

Some pix:

Little Q hot pot

2007-10-12T00:23:00.000-04:00

after Theology on Tap, I decided to eat somewhere else because I knew that the kitchen at the bar we were at was backed up in orders.

I found this Taiwainese(?) place, that serves hot pots - big thing of broth of your choice, plus vegetables and meats to order. You dump it into the pot, which is heated by induction, and you pick out stuff and eat it.

I ordered the black chicken broth, which came with lots of chinese herbs, some of them I weren't sure what they were. Since I had a cold, this huge chicken soup was ideal! I ordered for one, but it could have fed a lot of people. I also ordered lotus roots and seaweed which I haven't had in a long while - something i only get to eat at my parent's place.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley at Theology on Tap

2007-10-12T00:12:00.000-04:00

This event was in Quincy, a neighborhood of Boston about 30 minutes away from Roslindale, where I currently reside. The venue was "Bad Abbot's" one of the numerous "Irish" pubs.

The venue was packed, as expected. When Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin spoke at ToT, same thing happened. Of courses, i had forgotten this fact, and decided to arrive right on time, resulting in me having to stand the whole time.

The talk addressed the fact that we as christians need mentors and need to be mentors to others. Be an example of courage, service, giving, etc. And that we should not settle for warm fuzzies that many modern religious movements seem to promote. Jesus did not die on the cross for the warm fuzzies, as he said.

He has a blog, http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/

This is me being a paparazzo, as he is getting into is ride:

The video of the event is posted on Google, so you can watch it anytime:

Sean Cardinal O'Malley at TOT

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-2718382783437944078&hl=en

Cell-phone - Computer Woes follow up

2007-10-12T00:09:00.001-04:00

Well, somehow I managed to get the software I bought for the phone to update itself without crashing repeatedly.

Also using advice on a web site http://mark.cdmaforums.com/MaxxVe.htm
I learned that Verizon disabled the mass storage function on the phone. Fortunately, I can access the phone through computer in a slightly devious way, so I put on the ending from "little tree" by Eric Whitacre as my ringtone yet again, after ~11 months of not being able to.

I also got pictures off my phone, so I will actually post them here.

Cell phone - computer connection woes

2007-09-29T21:34:00.000-04:00

I got a new Motorola Ve Maxx Razr phone, which is the 1.5 generation of the Razr series. They are selling the V9 phones, which are too expensive!

I bought a memory card for it, but then I can't figure out how to make the phone talk to the computer. Alas. I bought the software, but it doesn't seem to support my phone. The computer won't recognize the phone+memory card as a USB mass storage device, as it used to in Windows XP along with my motorola V360. I can back up the phone book at least.

Suggestions?

Doctoral Defense Saga

2007-09-29T21:12:00.000-04:00

I am happy to announce that my PhD defense went well -

I decided to wear a suit, but after walking outside for about 3 minutes, I realized why people just don't wear suits in September in Texas.

Questions were difficult, but I managed to answer them pretty well.

Too bad that I ordered a lot of food, but no one from UGAP came to the defense.. Oh well.
We ended up eating lunch afterwards in the hallway sitting area in ACES. I left out the food for anyone to take, but there are two group of people who picked up food:
1) those who hesitate before taking something
2) others who show no hesitation whatsoever

We went to eat dinner at Korea House on Anderson Ln. Food was good, but they didn't bring any nice, which was rather odd. I was surprised that people were full with not that much food.

Colin got a Wii, so we stayed up too late playing it with Joseph and Sherwin.

Thanks everyone for your support and prayers!

CIMIT orientation

2007-09-18T22:30:00.000-04:00

www.harvard.edu/cimit

Today at work, I went to a CIMIT new investigators meeting. CIMIT is funded by DoD, and funds technology development. We are looking at discovering technologies that can be used for continuous monitoring of patients.

The meeting itself was rather boring: they just listed all the people who newly received this grant. What surprised me was that there were so many smart people in Boston. Certainly, Boston has a lot of universities, but it seems to be so rich in academic collaborations, opportunities, etc.

The challenge for me is to find my own way and create my own niche. Coming here opens many doors as I had hoped, but there is just so much to sort through as to decide what I want to do with my education and career.

Doctoral Defense blues

2007-09-15T23:27:00.000-04:00

It is very much looming over my head, as it seems to be the most important event in my life. Is it? Is it really the most important event in my life? It sure seems to be trumping everything else - it feels like I have put so many things on hold to get ready for it.

Failure is certainly not an option, but it is also not likely.
From what I can tell, the final oral examination has 3 typical outcomes, although the scale is really continuous:

Grade A: pass with minor revisions
Grade B: pass pending major revisions, including extra analyses, etc.
Grade C: don't pass, after doing more work, need to re-defend.

My mom's friend's daugher got a C on her defense. She proposed to do A, B, and C, but the adviser said "You don't need to do A and B. just do C". The committee disagreed, so alas, she needs to catch up on parts A and B.

If I get a C, then this will cause major hassle, especially with my post-doc job! If I get B, I wonder if the professors will sign the paperwork I have to submit to NIH to officially become a post-doc. Unfortunately I can't devote the resources into doing new analyses, etc., unless I do this during work hours, which is not feasible. oy.

Right now I am trying to write 3 papers all at once, and i don't feel like I can keep all of them straight in my head.

Well, I have a week. As my mom said for my 2nd attempt at Comprehensive Exams, if you don't pass, it must mean it wasn't meant to be, so don't worry about it. Well, at this point, I'd rather than do that.

I hope I experience that joy after it is all over. It seems so distant and unreal, partly because my degree won't be conferred until December.

I guess I am sure I will do well, but getting there is still very painful!!! There is still so much to do.. At the same time, I can't complain, since I don't have family/kids/etc. obligations.

In Memoriam: Kil Won Kang

2007-09-15T23:08:00.000-04:00

Dr. Kil-Won Kang, my grandfather's brother, passed away after battling gallbladder/bile duct cancer for ~6 months. For some reason, both of my grandparents also died from the exact same disease.

Dr. Kang was the first one in my family to attend college, as well as get a doctorate at U of Illinois (go Illini!) way back when. He has been a surrogate grandfather to me and my father especially after my grandfather died. He won't be making it to my graduation now, I guess, at least not in his earthly body.

He is survived by his wife, 3 sons and 4? grandchildren (my 2nd cousins).

Only in the last ~5-10 years, has he developed a relationship with God (of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), but I guess such things never come too late in life. As he was in the hospital, my aunt (dad's youngest sister, who was just received into the church in ~04 after 20 years of trying) and dad prayed the Angelus regularly with their uncle on his deathbed.

This leaves my dad as the eldest male in the family, which probably is rather stressful for him. Not because of reponsibilities, but maybe because he will be the next to die, most likely. oy. not a happy thought.

I was hoping to visit to see Dr. Kang before he died, maybe in August, especially since I didn't really have to start the postdoc until 9/1. But then, there are things like dissertations that get in the way.

Requiem aeternam, dona eis Domine. et lux perpetua luceat eis.
I don't know how to conjugate dona* to a singular form. oh well.
and God shall wipe away all our tears. For the former things are passed away.

Well, at least my dad will come back home after having been in Korea for over a month now. So he will actually be home next time I go home!

Dialoging with Jehovah's witnesses

2007-09-15T22:53:00.002-04:00

So every Saturday, these two JW missionaries come by. In spirit of charity, I talk to them, although I wish it could be more intellectually stimulating. The two missionaries are usually African Amerian, or Francophone African-Caribbean-Americans, the more populous of the two black group of the two in Boston.

Anyway, they give me an opportunity to study scripture, albeit in a slightly warped way. We discussed (or butted heads on) our diverging views on eschatology. Recently, they keep hammering at "Why is there suffering in the world?" Due to this quick scripture study I had, I can now tell you that (1) it is ok to ask God why , as stated in Habakkuk, and (2) God has his own ways as stated in Isaiah 55:8-9. They have influenced me! oh no! ;) I wish we could talk about more deeper issues, but they are not very responsive.

I try to point out that sola scriptura approach, especially if the bible was translated to fit a particular theology, is dangerous. But I end up sounding like I don't regard the study of the scriptures as crucial in our faith formation, and too my horror, realizing I am guilty of that very issue of not studying the scriptures as well as I could. I do have a tendency to simply own volumes of apologetic material by people like Steven Kellmeyer, and looking up stuff only when necessary.

So I see this opportunity to dialog, to learn about the scriptures albeit in an odd way, and also flex some intellectual/scriptural/theology muscle I have acquired over the years. I am good at learning all these things, but I don't know what good this does to the church. I haven't really been given chance to teach the faith or witness verbally, so perhaps this is a chance. It means that I have to prepare my own discourse as well. Certainly, this is a chance to share the fullness of truth with these missionaries. The Francophone African-Caribbean guy is a non-practicing Catholic, so the mission is even more important in that sense!

Any tips, comments on talking with JW folks? My dad once managed to scare them away by teaching them things about the faith, which is one likely outcome for me as well.

Young adult group at BC, church choir, surprise visit

2007-09-15T22:53:00.001-04:00

9/12/Wed. I made the cut for BCE, so I decided to join this group, because it is small (~30), and it does more unique repertoire. I decided to go check out the young adult group at St. Ignatius on Boston College campus. Again, I had to drive through Chestnut hill, (ewww!). By a miracle, I found the meeting location. I forgot to check the exact building that the meeting was in, so when I arrived, I managed to go into the church, find a bulletin, call the receptionist, who was actually there until 8pm, who told me to go to the rectory. Praise God! For a moment I thought this wasn't meant to be, but apparently it was!

The YAG meeting had ~10 people, from various parts of the city. We studied the previous Sunday's reading, (similar to UGAP). Sunday reading study is the normal activity for this group. Since BC is Jesuit, we talked about Jesuit spirituality a bit.

9/13/Thr. We sent off 3 abstracts to GSA conference in November in San Francisco
This is an aging conference, so I am curious to see what stuff is there. I hope the abstracts get accepted! Getting them out in time was quite stressful, but I left work early to get my car/license registered in Massachusettes.

The registry of motor vehicles is located in Chinatown area. It is open late on Thursdays, and I tried sooo hard to make sure I got there before 5pm to beat the evening influx, but alas, no. Surprisingly, the process was rather painless, as their system to handle different needs were pretty efficient. I met another soul from Texas (Dallas area), who is an opthamologist at one of the hospitals in town (don't remember which).

Then I went to Holy Name of Jesus Parish in my neighborhood. It takes me ~3 minutes to get there by car, but I had to park far away, so it defeated the purpose of driving. The church is cruciform, and it is gorgeous inside. This is also the seemlingly the only parish that has a music director and a separate organist. The director is ~55 yo baritone, who sings really well, and negotiates the tenor parts rather well. There are 2 other men in the choir who sing bass, so I sang tenor as well. I thought I recovered from the cold, but apparently I didn't, as repeated E4's were too much to sing at the time. The director and I chatted about the music at the Cathedral, and apparently he sings there for archdiocesan events.

9/14/F. I decided to relax, then get a call from a family friend from Chicago. Her daugher goes to Harvard, so she came to drop her off, and wanted to get together with me. After all, I haven't seen them in many years. She got a hotel room in Dedham, MA for some reason, not realizing how far it is from Harvard (~20 miles via highway). After receiving the call ~5:45pm, we don't meet until ~7:30 pm in Dedham, and then drove back to Harvard (which is actually in Cambridge, MA, not in Boston, as I found out). We had dinner at a Korean restaurant, which wasn't all that good. I was rather surprised, but there aren't really too many choices. In Roslindale area, other than the Sushi place, there is no Korean food within 10 miles, as far as I know. Then we drove back to Dedham, and I drove home. Whew!

9.15. Sat. So I decided to relax at home, and recover. I was feeling really un-well during work on Friday, .. So here I am. The Jehovah's witnesses who come by every Saturday morning came by again. I specifially told them that I won't be around next week.

That's all for now!

Furniture shopping, Auditions, trying to have a "life"

2007-09-15T22:00:00.000-04:00

So, last weekend, I managed to do some shopping. The area had lots of garage/yard/rummage sales, so I stocked up. I don't have much cash, so I didn't get to splurge too much.

I got this Ethan Allen chair for $50 at Boomerangs, which is a thrift store in Jamaica Plain (adjoining neighborhood, in the direction of Boston city center). (all pictures approximate)
And a $20 sphere chair from a garage sale

Then I went to a farmer's market in my neighborhood. Farmer's market produce is really expensive, but they are much better tasting! They had an heirloom variety of tomatoes that look like cherries, but very different from cherry tomatoes. They taste more like cherries than cherry tomatoes. Yum.

Past week has been a whirlwind of activity as I have been attempting to have a "life."
9/8/Sat - decided that after all that shopping, I should rest, but then decided that I shouldn't spend Sat. night alone, so I went to a house/coffeehouse music event called JP unplugged
Got to hear some singer-songwriters. The opening act was good, but I didn't care much for the main act.

9/9/Sun - decided to sing at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Driving there only took ~22 minutes, to my surprise. We celebrated the titular solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, rather than the regular 23rd OT. We sang at the front, behind the ambo. It was very difficult to hear anything. As typical of many churches around the Northeast, there are lots of big beautiful churches with a very few people, and not a lot of singing. The 9/2 Sunday mass I attended at St. John Chrystostom was unique in that people actively sang!

I realized that morning I had a cold of some sort, which made me tired on Saturday.
In the afternoon, I dragged myself to drive to Needham, MA (20 min away) for an Alexander Technique lesson with a teacher who teaches voice at Wellesley. We worked on some voice things, which was very informative.

That evening, I went to audition for Boston Cecilia, one of the oldest choirs in the US, apparently. I got in, but wanted to shop around some more. The rehearsals are in Brookline, which forces me to drive through Chestnut Hill, which is really, really confusing.

9/10/monday. I discover that the vending machines at work are emptied at 3pm on MWF, giving me free food!!! All the food at Hebrew Rehab. Ctr (HRC) are Kosher, but there are pancakes, sandwiches, soups, etc. available at the vending machine.

Monday night was an open rehearsal for Boston Choral Ensemble, a very young, new group, that meets in downtown Boston. Driving into downtown was SCARY.. at first, since I didin't really know where I was going. Fortunately I found parking not too far away.

the upcoming concert is madrigals of different sorts. Including Les Chanson des Oiseaux, which we sang at Texas Early Music Project last year. Good readers, definitely a young, hip, etc. type group.

9/11/Tuesday. Somehow I ended up with a 9:30-10pm audition slot for BCE, but driving up there wasn't so bad. found parking at the exact same place as Monday night.

Greetings from Boston!

2007-09-06T22:19:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have been away from UGAP presence for a while, but I had to finish writing my dissertation up though Labor Day. But it is now out of my hands, Thank God, and I pray that my committee likes it! I will be back in Austin to defend in 2 weeks!!

And then, I went to California for 5 days, etc., so I actually haven't really been around Boston enough to say much about the city. Boston is definitely cooler in temperature, and in the morning or evenings, it is a light jacket weather.

Work environment is good so far, and I live really close, so I can ride my bicycle (which I got for free-more on this later). I live next to the commuter rail station Roslindale Village.

I live just outside of the subway ("T") range, which is a bit annoying. So I drive to many places, which is something unusual for someone who lives in Boston. Parking is difficult, but if I drive away from the city center, then it is fine.

As I haven't been out much, I haven't connected with a young adult community here, so that will have to wait until next week. Likewise, I have been floating between neighborhood churches, of which there are several within 5 minutes of driving. I think I may join the young adult group at St. Ignatius, a parish sort of inside Boston College. http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/prs/stign/index.html
I was really hoping to join a group not affiliated with a university, but my schedule doesn't seem to allow much else. Boston College (BC) is Jesuit, so the group could be interesting or irritating.

Today, I decided to go to the Cathedral to join their choir. Of 10 people in the choir, 4 of them are hired section leaders. The distinction between the volunteers and professionals are a bit abrupt - after 1 hour of rehearsal, the "professionals" continued to work on some nicer/harder/ repertoire that I don't get to sing. Other repertoire is nice, though. Most importantly, it takes 45 minutes each way to go back and forth from my apartment! That is just way too much! So I don't think I want to go back. I should have gone to another young adult group meeting instead, on retrospect. The South End neighborhood (where the cathedral is) is nice, though, but probably very expensive. Anyway, I am rather moody because I am tired, and that may be coloring my perception too.

I am thinking that I am going to Holy Name parish instead (3 minutes away). They sing contemporary stuff, but it is still good. I guess I will have to get musical fix somewhere else. It may be that I am too fixated on what I want out of church choir rather than how I should give to the Body of Christ.

Not having had time to do much else also meant that I don't have furniture. I don't have a couch, which is just really really annoying. I also don't have decent chairs. Fortunately, there is a rummage sale at a neighborhood church on Saturday, so I will definitely make use of it! But if I want nice stuff, I should go to rummage sales in rich neighborhoods.. oh well.

I got my first real paycheck - except they took out almost 25% in taxes from the paycheck. Ouch. We pay state income tax in MA.

Post-doc life is very different. I work in a large clinical research center, so there are groups of people who do different things: some people only do data collection; others only do stats; others only do analyses. Different from being a graduate student, where I had to all of the above.
I am also not doing much biomechanics or engineering, but learning to do epidemiology, which is a very big shift in thinking and learning. I don't really interact with other scientists/professors, etc., so it is not as congenial as I'd like it to be. Then again, I've only been there 2 months.

If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment!

"Masculine" Genius

2007-04-27T01:28:00.000-04:00

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=106436
click here

Zenit has an interview of Anthony Esolen, who is a frequent contributor to Crisis magazine

The title parallels the term "feminine genius" used by the late John Paul II's 1988 apostolic letter on the Dignity and Vocation of Women, Mulieris Dignitatem, A good commentary on this document can be found here.

Briefly, feminine genius (genius here means unique qualities) refers to things such as women's ability to bear children, their relational nature, their nurturing nature, the reflection of humanity in general in front of God, their model of openness to God, emotions. Modern feminism has corrupted this by telling women that their dignity is based on power, money and control - the things that are reflective of men's (males) fallen nature.

So what are unique qualities of men that are natural to them? According to Esolen, these could include their affinity for organization, leadership, complex structures, etc.

On reading that, I thought "That's so me! This really speaks to who I am!" Then I realized that having these affinities no longer make me that special. Alas. But it certainly explains my affinity for complex structures such as the economy, airline industry, logistics, operations research, optimizing TV/Video settings, teaching, data reduction, etc.

And it also helps me realize that women in general are not so attuned to these things (I am sure there are women who are very good at these things) in the way men are. Therefore it is unreasonable to expect women around me to like these things like the way I do.

However, I need to become aware of their feminine genius and help them bring it out in them - although women probably can help each other much better than I ever can.

The Economist on "Evolution and Religion" -In the Beginning

2007-04-26T00:06:00.000-04:00

Article available here:

http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9036706

I am rather surprised how well they covered this issue.

They bring three Catholic thinkers into the picture:
1. Father George Coyne, past head of the Vatican Observatory
2. His holiness Pope Benedict XVI (I recently learned that I simply can't read Roman numerals)
3. Fr. Joseph Fessio, Provost of Ave Maria University

What distinguishes these three?
Fr. Coyne has worked to preserve a Chinese Wall between physics and metaphysics, which allows him to side with agnostics in issues of science and the scientific method. He is among secular scientists who agree that agreeing on physics doesn't mean you have to agree to metaphysics or religion.

Fr. Fessio is of the opinion that while the Chinese wall is fine, but Darwinists (here I define them as those who hold Darwinism as a religion, even though they won't admit to it) and secularists are trying to tear it down. These are those who believe that scientific observations leave no room for religion or God (including those who say that religion itself is a phenomenon of man's evolutionary needs).

Benedict, brilliant as he is, can be more picky in what he means: scientific descriptions are valid as far as they go, but they are incomplete at the end. And the theory of evolution cannot be proven conclusively. He is anti-Darwinism, for sure, but he also does not support "God of the gaps" idea: gaps in the evolutionary science can only be filled by the supernatural.

All three men's critical insight is rather well portrayed in this article, and it does not do these men disservice.

Of course, there is nothing in natural sciences that derive from empirical data that can be "proved." Only mathematical theorems can be proved, because we have defined the language of mathematics. Observations can only support a certain idea, not "prove" it.

The current North American formulation of "intelligent design" suffers from some critical flaws:
1. most of it is a knee-jerk reaction to secularism, and hiding in the Biblical metaphysics for cover, when the issue of un-reason must be dealt in the realm of reason. This probably comes from the inadequate education we received in how to think.
2. By shunning science, it shuns reason, one of the critical element of the human intellect created by God. It downgrades the role of reason in scientific discourse, and does disservice to those of us who do science.
3. Secularism should be fought on metaphysical grounds, not on the turf of natural science.

Meanwhile, if anyone can read French and or German, please translate these for us Americans who can't:

"Atlas of Creation" by Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar) - making waves in French, Arabic, Urdu and Bahasa-speaking places in the world. It is a criticism of Darwinism

Benedict et al published on Wednesday April 11th in Germany "Schöpfung
und Evolution" (Creation and Evolution).  More on this book here

This is the book referred to in the article, along with "Jesus von Nazareth." which was also recently published.

Munich airport chapel

2007-01-17T00:33:00.000-05:00

If you are ever traveling and find yourself needing to attend mass at the Munich International Aiport, here is some information.

The chapel is located in terminal 1, 2nd floor. It is called Christophorus Kapelle.

In August 2006, the mass times were 6pm Saturday (vigil), 9:30am and 10:30 am, as far as I can tell.

The chapel is ultra-modern looking, like many of the newly built churches in the area. But it has a real (albeit small) pipe organ and an organist. Trying to follow along was rather difficult, especially because they skipped the Credo.

[I can't figure out how to make the pictures show up correctly..

Brian Sykes

2007-01-01T23:16:00.000-05:00

A genetist from Oxford has many books out on human evolution, and unfortunately tries to tread in sociology without much success. I recently read "Adam's Curse" and "Seven Daughters of Eve", stories of tracking down our maternal and paternal ancestry using mitochondrial DNA and the Y-chromosome. Couple questions arise in my mind:
1. Humans have 46 chromosomes - did we already lose a pair (compared to our ape brethren who have 48), because we exhausted and destroyed the function of one sex chromosome already?
2. Sykes' hypothesis based on genetics on homosexuality is that at least homosexual males are more helpful with raising his sisters... I don't see how...
3. If a man has an older brother, this person is more likely to have homosexual orientation. The biochemical argument sounds plausible, but can we really separate the effects of the environment?
4. If these theories are true, how do we see them in the light of the Theology of the Body? Did Adam not have to deal with the decaying Y-chromosome before the fall? Where the Y-chromosome and the mitochondrial DNA at peace?

Contemplating...

Walt Whitman - Prayer of Columbus

2007-01-01T22:53:00.000-05:00

So I bought a Thomas Hampson album of the poetry of Walt Whitman. Being an international opera star, his voice is quite range-y, and there was one song set by Robert Strassburg called "Prayer of Columbus" which is enscribed in marble in a DC metro station according to Wikipedia
It has A4 in it, which is quite high, but then again, I would not expect any less from Mr. Hampson. One day I'd like to be able to sing it, because musically it is very strong. But then today, I read the text more carefully. Wow, it is some powerful text, all the more I want to learn to sing it. (maybe in a lower key..). The text is of lifelong struggles, but the "urge, the ardor, the unconquerable will" all come from "Thee, O God." Obviously Christopher Columbus was no ordinary man, but this text is so very inspiring for me, who read it while sitting on the couch and relaxing. I guess that Walt Whitman understood the boiling energy, the inspiration, the heart following the lead of the Holy Spirit, but not just in Columbus, but in all persons. Ah, my words fail to describe the energy these words stir up in my heart.

I would like to get this song sung at my funeral, although I don't know if I can really live up to the text - it is a song of living that "urge, the ardor, the unconquerable will" that come from "Thee, O God" but I don't know if I have done so ..

Wow.

Mad Mel Gibson - Signs and Contradictions

2007-01-01T22:46:00.000-05:00

My response to the article:

http://www.godspy.com/culture/Mel-Gibson-Signs-and-Contradictions-by-Debra-Murphy.cfm

Debra Murphy is very astute: she notes the "under-the-radar" critique of current culture of death in the movie Apocalypto, which is something I did not pick up until she mentioned it. Even if the movie showed the sacrifice of children, I don't think I would have noticed. The word of God seem to have the effect of overtaking cultures that have human sacrifice - in Canaan, when the Israelites arrived - and in central America, as the movie shows; hopefully, it will do so in modern societies. As for Mel Gibson's inner demons, Mel is the one who must deal with them - with our prayers. But most of all, let us pray that he does not drink and drive. The world/Hollywood's reaction to Mel may arise from the fact that they (Hollywood) does not like someone who fights their inner demons - they probably don't like virtue, because truth hurts.

Physical Anthropology Books to read..

2006-12-13T19:51:00.000-05:00

Couple books that sound interesting, especially for my father who is an Anglophile, and sort of interested in physical anthropology :

The Origins of the British: A Genetic Detective Story (Hardcover)
by Stephen Oppenheimer

Adam's Curse: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Destiny by Bryan Sykes
The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey by Spencer Wells
Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins by Steve Olson

Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland by Bryan Sykes

Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project (Hardcover)
by Spencer Wells

1 piece of shopping done..

What is heaven?

2006-10-31T00:44:00.000-05:00

One day, when some of us were cooking, we discussed why we want to go to heaven. One person asked: "wouldn't eternal liturgy get a big boring after a while?" It had been a while since I read Peter Kreeft Heaven: The heart's deepest longing
http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Longing-Peter-J-Kreeft/dp/0898702283

so I was at a loss of words. And I don't know who has my copy right now...

Anyway, on Godspy is an ad for another book of interest:

Lorenzo Albacete: God at the Ritz
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0824519515/godspy-20

May be a good read.

It would be wonderful to have these at the library of my local parish..

On Women priests (III)

2006-10-31T00:31:00.000-05:00

One may ask:
"If men become "bride of Christ" as members of the church, why can't women become the bridegroom as a priest?

1. Certainly all baptized men and women participate in the church, who together constitute what is feminine, as a Bride. Also, all baptized men and women as member of the church participate in Christ's priesthood in living a life of sacrifice with him.

2. individual person becoming a sacrament of Christ is a different issue: to have efficacious sacraments, the physical reality must reflect correctly the spiritual reality. If a priest baptizes someone with the words of baptism while pouring motor oil over his or her head, there is nobaptism. The cleansing symbolism [as well as death and life] of water is not there. Likewise, nothing would happen if a bishop laid hands on a woman and said the words of ordination, because woman is not an accurate symbol of the bridegroom.

This discussion clearly reminds me that I don't remember my sacramental theology well at all...

On Women priests (II)

2006-10-31T00:21:00.000-05:00

to continue paraphrasing CW:

A culture that eliminates this difference kills itself - a "unisex" world - leads to a culture of death - [how, you say?] The very sexual difference..." is the beginning of a path in which we discover the ultimate and fundamental difference for human beings: the difference between God and [humans]". blurring this difference blurs the great nuptual mystery: the call to life-giving communion for men and women, and between God and us.

[Men cannot complain that we can't bear children either..]

Preists "efficaciously" symbolize Christ's giving up his body for his Bride so that she can bring fort live in the holy spirit - only men and do this - it does not make sense for women to symbolize giving up her body for his bride. Otherwise, the symbolism becomes bride to bride - theire is no nuptual union, and no possibility of new life . Sexual communion in marriage is intimately linked to the Eucharist.

[Yet this would bring up the question - don't consecrated religious give their life to the service of the church?] ... on the next post...

Dialogue with Islam

2006-10-31T00:07:00.000-05:00

Stratford Caldecott has an interesting article that sheds the light on this issue of God as Logos vs. Will. The Sufi tradition (the mystical tradition) very much recognizes the "orderliness" of God based on the attributes of God. The aesthetics of who God is lends themselves to God having order, in the Sufi view. Unfortunately, most of this tradition is not standard Islamic canon, apparently. In this, Christianity and Islam are not that far apart.

"The cause of fanaticism, whether in Christianity or Islam, does indeed lie in the separation of Will from Intellect…" - Christians also have a bloody history..

So what of the recent violence? Stratford says that modernist and especially Wahhabi Islam (thought to be the first from of modern extremists) has suppressed much of the Sufi traditions.

Again the call to the Muslims: " We must encourage and assist moderate Muslims to raise their voices and speak on behalf of Islamic traditions that may be more ‘rational’ than we [as Christians] suppose."

Creating blue soup

2006-10-09T17:41:00.000-04:00

Recipe for some blue food.

Make it with some red cabbage, that contains anthocyanin. when cooked, the mauve color will turn blue. It will stain most proteins, such as white fish. In fact, I made some cabbage-pollock soup, which made the fish bright blue. However, they are heat sensitive, so the color will fade pretty fast if they are left in heat.

I have not yet tried other food applications. Stories?

Regensburg Address and the concept of God - Logos and/or Will

2006-10-09T16:34:00.000-04:00

Just a quick quote from Zenit: (stolen from http://www.catholic-pages.com/forum/topic.asp?topic_id=9457)

Q: At Regensburg, Benedict XVI highlighted the Christian understanding of God as Logos. How does the idea of God as Logos differ from an Islamic conception of God?

Father Schall: The Holy Father posed the fundamental question that lies behind all the discussion about war and terror. If God is Logos, it means that a norm of reason follows from what God is. Things are, because they have natures and are intended to be the way they are because God is what he is: He has his own inner order.

If God is not Logos but "Will," as most Muslim thinkers hold Allah to be, it means that, for them, Logos places a "limit" on Allah. He cannot do everything because he cannot do both evil and good. He cannot do contradictories.

Thus, if we want to "worship" Allah, it means we must be able to make what is evil good or what is good evil. That is, we can do whatever is said to be the "will" of Allah, even if it means doing violence as if it were "reasonable."

Otherwise, we would "limit" the "power" of Allah. This is what the Pope meant about making violence "reasonable." This different conception of the Godhead constitutes the essential difference between Christianity and Islam, both in their concept of worship and of science.

He also talked about the "dialogue" between different cultures (as would be between the west and Islam) - and he had this essential insight:

Q: The Western media have often taken Benedict XVI's words out of context and stoked the flames of Islamic aggression. How does the cultural dominance and hostility to the Church by the mass media affect its ability to participate in the dialogue of cultures?

Father Schall: There can be no "dialogue" about anything until the basic principles of reason are granted both in theory and practice. Chesterton remarked on the fact that those who begin to attack the Church for this or that reason, mostly end up attacking it for any reason.

What is behind the attack on reason or the refusal to admit that God is Logos is already a suspicion that the Church is right about intellect and its conditions. We have no guarantee that reason will freely be accepted.

Von Balthasar said that we are warned that we are sent among wolves. We are naive to think that Christ was wrong when he warned us that the world would hate us for upholding Logos and the order of things it implies.

But Benedict is right. He has put the citizens of world on notice that they are also accountable for how they use or do not use their reason. No one else could have done this. The fact is, the world has wildly underestimated Benedict XVI precisely because it would not see the ability he displays in getting to the heart of intellectual things.

See the whole thing (and many more goodies) at:
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=95902

So what is logos? Wikipedia (click for the definition) defines it as having an order, being rational, etc. Benedict XVI's definition is also cited. For christians: "Christianity has understood itself as the religion of the Logos, as the religion according to reason";"s also open to all that is truly rational." ^{[1]"

Truly an interesting discussion.

Fr. Schall has more comments here}Some highlights:

That "God can contradict himself in his decrees so that certain political or moral actions are thereby justified as obedience to God" is rather prevalent outcome of the notion "God as "will""
[Schall]. [Rather confusing sentence]

Hmm. Certainly pertains to the definition God as "will" And yet, Judeo-Christian concept of God can do somewhat the same, no? Christianity is also a religion of contradiction in some sense: death unto life; the incarnation and death of Jesus; obedience unto freedom;

Or are these "contradictions" not contradictions at all? Death has become the vehicle for life; God who is powerful enough to put aside his divinity to become human; True freedom refers to the power and the courage to do good and to love, and it only comes about from total integration of the self, which comes from obedience to our true natures as God as created.

What also seems to follow: God as will can bend the definition of good and evil at will, and make evil to be reasonable. What is good or evil is at the whim of God? [Doesn't sound all that bad - God is omnipotent, right?] This also means that the revelation of God is not necessarily stable, demonstrated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where the current prophet can change the deposit of faith as stated by the previous prophet.

One consequence of this line of thought as Schall quotes it: If certain moral and political actions can be attributed to the obedience to the will of God, the recent Muslim terrorist activities, that justify violence as obedience to God, make sense.

Another consequence of this line of thought: modern relativism and skepticsm. The modern mind does not accept that one can know AND believe; Especially in Europe, people don't think faith and reason belong in the same sphere, despite the fact that it was where the relationship between the two were hammered out during the last 2000 years.

For us academics, the scientific method is based on the metaphysics of a world of order: that things behave in orderly, predictable ways. Otherwise, the scientific method would not work. We can't do experiments and expect repeatable results; We can't test hypotheses; we can't expect anything to work in a predictable manner. [Granted, at the cutting edge of scientific discovery, things certainly look that way.

Full text of the address here:

BBC says that there is an update, but I can't find the final edition online... any help would be nice...

For a more informed discussion on women priests

2006-09-26T01:33:00.000-04:00

From "Good News about Sex and Marriage", Ascention Press

Christopher West says [paraphrased by moi]:

For many women, that the Church reserves sacramental priesthood only to men stirs much emotion fueled by "historical consciousness" of past oppression of women. Only recently, did the Church acknowledged and asked for forgiveness in JPII's letter to women, "objective blame, especially in particular historical context, has belonged to not just a few members of the church. May this regret be transformed on the part of the whole church, into a renewed commitment of fidelity to the Gospel vision" [for more complete discussion on the Gospel vision, one needs to study Theology of the Body in more in depth.]

This gospel vision is the great "nuptual mystery" of Christ's union with the Church, which is symbolized by our creation as male and female. To be faithful to this vision, we must uphold the dignity of woman always, and resist the social structures that have been made to favor men. It also calls us to resist the other extreme - considering men and women to be interchangeable.

Equality between the sexes does NOT mean sameness. The very difference, between men and women, is what reveals the awesome nuptual mystery. This fundamental difference literally brings life to the world [both by childbearing, and and the Incarnation of Christ].

More on this on the next post..

The Eucharist and the Bridegroom

2006-09-26T01:24:00.000-04:00

Since some of us are still discussing the issue of sacramental priesthood and women...

The Eucharist is the Sacrament of our Redemption. It is the Sacramentof the Bridegroom and the Bride... Christ is united with this 'body' as the bridegroom with the bride... Since Christ, in instituting the Eucharist, linked it in a such an explicit way to the priestly service of the Apostles, it is legitimate to conclude that he thereby wished to express the relationship between man and woman

From On the Dignity of Women, #26
More discussion on this here

Lord, help us understand our sexual differences.

Need for better academic settings

2006-09-25T19:06:00.000-04:00

In reading some of blogs on the our Holy Father's regensburg lecture, particularly the need for Catholic academics to step up, and educate the world, got me thinking: How can we, as catholics in academia do this?

First line of thought was that how nice it would be for me, who may get a job in the kinesiology department, to create a course to go along with "Human Sexuality." Except, this course would be cross-listed in religious studies and philosophy and anthropology, and be entitled something like "Human Sexuality and Phenomenology: Biblical anthropology." It would be a class on the theology of the body. Obvious question: what department head would allow that? One of my old ChE professors (Ed Seebauer) in undergrad taught an engineering ethics course he developed with Fr. Bob Barry, OP. Hey, if he did it, why can't I? It helps to have tenure..

Or if I had my own university (or made the president of a university) (or had $1B to start a college), I could develop a theology department. Would that be a way to do step up?

Then I got thinking. As academics, we certainly have duty to teach this stuff (even though I only took I philosophy class, so I don't know if I am qualified). But, we can preach this just as much by simply living the Theology of the Body. I am not quite sure how one does that as an academic, other than ... give your whole self to teaching.. ? [that's if your don't give yourself away in marriage].

How can we teach and live the truth of faith and reason in harmony and as two wings of the soul? How does faith play a role in studying the stability of stochastic limit cycles applied to human walking? How do we include that in our teaching? how is our teaching philosophy informed by our faith and theology? We have to apply for jobs and play the tenure game, and not get flagged as a "right wing religious fanatic who can't keep his own churchy stuff to himself."

A Tribute of St. Albert the Great

2006-05-04T22:51:00.000-04:00

St. Albert was a Dominican friar who was the teacher of Tommaso d'Aquino, often known as St. Thomas Aquinas.

He is also the patron of this blog, as he exemplifies some of my ideals and personality.
- He was a great teacher, and is the patron of teachers
- He is a Dominican, who lived by the guidelines of:
- Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare (to praise, to bless and to preach)
- Veritas (Truth)
- Contemplare et Contemplata Aliis Tradere (Study and share the fruits of your contemplation)

You can learn more about him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnus

I hope that the blog helps me hone my skills as a teacher and a student of truth, as I go through the formation to become an academic.