Hillel's Angels ! Would the Sun Times Editorial Board Actually DoThis? A Rhetorical Question

A tough looking biker was riding by Lincoln Park zoo, when he saw a little girl leaning into the lion's cage. Suddenly, the lion grabbed her by the cuff of her jacket and tried to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents.

The biker jumped off his bike, ran to the cage and hit the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.

Whimpering from the pain the lion jumped back and let go of the girl. The biker then took her to her terrified parents, who thanked him endlessly.

A reporter saw the whole scene, and addressing the biker, said, 'Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I saw a man do in my whole life.'

'Why, it was nothing,' said the biker, really. The lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger, and acted as I felt right.'

'I noticed a patch on your jacket,' said the journalist.

'Yeah, I ride with a Jewish motorcycle club, Hillel's Angels' the biker replied.

'Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist with the Sun Times, you know, and tomorrow's papers will have this on the front page.'

The following morning the biker bought the paper to see if it indeed brought out the news of his actions. On the front page was the headline:

ISRAELI GANG MEMBER ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH.

H/T - Max Weismann -Center for the Study of Great Ideas

Mea Culpa! Steve Rhodes Tuned Up Blago - Not the Sun Times.

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti et vobis, fratres,
quia peccavi nimis
cogitatione, verbo, opere, et omissióne:
mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Vírginem,
omnes Angelos et Sanctos,
et vos, fratres, orare pro me
ad Dominum Deum nostrum.

Yesterday, I posted that the always entertaining Steve Rhodes, Publisher of Beachwood Reporter and NBC Chicago on line was giving a tart twist to the Sun Times, when he pointed out the ludicrous use of Blago on WLS.

Steve wrote:

WLS-AM is once again giving Blagojevich a platform from which to spin his legal defense and build sympathy for his poor beleagured self. . . . Blago seems to be following the advice given him by Sun-Times editorial page editor Tom McNamee:

1. Pander.

2. Bully

3. Demonize

4. Distort the truth

5. Make stuff up

6. Forsake all intellectual honesty

Six for six.

Mea Maxima Culpa! At the Culpa - Culpa Cabana!Music and passion were always the fashion . . .At the Culpa....they fell in love! Sorry.


Well, in my joy-raced haste to note a marriage of true minds, I neglected to click on the link to Tom McNamee's fine piece of advise to Blago, which advovcated grace and good sense.

I confess my major sin of omission.

For my penance, I could say very nice things about the Progressive Independent Voice of Chicago, but that would be switching sins. Instead, I will ask for a General Absolution.

In consulation with The Congregation of Divine Worship and Discipline* of the Sacrements, this may be the best path. If not, I'm tossing on the old hairshirt for a trip to North Avenue Beach on Saturday.

If in the opinion of the confessor there is a case of grave necessity that could permit "general absolution", it is to be submitted to the judgement of the Diocesan Bishop with whom lies the responsibility for deciding whether the necessary conditions are indeed present (cf. can. 961); without such a decision, "general absolution" may not be conferred. Moreover, as the canon itself points out, "sufficient necessity is not considered to exist when confessors cannot be available merely because of a great gathering of penitents, such as can occur on some major feastday or pilgrimages' (can. 961, S1, 2 ).

The authorization given to Diocesan Bishops does not permit them "to change the required conditions, to substitute other conditions for those given, or to determine grave necessity according to their personal criteria however worthy" (Pope Paul VI, Allocution to the Bishops of the region of New York in the United States of America, April 20, 1978: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 70 (1978) 330). The Diocesan Bishop "makes this judgement graviter onerata conscientia, and with full respect for the law and practice of the Church" (Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 2 December 1984, n. 33: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 77 (1985) 270). Furthermore, the fact that the canons acknowledge the right of the faithful to confess their sins on days and at times arranged for their convenience (cf. can. 986, S1) cannot be used as a justification for an alternative practice of "general absolution".

In this context it is of great importance to remember that even when the sacrament is received by means of a collective absolution, it nevertheless requires, as a result of its divine and irreformable foundation, that each penitent have the necessary dispositions for the reception of this sacrament, namely, individual and `personal repentance for sins committed, the resolution to rectify scandal or injuries that may have been caused in relation to those sins, the intention of amending his life, and the intention to make an integral and individual confession as soon as possible of those grave sins from which he is impeded from confessing at the time. Each of these dispositions must be present in order that the sacramental absolution be received validly (cf. Conc. Oecum. Trid., sessio XIV, cap. IV: Denz.-Schon. 1676-1677; sessio XIV, Canones de sacramento paenitentiae can. 5: Denz.-Schon. 1705; can. 987; Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Sacramentum Paenitentia, (16 June 1972): Acta Apostolicae Sedis 64 (1972) 512; cane. 962, S1, 963, 988, S1; Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio Paenitentia, 2 December 1984, n. 31: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 77 (1985) 260-261).

Nor should the importance of the act of satisfaction be passed over. This final act of the penitent "crowns the sacramental sign of Penance" (Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia 2 December 1984, n. 31 Acta Apostolicae Sedis 77 (1985) 263). Hence, the confessor is to impose salutary and appropriate penances, in proportion to the kind and number of sins confessed, taking into account, however, the condition of the penitent. The penitent, for his part, is bound personally to carry out these penances (cf. can. 981).

http://www.adoremus.org/699Penance.html


That hairshirt come in three or two button? Four button is positively decadent.